Laserbeak

Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Legends/Legion
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light red, black, and silver
Individual Rating: 7.5

    Laserbeak-- like all of the Legends/Legion-sized toys for the Generations "Fall of Cybertron" subline-- is a data disk in his alt mode. It's a rather thick disc-- but then again, that's kind of necessary to give him a decent beast mode. There's not much play value in this mode, but there wasn't much play value in a cassette tape alt mode either, and a Cybertronian data disc performs basically the same function. Put simply, this is a ingenious way to update the popular G1 Cassette 'Cons and 'Bots into a more "modernized" form. There are a few "cracks" in the side of the disc to make the transformation work, but they aren't so bad that they compromise the "illusion" of the data disc. The light red and black colors contrast against each other quite well, though I particularly LOVE the silver circuitry pattern on the top of this mode. Granted, it's on all the other FoC data disk 'Cons and 'Bots too, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.
    Like all the other data disc 'Bots and 'Cons, Laserbeak is supposed to transform automatically when ejected from his "host" toy. There's a small black button on the underside of the data disc mode that accomplishes this, and on this mold at least, this gimmick pretty much always works, and is thus always awesome. (You have to manually fold and press the pieces back together to get him back into disc mode, but this is pretty simple and there's an audible "click" when you're done-- and no, Laserbeak does NOT come undone easily unless you press his button, which I was pleasantly surprised at.) In bird mode, Laserbeak's circular wings formed from the sides of the data disc look great and are ingenious, and I like how his tailfeathers are also formed out of most of the top of the disc. The mold detailing is also excellent in this mode, with little FoC-esque circuitry and styling details all over the figure, along with "spine"-like detailing along Laserbeak's back. His head is also nicely-detailed and angular, as it should be-- however, the eyes desperately need paint apps, along with his tailfeather piece. The circuitry lines on part of his back and the silver detailing on his wings is good and all, but I'd trade the latter for paint in those other places, particularly the eyes. Having what LOOKS like an eye-less head, what with the black plastic and all, just looks bad. Laserbeak also doesn't really have any feet to speak of in this mode, and due to his spring-loaded gimmick, he doesn't have any articulation, either. However, given the small size and how awesome the gimmick is, I'm considerably more forgiving of these flaws in this figure than I otherwise would be.
 

Soundwave

Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Dark blue, moderately light milky gray, and some transparent light purple, dark red, light purple, transparent light red, and metallic bronzish gold
Individual Rating: 9.3

    Although it's a completely new mold, this "WfC/FoC" version of Soundwave emulates the same general design as the Generations deluxe "Cybertronian" Soundwave toy, so it's worth checking out that link if you aren't familiar with the previous version of this design; I'm definitely gonna refer to it a fair bit in this review. That aside, this version of FoC Soundwave is considerably larger (even a bit big for a Voyager-class toy in recent years), and the vehicle mode is a bit bulkier and beefier, particularly in how tall it is compared to its width. It looks considerably more proportional this way, and there's a few new features here-- namely, the seat molded near the top back end (though it can't fit any TF figures I can think of), and Soundwave's chain-gun weapon mounted just in front of that seat. The five-clawed front bumper still looks as cool as ever, though the side two claws in front of the wheels don't stick out as oddly far in this mode compared to "Cybertronian" Soundwave. A lot of the same general details that emulate his video game appearance are on this toy as well, though this version has pretty cool transparent light purple wheels and a chest. Granted, the former isn't really game-accurate, but it still looks pretty cool and plays up the "futuristic" look of this Soundwave pretty well. Unfortunately, the back end of the vehicle mode is still a bit hollow on this version, and I wish the front section above the piece that becomes Soundwave's chest had a bit of "window"-like paint/mold detailing on it, as it still looks like there's a little something missing there. Given their different color from the surrounding pieces, Soundwave's robot feet also stick out slightly near the back end in this mode, though this is a minor issue at best. The overall color scheme of dark blue and gray with some red is classic Soundwave, and I think it looks pretty decent, if not spectacular. (I wish the gray had been more of a metallic shade, in particular.) The bits of red, gold, and light purple do help vary up the color scheme a bit more, though, and with the exception of the top front area, makes sure that Soundwave doesn't have too large an area of just one color in this mode.
    The transformation to robot mode is mostly identical to Cybertronian Soundwave's, though the end result-- because of the central "gimmick" of this toy and the bulkier proportions of the vehicle mode-- is, in turn, a bulker, more beefy-looking robot mode. However, this is a good thing, considering Cybertronian Soundwave looked a bit too skinny in his robot mode for my tastes. The central chest area may be a tad more "square" and sticks out a little more than I'd like, but other than that Soundwave's proportions are pretty solid here. His arms are beefy enough, his legs are beefy enough, and though he has a few "vehicle kibble" bits-- particularly his front wheels, folded against the back part of his stomach-- they tend to stay out of the way of articulation and aren't as big of an eyesore as they were on the deluxe version of this design. I will say that-- though they're "thick" enough-- I'm not a big fan of this Soundwave's lower arm design; there's fairly noticeable hollow bits below his fists that are a bit unsightly. The mold detailing is very game-accurate and crisp, particularly on Soundwave's excellent head sculpt, and the light piping used for his optic works very well. As for Soundwave's central "gimmick" that the toy is built around, it's DARN solid. By pressing on the gray trigger to the left side of his head, the front of his chest will fall open. Once this is done, you can push forward on the large slider mechanism on Soundwave's back (made easily pushable because of the large roof/chair piece that becomes his back in this mode) to launch out Soundwave's minion in his chest, just like his G1 design with cassettes! The data disc minions should transform automatically once they're out, which is also a really nice feature. You can store not one, not two, but up to THREE data disc Transformers inside Soundwave's chest at one time in this mode, and he can launch them all in one push, one-two-three, which is just a super neat effect. (The more data discs you have in Soundwave's chest, though, the further back you have to pull his slider mechanism to accomodate them-- so when he has his max number in there, his back can be a bit... well, back there.) He can also fire a minion in vehicle mode, but it looks a bit more odd, given you have to partially open up the front end to be able to do so. Soundwave's chaingun weapon plugs into its traditional position on the right side of his head, or he can hold it in one of his hands. As for articulation, Soundwave can move at the shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two points), wrists (at two points), hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and forward-and-back at the ankles. Unfortunately, his head can't move at all (likely due to all the space his disc-launching gimmick requires), and he doesn't have any waist articulation, either. However, he's very well-balanced and many of his joints are ratcheted, so you can still get a number of great poses out of the toy.

    FoC Soundwave & Laserbeak is a stupendous two-pack. Neither of them are perfect, but Hasbro has finally brought back Soundwave's "minion-launching" in an effective, modern manner, and gives you plenty of options of which 'Cons to store in him if you buy his Legends two-packs, as well. Even ignoring the gimmick of the toy, though, Soundwave is a pretty good design with better proportions in both modes compared to his earlier deluxe "Cybertronian" Generations toy, very nice articulation, and minimal kibble in both modes. Laserbeak-- while not articulated-- still has an awesome gimmick that mostly overlooks all that, and is the best data disc minion mold to boot, in my opinion. A highly recommended set if you're at all interested in the "Soundwave & his minions" gimmick.
 

Reviews by Beastbot

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