Allegiances: Decepticon
 

Laserbeak

Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark gray, light red, and some light electric blue, black, and moderately dark metallic red
Individual Rating: 6.5

    This version of DotM Laserbeak keeps his bird mode more or less the same, with excellent proportions and detailing (particularly on his midsection and turbine-wings). Other than a missile sticking out his back end, Laserbeak doesn't have any extras in his beast mode; this is clearly what this small toy was primarily made for. The only details that don't seem quite "right" here are on his head-- his little beak-like nodules are a bit oversized to the point where they look like a weird mustache. He's got a decent amount of paint detailing, with a really nice dark red metallic spray app on each of his wings, along with blue eyes, light red turbines, and a few parts along his back painted black so that there's no large unbroken bit of dark gray. That said, I'm not fond of the light red plastic used for his legs-- it's just a bit TOO light, and seems out-of-place with his otherwise fairly dull color scheme. For articulation, Laserbeak can move at the base of each wing and at the hips; both are on ball joints and can get a good range of motion, however. It's not a whole lot of movement, but hey, this version's rather tiny, something's gotta give. I do find it a bit oversight that there's no steady place for Laserbeak to peg in and "perch" on Soundwave in the latter's vehicle mode, though.
    Laserbeak's transformation simply consists of flipping his (spring-loaded) missile launcher out from underneath his body and then folding up his wings and legs-- but for an accessory, this is fairly decent. It fits over Soundwave's shoulder and pegs into place nicely enough, with the "Laserbeak stuff" mostly out of the way and out of sight behind the shoulder. Only the beast head is a particular eyesore in this mode. There's also two small pegs for Mr. Gould or another Human Alliance human figurine to stand on and "man" Laserbeak in this mode, to give him a little extra play value.
    For what basically amounts to a little "Targetmaster", Laserbeak is pretty decent. He's got some nice paint apps and proportions in beast mode (even if his articulation is a bit sparse), and his gun mode-- while having an obvious big backpack formed from his bird parts-- manages to hide most of it surprisingly effectively and works with both Mr. Gould and Soundwave, to boot. This certainly shouldn't be the REASON you're getting this set, but for what he does, he does fairly well.
 

Soundwave w/ Mr. Gould

Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Moderately light milky gray, black, dark flat navy blue, transparent dark greenish blue, and some silver, metallic greenish gold, light red, light electric blue, pale light yellow
Individual Rating: 8.1

    Soundwave's vehicle mode is a Mercedes SLS sportscar, and has some pretty slick proportions that are spot-on with the actual vehicle-- which is, of course, expected at this scale for licensed vehicle modes. All the necessary mold detailing-- vents, lines, wheel axles, 'n such-- are here, but little more, which is fine given the sleek nature of the vehicle. Other than a few small dark blue flaps if you look at Soundwave from the back end, he has no robot mode extras at all in this mode-- and even the aforementioned flaps are really minor even if you're looking right at them. The paint detailing here is mostly limited to his lights, grills, and covering up the transparent portions of the doors. The light red taillights are a nice touch, as is Soundwave's license plate-- a throwback to part of one of his famous catchphrases, "SUPERIOR" as in "Soundwave Superior, ______ Inferior". Unfortunately his primary color is a pretty dull-looking shade of light milky gray-- at this pricepoint, I really would've preferred some metallic or semi-metallic paint over practically the whole body of the car, like what's used on his car doors. Both of Soundwave's doors open up vertically, just like on the actual car, and you can place two Human Alliance human figurines in inside, who fit in a bit snugly. The Mr. Gould figurine is a decent enough interpretation of the DotM character in mini-plastic form, but with enough liberties taken so they probably didn't have to pay the actor to make it. Mr. Gould is your standard Human Alliance figurine, with the usual articulation and holes in his feet and upper back to allow him to interact with larger figures in the subline.
    Soundwave's transformation to robot mode is a bit tricky-- particularly the first few times-- but not much moreso than most other $30-sized figures in the subline. Soundwave's robot mode looks pretty excellent-- from the waist up. He's got a very nicely-proportioned chest with a fragmented front grill, a DYNAMITE headsculpt with a red visor painted to look like it's absolutely blaring red, and nice, beefy shoulders and arms. His hands are three-fingered, with the thumbs not being able to get close enough to give him a fist capable of holding anything, but at least it LOOKS cool. There is a fair bit of car kibble on his back-- his doors, roof, and front hood, to be specific. The front hood and roof stay out of the way and behind his back, thus being a minimal eyesore at worst, but his car doors... not so much. I hate how much they just "hang off" his shoulders with no real set place for them, though at least they add some visual bulk, there. Two of his wheels are on his shoulders as is his movie design-- though again, I wish they tabbed or locked into place somewhere. His light blue electric "sound weapons" on his forearms look great and help to give Soundwave a bit more individuality, though the large Decepticon symbols painted on two of them are a tad obnoxiously large and definitely not in the best place. His robot mode parts have a ton of mold detailing on them, as you'd expect from a movie toy, with angular ridges everywhere. The addition of dark blue and black really helps to break up this mode visually in terms of color and is much appreciated. The gold and light blue accents on the chest, waist, and forearms serve as nice contrast colors, as well. Soundwave's legs are where, visually, he falls apart-- they're undersized skinny little sticks of legs that, when collapsed, form ONLY the part of the car behind the rear windshield, just to show you how comparatively little mass they consist of. He has his three toes splayed out in a manner that makes him quite stable despite this, but this makes his proportions off and really gorilla-like, which is most definitely NOT what he looked like in the movie. For articulation, Soundwave can move at the neck (side-to-side, as well as up a little), and at the shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), at the base of each thumb and at the base of the two fingers on each hand (they both move as one piece); he can also move at the hips (at three points), knees (at three points, though they're at rather odd angles due to his transformation), ankles, and at the base of each toe. His mouth can also move up and down (well, more accurately the rest of his head EXCEPT his lower jaw moves up and down, but it has the same effect). His shoulders are a bit restricted because of all the kibble there, but with the exception of waist movement, he's doing pretty well in this department, particularly given how stable his feet are.
    Human Alliance Soundwave & Laserbeak is a pretty decent set, for the most part. I DESPISE Soundwave's puny lower legs, and that by itself makes up 90% of my quibbles with this figure (the rest mainly being his dull coloration in vehicle mode and all his kibble around the shoulders). However, those problems aside, this is a rather neat mold, with quite a lot of posability and play value. Mildly recommended, given that his U.S. release was sadly cancelled and he was only ever released overseas (hence you'll have to pay a markup for him). If it weren't for his legs it'd be a full-blown recommendation, but alas...

Reviews by Beastbot

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