Honestly it's very unpredictable with HasTak. One one hand you can get stuff like MPM-3 Bee and MPM Screamer, which look great, but then you get MPM Ratchet. Like that thing is a glorified Deluxe, and this is coming from someone who actually likes it. (But I got the KO that's ACTUALLY painted, so.)
But honestly I'm glad NewAge pulled it off now since HasTak has yet to finish the Movie 1 Cons.
Anyway I'm so hyped to get my S'waver in a week or two!

 

I honestly think I may like HA Soundwave better (as long as it's been painted). Of course it doesn't exist, but an OSKO of Studio Series Soundwave might beat them both out. The detail work on NewAge is absolutely amazing (probably why he's still on display). But the actual body shape is just sort of wrong and awkward (yes I know the HA is technically less screen accurate).

If they'd gotten his chest more correct, set the wheels behind his head better, and gotten his arms little closer to his body he'd be just flat out amazing. Right now he frustrates me because what is right is done so exceptionally well.

 

I ended up just getting the movie the best version of HA soundwave and got an upgrade kit that bulks up the legs and torso. Its proportions just work way better for me.

 

It is quite amazing.

bUt ItS tOo ExPeNsIvE

 

If only he had ratchet joints in his shoulders...

 

No offense, HA / MB Soundwave proportion don't even come close compare to NA. Even SS Soundwave proportion is better

Where HA / MB excell is the alt mode

For once I'm happy this doesn't have ratchet. But the joint is stiff enough

 

This kind of inconsistency is what's really stopping MPM from quite fully clicking with the Transformers community at large. It's no secret that the MPM line has nowhere near the same kind of belovedness and hype behind it like the G1 MP line does, disregarding the obvious nostalgia factor and the fact that most Transformers collectors are older millennial/younger Gen X men. The MPM line should in theory have its own built-in audience due to older Gen Z kids who have grown up with the Bay films and have fond nostalgia for them, but we see time and time again that they don't sell very well and frequently go on clearance.

And of course, there is absolutely a market for MPM-class figures, and proven by 3rd party movie figures being constantly sold out. So the only possible explanantion, if there is a market for MPM figures but offical ones rarely selling well, is that the offical ones are simply just not very good figures at all. Seriously, the vast majority of people want to like these official MPM figures. They want to buy more good Transformers for their collection. But if HasTak won't provide what the people want, then the people will turn elsewhere that will.

I think HasTak has had more misses than hits in regard to their MPM's. In my opinion only Bumblebee, Barricade, and Jazz were truly nailed from the get-go. Coincidentally all of them are the only carbots too (besides Knightverse Bumblebee). Every single other figure either suffers from poor scultping, lack of paint, abysmal QC, or a combination of all three and just being to damn expensive for what they are. It's such a shame too because some great molds like Starscream and Ironhide would have been absolutely amazing had they just been slightly more polished before release with sturdier builds and better paint. It's bullshit like that which causes KO's to be made in the first place.

Anyways, mini rant over. Sorry about that. You'll love your new Soundwave! Hope it arrives sooner than later!

 

Idk, I’m happy with my upgraded HA. Much more bulky and intimidating. Especially now with the silver painted one.

 

Eh... I think I'll have to disagree there. Personally I think NA Soundwave blows every other Soundwave out of the water. HA while admittedly a good/fun figure is horribly inaccurate due to being based on early concept art. Those H U G E shoulders also cause it to be way too topheavy and hard to pose.

SS Soundwave is also undeniably a great figure that's superior (heh) to every other deluxe movie Soundwave. However that glaringly inaccurate chest (seriously why on earth does the bumper fold out? It should fold in and angle down covering the front grill!) really holds it back from being truly fantastic. I know some people can easily overlook this and not have it bother them, but not me and a lot of other people. it got on people's nerves so much that there was an upgrade kit made just to give it a more omvie-accurate chest lol.

Besides, it's kind of unfair to compare a $150 MPM-class figure with modern back magic engineering to a $25 deluxe class and HA figure from like a decade ago. Obviously the MPM would win out in terms of sculpt and paint.

 

I’ve tried multiple configurations with NA’s wheels. I keep thinking there has to be a way to get them to look better, but I haven’t managed to find it. The hood flaps are nearly absent on NA and there presence is sorely missed (for me). Studio series has more than NA does.

he’s just so squat and wide. I really assumed I’d be able to tweak something somewhere to shift the body profile.

I just feel like HA has the much better silhouette (despite being a bit less accurate). But NA does have really stunning detail work- some of the best on any mpm car out there. If the body wasn’t such a mess I’d absolutely adore him.

so far NA is still the one in the main display, but I’ve been gradually realizing I just like HA better. Drives me nuts because in so many ways NA is the better figure.

but I definitely hear you.

btw, HA is not a MB, but a custom paint job I did right after I got him (although it should be close to what MB ended up looking like)

 

Ok, well that’s interesting (to me). Arms are way back from where they should be. Screws up articulation quite a bit. But that’s a very different look. We’ll see how a feel after a few days. But maybe this is an improvement in my book.

Edit: That's funny. His misplaced shoulders now sit very close to where Studio series shoulder's sit...

 

I've stopped saying "this is the best that is possible" with transformers because the movie figure designers are continually pushing themselves to do better and better and frankly amazing things have been achieved! Just look at rotf leader Optimus vs BA Optimus, or AOE Leader Optimus vs UT Challenger or some of the upcoming ones. Some say UT Peru Kill is the best Lockdown that could possibly exist but I KNOW that some time in the future is a much better one. I don't let this hold me back from collecting though, since I want to enjoy my life in the mean time and not just shit on everything that's not perfect, waiting for the most perfect one. I buy the best one out there then if a better one comes along I sell the older one and upgrade. There's always people looking for older figures.

I like how that looks a lot!

 

That does look much better. He only needs the taller shoulder armor to complete his silhouette.

 

Where did you get those? Might be interested if they're still available. Thanks!

 

That's fair enough. However, I think the comparison is a bit flawed.

The reason I say this is the most accurate DOTM Soundwave we're going to get is because some movie designs are unquestionably "easier" to translate to plastic than others. What I mean by this is that in a nutshell, the more "abstract" a design is, the easier it would be to engineer in the physical world. Designs like Soundwave are super erratic, with a silhouette that just barely resembles something humanoid. He has tons of vehicle kibble in robot mode, and with the multitude of panels and engine bits all over his body, it makes him look very chaotic and abstract. Soundwave's proportions are completely off from how a real humanoid actually looks, so it would in theory be easier to produce a figure for him since you can just "approximate" where something would go in robot mode and for the most part it would be passable if it resembles the CGI model closely enough, since the design is already quite messy.

Converse that with something like Knight Optimus and Lockdown, who are starkly humanoid in design. They have almost no vehicle kibble at all and they're incredibly streamlined and defined. They have proportions that are much closer to a human's, more like a bodybuilder in fact. This makes it ten times harder to produce something that's screen accurate. It's why we keep seeing newer and newer molds of Knight Optimus, each one being an improvement over the last. It's honestly crazy how we started off from that abysmal Leader AOE Optimus figure with a backpack bigger than most boyscouts to that incredible new TMT-01 mold which looks like the CGI model has leapt off the page.

I'd say it really depends on the figure. For something like DOTM Soundwave, this is probably the closest we're going to get. Hell, the fact that that cancelled TungMung Soundwave was supposed to be the "first" MPM DOTM Soundwave proves it. It's wildy inaccurate and the proportions are all off. The NewAge soundwave improves on it in so many ways.

 

I'd like to see how a 3PC handles the Dreads. The only vehicle kibble they have is the tires on their legs and some vehicle plates. Plus they just look cool.

 

Oh man what I would give for more MPM DOTM figures. The Dreads, Sentinel Prime, Megatron, Wreckers...

 

And Que/Wheeljack. I'm in the minority but I liked him, and was sad he was killed. Sure he wouldn't be super complex in the engineering but I'd like a GOOD figure of him. And for GOD SAKES CAN WE GET A FIGURE FOR CROSSHAIRS AND DRIFT. We got a Hound from Wei Jiang, so what gives with other Companies.

 

Crosshairs and Drift are sorely overdue. It's actually amazing they don't have good MPM's yet when even DOTM Soundwave and Mirage do.

But by far our biggest loss is that absolutely stellar Black Apple Ironhide. My goodness that figure made me feel things and I legit cried when I found out it was cancelled. I was so looking forward to it and then Black Apple got raided...

 

Agreed, dude. On everything.
But who knows, someone may steal those BA designs and make the figure themselves. Ironhide is popular enough to warrant it.