G1 Soundwave

Hey Takara! Thanks for reissuing Soundwave, one of the coolest Decepticons ever! But who is this Condor bird-thing? Heheh. Wow, I can hardly believe I have a Soundwave toy in my humble G1 collection now. This is seriously a great reissue, especially after what seemed liked years of rumours that the mold was beyond hope of re-using. Thankfully an alteration or two with the Japanese Soundblaster mold saved the day and now Soundwave lives again! Yes, Megatron!

The box is the now-standard Japanese "TF collection" style, with Dreamwave art on the cover (Soundwave and Condor striking a pose). The back has several pics of what's inside plus a few images of collections 7, 0, 8 & 9. The T/F WORLD CARD inside has the old-school Soundwave art (w/o Buzzsaw) superimposed over a background that looks like a Cybertronic tunnel of a sort. I'm always impressed with how close the original artists were to the actual toys, posing them somewhat and making them look "real-world robotic" (like Megatron having bending elbows) but still true to the look of the product. Soundwave's got some Gundam-ish looking fists. The TV episode guide has Attack of the Autobots, Day of the Machines, Scramble City and TF: The Movie listed. The DW centrefold is just awesome - the art from the cover, with a background of communication towers and satellite dishes (although what the relevance is to Soundwave I guess we'll never know) as well as Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage (Jaguar in Japan?). I don't think Buzzsaw was released as a Japanese TF. Could be wrong, though. The Cybertron Catalog has Rodimus Convoy, Hot Rodimus, Blurr, Wheelie, Wreck-Gar, Cha(? I think - Kup to me), Sandstorm, Springer and Broadside. Next are the profiles for D-20/60 Condor and D-17 Soundwave. I like the art used in these profiles (and all TF Collection profiles I've seen so far) - it's very sharp and strikes a balance between the cartoon models and the toys. I'm not sure of the artist - Guido Guidi perhaps? I wonder what the story is behind Lazerbeak's dual numbering in Japan. In the profile pic of Soundwave's toy we can see the main differnce between the original TF and this reissue - the hinges for the cassette door. They are internal on the original and external on this release. Yeah, not a big deal. The Parts/Weapons pic shows a headset/mic that looks like it was included with the original Japanese Soundwave release, which is neat since the Microchange "Cassette Man" toy came with that accessory. North American kids probably would've accidently hanged themselves though - good call on Hasbro's part to ditch it in 1984. Hmmm, would that make this a 1984/85 Hasbro/1985 Takara Soundwave + 1988 Soundblaster reissue? Overall the packaging is as good as any TF Collection box I've seen yet (1, 2, 6 & 10).

The toy itself is still great even 2 decades later. Soundwave is like Prime in that, due to the nature of his transformation, he has more articulation than the average 1984/85 TF toy. One can get a few dynamic poses from him. And thanks to his alt-mode, Soundwave's robot mode has zero kibble - just 100% Autobot-bashing goodness! The legs are the most robotic-looking, with a good blend of mold & sticker detail. There's even mold detailing in places I would not expect - inside the cassette compartment and on Soundwave's back. His head is perhaps the best tooling on the toy - very three-dimensional and quite scary-looking. His is the evil visage the Decepticon sigil was based off of. Note that because of the transformation (again), the head can look from side to side! I don't think any other 84 TF can do that. And, although not some incredible feat of engineering, I've always been blown away how his weapons in robot mode become batteries in player mode - bazoom!!! In fact, this is the main memory I have of the toy from 1984. Speaking of his alt mode, Soundwave makes a very believable cassette player/radio, just as Megatron looks like a real pistol. I mean, jeez, there's even a flippin' belt clip on the battery cover! How's that for realism? Soundwave looks like a real-world item from pretty much any angle here.

As mentioned earlier, this reissue of Soundwave comes with one of his cassettes, Condor (Lazerbeak to you & me). Although the original Soundwave came with Buzzsaw (in North America - Frenzy/Rumble in Japan), it makes more sense to have Lazerbeak included here. Buzzsaw was in, what, 3 episodes? The only cassette I had as a kid was a KO Ravage (which I think despite being a KO still had metal parts) but the Lazerbeak toy was still well-known to me, either as LB or Buzzsaw. Actually, the Lazerbeak transformation is one of the few I actually remembered over the years (it's pretty simple) along with Prime and Bumblebee/Cliffjumper. The way one side of the toy has the cassette stickers like "60", "A", "Micro Cassette" and "Metal Position" is just great. Even the tape reel is portrayed and it's actually in an indent in the mold! Must be a separate sticker. And the reel spindles are molded as well. Just an insane attention to detail, truly mind-blowing! Lazerbeak's robot mode (it could also be called a beast mode) is well-done also. His wings have the classic TF sticker details, with hydraulics and gears portrayed. His stern gaze and hooked beak are scary-looking, like he's going to be tearing into some Autobot soon enough. One detail I never noticed before: along with his dual jet/laser pods, there are two lasers molded near where his neck meets his body. He's armed pretty well for a spy! Yeah, Buzzsaw is supposed to be the spy, but that's how Lazerbeak was always portrayed in the 'toon, so...

Like most G1 reissues I've managed to get, I highly recommend this toy. And with Soundwave I am going to recommend even further...get this reissue! Soundwave is a true TF classic which could only possibly be made better by having the rest of his early cassettes reissued. Or maybe it's time for me to hit some flea markets...hmmm. Wonder if that KO Ravage is still in the basement at my parents' house?

UPDATE: I just got the Soundblaster (AKA "New Soundwave" lol) reissue and pretty much all the above applies to it. He's all black now and his tape deck sticks out more to hold two cassettes. Which was kinda weird at first but I'm getting used to it - he actually looks bulkier and more super-robot-ish. He didn't have a Decepticon sticker on his chest, which is true to the original version, but I stuck a Reprolabel on there and I think it looks way better. The coolest thing about this reissue is the fact that New Soundwave comes with 2 cassettes, Ravage and Buzzsaw! I sold off my Soundwave reissue because Soundblaster is that much cooler.

And then I bought the TRU Soundwave reissue a few years later, because a Soundwave that can carry two cassettes is the coolest!