Transformers Studio Series Leader Class The The Movie Soundwave Review

Soundwave Superior

 

Aloha folks, I am back with another TF review. And this time its none other than TF Studio Series: Leader Class Soundwave. Without further delay, let's get started!

Boxing

As usual now, the figures no longer have the 86 marking nor does it come with a specialized movie backdrop. The backdrop it comes with is either blue or yellow. The side of the box showcases the destruction of Autobot City more clearly now. 

Soundwave

Soundwave comes in a lighter blue. He did look a little darker in the film. So I'm pretty sure they will re-sell him as the darker one at one point down the line. So he comes with his blaster plus his sound/shoulder canon. Both can be used as weapons if that is your forte. He does have fingers though its not individually articulated. Besides his thumbs, the rest of his fingers fold together and out. He does have swivel in his waist and even his feet though you can't tilt the latter like most figures can nowadays. The bizarre thing is due to how his feet is stored in alt mode, you can turn his feet 180 if that is your liking. He does have these heels that can protrude out, once again if that is your liking.

As for the figure itself, his joints are done nicely. Its not too tight or loose. I would had liked to see him in darker blue but the figure itself is well made. His Eject button is a little too far back, imo. It took me sometime to realize a certain pose that was needed in order to have him do his iconic "release the cassettes" pose which I will get to later. But based on robot mode, Soundwave is a great figure. Nicely designed and plays pretty fine.

Cassettes

One of the reasons why I bought the figure so I could have more of Soundwave's Minions. (Rumble and Frenzy were not brought into this shoot for they are in storage for now. Sorry but it was confirmed that they do fit. I did see a video on Instagram that proves it does) Here the trio comes already in their cassette form. Although they are square, they really don't look like cassettes. And now we get to...

Buzzsaw and LaserBeak

Easily transformable to robot mode and back. The guns however do come in a separate packaging. They are also easy to put on. The wings can move downward giving them the impression of taking flight. Their mouths do not open but overall they are done fairly well.

Ravage

Probably the more difficult to transform of the 3. Not too hard but its definitely not as easy to transform as Buzzsaw or Laserbeak. Once you get him into this mode, his missiles, like the other two, comes detached. So you need to plug it in as well... into his butt. No joke. His mouth too is unable to open up. To be honest, Ravage for me comes out to be fairly disappointing on how he looks. He does look better than his Netflix version imo. Like if we could get something similar to the Henkei caliber, that be awesome. Simple to play with here, so not a big complaint.

Eject Eject, Eject!

It took me a while like I said to recreate the pose. The third pic in this category showcases this correctly. The first pic shows him extending the flaps that holds his arm in. It wasn't until I had to look this up online to see how he can truly do this pose. It's awkward that the other Soundwave releases made this easy. You have to really bend his elbow joints to do this now. Like a flex if anything. As some people also pointed out, the button feels a little too back. The Cassettes, however, fit really good. The tape deck design is handled and designed much better than Blasters. You can, however, fit only one cassette into his deck at a time. 

Boombox mode

Easy to transform without the help of instructions. What I do like is how you can store his weapons inside his back now. You can also use his minions weapons just to peg in areas with the 5mm port. You can still stick his weapons on his shoulder or the 5mm ports out of that cubby hole if you like though I didn't shoot any of that.

Some other pics

 

Scale and his famous lamp post mode. Heels sticking out in the third pic.

Conclusion

Another Soundwave. Just when you thought you couldn't top the Netflix/Legacy versions, 86 does it. The 86 version looks more bland in comparison to the NF/Legacy versions for that version has more details, but this simple design works good and feels more like classic Soundwave. I wish he was more darker but he plays very well. His cassette bots leave a lot to desire but we were getting those guys with him so I didn't expect a masterpiece of some sort. What probably irked me the most was how you had to do his iconic push pose. It's no longer a simple lift the arm arm and push. You have to bend his elbow in a way where he is like flexing now. But that is over with and not a big complaint where I tell you not to get him. He fits well into 86 line and you owe yourself this one if you are a Soundwave fan. Once again, him and his cassettes are easily to fiddle with. He comes with Buzzsaw who wasn't in the film but nevertheless, he was always a part of SW. That to me is a bonus. Anyhow, see you next time. Jesus still loves you.