Review: #511
Name: Soundwave
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - War for Cybertron: Siege
Year of Release: 2019
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 2)
Mold Status: new
ALTERNATE MODE:
Soundwave transforms into... a hovercraft, apparently. It's a really poor alternate mode and disappointing in this day and age.
The worst part is that this version of the character doesn't even have to based on any existing design or model. This mode is literally the robot mode sitting down with the limbs pegged together.
Soundwave is a Voyager classed figure, above is a comparison against Titans Return Optimus Prime.
There is a small cockpit in the middle of the hovercraft.
There are three fold out sleds to stabilize it on the table. It's not aerodynamic in any way or from any angle you look at it...
A poor alternate mode, made worse by the vast swathes of silver "battle damage".
TRANSFORMATION:
Getting Soundwave to robot mode requires more steps than you'd expect. The front splits to form the legs, while the bottom of the hovercraft folds up to form the arms, and the head pops out from the chest.
ROBOT MODE:
This is where Soundwave's strongest mode is and the robot mode does look good.
There's a bit of kibble in the form of thrusters, but they look pretty good there.
The headsculpt is fantastic and Soundwave has something that's (sadly) rare nowadays, lightpiped eyes. They work really well.
Soundwave is a tad bit shorter than previous Voyagers but is still clearly bigger than a Deluxe.
Articulation is what you'd expect, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist and knees.
A carry over from hovercraft mode but he has a lot of the silver battle damage on his, which is made worse when it is covering the actual painted details, meaning it'll be next to impossible to remove the silver without removing the underlying paint.
His left hand has the index finger sculpted in such a way that he can be posed pressing his own eject button. His chest is also springloaded to open up where you can put the Micromasters Laserbeak and Ravage if you have those figures.
Soundwave has three weapons, his iconic shoulder cannon, blaster and one more grey gun.
The shoulder cannon just pegs onto his shoulder.
While he can hold the blaster in either hand.
There are various 5mm ports over his body if you have more weapons that you would like to arm him with.
The other gun is actually folded in half but looks decent.
You can combine all three weapons together into one long weapon but looks a bit weak and forced.
Soundwave has just about enough articulation to hold the long weapon with both hands.
The last option, and this may not be intended, is that you can flip out the sleds from hovercraft mode underneath each arm to act like blasters.
A good looking robot mode that helps makes up the shortcomings of hovercraft mode.
OVERALL:
Soundwave is a nice toy in robot mode. He's a bit disappointing as a Transformer since the hovercraft is so poor. He does pack quite a bit of playability thanks to the three weapons included and is worth a purchase if you don't already have a G1 inspired Soundwave or you find this guy on sale.
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There is an Easter egg of sorts and that is that Soundwave can transform into his light-post mode as he transformed into in one of the G1 cartoon episodes. The packaging actually has line art depicting this mode.
