View Poll Results: Worth buying?

Voters
29. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes

    18 62.07%
  • Maybe if...

    3 10.34%
  • No

    1 3.45%
  • Doesn't interest me

    7 24.14%
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 25

Thread: Toy review - MPM3 Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee

  1. #1
    Join Date
    19th May 2010
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    890

    Default Toy review - MPM3 Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee

    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.



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

    Vehicle mode



    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.





    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.



    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







    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.



    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.



    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.



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





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

    Verdict



    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

  2. #2
    Join Date
    4th May 2015
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    793

    Default

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

  3. #3
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney NSW
    Posts
    37,637

    Default

    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.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    5th Feb 2010
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    3,270

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
    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.
    I'm really just here for the free food and open bar.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    25th May 2010
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    1,385

    Default

    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.

  6. #6
    drifand is offline Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
    Join Date
    20th Jul 2013
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,331

    Default

    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.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    31st Jul 2008
    Location
    Launceston
    Posts
    1,277

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
    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.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    28th Jan 2015
    Location
    ACT
    Posts
    1,438

    Default

    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

  9. #9
    Join Date
    19th May 2010
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    890

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ampoldj View Post
    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.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    7th Mar 2012
    Location
    The Moon
    Posts
    6,605

    Default

    Bloody hell!

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

    Recommended, surprisingly
    Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •