Operation: Soundwave Review

Perhaps even surpassing Megatron, Soundwave is along with Optimus Prime the most recognizable and remembered characters and toys from the 1980’s – even non-TF fans remember Soundwave with a fondess – there was something just so cool about him!  A tape deck that ejected micro-cassettes that turned into animals and robots and was a bad guy had massive appeal.  And here we see Soundwave recreated yet again, this time for the first time as a Headmaster with Titans Return Soundwave.

 Robot Mode

It’s lucky that both Blaster and Soundwave are boxy characters, so with a simple palette swap, a new head and a shoulder cannon this does looks like Soundwave rather than a recoloured Blaster (which he is after all).  The proportions are ok though I would have liked to see more articulation.  Nothing beats a Soundwave that can actually bend his arm upwards and press his eject button (aka MP SW).  His gun is from Blaster and for those in the know it looks nothing like Soundwaves regular firearm which is a bit disappointing, but I suppose even Transformers are allowed to change their armament every few million years.

 Tape Deck Mode

The smartest thing they did here was to change the way the speakers look.  It now looks like a tape deck from the early nineties rather than a proper Ghetto Blaster (all you kids born this century, you might have to do some research here to know what I am talking about).  The mode looks better than I thought it would; it looks sleek and somber, just a shame there is the odd little gap here and there.

 Base Mode

This mode suits Soundwave far more than Blaster (who I still maintain should have turned into a DJ booth with dance floor.  For a review of TR Blaster – see HERE).   The darker colour scheme works for the mode as well as the extra cannon.  Overall better than I expected.

 Soundblaster

For those that didn’t follow the JP G1 cartoon, Soundwave and Blaster killed each other but got rebuilt by their respective leaders, Soundwave turning into Soundblaster (the only difference with the toy besides a darker colour scheme was it could hold 2 cassettes).  Soundblaster has been brought back here but this time as Soundwaves head.  The funny thing is that they redid the face on his back to look like Soundwave, as well as his little head, but the legs are still those of Twin Cast (Blasters Headmaster partner) with the speakers on the front.  Since it would not have affected the face, they should have made his front much darker to represent Soundblaster more.

 Transformation

No change from Blaster.  If you haven’t converted Blaster know that this figure isn’t difficult for a leader class figure.  There is no real challenge here, however transforming him for the first time you have to engage your brain to turn him in to what is a reasonably two dimensional alt-mode as the Tape Deck.  Conversion to base mode is very straight forward.

Overall

Soundwave is one of two figures which can be said to be a crossover between Combiner Wars and Titans Return, given that CW Buzzsaw can be put into TR Soundwave in both Robot and Tape Deck modes.  Interestingly in the instructions it only mentions him being compatible with the upcoming Laserbeak and Ravage, most likely as these toys are to be released soon (bet Hasbro is just thrilled with IDW for having killed Ravage 6 weeks ago in MTMTE #55).  The fact you can insert these smaller figures into him along with the Headmaster gimmick and he is a triple changer means there is a lot of playability with this figure.  While certainly not the ultimate Soundwave toy, on the whole this one is pretty good and it’s nice to see Soundwave once again as a musical device rather than a van or truck.

Got your own thoughts on Titans Return Soundwave?  Would love to hear them in the comments section below!