The Energon Pub

Ugh I'd sell my ipod to buy this. I'm jealous of all you getting one

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Maldroth wrote:that's really cool but not paying more than $100 for it and that's about what its going for on ebay it seems.

$174 is way too much.

Most websites have them for less than 100$.
Check BBTS etc.

BBTS is where I got the $174 price

hanauta wrote:Ugh I'd sell my ipod to buy this. I'm jealous of all you getting one

Except your ipod is better.

Grifter Prime wrote:Over at Japanese toy site Pony HP. Pony gives us some great photos of this toy out of package. Also the Rumble and Frenzy earphones!


http://pony-hp3.web.infoseek.co.jp/SOUNDWAVE.htm

I may just reconsider picking these up.

lolololol

Even though he is only a fraction of the size, he maintains all that is great with the original G1 Soundwave!

Now all he needs is some Takara made SD Card alt mode minions!

MUST HAVE NOW!!!!!

Im going to regret not pre-ordering this...

whoo hoo i hope mine ships soon but it's probably late

Man it looks so way coooooool! I gotta get one!! Where do I get one?

SOLD.



If only it wasn't $100. It looks phenomenal and I have a new found love for Soundwave after watching the '86 movie last night.

The blue version is tight and would be the one I would get.

If only...

SB

[quote="Slumble Bee"]I have a new found love for Soundwave after watching the '86 movie last night.[quote]

and remember one of the best lines is from Rumble "Hey nobody calls Soundwave un-crasimatic"

I litterally gave that a shot... hurt like hell. But it did distract me from the fan lust I gots goin on for that thing. It is seriously one of the best looking anythings I've ever seen.

Perhaps a silly question, but when I get that, I won't have trouble adding music to it will I? I mean what with it being "exclusive" to Japan?

Maldroth wrote:

Slumble Bee wrote:I have a new found love for Soundwave after watching the '86 movie last night.

and remember one of the best lines is from Rumble "Hey nobody calls Soundwave un-crasimatic"

One of my favorite parts of the movie is the battle between Soundwave and Devestator. Absolutely priceless and it just adds to the awesomeness of Soundwave. The man oozes charisma.

How could you not love Soundwave and Grimlock after watching that movie?

SB

Down_Shift wrote::BANG_HEAD: I litterally gave that a shot... hurt like hell. But it did distract me from the fan lust I gots goin on for that thing. It is seriously one of the best looking anythings I've ever seen.

Perhaps a silly question, but when I get that, I won't have trouble adding music to it will I? I mean what with it being "exclusive" to Japan?

Shouldn't have any problems, just load up your SD card and put it in. MP3s don't have regions like DVDs or games. And since he doesn't have any sort of screen, it's not like there will be a language barrier... They put in a blue LED, but not a screen. Oh well, he's an awesome Soundwave anyway.

Looks Good. Looks real good. And Sparkly (:

as a transformer is cool as an MP3 player, I hear the functionality is not to good. Still worth picking up as a transformer collectible, other than that, I don't see a reason anybody would buy it. Hope I'm wrong though, cool figure.

kirbenvost wrote:

Down_Shift wrote::BANG_HEAD: I litterally gave that a shot... hurt like hell. But it did distract me from the fan lust I gots goin on for that thing. It is seriously one of the best looking anythings I've ever seen.

Perhaps a silly question, but when I get that, I won't have trouble adding music to it will I? I mean what with it being "exclusive" to Japan?

Shouldn't have any problems, just load up your SD card and put it in. MP3s don't have regions like DVDs or games. And since he doesn't have any sort of screen, it's not like there will be a language barrier... They put in a blue LED, but not a screen. Oh well, he's an awesome Soundwave anyway.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I forgot that there isn't a screen to mess with.

No prob.

*sigh* The lack of screen is one of the most disappointing aspects of the figure for me, but I'm sure once I have it in my hands I will be most impressed.

Well, got my Soundwave on Wednesday (together with Rumble and Frenzy), managed to get an miniSD card yesterday.

I didn't try to actually use a 2GB miniSD, did anyone else?
Despite the specs saying that he'll only do up to 128kbit, he has no problems playing 256kbit mp3s (didn't try any higher).

He should come up at the six hour mark soon (that's supposedly cut off time for the battery). I'm using AAA "Stamina Plus" from Sony.
Since I feel ridiculous wearing headphones at home, I plugged the computer speakers into him, they have their own energy supply, no idea, if that has any effect on the life of the battery.

Concerning the sound, I have hardly any experience with headphones and I haven't listened to Rumble and Frenzy for long. I noticed some white noise in the background while using Rumble and Frenzy (Soundwave apparently doesn't like it when one plugs them in too far), but those may be due to the recording (test conducted with Transformers - The Movie OST at 128kbit. I listened to a different album, the one on 256kbit, didn't notice the white noise on that).
One should be a bit carefully with the automatic cable roll up function of Rumble and Frenzy, that thing packs quite a punch and can drag Soundwave around quite easily (so unplug him before rolling up the cable, or keep a tight hold on him, while not inhibiting the cable roll up).

As I said, I also plugged my computer speakers into him. The sound is definitely deeper and slightly muffled, though I managed to alleviate the last problem by fiddling around with the volume controls of the speakers and Soundwave and the speakers sound setting. I think my speakers might not have enough range to do the bass justice. I didn't notice the basses with Rumble and Frenzy on, but on the speakers it is quite prominent, I haven't decided yet whether it's a good or a bad thing (probably have him do "One Winged Angel" and decide afterwards).

Transformation is fast and simple, even for somebody inexperienced, altough the first time with the Japanese manual can be a bit difficult till one has figured out what the pictures want you to do (not to pull straight to the side, but slightly down and to the side).
I think he might get a color problem when transformed too often. There is a step in the transformation when his legs are turned sideways to the back, that makes the silver bits (got the Spark Blue version, what else) under the controls scrap against the underside of the controls. I'd say that's the most likely point for scratched off color.

As for Frenzy and Rumble, it took some time getting used to them. I'd've liked the clip to hang a bit lower, but than it would probably have interfered with my glasses and the headphones would have gotten too low.
Once I managed to get over the initial weirdness of having something hanging on my ears, it felt quite natural to wear them, I didn't notice them to be uncomfortable or feeling like they would slip off if I made a wrong move.
Transformation is rather simple (the pictures were helpful, I expected the transformation to be slightly different just from looking at Frenzy in robot mode).
I haven't yet found a good way to get the head to disappear. Usually I just put a finger nail behind the whole head structure, but I think one is supposed to slowly press it down by the slightly upraised parts at the side (didn't work for me, hence using the finger nail).

Hmm, he should be over the six hour mark now. Still going strong. I'm starting to get bored, shouldn't have decided to wait for the battery to die before feeding him more music.

All in all, I'm very happy I got him, wouldn't have gotten an MP3 player otherwise, the novelty sold me, and I now have the means to play music without the computer or the adventurous way of feeding my PS2 sound backwards through a cheap splitter into the computer speakers).
My only wish would be a way to run him not by battery but directly off the mains.

Altough, I now have a craving for an iPod, as an excuse to buy Musiclabel Convoy (if only they weren't so hideously white).

edit:
Battery still running, but I decided to test a few more sound files.
Soundwave was playing files at 64k, 160k and 320k. Interestingly enough he wouldn't play the file that was at 32k, don't whether it was just that file or something else.
Btw, careful when putting the card in and out, Soundwave is quite capable of shooting it clear across the room.

Nice review! I'm looking forward to receiving mine so I can test it out. So far, sounds better than I thought, with the long battery life and capability for high-bitrate files. I'll be trying out a 2GB card, I'll see how well it works...

I'm just hoping the sound quality is good. Is there any way to adjust EQ settings?

kirbenvost wrote: So far, sounds better than I thought, with the long battery life

Mine just keeled over at about 18-19 hours, and as already said, he had batteries with extra long life and speakers with an external energy supply plugged into him, that might make a difference. The volume was becoming insteady at the end and the blue blinking light was turned off.

I'm just hoping the sound quality is good. Is there any way to adjust EQ settings?

Volume up, volume down, is all he can do on his own.

Hmm, too bad. Well, I've already got a great mp3 player (which happens to be my cell phone), so no big loss. I wouldn't really want to take Soundwave out of my apartment anyway for fear of losing or breaking it.

kirbenvost wrote: I wouldn't really want to take Soundwave out of my apartment anyway for fear of losing or breaking it.

Same here.

You can plug him into a stereo or similar and adjust the settings this way, although, why'd one plug Soundwave into the stereo when that works just as well ...

*shrug* Yeah, I know, I have my computer connected to my stereo, so my entire music library is already accessible. It's the novelty value, mainly.

By the way, welcome to the board.