let's review shall we . Very sorry if it's hard to figure due to no photos.
first of all , The pieces I'm having are straight from either reject or complete storage. I have one in very good condition and one is missassembled and such . I will make sure to inspect thoroughly so you can have the complete good package.
Start with the package. It has same dimension as MP-21 box. This time the new card looks absolutely gorgeus .

There is a sticker sheet which is to stick on the figure for some episode specific screenshot , but i see no point in stick them on , havent tried all but the adhesive is ok to pull out , nice to have option though

About the human figure. Well...

torso and leg made out of clear Polystyrene plastic Head and arm are skin color PS plastic. Very lightweight. Joint easy to pop out though. Can be pose easily but too easy to pop out. Not up to par with Diaclone minifigures eventhough bigger. Doesn't have magnet under feet. He can stand but due to lightweight will fall down. Nice to have poseable human figure for MP line though. I can see they are still experimenting with this new direction.

Comparison between 21 and 45 car mode. The 45 has accurate yellow color, windows are light blue tinted. It's very compact , very choro-Q ish.
The car rolls perfectly on the ground. No parts contact with ground
Spike does fit in the car. Simply untab the front feet , lift up the hood , put spike into a sitting pose with legs slightly bent , then close everything else. Easy.
Underneath carmode is very compact and clean compare to MP-21 car mode. He has bigger tires too
The I <3 NY plate simply clip onto front bumper via friction. It does help lock the bumper and front car nicely.
Fact : MP-45 was officially licensed as Volkswagen Type 1.

Although, quite a task to open the door so I will post a video later.
Move on to robot mode , I can't press enough that

HE is CUTE
CUTE


Transformation is amalgation of MP-39 sunstreaker and MP-21 Bumblebee , but this time integrated with space for Spike to sit and also work on chest mass shifting.
The back panel of alt mode is on a rotating hinge that rotate with lower torso and go into upper torso.
Back wheel and back window section compact neatly into torso
New direction of MP is interesting. Now the wheel cover also compact a little to have more space for part to go in and out.
The faux replacement wheel is originally under the hood. It rotate on a rotating hinge to move out of the hood and clamp onto the window to create image of cartoon accurate back. Pretty neat.
Due to placement of the trunk into torso , the waist swivel is heavily hindered. He can rotate waist a little.
Leg is very very compact. In car mode the leg is simulate car seat.
Transformation involving close panel , pull the leg out and rotate. The feet is interesting. Not very intuitive , but smart to compact its feet so the window go after but everything still locks in neatly.
He has 3 faceplates as we all known. Replacing procedure is using your fingernail to take them out by inserting into the space above his nose.

neutral face. truly neutral , but very cartoon accurate.

a slightly surprised face.

and my most favorite face which i will display is the smiling face. Contrary with people saying these faces are ugly , imo they capture Bee perfectly as a joyful and energetic scout. CUTE

His head is on a combination of hinge and balljoint. So he will have a very expressive head movement. He can look down and up very extra .

The combination of shoulder to hand joint is crazy as you can see in these photos.

I'm not very pleased with the friction crotch joint. It's set up like NECA Predator figure crotch. That means it still functions nicely , but there will be a point where his leg stand straight it's kinda loose , but when bend the leg he will be solid. He can stands still perfectly , just beware. You can add some floor polish in the crotch to enhance it. Sinply unscrew.
The waist can be easily pull out since it's mushroom joint.
The thigh swivel is pretty tight though . Although he has good amount of leg articulation the tight thigh rotation can be a challenge , but give it some time meddling and you are good to go.
He has double knee bend and double swivel at ankle. His ankle have front and backward , side to side movement too , it's excellent
Truly agile like a scout should be.
Weapon : very simple, a painted solid piece.
You can plug his weapon behind his back thanks to its small peg.
It will slightly hinder his leg articulation though.
Gun can be peg under the car but because of small peg that peg into his buttplate , it's a very poor connection.
Inserting is exactly like recent MP figures.
Effect parts is compatible with MP-21 Peashooter and other guns that have similar size nozzle.


As for transformation. You can do it pretty fast after learning it properly. It's a more advanced MP-21 Transformation.
Cautious to the arm part because if you don't follow instruction then the paint will slightly scratch when contact with the yellow hinge inside.
There are two very tiny tabs that suppose to add more connection for the doors to the backwheel cover. I broke it becasue I try to move it contrary to manual , but it wont affect anything. Just warning.
Aside from that it's very straightforward transformation. Quite involved. Same level with MP-39 but less complex. I really like the new torso. Not exactly the cleanest torso but in hand he resemble MP-21 but slimmer.
The feet is quite hassle because you need to do them properly . So TL;DR : Pay attention to the manual. Number of steps are all there.
He can hold MP-21 gun but there's no tab on the gun so he will just grip it with friction.

overall you will definitely get a total better experience once the official released product release worldwide obviously. Here's my own experience.
It's a superb package because we are finally getting the best cartoon accurate Bee. There are sacrifice in many ways because Takara seems to want to experiment in many things because of ambitions but in the end both modes still work pretty great.
One fact is it seems the top dog product like MP-44 and beastwars were all switched to China factory.
Vietnamese factory is still lacking in skill and polishing

 

He sounds great, thanks for the review phamduc

 

Thank you so very much for taking the time and energy to detail all of this for us. It is very much appreciated!

 

His spare tire is actually in his hood...where the storage room is?

 

Dang that’s comprehensive. Sounds great though.

 

I know I'm late, but I finally pre ordered this guy, along with MP Hound and MP+ Smokescreen. Its looking like my MP 44 will have some company in his display afterall. I was originally going to just use my original Bumblebee MP for my display, but if we ever get an official Takara Cliffjumper (my most anricipated MP other than MP 44+) he will definitely be made in this style. And I want them both to be in the same style. The toon accurate bots have really been growing on me the past couple of months.

 

wait, what's the sticker sheet?

 

That’s the most surprising addition to me.

 

Great and comprehensive feedback man. 10/10 now would buy. Thanks for changing my initial skeptical opinion on MP45 Bumblebee Ver2.0.

 

Interesting stuff @Phamduc thank you for sharing.

One thing I was wondering...is he standing on the doors? I've not studied it much but what parts of the car are the soles of his feet? Just wondering if that's a scratching risk...a bit like MP-13 has?

Overall I can see why people like/want this. If you grew up with cute little kid/chibi bee you're gonna dig this regardless of the (IMO) inversed Alt mode Vs Robot mode priority...and if you didn't hey we got MP-21. I still think they could have done a better job on the robot mode...but hey what do I know!?

 

Color me strange but I think he looks better than 21, he definitely fits more in line with the newer bots since Inferno than 21. Love the alt mode too, which I guess will be a selling point in Japan because chibi sells there, think of nendoroids or the SDF Gundams.

 

Awesome stuff, @Phamduc. Thank you!

MP-44 followed by MP-45 four weeks later - what a ride  

 

You got the point.
21 looks and feel really dated now. 45 has such a charm that make me really want to pick him up and pose and transform him (with carefulness of course) because his profilr lend to very expressive characteristic , compare to 21 which looks so awkward now. Even after i install X2 faceplate and painted the bare black plastic dark grey , the molding feels too soft and the orange looks so ugly compare to toon accurate yellow now.
And we can make use of every 45 accessories , unlike that useless exosuit.

The door diassemble in half , the window cover back of his feet and the door beneath but it tilt upward and contact eith the tires. So the contact point with ground are only a very small area at top of his door and the bumper. Add in that he is very lightweight, you wont need to be afriad that the paint will be scratch.
The only area that is prone to scratch if not careful is when pulling back of the car up pass the arms. I dont know how to say but that part has a dpecific direction to do , which is pull upward and then rotate , not yank out.

 

Yeah the chibi stuff seems to be the shit. Hope that means he sells well and we get a bunch of redecos/retools. Sign me up for a Glyph!

 

Thanks @Phamduc good to know there won't be a deluge of complaining/explaining away paint chipping in that regard.

I'm asking out of curiosity of course. I have an interest in how this stuff turns out even if I was out the moment I saw those first bot mode images. Good engineering, design, QC and built quality within the line is important to me regardless of if I'm into the figure itself. Have fun guys!

 

I think initially I would've liked a real-world car mode, but I've warmed up incredibly to the vehicle mode now. Been admiring my original G1 and WST Bumblebees lately, that must be why. I love how the tyres on MP-45 are thicker than MP-21's, just like those original Dunlop branded ones. I really do hope we get an MP-45+, but if we don't I'll happily keep MP-21 with his Amazon toy-mask.

 

There’s brown cosmic rust, blue ice cream from Child’s Play, Morphobot spores from Quest For Survival, and a heart to cover up the Autobot symbol to make the screen accurate “I<3 NY” license plate.

Thanks for helping me @Sam. You certainly have an exhaustive knowledge of the TV show.

 

Yup, I think the photos,from the last show of them really sell that. I think MP21 would look out if place in this photo.

 

You're the man, @Phamduc ! So excited to hear all of this! Hope you don't mind me bugging you a bit more!

How blue are those windows? What we've seen so far, they've either been simply clear as in the product shots and one or two of the prototypes shown at shows, or very blue as in the prototype shown in TT's promotional video. Is it somewhere between these?

How is the "feel"? You mention his hips and thigh joints, but how are the rest? His ankles were incredibly loose in the promo video, but I'm assuming that's not the case here or you'd have mentioned it. Are there any soft ratchet joints?

Is the grey on his legs and arms paint or bare plastic?

So great to hear he has double knee joints! But how high up can his thighs go? Can he pull off a kneeling pose like these guys here?







How far up do his toes go? MP-21's upward toe articulation was very limited, but I'm hoping 45 can flex his feet up so he can pull off a crouch like this...



Can he balance on one foot for a running pose like MP-21?



Thanks for the help, Phamduc! I can't stop thinking about all the poses I want to put 45 in! Enjoy your incredible new figure!

 

Thank you @Phamduc for the info, especially for confirming he's actually yellow. I'm still a bit turned off by his face, but your endorsement certainly helps with that.