I vastly prefer the final version in the movie.

That one is almost too literally the 07 design with VW kibble. The proportions and shape of the head also aren't as "cute."

If it was a legit proto. It was shown alongside OS KOs. Could've just been a 3P re-shell of MPM Bumblebee for all we know.

 

Thanks! I hope that they'll update (or create a new) the mold to match his look in the trailers.

 

Ooh, cool!

I like both designs a lot, the film version and this earlier promo version.

Honestly, I might like this one a tiny bit more, I kind of like the 'chubby' face and the door wings. I like the eyes on both versions in different ways.

@SilverOptimus: Are those small silver squares on his forearms the missile launchers you were talking about?

 

The trailer looks good  

 

I bet the whole arm opens up

 

Maybe they just changed the silver panels to yellow to make them blend in with the rest of his arm.

Just out of curiosity, where was his plasma cannon on the design you saw? Also, was the face this design, or the trailer design?

 

Though you can still see them on his back, just hanging down now, think it's the same when you briefly see him in his Jeep form.



I do hope that there's not been so many drastic changes that the toys are already out of date, especially with what MPM and SS are setting out to do; I get the feeling that the new aesthetic for this movie will translate more easily and more accurately into figures, so it would be a shame to spoil that with major changes.

 

Sadly, first revisions of any movie toy are okay at best. They get much better on their second revision when Hasbro actually has access to the CGI files. I believe they work off of concept art most of the times. I'm expecting the toys to be fairly inaccurate depending on the extent of changes gone through. For Bumblebee, I doubt we'll see the movie accurate door wings.

 

Interview with Travis knight.

Surprised no one has shared this yet

 

Oh, we know that, but if the final MPM ends up like that, using an old design,it would be extremely disappointing, but honestly, expected-

 

One design change that I think was a good decision is the hood. In the earlier art, his entire hood forms the chest, whereas in the final version it's only the top half of the hood, and it's more segmented. I'm assuming the segmented portion was added to accommodate the tape deck (it looks like the lower panel retracts to reveal it, which wouldn't have been possible on the earlier art).

In the earlier version the hood seems kind of disproportionate. It's way too small in comparison to the fenders/headlights. Compare the parts to the actual car. In the final version, it seems more believable.

Edit: Also, I discovered a neat little (possible) G1/IDW homage in the design. The taillights of the Beetle end up on the rear of his feet. IDW's Bee's taillights are on the front of his feet, but I still can't help but wonder if it's an homage because usually movie Bee's taillights end up on his back.

 

I like that Charlie works at Hot Dog on a Stick. Only had it in San Diego when BotCon was there, but they have great Lemonade.

 

Where can you see this? I don't see the back of his feet anywhere in the trailer. Ah, wait, are you going by the poster? Are the marks on the back of the feet the rear lights then? I can't tell.

Can anybody actually tell how he is supposed to transform? I mean, I know the movies never worry about that (just as the old cartoons never did) and the car parts mostly disappear, but I actually love this new BB design and am hoping for a decent figure of it (and that they fix up the leaked possible MPM figure to get rid of those door wings and hanging-off-the-shoulder wheels). Which car parts are even visible? As far as I can tell:

- Front wheel arches and headlights become the shoulders.
- The front bonnet/hood becomes his chest, but the front half of it disappears somewhere.
- Wheels (front?) on his back shoulders.
- Doors on his back.
- Engine/tapedeck on his abdomen (somehow).

And that's about it. The hood, doors and two wheels. Everything else about the car just magically disappears or bends into completely new shapes to form the robot parts. It makes for a good-looking robot but is going to make it very difficult to get a decent figure out it, even harder than the Bay designs, I would have thought.

The battle mask likewise - Bay's Bumblebee's battle mask came down from the top of his helmet and was nicely reproduced in MPM-03, whereas this one magically appears and is about twice the size of the rest of his head. I'm not hopeful for an MPM reproducing that. So I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too much for a faithful reproduction of this in toy form...

 

Given the design's similarity to the 77' Camaro version of Bumblebee, I would look at that version (specifically the toy) and work from there. His legs are naturally made up of the back half of the vehicle so I have to guess a toy would pull some clever inversion or separate in particular ways to achieve the rounded look.

 

Sadly, I think this is the first TF movie that I will skip at the theater. Feels like a near carbon copy of 07 and the "origin" feels silly when we know for fact that Bee participated in WW2. Plus the damn tape radio voice thing, which appears to be the origin focal point of the movie.

 

@ambitron

You can tell in the scene when he's running away from Sector 7 and you see a closeup of his feet. You have to pause at just the right moment.

 

They do have great lemonade. Too bad their corndogs suck. Now what I want back is Orange Julius!