Generations FOC Soundwave/Soundblaster (Pic Heavy)

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by Starscream Gaga, Nov 9, 2012.

  1. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    Review: Generations Fall of Cybertron Voyager Soundwave with Laserbeak and Soundblaster with Buzzsaw
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    RIBFIR FOREVER!

    For Rumble, Ravage, Frenzy and Ratbat, please check out my other review!

    First off, sorry for the bad photography. It was done on my iPad and I'm not a great photographer. I hope they're still acceptable and you get the idea across.
    As many of you already know, Generations Fall of Cybertron Voyager Soundwave and Soundblaster were released early here in Australia in order to get into the Christmas catalogues. Today, the Minion 2-Packs were also released here in Australia, so I picked up the full set of characters.
    Soundwave and Soundblaster retailed here at $50 ($52 USD), the standard price of Voyagers. They sold out pretty darn fast here, which surprised me, I needed to go to 3 Targets before I found Soundblaster.

    Packaging
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    The Voyagers come in packaging similar to the Generation deluxes, homaging the original G1 red and grid packaging. It has some nice artwork of Soundwave and Soundblaster with their bird partners, which I like a lot. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw actually resemble their Earth forms more then their Cybertronian forms in the game in both the artwork and the actual toys, having two eyes.

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    Here are their bios for those who want them. Includes tech-specs! Soundblaster's recalls his Headmaster origins, which is pretty cool.
    Note that the back of the box depicts the ion cannon's in their hands, which were shown in conventions. These guns are not including in the final product of the toy. Frustrating in some ways, but not a deal breaker for me as I thought it was silly that Soundwave came with Optimus Prime's iconic gun.

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    The side and bottom advertise the Minion 2-packs. You can check out a review of them here.

    Soundwave and Soundblaster (Robot-Mode)
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    Soundwave is very similar to his old Deluxe counterpart in both robot and vehicle modes. In many ways, however, I think that the minion deploying gimmick makes the figure look a little worse than his smaller counterpart. The back now is one big piece with a handle so that you can use the gimmick, which unfortunately means his wheels fold onto his sides rather then his back in the screen-accurate way the deluxe did. The fact that he now has all his partners makes up for this, in my opinion, though. Soundwave has his G1 cartoon red eyes like he did in FOC and the deluxe toy, rather then the toy and comic yellow eyes he had in WFC. I prefer the red eyes!
    Urgh, just noticed I've positioned the right leg wheel wrong. Sorry!

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    Soundblaster is my favourite of the two. I wish he was black instead of dark grey, but the yellow eyes and highlights contrast so well! I think he looks absolutely great!

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    Here's how the deploying gimmick works. Press the button on his shoulder and his chest pops open (awesome) then pull back the big handle on his back. Place in the disc and then push the back handle back in with reasonable force and the data disc will pop out and transforms when it hits the ground. The gimmick works pretty well with one data disc in his chest.

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    The chest can hold three discs at a time, but the more discs that are in his chest, the less well the gimmick works. With three in his chest, you're pretty much guaranteed that they'll get stuck in there. Also note that to have a disc in his chest, the back MUST be pulled back somewhat, which looks a little silly and the more discs you put in, the further back his back goes, which is unfortunate. I prefer just putting in the discs when I'm mucking around with the gimmick, rather then using his chest as storage.

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    Just an interesting tidbit, both Soundwave and Soundblaster's right hands are molded to look like they're pressing his shoulder button. Unfortunately his big upper arms get in the way and the only way to get his hand up to that button makes the pose look a bit awkward.

    Transformation
    The transformation is very similar to the deluxe, I didn't take photos of it because it has already been covered in detail. If you want a full in-depth look they are already some good video reviews.
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    But here is an annoyance; The instructions also depict the gun, even telling you to take it out of his hand before transformation. Nowhere near as bad as the mess-up with MP Thundercracker's box and instructions, but it is still strange.

    Soundwave and Soundblaster (Vehicle Mode)
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    Soundwave transforms into a hefty "Communications Truck" that is surprisingly bulky. The handle appears to be a seat on his roof behind where is cannon sits and I assumed it was made for Rumble and Frenzy to sit on to man the cannon. Unfortunately I was wrong; There is no way for Rumble and Frenzy to sit there, which makes the fact that it is molded like a seat to be rather curious. All in all he looks like a bulky version of his Deluxe counterpart.

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    Like his robot mode, Soundblaster looks great in Vehicle Mode! I think they did this redeco really well and I'd argue that if you were only to get one, Soundblaster is the better option, he just looks better then the Soundwave colour-wise in my personal opinion.

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    The deploying gimmick is retained in vehicle mode and actually done more elegantly; rather then pull out a big portion of him and then slam it back in, you just slide the top of the roof back and forth. You have the manually open the door, though, rather then using his button.

    Laserbeak and Buzzsaw
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    Laserbeak looks great in robot mode, but it interesting to notice that they entirely abandoned the idea of having him game-accurate. In the game he has a large visor on his forehead rather then two separate eyes, as the game is depicting how he looked in More Then Meets The Eye Part 1 in which he also had a visor rather then eyes. (as the creators set it on pre-Earth G1 cartoon Cybertron). The toy and box art, however have how he looks on Earth, with a camera on his forehead and two bird eyes. I guess they decided to give us an Earth Classics Laserbeak that actually turns into a bird?

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    I actually prefer Buzzsaw to Laserbeak. I know Laserbeak is the more iconic character and that he had more appearances in the cartoon, but I think the gold on this toy looks great. And he took down Omega Supreme after all int he comics, so don't mess with this badass!

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    The birds transform very easily; fold in the head, then the tail, then the wings and BAM! You're done. Takes about 15 seconds. Just press the button on the back and they pop immediately into robot mode, no need to do anything else. Out of the three molds for the minions, the birds and Ratbat definitely do it the best, Ravage and Rumble/Frenzy require you to manually finish the transformation.

    Final Conclusion

    Soundwave and Soundblaster are great figures, two of the best Voyagers we've gotten since FE Prime and Bulkhead. They are larger than the DOTM and Prime Mainline Voyagers and they have a great gimmick. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are great additions, working very well with the gimmick and looking fantastic too. The price is probably the fairest we've had for Voyagers in a long time and I can't recommend them enough. I personally can't wait for Blaster and I hope they do a Twincast to go with Soundblaster.

    I hope you all enjoyed the review! I'm very happy with having the complete set and I'm excited to have done my first review! Thanks!
     
  2. iconbot

    iconbot Well-Known Member

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    Good review. I don't see the point in getting both of these as they are both Soundwave anyway. I got the Soundwave only plus the disc packs.
     
  3. Sol Fury

    Sol Fury The British Butcher Veteran

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    Nice stuff, thanks for the thoughts! A suggestion though - would it be possible to split off the data disks into their own thread? I'd like to have a place for people to leave their feedback on those without it getting swallowed up into the Soundwaveblaster talk.

    Cheers!
     
  4. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    I'm happy to do that if someone can change the title for me to just Soundwave/Soundblaster?
     
  5. Soundwinder

    Soundwinder I wind sounds!

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    Hrm. My excitement for these has been somewhat slowed by a few things (no gun for the Sounds, higher cost on the discs, Rumble and Frenzy looking disappointing, Rumblue's visor paint looking like there's no enough, not being able to effectively hold CV weapons) so I think I'm going to pass on the Frenzy/Ratbat set. Though Ratbat is adorable.

    Still going to get Soundblaster (I think Animated is the only Soundblaster I own) and the Rumble/Ravage set. I'm a sucker for Soundwave, and especially Ravage.

    The other reason I want Soundblaster more is, as you said, Buzzsaw looks a lot better. Even if he's a less popular character, the gold looks a lot better than the red. And Laserbeak's got too much red, he's like Blockrock or something more than Laserbeak. So... Soundblaster it is!
     
  6. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    I split the two reviews, but I'll answer you here, and fix it up on the other review. Ravage have two points of articulation on his back legs at the shoulder and knees. Unfortunately his back legs can only move inward due to the way he transforms, so they're not very useful for standing. His front legs are on springs that spring them back into place whenever they are moved on his shoulder, but you can move the front legs forwards at the knee.
     
  7. Soundwinder

    Soundwinder I wind sounds!

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    Haha, and I split my post between the two topics myself. But thanks for answering... might have to try to take out that spring, though I doubt there will be enough friction for him to hold a pose without it.

    Now, the important question... can he take a believable sitting position like the good kitty that he is?
     
  8. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    Unfortunately, no, his body and head are immovable and his front legs aren't long enough...
     
  9. Soundwinder

    Soundwinder I wind sounds!

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    Curses! Still a must buy for me; he looks like my third favorite version of Ravage (after G1 and DL... way ahead of Universe).
     
  10. Blairimus2563

    Blairimus2563 Commander

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    Is there a way to put Laserbeak on Soundwave shoulders? Or is the stock photo cleverly photoshopped?

    Great review on both the data discs and Soundwave/Soundblaster. So glad I'm going to Target today.
     
  11. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    Its a bit tricky, but there's a gap underneath Laserbeak and Buzzsaw that fits nicely onto Soundwave's shoulder spike. It is suprisingly secure for display. It doesn't appear to be how its on him in the stock photo, which does look photoshopped, but it gets the job done, I think.

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    I'm sorry, I don't have either of those figures... I don't have any 3P and I haven't gotten Classics Megatron yet.
     
  12. Soundwinder

    Soundwinder I wind sounds!

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    Could you post them with some random weapons?

    And... the wrists turn, right? The only evidence I've seen of that so far is the Japanese stock photos, but I've got this terrible paranoia that they don't and we're stuck with dumbbell arms.
     
  13. Gilgamesh

    Gilgamesh Mostly Harmless

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    Yes, they turn. I was very relieved when I finally saw evidence of that!
     
  14. Soundwinder

    Soundwinder I wind sounds!

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    One last question (... probably):

    Do any of the following fit in the gunner chair:
    MP Dr. Arkeville/Pilot (from either version of MP Seeker mold)
    MP Spike
    ... literally anything else you can think of.
     
  15. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    Yes, the wrists turn and I'm sorry, but I'll have to fufill these requests tomorrow, we're renovating so I need to get out the figures needed for these tests and its 4am here, but I'm happy to them for you. Any weapons in particular you wanted?
     
  16. bignick1693

    bignick1693 Maximal

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    Can't wait for the guys to hit the u.s. soundwave is my favorite decepticon.
     
  17. Acidophilus

    Acidophilus Well-Known Member

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    That is interesting.
     
  18. ryanlb

    ryanlb Well-Known Member

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    wow, these look pretty great. Can't wait for them to hit the US, though I'm also considering the Takara versions.
     
  19. jignat

    jignat Well-Known Member

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    Great review mate!
    I was just going to get the minions, and Blaster, but Soundblaster looks nice and Ive never had one before.
    Hope he comes to USA before xmas lol
     
  20. Feralstorm

    Feralstorm Good Morning, Weather Hackers! TFW2005 Supporter

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    It's nifty. At the risk of being cynical, the size is probably dictated by the gimmick. The disc-bots probably can't get much smaller without either breaking some safety edict or risking the spring-pop not working, and Soundwave has to house them and (hopefully) look more proportional than a toaster oven with feet. :)