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The latest Seibertron.com gallery takes us into the world of third-party products with BTS-04 Sonicron. Based on All Hail Megatron concept sketches by Guido Guidi, this figure seeks to provide fans with an updated version of G1 Soundwave. Sonicron retains the original figure's object-former qualities by transforming into a modern styled micro-cassette recorder complete with ability to accept the G1 cassettes.

In addition to the usual extensive gallery of high quality images that you've come to expect we have also uploaded video a review of the figure by Seiberton himself. The video is embedded below as well images and links to BTS-04 Sonicron's gallery.

Can this guy edge out Music Label Soundwave for a spot on your Classics Decepticon shelf?




The toy was provided to Seibertron.com by site sponsor BigBadToyStore.com. You can purchase this item from BBTS at http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail


BTS-04 Sonicron (BTS)
3rd Party Products

I dig the review, but I'm just not sold on the figure. His legs look way too chunky and from what I can tell, ALL of his joints are unreasonably loose. It's a good concept, but Music Label Soundwave (which I have) does his job 10x better. Hell, I think WFC Soundwave is a pretty decent stand-in for a classics Soundwave. Both ML Soundwave and WFC Soundwave actually look better as well and fit more in scale with the seekers and many of the other classics Decepticons. There's really no point to getting this guy unless you're a 3rd party fan.

The 60 dollar price tag isn't too bad for a 3rd party figure. But again...he's pointless.

I've been back n forth on this figure a lot.

I preordered instantly when he first came out, then I canceled, then flip-flopped again.

As it stands I don't have a preorder in for him, and I have to say I'm still torn.

From the gallery, I think I like him about as much as I expected I would, but, as I expected, I still like ML Soundwave more.

I like that he is a little bigger, I actually wish he was closer to voyager sized, but added bulk is OK for me, I prefer Decepticons to be larger than Autobots. I like the new twist on the bot mode with the asymmetric parts, and the chunky legs are not as bad as I had thought. I like the alt mode and the speakers. I like the head, I thought I wouldn't, but I do. Of course I LOVE that he can house the cassette-bots. But he has a few minuses too.

I don't like the dinky weapons. They look anemic, especially given the chunkiness of the body. And what's up with the red on the missile launcher? I hate the tab that sticks out the back. It is also a problem in alt mode, causing him to sit up on the tabs. If it could rotate so it was flush with the body, it may actually work a lot better and help alleviate the wasp-waist that he has. That part alone is probably the deal breaker for me.

If I didn't already have ML Soundwave, I'd probably get this guy, and be pretty happy. He's not a bad choice for a Classics Soundwave, and the price isn't terrible for a 3rd party, fully transformable, deluxe sized bot. However, there is a better choice in ML Soundwave, and a cheaper choice in WFC Soundwave.

Still debating on this one. I dont give a rats ass about fitting G1 cassettes into my classics figures chests. If they had made him slightly smmaller to be in scale with the perfect effect cassettes, I would have bought. Im using United Cybertron Soundwave to fill in for now.

Pretty good for your first video review Seibertron. 1 tip though. NEVER quote "he who shall not be named". Stay as far away from that guy as you can and you'll do fine.

Personally, when it comes to 3rd parties, for me, it depends on the 3rd party company. Guys like FansProject, Perfect Effect, Headrobots, and Junkion Blacksmith I can get behind because, for the most part, they're meant to go with official Hasbro products or otherwise fill a niche that official will not be filled. Other guys like iGear, who's basically just a high priced knock-off company and steal all their designs from official products, I am firmly against. This thing kind of falls in the middle. It's a stolen design, but it probably would have never been produced as a toy. But we can never be sure of that. Now Hasbro can never produce it because BTS has already produced it.

It's like Classics Springer. A few years back, a Hasbro design book was given to a few VIP fans that had a close relationship to Hasbro. In that book was a possible design for a Classics-style Springer. Now whether that design was leaked to FansProject and that's where they drew inspiration from or if their Defender toy was already designed and it was just a coincidence is unknown. But now Hasbro cannot produce their own Springer because it would be too similar to Defender. That's probably why they rushed out their own Wreck-Gar/Junkion figure. To cock-block FansProjects own planned version that they showed off at TFcon 09.

Also, Spy Submarine mode?

Well you certainly covered all the bases. Unfortunately, this was enough information to sell me on NOT buying this figure. Honestly, I like my Cybertron or WFC Soundwave better. As far as putting tapes in his chest....well I'm working on a lil something for WFC Gonna pass, thanks for saving me some green Seibertron!

Some features weren't shown in the video review that Optimus shows in "his" review. Check out Optimus Prime's humorous review of BTS-04 Sonicron.

UltraPrimal wrote: It's like Classics Springer. A few years back, a Hasbro design book was given to a few VIP fans that had a close relationship to Hasbro. In that book was a possible design for a Classics-style Springer. Now whether that design was leaked to FansProject and that's where they drew inspiration from or if their Defender toy was already designed and it was just a coincidence is unknown. But now Hasbro cannot produce their own Springer because it would be too similar to Defender.

That's just crazy talk. The target market for companies like Fansproject is minuscule, relative to Hasbro. Hasbro could release their own versions of any 3rd party product and more than make their money's worth. What's more, Hasbro could probably release an exact replica of Fansproject's "Defender" mold, withstand any litigation Fansproject would throw their way, and countersue FP into oblivion.

These 3rd party companies are great for us fans, but they are not going to have any noticeable effect on Hasbro's sales.

Andrius wrote:That's just crazy talk. The target market for companies like Fansproject is minuscule, relative to Hasbro. Hasbro could release their own versions of any 3rd party product and more than make their money's worth. What's more, Hasbro could probably release an exact replica of Fansproject's "Defender" mold, withstand any litigation Fansproject would throw their way, and countersue FP into oblivion.

These 3rd party companies are great for us fans, but they are not going to have any noticeable effect on Hasbro's sales.

Agreed. Which is fine by me. Keep it small, keep 'em coming. I love 3rd party stuff. I do feel its unlikely Hasbro will pump out a Springer anyways. The 2 pack repaint with Rat Bat will likely be the last Springer you see for a good while.

This figure looks great in both modes, but the tabs sticking out seem amateurish. The one sticking out his back in robot mode doesn't bother me as much as the ones on the bottom of the alt mode, those actually keep the thing from standing like a real recorder. The robot mode chest is a little overpowering, but he really does look great.

Moot points for me, can't afford it anyway. I mean, I could, but I'd have to skip other stuff I'd enjoy more.