Set Price: $180 (U.S.)
Allegiances: Decepticon

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the original Masterpiece Soundwave & Minions set--go here.)
 

Buzzsaw

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, clear plastic, and some black, metallic goldish bronze and metallic gold
Individual Rating: 8.2

    Buzzsaw-- like most of the other toys in this set-- is primarily a light milky gray and clear plastic. By itself, that's a pretty darned ordinary color scheme-- and unfortunately, the light milky gray plastic is of that kind that I really don't like, as it doesn't have a hint of a metallic sheen to it and just looks blah. The clear plastic is an interesting color used in small bits like it is, though, even if it's bland-- sort of like Buzzsaw is in the process of "reformatting" into a new color scheme or something. The black used on the front of the cassette mode and broken up a bit on his wings in bird mode is a nice contrast color against all that gray and clear plastic, and the "stripe" pattern helps Buzzsaw look more interesting in both modes-- the way the stripes are broken up on the ends of the wings looks pretty good, too, and adds more much-needed contrast to the figure. There's also two black Decepticon symbols on the sides of his cassette mode/middle of his bird wings, which are pretty cool "half pure Decepticon symbol/half Decepticon-shaped Chinese Goat symbol" paint apps, I dig 'em. Buzzsaw also has a good amount of metallic goldish-copper used for the bottom front of his cassette mode, though it shows up considerably less in his bird mode-- only on his wing tips, really. Oddly, there's a seperate more "pure" shade of metallic gold used for his eyes, which looks nice, but they're small they doesn't stand out as much as I'd like them to. Thus, overall he's pretty bland in bird mode, especially when compared to the original MP Buzzsaw's color scheme. Like with the other cassettes, Buzzsaw comes with a clear plastic holding case.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Buzzsaw.
 

Frenzy

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, clear plastic, and some black, metallic bronze, metallic bluish silver, light red, silver, and periwinkle
Individual Rating: 8.1

    Just like his fellow cassettes, Frenzy also has a predominantly light milky gray and clear plastic color scheme, with most of the clear plastic on Frenzy being used for his piledriver and gun accessories, with the only bits of clear plastic on his main body being his feet, halves of his lower legs, and his upper arms. Again-- a fairly boring color scheme, but luckily Frenzy's cassette mode has a really nice black-fading-to-metallic-bluish-silver color scheme on it, with the black fading into the bluish silver via stripes, just like with Buzzsaw. These cassette mode bits aren't really visible in robot mode, though, so Frenzy also has a few paint apps in that mode as well-- the metallic copper detailing on his chest; the light red eyes and silver mouth; and dark blue stripes on his lower arms. There's also the neat "Decepticon/Goat" symbol on his stomach. All of these paint apps look pretty nice against the gray, but unfortunately with the light gray and clear plastic being so dominant, they just aren't enough to keep Frenzy from still looking rather bland. His piledrivers have silver paint on the bottom portions, giving them at least a little bit of paint as well, even if they still look pretty monochrome. The storage piece for the piledrivers is a nice periwinkle, and a quite eye-catching shade of it to boot-- I wish said color had been used a bit more on Frenzy. I realize that this shade is fairly prevalent on the original release of this guy, but having just a bit more in the robot mode really would've helped add some more contrast and color to it.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Frenzy.
 

Laserbeak

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, clear plastic, and some black, goldish silver, and metallic gold
Individual Rating: 8.0

    There's not really much to say about Laserbeak that I haven't already said about Buzzsaw, and that's not merely because they're the same molds-- in fact, they've almost got the same color schemes. The only way to tell the difference between them is that, where Buzzsaw has metallic goldish bronze, Laserbeak has silver with just a tinge of gold to it (less so than it looks in these pics, for some reason). I like Buzzsaw's goldish bronze better, as it provides a bit more contrast to the color scheme, particularly in cassette mode. With Laserbeak, literally his gold eyes are the only parts that aren't monochrome-- because of this, color-wise he looks even more bland and uninteresting than Buzzsaw.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Laserbeak.
 

Ravage

Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, clear plastic, and some black, light red, and metallic gunmetal gray
Individual Rating: 7.9

    Ravage is-- surprise!-- mostly light milky gray and clear plastic, just like his fellow Cassette Minions. The gray mostly makes up the "main body" of his beast mode, with the transparent plastic making up his limbs and a small section of the front part of main body and his hips. In cassette mode, he has the same black striped "fade-to-another-color" pattern, with the other color for Ravage being a gunmetal gray-- a tad darker in color than the silver on Laserbeak. In fact, as far as tone, the gunmetal gray is rather close to Ravage's light gray in most normal light, being just a little darker. In general, this leaves Ravage with basically nothing but the black from his cassette mode as a contrast color, which only really shows up in his beast mode on a bit of his legs. There's also some nice light red for his eyes, but they don't really add anything to the color scheme. He does have those neat Decepticon/Goat symbols on his beast shoulders, though, which is a nice little touch. Unfortunately, overall Ravage is the most boring-looking out of all the Cassetteicons in this pack.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Ravage.
 

Rumble

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, clear plastic, and some black, metallic bronze, metallic copper, metallic reddish copper, light red, red, and silver
Individual Rating: 8.4

    Thought it was hard to tell which one was Rumble and which one was Frenzy before? Well, get ready for FIGRIG (Frenzy is Gray, Rumble is Gray)! Yep, in keeping with the rest of this set, Rumble's primary colors are also light milky gray and clear plastic-- in fact, he's almost exactly the same as Frenzy, particularly in robot mode. The only differences with Rumble are that Frenzy's silvery blue paint apps have been replaced with a nice shade of metallic reddish copper, the dark blue on the robot forearms with light red, and the bottom of the piledrivers are a more straightforward shade of metallic copper. Although I think Rumble's robot mode still looks horribly dull, the various shades of metallic copper really add some extra zing to his cassette mode and piledrivers, and the red plastic on his piledriver storage piece pops a bit better than Frenzy's periwinkle.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Rumble.
 

Soundwave

Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Clear plastic, semi-metallic bronze, and some chrome silver, silver, light milky gray, and light red
Individual Rating: 9.3

    Soundwave shares the same general color scheme as the major colors of his Cassette Minions, but there's significantly more emphasis here on the clear plastic and the bronze, as opposed to the light gray, which is used pretty much only for the nylon plastic where clear plastic wouldn't work for mold purposes. The clear plastic in general actually looks pretty good on Soundwave-- seeing all those molded-in details on both sides of the clear bits looks pretty good, particularly on places like his cassette deck-chest, upper legs, and upper arms. His lower legs/front of the cassette player mode, lower arms, and shoulder-cannon are bronze, but a bit duller, more "brownish" color of bronze than that found on, say, Rumble. For those worrying that the bronze might eventually be a victim of Gold Plastic Syndrome and crumble, don't-- ALL of the bronze on Soundwave is painted, even on pieces that look at a casual glance like they might be molded in that color. I've also had no issues with any clear plastic cracking, so no QC issues there, either. There's a bit of chrome silver on Soundwave's eject button, "headphone jack", sliders, and gun, which works well with both the clear plastic and the silver paint on places like Soundwave's crotch and feet/sides of the cassette player mode. Soundwwave's Decepticon/Goat symbol is in silver smack dab in the center of his chest, which I would've liked-- had it been black, like on his Minions. The silver blends in waaaay too well with the gray background to his innards, and just makes this neato symbol too hard to see. There's also just a bit of light red, on Soundwave's eyes and at the tip of his shoulder-cannon. The red on his eyes is particularly curious, as-- thanks to the clear plastic on his head-- we can see that the whole piece that includes his eyes is painted red, which actually reaches up into his forehead. His "CPU", perhaps? Anyways, a neat little oddity. Still, overall Soundwave's color scheme is only marginally better than his cassettes'-- the considerably more prevalent use of bronze helps give him a bit more color variety, and the clear plastic helps show some extra molded-in details in spots, but color-wise he's just entirely too two-tone between the bronze and clear/gray plastic, and not particularly exciting, especially when compared to his classic color scheme.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Soundwave; he comes with all the little extra accessories that the original Masterpiece Soundwave came with, like the clear plastic Energon cube, chest "grid" panel, hand-zapper, and little Megatron gun (Megatron's scope is painted bronze this time around).

    The "Year of the Goat" Soundwave & Minions set is generally a set best reserved for A. Huge Soundwave fans/completists or B. Those who absolutely cannot find the regular release of these fantastic molds for a reasonable price, but can find this version on significant discount (as it is at the time of this writing, 7/17). The incredibly steep full price is only for the most hardcore Soundwave enthusiast, particularly since-- without exception-- all of these molds' color schemes are significantly more boring and not as exciting as their original color schemes were.

Reviews by Beastbot

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