Phil's Transformer Tape Reviews

Soundwave

Where do you start with Soundwave ? This is a truly iconic Transformer. For the first year of the UK toyline, Soundwave was our Decepticon leader (Megatron not getting a UK release till 1985). Soundwave appears battling Optimus Prime on the cover of UK Transformers number one. Even after we get Megatron, the UK comic retains a vast affection for Soundwave putting him in charge of answering the letters column and wherever possible in the UK strip giving him the command of the Decepticons.

Soundwave is a portable Micro cassette recorder/player who is very similar in size and shape to the early Sony Walkman. The design was first used in 1983 in Japan's Microchange toy line, a descendant of Microman which was released in the west as Micronauts. Microchange features a number of household & real life objects that turn into robots, several of which would be recycled in Transformers. In fact the Mini Autobots are Micro Change toys, not modelled on real cars but a popular line of penny racer toys available at the time. Soundwave is there known as Microchange toy MC-10 Cassette Man. This toy is then imported into the Transformers line *relatively* unchanged - the western version looses the headphones and microphone that the Microchange and subsequent Japanese transformers toys had. The majority of the toy is dark blue in colour with the sides of the toy being coloured silver. On the right of the toy as you're looking at it is a volume or tuning dial that turns while on the left there's a two position switch (AM/FM like a radio tuner ? Or a normal/metal cassette selector ?) There's a number of control moulded in chromed plastic in the middle at the bottom of the front of the player: Play, record, rewind, fast forward & stop. A chromed eject button is mounted on the top right of the player: pressing it causes the clear smoked plastic tape drawer to open. The tape compartment can be used to store one of the Transformer micro cassettes. I don't have a real micro (dictation) cassette at hand to see if that fits too. There's a counter moulded into the top left - this is usually covered by a sticker reading 010 - a nod towards the toy's Microman numbering. The rear of the player has a belt clip moulded into the battery hatch. This slides off to reveal a pair of blue plastic moulded batteries.

Transformation: Fold the silver sides of the tape player down under the player to form the legs. Rotate each of them in 90 degrees and fold out the metal feet. Fold the sides of the back of the player forwards to form the arms. Slide the notch on each forearm forward to push the hands out the end of the arms. Flip the head up and rotate 180 degrees so he faces forward. Remove the battery hatch cover, remove the batteries and replace the cover. One of the batteries extends: peg this one into a 5mm hole in the middle of either hand and push a missile into the end of the launcher (The Microchange version calls his the "Battery Gun"). The other battery mounts on Soundwave's right shoulder as cannon (which Microchange call his "Energy Cell Laser")

Soundwave's robot mode is dominated by his chest which is formed from the tape compartment of his cassette player. The door still opens in this mode allowing Soundwave to dispense tapes that turn into robots, robot birds and other robot animals in battle against his foes. The robot mode is mainly blue like the tape mode, with silver forearms, upper legs & inner lower legs. His head is blue as well, with a silver face plate, yellow eyes and a moulded crest. The head itself turns and this action alone pushes Soundwave into a strong showing in the "best articulated robot 1984" stakes. His arms bend at the elbows, turn and swing back at his shoulders so he's doing well here too. His legs fold forward and turn at the hips: yes he can sit down which is a feature unique to 1984 Transformers. Sadly his knees bend the wrong way as a result of the transformation but a modern remould would easily solve that, and similarly add a bicep joint. For a Transformer toy that old he's doing brilliantly if those are the only articulation complaints I have. Of the other first year toys only Optimus Prime can beat him for points of articulation and Prime can't sit down properly due to the grill on the front of the truck ! As we've said before he's got 5mm holes in his hands and on his shoulder. The 5mm peg and hole system was a standard for the Microman line so Soundwave's inherited it from there. This means that he can hold weapons made for toys 26 years after his initial release!

It's Soundwave, it's a design classic, you know you're going to love it. If you haven't got one already then buy one !

Soundwave was sold in the west in 1984 & 1985 where he was packed with Buzzsaw.

Soundwave was sold in Japan as Transformers toy 17 where he was packed with Rumble. He was re-issued as toy number 10 in the Transformers collection where he was packed with Laserbeak, and then again as toy number 3 in the Transformers Encore line where he was packed with Laserbeak again.

And for completeness sake the Microchange version was packed with a repaint of MC-01 Micross toy (later known as Transformers Frenzy) in red (IE: Transformers Rumble.

Soundblaster

NEW SOUNDWAVE IS HERE ! (Yes I've seen the Star-Dub Headmasters)

Yup It's Soundwave, in Black which replaces all the plastic that was previously blue. He's not a straight repaint as he has an an enlarged tape door moulded in clear red plastic. This enables you to fit a second tape inside him, which goes inside the door rather than having an enlarged chest cavity. This means you have to take one tape out before you can get at the other.

Soundblaster comes with one cassette, and this time it's Buzzsaw, like the western version. Buzzsaw has a New sticker on him which shows weak points on Fortress Maximus, who was the Cybertron (Autobot) leader that year. A similar gimmick is employed on the Steeljaw who's sold with Twincast a likewise dual tape holding recolour of Blaster.

Soundblaster was released in Japan as D-101 Soundblaster. He was not released in the west.

Sounblaster was re-issued as toy number 18 in the Transformers Collection. This release comes with 2 tapes: Buzzsaw (who was with the original) and Ravage (who wasn't). Both come with the "Fort Max weakness sticker" on them (Here's a picture of Ravage's). Reissue Soundblaster has a couple of great picture galleries at tfkenkon.com/collection/act331/ & tfkenkon.com/collection/act331/.

Classics Soundwave

As we've already seen Soundwave's been brought back multiple times in Japan as part of reissue lines. But a true measure of his success is that he's had not one but two western re-releases as part of a modern toyline. No redesigned version, no mucking about. We need a classics Soundwave, let's put the original back on the shelf ! A The Classics version of Soundwave isn't the original Soundwave, it's actually the Soundblaster version of the toy, described above, but re-coloured back to the original blue with a dark smoked double tape door.

Soundwave is packed with both Ravage & Laserbeak

Classics Soundwave was an exclusive to Toys R Us in 2007.

Universe Soundwave

Universe Soundwave is a reissue of the original Soundwave mould with single tape door and is packed with both Ravage & Laserbeak as per the classics release before, but also includes Buzzsaw & Ratbat

Universe Soundwave was a San Diego Comic-con exclusive in 2009 that was later sold on www.hasbrotoyshop.com. In 2010 the SDCC got Blaster with Eject, Ramhorn & Steeljaw to act as an adversary to the previous year's toy !

Remaking Soundwave

Hasbro's had a few goes at making a new version of Soundwave. Action Master Soundwave looks like the original and comes with a companion so given the limits of the Action Masters line represents a nice try. Gobot Soundwave is merely re-purposing the name on a badly coloured mould. You might as well say the same thing about Beast Wars Mutants Soundwave as there's little there to link it to the original. Machine Wars Soundwave is a repaint of Stalker and although the colours aren't right the head and the shoulder cannon are reminiscent of the original - the Universe Soundwave takes the same toy and repaints it a lot closer to the original. But why the yellow ? Is it a homage to the Gobot version ? Cybertron Soundwave is close with the robot mode, and gives him a companion *and* reinstates the chest gimmick but there's only one toy that fits in the chest and that turns into ..... well what is it that Cybertron Laserbeak turns into ? A barrel ?? Again Animated Soundwave gets the robot mode right and gives him a companion and changes the companion for the repaint so points there. The less said about Revenge of the Fallen Soundwave the better though !

So what are we looking at from Soundwave ? Something that can hold troops in both modes. Something that looks a little like the original, preferably with an opening chest to dispense the troops. Solution: Make him an APC for and packed with Minicons. It's the best way I can see to give him Minions that you could also pack separately and a reasonable alternate mode that could incorporate them.

Soundwaves: The Differences

So did you lost track yet of which Soundwave is which colour, which tapes it came with and how many could it hold ? Here's a quick reference guide:




There you go - hope it helps!

Ah, Soundwave. Such a brilliant toy even after all this year's. I would say that both he and Optimus Prime are the stand-out toys from the initial line-up.

-Ralph

Eject

The first time I came across Eject was in the first issue of Marvel's Transformers Universe handbook series in 1986. "Ooooh, Autobot Tapes!" I thought.

Eject is a blue & grey cassette with a striped red sticker. It's a little hard to find anything interesting to say about the alternate modes for these fellows!

Transform: Put the mainly blue side of the tape towards you. Pull each side of the bottom out to the sides to form the legs, but be careful not to pull too far or they'll come off. Fold down under the tape and turn so the flat blue side faces out. Fold the grey feet out from the bottom. Pull each side of the tape out to the sides which automatically raises the head. Rotate the grey panels containing the tape holes back 90 degrees so the holes are behind the robot. Fold down the robot's hands and peg the guns into the tape holes.

Inevitably Eject (& Rewind) invite comparisons with the Decepticon robot tapes Rumble & Frenzy. The Autobots are a little shorter than the Decepticons and lack the holes in the body that allow the weapons to be mounted on Rumble & Frenzy's backs. Eject has 4mm pegs on his weapons so he can't trade guns with the Decepticons whose peg holes are the Microman/Microchange 5mm standard. The holes for inserting the guns are now found on a lump on the back of the forearm which just looks odd. A little additional articulation to let this lump be folded down and thus to act as a hand would have been good. His articulation as it stand is that his shoulders turn, he's got a bicep joint, hips that bend the wrong way as art of the TF and the legs turn at the hip. By contrast Rumble's shoulders shrug upwards, he's got a bicep swivel, double bending elbows, a hip swivel & swing to the side, bending knees and bending ankles. So really Rumble wins hands down despite being an older toy.

Eject was sold in the USA in 1986 where he was packed with Ramhorn. The Eject & Ramhorn 2-pack has a major variation where it's available with either silver or gold chromed weapons. The card art depicts gold weapons so I'd say that this is the definitive version. Neither version of this 2-pack was sold in the UK at the time but it was later available in the UK in the early 1990s as a grey import of the Chinese version.

When Eject was released in Japan, he was sold by himself as Transformers toy C-68 while his pack-in Ramhorn was sold as toy C-66.

Eject has been reissued in Encore 15: Cassette Big Mission 1, where he had silver weapons, with Rewind, Ravage & Buzzsaw. Eject was also included in 2010's San Diego Comicon Exclusive Blaster, where he again has silver weapons, and appeared with Ramhorn (who has silver weapons) & Steeljaw (who has gold weapons).

Rewind

Rewind is a simple colour swap of Eject with the blue becoming black.

Rewind was sold in the USA in 1986 where he was packed with Steeljaw. This 2-pack was not sold in the UK at the time but was available in the UK in the early 1990s as a grey import of the Chinese version. Both toys in this 2-pack are subject to a weapons variation coming with either silver or gold chromed weapons - both toy's weapons are the same colour.

Rewind was sold by himself in Japan as Transformers toy C-67. His pack in Steeljaw was initially sold in Japan as Transformers toy C-65.

Rewind was reissued in Encore 15: Cassette Big Mission 1 with Eject, Ravage & Buzzsaw. Like his brother Eject, the Rewind in this set has silver weapons.

Rewind misses out on being part of the 2010 SDCC Blaster reissue pack unlike Blaster's other 3 1986 cassettes. This has lead to some friction between him and his brother.

Flipsides

Flipsides is a recolour of Eject with the blue swapped for white, the grey for a maroon red and the chromed for a chromed pink. Flipsides has a sticker showing the location of weakness on Scorponok similar to that shown on the Steeljaw originally supplied with Twincast. Place the tape in Twincasts's tape deck and the red plastic of the door highlights where the weakness is on the sticker in a similar manner to how the G1 tech specs worked.

Flipsides was an E-Hobby exclusive sold with Twincast - a re-colour and minor remould of Blaster - who was released to complement the release of Transformers Collection 21 Blaster with Steeljaw.

Rosanna

Rosanna swaps Eject's blue for white, the grey for neon pink and the chrome for chromed blue to create this truly shocking repaint.

Rosanna was part of the Kiss Players cassette pack with Sundor, a repaint of Laserbeak, and Glit, a repaint of Ravage.

"This has lead to some friction between him and his brother."

Tee hee!

-Ralph

It also means if you buy both SDCC Soundwave and SDCC Blaster you still have to buy both of Encore 15 & 17 for one cassette each. Throw us a bone Hasbro, 4 tapes in 2009, 3 in 2010.....

Ravage

Ravage is another toy originally released as part of the Microchange line of toys, an offshoot of Japan's successful Microman toyline. He's a black Micro Cassette one side of which has silver tape detailing which proclaims it to be a 60 minute cassette.

Transformation: Take the tape with the plainer black side facing you and the metal strips towards the bottom. Fold the tail from the top out towards the right. This then allows you to fold the head from the top out to the left. Fold the bottom of the tape down at the right to form the lower rear legs then swing the upper rear legs forward a bit, and fold the feet forward. Fold the remainder of the bottom of the tape forward as the front legs and then fold down the front feet. Peg the chromed silver missiles into the right tape hole.

Ravage's robot mode is that of a black panther. He's packed with articulation: the head & tail move up & down, all four hips turn, all four knees bend and all four ankles bend too which gives you the ability to pose him in a variety of positions. My only slight complaint is that front on the animal does look rather thin. I've just dug out Ravage's 2009 Universe version which attempts to correct this by having the body fold out to the sides but when compared to his ancestor the later one is missing the articulation in two of the hips and all four of the ankles so they must have been doing something right in the early 80s!

Ravage was sold in the west in 1984 & 1985 where he's packed with Rumble. This 2-pack was available through into 1986 in the USA but was discontinued in the UK at the end of 1985.

Transformers Ravage was first sold in Japan as toy number 19, Jaguar, in 1985. In 1986 he was renumbered D-59. TF Wiki's Ravage page lists a third Japanese release numbered D-104 but I can't find any trace of this elsewhere.

Ravage was re-issued in 2005 as part of Transformers Collection 18 which also contained Soundblaster and Buzzsaw. Both tapes in this release have special stickers depicting the weak spots on Fortress Maximus that reveal their information when viewed through the red of Soundblaster's tape door. This Ravage returns with the US Transformers Classics Soundwave which also includes Laserbeak and also with the 2009 San Diego Comic Con Soundwave which again includes Laserbeak but also Buzzsaw and Ratbat. The original Ravage reappears in Transformers Encore Cassette Big Mission #15 with Buzzsaw, Eject & Rewind.

Howlback

Howlback is a recolour of Ravage with the black plastic swapped for blue. This apparently is a homage to a very similar Microchange toy that I can't find any pictures of.

Howlback was part of the Cobalt Sentries 2-pack where he was packed with Garboil, a similar blue repaint of Laserbeak. Both tapes in this set have the Fortress Maximus weakness sticker mentioned above.

The Cobalt Sentries 2-pack was released as an E-Hobby exclusive in 2005 to compliment the release of Transformers Collection 18 Soundblaster with Ravage & Buzzsaw, the two tapes moulds which are reused in this pack.

Glit

Glit takes the Ravage mould and repaints it in white with blue metal legs and blue chromed weapons.

Glit is part of the Kiss Players cassette pack with Sundor, a repaint of Laserbeak, and Rosanna, a repaint of Eject/Rewind.

Glit's also got the wrong colour chromed weapons: they should be green for a great Tigatron homage.

I nearly bought the Kiss Players tape set last AA, maybe I will crack this year D:

It is a nice set, and does not include tentacle rape media.

-Ralph

Ramhorn

Ramhorn is a brown tape with a white label on one side. He can ride inside the tape deck or chest of any of the four Transformers Tape players.

Transformation: Take the tape with the all brown side facing you and the Autobot rubsign the right way up. Fold the head out from the top to the left and the tail from the top to the right. Fold the legs down from the bottom. Peg the moulded missile launchers into the holes on what is now the rear of the beast.

Ramhorn's beast mode is a rhino, with very short legs which helps to make the body look a lot bigger. He's got the same articulation as Ravage & Steeljaw: Head and tail move up and down, all four hips turn and each leg bends at the ankle & knee. He's equipped with a pair of square missile launchers each containing three non functional missiles with a sight mounted on the top. Like Ravage he suffers from being a bit thin but the large weapons help to build the body up at the rear compensating slightly.

Ramhorn's never thrilled me for some reason, no idea why. He's better than Eject & Rewind for sure, and you could argue for him being a better toy than Steeljaw.

Ramhorn was sold in 1986 & 1987 in the USA where he was packed with Eject. The Eject & Ramhorn 2-pack has a major variation where it's available with either silver or gold chromed weapons. The card art depicts gold weapons so I'd say that this is the definitive version. Neither version of this 2-pack was sold in the UK at the time but it was later available in the UK in the early 1990s as a grey import of the Chinese version.

Ramhorn was first reissued as part of Takara's Transformers Encore #15 Cassette Big Mission 2 with Ratbat, Slugfest & Steeljaw. He then reappears as part of the 2010 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Blaster package, where he once again has silver weapons. This pack also contains his original partner Eject, who also has silver weapons, & Steeljaw who has gold weapons.

Ramhorn has never had a repaint - how about doing him in beige with green chromed weapons as Rhinox?

Steeljaw

Steeljaw is another character that I was first introduced to via the Marvel's Transformers Universe handbook. I'd already seen a new Decepticon tape, Ratbat and three Decepticon tapes, Eject, Rewind & Ramhorn. I think I'd probably concluded, given the paired distribution of Ravage & Rumble and Frenzy & Laserbeak that there were two new tape pairings: an all Autobot one and an Autobot/Decepticon vs pack. So another new tape on the first page of Transformers Universe #4 was a surprise (I believe incidentally that Steeljaw is missing from the Transformers Universe trade paperback). And what a vibrant wonder he was: a yellow lion with gold weapons.

That was 1986. I first saw (and indeed owned) a Steeljaw in 1992 during my first year at University. He's a yellow cassette with an orange sticker on one side. Like all the cassettes he can be carried in the chest/tape compartment of Soundwave, Soundblaster, Blaster or Twincast.

Transformation: Put the yellow side of the tape towards you with the rubsign at the top and towards the left. Fold the tail back from the top right. Fold the legs down from the bottom of the tape. Pull back the rear half of the tape. Fold the left of the tape down slightly - it won't move far - then flip the head up from the side. Peg the weapons into his rear hips.

Oh I found Steeljaw's lion mode so disappointing compared to that Transformers Universe picture. Yes, he's got the same great articulation as Ravage and Ramhorn having a head & tail that move up & down, four turning hips, four bending knees and four bending ankles. But the mane didn't tip down far enough, the head was flat and inexpressive and the legs were yellow or metal, not the black shown on the picture. I was gutted. Fortunately his weapons are superb: a gun barrel with a huge wing attached. They look good on him but work even better as a jetpack for Rumble/Frenzy or rocket boosters for Laserbeak etc.

To this day I have never got over that initial disappointment and still look longingly at TFU thinking of what might have been.

In Japan he was first issued in 1986 numbered C-65 thought TF Wiki believe he had a re-release numbered C-120. He was then included with C-116 Twincast, a repaint and minor re-mould of Blaster, where he sports an extra sticker that when inserted into Twincasts's clear red tape deck shows a picture of a weak point on Scorponok.

Steeljaw's first modern release is part of Takara's 2006 Transformers Collection 21 where he was packed with Blaster. Steeljaw was then reissued as part of Takara's Transformers Encore #15 Cassette Big Mission 2 with Ratbat, Slugfest & Ramhorn. He finally (to date) reappears as part of the 2010 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Blaster package, where he has gold weapons unlike his fellow tapes included in the same set Eject and Ramhorn who also has silver weapons. Poor Rewind misses out in this set.

Steeljaw has never had a repaint - how about doing him in white with gold weapons as Lio Convoy/Leo Prime? Or in black with chromed orange as Razorclaw?

Slugfest

Slugfest is yet another Transformers cassette that I first encountered via Transformers Universe, but in this case the profile first appeared in the Marvel US Transformers comic, in issue 57.

Slugfest is a lime green mini cassette with some pink/purple patches at the bottom and an orange & silver label on one side.

Transformation: Turn the non-label side of the toy towards you with the pink/purple panels at the bottom. Fold these panels down as the legs. Fold the top two corners out to the sides and down to form the head & tail and to allow the spines to spring out. Plug the laser cannons into the rear holes on each sides.

Slugfest's beast mode is a lime green stegosaurus complete with pink/purple legs, which turn at the hips, and spines down his back. Both head & tail can bend upwards as well. His guns are big and chunky,with a large solar panel on the top which is a nice throwback to the Dinobot Stegosaurus Snarl whose spines were solar panels.

Slugfest deserves credit for doing something different with the tape concept. You can't go wrong with dinosaurs can you ?

Slugfest was originally release in the USA in 1987 where he was paired with Overkill. This 2-pack was not released in the UK, while in Japan the contents were sold individually as D-108 Slugfest and D-109 Overkill.

Slugfest has been re-released just once as part of Transformers Encore #17: Cassette Big Mission 2 with Ramhorn, Steeljaw and Ratbat

Slugfest has never been repainted. How about swapping the green for grey, purple for red and silver chrome for gold chrome to create a Dinobot Snarl Tape?

Phil, some excellent reviewage there. Good to see the tapes getting thy customary treatment. I actually think that the cassettes are amongst my favourite toys, and have been since back in the day.

In fact I have just become fonder of them over the years I have to say. I feel a little saddened that their alt-mode is no longer so everyday though. I remember when I started my current job we had an answering machine that took those Micro-cassettes and there was something amusing about the mental image of people leaving their messages about their leaky tap to be recorded onto a deep-cover Ravage.

I think my favourite of the cassettes is actually Slugfest though. It is the endearing facial expression, and the sheer unexpectedness of a tape turning into a dinosaur the size of a small car.



Ah! So that is what the Classics Ravage repaint in this years BotCon assortment is homaging! Actually that does look it it would be a rather nice colour scheme. Hmmmm. I'm starting to like the look of that KP tape set after all....

Karl

Dude, that Soundwave review is as iconic as the toy itself! Loved it. I missed out on one in the 80s, despite my Dad searching the country high and low, this being way before the internet of course! Got a reissue a couple of years ago, and I love him as much as I love my child! Well, almost as much. I find Cybertron Soundwave a good modern stand in. I like the fact he is a stealth jet, fits Soundwave's personality well. Laserbeak's 'barrel'ness isn't good though, and the robot modes legs are awefully skinny. But generally I think he's cool.