Okay... I've worked out what my problem is with this toy - assuming people know nothing about this character in Transformers Prime and ignoring the fact his name is printed on the packaging, most people would be hard-pressed to recognise him as being Soundwave. Sure, it's a cool looking figure, but is it Soundwave? No.

The thing that I liked about the Animated toy and even the WFC version, it is instantly recognisable as Soundwave.

It's because of this fact I can't see myself picking him up because I can't relate to the character. It makes it especially hard when he doesn't even speak in the show (he's gone from having an ultra-cool synthesized voice in G1 to being a mute )

So to summarise my thoughts - Cool toy: yes; Is it Soundwave: no.