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!!!
