Masterpiece Bumblebee and...?

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Rhymus
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Masterpiece Bumblebee and...?

Post by Rhymus »

According to http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Masterpiece , 2014 will bring us a Masterpiece Bumblebee! (Well, Bumble, anyway.)

Does this mean Volkswagen has finally given in (or at least allowed an exception to) their refusal to license the Beetle to Hasbro/TakaraTomy for the Transformers toyline?

Now, thus far, Masterpiece figures seem to include a number of accessories depicting gadgets related to the character. For example, Optimus Prime comes with the Matrix, his axe, his rifle, and an appropriately-scaled Megatron.

So what would/should come with Bumblebee? The jetpack he used in the G1 cartoon two-part episode "Dinobot Island"? His Action Master's Heli-pack? His Classics toy's Wave Crusher? (The phrase "Float like a Bumblebee" suddenly comes to mind...)

Also, which of the following do you think Hasbro and/or TakaraTomy are actually going to release, and in what order? How would you rank them in terms of which you want most/least, and in what order would you buy them (compared to what order you think they'll go on sale, and compared to the order of which you want the most)?

Bumblebee

Goldbug

red "Bumblebee"

Cliffjumper as a VW Beetle?

Hubcap as a VW Beetle?

Bumper as a VW Beetle?

Glyph

Volks

Bug Bite

various other G1 Mini-Vehicles, Throttlebots, and similar/homage characters*, reimagined as VW Beetles?

*from http://tfwiki.net/wiki/65356-9292-346[quote]The fuel efficient 65356-9292-346 body shell is the most popular one on Cybertron among Autobots in the Malgus universal stream.

Known wearers
"AlbinoBumbleBee"
Bumblebee
Bumblebee (SG Animated)
Bumper
Carrera
Chase
Cliffjumper
Freeway
Furão
Glyph
Hubcap
Moscardo
Rapier
Searchlight
Sedan
Tap-Out
Volks
Wasp[/quote]

p.s.--Do you expect/want any of them to have different heads than Masterpiece Bumble(bee)?
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Post by Roadbuster »

I'm planning on getting the MP Bumblebee. As far as a repaint into Cliffjumper is concerned, I think they're (Takara) going after the Porsche license next so they can also do Jazz. If that's the case I'll wait. And yeah, they'd have to have different heads for characters like Goldbug.
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Post by Jose »

I've seen too much VW Beetle in scale, so with this one, I would ask for a Bumblejumper instead. Takara-Tomy make Mazda with their Tomica series, so why not an old 323/Familia?
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Re:

Post by Rhymus »

Jose wrote:I've seen too much VW Beetle in scale, so with this one, I would ask for a Bumblejumper instead. Takara-Tomy make Mazda with their Tomica series, so why not an old 323/Familia?
"instead"? Why not "in addition"? ;-)

Jokes aside, Bumper just doesn't have the fanbase, screen time, or [whatever the comic book equivalent of "screen time" is] to get a Masterpiece for a LONG time.

That said, every time i see a Fiat 500, i think it would make a GREAT Bumblebee/Cliffjumper, much better than the not-quite-Beetles of Classics BB/CJ and the Reveal The Shield Legends. The Fiat is round enough to resemble G1 Bumblebee, square enough to resemble G1 Cliffjumper, and an accurate vehicle mode would even resemble the G1 Minicars' super-deformed proportions. (It doesn't hurt that the Fiat 500s i usually see are either yellow or red.)

Speaking of super-deformed proportions, i forgot to ask earlier: Do you want/expect Masterpiece Bumble(bee) to have a realistic vehicle mode, or a GEEWUN show-accurate super-deformed vehicle mode?
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Re: Masterpiece Bumblebee and...?

Post by Time Traveller »

Primus slag it, why do we always have to shoot for Cliffjumper being a redeco of bee? Their alt modes were designed 40 years apart! and you know how many parts their G1 toys shared? Six, as I count: Front wheel, rear wheel, front tire, rear tire, wheel pin, and back screw.

Anyway, whatever they do, I think it should be realistic. The GEEWUN cartoon portrayed them as stubby because their toys were stubby. Their toys were stubby because Takara designed them to be disguised as toy Penny Racers. That's how they fit the theme of Microchange toys like Megatron and Soundwave: their alt modes were 1:1 scale toy cars. Takara now has the opportunity to make them respectable like their larger Diaclone cousins.

I'm with you Jose, Bumblejumper needs more love. It's not going to happen, though, and here's why: the Mazda Familia 1300XG is too pedestrian. In a world of Countaches, turbo Datsuns and racing Lancias, the Autobots with the most "normal" alt-modes will never see the light of day. Look at poor Trailbreaker, or Skids... it took nearly 30 years for either of them to get new toys, because a Honda City or a Toyota Hi-Lux are not sexy. And it's a shame, because they were lovable characters. Skids even had a whole Marvel issue to himself - and even for that, they upgraded him to a much larger mini-van. Gears and Huffer see similar treatment. These characters have fans, they had personalities, but they don't turn into exotics or sports cars.

When they have a Masterpiece Bumper or Trailbreaker, I'll be next in line after Jose with my wallet open. I'll tell Trance that TFL has to carry them :)
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Re: Masterpiece Bumblebee and...?

Post by Rhymus »

Time Traveller wrote:Primus slag it, why do we always have to shoot for Cliffjumper being a redeco of bee?
There's a difference between wanting Cliffjumper to be a redeco of Bumlebee and recognizing the trend. i'm as annoyed as you are that these two rather different looking characters wind up getting such similar looking toys, especially because G1 Bumblebee has always been a serious contender for my favorite TF. (In the beginning, part of the reason i liked him so much was his cute VW Beetle mode, which always seems to get compromised when a Cliffjumper redeco is planned... or when Hasbro/TakaraTomy are drawing inspiration from the live-action movies' Bumblebee instead of pure GEEWUN.) Still, i'm happier with a Bumblebee redeco as Cliffjumper instead of a Bumblebee redeco as "Supercharged Red Mode Hate Plague Bumblebee"--or worse, a Bumblebee redeco "Now with four skinny black racing stripes instead of two wide ones!"

That being said, i don't want the Fiat Bumblebee and Cliffjumper BECAUSE i want the two characters to share a mold; i just see the Fiat and think it fits both characters so well. Actually, i barely even see the Fiat at all: When a yellow Fiat 500 drives by, i don't see a Fiat; i see Bumblebee. When a red Fiat 500 drives by, i don't see a Fiat; i see Cliffjumper.

But you know what else would be cool? How about a Masterpiece Bumblebee based on the way Bumblebee looks in IDW's "Infiltration"?
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Re: Masterpiece Bumblebee and...?

Post by Time Traveller »

[quote=Rhymus] a Bumblebee redeco as "Supercharged Red Mode Hate Plague Bumblebee"--or worse, a Bumblebee redeco "Now with four skinny black racing stripes instead of two wide ones!"[/quote]

Yeah, but you know we're going to get that anyway.

I do like the IDW Bumblebee design, but he wouldn't really fit the Masterpiece theme of "making the coolest, most accurate version of the character ever" for G1 characters (we'll ignore the MPM versions of leader Screamer and Bee from HFTD).
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