Toy Review - Generations FOC Soundblaster & Buzzsaw

[griffin]

(Please post photos, comments or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details to start you off)

Series - Generations
Sub-line - Fall of Cybertron
Size/class - Voyager
Wave - 1
New/remould/redeco - Redeco
Released here - October 2012 (not yet globally)
Approximate Retail Price - $40-50 (US$20-25 in America)
Approximate Size - 18cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Cybertonian Armoured vehicle (Soundblaster), Data-disc (Buzzsaw)
Main Features/Gimmicks - Holds 2 discs in chest, launches discs.
Main Colours - Black, grey, red (Soundblaster), gold, black, silver (Buzzsaw).
Main Accessories - (gun?), shoulder-canon

[i_amtrunks]

Probably should post this is the Soundwave thread as it is the same figure, just with a different paintjob.

Firstly, he is a charcoal colour, not actually black, but it looks good with the unpainted grey plastic. I am thinking of getting some silver sharpies to do the grey in silver. I am also a sucker for the translucent pink plastic wheels.

This toy is fun. Easy and intuitive transformation (other than the roof/gimmick projectile shooter/firing chair) that clips together simply and holds together very well. Wheels roll perfectly fine for plastic, and as they are hollow make a funny sound on timber.

Toy is built around the gimmick of the deployable "cassettes" and they designers have done a pretty decent job to get a fun robot and vehicle mode around it. The way the figures are deployed (the chest is so deep, I wonder if he can hold more than two cassettes at a time). Buzzsaw needs some coercion to fit in, but nothing that concerns me. Ejection shoots Buzzsaw pretty far, but the quick conversion does not always activate unless a solid impact is made with a hard surface.

Buzzsaw is brilliant, easy conversion to and from each mode, and is a wonderful gold/green colour with a brown/chocolate contrast and silver on the wings. You'll spend plenty of time converting him back and forth.

My Soundblaster has one leg on backwards (the Knee on his left side faces the wrong way) but it does not affect the toy in any shape or form, and since the joints are nice strong ratcheting joints I do not really feel any need to try and fix it.

Overall a great toy, something fun and different, simple but not overly so. I am seriously considering getting Soundwave, even though i own the deluxe version. Also a must buy for those interested in the Cassetticons.

Oh and no Prime gun!

[GoktimusPrime]

I got Soundblaster today. In one word: disappointment.

PROS
+ As Stompy said in the FoC Soundwave thread, the chest is able to hold multiple data disc formers and there's a gimmick to eject them.
+ The toy is reasonably solid in vehicle and robot modes (both are mistransformed in the stock photo)
+ The transformation is intuitive and not at all complicated.
+ I like the box design and art
+ It's currently on sale at Target. If you want to get this toy, do NOT pay full retail for it.

CONS (here we go...)
- It's fundamentally just an upsized version of the Deluxe figure, only in some ways worse.
- The gimmick is the core focus of the toy, and other features that were present on the Deluxe figure have fallen by the wayside. The prows can't move, and there's no stowage for the weapons
- Speaking of weapons, the stock photo on the box shows that he has a hand held rifle (looks like G1 Prime's). The instructions even indicate this too (it shows that you can insert either gun onto the toy) -- yet the toy doesn't come with said rifle! I searched through my box and feared that I'd gotten one that hadn't come with it... but then I Googled for other photos of FoC Soundwave/Soundblaster loose and nobody else's pic has that rifle either, so I'm guessing that it doesn't come with it!
- The greys are a bit too flat for my liking - not as nice as the one used on Deluxe Soundwave, but I suppose they wanted to make it darker for Soundblaster. But there's no silver apps on this toy at all, unlike Deluxe WFC Soundwave!
- The tyres are transparent red because... I don't know why. Looks daft.
- The roof seat and gun tip are painted red. Not a good look IMO. I reckon they would've been better off painting in the patterned grooves on the hubcap like on Deluxe Soundwave. It looks nice on the Deluxe toy, and the Voyager still has those grooves sculpted in too, but the complete lack of paint apps fails to highlight that feature of the mould.
- As Stompy said, the gimmick doesn't work as it should. Buzzsaw is a bit too tight and just will NOT fly out of the chest compartment (no matter how hard I shove). The launcher pushes Buzzsaw to the very edge of the compartment... and that's it. This a pretty significant flaw.
- Even if the gimmick worked properly, the door cannot go down all the way in vehicle mode, because the front of the vehicle (chest door) is elevated somewhat -- so it goes down maybe 80 degrees (whereas in robot mode it swings down 180 degrees). Not sure if that'd give enough clearance for Buzzsaw to fly out and transform. Oh wait, he can't fly out anyway... guess it's a moot point for Buzzsaw. I really hope that the other Discformers aren't as "fat" as Buzzsaw (and Laserbeak by what I've read of Stompy's comments) and are able to fly out as they should.
- The underside of the front "grill" prowls has a cavity which looks odd to me. It's a design compromise that exists because of the gimmick.

BUZZSAW
It's an accessory... nothing more. A far cry from G1 Buzzsaw who's a neat little toy in his own right. But with a spring activated transformation, it's what you'd expect... and in concept it's a neat gimmick, if not for the fact that the disc mode is too fat. The disc mode looks really nice, I quite like the decos on it. Sadly all the attention to detail went to the alt mode, because the robot mode is lacking. Not even the eyes are painted. Oh, and for some reason Hasbro's marketed the robot mode as a "vulture", which is curious because G1 Buzzsaw's robot mode is a condor. I'm not saying that this is a pro or con... but it's just something I noticed. I guess describing it as a vulture makes it look/sound more like DotM Laserbeak which kids would be more familiar with than G1 Laserbeak/Buzzsaw.

OVERALL
I remember first seeing WFC Deluxe Soundwave -- it was Deceptic_Optic's -- and I was so impressed by that toy. Especially with the way the weapons could be stored in the chest, much like the original G1 Soundwave. And it was a pretty good Deluxe... FoC Soundblaster is a really ordinary Voyager that is essentially just an upsized version of the Deluxe whose engineering/transformation has been simplified to cater for the central disc-holding and ejecting gimmick that doesn't even work properly because Buzzsaw is too wide. Although the gimmick itself seems to be sound in principle... should work with better sized discs. Recommended ONLY if you _REALLY_ want this gimmick -- and be aware that it doesn't work properly (at least w/ Buzzsaw/Laserbeak).

For me, I got Soundblaster because I already have WFC Deluxe Soundwave and I didn't want to get the same character again -- and I'm REALLY glad I didn't.



What Hasbro really SHOULD do now is focus on giving us more cheap little Discformers that are the right size to shoot out from the chest gimmick. And there's a SLEW of Cassette characters that they could do! The Laserbeak/Buzzsaw mould (hopefully after refining it to make it eject better) could be repainted as Sundor and Garboil, Rumble/Frenzy as Enemy, Ravage as Glit, Howlback and Stripes, Ratbat as Wingthing etc. (if Hasbro won't do it someone else will )

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Picked up mine today. Like Gok, I decided to go with Soundblaster over Wave, as I have Wave from WFC. Which is a nicer toy.

Its ok for the price I paid, special price. I am surprised at how fun Buzzsaw is and disappointed at the foo-barred gimmick not working properly. If you give it a good whack it's fine, but considering how most of the toy is compromised by the launcher gimmick, you'd think they'd have it spot on, not slightly stuffed.


Wouldn't mind hunting down the rest of the datadisc guys now!

Is there a way to have buzzsaw sitting on his shoulder that I can't work out, or is it photographic Majiks?

[GoktimusPrime]

I've worked out a way to make Buzzsaw eject consistently. Place your thumbs on the two bits that connect the front wheels to the body, the place your fingers on the back panel. Push the panel in toward you. I find this works every time, and it doesn't require excessive force.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I got nored one day and made this video of Buzzsaw transforming

http://tetstoys.blogspot.com.au/2012...ill-alive.html

[UltraMarginal]

I got nored one day and made this video of Buzzsaw transforming

http://tetstoys.blogspot.com.au/2012...ill-alive.html

That was really interesting thanks.

It's interesting seeing the shock of parts hitting their motions limits, rolling back through the structure of the toy. Lots of vibrations through the entire structure in a very small period of time.

A work mate posed the question of what sort of design life these fellas have. Fatigue in metals is a very serious design consideration, if these were metallic, you wouldn't expect more than a hundred or so transformations before fatigue cracking and failure occurred.

Being plastic however, if they have actually been designed so that the stress/strain on the plastic is below the elastic limit, they could last for as long as it takes for the plastic to become brittle from age/UV exposure.

I love these little guys