The Energon Pub

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Alright, so I got MPM-7 Bumblebee last week, and I gotta blab about him for a bit.

I'm gonna get the negative right out of the way first: transformation to alt mode is rough and a bit fiddly in the back end. back to robot mode is good, but alt mode is a challenge at times.

Alright, that's all for negatives. The positives shall we?

This figure is fantastic! He is right there with Barricade with how overall good he is, and his robot mode is his shining point. He is so solid! And heavy! all that die cast makes its presence felt. the weapons are really fun, and being an 80's kid Bumblebee, he can pull off some awesome dance moves and some awesome battle moves. Accessories are great, and they feel the best of the MPMs so far.

Overall, highly recommend. now enjoy some pics







now DANCE

[galvatron00]

Nice write up D-Max!

Here's my thoughts..

I noticed last week that MPM-7 was going to be available again on Amazon in the next few weeks, but I was curious as to the "used" listings that were on there. Amazon Warehouse deals had all of them, to varying degrees of description of possible issues. I saw two that were $59.99 with "damaged box" and "blemish over 1" on back or bottom of item". $20 off sounded fine, so I figured I'd take a shot on it and if it was that bad I'd return it but at least I'd get a feel for the figure and/or if I'd want to get a "perfect" one.

He arrived yesterday.


Minor crunch on the middle back of the box. Not so bad.


Out of the package, HE'S STILL PLASTIC TAG THINGY HELD IN PLACE?!?! Did they even take him out?! The box was clearly carefully retaped on the one side..I think?!




Did they think the black pinstripe on his hood was a blemish and they returned it?! I could not find anything wrong at all!!

I recently recommended to Cobotron that he shouldn't use instructions on his MP36+, "let the force guide you". Carytheone then said "you do it". So I did! When I watch reviews I skip over the transformation parts as I'm just interested in how it feels and looks in alt and bot modes. It also helps that I'm only typically listening to them as I'm usually at work when I catch up on them, so I hear positives and negatives and such.

This transformation, was AMAZING!! I mean sure, it was like "wait, how does this work?" for some parts but holy cats, I haven't had this much fun figuring out where everything goes in a loooooooooong time. I did this while at work, and I'm guessing if I had uninterrupted time it would be under 20 minutes the first time if I wasn't dazzled by the whole spectacle of it all. I think I had 35-ish minutes of touch time to get it in to alt mode.

In this shot, you'll see my only complaint, the front bumper. I'm gluing it in place. Probably..


But man, did it come together! The last 5 minutes was making sure everything tabbed in to place and it rolled evenly, which I'm proud to say it does just fine!!


Look at that alt mode.



And movie accurate visible head!!


There are SO MANY little areas that guide you on how to transform this figure. Cut-out sections the size for specific parts. Tabs and slots that line up logically. Pins to indicate rotating sections. The clues are everywhere, and I can't wait to do it again.

As a last thing to do, I checked the instructions out this morning. Apparently you are supposed to rotated the head panel backwards so he'd be looking out of the front of the car under the bonnet. Hilarious. I'll take visible head syndrome.

This is my favorite $60 figure. And I'd probably be happy at $80 but I feel like I got this one at a steal considering absolutely nothing is wrong anywhere on the figure. It's ultra clean. Do I wish the paint blended on that lower panel under the rear passenger windows on each side? Sure. Do I wish he had better head articulation and an ab crunch and a little more knee bend? Definitely. Is this my favorite Bumblebee that I own, including the ones I lovingly customized, or even my G2 minicar or G1 Pretender? Yep. That's how good he is.

I CAN'T STOP ZOOMING HIM AROUND MY DESK!!!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Bee is such a fun mold, I wish more people appreciated how awesome he is

[galvatron00]

He’s amazing D-Max!! I’m glad I finally got a hold of him!! I’ve also heard good things about MPM Barricade..

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Bee is such a fun mold, I wish more people appreciated how awesome he is

He’s amazing D-Max!! I’m glad I finally got a hold of him!! I’ve also heard good things about MPM Barricade..

He's great too! I think Barricade is the overall best MPM figure to date

[william-james88]

Bee is such a fun mold, I wish more people appreciated how awesome he is

He’s amazing D-Max!! I’m glad I finally got a hold of him!! I’ve also heard good things about MPM Barricade..

He's great too! I think Barricade is the overall best MPM figure to date

Agreed 100%

[galvatron00]

Am I this late to the party, or have I not been paying attention..I just saw some teeth and noticed an extra wiggle..

FLIPPIN' MPM-7 HAS TWO KNEE JOINTS?! ONE AT THE KNEE AND THEN ONE IN THE THIGH?! FIGURE OF THE YEAR!!!!!



YEAH!!!!


EDIT: I just went through 7 YouTubers (clicked to their articulation reviews) to see if any of them mentioned it. The last one I got to, Prime vs Prime, does mention it. So it's not new, but it's something I did not know at all!

[Emerje]

Bee is such a fun mold, I wish more people appreciated how awesome he is

They can appreciate him later AFTER I finally get around to buying one when the price drops further.

Emerje

[Nathaniel Prime]

I should probably have him in hand before judging him, but a few things about him bother me, those being the wheels on his wings sticking out way to far for my tastes, and I think I prefer the chest of the Studio Series version. Other than that, I really like him, he manages his kibble better than other versions, and his articulation is superb. I also really like his look too.

[galvatron00]

@Nathaniel Prime, I had him TF’d wrong! The wheels rotate up a little more and can fold back further with the door wings. I’ll try to snap a pic at some point to show what I mean. Basically, it makes him look better.

I really can’t recommend this guy enough. Each time I pick him up I find something new. It was a great experience not using the instructions and just going with the flow. Sure I had to back track a few times and start over in areas but it was worth it!! And yesterday finding that extra hinge for the wheels and the knee joint in the thigh?! Crazy awesome.

[-Kanrabat-]

I just can't go over the fact that this MP have a massive backpack akin to a normal movie figure. At least the first MP bee dealt with that masterfully.
So I may just as well save money and get the SS version. Because despite the paint and diecast parts, this MP don't bring anything revolutionary or new.

[galvatron00]

@Kanrabat: I’m telling you, the transformation is amazing and fun. I haven’t had this much fun with a figure in a long time, and he’s set the new bar for me. Things I have that don’t live up to it are leaving my collection, that’s how good it is!!

[-Kanrabat-]

@Kanrabat: I’m telling you, the transformation is amazing and fun. I haven’t had this much fun with a figure in a long time, and he’s set the new bar for me. Things I have that don’t live up to it are leaving my collection, that’s how good it is!!

To be honest, I'd definitely prefer having this over the SS one. Unfortunately TrU is now back to their general assholery toward not bringing any MPs in Quebec for reasons. So I won't pay the price to import this. However, it can be a nice Mandrake tag-along if I order anything. It's ironically cheaper to buy it over there than at TrU with taxes.

[galvatron00]

@Kanrabat: I’m telling you, the transformation is amazing and fun. I haven’t had this much fun with a figure in a long time, and he’s set the new bar for me. Things I have that don’t live up to it are leaving my collection, that’s how good it is!!

To be honest, I'd definitely prefer having this over the SS one. Unfortunately TrU is now back to their general assholery toward not bringing any MPs in Quebec for reasons. So I won't pay the price to import this. However, it can be a nice Mandrake tag-along if I order anything. It's ironically cheaper to buy it over there than at TrU with taxes.

I knew if I got the SS I’d be painting it up immediately, with this one I’m thinking about where to splash some gunmetal/silver mix.

ALSO! I picked him up on Amazon as a Warehouse deal for $59.99 USD before tax, so $63 out the door? Totes worth it considering whoever returned it didn’t realize there was nothing wrong with him, so at $60 it’s a definite recommend.

I’m all for saving money, so definitely get where you’re coming from!!

[-Kanrabat-]

ALSO! I picked him up on Amazon as a Warehouse deal for $59.99 USD before tax, so $63 out the door? Totes worth it considering whoever returned it didn’t realize there was nothing wrong with him, so at $60 it’s a definite recommend.

As a Canadian, that 60$US ammount to over 9000$. Add shipping and sureshot import duties and it get pretty hefty. On the Mandrake side, it's 6k yen plus another 2K yen in shipping so it's not really better. At least I never had to pay any taxes from them and I can add a few things in that 2k yen shipping box. I'm on the fence on that MP Bug Bee. But maybe I'll luck myself on a used one eventually.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Believe me, MPM-7 is far far far better than the SS version. This one actually works, is more posable, more fun, tighter, and heavier. It's very much worth the grab

[galvatron00]

This dang bot. He's so wonderful. Messing around with him last night, the only thing I wish is that they had the weapons stored under the vehicle in alt mode. That is honestly the only complaint I have with him now that I've had him for a few months. I don't even care about the door/front tire wings.

[Ironhidensh]

I'm glad you enjoy him! If I remember right, you were a bit hesitant to get this one, so its doubly awesome you like him!

[galvatron00]

He's my new standard Irohidensh!! I shipped off 84 figures to TFL recently that didn't fit that standard for me anymore. None of them were ones you were interested in. Probably..

[william-james88]

He's my new standard Irohidensh!! I shipped off 84 figures to TFL recently that didn't fit that standard for me anymore. None of them were ones you were interested in. Probably..

What's TFL?

[Nathaniel Prime]

He's my new standard Irohidensh!! I shipped off 84 figures to TFL recently that didn't fit that standard for me anymore. None of them were ones you were interested in. Probably..

What's TFL?

Transformerland.com

[galvatron00]

Nathaniel Prime is correct WJ, TransformerLand!! Lots of things went, more than what I had listed on my dad sales thread at one time. A 43 pound box of goodness.

[Nathaniel Prime]

Nathaniel Prime is correct WJ, TransformerLand!! Lots of things went, more than what I had listed on my dad sales thread at one time. A 43 pound box of goodness.

I live 3 hours away from them, cuz they're in Gainesville, FL. I like them, they offer a good service, and they have good prices on good figures most of the time. More than a few figures I find overpriced though, and I am wondering if they buy mint condition figures for good prices

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed dealing with them

[galvatron00]

I've been a customer of theirs for years, but this was the first time selling to them. It all happened much faster than I thought and next thing I knew I was transforming almost everything to alt mode for transport!! A few items were figurines (Revoltech, Mega SCF) so I didn't need to do anything with them, but it worked out!