It Is Him wrote:It was my way of commenting that no matter how hard Hasbro tries, I don't think the fanbase (as a whole) will appreciate an alt-mode that isn't straight out of the 1980s.
You know, I sort of want to agree with you, but at the same time, I don't think it's so much that everyone demands a tapedeck Soundwave so much as people want something that has something to do with Soundwave, in general. Yeah, an SUV might look nice and have a great sound system inside of it, but that doesn't really qualify as Soundwave-esque. You could fit one hell of a stereo in to a trailer for Prime, but that wouldn't qualify any Prime mold to be a Soundwave figure.
I think the problem is that in creating the character of G1 Soundwave, there was this perfect convergence of design, function, and characterization. IT was a tape player, a spy/communications/intelligence officer, and the character of Soundwave. In this regard, Hasbro is really a victim of its own success because Soundwave essentially was the perfect G1 package. G1 MEgatron or Prime or Prowl or Hound or Starscream or Jazz, they could have put those names and characters to nearly any other toy in the line, and it would not have made any difference. For people who are thinking "But Prowl always was a police car and had those missile launchers on his shoulders so if the G1 Hound figure was called Prowl it would be failure," silence. G1 established these conventions we all fight about now.
MY point is that Soundwave was just the toy company stars aligning in perfect harmony, and that's why nearly any neo-Soundwave figure talk is disappointed one way or another. The Cassetticons are a big part of the problem, becuase like their G1 counterparts, they do need to integrate with the larger Soundwave in ways that would be functional and natural. Like tapes in a tape deck. Does Soundwave need to be an SUV in order to accomdodate the Cassetticons? That's weak and lame and dumb; Soundwave and the Cassetticons should balance with each other, like a tape deck and tapes.
It Is Him has a decent idea. If Soundwave were a bird house, the Cassetticons could transform into birds. It's practical, balanced, and natural. A birdhouse is there to house birds; SUVs do not exist for the express purpose of glass shattering, ghetto bass pounding sound systems. Soundwave could be an aircraft carrier, and the Cassetticons its jets. Or even, to go real low quality, like the awful helicopters from the movie toy line, like Blackout with a holding cell-apparatus for Skorpanok. I think the big Soundwave problem is balancing the Cassetticon issue honestly. If it weren't for the Cassetticons Soundwave could be anything. But if there is still a chance or desire to incorporate both Soundwave and minions into the TF universe, they need to work together.
Moral: F* that SUV, that's stupid.
It is that aspect that has prevented me getting Music Label Soundwave.
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