Soundwave is a character that doesn't do much in ROTF, but he still stands out to me in the same way Greedo stood out to me despite his brief appearances. Having him check over the Earth and observe the Autobots and Decepticons was a nice part of the film, as he had this unsettling aspect of being a satellite that watched over everything. He may not have had a proper robot mode seen in the film, but the design he had still worked well as if it was found in those creepy UFO sightings. I never had the old ROTF figure but it worked well in its vehicle modes despite the robot mode looking a little too squat. A new Soundwave in the Studio Series was revealed around the same time the DOTM Deluxe was released in stores. I loved the DOTM figure, but can the same be said for the ROTF version?
Here we have Soundwave's backdrop, which I feel is a lot more unique than most of the other ones we'll take a look at in this wave. Why do I say that? Because it's from his scenes in space! This might be a stock photo of the Earth, but it fits what the character did as he spied over the actions of the Autobots, relaying it all to the Decepticons. He can fit in there with a few adjustments, though.
Here we have Soundwave in his satellite mode...which doesn't capture how he looked in the movie. This vehicle mode tries to give him the alien design, yet it doesn't work all that well for him because it's far too clunky for the design to work, nor does it have the long blades that make it look a lot more intimidating than it looks here. While the blades are at least there, they look far too short, and combined with the way the legs transform on the back makes for a rather lousy attempt at giving this character an alternate mode. Sure, they are cast in clear blue plastic and have silver paint applied, but it doesn't even fix anything when the fucking thing's otherwise in dark gray plastic! A stand is included to at least make him look like he's floating in space, though it's cast in the same clear plastic as before. It's a little short but it does the job as a small display piece.
Let's go over the old toy's vehicle modes. I'm sure they weren't transformed properly, but I swear that the old toy looked a lot nicer in terms of being sleek and intimidating than the new version does. The satellite mode looks correct, as the blades and proportions are sleek as the design was on the film. Also, it had a spaceship mode that made it a bit of a bonus, which is not present on the Studio Series version.
The transformation is relatively simple. At ten steps, it does seem a little low for a Studio Series Deluxe, which normally have twice the amount of steps found from the recent Generations figures since Combiner Wars. The only interesting bit is how parts of the torso work; everything else is extremely simple and fairly lazy if you ask me. And the robot mode itself...scratches my head if you ask me. Since Soundwave's robot mode was never properly seen in the movie, this design ends up looking a little hard to determine if it's even accurate in the first place. The old ROTF figure was like that as well, but some concept art did show that the robot mode would have looked like that, and it was even seen in some tie-in comics. This robot mode is more like a mix between Vector Prime, a TLK Knight, and a TIE Fighter. Also, the shoulders and thighs are reused from the DOTM version. The shoulders are alright despite looking a little out of place, but that's not as bad as the thighs being blatantly part of the last figure! Also, comparing him to the old ROTF figure, the old toy doesn't really have much screen accuracy either, but there's something about the design that gave him a unique look as well as the color scheme making him look less bland than the new figure.
Head sculpt is different from the previous version, which also comes with a visor (though it looks more like he still has two eyes). Yeah, IDK how that works. As for the articulation, his head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back, in and out, biceps swivel, and elbows bend. The waist barely swivels, but the hips move front and back as well as in and out. The thigh swivels, the knees bend, and there are some ankle pivots!
Soundwave comes with no other accessories, and it certainly sucks that he doesn't come with a Ravage! Sure, Barricade didn't come with a Frenzy, but if Blackout can come with his partner, so can Soundwave! Additionally, the lack of accessories means you have to compromise...by using the satellite blades as weapons. Also, why does he have a speckle pattern on his chest, groin, and legs? Why would he need them?
Here is a comparison with his DOTM self. He's actually taller than his Earth form, which is kind of crazy how that works. At least he looks different from the previous form in the Movieverse, though we can never truly tell what his intended robot mode was supposed to be whereas we know his DOTM robot mode.
I also have to credit Hasbro for making a new head sculpt for him, which looks different from the previous figure both with the visor and mouthplate while the other toy has two eyes and a mouth.
He even has some compatibility with the last figure in terms of the stand, though it doesn't really help with much except for making him look like he's standing on one foot. Overall, I'm torn on how this release turned out. It's got a terrible attempt at recreating his satellite mode, the transformation is simple even for Studio Series standards, the robot mode looks plain and probably inaccurate, and the lack of accessories aside from his stand intended ONLY for his alternate mode pile up the cons with this release. Get this guy ONLY if you want to own the entire line or if you don't want to get the old toy, though the old toy does appear to be affordable on eBay.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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