Zob's Thoughts on the Hallmark Keepsake Soundwave Christmas Ornament

[New and Improved Zobovor]

I think they actually released this back in July, but I just now got around to finally getting one. This is the fourth in the series: Optimus Prime was released in 2014; Megatron in 2015; and Grimlock was last year (looks like right now there is a single Buy It Now auction on eBay for $4.74 shipped if you want one).

Optimus Prime's value has skyrocketed and now tends to go for around $100. I had actually found a used one on eBay with broken smokestacks for about $20, and I was fully prepared to just build him new ones and call it good. And then the package was stolen off my porch the day it was delivered. Really disappointing. I'm never going to see one for $20 again!

Historically, these Christmas tree ornaments have been miniaturized versions of the original Hasbro toys, extremely faithful sculpts that capture the look of the old toys but don't transform or move in any way. Soundwave stands at about four inches tall, bigger than the Heroes of Cybertron figure but a little smaller than an Action Master. He's permanently posed with one arm and one leg tilted back slightly, similar to the pose from his G1 box art (and something you actually had to do with the 1984 to get him to stand up, if you had a particularly loose and floppy specimen).

The level and accuracy of sculpted detail is quite excellent. It's actually based on the Hasbro reissue version of Soundwave with the reinforced tape deck hinge, but the reissue is understandably more readily-available than a vintage specimen. This also means he's got a Decepticon symbol on his back, taking the place of the rub symbol placement on the reissue. All the details, which were factory- or consumer-applied stickers on the G1 toy, are realized here as a combination of stickers or tampograph printing. The stripes on his legs are actually purple; while they were originally meant to match the blue of his legs, some specimens were indeed this color so it's an authentic paint deco decision. (Note that the red striped stickers are correctly placed on his batteries/weapons, not the inside of his legs as the original Hasbro instructions erroneously indicated.)

Perhaps the nicest detail is Buzzsaw, who is a separate piece of plastic from his cassette door, which is translucent plastic. This creates a real sense of depth inside his cassette door. The effect is so realistic that everything about this toy tells me that I should be able to press the eject button on his shoulder and pop open a tiny cassette condor. You can't, of course. (I'm assuming it's Buzzsaw, who came with Soundwave in 1984, and not Laserbeak, who had identical cassette detailing but was sold separately.)

Soundwave's got a small metal loop embedded in the top of his head so you can add an ornament hook and hang him. Ornament hook sold separately.

The nice thing about the packaging for these things is that there is no tape or glue involved, so you can pop them out of the box, display them for the month of December, and then safely return them to their bubble tray and cardboard box for 11 months.

There's no reason to think that they won't continue to do these for the forseeable future. They seem to be alternating between Autobots and Decepticons, so I think Bumblebee or Prowl or Jazz would be a good choice for next year. I'd definitely like to see Starscream for 2019 (and I'm sure it will remind me a lot of the rubber stamper I had as a kid, which was also sculpted to look just like the toy).


Zob (will continue to buy these as long as Hallmark produces them)