The Energon Pub

News Credits: 3614 · by **Seibertron** » Mon Sep 22, 2025 8:16 am

I think the 3 new cassettes look terrible from their animal shapes to the gaping wholes in their cassette forms.

Soundwave looks pretty good though. Only things that bother me about him are his upper shoulders and the tabs on top of his cannons. Both of which id consider to be minor issues. Other than that, he looks fantastic.

News Credits: 90 · by **Tyrannacon** » Mon Sep 22, 2025 8:30 am

Went ahead and pre-ordered Soundwave, it's good to see Studio Series 86 get him as a release. Hopefully the issues in the stock photo are easier to deal with in person or resolved altogether. I admit, I kinda like how they did this version of Ravage too.

by **M. Spector** » Mon Sep 22, 2025 3:41 pm

Soundwave has me really split, the Legacy Leader one looks pretty nice, but im just not sure i could hunt it down at this point without it costing an arm and a leg. Comparing that to the new SS though .. it does seem like the SS one comes out on top in terms of really nailing that clean tapedeck mode, no shade to Legacy but for Gods sake it still has the hover barge landing gear on the bottom of his arms!

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Mon Sep 22, 2025 4:08 pm

M. Spector wrote:Soundwave has me really split, the Legacy Leader one looks pretty nice, but im just not sure i could hunt it down at this point without it costing an arm and a leg. Comparing that to the new SS though .. it does seem like the SS one comes out on top in terms of really nailing that clean tapedeck mode, no shade to Legacy but for Gods sake it still has the hover barge landing gear on the bottom of his arms!

If you don't own the Legacy "leader" or Netflix Soundwave, this SS one is your sure bet. No Siege scars and a better streamlined everything.

by **Till-all-R1** » Tue Sep 23, 2025 12:21 pm

As someone who bought the Legacy leader Soundwave I now wish it had come with laserbeak instead of Ravage then I'd have both it and Buzzsaw in the versions I want. Being that I don't like the new versions that is. Because now I'll be one short . I really thought they'd reissue Laserbeak before doing an all new one so now I'll have to try and track down that old two pack that's too expensive that also has a ravage I don't like.
I mean I'd have much rather seen Eject and Rewind updated over the birds, so that they matched Frenzy and Rumble.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Thu Sep 25, 2025 9:34 am

Thought I could avoid buying Legacy Leader Soundwave, but I guess I need one if I want a proper Buzzsaw. The cost cutting on these tapes is pretty horrendous.

Emerje

News Credits: 331 · by **chuckdawg1999** » Thu Sep 25, 2025 3:40 pm

Emerje wrote:Thought I could avoid buying Legacy Leader Soundwave, but I guess I need one if I want a proper Buzzsaw. The cost cutting on these tapes is pretty horrendous.

Emerje

If it meant having better tapes with integrated weapons, I would've preferred them to be sold separately.

News Credits: 22 · by **Rodimus Prime** » Sun Sep 28, 2025 11:40 am

Emerje wrote:Thought I could avoid buying Legacy Leader Soundwave, but I guess I need one if I want a proper Buzzsaw. The cost cutting on these tapes is pretty horrendous.

Same here. I like Ravage from the new set, but the birds are unacceptable. If I get both SS86 and Legacy, they are staying in tape mode inside both Soundwaves' chests.

by **ZeldaTheSwordsman** » Mon Sep 29, 2025 2:55 am

Definitely interested in Soundwave. The gaps in the tape modes... I think it's as much minmaxing on the cartoon robot modes above all else as it is cost-cutting, at least for the birds. The tape mode gaps don't bug me nearly as much as Ravage's back tumor weapon mount does (maybe they should have left Ravage for a separate release and given the resources to the birds). But hey, even with the back tumor and the gappy tape mode this Ravage still makes a much better Ravage than the Siege version.

Soundwave himself looks excellent. I had no real interest in the Netflix/Legacy Soundwave: his tape deck mode only really holds up from the front due to still having the Siege figure's arm transformation (tbh the clean look from the front is the only real improvement over the kit-enhanced version of the Siege one's fan mode) and apparently doesn't sit well, plus he's got some other vestigial Siege parts that undercut the look I was honestly more inclined towards kitbashing a G1 Soundwave (either my current one, or a reissue since mine's a bit shonky and has the original tape door that I've had to re-glue umpteen times), which would also scale a tad more favorably. But now that we have this guy coming, I think I can scrap those plans. Hopefully we see a Soundblaster version too.

The greed+tariff price hikes are aggravating. But he's worth it to me. I like him a lot better than Megatron. Megatron is... frustrating. The robot mode looks really, really good. But the tank mode looks mostly like just a bog standard Earth tank, and transforms in such a way that the Walther barrel on his back in robot mode has to partsform. I wish they'd gotten a bit more creative - have his upper body transform basically like the G1 toy but as a tank turret, and have the legs be solely responsible for forming the hull and treads (without too much worry about making it resemble a normal tank); this would have avoided needing to partsform the barrel (and made it more feasible to customize him into the proper altmode if desired). The robot mode is amazing, but the transformation is frustrating. I'll probably still end up getting him, unless I miss my chance to get him at/near retail price. Because past that point the smegging scalper markup would mean I may as well just save up for Newage Romulus.