Here is Soundwave in his cassette player mode. It's a very iconic part of Soundwave's history, as it begins the idea of him recording enemy audio thanks to the Deployers he comes with. As a roleplay toy with said play feature given as much priority as a robot action figure, Soundwave carries plenty of sculpted details and stickers to convey his role as a cassette player, including the chrome buttons, the speakers, the Rec/Batt light, and (not pictures) on/off switch as well as a volume dial. The buttons under the chest are not pressable, but they still look the part nonetheless. And on the back is both a rubsign and his battery compartment. The former used to go on his chest.
The tape deck and the compartment can both be opened, with the former being done via a button on tbe top and slid down with the latter, allowing you access to the Deployer duo and batteries. And yes, this tape deck is the double-layered version from Soundblaster rather than the flatter tape deck door Soundwave generally had. In fact, this is the Takara Collection reissue from way back when fans were getting reissues in the early 2000s! Honestly, whether or not the door was flat, it doesn't ruin the look.
For a size comparison, here he is next to G1 Megatron, another roleplay Decepticon that was once from Micro Change, another Takara toyline that was later rebranded as a Transformer. Originally Cassette Man, Soundwave and Megatron were meant to be real-world items that turned into robots. The line also have the Penny Racers that'd later become G1 Mini Vehicles. He does look pretty compact compared to his leader in this mode.
Transformation has you fold the legs down before rotating them forward, flipping the feet down, hinging the arms forward, shifting the hands out, moving the head up and rotating it around as well as putting the shoulder cannon next to his head. His robot mode was one of the stronger designs for a G1 toy before he was tweaked to be simpler to draw. The proportions may seem like a mix of wide and flat, but he looks good nonetheless. And while he has minimal die-cast, having it in the feet helps him feel very stable. I should mention that getting this guy second-hand means he is missing some stickers, like the red bands on the forearms.
Head sculpt is another piece of history later made for the franchise, as the design inspired the loon of the Decepticon insignia; it looks much closer to the design than it does in the character model, which looked rounder than it does here with the stylized appearance. It still works well for him, even with the yellow visor. His articulation is decent for an older toy, with a neck swivel, shoulders, elbows, slight butterfly joint movement for the back, forward hip movement, and a slight thigh swivel due to transformation. The lack of bicep swivels, outward shoulder movement, and proper knee bend does mean he can't really pose well, and his legs can't move forward if they aren't facing forwards or directly at the sides for transformation. One of his batteries becomes a blaster for him to hold, with the ability to extend and utilize a missile for him to NOT shoot with because despite being made for older fans, there are still stupid ass inconsistent toy safety laws to follow.
Perhaps Soundwave's most iconic element as a robot is the ability to go "Whatsisface: Eject. Operation: Hellifiknow" to his deployers, which are none other than Laserbeak and Ravage!
Here are the two cassettes he comes with up close, with stickers to make them look like actual mixtapes. I like these the most since they have the smallest number of transformation seams to break the illusion. And details like the spools and Japan on Ravage and the "MC 60 SIDE A" on both make them much more realistic for little pretend toys. Of note is that Ravage weirdly comes with the sticker that depicts Fortress Maximus's weakspot, which was carried over from the Takara Collection version of the guy. Laserbeak, on the other hand, has the same tape spools he always had, but his shade of red is more orangey. Also amusing how Ravage is almost entirely black while Laserbeak has more color break up on the back.
Laserbeak is an already neat companion for Soundwave, as he turns into a vulture that can secretly spy on his enemies before reporting to Soundwave (he can perch on his forearm, too!); Ravage, on the other hand, is meant to be on the Prowl (and sometimes THE Prowl) before making an attack when he isn't spying on the Autobots. Laserbeak only has head and neck articulation as expected, but Ravage has all for of his legs come with articulation for themselves and the paws. Only issue is how flat he is, making him unbalanced easily at times. Compare that to the chunky WFC Trilogy version of the same guy! I should mention that I don't have the storing cases for the tapes.
Ravage requires some comparisons as I do own the version that previously came with the WFC Trilogy Covert Agent Ravage set. All of the details are paint apps on the newer version rather than stickers, and both sides are painted. By contrast, CE Ravage has the shiny chrome instead of the bare metal legs which, while more accurate by resembling the silver ones in the series, feel out of place on a G1 toy. It fits the MPM figures much more because of them having bare metal at times. Luckily, both versions have chrome weapons.
Now here are some of the main iterations of the Soundwave mold. This is the exact original Hasbro release from when the line began, except it's the rubsign variant that popped up when Hasbro wanted to combat knockoffs. Apart from the stickers being more complete here because this is an archive photo, he has a tinted single-deck door because that was how the toy originally came. Also, the US originally had him with Buzzsaw, who's basically Laserbeak in yellow for the most part. Takara zo had him in a VS pack with Grimlock. Japan had him with Rumble-who's-red-in-Japan. The Encore, Universe 2008, and Vintage G1 reissues all look identical to one another with a few differences here and there as well as who he came with, as Encore gave him Laserbeak while Universe 2008 gave him 4 of his 6 cassettes but not the Fremble duo for some reason.
This is Soundblaster, the figure that originally cane with the double-decker tape door. His blue plastic is also black, though the blue of his cassette mode remains. His door being red meant he can work like a Tech Spec decoder as he determines a weakness Fort Max might have as mentioned earlier with Ravage, and it doesn't work with the colorless door on Collection/Commemorative Soundwave. He came with Buzzsaw like Hasbro Soundwave, and his Collection reissue gave him the same Ravage that we have with Hasbro CE Soundwave. I should mention that Soundblaster in The Headmasters is an upgrade (rather, a back-in-black redeco situation with the door being new) of Soundwave while Dreamwave and the WFC Trilogy treat him as a clone made by Shockwave.
While he never got a single-layer door treatment to go full circle with Commemorativewave, Hasbro unexpectedly gave him an Encore reissue that replaced most of his stickers with paint apps, gave him more silver paint for the head, and replaced the yellow visor with a red one, much like with New Year Convoy's blue eyes to go with the windows. Included are Enemy, a recolor of the Fremble mold, and Wingthing, a recolor of Ratbat.
This is the Linkin Park version of Soundwave. Ot's basically the Universe version but in gold plastic that is actually safe from GPS. While minimal in deco, it does have the band's logo on the chest as well as slightly golden accents on his chrome. Apart from that, he is a repaint I wouldn't recommend at full price because it looks a bit bland, even as a fan of Linkin Park.
Shattered Glass fans rejoice, because eHobby made a special 2-pack with Blaster as a recolor that beats his BotCon toy by being a better mold and his Generations counterpart for not yellowing! His tape door is now blue to stand out from the white body while making his chest emblem pop, and he even comes with a bandanna...made from a sticker that'd probably be a bad kdea if it gets damaged from transformation.
And finally, it's the biggest oddball use of the mold yet in the form of J. Balvintron! While the Linkin Park version made sense as the band collaborated with the Transformers franchise as shown in the main Transformers trilogy, this feels more like a collab you'd find with some NFT loser considering how jank the deco and decals are! Aside from those, he weirdly doesn't come with his battery guns but instead has the two-part rifle originating from Siege Jetfire, with neon effect pieces to boot. He came with a yogurt colored Buzzsaw and Stripes, who is identical to the Takara cassette only with Ravage's cannons.
For a robot mode size comparison, here he is with Megatron and Starscream, both of which are also Takara reissues (don't let the Commemorative version's lack of springs say otherwise) with unique quirks; much like how Soundwave had the Soundblaster chest, Megatron lacks most of his gun accessories and has no chrome like his Goodbye counterpart while Starscream is his cartoon-accurate Collection variant (albeit with the wrong fists) and is NOT the Retro Walmart reissue because the head has the eye stickers. I'm happy to own the main Decepticon trio in Siege, Earthrise, Kingdom Core Class, and now G1 selves! Soundwave is mt favorite of the three thanks to his good robot proportions, play value with his cassette partners, and looking pretty clean in tape player mode. If you see him at a cheap price, GET HIM.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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