Since the initial release
of Cyberverse Soundwave for the Prime toyline was a "Dark
of the Moon" holdover, the "Beast Hunters" version of Soundwave is
actually of his original Prime form. As
such his alternate mode is a aerial drone, with no extra Beast Hunters-like
stylizations or anything. Given how similar in engineering Soundwave is
to his Prime deluxe toy in both forms, he shares mostly the same structure
and proportions on this toy that he does on his original deluxe. The front
nose of this mode is a bit "off", though-- the neck angling up a bit too
high, perhaps? The robot leg detailing is also a bit obvious from the sides
of the nosecone. The wings are also noticeably longer than on his original
deluxe, due to there not being as much to their transformation this time
around because of the much smaller size. Soundwave's head does stick out
EVER-so-slightly on the bottom of the back end due to it not folding into
the rear in this mode, but it's very minor at best and easily overlooked.
The silver blue and aqumarine plastic & paint colors on this mode look
quite good, but unfortunately this mode is almost entirely one of those
two colors-- adding in some more light purple accents and a bit of black,
like he has in his robot mode, really would've helped to make this mode
pop visually. Soundwave has three Cyberverse weapon-compatible ports in
this mode-- one in the middle of this mode, and one near the middle of
each wing. His Cyberverse weapon is the chainsaw-gun that comes with several
other Beast Hunters-era Legion figures, and the dark milky bluish gray
look to it is a nice shade-- though again, it blends in with Soundwave's
predominant color in this mode too much.
Given that deluxe Soundwave's
transformation was quite simple, legion Soundwave's transformation is nearly
identical, with only a few minor steps skipped (such as a few flips with
the wings to the arms, the more simple folding out of the feet, and the
folding back of the engine onto his back instead of flipping out his robot
head from it). Other than looking a bit too 2-D in the arms even for Soundwave,
proportionally the toy looks mighty good in this mode-- the mold detailing
shows forth more in this mode, with the curved & sharp "metal bits"
on the chest looking particularly nice. The light purple and black accents
also make this mode pop a bit more, though a bit more light purple on the
arms and/or legs would've helped him look better, since he's still so overwhelmingly
various shades of dark blue. The rear part of the vehicle mode on Soundwave's
back is rather blatantly sticking out here, whereas it blended in with
the back pretty well on his deluxe toy-- oh well, at this smaller scale
you're going to have to make some sacrifices (including a little partner
figure, which is absent on this little toy-- for good reason, given how
incredibly tiny it would be at this scale). Soundwave can move at the shoulders,
elbows, hips, and a bit at the ankles in this mode. His skinny toes make
his stance surprisingly stable-- this is the one part of the toy I like
even better than deluxe Soundwave's design, since you don't have these
chunks of his nosecone hanging behind his lower legs this time around because
of the simpler transformation. As you'd expect, Soundwave has a hole in
each of his hands to hold a Cyberverse-compatible weapon in this mode.
Cyberverse "Beast Hunters"
Soundwave is a great mini-scale version of his original Prime form, replicating
his deluxe transformation quite well in nearly every respect. He is a little
inferior because of some cuts that had to made due to the scale, but overall
(other than perhaps a few more paint apps and knee articulation) I couldn't
reasonably expect a better toy of him at this scale. If you're a Cyberverse
collector, this is a recommended addition to your collection.
Review by Beastbot