Same deal, had to travel across state in Indiana, found this guy at a Walmart in Brownsburg. Had had no luck even seeing any of the 35th ann Siege guys. Was kind of hoping to spy perhaps a leader class Optimus but no dice there.

This guy kind of gave me a reason to grab the Generations Select 4 pack of the minicassettes.

 

I'm still trying to find the 4 pack. Big regrets about not POing it.

 

I didn't see a thread for the TT-GS12 Selects Soundblaster and it really didn't make sense to start one for a single review when the only differences between it and the 35th Anniversary Soundblaster are the paint apps.

Let's talk about the paint app difference real quick for those that might not know. Selects Soundblaster uses a much darker paint for the battle damage on the black plastic and the grey plastic. There are times when it's very difficult to see on the grey plastic and, it's pretty muted looking at times on the black plastic. I don't have the 35th version but, I'm fairly certain there isn't less battle damage on the black plastic nor the grey plastic of the Selects version (it it just looks like there is because the paint is darker). Soundblaster is one of the rare instances when battle damage makes sense considering that Soundblaster uses Soundwave's battered and broken body and is essentially Soundwave back from the dead. The highlight of the paint app differences is that there is hardly any battle damage on the chest glass but, it comes at the expense of a Mercenary insignia instead of a Decepticon insignia (it's show accurate for the WFT Trilogy but, eww). I'm torn on the chest glass, the 35th version is absurdly over the top but the Selects version is nine kinds of you might as well have not done any damage at all.


Initial impression:

I can't believe that I ever turned up my nose at the Siege Soundwave mold. I was expecting the upper torso to be dummy thicc but, it's really not in person. This mold works better for Soundblaster but, I was a fool to skip Siege Soundwave considering I didn't know about Netflix/Walmart Soundwave so I'm still using the Generations deluxe Soundwave as my Soundwave.


The "alt mode":

It's really not an alt mode. It's too busy trying to look like it can transform instead of trying to look good (well as good as a flying brick can look). There's not really much that you can do with the "alt mode" out of the box but, you have a lot more leeway if you purchase the . . .


Shockwave Lab SL-76 upgrade kit (the one that allows the shoulder's mushroom pegs to slide back for a tape deck mode):

I don't really care for the tap deck mode that this kit allows (there are too many gaps and not enough straight edges) but, that's not why I bought it. I bought it hoping that it would let me so literally anything else with the "alt mode" and, it did.

It allows the official "alt mode" to look better since you can leave "engines" parallel to the rest of the "alt mode" (leave them collapsed instead of flaring them out but, they can still flare out in a "V" if that's your thing) and, you can leave the entire arm parallel to the rest of the "alt mode" (slide the shoulder's mushroom pegs all the way into the Shockwave Lab SL-76 upgrade kit then point the end of the arm with the hands toward the rear of the "alt mode". The "alt mode" is still a flying brick but, it's now a reasonable flying brick (e.g junkers/freighters in Star Wars, the Borg in Star Trek, ships in Alien/Aliens/etc., and so on). If only the front of the "alt mode" (the legs) had flip out landing gear that hung down as far as the tape deck hinge does (the weapon is just laying on the glass to keep the front elevated) . . .



It's not anything special but, it's far more coherent in that 80s and pre-80s bricks can totally fly as well as exit/renter planetary atmospheres because what even is aerodynamics in Fi-Sci (see what I did there?). More importantly, it doesn't try to pretend that it's anything more than a robot torso essentially lying down like Metroplex, Fortress Maximus, and several other characters do for an "alt mode". You can pop-off the "engines" like always if you don't want bulk above the cockpit (flight/observation deck) and pretend that the folded in hands are engine vents but, there's not anywhere else to really put them even if you had adapters to use in their 5 mm ports.

It's vastly more swooshable than the official "alt mode" (since the official "alt mode" looks more like a really poorly designed laser gun) and it can eject cassettes out as it does so (but not really since the eject button is blocked by how I have the "engines" positioned). Siege Apeface and Earthrise Snapdragon would totally swoosh around with my Siege/Selects Soundblaster's "alt mode" to protect it even though it clearly has dummy thicc armor plating.


Engineering flaws:

The chest door is too small for the cassettes. I have absolutely no interest in trying to force the cassettes into clear plastic, especially not really thin clear plastic that's on a spring loaded hinge (the hinge appears to have an ample amount of thickness but the rest doesn't).

The spring loaded hinge tends to push the abdominal section (and thus the pelvis) away from the body but, that's honestly for the best because it's probably going to prevent the hinges from cracking. This will also occur if you try to open the chest door further than it springs open. It's a flaw that the abdominal section doesn't firmly lock into place but, it gets a pass since it will most likely prevent a lot of drama with the chest door.

The leg panels on the back of the lower legs have a proper amount of "holding power" in robot mode but, they just flat out don't for the "alt mode" since they don't lock in place at all. There should have also been a secondary tab further down on those panels to help the tab near the top of them when you peg the legs together in the "alt mode". A single tab isn't enough because of how the knees can "bend" and, that results in one of the panels pulling away from the leg depending on which knee is bending. A second tab would have prevented that and, it would have made the front of the "alt mode" vastly more solid.


Aesthetic flaws:

The "alt mode" is one of the worst alt modes that I have ever seen, it's worse than TR Broadside's "jet mode" bad (at least that had wings). I'm fine with a robot laying down and turning into a flying brick as long as it somewhat obeys the physics of aviation even when it's as non-aerodynamic as possible. Imagine if they had used 4 "speakers" on flip out panels in conjunction with allowing the shoulders to "slide" (like they do with the Shockwave Lab SL-76 upgrade kit) to make the alt mode a "helicarrier" instead of hinges for the arms to swing down and do literally nothing but look bad and throw off the body lines of the "alt mode".

I wish that the "engines" could face the ground instead of the sky in robot mode but a rotation gimmick isn't really possible and something would have suffered greatly for it (especially if the "intake vents" were going to wind up sitting at the same height or level with the top of the chest). I'll just pretend that the "engines" are "intake vents" and the "intake vents" are "engine vents" in robot mode (it's a gigantic robot that turns into a flying brick, why on Earth should the "engines" and their "intake vents" need to follow logic?).


What it did well:

The robot mode is really neat and there were enough "loopholes" left for 3rd party and aftermarket companies to work some magic with the "alt mode" instead of locking everyone into a "use this alt mode or there isn't one" scenario.


Closing thoughts (purchase):

I don't really regret purchasing this. Sure it's $14 higher than other voyagers but, it's essentially a TakaraTomy import and it's much more subdued than the 35th version is (the 35th version is currently selling for around the same price due to the late tax). Both versions really should have come with a Buzzsaw redeco of Laserbeak but, that wasn't going to happen considering Siege Soundwave didn't have a cassette and the chest door was retooled (even though that came out of Soundwave's budget). I mean we can't be seduced into purchasing the eventual Buzzsaw redecos of Siege Laserbeak and/or Earthrise Laserbeak at some point in Legacy (you know damned well it's going to happen) if we had gotten one of them for "free" with Siege/Selects Soundblaster. I honestly don't think that I would regret this even if a Netflix/Earthrise Soundblaster came along because . . .

I'm good with Soundblaster looking completely different since the entire "hey let's kill Soundwave then paint it black then give it a a deck that can hold two cassettes stacked against each other (which isn't even remotely how dual cassettes work) and change the name" was absurd AF. As a matter of fact, I find it so absurd that is my first Soundblaster ever. It will almost certainly be my last as long as Soundblaster continues to just be a redco with chest window that holds two cassettes. I'm all for cannon but, it's time for Soundblaster to be something more than it was in G1 (e.g. use an actual reformatting for it rather than a repair).

 

Honestly the alt mode being dumb doesn't bother me as I've never seen anyone desire a G1 looking Soundwave for his alt mode.

And it's not a crime for me to use this guy as my Soundwave figure as either of their roles in the show were forgettable. And the Soundwave mold looks good in black!

 

I think his lamp mode looks a lot better with one leg

 

Definitely. Way less obvious that he's not just tilted 45 degrees.