Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Cries And Screams Are Music To My Ears!", 25 Jan 2009
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
Of all of Hasbro's Commemorative releases (of which this is the last, sadly), this figure has a degree of collectability that their other Reissue Transformers do not have. For a start, this isn't quite Soundwave as you may remember him. The mould used to produce this reissue figure belongs to that of a figure known as Soundblaster. This figure originally featured in Takara's Japanese Headmaster line of 1987, and is a rebuilt version of Soundwave (following his death after defeating Blaster). Soundblaster differed from Soundwave in a couple of ways. Firstly, he sported a black and silver paintjob and an expanded red chest cavity capable of holding two of Soundwave's cassette warriors. A slightly redeco'd figure of Buzzsaw came with Sounblaster, that when placed in his chest cavity, decoded a sticker on Buzzsaw that highlighted the Autobot Fortress Maximus' weak points.
Fast forward to 2003, and Takara (who produce Transformers in Japan) are putting together a commemorative series dubbed The Transformers Collection. They want to include Soundwave as part of the line, but his mould has been destroyed. Instead, they use Soundblaster's, retooling it slightly to hold only one casette. Painted blue, it looks the part(Although you can spot the difference as Sounblaster's tape door was hinged at the waist, unlike Soundwave's where the door was hinged inside the chest cavity, hence the pronounced Play/Rec buttons on Soundblaster).
Later in the same line, Soundblaster is reissued, with Laserbeak (Condor) and Ravage (Jaguar) - the latter bearing the decoder sticker previously sported by Buzzsaw. Hasbro then transplanted this release of Soundblaster to the west with Soundwave's colours, as their version of Soundwave. I'm not sure of the rationale behind this, but I'm guessing it was to add extra play value to the package. The origins of the Hasbro reissue's recent history can be spotted in the Ravage figure included in the package: he still sports his Fort Max decoder sticker (rendered useless by Soundwave's clear transparent chest cavity).
This figure retains all the characteristics and playability of the original Transformers release, including (unusually for a Western reissue) the small missiles and spring loaded firing weapons of the 1980s issue. Ravage and Laserbeak are an added bonus (and perhaps the most familiar of Soundwave's warriors), and even include the boxes these Micro Cassette tapes would be stored in in the real world, an extra feature familiar to Japanese fans, but never included with the Western releases of the Cassette warriors.
All in all, an excellent package and curiosity in its own right.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Soundwave, 19 Feb 2009
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
I tried to get this toy in Toys r Us ages ago but they had sold out and nowhere seemed to be selling it at the time, but I've got it now and couldn't be happier with it! It;s a reissue of the original Soundwave toy from the 80's and it's still good now.
You get the tapes ravage and Laserbeak wich fir nicely into Soundwave's tape deck and his weapons turn into the batteries when he's in his "vehicle mode".
Am very please with this toy.
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