Review: #682
Name: Soundwave
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - War for Cybertron: Kingdom
Year of Release: 2021
Size Class: Core (Wave 3)
Mold Status: new
ALTERNATE MODE:
This is a small take on G1 Soundwave, and so he transforms into a cassette tape player.
There are some compromises in order to manage to make him this small. His two weapons, which store as batteries on the original, now just peg onto the back. It doesn't look too bad there though, managing to blend in somewhat.
As part of the Core size class, Soundwave is tiny. He isn't quiet as big as the Legends in previous lines, but are bigger than Legions.
While the shrink in size works well, there is one major compromise. It is not a perfect rectangle as his robot feet poke up the sides. You can fold them down on the top but this will leave gaps on the sides, so it just depends on what you prefer.
Now, this is the biggest surprise of all. The cassette tape door actually opens and... reveals a mini-Laserbeak!
Granted, this Laserbeak does not transform at all given its small size (and the low price point) but it is definitely well painted.
The back is unpainted black plastic but that's understandable and doesn't impact too much anyway.
There are no other gimmicks apart from Laserbeak, but this is way more play value than something you'd expect of this size class anyway. This is a near perfect copy of the G1 figure.
TRANSFORMATION:
The original G1 figure didn't have a complex transformation, and it was reasonably show accurate. That means that this figure is able to mimic that transformation scheme, and add some bits extra. The sides fold down to form the legs, the arms from the back and the head flips up.
ROBOT MODE:
Soundwave's robot mode is unbelievable. It is really show accurate, and it's actually quite amazing at how accurate it is for this small size. Plus, his small stature makes him super cute.
There's no kibble at all, and there's also the usual cost-cutting with the hollowed up limbs.
The head sculpt is good, it sits on a balljoint. He has a silver faceplate and a painted red visor.
In terms of size, he gains quite a bit of height in this mode, but still falls short of a Legends figure.
Soundwave has plenty of articulation here, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.
He has mid-thigh swivels, which can be annoying when you wanted to twist the hip balljoint instead (thanks to his small size, it's fiddly to straight the hip balljoint out). Furthermore, while his ankles are balljointed, they're very limited in its tilting capability, they're only useful for rotating the feet.
He comes with both his iconic weapons, his shoulder mounted cannon and his gun. The figure itself is painted really well, it seemed like Hasbro didn't cheap out on paint for him.
He doesn't have enough articulation to pull of the pose where he is pressing the button to open his chest to reveal Laserbeak. It's forgivable at this small size.
This is a fantastic robot mode that has no compromises whatsoever.
OVERALL:
If you missed out the Netflix Voyager figure, then this is the next best thing. In many ways, this is the superior figure as both modes look fantastic and super accurate, with the only negative compared to the Netflix version being the smaller size. However, this is also a bonus here given that the small size makes him pocketable and all the more impressive. This is one of the few Core figures that is actually worth picking up and bringing enough value for what you pay.
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