[Toys] Transformers Prime: Deluxe Soundwave

As usual, I cannot overlook a new Soundwave toy. G1, Animated, Revenge Of The Fallen, War For Cybertron... Dark Of The Moon didn't go so well and I'm not a fan of the Cybertron mold, BUT Prime Soundwave is a character I needed to own regardless of quality.

I had just as much trouble finding him as I did finding Arcee, so once again I have to provide many thanks to the lovely and generous Jazzfox for having a cousin in Scotland pick one up for me. Why Scotland? Well, the real reason is because he isn't shortpacked there like he is over here, but the fake reason is because of the multi-lingual packing. It's an educational experience you see.

• Soundwave is the master spy of the Decepticons! 
• Soundwave es el rey de discoteca!
• Mess avec un Soundwave et vous obtenez les cornes!
• Znam da ste čitajući ovaj Cro. Također Soundwave!

RIGHT, enough of that. This is a review.

Soundwave is creepy cool. He's an ever-silent lurker whose display screen face does all the talking for him, and the few times he does things, he makes them count and says a lot without saying anything. I will say now... the legs, not so hot. But let's start.

Soundwave turns into a UAV, oddly fitting. It's a strange design that lets it stand out amongst the small Decepticon cast. The main thing of note is that the wingspan is looong, and if you fold out the rest of the arms from the wings it's even longer. Ridiculously long. Also, I realized right away there's some really small landing gear in the front on the side of one of his feet, odd location but it seems to work.

A thing provided to me was a picture someone did of a fanmode Cybertronian mode. Which is more or less just the first step of the transformation with some fiddling on the wings. I like the look of it myself.

Robot mode is... well, let's say this to start. Soundwave is a design that doesn't even have a CHANCE of getting a toy made of it, and yet it did. The body is very odd and it's hard to imagine how a toy of it would look... And we got one, not only did we get one but in the second (if not first?) wave of Robots In Disguise. It's so weird to see it.

That said? The place this design really does not succeed is the legs. Let's first point out that it's using that chickenlegged look that the movies really used a lot of. In my opinion, it is very hard to pull this look off and have it work. In Soundwave's case, his leg articulation is screwed. He can only stand. Granted, how often does he move around and do awesome action poses in the first place? Regardless, it's an issue to be addressed. The heel bits on mine can be a little loose but not to the point where he's constantly falling over. In fact, once I adjust them they stay in place pretty well. Though heel bits like this are another movie-inspired thing I'm not a fan of.

Similarly, his automorph involves his head popping out during transformation (it doesn't get in the way like it sounds, it's practically the last step). I don't know if said springloaded gimmick is reeeally the cause of it, but that combined with his slumped neck joint (giving him his hunchback look) and the crowded head design, his ability to look to either side is limited. It's here I'll also say given his display screen for a face, no lightpiping to speak of on this guy. The screen has this odd indescribable shade of metallic-ish purple that I think looks really cheap and WOULD be tempted to paint over with some black... but I'm curious if the beautiful people over at Reprolabels will do something about this...

Onto some positives! The arms. Look at those arms, they are so flat. Yet somehow, they are articulated more than they need to be. Two points that allow for a doublejointed elbow, a swivel in that area as well, and there's a tight hinge on the shoulder area to make the arm move forward which might be useful to you. The arms have a lot going on, oddly.

A subtle little detail I learned later is the bend at the waist, allowing the hunched look to become more prominent. It's a nice detail I remember Animated Shockwave having and while I think he did it better (it actually locked in place), Soundwave's works too.

Whew, that's it for the robot mode. Now then, what else is there? How bout that chunk of plastic on his chest that doesn't actually look suspicious?

Surprise! Much like he did a few times in the show, a small portion of the chest detaches and becomes the Laserbeak drone. Laserbeak's design is just as impossible to do, so what they did manage to pull off it's very nicely done. In particular I like how the chest doesn't look entirely like anything is missing. Also, there is a peg on the underside, so it pegs into the chest nice and tight, as well as perching on the holes featured on his wrist areas.

He doesn't get to come packaged with an oversized gun that he never had in the show like Arcee did, probably for the better... I think the gun might make him fall over.

So, how's this Soundwave hold up? Well, I keep pushing the fact home; As a minor-ish character who doesn't speak and mainly just stands around the base, whose design is so impossible to pull off flawlessly, it's amazing he even HAS a toy, and I sincerely doubt he will get a Voyager sized toy (even if he did, it'd end up being one of those gimmick-y ones which might not be good for the design), so assuming this is ALL he gets, it's not bad. In fact I dare say if you want a Prime Soundwave to lurk in your shadows, he does that pretty well. Just go in knowing his legs are kinda not that great.

I thought I was done with the Prime toys now, but it looks like I might need more Decepticons... I see a couple I might be interested in. We'll see how that pans out.