If there is one thing I cannot forgive the Transformers community, it's the fact that they tend to make certain figures hard to obtain. I'm not talking about the Masterpiece line or the Japanese versions of Transformers given how smaller the quantity of those are. I'm referring to molds of the mainline that are somehow overpriced in the aftermarket. This is understandable for more expensive figures like Unicron or any limited releases of characters that showed up at the end of the line like the last DOTM Deluxes, but I don't like how scalpers get in the way of obtaining figures that should be easy to come by. It's nothing new in the recent lines, as Hasbro experienced a drought for the first movie as badly as with Earthrise and Kingdom, but even then, I feel more annoyed when I revisit a line from years ago and fill in the gaps little by little and struggle to get a figure of a character so prominent in the show. Soundwave was a toy that was expensive as balls on eBay, and it felt pretty annoying that I couldn't get my hands on a copy after having to deal with a poorly sharpied and now broken Beast Hunters copy. You know it's bad when I can get the reissue of three Takara Arms Micron molds in 2020 for a great price for each of them when the same can't be said for Soundwave himself. That being said, after hearing that APC Toys made recreations of First Edition Prime and Arcee as well as a new Megatron mold, I wanted to get their Soundwave just to see what it's like to have an unofficial recreation of an official mold (that is not in the same vein as the replica MP figures and maybe Movie Advanced Revenge Optimus). Now let's see how Evil Voice, AKA TFP Soundwave, has to offer.
Here is Soundwave in his vehicle mode, which is a military spy drone with no attack functionality so to speak. Kind of like how Reveal the Shield Perceptor works as a half-track research vehicle, this makes for a fitting alternate mode for a character like Soundwave. Much like Megatron and Shockwave, Soundwave was a roleplay-themed toy back in G1, only as a cassette player instead of a gun. While a tape deck is more likely to happen in Generations than a Walther P38 (not losing sleep over it), and you can always flip Siege Shockwave upside down, you have to admit that tape decks aren't always the best with disguising and what-not, and I think this works well for him. It's a little more alien in design than the actual Predator drone, but it makes sense to avoid licensing as well as give him a little more flair without making it overly flashy. While military vehicles may be seen as "dull", the sheen of the sand blue plastic and the subtle gray and metallic lavender help break up the colors of the mold in a natural way. Kibble management is solid considering how it's a sleek robot and there's not much mass to use for the vehicle mode anyhow. There is even landing gear, though it is not accurate to the actual vehicle.
If you think the wingspan of Soundwave is too short you can always flip out the arms to make them longer, but it won't hide the fingers that easily nor the 5mm ports. There is a port on the fuselage, but my copy doesn't hold Laserbeak as well.
Transformation is pretty creative as far as how they are able to make a robot out of a spy drone with little mass in its design. The wings become the arms, the front becomes the legs, and the torso is made up of the back. Of course, not everything can be spot on to how the CGI model looks, as there is some kibble around the legs as well as some vehicle molding not taken care of, but there is so much they can do I suppose. The robot mode is very show-accurate. In a line where figures between First Edition and Robots in Disguise had varying results of show-accuracy, and even some of the figures from that line didn't turn out as well (Knock Out, for example). Soundwave, on the other hand, turns out quite well overall. There's nothing that I feel is missing from the toy, and the same goes for this slightly upscaled version of the figure. The proportions are spot-on, and apart from the lower legs, everything is accurate to the slender man-esque design. The metallic lavender pops up more on the figure in this mode, and I should mention that the figure doesn't have any PVC materials, neither for the tailfins to the nose of the jet mode. I don't think the forearms were made of PVC either. Also, I realize that the back of the lower legs are mistransformed, as they should sit flush.
Head sculpt is accurate to the series, though it does have that drone-like look that could probably fit Soundwave. It's a visor screen with a Tarn-esque silhouette that takes the Decepticon-inspired head to a whole new level. And while there is no light piping or any alternate stickers that make a more accurate face, the paint apps do look lovely as always. The articulation for Soundwave is a little limited due to the design. Head is on a ball joint as well as a neck hinge, shoulders move front and back as well as they move in and out on an angled hinge. The forearms move around at the upper elbow's ball joint, swivel at the bicep, and bend at the lower elbow. There is a waist swivel, the hips move on ball joints with decent front to back range and very limited inward and outward range, there are thigh swivels, the knees bend for the digitigrade design, and there is no ankle pivot.
As far as the accessories are concerned, the chest armor comes off to become the mini drone Laserbeak, which can perch onto Soundwave's forearm and mimic the traditional pet-owner motif of the character. New to this guy are tentacles that can attach to the back, pose around on bendy wires, and further complete the accessories that make him feel more like TFP Soundwave. I think it's easy to say that he needed them more than Movie Soundwave did.
The tentacle claws come in the following pieces: a pair of wires, a pair of base claws, the inner claw halves, and the base used to connect them. They're easy to attach and require no glue thanks to the nice friction applied onto them!
Now to go over the official versions of Evil Voice, this is the Hasbro version of Soundwave from their Prime: Robots in Disguise line. I'll admit I kind of like the inaccurate yet more broken-up deco on him since there's more black to go around. Especially on the fingers and feet. Apart from the size, you may be happy enough with this guy since he's perfectly fine on his own.
And here we have the TakaraTomy Arms Micron version of the guy, who replaces most of his paint apps with stickers as well as add two Arms Micron ports on his shoulders that would probably look okay if they didn't ruin the slender nature of his design. He came with only one Arms Micron named Zori, who turned into his tentacle claw as well as a scorpion, which may be a secret homage to how Blackout was sort of like Soundwave given how Zori's like Scorponok (Barricade was another Soundwave homage in the first movie, and then there's Frenzy). Oh and the stickers suck on this version.
And this is TakaraTomy Go! Hunter Soundwave figure, with a much nicer deco that feels more like Soundwave as well as better quality control than the ugly mess of the Hasbro version. Anyone remember the days when HasTak toys were distinct from one another?
And finally, this is the Stealth B.A.T, which is a drone from the Collector's Club. They're kind of like Halloween-styled repaints of Soundwave that may vaguely pass as Soundblaster, but the yellow tailfins feel like a Hot Rod thing. Oh and there is a 3 3/4 inch Old Snake figure
For a size comparison, here he is in-between the Arms Micron Megatron and the First Edition Starscream figures, both of which should scale nicely with this version of Soundwave. His official counterpart was shorter, so I know that he'll fill in the gap nicely, which reminds me to answer this question: should you get Evil Voice? Look, I know we're bound to have TFP updates if the Legacy listings are true for 2022, so it may be hard to either wait and see if Hasbro can make their new Soundwave (no, not the Omni Productions dub) better or worse. There's not much to improve, anyhow, and I'm sure that if you want, you can still get this guy since the TFP toys are otherwise perfectly fine for what they are. Not WFC or Studio Series levels of good, mind you, but he should help you with getting a Soundwave figure that is based on that figure and has some nice improvements to boot. He is a little pricey, but I did get mine on eBay for roughly around the same price that it cost to get the Movie Advanced Revenge Optimus. If you want this figure, get him, and honestly, I do want to try and get the APC Toys renditions of Optimus and especially Megatron.
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