I want to scream it from the rooftops. “I’VE GOT THE NEW TRANSFORMERS MASTERPIECE SOUNDWAVE!” But nobody in my neighborhood would care, so I’m sharing the news with you instead.
The wife and I were at Toys R Us and she had to ask customer service a question. As we got the answer and turned to walk away, I noticed giant black boxes with half of a Decepticon symbol showing on the side. “What are those?” I asked innocently.
The woman grabbed the biggest one, turned it around, and said “Oh it’s some new Transformers thing. Soundwave, it’s called.” But when I learned of the price ($119.99) I had to walk away from it. We can’t be spending over $100 on a collectible toy that will adorn a shelf.
Or could we?
After a coupon and a few hours of research/thinking, I decided I should splurge. After all, these toys are so hard to get, I never thought I would ever see one in real life. Plus my birthday is coming. So a few hours later I called and asked them to hold it for me, and since they still had it I took that as a sign.
And now it’s mine. I opened it, because of course I’m going to. Soundwave was easily my favorite (and the coolest) Decepticon. Plus, when I think back to the 1980s, he was my first Transformer, a Christmas gift from my parents. I spent the whole day ignoring people and their questions, changing him from robot to cassette player over and over and over. I’d never seen a toy like it. It was practically two toys. Then the cartoon came out, and I’ve been a huge Transformers fan ever since.
But this toy…wow. Can it even be called a toy? It is truly a masterpiece. It has more detail than any Transformer I’ve ever seen. Plus it comes with five, count ‘em, five cassettes: Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage. All of the classic cassettes. That’s not it though! It has one of the clear Energon Cubes, which we 1980s Transformers geeks all know Soundwave made as they stole energy from humans. Still not enough? It has Megatron in gun form for Soundwave to fire as well!
Negatives? Not many besides the price. Yes, the directions are the usual Hasbro images with no text, and there’s a step or two that is a bit frustrating until you figure them out. Even though he transforms in pretty much the same way as the original, there’s a hidden button or two that, if you don’t notice them, will definitely frustrate you. The cassettes transform in a different manner as well, such as the birds: their weapons are now attached to them and don’t need to be added after.
Hasbro has truly gone above and beyond for us true grown-up Transformers lovers. This is probably the coolest toy/collectible I have ever purchased. Yes, it was a bit expensive, and I’ll never ask for another one again (the child in me laughs at that phrase) but it’s the best.
If you love Transformers, this piece is a must-have.
