Music Label Soundwave (Spark Blue)

Robot Mode: In robot mode Soundwave is the spitting image of his G1 predecessor. He is slightly smaller, but seeing as G1 Soundwave was always a tad too large to be in scale with his compatriots, that's actually pretty good. He's also far more posable. Shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, and feet are all posable, just like the head. As far as detailing goes, Soundwave looks a bit plain at first, but once you apply the retro-stickers from Reprolabels (not included), he looks pretty spiffy and very much like the Soundwave we remember.

His cassette deck opens at the touch of the button on his shoulder as usual, showing where you can enter a mini-SD-card with music on it. Weapon-wise Soundwave carries his usual arsenal of shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and rifle. The rocket launcher actually fits into the same slot used to attach the ear phones, so while the MP3 Player functions can be used in robot mode, you need to somewhat disarm Soundwave before you can listen to him. Soundwave also has a number of interchangable hands: A closed fist, a fist for holding the rifle, and one with an extended index finger for pushing his own buttons, a set of three for each hand. Meaning that, combined with his awesome posability, you can put Soundwave into lots of fun poses, including one where he pushes his shoulder button and manipulates his belly buttons at the same time. So to sum it up, an excellent robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Soundwave transforms into his familiar cassette deck mode, but where G1 Soundwave was a non-working replica of a Sony Walkman, this Soundwave here is an actual working MP3 Player. If you enter a mini-SD-card with music into his tape deck, you can listen to the files by plugging in the ear phones and using the buttons below the deck. There's no screen to show which song you're hearing and the controls are limited to play/pause, next song, previous song, and two buttons for increasing and decreasing the volume, but that's enough. Soundwave isn't supposed to be competition for the iPod or anything. And while Soundwave isn't exactly the sturdiest MP3-Player ever and not really made for carrying around in your pocket every day, he is a working music player, which is all fans ever wanted from Soundwave. Two thumbs up.

Add-Ons / Extras: Soundwave comes with small white ear phones that can plug into his shoulder, so you can listen to the music he plays. It's good that he has phones included, but they are pretty much the cheapest you can find, so if you're planning to use Soundwave as an MP3 Player regularly, you should get other ear phones. Also, one extra that is not included, but which you need, is the mini-SD-card.

Remarks: Having a modern-day Soundwave transform into an MP3-Player instead of a tape deck isn't exactly a major brain storm, but having him transform into an actual WORKING MP3-Player was a pretty nifty idea. Soundwave came in two colours, the blue one as seen here and an almost all-white one (as seen on the package), and both were pretty hard to get almost as soon as they came out, as fans grabbed them left and right. And what they ended up with is an excellent robot mode, a fully functioning MP3 Player for an alternate mode, and the potential for lots of fun add-ons. If Soundwave has one problem, it's that he is a bit too fragile to actually be carried around in your pocket or bag every day, as his paint is likely to chip. So if you're looking for a simple MP3-Player to listen to on the train to work, Soundwave is probably not what you're looking for. If you're looking for a kick-ass Transformers toy, though, he's your man.

Rating: A