Toy Review - JP Masterpiece Soundwave

[Hursticon]

Oh, brilliant! Thanks Hursti I thought I was missing something. Clever design!!

No probs dude, that's exactly what I 1st thought when I saw the leak that provided that info; there's more too but I'll leave that for now.

It really goes to show that when Takara was designing Soundwave & the Cassettes that they really had both in mind & how each would work with each other, such wise & broad level thinking in my opinion.

[Robzy]

there's more too but I'll leave that for now.

You TEASE!! Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me...

[Deceptic_Optic]

So did some comparison shots and poseability, articulation and balance test on MP Soundwave. All I can say is "let the photo do the talking". Im not bias or anything but he is probably the best MP that I own atm... enjoy guys, il probably do the actual proper shots when i get a chance.

[Omega Metro]

Great pics Deceptic Optic! .....so who won?

[Deceptic_Optic]

Great pics Deceptic Optic! .....so who won?

hahaha cant decide yet im still thinking how to start and end the battle scene...but most likely Optimus prime hehehe.

but damn Soundwave's got the move, groove and the swag i love this fugure so much i want to get another one MISB.

[Hursticon]

So did some comparison shots and poseability, articulation and balance test on MP Soundwave. All I can say is "let the photo do the talking". Im not bias or anything but he is probably the best MP that I own atm... enjoy guys, il probably do the actual proper shots when i get a chance.

*snip*

Absolutely bloody amazing photos Deceptic, they really show just how agile & dynamic this figure can be!

[Iriorne]

Finally got mine yesterday. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this is the transformer I've been waiting for since I first saw the G1 cartoon.

Very happy with him in most respects, however I'm after sitting on a shelf overnight the paint on his feet is already showing signs of wear with some small scratches and chips. Hopefully some clear coat and a felt pad will be sufficient to prevent further degradation, but it's a shame the paint work wasn't more robust right out of the box.

I wonder if there would have been a way to engineer him so that the soles of his feet didn't form part of his sides? Maybe fold-away panels to cover over the feet in alt mode, or moving them to his back so they could be molded in unpainted plastic?

If I could change anything:

• Reduce the size of his feet a little. The proportions just seem slightly off.
• Add another ridge for Laserbeak to the top side of his forearm so that he doesn't have to hold his arm out at shoulder height for Laserbeak to perch properly.

On a side note: I've been following some of the threads on the US forums the last couple of weeks and it's been pretty entertaining watching people complain about "QC issues" - missing dots of paint on the forehead, a little mould flash or barely visible swirl marks. A little disappointing? Sure, but the outrage that some people seem to feel over this is astonishing.

[griffin]

Some Soundwave images to add to the collection here...

Joining his MP friends


And the packaging joining its friends...


Soundwave - from infant to adult...


(I wanted it to be the other direction from small to big, but the shoulder cannon was blocking the head/face on each one)

As for the repair of the dodgy ankle...
I found that when I removed the foot (a top and bottom piece - 5 screws) to expose the ankle joint, it looked like the person building this toy had
some trouble attaching the foot and just forced it, causing it to chew up one side - which was catching against the join, preventing it to swivel beyond a certain point.



Closer look...

.


I sanded down a bit to make it smoother, and reattached the two foot halves. It still catches a little (I didn't want to sand it down too much in
case it made the foot loose), but now swivels all the way, allowing for him to stand straight up (in the first photo of this post), instead of as a hunched-over cripple.

[kup]

It is an awesome design and they seem to have used good materials but the built/assembly quality hasn't been that great. I've been a victim to it and also heard a story about a whole die cast piece not painted at all making it look off and now your assembly issue.

Good that you managed to fix yours and that the fix is pretty invisible.

[kurdt_the_goat]

I received mine today and happy to report it's 99.9% perfect. Just a touch of the red paint has stuck to Laserbeak's weapons, resulting in a tiny blemish, but thankfully it didn't result in any tightness nor breakage.

The new Masterpiece designer certainly has a much better feel for balance of complexity and toy-ness versus the fragile connection point tendencies of the previous designer. I still love my Rodimus (and can't forget that he must have been a considerably harder Transformer to design), but these newer toys show just how great it would have been with more solid connections in a few places.

Really, really looking forward to Prowl, Smokescreen & Bluestreak if he can keep up this level of awesome! And hopefully onto bigger and better things, like my long-desired Galvatron and maybe a triple changer or 3