I got my package as expected yesterday from www.jrstoyworld.com, with the main main himself, Soundblaster. Now, I looked, there's no feedback here for Soundwave or Soundblaster, the lack of the former surprised me. I had initially gone with Soundwave, but funding changed my mind and I cancelled the pre-order. That decision paid off, IMHO, because I got Soundblaster, which I think has a superior color scheme, and comes with "Buzzsaw" rather than Laserbeak. As usual, I don't have pics. Bottom line for the lazy, pricey, with a fair amount of design flaws, but cool. Starting with the box, it's an interesting all black and white, no color on it at all. It's the standard GF boxing detail wise, however, it clearly has the GX-03 designation on it, this isn't just a Soundwave GX-02 box in black and white, but even a different designation. Out of the box. I'm shocked here, there's no bio card. (Or if there is, I didn't get one, and since I like bio cards I'm disapointed.) He comes in jet mode, with the engines/bombs seperate, and his Force Chip displayed prominantly. He's got the same chip as Noisemaze/Sideways and Soundwave. Buzzsaw comes in robot mode, the weapons in alt mode. Looks sharp and appealing. Jet mode. I'd really like to be able to say I like it. But I don't. As a stealth fighter (F117-A tec jet), the design is nice, but there's a lot of gaps, mostly in the rear, and his robot hips are very evident. He doesn't really fit well together, there's gaps between the cockpit and leg pieces, and the leg and the fuselage pieces. However, since he snaps together, you can't really do anything about it, otherwise he becomes unsnapped and looks even worse. If you look (and I did just now), there's no pictures of him from the side, straight 90 degrees, and I wouldn't expect any, because it looks terrible, worse with the wings down. With some finagling, you can get the bomb/engine guns into the wing sockets, either with the weapons out or not, your choice. Lots of robot parts of obvious, hips and head in particular. Buzzsaw goes into the chest compartment/bomb area, and can't fit onto either wing. (A pity) If he can, I haven't been able to manage it. Now, that sounds pretty bad, I'll admit, but he does have a lot of upside to him as well. He's very sharply detailed, like VP and Noisemaze. He has that same red and gold shield emblem that Noisemaze has, only a slightly more elaborate/complex one. With the black/gray, and gold, as well as a red cockpit and shield, he's clearly a compatriot of Noisemaze. Vehicle Force Chip action is that the chest compartment opens, and allows for Buzzsaw to drop out, as the compartment faces down. Rather lame, IMHO. Transformation. Is actually pretty simple. Remove the bombs/engines, raise the cockpit, swivel the hips/legs and lock into place, raise arms out, and swivel into position, swing top part around, lock into place, peg shoulders in, adjust head. That's pretty much it. So, relatively fast and simple. Good. Robot mode. Now, here's where Soundblaster really shines. He has an awesome robot mode, IMHO. He's a dead ringer for Soundwave/Soundblaster physically (And looks even more like the original box art!) He's well articulated with a ton of joints, though he does lack waist and wrist, but has a lot of shoulder articulation and a ball jointed neck to make up for that. The bombs/engines transform and attach to him, one can go in his right shoulder, one in his hand, and the Force Chip opens up his chest tape style and let's Buzzsaw come out. Buzzsaw, by the way, is another great update right down to the guns on the shoulders, plenty of articulation, black and gold color scheme, and best of all, a post on his underside. That post allows him to peg into several of Soundblasters sockets, one on each wing, one on the right forearm, to have him perched and ready. He's also a snap to transform, easy and cool On the downside, he's got a lot of kibble on his arms, enough to make some poses difficult. The cockpit piece isn't a problem for me, but the lack of a locked setting is. If like Noisemaze's arm cannon it could undeploy into a stable setting, or pegged into place, or anything, it would've been a pretty big improvement. On the other arm, the vehicle mode cockpit can get in the way. Overall, he's pretty cool, but there's a lot of engineering faults that really make me wonder, it wouldn't have taken much to make him so much cooler and one of the best TF toys, not just in GF either. Quality wise, On mine, the head ball joint is very loose, and getting him properly aligned, pegged, and snapped back into jet mode can be a pain. Is he worth the $60 I paid for him? Probably not. Am I glad I have him, absolutely.
Cool review, thanks. Would you consider Buzzsaw to be a Minicon? That post on him, is that a Minicon port? Buzzsaw/Laserbeak would be the first beast Minicons if my facts are straight. Sorry to hear about the jet mode. Robot mode pics, however, make me drool...
I got Cyb Soundwave and he kicks ass.. Well worth the $20.. Looks good and Laserbeak rocks. I agree with all the points you made. He is not perfect, but he has a lot of great things..
Great review! Just got my GX-03 today and love it. I already had GX-02 and was a big fan of the mold, but this release surpasses the original. Pravus Prime gave a thorough run-down of Soundblaster above but for those interested, here's the differences I've noticed between GX-02 and GX-03 (besides colour, obviously): - GX-03 Neck joint is tighter. - GX-03 mid calf transformation joints are tighter - These are the joints that frequently caused Soundwave's legs to 'tilt' and make GX-02 look knock-kneed. While they can still come out of proper robot alignment while manipulating GX-03, it's a lot easier to get the figure to stand without these transformation joints bending. - All three barrels on GX-03's tri-barrel cannon sit correctly (one barrel on GX-02 slants a little). - Swivel on GX-03's upper left arm is looser.
And of course that the system is the other way around, even if it were the right size. Buzzsaw has the peg and Soundblaster has the socket, which means that even if the sizing were right, it would be a minicon and Buzzsaw and Soundblaster and another TF would be compatable, not Buzzsaw and another TF. No, there may be paperwork calling him a minicon, but a minicon Buzzsaw is not.
Do you mean your left when looking at him head on or Soundblaster's left? Because my Soundblaster's right arm swivel is looser. That's the one with the jet nose on it.
I always use the directions in reference to the toy, so Soundblaster's left. Now that you mention it, though, the swivel on the right is a little loose as well...
No bio card in mine. Though that is not surprising considering that TDP Black Fang Wolf didn't include one either. Looks like the TDP exclusives are coping out a little bit with the extras.
I'm betting it's an inconsistent thing then since my Soundblasters left arm is fine but the right arm is loose.
I was planning on makind a joke about Buzzsaw and Laserbeak having "male" parts, where most minicons have "female" parts. Then I thought of every other time gender is brought up in this fandom and decided against it. One bonus over LB/BS having a peg is that any other Cybertron can hold him in their fist. I love the consistency in the fist holes. Anyone can become a falconer!
I finally got Galaxy Force Soundblaster. I've been drooling for this guy since I saw the pics. I placed a preorder almost immediately. When the package came, I ripped it open to find out... that he's only OK. The jet mode is cool so are the canister thingies that transform into Buzzsaw and weapons. The colors are sweet and make for a really nice homage to G1 Soundblaster. When I started to transfrom him into robot made, my opinion of him started to drop. The transform kind of reminded me of a cross between Energon Slugslinger and Cybertron Sideways. Those two were good but not quite great molds to me. The kibble stuff on his "wings" and plane parts on his arm limit the articulation on the upper body. It sucks that you need the force chip to open the chest but it's not too bad. The head is nice, I like the sculpt and the red light piping makes him look more menacing. He's an awesome display piece but as a toy he's falls a bit short because of the hampered articulation.
You don't adore the Noisemaze mold??? SS what the hell man? I got this guy today and wow I love him! my ONLY complaint is that I wish they set up the shield/cockpit on his left arm to rotate like it does on Noisemaze so that you could pose the arm in any way you wanted.. it IS limited since they did not, but honestly with the dual-hinge its on, you can still pose it in a lot of ways. All the joints on my SB are nice and snug except for the ball his head is mounted on, so no complaints there. No deformations or QC issues that I have found either I'm one happy camper... I sure wish they'd make more guys to go along with Hell Buzzsaw.. he's an absolute GEM!! would love some of those minicon sets to have some .. like I dunno, Ratbat? Any of the dinos? Or even his combiner fellas... I can't wait to get Cyb Soundwave to put with him... Andy
Well Noisemaze/Sideways is an awesome display piece with a cool transformation but his range of motion feels so hampered. I like him but I don't love him.
:huh OOoookay. I gotta agree with Redline. Noisemaze is one of my favorite TF's ever, he and Primus are the two gems of the line, by far, IMHO. Personally, I'm chomping at the bit to get the "Mass Production" Noisemaze with the DVD set that's coming out this summer.
I really don't see how you can say Noisemaze or Soundwave have hampered movement... apart from a lack of a waist they're extremely articulated, and there's nothing to restrict the movements of any of the limbs. Phazer
Prelude: Takara has never seen a Soundwave figure it did not want to paint black and call Soundblaster and the Galaxy Force version (the Japanese name of the Cybertron line) is no exception. So here comes Galaxy Force Soundblaster, possibly just a cover identity for a guy called Logos prime, who might or might not be one of the original Thirteen and has ties to the Kiss Players, too (but we do not mention Kiss Players here). So arm your shoulder bazooka, prepare to eject your minions, and let’s say go! Robot Mode: I have already reviewed Cybertron Soundwave, of whom this figure here is a straight-up repaint, but that was seventeen years ago, so I think we can give this figure a fresh review, right? Right. So, Galaxy Force Soundblaster is a Voyager-class figure, quite tall, with huge wings, and rather spindly legs. While there are certain elements to the robot that mark him as a Soundwave/-blaster, mainly the tape deck on his chest, he quite obviously does not transform into a cassette recorder. The wings are a big hint. Soundblaster has average articulation for a figure from this time. No swiveling hop or twisting wrists, but he can move reasonably well. Being as top-heavy as he is, there are some balancing issues here and there (he has rather tiny feet), but he can still pull off quite a few nice poses. One thing that bugs me a bit: he can spread his legs on ratchet joints, but the individual ratchets are pretty far apart, meaning he is standing either straight or with his legs pretty far apart. Some middle option would have been nice here. Also, he has kibble on both arms (nose of his jetmode on the right, shield/canopy on the left), which get in the way here and there. All of which sounds more negative than it really is, he can still pull off poses quite well. In terms of colors and details I really like Soundblaster. His main color is black, which does swallow some of the excellent detailing of this mode, but there are enough golden, silver, and red highlights to bring a lot of it to the forefront. Parts of his tape deck, arm shield and weapons are made from translucent red plastic, which looks very good. Speaking of weapons, Soundblaster has quite a few. In his alternate mode (see below) he carries three large bombs, two of which become weapons. One becomes a twin-barreled rifle, the other a triple-barreled one that doubles as his trademark shoulder bazooka. Of course either weapon can go on his shoulder or he can hold them both in hand, your choice. Folded together in bomb mode, either weapon (or Hell Buzzsaw, see below) can fit into his chest compartment, which opens up when his Cyberkey (or Force Chip, rather) is entered into the slot on his back. So bottom line for the robot mode: great to look at, decent to pose and play with, and with a fun Cyberkey gimmick that really marks him as a Soundwave/-blaster. Alternate Mode: Soundblaster transforms into an alien space vehicle that somewhat resembles a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Bomber. The transformation is not terribly difficult as such, but getting everything into exactly the right position so that everything fits together solidly takes a bit of fiddling. The resulting space craft looks very cool and intimidating, has a (non-retracting) landing gear, and even has a tiny little pilot’s seat, which you can see by lifting up the canopy. The only slight flaw here is that Soundblaster’s hip, which is made from unpainted grey plastic, ends up on top of the jet, somewhat breaking up an otherwise very cool paintjob. Soundblaster can store two of his bombs under the wings and the third in his chest compartment, which is now on the jet’s underbelly. The Cyberkey gimmick remains functional here, too, of course, meaning you can enter the Cyberkey into the slot (now on top of the jet near the back) and make Soundblaster drop bombs on whatever unlucky soul he currently happens to fly above of. Very nicely done. Not really that much more I can write here. A very cool-looking jet mode (mostly) with a fun gimmick. Partner: As mentioned above two of Soundblaster’s three bombs become his guns. The third unfolds into Hell Buzzsaw, a repaint of Cybertron Laserbeak. This is actually one of my all-time favorite Laserbeak/Buzzsaw molds. It looks great and it is insanely well-articulated. The wings alone contain five hinges each, head and tail move, the legs have articulated feet, simply awesome. Sure, his alternate mode is simply a hexagonal container, but how is that any worse than simply transforming into a square? So bottom line: one of the greatest versions of Laserbeak/Buzzsaw ever. Remarks: Cybertron / Galaxy Force Soundwave never sported a black paintjob in the cartoon series, nor did we see black versions of him amongst the armies of Planet X. This figure, however, was repurposed to portray Logos Prime, whose convoluted background is way too lengthy to summarize here. Suffice to say that he was mentioned in the Beast Wars Reborn stories from Takara, in Kiss Players, and also has some connection to the Alternity line, but again: very convoluted. Best not to think about it too hard (especially because of Kiss Players). Way back in 2006 I gave the Soundwave version of this figure a C+. Looking back, I think was a bit too harsh on this guy, or maybe it’s just the nostalgia speaking. Anyway, Soundblaster looks great in black and the figure itself, while certainly having its issues, is an enjoyable and very nice-looking toy. Sure, the Soundblaster repaint is Takara-exclusive and was only available as a Toy’s Dream Project exclusive to boot, so getting him could end up quite expensive. Leaving the money issue aside, though, he is a good figure and I do not regret buying him. Recommended to Soundwave/-blaster and Cybertron/Galaxy Force fans. Rating: B-
