Toy Review - Studio Series SOUNDWAVE (ROTF)

Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Hypo-line - Revenge of the Fallen
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - Mostly new mould with some shared parts with SS51 Soundwave
Wave - 10
Released here - September 2020
Approximate Retail Price - $29
Approximate Size - 13cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Cybertronian satellite
Main Features/Gimmicks - Screen accuracy, licensed vehicle mode
Main Colours - one shade of grey
Main Accessories - flight stand

https://i.ibb.co/n3K81Tp/studioseries-soundwave01.jpg
"Yoga yoga yoga yoga yoga..."

https://i.ibb.co/tDbLCMX/studioseries-soundwave02.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gZPL2dR/studioseries-soundwave03.jpg

Thoughts...
* It's almost a whole new mould, but does recycle the arms and upper legs from Dark of the Moon SS Soundwave.
* Overall colour palette is rather dull; the original ROTF Deluxe toy is much nicer looking. Even from a screen-likeness POV it's not as nice as the DOTM SS figure as they've used mostly grey instead of silver.
* The robot arms have nowhere to go in satellite mode and detract from the look of that mode in general. The rest of the satellite is reasonably screen-accurate (as silly as it looked on film). But yeah... those arms.
* This toy has also sacrificed the Ravage-missile firing gimmick from the original and replaced it with... uh... nothing. At least DOTM SS Soundwave replaced the MechTech gimmick with a Laserbeak figurine.
* As mentioned before, the upper legs are just reused from the DOTM figure... which means that it has Mercedes Benz faux-kibble on them, including the fuel cap! :eek: I understand that this version of Soundwave never showed his robot mode on film, but we also know that he was this satellite before he became a Mercedes.

Overall: I cannot really recommend this toy. Just stick with your original ROTF Soundwave. :rolleyes:

I like the way it looks in both modes, but the transformation is pretty uninspired and unintuitive and not very exciting.

This is probably one that I'll hang on to only out of a sense of completeness now for the Studio Series

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

* As mentioned before, the upper legs are just reused from the DOTM figure... which means that it has Mercedes Benz faux-kibble on them, including the fuel cap! :eek: I understand that this version of Soundwave never showed his robot mode on film, but we also know that he was this satellite before he became a Mercedes.

---

Well actually we don't know that. Seeming DOTM retconned the interaction of Soundwave and Laserbeak to the Apollo missions, Soundwave may have always liked being a Benz. It was only when searching for the secret NEST base that he needed to go up and be a satellite

It's weird because we got such a good DOTM Soundwave with an interesting transformation, great vehicle and robot modes, and slathered in silver paint. Yet for the ROTF version, we get a lazy transformation, silver paint only on the outer panels and a disgusting shade of unpainted plastic. If they used the same grey unpainted plastic as the DOTM figure, it'll look better in robot mode but the green-ish hue and freckles on the torso ruins the whole figure.

There's a couple of Studio Series toys I've skipped.
I may grab him, but I'm in no rush.

The only positives I can take away from these images is the chest piece looks like Mr. Stark's Ark Reactor or a variation on the cockpit of a tie fighter but apart from that I regret more that I didn't pick up the ROTF version when it was around.