My Own Bad Self wrote:Man...if I could only find those.
Oh, snap! Looks like I can. Okay, Soundwave!
This character was really entertaining in the show. I loved him absorbing dose after dose of Sari's key magic to upgrade himself into this crazy thing. The sad part about the cartoon, of course, is no Laserbeak. Still, can't have everything, and I'd rather he be in the toy and not the show instead of vice versa.
Vehicle Mode: Soundwave's got a kinda Sciony thing going on. At any rate, it's a blocky vehicle that's essentially a rectangle on wheels. Perfect for the Soundwave upgrade. While he's largely dark blue and gold (as it should be), the neon detailing along the sides and hubcaps of the van add some visual variety. Plus it's a cute touch that said neon stuff makes for a cassette-like pattern along the sides of the van..adding to the visual homages to the G1 Soundwave. Laserbeak can clip onto the roof here in either mode, even though it would seem to ruin the idea of Soundwave being "disguised" (one could, of course, argue that the neon does the same thing).
Transformation! Simple enough...once you've done it a couple times. I was completely at a loss the first time, though.
Robot Mode: From a small, boxy van you get a big, boxy robot. Soundwave's robot mode is actually kinda simple. Big barrel chest, smallish head, big ol' go-rilla arms that reach down to his knees, and teeny-tiny waist and thighs. Yet, it...works, somehow. Despite the strange proportions, the headsculpt and decor on his chest scream out at you "Yyyep, I'm Soundwave", and he's gotta have bonus points for having his tires double as arm-mounted speakers. Then there's Laserbeak...who actually kinda reminds me of Booster, the Real Gear Homage. He's neat looking, but lacks articulation (Booster had a couple points, anyhow), an other than looking cool, he doesn't do much. He will snap into Sounwave's hand for a nice "Laserbeak, report!" pose, or onto his back in guitar mode for storage, and, of course, you can have Soundwave holding him in guitar mode, which, while kinda tricky to pose, looks just awesome when you get it. Helpful hint: the huge knees are helpful here. He's pretty poseable, but the big kinda bulky sections can get in each other's way. His aesthetic seems a little different, less smooth than the other Animated figures, but that could be due to his boxiness, or, y'know, chalk it up to his crazy orgins. His size, though...He's smaller in bot mode than Prowl or Ratchet, which is funny, considering his bulk.
Bio: Soundwave hopes the Autobots are ready, because he's about to rock them like they've never been rocked before. Seriously. The bio goes over more of his powers and like that, but that last bit really says it all. Also, his quote is "You ain't heard nothin' yet", which sounds a lot more like Cybertron Soundwave to me, but whadda I know, anyhow.
Overall: Eh, he's no Cybertron Soundwave. Some issues with the poseability, and how useful an accessory Laserbeak really is, keep me from going completely ape over this guy. but, he is a really cool Soundwave homage, and a great character from a fun episode of the show. I do wish he'd gotten the Voyager treatment, it seems like there's a lot they could have done with improving him at that size, between posability and making Laserbeak even more rad. Stil, he's an evil robot revolutionary that loves to rock, and that's gotta be a good thing. B+, largely for being such a fun-looking figure, and being cool to fiddle with.