Soundwave

Status: Released

Release Date: May 2009 (May 2009)

Wave: Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Wave 1

MSRP: $12.99

Size Class: Deluxe

Suggested Age: 5+

Assortment Number: 83971

Product Number: 89087

DPCI Number: 087-06-0111

Recolors/Reuses: Revenge of the Fallen Soundwave (Gather at Nemesis) , Chara Hobby Black Soundwave , Revenge of the Fallen Soundwave (NEST Battle)

Intended as a preview figure to be released on May 15, 2009 along with Bumblebee, Soundwave wasn't released in most markets until the rest of the Revenge of the Fallen line on May 30, 2009. This time around, Soundwave trades in his outdated tape deck mode for more space-worthy forms suited to an evil communications expert. How does he stack up? Read on, if you dare.

Soundwave comes packaged in robot mode and is predominantly blue-gray with light blue, red, gold, silver, and dark blue highlights that bring out the sculpted detail of the various lines and curves of this form. His face is an updated look to the face of the original character, complete with visor and mouth-plate, his eyes the traditional red of the Decepticons.

Hasbro and Tomy gave Soundwave 23 points of articulation. That's not a typo, 23. Yet, he lacks the ability to swivel at the elbow, making his arms a little less fun to pose. But, he has 4 joints in each foot, so I guess you have to pick your battles. Soundwave also comes packaged with a Ravage projectile (not pictured). It locks into his back and is largely useless in any of his modes as an efective "weapon." My only other complaint is that Soundwave is very short. I feel he should be larger, more commanding in presense, not shorter than Bumblebee.

Folding the legs together, tucking the arms into their respective armpits, and moving the back panels around put Soundwave into his satellite mode. It defintely has an ominous, alien look to it, more like a floating, quadriplegic robot than a satellite, but I still like it. I have no problem picturing Soundwave in Earth's orbit, gaining control of other satellites as they come into his range.

A few panel manipulations later gets us to his space cruiser mode. It's essentially the satellite mode laying down. Still onimous looking, still alien looking, Soundwave's space cruiser mode reminds me of Vector Prime from the Transformers Universe (and Cybertron) toy line.

Soundwave is a pretty cool figure. Sure, he's not a tape deck with an army of evil minions waiting to be ejected into battle, but this is a logical update to a classic character. I would have given him a perfect score is it weren't for the short stature and near-perfect arm articulation.

Voice Actor: Frank Welker

Cartoon Overview
Soundwave acts as the Decepticon operations commander throughout Revenge of the Fallen. From orbit he takes over a military communications satellite, allowing him to monitor every action that the humans take, while they are none the wiser. Soundwave is also responsible for directing Decepticon attacks, sending them to locations all across the globe to best accomplish the goals of Megatron and The Fallen.

His actual role in events is relatively small, but crucial. Without Soundwave, the Decepticons could not have coordinated their efforts as effectively, nor retrieved information without detection. Best of all, he survived the movie, almost ensuring he will make a return in future.

Contributors: Sol Fury, GenZhao, ViceGripX, SydneyY, thenatureboywoo, Tim Formas

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