Official Images and Preorder for Pulse Exclusive Shattered Glass Soundwave

Just to note that this mold's new deco and headsculpt are likely what allowed its use outside of the Netflix line, as a use of this mold in Legacy instead of the Siege mold would have been no different from the original Netflix deco, which is why Walmart prevented it from being rereleased unaltered at mass retail. The completely different deco and head are what enabled this mold to see use again.

Sabrblade wrote:Just to note that this mold's new deco and headsculpt are likely what allowed its use outside of the Netflix line, as a use of this mold in Legacy instead of the Siege mold would have been no different from the original Netflix deco, which is why Walmart prevented it from being rereleased unaltered at mass retail. The completely different deco and head are what enabled this mold to see use again.

I agree completely, but at the same time if that's all it takes then they should have done a new cartoon style head and a darker shade of blue (maybe swap out the silver for white, I know that's not always popular). I feel like they're using Walmart as an excuse not to do him when they've now demonstrated twice (SG Soundwave and Buzzworthy Goldbug) there are workarounds if they're willing to put in the work. They would make back the cost of a new head sculpt at retailer no problem.

Emerje

So was that the reason we got a VW Goldbug in Buzzworthy? Because he had a new head?

If that's the case, I'd love to see a Marvel G1 accurate purple Soundwave with a mouth. New head, new deco.

He looks glorious! Definitely worthy of a knighthood...

Rodimus Prime wrote:So was that the reason we got a VW Goldbug in Buzzworthy? Because he had a new head?

If that's the case, I'd love to see a Marvel G1 accurate purple Soundwave with a mouth. New head, new deco.

New head and different deco, yeah. The fact that it's the only one which didn't come with an extra head is very telling.

I love the headband!
Now I have to find something flowy to stick on the back to make him look like Ryu

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:So was that the reason we got a VW Goldbug in Buzzworthy? Because he had a new head?

If that's the case, I'd love to see a Marvel G1 accurate purple Soundwave with a mouth. New head, new deco.

New head and different deco, yeah. The fact that it's the only one which didn't come with an extra head is very telling.

Of what exactly? I know that often an Exclusive that was previously offered elsewhere has to have a slight change in order to be considered different from the previous release, yet I don't see why it could have also included an extra head after all it was also a different deco.

It's apparent they're only able to utilize the VW model in a unique instance with one of those actually being G1 Bee for Walmart while the other is a separate bot at Target so it's certainly not retail specific on when they can use the VW License. It was likely too soon for them to reuse the VW mold for SS86 but that's where I would have loved to see VW BB again, my only hope is that version get another shot somewhere because it current hovers between $80-100. I suspect the Target Goldbug basically just set this back from happening even further.

A different deco is not enough here, it also has to have a change to the mold. Coming with both heads would make it technically the same version of the mold but with a bonus accessory.

Soo,

I don't want to be one of those people who grosses about the price, because I remember Botcon Exclusives and this isn't that different,

But comparatively, the same price for Soundwave vs the Trion/Orion sets this feels like less. And he is only one more tape than the Blaster that's in this set for an extra $20.aybe there is some extra heft in the molding that makes the difference but it gave me pause. I bought both tape players but I think I may regret it. Got spoiled by Pulse staying close to MSRP all this time

Flashwave wrote:And he is only one more tape than the Blaster that's in this set for an extra $20.aybe there is some extra heft in the molding that makes the difference but it gave me pause. I bought both tape players but I think I may regret it. Got spoiled by Pulse staying close to MSRP all this time

While I also agree that SW (and Flamewar for that matter) are asking more than they should, this comparison to Blaster is a false equivalency, since Blaster's single cassette is part of Blaster's mold and thereby gets made and is already paid for every time that Blaster mold is used. SW's compatriots are entirely separate molds, so this is effectively one figure (Blaster & Rewind) versus a multipack (SW + Ravage & Laserbeak).

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Flashwave wrote:And he is only one more tape than the Blaster that's in this set for an extra $20.aybe there is some extra heft in the molding that makes the difference but it gave me pause. I bought both tape players but I think I may regret it. Got spoiled by Pulse staying close to MSRP all this time

While I also agree that SW (and Flamewar for that matter) are asking more than they should, this comparison to Blaster is a false equivalency, since Blaster's single cassette is part of Blaster's mold and thereby gets made and is already paid for every time that Blaster mold is used. SW's compatriots are entirely separate molds, so this is effectively one figure (Blaster & Rewind) versus a multipack (SW + Ravage & Laserbeak).

Plus there's the exclusive comic.

william-james88 wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Flashwave wrote:And he is only one more tape than the Blaster that's in this set for an extra $20.aybe there is some extra heft in the molding that makes the difference but it gave me pause. I bought both tape players but I think I may regret it. Got spoiled by Pulse staying close to MSRP all this time

While I also agree that SW (and Flamewar for that matter) are asking more than they should, this comparison to Blaster is a false equivalency, since Blaster's single cassette is part of Blaster's mold and thereby gets made and is already paid for every time that Blaster mold is used. SW's compatriots are entirely separate molds, so this is effectively one figure (Blaster & Rewind) versus a multipack (SW + Ravage & Laserbeak).

Plus there's the exclusive comic.

The previous comics averaged around a $7 or $8 upcost, this one is double that. I'm thinking some of the extra cost came from the new head sculpt since it isn't part of the original mold. Some of the cost of UM probably came from that as well. SG Blurr's head was part of the mold already like Goldbug's so the price didn't get affected by that.

Emerje

What if the comic turns out to be double-length? Like, what if the story was too big to finish off in one final issue, that they needed to increase the length to finish it up properly? That'd make the comic more expensive.

Sabrblade wrote:What if the comic turns out to be double-length? Like, what if the story was too big to finish off in one final issue, that they needed to increase the length to finish it up properly? That'd make the comic more expensive.

Sounds like something they should/would have mentioned in the listing

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Flashwave wrote:And he is only one more tape than the Blaster that's in this set for an extra $20.aybe there is some extra heft in the molding that makes the difference but it gave me pause. I bought both tape players but I think I may regret it. Got spoiled by Pulse staying close to MSRP all this time

While I also agree that SW (and Flamewar for that matter) are asking more than they should, this comparison to Blaster is a false equivalency, since Blaster's single cassette is part of Blaster's mold and thereby gets made and is already paid for every time that Blaster mold is used. SW's compatriots are entirely separate molds, so this is effectively one figure (Blaster & Rewind) versus a multipack (SW + Ravage & Laserbeak).

Plus there's the exclusive comic.

The previous comics averaged around a $7 or $8 upcost, this one is double that. I'm thinking some of the extra cost came from the new head sculpt since it isn't part of the original mold. Some of the cost of UM probably came from that as well. SG Blurr's head was part of the mold already like Goldbug's so the price didn't get affected by that.

Emerje

Someone on facebook mentioned Pulse told them that hasbro has to charge more to make up the higher price of paying Walmart for the right to use their exclusive mold. The part that has me as a big skeptic of that is that no customer service has ever been that well informed about such a thing.

Speaking of being well informed, it was interesting for Hasbro to directly address the legal implications of using the word "convert" over "transform" in friday's stream.

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:What if the comic turns out to be double-length? Like, what if the story was too big to finish off in one final issue, that they needed to increase the length to finish it up properly? That'd make the comic more expensive.

Sounds like something they should/would have mentioned in the listing

Emerje

What if they wanted it to be a surprise?

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:What if the comic turns out to be double-length? Like, what if the story was too big to finish off in one final issue, that they needed to increase the length to finish it up properly? That'd make the comic more expensive.

Sounds like something they should/would have mentioned in the listing

Emerje

What if they wanted it to be a surprise?

No surprise to be had, we have all the info on the comics on Previews, none are double. Plus, even if it was, the "exclusivity" tax has no linear correlation with the amount of pages.

https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/S ... D-GLASS-II

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:What if the comic turns out to be double-length? Like, what if the story was too big to finish off in one final issue, that they needed to increase the length to finish it up properly? That'd make the comic more expensive.

Sounds like something they should/would have mentioned in the listing

Emerje

What if they wanted it to be a surprise?

No surprise to be had, we have all the info on the comics on Previews, none are double. Plus, even if it was, the "exclusivity" tax has no linear correlation with the amount of pages.

Broken pic.

Sabrblade wrote:Broken pic.

it was a link, hence why it didnt work. fixed now

On a topic other than Soundwave and the "ouch" price...

Thought I had ages ago but didn't get 'round to articulating: I think they might have been able to get a Megatron closer to the original SG Megs by retooling TR Galvatron. Ditch the treads, the Galvatron crown, and the panel clipped to the waist, give him new paldrons and a new forward fuselage, add a piece on the back (taking advantage of both the pin brackets for the fuselage and a square socket on the back) with the wings, replace the faceplate...

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:On a topic other than Soundwave and the "ouch" price...

Thought I had ages ago but didn't get 'round to articulating: I think they might have been able to get a Megatron closer to the original SG Megs by retooling TR Galvatron. Ditch the treads, the Galvatron crown, and the panel clipped to the waist, give him new paldrons and a new forward fuselage, add a piece on the back (taking advantage of both the pin brackets for the fuselage and a square socket on the back) with the wings, replace the faceplate...

If they did SG Megs before WFC, sure. But with all that retooling they might as well use the most current mold, which is what they did. But a TR Galvatron is SG Megs colors would have looked good.

I pre-ordered Soundwave, though I am still not thrilled with the price.

Anyone else thinking about how Slicer is the next comic in line, but the preorder is for January, though Flamewar is for November and Soundwave December releases? I'm thinking Slicer comes this month, 3 months early by surprise.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I pre-ordered Soundwave, though I am still not thrilled with the price.

Anyone else thinking about how Slicer is the next comic in line, but the preorder is for January February, though Flamewar is for November and Soundwave December releases? I'm thinking Slicer comes this month, 3 months early by surprise.

I was initially uninterested in the SG line. But yeah, the prices are all kinds of crazy. Flamewar is $42 USD for a Deluxe and 1 BM (Basically a $27 retail value), while for just 7 dollars more (at $49 USD), you get Slicer & Ex-Suit (2 deluxe; basically a $44 value).

Flamewar is probably the worst offender. Soundwave isn't much better, but his popularity I'm sure will overcome most people's hesitancy.

This is especially frustrating since initially I had no issues avoiding the line altogether, but now I just want two *parts* of the most recent wave

Only Fireglide (from Flamewar), and the Exosuit (from Slicer). I'm probably better off hoping to look on eBay to see if anyone is selling them separately. This has worked in the past, but more recently it has been challenging. Nobody seems to want to sell Knightstick (from Selects Cyclonus) by itself.

Probably because those are a canonical pairing whereas things like the BM's that came with the Skywarp Amazon exclusive a few years back weren't.

I think I've realized why flamewar and Soundwave have such bad markups; whoever is in charge of pricing is misallocating each of the pack in bots as a "full size" core class figure for pricing. $25 deluxe flamewar+$11 'core' fireglide=$36,+$6 comic=$42. $35 voyager Soundwave+$11 'core' ravage+$11 'core' laserbeak=$57, +$6 comic=$63.

Not to mention if they made the comic digital they could cut a lot of the expense out. I mean there probably are still some who actually read physical comics still today but with so many other mediums going digital it does seem odd. Also, I personally just cannot justify $6 for a comic.

While i do agree that $6 is too much even for an exclusive, as well as we should have the choice of digital or print, I prefer to read a physical comic in my hands rather than a computer or phone screen. But the comic should be sold separately to those of us who care about the story and don't just want the figures. They would probably save production and shipping costs as well as some trees.

It's not just the fact that the figures come with a comic, but that said comics each have a special edition cover made specifically to be sold as an exclusive to Hasbro Pulse instead of at retail. Not every customer may care about the exclusive cover, but Hasbro Pulse does care about it. They wanted the exclusive covers to make the comics feel even more special when bought from Pulse.

Sabrblade wrote:It's not just the fact that the figures come with a comic, but that said comics each have a special edition cover made specifically to be sold as an exclusive to Hasbro Pulse instead of at retail. Not every customer may care about the exclusive cover, but Hasbro Pulse does care about it. They wanted the exclusive covers to make the comics feel even more special when bought from Pulse.

That's still just another facet of Hasbro catering to comic readers. To those who just want the figures it's irrelevant. I get that it's yet another reason to bump the price, but the fans who just want the toys won't care if the comic costs $6, $60 or 60 cents, or the reasons for it.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:It's not just the fact that the figures come with a comic, but that said comics each have a special edition cover made specifically to be sold as an exclusive to Hasbro Pulse instead of at retail. Not every customer may care about the exclusive cover, but Hasbro Pulse does care about it. They wanted the exclusive covers to make the comics feel even more special when bought from Pulse.

That's still just another facet of Hasbro catering to comic readers. To those who just want the figures it's irrelevant. I get that it's yet another reason to bump the price, but the fans who just want the toys won't care if the comic costs $6, $60 or 60 cents, or the reasons for it.

Hasbro Pulse:

Heads up, Pulse just pushed Flamewar and Slicer's shipping dates up to the 24th and 25th respectively. I got an email about Flamewar specifically (that weirdly only used the order number and didn't mention the contents) but no notification Slicer for some reason, I only caught that Slicer also changed while checking my Flamewar order.

Same, just got the notice for Flamewar, but nothing for Slicer (that one is probably coming tomorrow). The actual order hasn't changed dates yet, Flamewar is only about a week early, but Slicer was supposed to be February.

Emerje

Got my notice for Flamewar, I hate how half my emails like this only have the order number and not the actual figure so I have to go looking.

Nothing for Slicer yet on my end

Ah, there's the Slicer email.

I got the slicer email too. What I really can't stand is when you click on the order number it just takes you to the general order page.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I got the slicer email too. What I really can't stand is when you click on the order number it just takes you to the general order page.

I've taken to writing order numbers down with the item so when I get these mystery emails I know what I'm looking at.

sol magnus wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I got the slicer email too. What I really can't stand is when you click on the order number it just takes you to the general order page.

I've taken to writing order numbers down with the item so when I get these mystery emails I know what I'm looking at.

I added a color-coded tab to Hasbro Pulse so in Gmail I can see all the emails at once and find the original order. Other than that I just need patience on the site.

These emails are still better than just finding a Pulse charge on your online bank account and trying to guess what you've been charged for.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:These emails are still better than just finding a Pulse charge on your online bank account and trying to guess what you've been charged for.

But that's part of the fun. Bank account Russian roulette.

Got my Slicer email too. Guessing they'll be shipping out next week.

Being Canadian, I'm not looking forward to Slicer and Flamewar shipping separately and so close togather. It's gonna make one scary Halloween for my credit card. Still, I'm very happy overall with the newly-revised SG lore and figures. SG was the first botcon theme I attended and what made me decide to start collecting the Classics way back when, so I'm happy to continue it. I'm so excited for Soundwave.

Emerje wrote:These emails are still better than just finding a Pulse charge on your online bank account and trying to guess what you've been charged for.

Emerje

Absolutely! That would drive me nuts!

If anyone getting Flamewar wants to part with their Fireglide Battle master,or anyone getting Slicer wants to part with the Exosuit deluxe figure, for a fair price please PM me.

I got my Flamewar tonight. She is pretty neat. The paint works is really cool, she has a good bit of it on her. She does have a slight issue in that her waist joint is really tight and as a result her torso likes to pop in half if you try to rotate it, but that may loosen up with use.

I am glad we got her, she is real nice. And ironically, i think both her and Road Rocket were better uses than Arcee for the mold ultimately. But regardless, all 3 mold uses are pretty good.

Oh, my Slicer shipped as well and should arrive this weekend. Looking forward to him and the exo-suit

I got my Slicer and Exo-suit, and let me tell you, this set is much nicer than it has any right to be.

Slicer owns the mold for starters. He is much better than Wheeljack, it's shocking. The colors on him pop real hard, he feels real nice. I really enjoy him.

Exo-suit is also real nice, the colors are wacky, and I like them a lot.

When you put the 2 together, you get such a wacky combination that is a pure delight. I like the combined robot mode, and the buggy mode is so stupid but so enjoyable.

It's a great set, well worth the cost and effort. Now I need to decide if I want to keep them on the SG shelf or on the regular decepticon set as my first proper con Action Master update. Slicer has been good in the SG fiction, so that adds some complications to that.

I forgot: The Wave 2 SG figures have been pretty great overall. I am greatly enjoying this wave

I hope you all happiness with your Slicer figures but IMHO Slicer was a not so popular SG figure in the past so why the hell haven't you done the right thing and give us SG Jazz....?

Nemesis Destron wrote:I hope you all happiness with your Slicer figures but IMHO Slicer was a not so popular SG figure in the past so why the hell haven't you done the right thing and give us SG Jazz....?

Just slap a on Studio Series Jazz I mean, he kept his colors in the original FunPub run, and his current incarnation doesn't look that different either:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Nemesis Destron wrote:I hope you all happiness with your Slicer figures but IMHO Slicer was a not so popular SG figure in the past so why the hell haven't you done the right thing and give us SG Jazz....?

Just slap a on Studio Series Jazz I mean, he kept his colors in the original FunPub run, and his current incarnation doesn't look that different either:

Okay Jelze FINE I will! But I didn't know that the Toyhax crew made a impressive decal set so I may do this. And of course knowing my bad luck somewhere down the road the official figure will come to be.

PSA warning about Flamewar and Fireglide.

According to a few reports on Discord, using Fireglide in axe mode may cause Flamewar's fists to crack, as seen in this photo (not mine) due to stress caused by the axe handle being a tad too big and/or Flamewar's fist holes being a tad too small:



Crossbow mode seems to be okay, though, from those who've reported about this.