Soundwave (Mercedes) [Prime]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Legion
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Purplish black, very dark purplish blue, and some silver, black, red, light sky blue, and translucent pale light purple
Rating: 8.4

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original DotM Legion class Soundwave. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original DotM Legion class Soundwave here.)

    Even though he's in Prime Cyberverse packaging, this version of Soundwave is most definitely of his Dark of the Moon-universe version, and not meant to be his Prime-universe version. (The packaging notably leaves off the "Prime" subtitle, and this is the only Cyberverse figure from the line to have no bio... I guess Hasbro didn't feel like trying to justify Prime-universe Soundwave getting a Mercedes alt mode temporarily or something.) Given that the Dark of the Moon line was cut short, though, I can't really blame Hasbro for wanting to get more out of this mold from the tail-end of the line. This time around, Soundwave is painted in "Soundblaster-esque" colors-- i.e., mostly black. This redeco in particular is a bit more interesting than that, however-- there's actually an EVER-so-slight purplish tint to most of his black plastic, which makes him look a bit more interesting and Decepticon-y in both modes. His robot body is another purpley shade, though a (relatively) lighter one that's more bluish. The two colors complement each other nicely, and the silver-- used for Soundwave's windows, headlights, and face-- does a fairly decent job of providing a lighter contrast color to make his scheme a bit more dynamic, since otherwise it would be too dark. There's also a bit of red on his robot eyes and taillights, and some light blue used on the "sound orb weapons" on his lower arms, but neither of these are really used enough to affect his overall scheme (though of course, they provide some nice detailing).
    Soundwave has had some mold changes made, though they are VERY minor-- namely, holes for Cyberverse-sized weapons have been added to the top and sides of his vehicle mode, and now BOTH of his hands are molded to hold Cyberverse weapons, compared to the DotM release of this mold which just had one hand molded that way. He comes with a translucent purple "Vehicon blaster" weapon, which fits him pretty well.
    Despite the packaging, if you want a Prime Soundwave toy, this is NOT the toy you want to pick up-- this is more for movieverse fans. Since the DotM release of this mold was a fairly uncommon find, though, and I think the color scheme on this version is more interesting AND comes with a weapon, I'd track this down over the DotM release if color accuracy doesn't much matter to you-- it's a pretty nice little mold.



Soundwave Tech Specs:
FUNCTION: Intelligence Specialist
Strength: 4.0
Intelligence: 9.0
Speed: 8.0
Endurance: 5.0
Rank: 8.0
Courage: 7.0
Fireblast: 9.0
Skill: 9.0

Review by Beastbot

Back to Transformers: Prime Index