Toy review - MPM3 Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee

[Magnus]

Series – Masterpiece
Sub-line - Movie Masterpiece
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - N/A
Released here – Zing Pop Culture
RRP - $148
Approximate Size - 17.5 to the top of the head; 18.5cm to the top of the doors
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode – Chevrolet Camaro
Main Features/Gimmicks – Masterpiece detail and engineering; licensed car mode; folding battle mask
Main Colours – Yellow, black, dark grey
Main Accessories – Stinger blaster


To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Transformers movie franchise, Hasbro and TakaraTomy have decided to revive the short-lived Movie Masterpiece line, with all-new figures featuring complex transformations and detailing.

http://i.imgur.com/fYfGU82.jpg

Interestingly, the box features both Hasbro and TakaraTomy logos. Typically it's one or the other.

Vehicle mode

http://i.imgur.com/5wlwQqG.jpg

The familiar yellow Chevrolet Camaro. As opposed to reproducing the original 2006 Camaro Concept used in the 2007 movie, this appears to be a reproduction of a 2010 production-spec Camaro. The key differences are in the front bumper, the side mirrors, the door handles, and the 'shark fin' antenna.

http://i.imgur.com/zBPkNLf.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WLr2PJe.jpg

The car is noticeably smaller than Human Alliance cars, save for Soundwave, with whom Bumblebee seems to be fairly well-scaled - a Camaro is meant to be longer and slightly taller than an SLS AMG, although the SLS is marginally wider. It 'scales' well with other Masterpiece cars.

http://i.imgur.com/AA6bLvP.jpg

As Actar Rakit noted in his review, there is an undocumented storage feature in vehicle mode for the 'Stinger' blaster - it swings open on its hinge and slots into Bumblebee's underside.

Transformation

Transformation is fairly involved, as one would expect of a Masterpiece. Some steps are reminiscent of Human Alliance Bumblebee, but the bulk of it is new. It's not as if an existing Bumblebee figure was scaled up and re-engineered.

One feature that distinguishes this figure from virtually every other Bumblebee to date is the way the roof and both windscreens fold and collapse to form part of the torso; typically the windscreen and roof are left on the figure's back.

Another feature unique to this Bumblebee is the rear windows and C-pillars approximating the secondary wings, a feature that again, hardly any other Bumblebee figure has. No, they're not in the right position, but they're there.

Robot mode

http://i.imgur.com/zCxELpA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZcA1lnF.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BMFV6ma.jpg

The result is nicely proportioned and very faithful to the CGI model. There's a lot of paint - silver, dark grey, and a dark metallic grey in addition to black and yellow.

I like the way the rear of the car collapses to form Bumblebee's calves. Bumblebees typically have the rear of the car jutting out as the robot's calves, making them large and chunky. While the calves aren't perfectly flush here, they're a lot less obtrusive, and in terms of prominence, seemingly on par with HftD Battle Ops Bumblebee - the previous Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee.

http://i.imgur.com/1eQxWF7.jpg

Bumblebee has a deployable battle mask. On mine, the mask seems prone to popping off its joint, so handle the mask with care when deploying or retracting.

There's a fair amount of die-cast metal in this figure - the crest on the head, part of the 'spine' of the car that collapses down during transformation, the abdomen, the shins, and parts of the feet are metal. Some of the metal is painted over, while some is left unpainted.

http://i.imgur.com/rl2jFM8.jpg

The Stinger fits over the forearm while the hand is folded in.

As one would expect of a Masterpiece figure, Bumblebee is not lacking in articulation.

In addition to the shoulders and elbows, he has articulated fingers, with the thumb and index finger being independently articulated and the other two fingers are moulded together. All digits have two points of articulation.

Ratchets in the hips and knees help him hold poses, while the feet are large enough to keep him well-supported.

http://i.imgur.com/NZevm01.jpg

When not in use, the Stinger pegs into a hole in Bumblebee's back.

http://i.imgur.com/KSkD4lm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0ghlcJ2.jpg

Again, Bumblebee is smaller than Human Alliance figures, and stands slightly taller than some G1 MP cars.

Verdict

http://i.imgur.com/QMohzpU.jpg

This figure seems a bit pricey compared to other MP Autobot cars, but I suspect this is due to a potentially higher part count and more intricate moulding compared to the G1 MP cars.

Some fans may balk at the idea of yet another movieverse Bumblebee, but the figure is all-new, even if some elements of its transformation may seem familiar due to their use in other figures.

With its detail and intricate transformation, this is the definitive 2007 Bumblebee, and easily one of the best movieverse Bumblebee figures there is. If you can only have one movieverse Bumblebee, this figure should be on the shortlist.

Definitely worth it if you're a movieverse or Bumblebee fan.




More images can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/DB6Nv

[Deano85]

Definitely one of the best bumblebees we've gotten. Another awesome Masterpiece to add to the collection. Got the new Optimus on pre-order!

[GoktimusPrime]

BEWARE OF ZING!

A mate of mine recently got this toy from Zing! and the toy was already opened and damaged (a friend of his got this toy for him). He called the store and they explained that they open and display all of their toys before repacking and selling them. He's going to bring the toy back to get an exchange, but just a warning that before getting this toy from Zing! be sure to inspect the toy before purchase.

[SharkyMcShark]

BEWARE OF ZING!

A mate of mine recently got this toy from Zing! and the toy was already opened and damaged (a friend of his got this toy for him). He called the store and they explained that they open and display all of their toys before repacking and selling them. He's going to bring the toy back to get an exchange, but just a warning that before getting this toy from Zing! be sure to inspect the toy before purchase.

My understanding is that each Zing has only been sent one of these per store, so this very well may be the case.

I snagged mine from Zing at Central last week, but that involved popping in on a whim while on holiday and the sales assistant digging it out of a box at the back of the store as it had arrived that morning.

[AJ_Prime]

This is the movie Bumblebee that fans have been wanting for so long. Very happy to have him in the collection. One thing I was a bit disappointed with is that the wheels weren't painted silver as displayed on the box. But I can live with that, and I guess I can always paint them myself later if it really bothers me that much.

[drifand]

Got this,

For me sculpt scores 8/10
paint 6/10 quite a lot of defects on mine.
Eyes should be translucent blue, pretty much I think they are over thinking it using piping light as it dont work all the time.

Can be better, good effort.

[Sutton]

BEWARE OF ZING!

A mate of mine recently got this toy from Zing! and the toy was already opened and damaged (a friend of his got this toy for him). He called the store and they explained that they open and display all of their toys before repacking and selling them. He's going to bring the toy back to get an exchange, but just a warning that before getting this toy from Zing! be sure to inspect the toy before purchase.

Yep, Zing! really like to pre-open stuff for display; wouldn't worry me on the high-end static figures and stuff, but I don't want some ham-fisted clutz damaging something this delicate before it's bought.

Case in point, I popped into Launceston Zing! with an idea I would buy this guy on sight, but sure enough there he was in the display box, somewhere between car and robot mode - no thanks, I'll just grab it from littletoyshop for $40 less thanks.

Looking forward to the figure itself, despite the pretty glaring errors with the car mode.

[ampoldj]

In hand review of the Takara version:

http://shishioh.info/TF_MPM-03_BUMBLEBEE.php

Looks the same just a few japanese text in the box

[Magnus]

In hand review of the Takara version:

http://shishioh.info/TF_MPM-03_BUMBLEBEE.php

Looks the same just a few japanese text in the box

It could just be the lighting, but the colours seem different: the dark grey looks a lot darker, almost black, and the plastic in the eyes looks to be a light blue as opposed to colourless with blue paint.

[Trent]

Bloody hell!

Hasbro have made me actually like a movie Bumblebee figure!!!

Recommended, surprisingly :eek:

[ampoldj]

It could just be the lighting, but the colours seem different: the dark grey looks a lot darker, almost black, and the plastic in the eyes looks to be a light blue as opposed to colourless with blue paint.

Yeah it is very good lighting that was used but i reckon it is the same. From experience Takara may use that nice shiny plastic but we can't tell unless be have both versions.

[hYpNoS]

Yeah it is very good lighting that was used but i reckon it is the same. From experience Takara may use that nice shiny plastic but we can't tell unless be have both versions.

There have already been comparisons, between them both the only differences are the box (no stickers, despite some english text alot of japanese had been printed back over the warning labels and the character name), the factory tampos (on the right wing it only has the upper gm print not the lower one) and the eyes are pipped in CLEAR, no blue like the hasbro version (does light up better though).

Not only have I seen comparisons (I'll dig one out if required) but I actually own the japanese version thinking we'd never see it here (dead wrong), I quite like it but its not that big a difference, paint quality is about the same as hasbro mp bluestreak (ok but not perfection).

That and for some reason mine came with that gold chromed optimus prime leader shield, the box was double taped and out it popped, had no idea hlj was giving those away but I'm guessing it may of been added in the factory as that stuff is usually dropped loose.

[drifand]

Poor quality figure my joints were both right handed assembled, paint apps not properly done. Let down.

[GoktimusPrime]

I had a fiddle with this toy last night. It's nice but not my cup of tea.

[DaptoDog]

Transformed mine for the first time tonight. What a delightfully simple yet fun transformation! This figure exceeded my expectations, looking forward to MPM-04 now.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I struggled a bit with the car panels staying together. But bot mode was truly where the figure shined, with everything being securely tabbed into place.

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't own this toy but I've seen someone else's IRL and had a bit of a fiddle with it. There are a lot of nice features to this toy which others have mentioned, but I found the one disappointing element to be this...
http://i.imgur.com/ZcA1lnFm.jpg
...the amount of mass sitting behind the head and wedged between the shoulders and where the door-wings are. Was there no way that they could've done some more MP trickery to compact this further? (similar to what we saw with toys like MP Bumblebee and Ratchethide?) :confused:

The Movie MPs aren't really my thing though. :o

[Ralph Wiggum]

Can't see how they could've achieved it, much like MP Hotrod with his similar backpack.

[SharkyMcShark]

I need to sit down and have a good fidget with mine.

I bought it while on holidays and flipped it between modes a few times in my hotel room.

The joints for articulation on mine were all fine but a couple of the pin joints holding armour flaps on were very loose. The yellows were also quite mismatched across the different surfaces of the figure, and otherwise seemed quite light for the character. My feeling was that it should have been a slightly deeper shade of yellow.

Aside from that it seemed to be a fairly good figure.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

My feeling was that it should have been a slightly deeper shade of yellow.

That's been the main put off foe me. The plastic looks a little too Butterbee for my liking and a bit too pastic-y If you know what I mean.
What the general colour consensus of those who have him?
On the plus side though, I know they'll release this again and again and again, so I can wait until one I like comes along.

[GoktimusPrime]

It could be the photography lighting because when I saw this toy IRL it didn't look so canary yellow. With highly detailed licensed vehicles like these the colours are often dictated or require approval by the motor vehicle company, because they'll want the colours to match the vehicles IRL. This is why BT Tracks was initially yellow.

[SharkyMcShark]

It could be the photography lighting because when I saw this toy IRL it didn't look so canary yellow. With highly detailed licensed vehicles like these the colours are often dictated or require approval by the motor vehicle company, because they'll want the colours to match the vehicles IRL. This is why BT Tracks was initially yellow.

I'm not a car colour guy but I own this figure and my first thought on removing it from the box was that the yellow needed to be a few shades closer to orange to be accurate.

[Magnus]

It could be the photography lighting because when I saw this toy IRL it didn't look so canary yellow. With highly detailed licensed vehicles like these the colours are often dictated or require approval by the motor vehicle company, because they'll want the colours to match the vehicles IRL. This is why BT Tracks was initially yellow.

I'll readily admit my lighting wasn't optimal; looking at my Bumblebee right now, his yellow is a bit darker than most of my photos. A different camera could also affect how he looks in a photo.

In comparing the figure to the Camaro used in the 2007 movie, it doesn't help that the colour of the car changes depending on the lighting and the shot. In some photos it has an orange tint to it, in others it looks metallic, like a bright gold.

It's unknown how specific the licensor - Chevrolet - is with Bumblebee's colours. Hasbro have had more than a few shades of yellow with Bumblebees over the years. That and the black and grey repaints (and 2007's Cliffjumper) seem to imply that Chevrolet aren't too fussy with the colours.

[Bumbleb33]

Absolutely gorgeous, transformation is intuitive and fun, face sculpt is bang on for movie likeness, light piping in head and headlights is spectacular, variation in plastic thickness means his pupil is darker than his iris!
Blaster arm works well, poseability, ratchets all fantastic.
I particularly love how the rear bumper and brake lights collapse to form his calf.
Just buy it :)

[bowspearer]

transformation is intuitive

Completely disagree. This is a transformation that can definitely have you reaching for the instructions the first time you do it. Once you've done it once though, it is really straightforward.

My one gripe with the figure is that the instructions made no mention of the storage feature for the Stinger blaster in car mode. That sort of thing shouldn't be missed in instructions for a premium figure.