Toy Review - JP Masterpiece Soundwave

[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

[Lord_Zed]

I finally got my MP Soundwave and he is awesome, even though he has a significant QC issue.

And that is someone forgot to spray the bottom of his left foot with the silver metal colour spray, it's still straight diecast with a blue stripe on it. Fortunately it doesn't actually stick out that much, which is no doubt why they missed it.

Other than that no issues I have noticed, I love the design, fits in perfectly with Mp10, Sideswipe and Red Alert.

I just wish the factory assembly were a bit more careful. Still maybe it is the modern age where the workers have rights and no longer get whipped for infractions by their cruel overseers.

[kurdt_the_goat]

Maybe you should strip the silver off the other foot for that full G1 look!

[Iriorne]

And that is someone forgot to spray the bottom of his left foot with the silver metal colour spray, it's still straight diecast with a blue stripe on it.

If you're feeling a bit DIY, you can probably get a close match to the silver using model paints.

I'd suggest maybe Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver would be a good match - I've used it in the past but don't have any samples for a direct comparison. At any rate, it's not likely to look worse than bare diecast.

It comes in a spray so you should get a nice smooth result if you keep the coats light. Recommend using some modelers masking tape too (Tamiya or similar) to mask off the blue stripe, hinge and the surrounds to prevent over spray. Normal masking tape might work but I've had it leave residue when I've tried in the past.

If the debossed details on the feet are already painted you could try masking them off too but I'd suggest the easiest way is just to spray over them with silver and touch them up with some gloss black afterwards. Finish with a clear coat for extra durability but check the paint types first as some don't play nice with others.

[5FDP]

Disappointing to hear about all these QC issues. Do you think it might be a case of us becoming too fussy as 'collectors' as opposed to something we wouldn't have thought twice about when we were kids?

I can honestly say that after going over my collection the other day, there are no more QC issues today than what there was about 30 years ago... or maybe I have just been very lucky

[kup]

Another part of my laserbeak broke! Ugh!

On the other engine, the black hinge appears to have the pin inserted at an angle and it gradually deformed and split the 'loop' of the hinge as the piece turns. It eventually cracked opened requiring another extensive repair because someone thought it would be clever to use pins on thin, hard plastic.

After several fail attempts to fix it last night, I gave up and I was ready to write off my Laserbeak. Stubbornness will likely kick in and make me try again tonight but need to buy more super glue.

I can see that laserbeak is an awesome design with great engineering but why did they feel the need to use pins on thin plastic? Specially when huge amounts of friction would exist from the paint.

Too bad about Hasbro releasing all the tapes with Soundwave. I would have bough the Hasbro Laserbeak if sold separately. The thinner, softer plastic and likely lack of paint apps would have been a functional improvement.

[lancalot]

Another part of my laserbeak broke! Ugh!

Man , your not having any luck with laserbeak are are you ! i think it time just to put him back it the cage permanently. What with all the plastic on the masterpiece figure lately , seem worse then all the other series .

[Hursticon]

Another part of my laserbeak broke! Ugh!

Dude, sorry to hear that you've clearly copped one of the 'Bottom of the barrel' level figures in terms of QC control - That just bites balls.

I've heard of others having some tight tolerance issues with Laserbeak, but not to the level you've experienced ; sadly it seems you've been the unfortunate recipient of the very lowest standard a figure can be deemed 'Acceptable for Sale' by the factories - I hope a solution presents itself asap for you.