Worth posting how he looks from the back too:




I don't think it's better than MP-45 but I do think it's a fantastic little figure. Do you realise how small it is?



Crazy small! I'm not often tempted by 3P products but this is one of those times, shame it's so expensive. It's marvellous for the size. In the exact same way that MP-45 is marvellous for his size.

It's also interesting to see what is essentially the exact same face as MP-45 on it, just without the scribed lines. I do prefer the scribed version, but at that tiny size I imagine that's not so easy.

Anyway, for the price I think I'd rather just pick up a second copy of MP-45. Would really love a mid-transformation display with three of them, especially since I've transformed him and fallen in love with the car mode all over again!

 

I gotta both agree and disagree. Yeah the chest is a nightmare and the backpack is just as if not more unsightly than the official. But as for the feet, I think Newage did a better job with them, mainly with them keeping the shape and not flattening them like Takara's. MP-45 ends up being the overall winner regardless, no doubt from me.

 

I think you can dismiss some stuff because of its size, I think all it shows is how difficult it is too pull of a toon accurate bee and not sacrifice something. We complain about the windows on his feet, Newage literally as the top of the car as the back of his feet, that's no small amount sticking out the back and puts the doors on the back of the legs, all stuff that would not be received too well if it was larger an a MP.

 

Takara 'flattening' the feet was the best way of approximating how the car hood 'shrinks' during transformation — always thought that was a stroke of genius!

 

True, true. My mind blanked for a second and I totally forgot that Bee's feet actually were like that in the cartoon, haha.

Like @jackisking mentioned a second ago...

(While he is mainly referring to Newage Bee here, I think it still works to an extent with MP-45)

And while I agree that it is a stroke of genius, at the same time I believe it ends up being a sort of Monkey's Paw, where there was a sacrifice in return. That being the kibble on the back of his feet; Personally if I had to sacrifice 100% cartoon accuracy for a good looking Bee, the first piece on that list would absolutely be to have the feet become a bit more stockier a-la MP-21. Along with that likely being the least unsightly of changes when compared to the cartoon model, a backpack for Bee I believe would be easier to manage across the board.

 

Isn't the New Age one legends scale? His feet does look cleaner than MP-45 and that's genius level.

 

What cliffjumper is that??

 

XTB Toro
X-Transbots MM-X Toro and MM-XI Coprimozzo (Cliffjumper & Hubcap)

 

Finally picked up MP-45 after not really being super interested. I'm still not 100% sold on the face but in hand I really like this figure. My hips were super loose so I unscrewed the back hip screw and found the halves that make the hip don't really sit flush with each other. I filed the back piece down just a bit so that its nice and flat and took about a MM off the screw (I think it was too long to screw the two halves of the hips together tightly. Here are some pics of holding bee on his sides and the legs staying in place.


Edit: Just a caution. I completely stripped the screw on the back of the figure.

 

There was a fix by @Jarrod I think where you remove excess glue inside the waist assembly. I did that on mine and it helped a bit. The glue causes the two halves to not be flush together which causes looseness in the hip joints.

 

A bit late on my part, but ended up picking this up when I saw it up on yahoo auction for 4000 jpy roughly. Arrived today and I'm very happy with it to my surprise! Not sure why I held off on this. I am curious though if I could 'clean up' the back a bit... perhaps a project for a rainy day.

 

Ive heard that there is some alternate foot transformation people came up with for bee but i cant find it anywhere. Anyone know of this?

 

Cant exactly remember it, but it didn't look any better to me.

 

This is mine.

If there were inside gap fillers it'd look more like all normal feet, so given that, it's a marked improvement on the stock version that retains the open look but adds the ski shoe back.

Obviously not perfect, but better.

 

There's a collage in this thread somewhere that shows step by step and then all views

 

Has there been any chatter of a oversized version?

 

I need to revisit this figure after looking at the cliffjumper (eeeeh!) Thread. I actually don't think I ever did his back pack correctly!

 

I do the same with mine. Definitely looks better..

 

Transforming Bee again just reminds me how much I love the little guy! Can’t wait for Cliff official announcement WHEN??  

 

This guy always looks good with a Dragon or a Dinobot