Couldn't work out what looked off about Bee's normal head - it was the lack of silver details!

So said "sod it" and added them to both face-sculpts. Plus a little bit of wash on the armoured face, since that thing is quite detailed, but so much gets lost in the bland yellow.



It'll do....until I inevitably end up painting the whole figure out of boredom.  

 

FOR REALS!

As for the Doors and Backpack - it's kind of annoying because I can already see how they could fold up the backpack better and flatter, which would also allow for the doors to rotate in.
I guess on an SS figure that's a couple more swivels and hinges, but on an MP there's no excuse (and yes I realize these were designed using earlier character designs)

 

Speculation time, but we know the license holders (in this case VW) have to approve the toy as a good representation of their product. (I recall per the wiki that HasTak ran into this with the Alternators when one company wanted to know why there were seamlines splitting the roof of one alt mode). It's possible that VW made it a condition that HasTak not mutilate the car mode any more than necessary – I notice that all three Beetle Bees have unmolested hoods and minimal seams on the roofs. Most other seam lines fall along locations where you would expect seams to be, eg fenders, door panels, etc. So they may have been limited in how well they could make the hood kibble fold up.

 

Actually I was thinking of something similar to Alt-Meister/Jazz.

If both the hood and the back end swiveled under the roof then their curves would more or less mirror the curve of the roof. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's not impossible either and there wouldn't need to be any additional seams.

In fact the MP (and the rollerball version) has the whole back end compressed around the legs.

Now with that space freed up, there's room for the door-wings.
The windows just need to fold in over the inside of the doors, like they do in the movie and on many other designs (OC Hellion comes immediately to mind, but there are others).

Depending on how the windshield/roof have been folded up the doors can now go over or under the Roof/Hood. (I'm thinking 3P Downbeat/Jazz)
With the doors out of the way, his wheels can actually tuck into his shoulder-blades as well rather than hanging out as separate little wings.

 

Dad and son

 

that's still the funniest shit to me, the idea 7 year old kids are definitely gonna be less inclined to buy a $20000 car after their plastic replica had a seam in its roof. how are these corporate bigwigs such snowflakes?

granted, being a billionaire and being entitled go hand-in-hand, but still...

 

Splendid little alt mode. Honestly the main reason I got it. Very cute. Quite tiny for his price, but he has a fair bit of things going on with him. Seems to scale with my (broken) Ironhide in vehicle mode.

This clear plastic freaks me out. Wish there was more to be done with the backpack that wasn't so terrifying. The rotating door assemblies are nice touches and feel like an evolution of the T30 Goldfire transformation, but the hood is left so far out of the transformation at large that I find it contributing to the backpack. The vehicle's back end could have used more integration into this legs, but really all this is already on an insanely small scale. This toy is so tightly packed that I am befuddled by the lack of finger pinching and that I am able to transform it at all with my large hands. I'd really just like something like this made by Hasbro but made with some suggested tweaks and bigger to accommodate them, then one big enough to scale with 6" action figures.

 

I don't see an MPM-Bee trhead... but I got mine today, and I kind of hate it.  

 

They'd better ditch this POS arm-swap gimmick already. After two swaps EVERY DAMN BEE I've gotten gets loose and the fucking gun arm won't stay on! TLK, SS01, and now SS18 have ALL had this problem for me. It's a really inelegant solution to something that wasn't a problem to begin with! Why the hell didn't they just design an attachment like the sword?

 

I found that splitting that blaster attachment in half (where it is glued) and regluing it tighter in a vice or pliers made it a lot better for me. Its just two halves glued together poorly.

 

I finally converted this guy to alt mode and after some finagling, and watching part of Optibotimus review (I didn't think the slider thing was obvious/well described, I ended up figuring that out myself later) and Emgo's review (since he only went from alt mode to robot I had to do it in reverse). I don't think there's a 100% fit even so, but I got it to to a point where everything feels nicely tabbed in and not gappy except for the line between the trunk and the rear window. I think those tabs on the back of the car are just a tad thick preventing a flush fit. I might try sanding them but it's not such a big deal to me.

Here's what I found to be helpful in putting alt mode together:
- Keep the arms folded out (downwards from the car body) until the end. I found that if I folded them in earlier, they end up making the car bulge somehow and make all the tabs really difficult. They can come in last, as Emgo's review shows (he folds them down as the first step to robot mode).
- When you're at the point where you have the feet/legs folded up and the car shell extended ("ready to tab in" mode), try this order:
1. Get the legs tabbed in to that slot in the middle (while it's easiest to reach).
2. Tab in the car hood next. You should be able to get the front of the car nice and tightly tabbed, especially if the arms are still folded out/down.
3. Tab in the trunk/ rear of the car to the rear window. While you do this make sure to keep the rear firmly together while you get those tabs in. These tabs are the hardest IMHO. When I forced these too hard everything would sort of fall apart.
4. Fold the doors / sides of the car into to the body, starting with the tabs into the legs and just gently massaging them in to the roof and under the rear trunk part as needed. Just go around the edges until everything feels secure, and maybe work the trunk tabs into that rear window a little more if needed. While doing this I hold the car right under the door handles, where the door pegs into the legs, to keep the car "held together" until everything is in place.
5. Finally, fold those arms up, tabbing into the chest or just generally tucking them in so they are secure.

Voila!



Finally here's some side by side with SS Jazz. Bee is a little longer and a little higher at the roof.

 

Was able to transform mine easily today after shaving down the side tabs a bit. It’s about 98% together. Seems like this mold needed more testing or whatever to finesse the tabs. Every time I watch the trailer for the new movie I like this version of Bee more and more, but it makes me wish for an actual accurate version of this figure more and more.

 

I hated this toy at first, absolutely loathed it. Nothing wanted to fit together and nothing wanted to stay together
Then I took the time to sit down and figure everything out for myself and stop trying to look at the included instructions for guidance.
Voila

 

I love how great this guy looks with evasion prime. They pair off so well!

 

Hide!

 

I'm really looking forward to putting him next to Legendary OP next month.

 

God the transformation on this guy is shit. Tabs just keep popping out when I successfully tab in one side.

Cant get any leverage either. Ive come close to finishing it, but squeeze in the wrong spot and pop goes all the tabs. This is the worst transformation in studio series.

Figure looks good though, but robot mode he shall forever remain..

 

So is there a solid consensus?
Undecided between this one & MPM7 - but really wanna grab one.
Any suggestions?

 

Go for MPM7- this one didn't quite come out of production at 100%, and feels a little rickety even when you know what you're doing. The MPM has a learning curve, but is well realised and feels like he's designed for his price (unlike say Barricade, who felt like a very premium version of the original deluxe.)

The alt mode on the mpm is very nice, and solid once you have learnt it. And the robot is nice, albeit as inaccurate as all the BeetleBees

 

Seriously, they just look so well together!