Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpieces MP-13 "Soundwave" (Japan Import)

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I know, I know. Sorry for that. It’s just that funny feeling I had while posing all those old and new Soundwave-related figures – as if it were a family clan of sorts, with the G1 grandpa, young and powerful MP warrior and a bunch of cousins and kids, including a grumpy old bat and crazy hotheaded twins. Accessories: Concussion Blaster, Sonic Cannon, Charge Blaster (all combine to form Mega-Blaster), Laserbeak Cassette When Gnashteeth was betrayed by the D.E.D. administrator Double Punch, he and the programmer Scorponok hit upon the idea of taking surplus cubes manufactured by the plant and selling them on the side, starting their own criminal enterprise. After a vicious beating from rival "businessmech" Thunderhoof's goons, Gnashteeth had Scorponok overload the D.E.D.'s Iacon plant while they made off with a small hoard of cubes, which Gnashteeth used to buy off Thunderhoof's minions. Identity Politics

Sadly my G1 Buzzsaw (?) doesn’t have his engines/cannons anymore as one of the former owners lost them. Now this wouldn’t happen to the new birdies as all their parts are permanently attached and neatly fold inside during transformation. The wings have one extra joint added but overall the new guys don’t stand out that much from the aerial reconnaissance veteran. Figure's real nice. Only prob is I messed up with the extra piece they added. I was playing online poker at the time and didn't look carefully at the connection. I THOUGHT there was a hinge there but the piece connects by two pegs inside two holes in the body. I snapped those things off. In that you can plug headphones into it, not that it will actually play music; there are no electronics in this toy --ed.]Yes, they both can take the form that Rumble was famous for in the show: turning arms into pile drivers and raining mayhem by destroying the very ground they stand on. Did I mention their insanity?

Ok, those who pose their MP Soundwave and Laserbeak like that and don’t produce a fake mechanical voice shouting ‘Laserbeak, repoooort!’ are no real fans of G1 Transformers era, I tell you that! It’s worth mentioning that Soundwave has dedicated edgings on his forearms that match the soles of cassette-birds’ feet. You can see the edging on his right arm as well. And yes, this means…Known designers: Bill Rawley (Hasbro), Alex Androski (deco artist), Marcelo Matere (concept artist) Soundwave was in attendance at the Decepticons' latest meeting in their war room. As Megatron discussed his latest plan to finance the construction of a Decepticon army, Soundwave noticed Bumblebee spying on them through a window. Megatron assured Soundwave that this would be used to their advantage, and they would soon both secure the sunken treasures in the waters of Alaska and capture the Autobots. In the planned Transformers Chess Set by Eaglemoss, a relatively large and very well detailed statue of Laserbeak was slated to be one of the Pawn pieces on the Decepticon side.

Masterpiece briefly rode the coattails of Hasbro's Collaborative crossover brand into mass market comic books in 2019 with MP-10G Optimus Prime Ecto-35 Edition's prominent appearance in the Transformers/Ghostbusters comic, albeit very much playing second fiddle to Collaborative 's original character for the Ghostbusters x Transformers subline, Ectotron. The Loyal Subjects Laserbeak is a Wave 3 figure with limited articulation, due to his unique design. Laserbeak can, however, "transform" to tape mode because of his folding legs and wings. For every 16 figures, there is 1 Laserbeak. Despite his slight rarity, Laserbeak is easy to find because his box is much lighter than any of the other figures'. All right, time to introduce the main tray of treats from the accessories department – those that in any other case would be considered the subject of the review themselves – the cassettes. And there sure are many of those.

When Takara released the Transformers version of Soundwave in Japan, they retooled the hinge so the bottom of the door attached to the outside of the robot, on either side of the "buttons", which had also been retooled. Both versions of Soundwave were available in Japan, making the retool a running change variant. In one possible sequence of events, Soundwave plotted with Starscream to overthrow Megatron, and become joint leaders of the Decepticons. Unbeknownst to him, Soundwave was spied upon by the Autobot Cosmos. During one of Hasbro's designer panels at BotCon 2008, an audience member questioned the feasibility of releasing this figure in the 2008 Universe toy line, but without the expensive MP3 player electronics. Bizarrely, Hasbro design director Aaron Archer gave a seemingly prepared statement that did not answer the question at all, and instead stated that Hasbro were unlikely to release Music Label Soundwave in their markets due to the obscurity of the MiniSD memory card format. (For what it's worth, Hasbro's Greg Lombardo had given an actual answer to the same question at BotCon 2007, when he stated that ML Soundwave's innards are so devoted to electronics that removing them might adversely impact the leftover toy's appearance and stability.)