Bumblebee Transformer Costume

Yesterday we took Ikaika to the "real" (not "thrift") store to look at Transformer action figures.  I was thinking about possibly getting him an Optimus Prime for his birthday.

WRONG!  I can not believe how expensive kid's toys are.  It's outrageous.  I'm still talking about it today.

I almost never buy toys, so it's not even an issue of money.  $50-100/year for toys seems like a reasonable amount.  But, I can not in good conscience indulge my 3-year-old son's ephemeral desires by expending that entire budget on mass-produced plastic junk in a cool looking box.  What was most tragic is that the only toys that looked fun were $50 and up (and on the bottom shelf where he could easily spot them - "thanks" WalMart) and everything else was 'cheap'(er) but it was useless - didn't transform, obscure characters, etc.

My mom got him a few action figures from Goodwill and he loves them, which means he doesn't treat them as if they cost the same as my breadmaker.  So, now I'm on the craiglist/ebay hunt in hopes of finding a 5 dollar Autobot before Oct 18.

In the meantime, we found this Bumblebee costume for 50 cents at the thrift store today.  Now that's more like it!

Mommy, where's the shooting thing?

He was a little disturbed about the lack of head (helmet) and cannons.  His Bumblebee action figure is also missing his head so I rationalized that now they match (maybe Bumblebee doesn't need a head?)
 

 No, sweetheart, rocks can not be used as a substitute for the cannon.

I think this is "car mode".  I'm not sure.  Here's a video of him "transforming".