I've been at Comic Con this past week, so I had the opportunity to get this year's exclusive Soundwave. This is my first time doing any kind of reviewing for any kind of product, so any kind of constructive criticism is appreciated...I apologize if any of the pics seem cruddy.

To the best of my knowledge, I never owned a G1 figure before, I stood in line at the Hasbro booth for a bout 45 minutes before I was finally able to get him, and I'm glad I did!


Note that I had already opened the box prior to shooting these pictures, so if anything looks loose it's because I couldn't get the plastic cover back into the box.

We'll start off with pictures of the packaging








Soundwave out of the packaging




Size comparisons with some typical figures

Because it's a G1 figure, don't expect much articulation from him. This is about the extent of it



The back of Soundwave


From robot to tape-deck mode, it's pretty simple. I usually start off by removing the sholder cannon, then I rotate the head backwards and push it down Then I push in the fists, and fold the arms back. For the legs, push in the feet, and pull the leg out, you should hear a "Clicking" noise. then turn the hip sideways, bend the knee in, and push the leg up. Once you have the leg up, push it in to hide the peg. You can remove the back clip so you can place both of Soundwave's launchers as batteries.

Tape-deck mode comparisons



Just for fun, here a comparison with your standard iPod

 

Part 2: Cassetbots







Optimus: Autobots! Transform and FUNK OUT!

In conclusion, if you don't already own a G1 soundwave in any way, shape, or form, it's worth getting.

 

Transform and Funk out FTW!!! 

 

Nice, looks like they used the one cassette version of Soundwave.

Cool review, thanks! I'm perfectly fine with the TRU Reissue though so I won't be picking this up.

 

Aww... I still have my Soundwave from 1984, missing everything, loose as a ragdoll...

For some reason, I am hesitant to get a reissue, I just feel wrong getting another Soundwave.

 

nice!

EDIT: The plastic cases that hold the cassettes, do they still have "Takara" (at the corner)? Just curious.

 

G1 Soundwave is soo cool. Its very hard to replace him. How can you not like a cassette tape deck that turns into a robot and the cassettes as its minions. Total badass.

 

Went to snag one from HTS as fast as i could.
sold out.
fuckaduck.....
i so wanted him in the TFU packaging.

pic or text request- any way you could give us his bio/tech specs so we can read it?

nice review.

 

cool stuff. Although I have to save my money on this one. lol.

 

cant wait for mine to come in ><. it will be like the 4th of that mold though lol

 

I'll be recieving my SDCC 2009 SOUNDWAVE from a friend of mine that went there to pick it up for me, and I'll have many great outside shots of him and his pets as well so stay tuned for more info.  

 

I just received my SDCC Soundwave from HTS today. I opened it up and noticed a quality issue. On the blue plastic of his left leg, there are a couple holes where it looks like the plastic didn't take to the mold too well. Otherwise, he is fine (I won't return him to HTS... they'll just refund my money like they did when I had to return ROTF Leader Prime to them due to no sound).

I was wondering if anyone else noticed any issues with their SDCC Soundwave?

 

Yes they do.

Also something I noticed: The back of the box shows the two tape chest Soundwave and the one that is in the box is the original single tape chest version. Just figured I'd point it out in case that happens to be the sticking point for someone.

 

Ok....this right here is the awesome.  

 

So how does the coloring of ratbat here compares to G1 and to the Encore reissue?

 

As far as I know, Ratbat never had an Encore issue, I believe this is the first time Ratbat was re-released since his G1 days.

 

He does. They pretty much came out at the same time. I would think they were made in the same factory at the same time, but who knows?

 

I will be able to compare the SDCC Ratbat vs. G1 Ratbat when I get home late this evening.

 

so far I notice a few subtle differences between classics soundwave and SDCC soundwave.

such as the sticker colors and subtle differences in the gray plastic but nothing too bad really.

I wish SDCC soundwave's chest door was made of the brownish transparent plastic like the original but it's cool.

 

I have both of my Ratbats in hand now. The G1 original has its cassette label tampoed, while the one with the SDCC kit is a sticker (divded into three parts to allow transformation). The sticker label's pattern does not match the pattern on the original G1 cassette. Some of the text is rearranged and resized. The color of purple plastic on the SDCC version also seems lighter than the G1 original, though I can't discount the possibility that the G1 may have gotten darker with age. Finally, the weapons for Ratbat in the SDCC set are gold while my G1 original is silver (I'm not sure if all G1 releases were silver though).