MP45 Bumblebee 2.0 (cartoon version)

[Tha_Phantom]

Man, the reaction to this has been brutal, but I get it, the feet and back are far from great. On the other hand, they're going for slavish cartoon accuracy and all that mass (mess?) has to go somewhere to get the right bot proportions.

Inb4 "what episode of the cartoon did Bee have a big backpack and feet spurs"

[MayzaPrime]

I think it has to be mis-transformed. Surely the feet and back kibble fold in better than what is being displayed.

If not... then I am happy to display it in vehicle mode

[DaptoDog]

I think it has to be mis-transformed. Surely the feet and back kibble fold in better than what is being displayed.

If not... then I am happy to display it in vehicle mode

I can't embed the photos on my phone but these pics attached suggest it has been mistransformed. The backpack doesn't look nearly as bad from the back at least.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201165/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201169/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201164/

I'm reserving judgement until we see the proper pictures. However, there is speculation that this will lead to a proper Minibot MP subline with Cliffjumper up next. If this is true I can forgive Bumblebee V2 not being perfect.

[MayzaPrime]

I can't embed the photos on my phone but these pics attached suggest it has been mistransformed. The backpack doesn't look nearly as bad from the back at least.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201165/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201169/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201164/

I'm reserving judgement until we see the proper pictures. However, there is speculation that this will lead to a proper Minibot MP subline with Cliffjumper up next. If this is true I can forgive Bumblebee V2 not being perfect.

Well that would be awesome if we get the rest of the Mini-bots.

[KELPIE]

Love the Alt mode.

Bot mode... front on it looks great and I'd be interested to see what the alternate head looks like. Is it a toy accurate face plate, or like an OP v3, where there are differences in design across the various seasons.

$150 is a lot of moolah though. Have to think about it since I would likely be keeping him in alt mode next to the bot of the previous release.

[High_Q]

There are more pics of both modes in different angles.

I'd be interested to see what the alternate head looks like

From the latest images, it's just the expressionless face, plus two alternate expressions. No face plate option shown but maybe the text provides more information.

[DELTAprime]

I can't embed the photos on my phone but these pics attached suggest it has been mistransformed. The backpack doesn't look nearly as bad from the back at least.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201165/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201169/
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attac...jpeg.28201164/

I'm reserving judgement until we see the proper pictures. However, there is speculation that this will lead to a proper Minibot MP subline with Cliffjumper up next. If this is true I can forgive Bumblebee V2 not being perfect.

That picture makes the backpack look good, still not cartoon accurate, but not the mess that's on show at the Wonder Fest.

[griffin]

However, there is speculation that this will lead to a proper Minibot MP subline with Cliffjumper up next. If this is true I can forgive Bumblebee V2 not being perfect.

That goes back to my earlier comment that the only reason they would do a chibi Bumblebee would be to give us the base frame for Cliffjumper, Hubcap and Bumper... but the problem though, people might be willing to shell out $150 for a primary character like Bumblebee, but half that would buy Cliffjumper at that price, and half of that again would also be willing to spend that much on obscure minibots like Hubcap and Bumper. There is just so much redeco potential for this mould now that it is more accurate to the original Bumblebee toy (this one would make more sense than the first MP Bee in blue, black, green, etc to homage the South American and BotCon redecos of the original Bumblebee toy)... I'd buy one in every colour of the rainbow if the price was half what is being speculated (and it should be, since the earlier Autobot Cars that are bigger, used to be about AU$80)

To just see how over-priced this Bumblebee is at 13,000yen, this list has the various Autobot Cars since the first one in 2012, and any Masterpiece toys since then that were 13,000yen or less.
The prices didn't really start to skyrocket fast until the anime redecos in 2017 (especially the larger MPs that aren't on this list), and those anime redecos were limited edition TakaraTomyMall exclusives, which justifies a price increase to cover the cost of the smaller run. But then after that, the regular release toys (even mere redecos) were costing just as much. So either the regular release toys are now being done in similar small numbers as the exclusives, or TakaraTomy felt that if people were happy to pay exclusives prices, then why not use them on the regular toys as well.

It's hard to believe that this tiny new Bumblebee is about the same price or more, than the much larger Seeker Jet mould, or even the MP-10 cab (like Black Convoy).

2012
- - MP11 - Coronation Starscream (remould - Decep) 13600yen
- - MP11S - Sunstorm (redeco - Decep) 13600yen
- - MP12 - Lambor/Sideswipe (new - Auto) 6000yen (7000yen for Amazon.jp excl version)
2013
- - MP10B - Black Convoy (MP-10 redeco, no Trailer - Decep) 13,400yen
- - MP17 - Prowl (new -Auto) 6,000yen
- - MP18 -Bluestreak (remould Prowl - Auto) 6,000yen
- - MP19 - Smokescreen (remould Prowl - Auto) 6,800yen
2014
- - MP12G - Gen2 Sideswipe (redeco w/ new accessories and head - Auto) (6,800yen)
- - MP20 - Wheeljack (new - Auto) (6,500yen)
- - MP21 - Bumblebee (new - Auto) (6,500yen)
2015
- - MP-23 - Exhaust (redeco Wheeljack) (7,000yen)
- - MP-21G - Gen2 Gold Bumble (Bumblebee) (redeco with Jetpack (5,500yen)
- - MP-18B - Bluestreak (blue redeco Streak) (TakaraTomyMall excl & Hasbro HK) (8,000yen)
- - MP-25 - Tracks (new) (7,500yen)
- - MP-26 - Road Rage (remoulded Tracks) (7,000yen)
- - MP-21R - Red Bumble (redeco - Satellite Store exclusive in Japan - plus Asia release) (5500yen)
- - MP-14C - Clampdown (redeco Red Alert - TakaraTomyMall exclusive in Japan of 2000 units - plus HK release) (8,000yen)
2016
--- MP-27 - Ironhide (10,000yen)
--- MP-28 - Hot Rodimus (Hotrod) (8,000yen)
--- MP-29 - Laserwave (Shockwave) - (12,000yen)
--- MP-30 - Ratchet (remould Ironhide) - (10,000yen)
--- MP-25L - Loudpedal (black redeco Tracks w/ redeco Raoul & Microman Blaster) (Tokyo Toy Show excl) - (8,500yen)
--- MP-14+ - (Red) Alert Anime Colour Edition (minor redeco) TakaraTomyMall exclusive - (8,400yen)
--- MP-32 - (Beast) Convoy (Optimus Primal) - (11,000yen)
--- MP-33 - Inferno - (13,000yen)
2017
--- MP-34 - Cheetor (7,000yen)
--- MP-35 - Grapple (remould Inferno) (13,000yen)
--- MP-11 - Starscream (reissue) (14,040yen)
--- MP-37 - Artfire (redeco Inferno) w/ Nightstick (new) (12,000yen)
--- MP-38 - Optimus Primal (redeco Beast Convoy in toy colours) (11,000yen)
--- MPM-3 - (Movie) Bumblebee (new - similar to Hasbro version) - (9700yen)
--- MP-12+ - Lambor/Sideswipe (anime minor redeco) - (8500yen)
--- MP-39 - Sunstreaker (new) - (12,000yen)
--- MP-10B - Black Convoy (Reissue - cab only) - (12,800yen)
2018
--- MP-40 - Targetmaster Hot Rodimus (minor redeco with new Targetmaster gun) - (9,000yen)
--- MP-21 - Bumble(bee) (reissue) - (5500yen)
--- MPM-5 - Barricade - (10,000yen)
--- MP-34S - Shadow Panther (redeco Cheetor w/ new head & accessories - TakaraTomyMall exclusive) - (8600yen)
--- MP-17+ - Prowl (Anime Edition) (minor redeco - TakaraTomyMall exclusive) - (9200yen)
--- MP-42 - Cordon (white "Diaclone" Sunstreaker) - (14,000yen)
--- MPM-07 - Bumblebee (new - VW) - (10,000yen)
2019
--- MP-45 Bumblebee - 13,000 Yen

[Trent]

Man, the reaction to this has been brutal, but I get it, the feet and back are far from great. On the other hand, they're going for slavish cartoon accuracy and all that mass (mess?) has to go somewhere to get the right bot proportions.

Inb4 "what episode of the cartoon did Bee have a big backpack and feet spurs"

I would debate the cartoon accuracy because of all the visible folded panels. I mean, at a quick glance this looks pretty good but the more time I spend looking at it the more I think it doesn’t even really achieve the toon accurate look.

[Tha_Phantom]

at a quick glance this looks pretty good but the more time I spend looking at it the more I think it doesn’t even really achieve the toon accurate look.

You know what, I'm getting less and less enthusiastic for it myself and I'm a huge Bee fan (in case my avatar didn't already give that away ).
I was hyped when a new Bee was announced and when I saw the first blurry pic and couple of pics I was still hyped, but yeah, kinda just ordering out of obligation now.