This looks way tighter than mine after two transformations. When I have more time I might take him completely apart and file some connections down.

As a side - I’m totally behind TT as aesthetically they blow 3p out of the water. Having said that I’ll be the first to admit that ever since Sunstreaker the TT MPs have been feeling very fragile and they are not as fun to transform. Paint and articulation is vastly improved but IMO the Van Bro’s were the last MPs that felt solid in hand and looked good.

I really want to finish the ark crew but I have a feeling as this line continues I won’t be transforming as much as I did with MPs 1-27.

End rant/TLDR I still love 1st party TT MPs (never owned 3p) but the QC/Quality has taken a significant hit.

 

!!! That is DAMN good! How did you do that????

 

I just want to chime in here to mention that my copy is pretty much perfect. Tight joints, no paint blemishes, and no crooked symbol. In fact, I think he is a pretty great figure, probably the best representation of G1 Bee ever. I can’t deny others have had issues, and that sucks. I’m just adding my experience to let those that haven’t gotten theirs yet know that there is a good chance they’ll get a good one.

 

That’s great to hear, keeps my hope steady.

 

Push push push   

 

This figure being feather light means it works well with action figure stands (Tamashii Stage Act 4 here):






Rider Kick!

 

So opened mine...

Paint looks much cleaner than most of the photos I've seen here. No scratches or defects or messy edges to note. The windscreen is uniform as well.. no high texture look. Overall, the paint looks pretty good to me.

QC? Seems on par with other TT figures of late. I think the hip joints (especially my right hip) are looser than I'd like.. but I think it's due to the hip skirt piece being in the joint. My right leg flops a good 20deg.. but so far seems to not be blocking the poses I've tried so far.

Style? There is no denying for G1 toon this figure blows away MP-25.. MP-25 looks like some 3P variation. MP-45 has the face and upper body proportions so good.. plus the smooth legs fit the toon decor great. The backpack? Less of an issue to me than the big exposed sides of the figure. The feet... they are ugly but honestly my eyes are always drawn up higher on the figure because he has so much character. In hindsight... they are ugly, but not deal breakers to me. I wouldn't call him beautiful, but he is on character so well it seems to overpower those weaknesses.

The spike figure still sucks.. my one shoulder won't even stay on barely at all. coating in polish now.. And as usual, gun tabbing is completely sketch and unreliable. I guess it's the painting of the gun? That is disappointing.

Transformation/physical design? I've found this transformation easier than most of the others of late.. and even after one tour through felt comfortable with it. My only grief is making sure the shoulders are in the right orientation when trying to stuff it back together under the hood. I do wish the rear wheels had a bit more confirmation they were in the right spot.. to help make the roof collapse action and tabbing a bit more confidence inspiring. The backpack holds together well on my figure. My biggest fear with the transformation really is those small hinges where his shoulders mount to the car. I really try to support those. The panel movement of the C pillars to make the bot mode, and the forearms under the roof are both areas I worry about paint.. but seems to be holding decent so far.

The design of how to make this alt mode fit that style and be so small is quite impressive. TT continues to amaze in the over the top geek of late... which is alienating, but wicked cool at the same time. If the figures didn't cost so much it would be nice to not have to fret over them so much.

Overall and conclusion? I was on the fence about ordering him as I didn't really feel the need and I'm not a super toon guy in how the line is going of late.. but in hindsight I'm glad I did order him. His character is on the money... obviously articulation is high.. and he really fits with the new MP figures. If he was at the old MP-25 price point he would be great. At $92... he feels like a 'completionist' buy. But no urge to sell him, etc.

I give him a B+ grade. Mainly for the character, alt mode achievement and articulation.

 

Re: Gun storage in alt-mode.

Has anyone been able to get the gun in there with the car still being able to roll? If so... HOOOOWWWW???

 

That's how I got mine to look too. Pretty solid actually. There's a couple tabs I want to trim slightly, but I'll wait until I get my replacement one before I finalize anything.

Haha, yep, pretty much this. Straight out of the box, I could NOT get him to line up good at all, but after 2 transformations everything just started to fall in place and line up better. And some squeezing.

Yep, just pushed it up as far as it goes. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

 

Dude you have GIANT hands.. lolol

 

Back from the in-laws' and was finally able to open my two copies and transform to bot mode last night. One copy's pretty good but I think I'm going to try to exchange the other as it has some of the worst paint flaws I've had since my og Sideswipe. Big blob of paint on one of his hip skirts, yellow paint smeared in two spots over his grey left shoulder, and yellow paint on his inner left forearm that looks like was applied by a child (I hope I'm wrong about that!). Tolerances are uneven, being tight in a couple spots, perfect in some, and loose in others. Thankfully at this tiny size he's not loose enough that it affects his ability to hold a pose. I'll have to take Ambitron's tip and file down the backs of all his eyes to get his faces to sit flush, but it's not terribly noticeable at such a small size. The chest insignia appear straight in both my copies. He holds his gun nice and tight but getting it in there was a trick the first time.

Going to bot mode wasn't bad, though I missed the collapsing rear wheel wells the first time through which affected how well it all came together, but I've got it now. Would've been amazing if the backpack could compress more and it could've all folded up as cleanly and elegantly as Ironhide's, but I still feel it's an improvement over Bumblebee v1, whose backpack is a giant free hanging turtle shell. Heels aside, I'm really impressed with how close to "morphing" they came between the hood and feet. Some clever shape shifting there for sure. Looking forward to going back to car mode as I love the alt! Couldn't be happier that they were able to go for a chibi'ed yet still licensed Bug.

I love the current direction of the G1 MPs, it's exactly what I've always wanted, but there's no denying Bumblebee isn't as "perfect" as the Fusos, Megatron, Sunstreaker, or Optimus. The heels are there, his back is a jigsaw of folded up stuff, and even the hindrance of his waist swivel is a bummer for this articulation nut. Yet for his obvious compromises, he won me over within an hour thanks to all his other abundant articulation, personality, expressiveness, and dead on Sunbow produced Toei animated Gilvezan voiced G1 Bumblebee likeness. This is the Bumblebee I've always loved and always wanted in toy form and I can't stop staring at him. The yellow and grey are perfect, the compromises made to have his faux chest were worth it, and I'm happy that two decisions I questioned, the clear glass instead of blue and the scribed lines on his face, turned out to be the right ones. I even feel the compromises made to have him seat Spike, to have opening doors, and to keep the doors clean were worth it to make the alt mode so much more fun and attractive. Limited waist articulation aside, he's still a complete blast to pose and is able to pull off pretty much anything you could want - one legged running, kneeling, squatting, hands on hips, two handed shooting, etc. Couple notes about his articulation - he's double jointed at the knees and ankles. I noticed that in a lot of photos he has big empty gaps when his knees are bent and his ankles are hyper extended, but both can be collapsed for a cleaner, more cohesive appearance. If one can swing the price, loves G1 cartoon likenesses, and lots of expressive articulation, this figure's worth owning. Again, though if one can swing the price. Still can't believe he's over $90 preordered from Amazon Japan, especially comparing him to Sunstreaker who was about $85 just under two years ago. Still can't believe he didn't include a plethora of accessories or a new Exo-suit, so one can't help feel like TT gouged the price of this release just because it's Bumblebee and they knew they'd have a lot of fans on the hook. On the other hand, there's no doubt I'm gonna get more than my money's worth in enjoyment over the years.

Can't wait to have time to take some shots this week!

 

To sum it up you love the little bug ..dontcha? Lol.

 

Nice review but shame about your second copy. How can this pass the QC ? ...

 

Definitely. I can't stop posing him and having him grouped with 44 Optimus, Wheeljack+, and Ironhide is a dream come true.

A shame for sure, especially with the two month delay!

 

Haven’t had time to get him back to car mode but I’m loving the robot mode! Although I do have a paint scratch on the inner left forearm...not very visible so I will let it slide...




Be careful with the gun I broke the “trigger guard” right off while trying to tab it in!! Speaking of which, if anyone is returning the figure and wants to mail me their gun for a reasonable fee, DM me please! I’d love to replace it...

 

Sorry you got a lemon @Dean ML .
Happens on any toy's initial public release.

 

Man, it's like you grabbed the thoughts right out of my head. This is exactly the way I feel as well.

The crappy mismatched paint I got was such a kick in the balls (especially since all the pictures and videos I've seen did not appear to have this, and it's still a sore spot for me from MP21), that it definitely left me pretty underwhelmed at first. Then, the alignment issues in car mode, the over all "light" (not cheap or fragile!) feel of the figure, plus the big empty box, really left me with an intitial disappointment, not only in what I paid, but in TT as well.

However, as I've spent time with him over the weekend, going back and forth, learning the nuances of the figure, and getting him properly transformed, my faith in TT has once again been restored. He just has SO much character! The face sculpt is so perfect in person, and he just is Bumblebee! I also can't believe how much I love the choro q alt mode. I really, truly do want TT to keep sticking to realistic Alt modes as much as possible, but I think this was definitely the right move, for BB, as it just further cements his character.

I do still think it's overpriced for what you get (or don't get), not just compared to other things I've spent $90 on recently, but even within the line itself. However, I'll definitely get far, far more than $90 worth of enjoyment out of him for many years to come.

 

@Jarrod , it's interesting that my initial reaction after unboxing 45 was similar to 21 - immediately underwhelmed but quickly won over but how cute, clever, and fun the figure is. Comparing the two, 45 really does blow 21 out of the water in nearly every way, but it still feels like it should've been priced at $20-30 more than 21 at the max, not nearly double. On the other hand, 45 is twice the figure 21 is!

 

I think it kind of goes back to a comment @GearsRollo made in the speculation thread before ,when we were discussing minibots. Part of the reason Takara avoided them after 21 was basically development/manufacture of a minibot=development/manufacture of a carbot . Size aside, on the spreadsheets they're both the same. So while I was hoping for cheaper, I wasn't thst surprised at $80-87 after discount.

That aside I think the paint, joints, and relatively sparse box didn't help at all. It you would have asked me Weds. night I probably would have preferred MP46. After a whole day of transforming and fooling around with him I definitely love him. I'm definitely amazed they squeezed do much in a small bot with an equally small alt mode without resorting to ball pegs like you see on smaller figures. My only complaint with my copy is no waist swivel . The feet and backpack do look messy, but engineering wise, I get why tbey look like they look, they're simply so much room for you to hide stuff with something this small.