Soundwave is a icon of Decepticon and a must have for a Transformer fan. Besides his face is the icon, his G1 design which turns into

a cassette player is the icon of Transformers toys. But this toy is now too far beyond my reach. First is the price of finding one which is

usually too high. Second is the marketing issue since Hasbro will no longer make a new Soundwave as a cassette player because most

of the modern kids won't know what a cassette player is. But I still want one Soundwave badly to put him with my classics. Previous I

thought Cybertron Soundwave should be a good fit, but then he was just not right. Later when the War For Cybertron game came out, I

believe its Soundwave looked like a better fit, so I sold the Cybertron jet and wait for this WFC truck. Do I finally get the right one? At

least for now, I think so.

 

Since it's a game, Transformers alternate mode needs to have some mobilities. In this case, Soundwave became a truck. Like other WFC

figures I've owned, this alternate mode doesn't mean too much for me. This truck doesn't roll perfectly and it is smaller than others.

Weapons can be attached on the truck or stored in the where-Frenzy-Rumble-Ravage-Laserbeak-should-be, but that's pretty much all.

 

If you play the game as Autobots in the boss fight with Soundwave, he actually transformed to a boombox. In this toy, yep! he can do

that too, no matter it's official or not. For me, this boombox is actually more meaningful and displayable than the truck.

 

His transformation is fairly easy and the robot mode is finally doing Soundwave right, ehhh, at some points. First the head, check. His

eyes are painted red that totally blocks the light piping, but Megatron has the same issue, too. Then the openable chest, check. Only

it is using for weapon storage now. And this time they do it right with a Decepticon symbol on it. Then the weapons, check. Both guns

are exactly what look like in G1. The rest? They aren't that important to identify Soundwave. He is quite poseable as no panels or parts

will block the movement. Since he has the big flat duck feet and not back heavy, he is really well balanced also. Now to the issues.

Myabe just me, but I feel like Hasbro is more and more slacking on the WFC line as time goes. While Prime and Bumble is superb on the

plastic quality, detailing, and paint jobs, Megatron is then okay. Now to Soundwave, he doesn't look that detailed and the painting is

okay. His plastic quality feels cheap and he also suffers from some loose hip joints but at least it is fixable. Some people on the net

even reported using the wrong size arm joint which makes his arm totally loose. The two front wheels now hangs on his lower back

that looks really ugly. I think it's even worse than Prime's truck cab. Hasbro should make more efforts on transforming them properly

instead of just fold them back. Then it's the issue about his size. Since Bumblebee can be almost as tall as Prime, how come Soundwave

is so short as he is about half head shorter than Megatron. Hey, he is a Leader class in the game, right?

 

Transformation: 6 - Easy enough. But the two wheels haning on the lower back is really bad.

Fun: 8 - Truck mode almost means nothing for me. Boombox mode is for display only. Robot mode is great as he moves and balances

well. I do spot few more peg holes on him to put extra weapons but they are on strange places and don't look good with weapons on

as on Prime. Better just leave them along.

Display: 8 - Robot mode is just Soundwave. Looks good except the wheels on the back. Boombox mode is fun to display. Truck mode

can be ignored.

Value: 9 - $9 at Walmart is a good and reasonable price of getting him, and it's Soundwave.

Overall: 8 - Overall, he is a good toy. Easy enough for kids to transform (Prime?) and body movement and balance are good. But he

lacks some QC and details that Hasbro should pay more attentions on. But hey, he is Soundwave and he fits with my clssics well.