Tag Archives: Buzzsaw

#3736: Soundwave – G1 Universe

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

SOUNDWAVE — G1 UNIVERSE

TRANSFORMERS: LEGACY UNITED (HASBRO)

Transformers, a brand with virtually no footprint here on the site for my first five years, is sort of returning to its roots, I guess?  I don’t really talk about it as much any more.  I mean, sure, I looked at one of the Blokees back in October, but the last time I reviewed one that actually transformed was back in May.  It was a Soundwave, which is sensible, since he’s one of my two go-tos.  And, you know what?  I’m gonna go to it again.  Here’s another Soundwave, you guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

G1 Universe Soundwave is part of the third Leader Class assortment of Transformers Legacy: United, the third year of the Legacy branding.  This marks Soundwave’s third inclusion under Legacy, at a third size-class no less.  We’ve had Core and Voyager, and now Leader, so all that’s left is some form of Deluxe?  Go for the full spread?  Whatever the case, this guy is, as his name denotes, another G1 Soundwave.  In his robot mode, he’s about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 practical points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s exactly the same as the Walmart-exclusive War For Cybertron release from 2020, which is a mold with less uses than you might expect for such a solid updating of the G1 Soundwave figure.  Prior to this year, it was only available in its initial run and as Shattered Glass Soundwave in 2022.  Earlier this year, it got another re-use in the Dramatic Capture three-pack, and now it’s been used again here.  Yay!  It’s a re-working of the Siege mold (which was *also* re-released in Legacy), and still holds up as a strong offering four years after the fact.  Since he’s using the WFC mold, that means this guy’s alt-mode is a cassette player again, which is how Soundwave do at his Soundwave best.  As with prior instances, it’s good when viewed from the front, but a bit spottier at the back.  This Soundwave’s color work isn’t drastically different from the Walmart release, but it tweaks things every so slightly still.  It adds back in the missing red details from that release, and also makes the other colors match-up a bit better with each other, so no mixes of yellow and gold, and the greys and silvers are also a little closer in finish this time.  It results in a slightly punchier look.  The real test, of course, is whether this one will face the same discoloring issues as the last one.  Like the last release (and the Siege release as well), he gets his two cannons and folding gun, and to justify the Leader class price point, he also adds in three cassette buddies: Ravage, Buzzsaw, and Frenzy Rumble.  Ravage is once more using the Siege mold, with a deco that matches the WFC pack-in, albeit with black limbs now instead of grey.  Buzzsaw’s actually a big deal because this is the first time he’s been done in the Siege compatible style.  That took a surprisingly long time.  He’s a repaint of the WFC Laserbeak re-tool, which isn’t much of a surprise, I suppose.  Frenzy Rumble is re-using the Studio 86 mold, just now in proper toy colors.  Of course, he’s named “Rumble” on the box, despite “Frenzy” very definitely being the name on the blue cassette guy for the toys, but I won’t split hairs here.  I know what his name is in my heart, and that’s all that truly matters.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As someone who got the Walmart release at retail (which is something an unfortunately high number of collectors can’t say), I didn’t *need* this release.  Of course, it *is* a Soundwave, and it *is* different from the prior offering.  On top of that, the pack-in cassettes do a lot to sell me on it this time around, since I’ve been waiting patiently for Buzzsaw since 2019, and I also won’t say no to a toy-colors update to the 86 mold of Frenzy.  I’m glad I snagged it because, if nothing else, I got to mess with the Walmart mold one more time, and I do always forget just how much I like that particular mold.  This is a nice set if you missed the Walmart version, and honestly the superior offering if you have that one already, so I’m happy with my purchase.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3334: Bumblebee Cassette Pack

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

BUMBLEBEE, FRENZY, BUZZSAW, & HOWLBACK

BUMBLEBEE: GREATEST HITS (HASBRO)

What good is a Soundwave without his cassette buddies?  Well, not so good, I suppose.  Sort of thing you don’t like to see happen, really.  So, whenever Hasbro does a new Soundwave, there’s invariably some sort of cassette component included as well.  Just to really sell the gimmick.  When the Titans Return Soundwave mold was retooled for a Bumblebee tie-in, they could have let people just try to track down the TR cassettes, I suppose, but where’s the fun in that.  And, more importantly, where’s the money in that?  So, instead, we got a whole companions set, just for that guy.  Nice!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Bumblebee Cassette Pack was part of the Target-exclusive Bumblebee: Greatest Hits line, which was under the umbrella of Hasbro’a larger Bumblebee movie offerings.  It was specifically designed to coincide and go along with Soundwave and Doombox from the same line…for the most part.  The set includes three cassette boys, Frenzy, Buzzsaw, and Howlback, who are clearly meant to go with Soundwave.  However, it also includes a Bumblebee, who is not at all in scale with the other stuff, and really just exists to put a Bumblebee in the set, since it was tying into his movie and all.  It’s still a tad odd, though.

Bumblebee was a re-deco of the Age of Extinction High Octane One-Step Changer Bumblebee.  It’s *a* movie Bumblebee, but it’s not the one seen in the movie at all.  I mean, I guess it *kinda* works for Bee at the very end of the movie.  Ah, I’m overthinking it.  In robot mode, he’s about 4 1/2 inches tall and he’s got workable articulation via universal joints at the shoulders.  He’s not very mobile, but that’s not what he was designed for.  He gets an okay approximation of his later film robot mode, albeit a bit chunkier, and with some notable hollow spots.  Again, given that he’s built for play more than accuracy, it’s not bad.  His transformation is, as advertised, one step.  Essentially, he folds and unfolds much like a butterfly knife, with the top of the car/chest being spring-loaded to flip it into place for each respective mode.  It’s admittedly pretty fun.  His main change-up is the color scheme, which sticks more closely to classic Bee than the initial release, which was predominantly black.

With Bee out of the way, we get to the real meat of the set: the cassettes!  The first of them is Frenzy, in his proper blue color that Frenzy is always supposed to be, because Frenzy is blue.  Always.  Right?  Right.  Rumble, the other humanoid cassette, was released on his own during Titans Return, but poor Frenzy was left out in the cold until this release.  In robot mode, he’s about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 workable points of articulation.  Frenzy’s actually quite posable given the scale and construction, especially when compared to the rest of the set.  His mold began as Titans Return Rewind, before getting a new head for its release as Rumble, and then that version got a full re-use here.  It’s a pretty decent mold, and honestly one of the best when it comes to the cassette bots.  Certainly the most advanced of the TR era molds for the cassettes.  His color scheme is very, very blue.  I like that a lot.  There’s a decent amount of smaller work going on, and I dig the gold accents.  Application’s pretty clean, but the paint is prone to a bit of wear, especially on the face.  His main alt-mode is a “data tablet”, which is largely an excuse for a rectangle shape that works as a stand-in for a tape.  He gets some stickers with actual cassette details on them, which are very cool.  Frenzy gets a second alt-mode, which turns him into a tank.  Both transformation sequences are rather intuitive and generally pretty fun.

Next up is Buzzsaw, the not-Laserbeak bird cassette, who’s largely notable for being included with Soundwave’s original G1 release.  Interestingly, while Frenzy was thus far uncovered in this style, Buzzsaw had already been done during Combiner Wars.  His robot/bird mode can sort of move at his neck and wings, but not a ton at either.  His bird mode is pretty clunky.  It’s always a little clunky, but especially in this instance.  The color scheme is duller than the CW version, with more black and actual gold.  It’s not bad, and honestly a little closer to the vintage version, I suppose.  Buzzsaw’s first alt-mode is the data tablet again; fairly similar to Frenzy, though the actual layout of the pieces is different.  He also gets a sort of tank-looking thing as his third mode, which doesn’t work quite as well as Frenzy’s.

The last of the cassettes is Howlback, who’s like Ravage, but…not Ravage?  So, you know, there’s that, I guess.  Howlback’s robot mode has movement on the legs, but like Buzzsaw, her motion is generally pretty restricted.  You can get her standing, but that’s really about it.  It’s another rather clunky mold, but I’ve honestly felt that almost every Ravage mold was rather on the clunky side.  So, you know, this one just fits with that, I suppose.  Howlback gets the data tablet alt-mode, which is again chopped up a little differently than the others, but results in the same general end.  Howlback also gets a third mode, which is not a tank, but is instead a plane.  The bird doesn’t turn into a plane, but the jaguar does.  It’s again pretty clunky, but it’s at least unique and different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting a really good deal on the Greatest Hits Soundwave, I found myself in the market for some cassettes to go with him, and this was the most economical option at the time, provided you were able to find it at retail.  Which I did.  Hahaha.  Bumblebee is sort of unneeded, but fun enough.  Buzzsaw and Howlback are limited by the format a bit, but okay.  Frenzy is the real star, like, far and away.  He’s just really good, and holds up even after going through several Cassette boi style changes.