This would explain the MP-49 Cliff leak that we saw last year or whatever. If Skyfire was pushed back, CJ had to be as well and that’s why we got a simple black convoy repaint instead. It doesn’t take much lead time or development because there’s already a precedent for what it would look like. I can’t wait for an official announcement and spread in one of the magazines.

 

This guy looks fun,in for doubles as with every car bot. Need to find a couple of the chibi bees as I wasn't feeling him when released but Id like him now.

 

I totally agree with your assessments but there is one other factor to consider too - Volkswagen. Some of these things may partly be linked to license approval. Just because VW allowed Takara to make a chibi version doesn't mean that they didn't have some stipulations too.

 

I have a hard time believing VW had any say on the whole "Spike can sit inside gimmick" I really do. I mean, I'll never know but If I were a betting man, I'd say so. That was TT doing, plain and simple.

Unnecessary if you ask ME, but it is what it is and we got what we got. The feet are not ideal but I still love 45.

 

I've often thought about that (whether the opening door and sitting gimmick hindered bot mode with kibble,) and while I do think attaching the windows to the doors played a roll, we also have to remember just how tiny MP-45's parts are.

If we got rid of the windows on the doors, we'd just end up with more material that would need to fold into the (already not ideal) backpack, since they'd be attached to the roof of the car instead. And the roof of the car being as bulbous as it is isn't the result of the gimmick, it's toon-accurate (for alt mode.) There's just nowhere else to put it in bot mode, and CJ's roof/back are simply smaller than Bee's needed to be.

Sure, one could argue that it would still be preferable not to have the snow-shoes effect and to just pack more of it into the backpack, but then the backpack would look even worse than it does. There just isn't a ton of remaining space in a figure that small to fold and tuck things away. It's debatable as to whether the windows even have anywhere to go, or whether they'd simply end up being one piece with the rear side windows we already see on his backpack side profile (making it look even larger.)

Also, without the windows, unless you do the fan mode that already make his feet look better, you don't really get much length reduction of the feet. This my hastily done, horribly crappy bash of what we might end up with without the windows on the feet and with them instead on his back.



Compare to the actual figure:


The foot windows don't really add that much length when properly transformed. (Though, this configuration with the windows on his back doesn't look that bad either, to be fair.)

In Cliffjumper's case though, his back is even smaller, because his roof in alt mode is shorter. That, too, is toon-accurate. But it also means there's even less space for the front windows to end up on his back, without breaking up the outline, which they seem to be trying to avoid for this new penny racer design derivative. Hence him keeping the windows on the feet like Bee, I imagine.

Also, I know it's been pointed out a thousand times but it bears repeating, look at the size of the hinge joints on Bee's feet. He's so tiny that even those miniscule joints look huge and take up a lot of real estate. There just aren't many more places to put things. Not without increasing his scale. Gimmick or no gimmick. Even less so in CJ's case.

 

how can one accomplish that fan-made feet configuration?

 

I can never find the instructions anymore, but here are photos of it:

 

Was just watching SOS Dinobots and I have a new favourite Cliffjumper scene.

 

In the end, nothing from the Masterpiece line came out in Figure King magazine?
It has been three months since you have seen any image of Transformers from that magazine.  

 

Doesn't worry me as much as some (i.e: because I mostly enjoy looking at my MP's front-on so for a character cool as CJ, not a deal-breaker) but it's still frustrating as hell seeing that problematic foot design be rehashed here ...

Simple reason being it's so glaringly obvious looking at them they should've been designed to fold up one more time into the ankles to hide the windows and clean up! Especially when this shot makes it look like there's the actual room to do so.  





Fold up dammit, FOLD UP!  

 

This analysis only really holds true if the rest of the toy's engineering remains largely the same.

I still feel like a number of optimizations could've been made somehow if the cabin space and opening doors weren't a design priority. A big contributing factor to the messiness of the backpack, for example, is that you're trying to double-over and nest a bunch of hood and roof panels that don't actually fit flush. If those didn't need to be part of one contiguous assembly, some other options may have presented themselves. The hood panel, for example, could've possibly telescoped into the toe, or rotated to the bottom of the foot instead.

Not really saying I have all the answers here. Just that those few design choices limit a lot of options.

 

Has this been posted here yet? It's the hand painted prototype using Bumblebee parts. I've seen the vehicle mode but this is the first I'm seeing the robot mode painted.

 

WHERE DO PEOPLE GET ALL THESE PROTOTYPES???? I WANT ONE SO BAD!

 

Awesome, source here! Log into Facebook
https://twitter.com/Daim_Choc/status/1433233031171555328

Even missing hip flaps and with some wrong colors it still looks great!

 

That Bee head on there is the stuff of nightmares 

 

Finally, his return is among us.

 

Yes it’s a prototype.

Man does it look rough.

 

:>

 

I mean, all these negative comments (especially on FB)
....well, remember, there's a reason we are not supposed to be seeing these right now.

But unfortunately we live in a time where no one can keep a secret.

 

Nobody likes to see the sausage get made which is basically what these leaks have been