The Core Class lineup of Kingdom is starting to wind down until we get whatever else is left for the WFC line. We've got a surprise trio of a pretty decent version of Optimus, a mini Rattrap meant to scale with the Deluxes and Voyagers, and a Vertebreak who still feels like an awkward toy for how he feels. After that, we got the two most bankable Decepticons yet in mini forms with great representations overall as well as a shockingly solid yet slightly overpriced Core Class Bumblebee with Spike. I did hope we'd get another wave of figures to go with the line, maybe one more Autobot to fill in the ranks, but that is not quite the case with Wave 3, as we have one new mold and a repaint. In this review, we will add a certain spy patrol set to boot, so let's dig in!
Here is Soundwave in his tape player mode. It's a nice representation of how he looks in that altmode, from the little paint apps to the sculpted details thrown into the mix. I greatly appreciate that since it's got that overall complete feel to it for such a small version of a character. Additionally, it's pretty accurate to how the figure would look in G1...well apart from the feet sticking up. It's forgivable since it's a small toy, and I am definitely not going to spend money on an upgrade set that adds another 10 dollars to the thing just for a more rectangular design. You can leave the feet up to make it look smoother but it'll look worse so don't. From the back, there are two spots to store his weapons.
The tape deck can open up manually to reveal a tiny Laserbeak. You can remove the rectangular accessory to find that it's decently painted and sculpted (also looks better than the Micromaster version in terms of looking like a cassette!); it doesn't transform, but I'm not losing sleep over it.
Transforming Soundwave is exactly what you expect it to be. The sides straighten out to be the legs, the feet flip out, the arms hinge forwards, the hands come out, and you rotate the head as well as complete his look with his shoulder cannon. Pretty self-explanatory at this point. As for the robot mode, it looks very nice once again! I'd say it's better than the Netflix version because of how much more proportionate it is next to the character model, as it doesn't feel unusually wide. The fact that the figure still looks complete with the added paint apps is a win for me, and there is nothing I can complain about overall. If anything, it's a nice thing that he is pretty much the least compromised as far as kibble is concerned along with Starscream; Optimus and Megatron have junk on their backs that kind of ruins their sihlouettes.
Head sculpt is nicely done, and the silver as well as red contrast the blue rather nicely, which is the opposite of my thoughts on the WFC figure because those colors looked a little too dark (don't get me wrong, I still like the Netflix toy). The articulation is another great aspect of this guy, as the head, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles are on ball joints while the thighs are on swivels and the knees can bend. The codpiece can hinge up and down to let the hips move more. Oh and his gun can be held pretty nicely.
For reuses, here we have Evolution Soundblaster, who is perfect as far as deco is concerned; that black makes him look so good, especially with the purple chest. It makes him look even cooler than the normal blue, and I hope Hasbro can make a version of Soundblaster with the Netflix version and finally give us a Buzzsaw.
For a comparison with his fellow Cons, he looks great with Megatron and Starscream! Admittedly, Megatron does have some kibble that he could use without, and Starscream does look a little incomplete with the groin, but they make for a sharp set of characters compared to the somewhat wonky Autobot display. Next to his Netflix counterpart, you can tell how different the two are in terms of design traits, but they are two otherwise great renditions of the character in modern toy form.
And here is the Spy Patrol set! These four are repaints of the Rumble/Ratbat set from Siege, and given how rare it was to obtain them (more so than the Laserbeak/Ravage set), it's at least appreciative that these two molds are here...even if we have two repaints per mold in the same set. From left to right, we have Frenzy, Knok, Wingthing, and Skar. They may not be specifically molded to be cassettes, but it works in the favor of Knok and Skar because they were never meant to be cassettes to begin with. Instead, they're meant to accompany Earthrise Powermaster Doubledealer, who had two partners for his different modes. At the very least, the paint apps are distinct from one another, and I'd say that Knok looks different enough from Rumble, though the same can't quite be said for Wingthing and Skar. Oh, and for anyone wondering, Wingthing is based on Soundwave's Action Master partner, who had a few modern toys here and there.
Transformations for them are pretty simple, you just hinge the shoulders and hands out as well as straighten the legs a la Soundwave for RumKnok while the wings unfold as well as the heads and feet for WingSkar. The resulting robot modes look fairly decent for each, though the humanoid guys are very stumpy than expected (especially the usually lean Rumble). Their bodies have differences in the form of paint apps and plastic colors, though the heads are the main differences between them. I should mention that I do not like how the black paint on Wingthing chips off at times, an issue that Skar doesn't have.
Their articulation is pretty basic, as the humanoid guys have ball-jointed shoulders and knees as well as neck swivels and legs that move front and back as well as in and out. The bats are able to fold their wings and look up somewhat alright.
As far as their play pattern is concerned, the two cassettes can be given to any of the Soundwave molds since they're made specifically for them, but I am using Soundblaster specifically to point out that despite being made to hold two tapes in his chest, he has the WORST compatibility with them. Putting in the tapes into Soundwave's chest is already annoying at times, but the tolerances with the Soundblaster mold are even worse because they get stuck rather easily, and it doesn't help that having two of them inside the chest can get the thing jammed a little too easily. My advice is to not have two of them inside the chest at once, even if it defeats the purpose of the gimmick. As for the duo meant for Doubledealer, they not only have a much better fit inside the chest cavity of the toy, but the faux engine block can come off and fit onto Knok to complete the overall look!
Oh and if you thought I wouldn't cover this guy, here is Dragocon, a green repaint of Vertebreak. I covered him in the mold history but why not I'll cover him too. He's basically a lime green version of him with gold paint apps, less stiff PVC parts with the weapon and jaw, and he's a Maximal, too.
The parts can be switched around since they're on ball joints. That's about it with that guy.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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