Very happy to have gotten Soundwave in from Amazon after 5 months in preorder limbo!



Soundwave is figure 51 in the line. Ravage is eager to see his master...



Here he is in his gorgeous vehicle mode. The silver paint is great - is not bright silver, but a very pretty darker shade (would have been nice if Jazz was this color, actually).

Headlights might have benefitted from a different color, and there's a few vents that should have black paint, but that's easy enough to do.



The car is VERY compact. His limbs are all packed tight in there, and everything fits nicely. In fact the trunk doesn't even really tab in, it just sits above his legs, but it doesn't really need to.

Transformation is very intuitive but a bit daunting since you want to be very careful not to nick anything. I was surprised to see just how many solid locking tabs there were for so many of his parts. If you've seen video reviews you know that he has a little automorph in his feet, but then there is a further tab on the side of the foot that locks it firmly with the rear car piece that makes up the rest of his leg. Even his backpack tabs firmly together into one solid piece. The hands have an indent that puts them into the right position against his forearms.

Also, there are quite a few semi-soft rubber parts including his head Crest and knee spikes. They are pretty firm and probably a good call so as not to cause any breakage or scuffing issues with the very tight clearances.

Anyway, here's the main attraction!



He's just a joy to look at. The sculpted detail is superb. This is very, very close to the CGI model in almost every way. A few bits like his speaker bits could have used sole additional paint, but if that's what got us the silver paint job it's a fine trade off.

Poseability wise, he's pretty decent. His neck is actually on a hinge on the base plate and then a ball joint at the head. Universal shoulders, bicep swivel, elbow bend. No waist, but hips, thigh swivel, and knees. Since he is bulky he can't do anything too crazy, but he gets the job done.



Here's a closer look at his chest and head.




Here's a view from the side. He has a solid through line for the spine, and backpack sits very tightly up against it, so he really doesn't feel kibbly at all.



Here's a close up of Laserbeak. He is also semi-soft plastic, which makes sense since he's pretty thin. Would look nicer with a more gunmetal grey color, which I plan to give him.



Size comparison with Soundwave's teammate and their eternal rival!



Thanks for reading. Happy to shoot any size comparisons you would like to see, and will add a few more dynamic poses later.

Another home run for Studio Series!

 

TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope mine comes soon.

 

Great review and awesome pictures! I could've gotten him 2 weeks ago but was sadly sold out very fast. He's definitely the most wanted figure now.

 

Is this a scratch or something?

 

looks good. I just wish it was a tad taller. he's shorter than bee right?

 

Unfortunately yes, he came out of the box like that.

Soundwave is ever so slightly shorter head to head, but Bee having the hood of the car and the door wings on an upward angle makes Bee appear bigger. I wish he was a little taller too!

 

He looks incredible, but being entirely silver like that, is there any part of him that might be susceptible to scratching from the transformation?

 

Yes. The biggest things you need to watch out for are:

1) The panel with his head that you flip 180 degrees requires a decent amount of force. Be careful not to dig in with your fingernail.

2) The front of the car hinges down, and you want to be very careful that it does not scrape against the sides of the car that become his arms. It is a very tight clearance. If you force it you may actually see some bending, which is a little scary.

3) His hips are painted silver and rest against the hood of the car in vehicle mode, so be careful not to press them in too hard to avoid undue scraping against them.

 

Fantastic review! Great pics too; gonna have to get this guy!

 

This is a must-have for me, always liked his design and I already sold my HA.

 

Not liking the color choice for the headlights...

 

A-FREAKIN-MAZING

Movie best soundwave and HA soundwave are still and will remain in my collection. This will be a double by for me.

GREAT review..bonus points for being the 1st to get the chest correct.

 

I admit, It could use a little more paint. But still good.

 

Just saw Tef Tef's video review and thought I'd share because it's the first one I've seen with a comparison to the original DOTM deluxe:



He's a chunky little fella! (review here

)

Seems like the paint smudge on the back of the car is going to be a reoccurring issue however.

 

Great review! Congrats on getting him! I am still searching...

I'm definitely gonna paint over those. Maybe even just white, or baby blue maybe? I'm also gonna give him a little bit of blue in bot mode on the "speakers" for that soundwavey effect. I'm even more excited to get a satellite version of him down the road!

 

Man, he does look leagues better than the original version.

 

I will say, I am still trying to figure out the exact rotation for the headlights without them popping off. There's basically no clearance. Luckily the ball socket seems sturdy and not prone to stressing.

One thing I will add is that the chest is probably just a bit less accurate than the Human Alliance version, which had the bottom parts of the grill angle in more. But at this scale, it still looks great, and of course his headsculpt and proportions are leagues better than the HA!

There is! Laserbeak's legs are on a friction hinge, if you rotate them back it reveals a tab that can plug into a slot on the rear of the car roof.

 

yeah but DUDE..all the other pics and reviews ive seen just kind spread em and tweak em a bit..you flipped em, and it..just..looks RIGHT to me. not sure if thats what the instructions had you do but its awesome.

I dont care what peeps say..I like what I like. Ive always loved the movie soundwaves. the HA soundwave was a holy grail for me for awhile. I got on, and I still have it. then I got a KO to paint, and gave it to a buddy. then I bought the movie best when it when on sale. I still LOVE that mold. But this deluxe is in a league of its own from what I see. SO much detail goin on...so much character..

Studio even announced a satellite soundwave recently..well..from a walmart listing. Gotta say, I have zero regrets with my VERY hard choice (at the time) of selling off my entire G1 MP collection. I only kept YOTH (my son LOVES that one) and I have zero regrets now. I grew up with G1, had my fun and times with it..now im balls deep into the movieverse designs. I think they look even better these days with us being separated by the movies from years now. My collection consists of a few random guys I love through many lines, ie Takara prime bulkhead, 30th brainstorm..the titans, and all studio, and all OSKO and 3rd party movieverse guys.

I am at my happiest with my collection now. I never touched the G1 MPs..These I pull them all down once in awhile to mess with em.

I still excited to see if we get an OSKO of this too.

 

Thanks haha... and speaking of locking tabs, those pieces lock in as well! there are small grooves that the headlights sit in on his chest to hold the chest pieces in place.