This is the pictorial review of the upcoming BTS Toys, Sonicron.

UPDATE: After speaking with someone from BTS, this is not the intended release of the figure. They say the final versions will have just a few different paint apps, nothing major. There was a misscommunication with BTS and Robotkingdom and these were to not be sold at botcon but used as marketing and promotional pieces, they were samples. They have said the looseness and stressing should not be an issue come release time.

This review is based on a sample piece.

Also, this design is based on the Guido's art for Soundwave. Seen here:


You will notice some differences in the head, arms, weapons, and legs for the most part.

Final thoughts and issues will be at the end.

Packaging:
Sonicron has a really nice packaging with some nice art. Box advertises other products and has cut out tapes that can fit into the cassette chest. Also comes with instructions and a card. There is no bio.








Cassette/voice coder mode:
The alt. mode is very detailed. Translucent plastics to emulate light functions. Detailed text and fixed buttons, switches. It can also hold and store 1 G1 cassette. Sadly, no buttons eject the door open, it has to be done with your hand.











Transformation:
Here are just a few shots to give you and idea where things are moving from one place to another, it is pretty simplistic and references similarities to the G1 Soudwave.




Weapons:

Sonicron has several weapons. The two the join to form the top buttons in alt. mode are his hand gun and shoulder canon. To get the gun tip you remove the panel from the left arm, open it up and remove the tip. The panel then stores on the back. The addition missile launcher does not store anywhere in alt. mode but does go on to his other shoulder for some extra fire power. One issue is the shoulder canon for the right side, it is impossible to get the post out with your fingers, it is too small and need something small and thin to swing it out.




Sonicron:
Now we have the bot mode. He has head movement 360, arms 360 and shoulder. Wrist 360, legs can rotate at wasit and thighs. No wasit movement.
Sonicron sadly has reversed knees due to transformation which makes posing difficult. He also has 2 different heads.









Fold out leg speakers that are removable and can be placed on the shoulders.



Weapons attached:











Final thoughts and issues:

Again, this is a sample piece but until it is officially released, these should be items to look for.

Design wise this is a great idea. It is another updated take on Soundwave. But it does have its issues. It could just be mine but we wont know until someone else comments that got one at Botcon or the initial release happens.

Plastic quality feels good, but has that lightness like some of FP's items and Igears.

The figure itself in the arms and legs are extremely loose. Deffinately needs some super glue or clear nail polish to tighten them up.

The plastic can stress easily as it has in some areas on mine.

Design wise the waist connecting piece sticks out the back way too far.

Legs are really wide. If they killed the speaker idea, they maybe could have have the legs fold again around and behind to make the legs not so wide.

Reversed knees.

Waist is loose and the cod piece does not snap in tightly.

When transforming into alt. mode, pieces do not line up or snap into place. You can see in the pictures the gaps. The pegs and post are just made too small to catch on its joining piece.

The right arm rarely stays attached as the ball joint does not connect correctly.

Some pieces still had pieces of flash attached.

Speakers in legs are really loose as well and will basically fall out.

Again these are issues with mine and would hope they are not as big an issue when it is released as I really do like the design and functionality but you have to tread with caution with this piece and definitely act solely for display only. I really enjoy the figure and design, and if they can fix the QC issues such as looseness and connectivity of pieces and make it feel more solid would make for a great figure.

Comparisons:







Knee update:
In this pic, the part circled is the knee to me, which is inverted...


In this pic you can see the limitation in the leg for poses, in a sense you are just straightening out the leg...


The leg in this pic is how it should bend, with the other piece you mentioned plus this type of knee would allow for better poseability...


In this pic with the arrow, that is the direction the leg can move back, which is for transformation, the circle at the top has a piece that comes inward too much, preventing the long piece from coming forward more than just straight up. The circle at the bottom shows how pieces do not connect and cause breaking and stressing...


Hope that makes sense.

 

Well, at least the cassette mode looks decent. Thanks for the review!

 

Thanks for the review and pics. Looks like these QC issues will deter many form getting it. But it is a neat implementation nontheless.

 

shitty. I stand by my decision to cancel this.

 

Went from a definite maybe to an easy pass. Great concept, but the execution looks horrible. Thanks for the review.

 

It looks very interesting, and I'm tempted. But I'll wait until the mass release happens, to hear about the QC.

 

Cool altmode, shitty robot mode with bad engineering. Shame, I wanted a good figure of that design.  

 

im like that squirrell. on the fence

 

thanks for the great reveiw..music label soundwave stays where he is..

 

The qc and other issues hopefully will be addressed when he is fully released. I cancelled my pre-order for him on bbts based on the bot pics. It's soundwave's colors but it's just not soundwave in my eyes. Something about that bot mode doesn't jive with me. Thanks-you very much for the review.

 

alt mode looks pretty slick but the figure itself is not for me. Thanks D!

 

Ummmmmm..........no.

Thanks for the review. Seeing actual pics solidified the fact, I don't want this.

 

Are you sure there's no knee joints? It looks like there are for the transformation.

I think it looks okay. I'm going to want a few more opinions on it before I decided whether I really want it or not.

 

Reverse knees? why not just buy a g1 soundwave if this thing doesn't have up to date articulation?

Either way, the proportions, waist piece, that articulation problem, general ugliness and other little problems really add up to making this guy easy to pass.

 

positive, it can only move outward, and not bend like a normal knee. look at a pic showing the back. notice how the whole leg looks like one piece. the lower leg should have had part of it removed around where the back of the knee would be allowing the darker gray part that you can see from the front, would allow for a normal knee movement.

But I wonder if they did that because not having a normal knee movement allows the legs to support the heavier weight on top.

 

I stand by my decision to have never ordered it at all.

 

Reversed knees=dealbreaker

 

^This. Also goes to show 3rd party stuff is waaay overrated, IMHO. Decpticgar, not koccking or trolling on purpose in your thread.    

 

it doesnt mean that 3rd party is overrated, it means that the guy who designed Sonicron did it badly.

 

i think my music label is in good standings for a long LONG time