Posted January 5, 2013 at 12:53 am

Soundwave's part of the first wave of Voyager Class ($25) Generations figures. Who does he share that first wave with? HIMSELF! One out of every four figures in the case assortment is actually Soundblaster, a same-character redeco of Soundwave based on his black-gold-and-red Headmasters appearance. That's right, it's "New Soundwave," as regaled by the infamously terrible English dub of those episodes. Soundwave comes with Laserbeak (red) and Soundblaster comes with Buzzsaw (gold).

I had already found the sets of the other guys (Frumble/Ratbat and Frumble/Ravage), so I knew I was gonna like Buzzsaw. Ratbat was the best of those guys, and Ratbat's just a reshell of Laserbeak/Buzzsaw. The reason why he's the best is that he's the simplest and least irritating. When he drops in Data Disk mode onto the ground and the button underneath him springloads him into "vulture" mode, that's it. That's the end of the transformation. There's no more left to do. And he's easy to put back in Data Disk mode.
Plus, y'know, he's Buzzsaw, whose predecessor was a frightening friggin' monster who will kill you with his face.

Soundblaster himself is basically a larger version of the Deluxe Class War for Cybertron Soundwave from a few years ago, but now with a chest that flops open when you press a button on his shoulder. He's got lots of tightly-ratcheted joints, so he's pretty solid. I dunno if his vehicle mode is particularly inspiring, as it's a box with wheels, but I suppose that's probably better than a box without wheels, which is what Soundwave usually transforms into.
(Comics return on Monday, btw.)
Comments