Zob's Thoughts on Electrostatic Soundwave
Zobovor
clock in for the day. It's strictly in the interest in making sure
there's nothing on the floor that might be a trip hazard, you
understand. I'm all about safety.
Anyway, I spotted some new Animated stuff today. Sometimes I think
the downside of having two or more Transformers toy lines selling
concurrently is that it takes Hasbro a lot longer to come out with new
product. It's very likely that they have separate teams working on
Animated than they do on the movie toys, but the fact that they both
exist means that resources are surely occasionally diverted from one
to work on the other, and vice versa. My point is that it's been a
long, long time since I've seen any new Animated toys (I think the
last new one I got was Waspinator back in March!) so it's nice to see
them back again.
Freeway Jazz is also shipping, for those of you who want an Animated
Jazz toy that looks like movie Jazz instead of an Animated Jazz toy
that looks like G1 Jazz. Arcee is also on the cross sell on
Soundwave's package (along with Waspinator and Samurai Prowl) but I
don't think she's shipping. I could be wrong, though. Two toys sold
last night before I got to them, so there could have been two Arcees
in the case. I just don't know. (I don't see any on eBay yet, and
you'd think they'd be scalping her like mad if she was out. This is
the one Animated toy I am the most excited about. I'm going to buy
two. I'm going to kitbash the hell out of one of them.)
So, Soundwave. Same toy as before, of course, just in different
colors (this is the only Animated toy I have bought twice, but as I've
said before, I am a collector of All Things Soundwave). One thing
they did differently this time was to cast his head out of translucent
red plastic and paint everything except his eyes and the back of his
head, Heroes of Cybertron style, so that his eyes glow. Well, sort
of. His gigantic backpack tends to block nearby light sources but you
can still get a halfway decent glowy effect out of him. The inside of
his faux chest window is painted this time, so you can actually make
out the equalizer levels a little better and you can't see straight
through his body this time. He's not black in color, more of a faded
dark blue, but he's still reasonably Soundblaster-esque, which is of
course the whole point.
I must confess that I'd never heard of a keytar before this toy came
along. At first I thought that Ratbat's design was kind of a cop-out
because of his really obvious bat head that's visible even when he's
transformed, but then I did some research and realized that the giant,
pointy bat ears rather nicely matches the general silhouette of a
keytar like this one:
http://thm-a01.yimg.com/image/d91921561573d50e
So, I guess that's the look they were going for. It is possible to
rotate his head around so that it's upside-down, but you can still see
his eyes and mouth pretty plainly so there's not much point to that.
As with Laserbeak, Soundwave is designed to hold Ratbat in keytar mode—
and by "hold" I mean plugging the accessory into his wrist. The
instructions actually mention it this time, too. ("I'm ready to smash
Autobots like I jam on my guitar!")
(I will just go right ahead and spell out the joke—that's a mangled
version of G2 Laser Cycle Jazz's tech specs quote, one I have made fun
of on many occasions because the toy did not come equipped with a
guitar. I used to think the very concept of guitar-playing
Transformers was enormously silly. Trumpet-playing Transformers are
fine, because that happened in 1986 when I was still an impressionable
child.)
Ratbat is also designed to mount to Soundwave's roof in either keytar
or bat mode, though the connector points are kind of fidgety because
you use Ratbat's feet, which are designed to move with respect to each
other when he transforms so it's hard to get a decent fit. He also
plugs into the outside of Soundwave's wrist armor so he can carry
Ratbat like a falconer might, but again, there are tolerance issues.
I do think it's great that they clearly designed Soundwave to do this
from the get-go, and no remolding was required to accomodate Ratbat.
This also means the two accessory partners are interchangeable between
the original Soundwave and Electrostatic Soundwave.
He's stamped with a date code of 92811, which puts his birthday at
October 9th of this year, a paltry six weeks from the factory
production run into my hands. Not a bad turnaround. I still don't
like the way the date code is stamped right in plain sight on the
front of his leg. (Last time, I suggested that they get rid of one of
the redundant copyright stamps on his feet. Well, they did that much,
but they still didn't stick the date code there. Silly Hasbro!)
Gonna go watch Turtles Forever now.
Zob
Chad Rushing
>
> Arcee is also on the cross sell on
> Soundwave's package (along with Waspinator and Samurai Prowl) but I
> don't think she's shipping. I could be wrong, though. Two toys sold
> last night before I got to them, so there could have been two Arcees
> in the case. I just don't know. (I don't see any on eBay yet, and
> you'd think they'd be scalping her like mad if she was out. This is
> the one Animated toy I am the most excited about. I'm going to buy
> two. I'm going to kitbash the hell out of one of them.)
Wasn't there something on one of the private forums about ANM Arcee
being a TRU store exclusive? *goes searching* Here you go:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/animated-8/animated-cybertron-ratchet-and-arcee-confirmed-as-toys-r-us-exclusives-168805/
or
http://tinyurl.com/tru-anm-arcee
It seems Cybertron Ratchet is another TRU exclusive.
- Chad
Onslaught Six
> Anyway, I spotted some new Animated stuff today. Sometimes I think
> the downside of having two or more Transformers toy lines selling
> concurrently is that it takes Hasbro a lot longer to come out with new
> product. It's very likely that they have separate teams working on
> Animated than they do on the movie toys, but the fact that they both
> exist means that resources are surely occasionally diverted from one
> to work on the other, and vice versa. My point is that it's been a
> long, long time since I've seen any new Animated toys (I think the
> last new one I got was Waspinator back in March!) so it's nice to see
> them back again.
Actually, Electrostatic Sounds and Freeway Jazz were likely supposed
to be released around March or so, when the third season started. It's
because Hasbro decided to cancel all the upcoming new product in
favour of Movie Crap that we haven't gotten them until now.
The same thing happened with GI Joe--there was like an entire two
waves of 25th Anniversary and Resolute stuff that was supposed to come
out that 'hasn't hit yet.' Including Resolute Destro and stuff.
> Freeway Jazz is also shipping, for those of you who want an Animated
> Jazz toy that looks like movie Jazz instead of an Animated Jazz toy
> that looks like G1 Jazz. Arcee is also on the cross sell on
> Soundwave's package (along with Waspinator and Samurai Prowl) but I
> don't think she's shipping. I could be wrong, though. Two toys sold
> last night before I got to them, so there could have been two Arcees
> in the case. I just don't know. (I don't see any on eBay yet, and
> you'd think they'd be scalping her like mad if she was out. This is
> the one Animated toy I am the most excited about. I'm going to buy
> two. I'm going to kitbash the hell out of one of them.)
Arcee and Cybertronian Altmode Ratchet are apparently TRU exclusives,
and not out yet.
> I must confess that I'd never heard of a keytar before this toy came
> along.
It's a byproduct of synthy bands who want to look cool alongside
shreddy guitarists. I mean, you can't look cool behind a keyboard.
That's why Trent Reznor is a frontman. (Or was. They stopped touring,
and I never got to see them, and that makes me sad.)
> (I will just go right ahead and spell out the joke—that's a mangled
> version of G2 Laser Cycle Jazz's tech specs quote, one I have made fun
> of on many occasions because the toy did not come equipped with a
> guitar. I used to think the very concept of guitar-playing
> Transformers was enormously silly. Trumpet-playing Transformers are
> fine, because that happened in 1986 when I was still an impressionable
> child.)
I still kinda think it's ridiculous, but that's kind of the entire
theme of Animated, in my eyes.
I do imagine TFs would use sequencers and make very electronics-based
music, though.
> Gonna go watch Turtles Forever now.
What I've seen so far is awesome.
Zobovor
> Wasn't there something on one of the private forums about ANM Arcee
> being a TRU store exclusive?
Ah, thanks for the info. Well, I'm a little irritated that she won't
see general release, but at least I feel better knowing that I didn't
miss out on her. And an exclusive retailer release is better than no
release at all.
Zob
Shin Hibiki
>My point is that it's been a
>long, long time since I've seen any new Animated toys (I think the
>last new one I got was Waspinator back in March!) so it's nice to see
>them back again.
True. Hope they show up around these parts, though with the
strange behavior of my local wally, who can say? (We finally did get
some Masterpiece Skywarps a week or so ago, 15 of them, which were on
an endcap for precisely 3 days. After that, they disappeared, and I
don't think it was because they all sold.) Kmart still has some
Animated, so that's another possibility.
>Gonna go watch Turtles Forever now.
Yeah, boy.
- Shin Hibiki
Zobovor
> So, Soundwave.
Some minor corrections, because I hate it when people spout incorrect
information in their reviews—especially me:
—There actually was some remolding done to the arm slots. The ones on
Electrostatic Soundwave are deeper.
—The entire head isn't translucent plastic, just the back of the head
and the eye/forehead piece. It looks like these were made to be
separate pieces specifically for this reason.
—I finally found out how to plug Ratbat into his arms so the fit isn't
so fidgety. It actually locks in place pretty securely, but I had to
use a fair amount of force to get him to connect.
You may now go about your daily lives, citizens. Carry on.
Zob
TigerMegatron
all indications show that all TF Animated recolors,add-ons & slight
remolds are going to be released to every store chain in america.
while the new mold season 3 TF animated toys will be TRU store
exclusives in America.
Zobovor
Yeah, you'd think it would be the other way around. Why would Walmart
be willing to sell yet another version of Soundwave and yet another
version of Jazz, toys that were already readily available on the
marketplace a year ago, but they didn't want to sell Arcee or
Cybertron Mode Ratchet, brand-new toys that have never seen the light
of day? Retailers are weird.
Zob