The Energon Pub

Nice write up ‘Densh!! He’s a pass for me, but I’m sure the full Beast Wars fans will not be able to pass on this guy..he looks too good!!

So the question is, how does all this make you feel about Megatron? He looks even better, costs even more, and I doubt his transformation is much different than the original figure plus a bunch more extra folds to hide/move the kibble better.

You still in?

shajaki wrote:So the question is, how does all this make you feel about Megatron? He looks even better, costs even more, and I doubt his transformation is much different than the original figure plus a bunch more extra folds to hide/move the kibble better.

You still in?

I dunno. I have a pre order locked in, and plenty of time to make a decision, but damn, it's a really hard price to justify.

Some new thangs

Aww snap!!

Oh. What's that tiny Inferno?
Never heard of it. Looks interesting.

Cobotron wrote:Oh. What's that tiny Inferno?
Never heard of it. Looks interesting.

MagicSquare!! They make the super G1 looking legends class figures!! Grapple is in there too!

The joy they have reminds me of those old happy meal transformers if my childhood.

I may have to hit up McDs for some lunch this week!!

Don't do it Cram!!!!!
FYI, you can buy the happy meal toys without the happy meal.

Fun pic, Densh!
Looks like you got some fun little rascals to play with.

Cobotron wrote:Don't do it Cram!!!!!
FYI, you can buy the happy meal toys without the happy meal.

WHAT?!

Huzzah!!

I've got a couple of bugs on my table.....












I find the massive differences in robot mode, yet huge similarities in car mode between SS and MP Bees fascinating.

Hmm. Yes. Quite.

Even though the movie is about 2 months away, The Bumblebee Movie toys are showing up everywhere. Thanks to The Chosen Prime, I've gotten my hands on the Masterpiece entry from this film, MPM-7 (VW) Bumblebee.







He, as is to be expected from the MP line, quite a good looking figure. I'll be honest, due to my experiences with the other MPM figures, my expectations here were not very high. I'm happy to report that this figure has quite easily blown them out of the water. This is a very solid figure, with tight joints, and a tight fitting transformation that holds together well. After the massive disappointment that the Studio Series VW Bee proved to be, the solidness of this guy is a breath of fresh air. I originally planned on doing a few comparasion shots between MP and SS figures, but the truth is, I've come to hate the SS figure so much that I didn't want to subject myself to the effort of tying to get car parts to line up, so I just took one picture.



Another thing about this figure, is how you can see the very subtle yet still there design change between the Bee movie, and the previous 5. It stands out a little bit more to me in these group shots of the MPM figures so far.




To me, his design is just cleaner, with less exposed "alien robot" inner mechanical workings. I dunno if I'm putting that into words right, but that is what I'm working on for now.

Anywho, lets talk car mode. This Bee is, of course, his classic VW 'bug". While you young kids could probably care less, us crotchety old folks love this throw back to the '80s. I do feel that the scale is a tad on the large size for a bug, but so be it. It looks good enough that I don't care.



The underside is clean enough, but has several low hanging parts, so clearance is almost non existent. Not an issue for me, but if you like to make your MP cars go vroom vroom on the floor, you'll have some issues.



Bumblebee comes with only three accesories: his gattling gun hand, his sword, and his battle mask.





The face mask switch mechanism is very simple. Just lift up the center of the top of his scalp, pull of the upper part of his head, and replace with the mask. No muss, no fuss.



If you've suffered through one of my reviews before, you'll know that a feature that matters to me is weapon/accessory storage. VW Bee has it, though its not concealed in anyway.





Yeah, it isn't pretty, but at least weapons are harder to lose. Speaking of weapons, lets not forget his nipple missile racks!



Now on to the transformation. I said before that it is quite different than SS, and that is true in this sense as well as overall feel. This Bee does a great job at rotating and moving parts aound to get them to properly compact and fit together in car mode. One thing I really like is how the the shoulders roll down, then swivel to the back so they can line up along the back of his legs.



Yeah, its not a great pic, but I'll be honest with you. Its getting late, I'm a couple beers in, and the Notre Dame game is on. My picture taking skills, such as they are, are rapidly declining. That said, there are a couple of issues I have with this figure in the transformation department. One, is the the front bumper. It isn't secured, and just 'clips' on, which means it pops off extremely easy.



I'm giving serious though to maybe gluing it in place, as it drives me nuts.

The other issue I have are the two side panels that are attached to his arms.



The piece in question is the one directly above my thumb. It may not look like it, but getting it to fit into place is a bitch and a half. It can be done, of course, but takes far more wiggling and finagling than it has any right to.

Over all, I really love this figure. While it doesn't have a ton of die cast, it is there, and give this smaller figure some nice heft. He does a good job of giving Bumblebee that "young bot" feel that this character has traditionally had, and this movie appears to be giving focus to. Again, you can see that clear difference when you stand him next to Camero Bee.



Another thing that bears mentioning, is the instructions. Over the last several years, it really feels like Hasbro has adopted a "ah, **** it" approach to printing out instructions. By that I mean that they suck, are hard to read (dark print on dark print), leave out steps, and just flat out suck. The set with this bee feel much better. There is actually some color on them, and its easier to make out some of the trickier steps.



So to close it up, if you are a fan of Masterpiece figures, if you like the movie style figures, if you like Bumblebee, go get this figure. I honestly don't think you will be disappointed.

Very nice write up ‘Densh!! I’m still not sure if I’m just gonna stick to the mainline SS releases and forego this MPM as I’ve kinda swung that way as of late with my collecting by passing on most MPs. I’m actually having a hard time remembering the last MP I picked up!! I think my only nit-pick on this guy is alt mode size compared to MPM Camaro Bumblebee. Bot mode looks great, and I wish there was clearance to vroom!!

I haven't bought any of the Studio Series figures because I'm over the movie figures.

But there's a part of me that would like a modern VW Bug Bumblebee, but it's just so hard to look at that robot mode and imagine that transforms into a VW.

All you've done is confuse me on whether to get this figure or not, thanks IH.

Burn wrote:
All you've done is confuse me on whether to get this figure or not, thanks IH.

Its what I'm here for!



In other news, this dude was delivered to my door yesterday:



I'm not impressed. Not a bad figure by any means, but, I feel a bit let down not that he is in hand.



In good news, I finally made some progress on voltron.




Also, my desire to keep SS boxes is at war with my desire to simplify the Robot Room.

Voltron looks DOOOOOPE!
I kinda forgot LEGOS are your other drug of choice.

Boxes, shmoxes! You don't need all that dang cardboard in your life!

DON'T YOU DARE GET RID OF THAT CARDBOARD!!!!!!!!!!

Also, Voltron is MASSIVE!! Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebus!! Do you have the other Classic Defender combining one? I still need to get all 4 limbs.

Also, I like Optimus Primal separated in to two bots. He also needs more weapons. After I popped out that pin I liked him much better.

THAT is a giant frikkin Voltron!

After discussions, we decided to have a family movie date to Bumblebee!





But first, some grub.

Ironhidensh wrote:After discussions, we decided to have a family movie date to Bumblebee!





But first, some grub.

Was it any good?

N! It was THE BEST!! It turns out that Ironhidensh saw it yesterday, Carytheone saw it yesterday, and I saw it yesterday!! I know Cary mentioned he’d see it in theaters again, so would I. I loved the Witwicky family comedy, but this movie hits ALL of the things.