Review: #155
Name: Soundwave w/ Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Frenzy, Rumble and Ravage
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2013
Size Class: Masterpiece (MP-02)
Variations: repaint of the Japanese releases MP-13, MP-15 and MP-16 with minor differences
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES:
First of all... it's Soundwave!!! I still find it hard to believe that they actually made a Masterpiece rendition of this iconic character. Not to mention that Hasbro ported over pretty much an exact copy of the Japanese version. Just note, that this Masterpiece review breaks the record for the longest review I have done... seems like it's a trend of Masterpiece toys... Basically, a word of warning, I have just shy of 150 pictures in this review. So, on with the packaging, for some reason or another (maybe it's to celebrate the 30th Anniversary?), Hasbro decided when to release Soundwave (and Acid Storm) in a beautiful, collector oriented box that's comparable to the Japanese version.
It looks great and it is a huge box (although it's questionable whether it needed to have been that deep). The stock pictures at the back are good and doesn't look awkward at all. It is interesting that they designated a number for him, MP-02. The packaging has a premium feel to it.
There's a bio on the left side, which is actually well-written.
He's also designated to be 9 out of the 30 toys (that are in some way or form, exclusives) that Hasbro has on their Thrilling 30 checklist. To be honest, it's stupid to have a checklist and encouraging you to collect them all, when some are so exclusive, or the core figure is a double up, that it feels like a waste of money to get.
The Hasbro version, amazingly enough, not only contains all the accessories that Soundwave came with, but the four extra tapes that was sold separately in Japan, which makes this version an absolute steal. You can get this for cheaper than you could get the MP-13 Soundwave... So, the accessories you get here (and there is a lot) are a clear energon cube, Frenzy's piledrivers and guns, Rumble's piledrivers and guns, sensor attachment, display panel and a Megatron gun, which appears to be the same that comes with MP-01 (Optimus Prime) and all its repaints.
You also get five microcassette cases, to store the five cassettes in. Although you would probably display them in robot mode, these cases are great option as stands (particularly to make Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and Ravage taller in height and more similar to Frenzy and Rumble).
They look great in their cases and builds upon the whole "robots in disguise" gimmick. So yeah, you get a crazy amount of accessories and I will endeavor to go through all the gimmicks and features of Soundwave in this review, I hope you'd enjoy!
SOUNDWAVE TAPEDECK MODE:
Well! Onto the figure itself and to get the ball rolling, Soundwave transforms into something from the past, a cassette player. Wow! Younger people these days won't even know what this thing is... There's minimal panel breaks and the look is spot on.
Overall, it is a well formed mode, although to be fair, it isn't that hard to make something transform into a box. Frankly, the G1 toy was pretty good, and so it is somewhat disappointing to see that in some ways, Masterpiece Soundwave is inferior in his tapedeck mode. As you can see, the weapons no longer form 'batteries' (at least, there's not battery cover), they just attach onto the back.
There's also this disappointing gap that you can see from the behind. Not only is it aesthetically unpleasing, it also feels weird in your hands.
It's surprising at how well the robot compacts into this mode. It's smaller than you would expect, as seen above, it's not much bigger than a Deluxe (note that Trailcutter is an undersized Deluxe). He is doused in silver and other metallic paint, thus he retains the premium feel the Masterpiece line should have. Another flaw here is that his tapedeck is actually smaller than you would like or expect. In the G1 toy, it covers a larger area (proportionally) of the face, it looks weird here.
To put this into more perspective, here he is next to a Legion class figure.
He retains a lot of detail in this mode, which is amazing. He's got like a power plug on the left, dial and generic ports and vents.
The dial can rotate, as you would expect from a real player, so that's a nice touch.
On the right are more ports and vents (exact carbon copy) and a slider.
Once again, the slider is function, you can slide it up and down, adds a little bit of play value.
The sensor accessory you get can also plug into the side as like a power adapter thingie.
But wait! There's more! You can attach Frenzy's and Rumble's piledrivers together with the sensor to (apparently) create the interface cable as seen in the Transformers: The Movie!! Okay, so it doesn't look exactly like it did in the movie, but hey, it's an optional extra that adds to the play value, so it's appreciated.
At least Hasbro didn't strip the chrome from everything. Soundwave's buttons (play, stop, record, fast forward and rewind) retain the chome goodness. The forward and rewind buttons can be depressed (spring loaded) which is nice, sadly, the other buttons are molded in, that kinda sucks. There's also a power indicator to the left.
And... of course the tapedeck can open. The button is chromed and the door is spring loaded.
You can insert any of the provided tapes (which we will get to later) into there. You can depress the black panel further in, letting you store up to three tapes in his chest (which is weird because in real life, as far as I know, you can only ever play one tape at a time). Pressing a button on his back will spring the tapes forward, one notch at a time.
I do not recommend looking at him from the underside because of the robot kibble and gaps, it's not bad mind you but because everything about this toy is so amazing, these little bits stand out.
More panels from looking at the top. Soundwave feels thicker in your hands than he should, which was necessary in order to achieve the cartoon accurate proportions in robot mode. You gotta sacrifice something somewhere until they manage to do mass-shifting in plastic form.
This tapedeck mode is still stunning and fills you with nostalgia, especially if you've ever had the pleasure of either owning a G1 Soundwave toy, watched the G1 cartoon or used one of these tape players before. The metallic paint and the amount of sculpted details and novelty play value makes this a great alternate mode.
LASERBEAK:
Before we get onto Soundwave's robot mode (although you'll still see him in robot mode between get to the robot mode section...), let's have a look at all the tapes first. First up is his most famous cassette minion, Laserbeak. The tape looks excellent, beautifully doused in silver with a touch of red, and the black outlining completes the look. He's got two spools as you'd expect. Yes, I realise that Laserbeak is upside down in the photo above but it was too late... so you'll just have to bear it.
The back loses the disguise and you can see robot parts and get an idea of how Laserbeak transforms. Of note, these microcassettes are tiny, they're the same size as the G1 versions.
For people who have no idea on how big the G1 versions are, here's Laserbeak with a Legion figure, yup, they are smaaaaaalll. This makes them that much more impressive.
Laserbeak's tape mode in Soundwave's chest.
Laserbeak's transformation is the cleverest out of the three cassette molds in this set. With the way they somehow managed to include the jetpacks within the cassette, instead of add-ons, while being so faithful to the cartoon, is astounding. Kudos to the designer, and I've read somewhere that they went through a load of revisions (something like 40? Or was it 16?) before finally settling upon this final design.
Laserbeak looks incredible here. Perfect through and through, I cannot find any design flaws. Assembly-wise... the Japanese version was notorious for stiff tail fins that could flip vertically to the figure (with some even snapping off when you used force). The Hasbro one is apparently better, but on mine, the right one is still stiff enough that I cannot get it upright without risking plastic shearing. Oh well, at least it differentiates him a bit more compared to Buzzsaw.
The head sculpt is highly detailed with yellow painted eyes and gunmetal painted beak.
Oh, Laserbeak also has the head mounted camera as seen in the cartoon! It's tiny and doesn't come out very far, but the fact that the designer decided to put it in shows how much attention to detail they put into this set.
Laserbeak is a bit smaller than Legion figures, mass-wise, but blows them out of the water in terms of engineering. Articulation isn't the best, a hinge at the base of the neck and at the head and swiveling feet is all the articulation Laserbeak has. It's hard to put more articulation on such a small figure and Laserbeak looks great enough already so you don't miss it.
Most of the engineering went into making the wings and jetpack work so Laserbeak retains a comparatively solid block as his torso. This is good as Laserbeak has so many transformation joints already that it can feel a bit fragile during transformation.
The red paint used is really rich. I'm still astounded by the amount of paint apps this guy has, Hasbro didn't cheap out here. The sculpting is also very detailed.
Laserbeak can attach to Soundwave's arm or shoulder via an inconspicuous peg on Soundwave's forearm with a corresponding slot under Laserbeak's leg. Awesome!
BUZZSAW:
Onto the next tape, who isn't as famous as Laserbeak. Buzzsaw is a yellow repaint of Laserbeak, and I believe he has the exact same paint applications as Laserbeak, except that the red is swapped out for yellow.
As it is, I am only going to post photos showing Buzzsaw from different angles and no size comparisons since... well, you saw the saw in Laserbeak's section, no point doing it again.
Buzzsaw in Soundwave's chest.
As mentioned, the sculpting is good, the swathes of rich yellow paint looks really good. I love the Decepticon symbols in the middle of the wings.
Whether you prefer Laserbeak's red or Buzzsaw's yellow is down to personal preference, this is an amazing mold. The transformation is complex for it's size but it never gets frustrating. It's intuitive, just that the small pieces may cause it to be slightly fiddly if you have big thick fingers.
The head and neck are on two joints, so you can have Buzzsaw in a crouched down about to attack look or more of a cruising around, standing at attention pose.
Buzzsaw retains the head mounted camera (carried over in the mold).
It's hard to not be impressed by Buzzsaw (for some reason, I keep typing "Buzzman", so if you see that word, know that I am talking about Buzzsaw...), and it doesn't look like it turns into a tape.
You can see the grooves underneath the feet in the photos above, used for attaching to Soundwave's forearms or shoulders.
A beautiful repaint and excellent use of the mode. The yellow is striking enough to be different from Laserbeak, and making Buzzsaw feel unique in his own way.
The two look good together.
The interaction with Soundwave is a good bonus.
FRENZY:
In keeping with the names assigned in the packaging, the blue one shall be referred to as Frenzy (although I am more of a cartoon guy, so I keep thinking he is Rumble). Anyway, Frenzy transforms into a blue tape, interesting, they used a darker blue for the middle of the cassette which clashes with the baby blue.
You can clearly see the chest sculpting on the opposite side. As expected, there are two spool holes (which are truly holes, and not just a solid mold). You don't see as much paint here as Laserbeak or Buzzsaw, Frenzy relies a lot on the natural blue plastic.
Frenzy in Soundwave's chest.
Frenzy transforms into a humanoid robot. The transformation doesn't punch you as much with it's innovation as Laserbeak, but there are a few neat elements. The thighs unfold from inside the legs. The tiny fists fold out and the joint is fairly stiff, so it can feel scary when forcing it.
A well formed robot mode overall, although the head is blocky and the torso wider and buffer than you would expect. Unfortunately, the guns are not built into the transformation, they are separate accessories that you plug into the spool holes on Frenzy's back.
One neat thing is that you can extend the torso a small bit to break the blockiness and give it a spacer. It makes Frenzy look much more athletic. One difference here compared to the Japanese version is that the silver details are silver painted instead of being chromed. It's not biggie since the paint looks just as good here.
The head sculpt looks great, Frenzy features a silver painted face and red visor, capturing the look and feel of the character perfectly. The head is on a swivel joint, which is sweet so he can turn his head side to side, and thanks to a transformation joint, look upwards (this was probably intentional).
Frenzy elongates during transformation, being the height of a typical Legion classed figure. However, he lacks the mass and due to the skinny legs, he can look a top heavy.
The articulation is excellent. The designers packed so many joints (some that aren't necessary for transformation) that it's crazy. He's got nearly the full complement of motion. He's only missing elbow swivels.
What's also nice and highlights the designer's attention to detail is that due to transformation, the legs swing down from the sides. You would have expected this means that the hips can't swing forwards and it looks that way. However, the designer added in a hinge just for that function!
As mentioned, Frenzy's guns are extras.
There are two different sized pegs which you can switch easily, one is for attaching to Frenzy's back, the other for his fists.
In cartoon fashion, Frenzy can use wield one of his guns and still keep the other on his back.
Or he can just double wield. I prefer to have them on his back though.
So, onto the next accessory and these are Frenzy's famous piledrivers. Needless to say, these are extras as well, somehow I really doubt that they could have been in-built to the transformation...
Interestingly, it comes with an attachment piece which helps store the piledrivers, and keep it together I guess.
You remember how the guns were extras? Well, to save you from losing them when Frenzy is in tape mode you can store them inside the piledrivers, neat! I guess you could always plug them into the tape mode but that'll just ruin the look.
To attach the piledrivers, you need to fold Frenzy's fist back in, and pose the arms so it's like he's showing off his muscles. You then slot the arms into the piledrivers. I always get confused over which is the left one and which is the right. However, you should feel a click as the arm secures into place. A common issue with this mold is the fact that you may get two right piledrivers or two left ones... luck of the draw.
Obviously, poseability takes a hit here as the piledrivers are huge, and it's a solid piece. It is also harder for Frenzy to balance but these tradeoffs are worthwhile. The hammers can extend, which is awesome.
This is also where all the joints come in handy, letting you reenact some classic cartoon moments in which Frenzy (or Rumble as he was called in the cartoon) starting causing earthquakes.
Last, but not least, if you don't want to use the piledrivers, and you don't want to leave them lying about, the designer has you covered. The two spool holes on his back and the gap left from where the head stores in cassette mode? Well, you can plug the piledrivers onto his back!
Okay, it doesn't look the best and if you do this, the you need to position the legs since Frenzy can't stand straight up anymore. At least it causes not stability issues since the piledrivers act as a third leg. Overall, this is another solid cassette tape, the fact that he's so small, reinforces the amazingness of the figure.
RUMBLE:
Next up, the other red cassette tape in the set, Rumble! The red is nowhere as rich as Laserbeak purely because it's red plastic. Like Buzzsaw was to Laserbeak, Rumble is to Frenzy. I believe their paint masks are exactly the same, just that different colors were used.
One of the better things about Rumble is that the two primary colors are black and red, they clash in a good way, complementing each other. Whereas Frenzy was two shades of blue, they were similar enough for Frenzy to feel like one big solid blue block.
Rumble in Soundwave's chest...
As Rumble is a straight repaint, the transformation stays the same. Rumble also keeps the exact same accessories so you'll have to add the two silver painted guns on his back.
Nothing else is different other than the colors, therefore Rumble has a good robot mode.
The chest are painted gold instead. Like Frenzy, the Japanese version of Rumble had gold chrome instead. I guess at least it won't chip as easily on this Hasbro version.
The head sculpt is good, the black helmet contrasts with the silver face and red visor much better than Frenzy's blue.
Poseability stays the same, that is, it is great.
He looks good in a variety of poses. The balljointed feet helps with balance although they are a bit flat looking.
Rumble's piledrivers are red (naturally), you can still store his guns in there.
The red cap is there as well.
And slotting the piledrivers into Rumble's arms...
Once attached, the arms has a more restricted range of motion, not to mention some balancing issues. For example, you can't really point both his piledrivers in front otherwise he will keel over.
Rumble isn't really famous for his piledriving ability (I don't think he ever used it in the cartoon, he just had this sonic attach) but it's a nice bonus nonetheless.
A shot of the back showing the two spool holes and gap where his head stores in.
Attaching the piledrivers into his back will force his legs to be set at an angle but also greatly stabilizes him.
A shot of him in comparison with Frenzy, they complement each other well.
RAVAGE:
Phew, finally, we get to the last cassette, Ravage, the third unique mold in this set. He is a black and silver cassette.
He is usually considered as not as good as his brethren since he is not as cleverly designed. The only thing that I feel that could have been improved is that in cassette mode, I wished that they could have filled the gap better like the other tapes. Ravage has a gap in the middle (when I first took it out I was surprised at that gap), these tapes are small enough already without a gap making it feel even less substantial.
Ravage also has a tendency to get caught in Soundwave's chest, but it's easy to get him back out if you have some fingernails.
Transformation is the most complex since there are a lot of small and thing pieces that move and then snap together, it can get a bit frightening the first time around. After all that fiddling, you get a robotic jaguar, what's pretty sweet is that his hip cannons are inbuilt this time around instead of being extra accessories.
Ravage is well formed on the whole, but there could be areas of improvement. The torso is a bit slim, the tail really short and unnatural and while I have no complaints about the front legs, the rear legs feel like they could have used some extra bulk.
It's hard to make out all the sculpted details amongst the black plastic, the eyes are also painted red. An interesting part of his transformation is that his nose is formed by a separate piece that you flip out. If you're not using the instructions, it can be easy to miss and mislead you into thinking you had a defected figure when Ravage has a gap where his nose should be!
Ravage is roughly as long as a Legion classed figure is tall, but like the other cassettes, he's lacking in mass compared to them, but making up for it in complexity.
They got the overall look and feel of a jaguar right. The head and neck is one big piece that can lift up and down, since it is only one piece, it can look weird .
Poseability is good but Ravage can get fiddly when you want a perfect pose. Each feet has a joint, this is further complemented by two extra joints for his front legs and a massive three more joints for his hind legs.
They managed to hide a lot of the cassette details away, which is amazing. Every exposed part has some sort of sculpting especially for this mode.
While the weakest cassette mode in this set, this is still an above average and stellar figure. The complexity to transform from cassette to jaguar is clever and sure, there can be improvements but it functions perfectly fine already.
And finally, here is a look at all the cassettes together.
TRANSFORMATION (SOUNDWAVE):
The transformation largely mimics the G1 toy, but with a little steps that spice things up a bit and generally make Soundwave's proportion much better. Probably one of the best things is how the torso, particularly his buttons, fold in to collapse into his hips, it was enjoyable to figure that out. On the whole, Soundwave's transformation borders on the easy side, just that stiff joints make you worry that you might snap something off. His shoulder cannon is surprisingly fixed into place, it is not a detachable accessory like his blaster. The similar transformation to the G1 toy is a testament to how well the G1 figure was designed. Masterpiece Soundwave has a simple and elegant transformation that works extremely well. It won't take you twenty minutes to transform him, which is a plus.
SOUNDWAVE ROBOT MODE:
Ho ho, now to the big boy in this set, the star, the one, the main attraction. The minor shortcomings in tapedeck mode all disappear to form this, amazing, perfect, toy representation of Soundave. Frankly, there are no complaints here, this is a perfect robot.
There is hardly any kibble, the only noticeable ones being the tapedeck sides that rest on the outside of his legs. It would have been nice if they could have somehow folded it into the back of the legs but they are not that obtrusive where they are now.
Okay, where to start? Soundwave has plenty of gimmicks and things to show off that it's so hard to pick which ones to show first. We'll go with the head, the major difference between the Hasbro and TakaraTomy version is that Hasbro has yellow eyes while Takara has red, I personally prefer the red since it makes Soundwave seem more Decepticon.
In terms of size, Soundwave expands a lot compared to his tapedeck mode, he's a little bit shorter than Masterpiece Optimus (the second version) which is slightly disappointing.
Here's a bunch of other toys for comparison. I take it that Soundwave is roughly Leader sized.
Maybe we'll have a look at some of his sculpted details first. The chromed buttons are of course, carry-overs from the tapedeck mode. I actually forgot to take a pose of him pressing his own hip buttons... (a missed opportunity there that I shall rectify in my Transformers Poses series of posts).
The shoulder cannon has individually sculpted missile tips which are all painted red, it is amazing and makes it pop out a lot more.
The back also has a bunch of sculpted detailing and actually reminds me a bit of the sculpting in MP-01's back. I'm surprised that they bothered keeping the silver paint in this area...
Then of course, there's Soundwave's chest. Don't think the bits in the corners are scuffing, they are sculpted detailing, surprising I know. He wears the Decepticon insignia proudly on his chest.
Of course, the spring loaded door still works, pressing the button on the left of his head springs it open.
In which you can place a tape inside, or three.
The designers knows what one of the most famous Soundwave pose is, his pressing his eject button. Therefore, they have specifically included enough joints to make this a possibility.
Here's a look at Soundwave's blaster in storage mode...
You can extend it out into the classic and iconic blaster. It has a chromed tip which can be pain to pull out (since it's so stiff when it's fresh out of packaging and there are no obviously places to get a grip to pull it out).
No doubt Soundwave can hold it, in either hand. He has the common Masterpiece hands in which he has a fixed thumb, the first finger has two hinges (and it makes it easy for the tip of the finger to pop off) and the remaining fingers are hinged as one at the knuckles.
Soundwave is easy to balance. The majority of the figure is made of plastic, thus he can feel a little bit light for his size. He has a small amount of die cast that forms his feet, this is painted in silver so be careful not to put him on rough surfaces, otherwise you'll scratch the paint off the bottom of the feet and you wouldn't want that as it forms the sides of the tapedeck.
Poseability as you would expect is excellent. He has a ton of joints, and I shall list them all here... He has double jointed elbows, rotating wrists, hinged and swiveling shoulders, full range of motion for the head, hips can swing forward and to the sides, hinged knees with rotating thighs and his feet has a ton of joints for transformation which you can use so he can stand flat on any table. There are no kibbly bits that limit the range of motion, the sky is your limit in posing Soundwave.
He is stable in a huge variety of poses since he isn't top heavy or anything. Being doused in silver, he looks and feels premium, further enhanced by the selective chrome applications.
Okay, now we take a closer look at his accessories. First up is the energon cube, this is a clear transparent cube... with a lid (go figure).
You can attach it to his chest to simulate the G1 episode in which he generated energon cubes from his chest. The Japanese release had a pink cardboard cutout to simulate the actual coloring of energon and if you had preordered from Amazon, you would get actual pink ones. Therefore, this clear box just doesn't cut it, best to leave it aside or use it to store the other accessories in.
The next is this panel with grid lines in it.
Just like the cube, you can also attach it to his chest. The Japanese version (once again) had cutouts with drawings on it, since it is meant to simulate a display. Still, this works well enough here.
Next is a Megatron gun, I believe it is the same mold that came with MP-01 Masterpiece Optimus and all it's repaints. I like how it is completely cast in hard plastic (the only sample I had was with the MP-01B release which had the gun partially cast in soft plastic).
It can fit in Soundwave's hands, although it takes some fiddly to 'lock' it into place.
Therefore, you can create some awesome dual-wielding poses.
Man, this seems like never-ending! The next piece is a silver painted piece of plastic which represents the sensor he used in the G1 episode "Fire in the Mountain" for all of 2 seconds...
The way you use it is to flip Soundwave's fist in and attach the piece.
It looks okay and you can even pass it off as some kind of blaster.
Interestingly, if you don't want to use it and you don't want to lose it, then there is a slot on Soundwave's back where you can attach it!!
Before we keep going on, here's Soundwave's side profile. Note the blocky aesthetics.
Now that we have covered off the accessories, we can now move onward to how he interacts with his cassette minions!! We've covered this shortly before, but you can attach either Buzzsaw or Laserbeak on the outside of each forearm.
Attaching them on the shoulder is also possible. However, you cannot attach it on the right shoulder unless you fold the cannon away, as it gets in the way with Laserbeak's or Buzzsaw's wings.
With Frenzy's and Rumble's piledrivers, you can attach them to Soundwave's forearms to create gauntlet of sorts. It actually looks pretty good and seems to buff Soundwave up.
If you like, you can also extend the hammer but it only reaches the fist, and doesn't extend past it so it looks somewhat odd.
You can also combine the two together to form a massive piledriver but the problem here is that it starts to become too heavy for the clip to stay on.
It's fun to see the different ways in which to try and attach as many accessories as you can onto Soundwave.
Lastly, there are compartments in each of Soundwave's foot which allows you to store one of Frenzy's or Rumble's gun, thereby allow you to store one set of guns. Interestingly, the Hasbro version didn't bother painting these compartments in silver, they're that ugly unpainted grey but it's not too noticeable.
As you can probably gather, Soundwave is chock full of gimmicks which are not obtrusive at all. He is extremely poseable and visually pleasing.
Soundwave has some really stiff hip joints which can be scary to utilize. The rotating waist though, can feel loose.
Everything here pegs in solidly, there are no pieces flopping about. The aesthetics are good and provides a good fit with the Classicverse figures.
The head sculpt is great and I love the faceplate. If he has 'angrier' eyes then it would make him look more formidable.
A fantastic robot mode that you can hardly find any flaws in. This is also probably the mode you would leave him in, he really is the star of the set.
OVERALL:
This is an amazing set. Considering that Hasbro released everything the Japanese release had to offer, for cheaper than just buying the JP Soundwave alone, this is amazing value for money. Negative thing is, this is a Toys R Us exclusive item of a high demand item with limited supply, which means a lot of people didn't even get to see him on the shelves (and scalpers are having a field day with this item). Ignoring that fact, this is highly recommended, just like everyone should have an Optimus toy their shelf, they should have a Masterpiece Soundwave too. Perfect 100%!!
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Thank you very much for your support! I hope you have enjoyed this review as much as I had fun with the figure. The review for Masterpiece Streak (MP-18) is coming next!! Stay turned and in the meantime, you might want to check out some of my other Transformers review on this page.