Soundwave - Hasbro Studio Series Bumblebee movie Voyager Class figure

I stumbled across this Voyager Class Soundwave Studio Series 83 figure at Wal-mart yesterday, where I was surprised to see there was an entire shelf of them. It looked like the stockperson intentionally used their blade to cut across the box tops of all of them, except one, which is the one I picked up. Soundwave sells for about $29.

I don't collect Transformers as a general rule, but I do pick up figures that appeal to me. I tend to have great difficulty with the transformations, and really only like them in robot mode, so most of the ones I have are of the non-transforming sort. I particularly enjoy threezero's DLX line, and am greatly looking forward to their upcoming MDLX line of non-transforming figures. Soundwave's design from the Bumblebee movie is one that I really like. I have the DLX version, complete with Ravage, and am very happy with it. However, I just couldn't pass up this Studio Series version when I saw it on the shelf. I handle my DLX figures very gingerly, as I am paranoid about breaking or damaging something so expensive. The Takara/Tomy Hasbro version gives me a little more room for mistakes, though I doubt I will ever transform it, or even pose it very much.

I do really enjoy the packaging of Hasbro's Studio Series Soundwave. In particular, I love the movie stills they used. Soundwave looks amazing, and it's clear how closely the figure inside resembles its movie counterpart through the small-ish window. There's a few lines of text on the back, multiplied by being re-written in about a dozen different languages, and a couple of action poses for the figure.

The figure itself is an enjoyable rendition of the character as seen in the movie. The details are all there, and there's plenty of articulation to get him into reasonable poses. He comes with the shoulder canon and a blaster for his hand, as well as the cardboard diorama display backing (which I won't be using). He stands a shade over 6.5" tall. I do feel Optimus looks a bit small beside him (especially when comparing the size of their heads), but the scale seems to be about the same with my ThreeZero DLX figures, so I'm going to assume it's close to accurate.

 The paint is minimal, as most of the figure is cast in colored plastic. Speaking of the plastic, the figure has a very light feel, overall. Similar to a like-sized Gundam model kit. Nothing feels like it's going to break, but there's no confusing this with a Chogokin by any means. There's a small button near the left shoulder that pops the chest plate open. There's no Ravage in there (or anything else), but I believe he can be purchased separately. I do wish the figure came with a set of alternate fisted hands, as that's how most of my figures are posed on the shelf, but otherwise this is an excellent representation of the character. My gut says it's overpriced at nearly $30, but I'm an old person who remembers toys costing much, much less. However, even in today's market, I think $25 would be entirely more appropriate. As a side note, the Studio Series Optimus Prime figure is currently running at $200 on Amazon, so I'd bet that this figure will eventually command a fairly high price, making $30 right now a veritable steal...

With Studio Series Optimus Prime

With ThreeZero DLX Soundwave