Hasbro Transformers Masterpiece MP02 - Soundwave (Toys R' Us Exclusive)

After waiting for 2 months since I pre-ordered this item from our local Toys R' Us (TRU) outlet finally at the end of August 2013 I received this item.

So, ladies and gentlemen, this is now the review of Toys R' Us Exclusive Transformers Masterpiece MP02 - Soundwave from Hasbro.

Now it's not a secret that I am really a big fan of Soundwave, love him a lot, he is simply a cold blooded bad ass and intelligent bad guy and certainly one of the most iconic figure amongst the Decepticons leadership rank. Some says that the Scottish released him way too early and he kept the photo of his wallet inside his wallet while no body understand about his affection towards McDonald's Big Mac burger or Coca Cola but for all we know he's called Soundwave.... LOL...

The box;

Out of the box;

Of all the things that comes with him, I personally don't really bother about these stuff - the Megatron as a tiny pistol or a gun or what ever and those cube or what ever they are but I'm sure other Soundwave fans love to get these items.

The 5 pieces transformable "Micro Cassettes" and personally for me this is one of the main selling point of this item because the price for this TRU Exclusive is only SGD 250 (about USD 197 / EUR 149 / 19,696 Yen) and that includes all 5 of them while the one from Takara Tomy is at SGD 200 (about USD 157 / EUR 119 / 15,756 Yen) but only comes with 1 "Micro Cassettes" and if you want to buy the additional "Micro Cassettes", the local price is SGD 90 (about USD 71 / EUR 53 / 7,090 Yen) for a couple of them which means you will need to spend additional SGD 180 (about USD 142 / EUR 106 / 14,180 Yen) if you want to have the complete set of this "Micro Cassettes" or rather "Cassetterons".

This "Cassetterons" is one of the reason why I love Soundwave so much coz he is the one and only guy from the G1 (within the Decepticons faction) who have this kind of clever minions. As a toy, they are quite a fun compliments to Soundwave and that is the very same reason why I also love the toy of Soundwave from the Transformers Fall of Cybertron (FOC) series.

According to the designer of this Masterpiece Soundwave, Mr. Shogo Hasui, these MP Cassettes like Condor (Laserbeak), Jaguar (Ravage) and Frenzy were set to be developed as well to emphasizes Soundwave's playability. 

He said; "Cassetterons gave me more trouble than Soundwave. The restriction was strict because 3 cassettes were to be stored in Soundwave's chest. Their size was so small, yet the plastic had to be of certain thickness, the axes had to be functional and they had to be transformable. On top of that, I made Condor without any excess parts unlike his G1 toy while recreating the camera on his head as well as his posture in the cartoon. Jaguar was more three dimensional compared to the original, and it really was testing the size limit. Although Frenzy and Ramble still required excess parts because the gun on their back were also to be hand-held.

I usually come up with two or three transformation ideas (for a product) and one of them becomes the actual product. As for Condor, I thought of 10 variations and none of them was finalized. I even doubted if it could ever be done, but those obstacles had to be cleared if I was to create Masterpiece figures. There always is a conflict between the ideal and the reality."

The casing is quite simple as it should be but with some nice addition of "Transformers" stamp engraved on the plastic.

All of the Cassetterons out of their case;

And now it's transformation time;

And this is it in their other mode;

This yellow bird is Buzzsaw;

This blue guy is Frenzy;

This red bird is Laserbeak;

This black jaguar or phanter is Ravage

And lastly this guy is Rumble;

These Frenzy and Rumble have additional extra weapons;

And this is that weapons;

Basically its the same for both of them but for this review I just attached one a piece to represent both combination;

All the "minions" together ready to rock.... LOL

OK now, let's have a look at the Soundwave - well, the Soundwave come in his robot mode out of the box and thus we will look at the robot mode first;

A little bit of close up - the said the difference between the Hasbro and the Takara Tomy version is the eye color, the Hasbro is what you can see below, they use yellow or gold color while the Takara Tomy use red color which I think is more interesting but anyway if you want, you can just use red marker pen and make the color of this one become red, problem solve!!!

Articulation is pretty good and you can do lot's of action pose with this Soundwave figure;

 Soundwave with all his minions - equally twisted, harmoniously together as a family;

Now it's the alternate mode, the "Tape Player" and surely this is classic!!!

Transformation process is not really difficult, you need to put in some effort but it's not bad. I don't bother to use the manual as it can be confusing especially if you are just a beginner or even for an old farmer like me thus instead I just use those video reviews from YouTube as my transformation guide.

In tape player mode or radio cassette recorder/player or what ever you like to call it, there are some nice added features which don't mean much but still it's nice to have them there...

First, you can actually press those buttons there though nothing will happen so you can just keep pressing them for fun;

This slider switch, you really can slide it up and down;

This volume wheel, you can really roll it up and down a bit;

And of coz that eject button is probably the only button that is working as you need it to insert the cassettes into the compartment or eject the cassettes out of it;

There is this headphone port at the top and you can really put in the real headphones there just as some sort of display gimmick if you were to display this Soundwave in his tape player mode;

If you happen to have the classic toys from the past like this "Takara Tomy - Transformers Encore 21 - Soundblaster", you can also insert the cassettes into the compartment of this modern Masterpiece Soundwave.

You can read the review of that item from the link below;

http://www.shewsbury.com/2013/07/takara-tomy-transformers-encore-21.html

You can insert up to 3 cassettes into that compartment. However, my one and only complain on this Masterpiece Soundwave is basically on that cassettes compartment itself. Though it is basically quite great but at times, it can be difficult to actually ejected the cassettes. Sometimes I have to use some other things like screw driver to help me to take those cassettes out of it.... sigh

Comparison with the "Takara Tomy - Transformers Encore 21 - Soundblaster" in there tape player mode;

Comparison with the "Takara Tomy Transformers Music Label Soundwave" in their tape player mode;

All 3 of them together;

Now all 3 of them in their robot mode;

And lastly we add the Soundwave from Transformers FOC series to joined the party;

With this now, I think my Soundwave collection is steady and complete and I shall not be in want LOL...

Overall, this is brilliant Soundwave in "Masterpiece" form with great value for money and I am extremely happy with the price I paid for this item. Both the robot mode and the alternate mode (tape player) are an astonishing representation of Soundwave G1 (apart maybe from the eye color - which is not at all a big issue for me as you can really just use red marker pen to make it red). I love each and every bit of this toy and this is one of the most fun toys I've ever had in my life and certainly worth the wait. For many years now I've been hoping to get a "perfect" Soundwave toys and I think this is it, the perfect Soundwave for me. While most of the results on this product are expected to be as good as it is now but I think the most exciting improvement on this toys is on the "Micro Cassettes" or "Cassetterons" especially on the transformation process and the end result of it. They are indeed a true and great representation of each and every single one of them - Laserbeak, Ravage, Frenzy, Buzzsaw and Rumble. The Laserbeak/Buzzsaw especially are absolutely fantastic. Having said that, although this is already quite good, I'm sure there is always room for improvement but then again an amateur like me don't even know where to start to talk about improvement, this Soundwave is pretty good already.

I read and watched some other reviews around the internet and they are people complaining about the rear-side (back-side) of the tape player mode, they may have a point there but then again as it is this Soundwave is already a long development project, it takes several years for the designers to finally achieved and agree to the current result thus I believe instead of criticizing, its better to compliment them for their hard work and hopefully maybe 10 years later they can come up with another better Soundwave.

It took several years for the designer Shogo Hasui and his team to developed this Masterpiece Soundwave given the fact that Soundwave is really one of the most popular character in Transformers series and finally we see the result and I personally feel that this is a an incredible result as it is and I am so happy with it.

Well done to Shogo Hasui and his team and also to Takara Tomy and Hasbro - thank you very much for this superbly fantastic toy of Soundwave!!!

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