They're lightpiped. They don;t light up well due to the backpack behind his head, but they are indeed lightpiped.

 

Loving this guy. Soundwave is the only Animated toy I own, I love his xB mode. Ratbat is just a simple bonus to the awesomeness of Soundwave/blaster. Now all we need is a white repaint like he was in the show too...wasn't it Sonic White or something?

Does he have a release date yet or is it still unconfirmed when he will come out?

 

Only if he comes with a Laserbeak redeco as Buzzsaw. Or some new form of Frenzy/Rumble.

Of course, he also only appeared in that form for one small scene and didn't appear playing any instrument minions, then. At least ES Soundwave was seen playing Ratbat at one point in "Human Error, Pt.2"

I think December, but I'm not sure.

 

I really like Ratbat, but ES Soundwave just doesn't do for me.. =S However, I like the red tattoo-like design on the rear hood in car mode.  

 

Finally got around to picking the set up, and while my expectations weren't quite as high this time around since it was a repaint, I was surprised.

The Keytar/Ratbat looks cool, and that's about all he does. After transforming him, he's only got articulation in his head (just slightly to orient it from keytar-headpeice setting) and in each wing, the latter only being able to turn slightly in either possible direction, which honestly kinda sucks in my opinion. Worse, his little "feet" seem to be designed to peg into the roof of Soundblaster ('Cause it's easier to justify a repaint of a toy I already own when the name is different as opposed to simply addining a prefix), and while they do that nicely in bat mode, it's really weird looking in Key-tar mode and the feet don't want to peg into the arm sockets where Laserbeak goes. Granted that it would have been a little more awkward for Ratbat with his design, but bats DO perch on things, and I feel that Ratbat should do the same instead of being in Key-tar mode all the time.

Soundblaster, however, is easily summed up in true Soundwave/Blaster style:

Soundwave: Inferior
Soundblaster: Superior

Indeed, I find that every single joint that my original Ani. Soundwave has loose (like the hands), that same joint is tighter and much more stable on my Sondblaster. EXCEPT for the "tape-door" part, which is actually loose enough on Soundblaster to not be anywhere near as annoyingly difficult as Soundwave's tape door. QC also is much better on Soundblaster, as the paint hasn't started acting funny on his back and there wasn't any mysterious substance on the insides of the toy! (When I got Soundwave, there was what looked like chalky residue of fingerprints on the inside of his left sholder!).

So while I find the tape minion less appealing than the master, Soundblaster (a.k.a. Electrostatic Soundwave) is probably the version of the mold one should have if they want the toy and don't care about the paint sheme used more commonly in the actual show (although Soundwave only appeared like, twice. Three times if you count the fact "Human Error" was a two-part split episode).

For someone like me who LOVES xB TF's and the mold in general, I find having both versions gets the best of both worlds and as an added bonus; you can start a Soundwave Rock Group!