Soundwave's alternate mode of a beefy stylized 4WD military vehicle mode looks pretty nice for his 3-step version-- at least from the front. He's got rotary guns on each side, a very large front bumper with small headlights and his signature "tape-deck-like" black/yellow detail combo smack in the center, and some large treaded wheels. The roof doesn't come up nearly enough from the front hood to make it look like he could somewhat see out the front, but to be fair, this is the case on all the RID2015 Soundwave toys. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't look bad-- they carried the RID stylization a bit too far with this design, methinks. Anyways, there's small bars on the top of the roof, and a very angular side rim. Once you get near the back end is where things start to fall apart, here. The lower arms (the fists in particular) are VERY obvious on the sides of the mode-- basically just right there under the car doors-- and from a side view, you can see through a few cracks in the side all the way out the other end. The back end is made up of Soundwave's robot mode chest and waist folded up at an angle that isn't QUITE right, providing another obvious gap, but also not making the back end all that straight, either. Some of the more obvious hinges and catches are back here, not really looking like they have a "place" in this alt mode, though at least there's some details on the back side of his rear window and headlights, even if given the surrounding parts, they're not all that convincing. The mold detailing in general is pretty sparse even by RID2015 standards, though beyond the aforementioned details there are some nice small "cassette player-like" buttons near the bottom of his front bumper and outlines of his car doors with molded-in handles. For colors, he's mostly a dark navy blue in this mode, as you'd expect Soundwave to be. For some odd reason, though, much of the rear third or so is made up of an even darker shade of the color-- not different or plentiful enough to either contrast or complement the main blue, just a little different for some reason. Why they didn't just make it the same shade, I'll never know. Red is his main contrasting color, used excellently on the windows (except for the rear window), the rotary guns, the headlights, and on his wheels. Some don't like the red wheels, thinking it makes him look TOO much like a toy, but I like the contrast. There's also some black on the wheel hubs and in the center of his faux "cassette" window bumper, with some dull mustard yellow around that front bumper deco.
    To transform Soundwave to robot mode, you "unplug" the lower arms/fists from the sides and then rotate the entire top section up and behind the toy, the rest auto-transforming as you do so, and then you plug in that whole roof section on his rear. This is done in a manner very similar to many 1-step changers (including his own), but because the mecahnics are a bit more complicated on a toy this side, the backpack is a bit less obnoxiously large-- though still definitely an eyesore, as the whole front hood and bumper stick out VERY blatantly from behind his otherwise fairly trim waist and upper legs. (It also is behind his main body, but his chest is wide enough to hide that section.) In this mode Soundwave's proportions are great-- taking some of the best parts of the design but de-emphasizing the incredible bulkiness/beefiness of the show model and his Warrior class toy. Here, his proportions are a bit more on the "normal" side of things-- yes, his chest is wide, but not TOO wide in comparison to the side of his head, and his shoulders are appropriately sized as well. He's mostly angles in this mode, with little "spikes" on the top of his shoulders, as well as on the top of his kneecaps and upper legs, and his feet almost end in points as well. His chest is made to look like the crumpled-up front of the vehicle mode, though of course it's faux. The "tape-deck"-like details are still there, with some "crumpled metal" sides and abs that look like parts of the grill. His waist has some more cassette player button details, and his upper legs are rather curvy compared to his lower legs. Soundwave still has a rotary gun in this mode, though it comes out of the front of his right shoulder, as opposed to slinging over his back or something like that. The lower arms are a bit weak here, having rather large gaps due to the transformation and the fact there's wheels around where his elbows are. (One tire also sticks out of the side of each lower leg, but it's not that large and doesn't look bad, in my opinion.) His fists are molded with nice semi-claw like fingers, though. His headsculpt is also spot-on Prime Soundwave, but dark blue, with a red faceless visor and a bit of gray for the side vents. Again, it doesn't really fit his bulky form at all and really looks out-of-place. For colors, Soundwave is still mostly dark blue, though the darker blue shows up on his lower arms, shoulders, and a bit on the middle of his abs, waist, and feet. The mustard yellow and black are, of course, present for his faux "cassette deck" chest, and there's some more dark glossy gray on his abs, upper legs, and lower legs. Red is still used on the rotary gun details, as well as some details around his wrists. All in all, it's a pretty decent (though not outstanding) color breakup, though again, I really wish they had gone for a shade of blue a bit more different from his dominant shade. For articulation in this mode, Soundwave can move back-and-forth at the elbows-- that's it, these kind of simplistic toys aren't really made for articulation.
    RID2015 3-Step Soundwave is honestly my least-favorite of his various toys. He does have some of the best proportions of his various toys in robot mode, but the downsides definitely outweight this one big positive-- a vehicle mode with a weak back end, a large shell hanging off his back (though with surprisingly intricate detailing for a RID2015 toy on the inside of it, with wires and panels), an odd combo of two shades of blue that aren't different enough from each other, and honestly he's just mostly the 1-step changer but bigger and at twice the price. Unless you specifically want a larger toy of him, if you want a simplified toy get the 1-step changer or the Activator instead.
 

Review by Beastbot

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