Dave's Transformers Greatest Hits Rant: Soundwave with Doombox

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Transformers Greatest Hits Rant

Soundwave & Doombox (retool of Soundwave with Soundblaster)

Permalink: https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/BB/Doombox

The keystone of the Greatest Hits assortment, and probably the best big
toy to come out as part of the Bumblebee movie line, this is a retool of
Titans Return's Soundwave, which itself is a retool of Blaster.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/LSoundwave - Soundwave review
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/LBlaster - Blaster review


CAPSULE

$50 at Target.

Soundwave & Doombox: Original Blaster mold was strongly recommended,
Soundwave version recommended. This is noticeably different from the Titans
Return Soundwave, but not enough different to pay full price if you already
have the previous one. Of course, going for more city stuff might be
worthwhile if you have the display space....


RANT

Packaging: A weird shape designed to go around the boombox mode, with
the top of the box dipping down in the middle to let the toy's own handle
stick out and be used to carry it in-box. It's like a section of wall with
crenelation in it. The tablet slug is in the left side raised part, and
Doombox is on the right. The top bits slope back so that the very top
sections of the box are shallowed than the main part.
The box is 12" (30cm) wide and a total of 7" (18cm) tall, plus 3.25"
(8cm) deep. The middle 3.25" (8cm) of the box is only 5.25" (13.5cm) tall,
and the side thirds start sloping backwards about 1cm above that level. The
top parts are 4.25" (10.5cm) wide and 2.25" (5.5cm) deep.
The patterns are similar to the Cassette Pack's box, with tapedeck
controls on the top left, various dials on top and the front left, random
vents, and various equalizer signals around the notch in the middle. The
right and left sides are speakers, with the air guitar Bumblebee on the right
side. The front doesn't have Bumblebee, but it does have an 80s-style (not
G1 style, but a sort of pseudo-80s-meets-disco pattern) nameplate.
On back are photos/renders of all three modes, both modes of Doombox,
and a short bio note in four languages. It specifies that the altmodes are
boombox and city, although the bio suggests that the city mode is a dance
club.
The odd shape of the box means you have to open up the bottom to get the
toy out, rather than the sides. Opening the bottom AND the sides makes it
easier, of course. The instructions are loose inside. The partial cardboard
tray has a purple/red/yellow glowy Decepticon symbol against a backdrop of a
soundwave in the same colors. It's got corners cut off in the back bottom,
so it's not suitable as a standalone scenery bit.


DECEPTICON: SOUNDWAVE
Assortment: E2049
Altmodes: Boombox, City
Transformation Difficulty: 19 steps (plus one for Doombox)
Previous Name Use: Soundwave - Yes; Doombox - No
Previous Mold Use: Gen(TR)
Weapon: Sick Beats
Titan Master Power: Disequilibration
Function: Spy
Motto: "Sample these warez, Autobot fools!"

SOUNDWAVE is always listening, stealing AUTOBOT signals to create a
sinister bootleg collection of interceptied communications. His TITAN MASTER
DOOMBOX transmits an undetectable disruptor wave that sabotages motor
systems, unleashing doom on the dance floor and some of the ugliest AUTOBOT
dance moves the world has ever seen.

Packaging: Two rattan strings hold the boombox in place, two plastic
ties each on the fake tablet piece and Doombox. The two weapons are inside a
plastic bag taped to the back of the plastic insert.

Color Swaps: While Howlback is in roughly the same classic Soundwave
Blue as the Titans Return one, this new Soundwave is closer in color to the
darker of the two blues in the Frenzy that came in the Cassette Pack, just a
touch lighter than that dark blue. The light gray is replaced by more of a
gunmetal gray. The gunmetal on the original is replaced by the same slightly
lighter gunmetal that the light gray became. The few pieces of red plastic
(ankles) are now black. The black (or near black) plastic inside the chest
that holds tablets stays the same color, and the clear colorless chest window
pieces stay the same. There's a few bits that don't follow the simple
pattern, though. A group of pieces that are blue on the original are
gunmetal here: fists, chest door trigger piece, rifle, a bit inside the lower
torso, a part of the hinge inside each boot, the ramp hinges, and I think the
thighs on the original must've been blue with paint on them originally
because now they're gunmetal.
Doombox gets blue on the head, arms, and faceplate; gunmetal else.

Paint Apps: In robot mode, there's silver paint on the belt control
buttons and the lower corners of the armor skirt, some details on the
shoulder fronts (same as the silver bits on TR Soundwave), the non-functional
button on the right side of the collarbone area, and the speaker grilles on
the boots. Dark gunmetal paint fills in the rest of the shoulder details,
the parts that are red on TR Soundwave's shoulder fronts. The forearm
stripes are still red, and the missile tips in the shoulder launcher are
painted red. Black paint is used on the stripes of the launcher, the cheek
fronts of the helmet, and a bit in the middle of the abdomen. The border of
the chest window and parts of the targeting reticle behind it are painted
clear yellow, and there's a couple of yellow strips on each shin. Much of
the shin is painted medium gray, a good tone match to the gunmetal plastic,
but not as shiny. A purple on silver Decepticon symbol is printed on the
center of the chest.
Technically, everything in boombox mode is visible in robot mode, but I
left out some details that were on the back of the boots. There's yellow
stripes connecting the top edge of the speakers to the middle, and smaller
tweeter vents in the upper outer corners. The right side has an AM/FM tuner
strip sticker tuned to about 98.6FM The left side sticker is a series of
indicators. From left to right, "CYBERTRON BROADCAST TECHNOLOGIES" (which
are in the red), "CONCUSSION BLASTER" (which is turned up to about 50%), and
"CASSETTE" (which is on the fourth of five tickmarks).
The city mode has silver paint on the circular dance floor formed from
the right boot, and black paint on the octagonal dance floor formed from the
left boot.
The tablet slug has black paint on the weapon muzzles, and red on the
bits on either side of the Titan Master seat.
Doombox has a silver faceplate and sloppily painted yellow visor in
robot mode. The head mode also has silver faceplate and yellow visor (less
sloppy this time), but the cheeks are unpainted, helping differentiate
Doombox from Soundblaster.

Mold Changes: Near as I can tell, the only changes are to the pieces
that make up the front, outer facing, and back of each boot (so, the bottom
and front sides of the boombox speakers). The front panel is only remolded
on the outside, but the other two are remolded on the inside as well, so that
the "dance floor" sections have different shapes. I'm not sure what the goal
of the changed front panels was, they changed the G1-inspired molding (which,
admittedly, didn't get the paint apps needed to bring out things likt the
kneecap design) and I'm not really having any luck finding what it's meant to
look like. Not Soundblaster, he had the same shin/knee patterns as
Soundwave. Certainly not Blaster. The side and rear, which form the speaker
parts of boombox mode, look a bit more like the sort of pattern a cheap tape
deck radio might have had in the 80s, but still not a boombox...those almost
uniformly had round speakers, not rectangular. Even tape players were more
likely to use circular holes in a hexagonal grid, while these have horizontal
(well, vertical in robot mode) slats that were a lot less common. Well, at
least it no longer looks like a bluetooth speaker. The one on the right boot
(right side speaker) has a molded "REC" light, both have strips at the top in
radio mode for stickers. In city mode, the foward section of each dance
floor has three 2mm pegs. There's 5mm peg holes in the outer corners, and a
5mm post for the shoulder launcher on the right-boot one.
If there's any other remolded parts, the changes are subtle.

Other Notes: Nothing comes to mind.

Overall: If you already have Titans Return Soundwave, this isn't really
enough different to justify a $50 purchase, but keep an eye out for
clearance. If you don't have TR Soundwave, though, this is worth picking
up.


Dave Van Domelen, almost to the bottom of the To Be Reviewed pile, so
kinda expecting more Siege to show up any day now.