CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT/CUSTOM
MATERIALS USED: HOBBY KNIFE, ENAMEL PAINTS, REPRODUCTION LABELS
FIRST APPEARANCE: "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE" PART 1 (THE TRANSFORMERS)

"That's better, Soundwave!  Much, much better!"

Preamble:  The original Soundwave toy is easily one of the coolest Transformers in history.  Released during a time period when the simple fact that a toy could transform was considered a marketable gimmick in and of itself, Soundwave was still loaded with extra features (a spring-loaded tape deck door and the ability to store any of the mini cassettes; weapons that folded up into AA batteries; a realistic volume dial and on/off switch; and a belt clip that made him conveniently portable).  He was also one of the biggest and most imposing 1984 toys, even taller than Optimus Prime, and he had around 16 points of articulation in an era when a great many Transformers had between two to four functional useful joints to their name.

Somebody at Hasbro must have recognized what a crowning Takara achievement the Soundwave toy truly was.  He became the literal face of the Decepticons, with the official Decepticon symbol being a stylized interpretation, but nevertheless very clearly modeled, after his own visage.  The producers of the cartoon series at Sunbow also recognized the potential of Soundwave when the series was under development.  Rather than simply casting him as yet another generic villain, Soundwave was given a voice unlike any other character in the series, courtesy of a vocoder effect that transformed Frank Welker's growling delivery into an other-worldly and altogether unique sound.  Soundwave was a popular character, among the blessed few 1984 characters to survive the movie, and enjoyed three years of production before the original toy was discontinued.  Hasbro brought him back as an Action Master, and the original toy was also retooled and resold in Japan under the name Soundblaster.

Needless to say, Soundwave is a favorite character of mine.  Even though I'm well aware that the toys were designed and created well before the cartoon designs ever existed, the cartoon depictions of the characters nevertheless remain my vision of the true characters, and thus I prefer the existing physical representations of the characters in toy form to more closely resemble the animated depictions of the characters whenever possible.

Construction:  This was partly a restoration project, since this Soundwave toy (my second one, actually) wasn't in what you would call fantastic condition.  He was loose and floppy, and literally couldn't stand up unsupported, so I wanted to try to restore the original condition of his joints before I painted him.  First, I stripped the existing stickers off, including the heat-sensitive rub symbol, and then I disassembled him.  Soundwave's got somewhat flexible metal plates inside his shoulders that press against his metal shoulder axles; bending them slightly with a pair of pliers created sufficient resistance to tighten these joints.  Much to my surprise, I discovered that he was also supposed to have knee joints that locked in place (I got this Soundwave pre-owned and he was already well loved), so I carved down little bits of plastic and glued them to the inside of his knees so that they would rest in the locking slots.

 As a kid, I had previously discovered with my first Soundwave (may he rest in pieces) that breaking off the plastic on the back of his knees would give him functional knee articulation.  I did the same thing to this one, only with a bit more precision than the first time, using an X-Acto knife.  This vastly improved the robot mode articulation without significantly affecting his cassette player mode.

Having disassembled the toy into its component parts, I painted his elbow hinges blue, as well as the chrome spaces in between his cassette player buttons.  I painted his face grey, his eyes red, and scored some grooves in his knees before adding the blue and yellow paint deco.  His cassette window became light blue with a yellow border.  For the red stripes on his forearms and weapons, I took some scrap stickers, trimmed them to the correct size, and painted the strips red before applying them.  A reproduction Decepticon symbol completed the look.

Right now, I consider this project unfinished.  I need to go back and repaint the blue and grey parts, and I've been toying with the idea of kitbashing a new head and face mask that more closely matches the cartoon version of Soundwave.  The work I've done on him so far is still an improvement, though.

Comments:  Soundwave is, incidentally, the only original Transformers toy that can turn into his original Cybertronic mode, as depicted in "More Than Meets the Eye" part 1 before he left Cybertron and gained his Earth mode transformation.  (I'm not actually sure just what he turns into, mind you.  A mailbox, perhaps.)