Toy Review - DotM Human Alliance Soundwave

[Magnus]

Thought I might have a go at writing a review. Here goes...

Vehicle mode

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A grey Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. With a length of 17.1cm, the car is approximately 1:27 scale.

Immediately noticeable is the unpainted grey plastic, the only major fault of this mode. In all honesty, though, it's not too bad in isolation - the grey is similar to that used on the deluxe '07 movie Jazz. That said, the vehicle suffers when parked alongside the other silver Human Alliance vehicles, namely Sideswipe and Jazz. Viewed from certain angles, it is clear that the doors are painted grey over a different plastic, as well.

Otherwise, it's actually a pretty good representation of an SLS - lots of moulded detail, which includes moulded grilles, brake discs and calipers and moulded three-pointed star, '6.3', 'SLS' and 'AMG' badges, and panel lines that aren't too obtrusive. The taillights are painted red. The only really obvious robot parts are the curved blue plastic pieces under the exhausts.

The 'SUPERIOR' licence plate is a nice touch - a deliberate nod to Soundwave's line in the '86 Transformers movie.

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The car's distinctive gullwing doors are reproduced here. The tops of the doors are not flush with the roof - I find this to actually be an advantage, as I prefer to use a fingernail to pull open the top of the door before swinging it up.

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The headlight covers and windows are rendered in transparent blue plastic. Colourless transparent plastic would have been more realistic, but the blue provides a contrast to the grey plastic.

The cabin, as expected, is partly filled with robot parts, but elements of the SLS's cabin architecture are reproduced - the instrument cluster, the dash-mounted air con vents and GPS display, even the steering wheel!

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Also included for comparison is a pair of pictures with a 1:18 scale model of an SLS.

Laserbeak

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Rendered in dark grey and red plastic, Laserbeak is well-detailed for his size. Each wing is mounted on a single ball joint, and his legs, each made of a single piece of red plastic, are attached to the back of the wings. The torso has black painted accents, while the blades of the fans set into his wings are painted bright red. The wingtips are painted dark red, while oddly enough, the eyes are painted blue. Laserbeak has a wingspan of 13.2cm.

Mr. Gould

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Standing 5.8cm tall, Dylan Gould sports a grey suit over a blue shirt and black shoes. The head isn't exactly a perfect reproduction of Patrick Dempsey's likeness, but you can't expect much of a figure of this size. The figure has joints at the neck, shoulders, wrists, hips and knees.

(continued next post)