Toy Review - SOUNDWAVE (Studio Series, Bumblebee)

CASSETTEMAN
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Hypo-line - Bumblebee
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - N/A
Released here - May 2022
Approximate Retail Price - $50
Approximate Size - 18cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Roadkill^hovercraft
Main Features/Gimmicks - can store Core Class Ravage and hold his missile
Main Colours - blue and white with gold and red accents
Main Accessories - rifle, shoulder cannon

ROBOT MODE

https://i.ibb.co/m0XSc2k/studioserie...wave-bum01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HYhfDH6/studioserie...wave-bum02.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/T8MmDYf/studioserie...wave-bum03.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/LRNX5LT/studioserie...ave-bum03a.jpg

Robot mode is gorgeously accurate to the screen model, although the hands are inaccurately dark grey instead of blue because... reasons? :confused: But odd hand colour aside, this mode does look really nice. I really like how the shoulder cannon can tilt up and down, meaning that it doesn't have to obstruct Soundwave's right side line of sight. The upper torso is completely hollow in order to house the rather chunky Core Class Ravage toy. I do like how it can hold Ravage with all of his accessories still attached. :) The chest door does have a spring loaded door that opens via a button on the upper chest; standard stuff for Soundwave. Although there's no launching gimmick and you can't easily remove Ravage from the front either. I have to open Soundwave's back to push Ravage out from behind. :/ But yeah, there's no instant deploy play feature here... just storage.

VEHICLE MODE

https://i.ibb.co/pw4m1xQ/studioserie...wave-bum05.jpg

I had to check tfwiki for whatever the hell this mode is. Apparently it's a hovercraft based on what appeared in the IDW Transformers/G.I. Joe Crossover... umm... okay? :confused: It has zero appeal to me, but I understand that they were limited in what they could do as the original screen model never had an alt mode. The shoulder panels pop off really easily during transformation, which is annoying, and quite frankly the end result isn't quite worth the effort.

OVERALL

As much as I really like the robot mode, the alt mode is just so underwhelming. Recommended only if the robot mode enamours you enough to forgive the alt mode, or if you're weird enough to like both modes. :p ;)