 Soundwave with Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ravage
As Good As It's Gonna Get?
Transformers Studio Series Leader Class Toy
Item No.: Asst. G0374 No. G1904
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Includes: Battery blaster, battery shoulder thing, 3 tapes with 3 accessories each
Action Feature: Transforms from Robot to Tank
Retail: $59.99
Availability: December 2025
Other: The best Soundwave so far
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We got a similar set a year ago, finally delivering on a hard-to-get cobbled-together set that you may or may not want to keep. Soundwave, Rumble, Ravage, and Buzzsaw [FOTD #2,792] delivered a great experience (and may have replaced a yellowed Soundwave) in 2025, but 14 months later you could get this Soundwave with Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ravage. Gradual upgrades are kind of annoying, and I think at this point fans can assume any main character in any Hasbro franchise will likely get redone a few more times. Each one offers features missing in previous releases, but not all the features. As of now, there's no easy way to get Frenzy/Rumble so if you didn't get that Studio Series 86 release before? Good luck, pal. But you're wondering if this 2025 $60 set is worth the upgrade. Yes, yes it is.
Hasbro has been hesitant to do all-new Soundwave tape deck toys. We've had new alt modes, with variations on deployers, but precious few audio microcassette recorders with little guys who are designed to look like tapes. Remember the Fall of Cybertron discs? No? Well, that's OK, as Masterpiece Edition Soundwave had more-or-less G1 scale tapes, and the Siege-era tapes are pretty much identical to these new ones. Hasbro streamlined Soundwave and removed a lot of the vestigial space ship parts, resulting in a sleek, smooth, and much lighter-feeling toy. But he has better articulation and a better transformation, so go dump the old one on eBay and get this one. (Keep the tapes, though.)
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This new SS86 Soundwave is taller, lighter, and sleeker than the Seige space ship that got retooled as a Netflix tape deck which was repackaged for Legacy. Hasbro added in some wacky unfolding shoulder joints that let him pose much more dynamically with a blaster, but the new arms can't push his own "eject" button. I find that a bummer. The sculpting is much sleeker, with less ridges, lines, and greeblies. That's what they should be doing with a cartoon-specific line, but it still has elements of the toy. The clear chest window, for one, has a little unpainted arrow sculpted on it. I would've gone with an opaque tape deck door, but that's me. The figure dropped the light-up eyes and looks all the better for it.
The articulation seems better. He retains the double-jointed elbows and adds a finger joint, better ankles, and those handy shoulders. It's not a massive overhaul, but putting in swivel wrists make it a little better than the Voyager-class mold we've been getting for years. Also, you can get him to push the button with a little fuss. It feels a little light, but he's light on gaps. Since I found out the gap-filler community is now buying fillers for the soles of the feet, I assume people with too much money feel a need to pop parts in the tiny shoulder holes or perhaps the soles or the area around the knees. And to them, I say I wish I had your toy spend budgets.
I found transforming him into a tape deck to be relatively simple, but not as simple or elegant as the 1984 toy. There's no battery compartment, and the arms hanging off the back feel clunky. You wind up getting the best robot to date with a very good tape deck. The door is just a hair bigger, easily fitting in the new tapes as well as the previously released deployers. I'm super happy Hasbro just made it barely, slightly bigger so you won't be angry about compatibility issues.
Colors are good, shapes are nice, and the deco is about as good as the cartoon. The shoulder cannon has lots of added red lights to it, which is above and beyond what I expected. It also has a little slot on top, and I am not sure why.
The tapes are all good upgrades, and the right three to pack in for most fans. Toy kids want Buzzsaw, cartoon kids want Laserbeak, and everybody wants a better version of Ravage. I would not say this version of Ravage is the best - the G1 toy is - but it's the best non-masterpiece toy in recent memory. The head is a little chunky, but looks good. Articulation is excellent, and the blasters were moved from the figure's hips to the top, with the tail as a separate element. Given the limits of what you can do with a tiny box, the added kibble is probably necessary to get a decent red-eyed cat bot. I don't think he's perfect, and I assume they'll try to redo him again eventually. I would say this is probably the best one we've had in years, though, and someone will undoubtedly 3D print better tail kibble parts.
Joining him are Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, making this one of very few times you get two of the same toy in a box together. Each toy has a 3-part kibble piece to make the blasters, which can also be held as a weapon for a bigger 'bot. The tapes are the same size, with a glossy painted red (or gold) chest and gold eyes. The wings and everything else are basically the same, and now fold out and untuck for an elongated wingspan. I think they both look great, if a little bland. The Siege guys had super colorful wings, with Buzzsaw getting a painted beak. These new guys do look more like the cartoon, but the Siege and Legacy birds were so good in their own right that I would recommend hanging on to them. The new wings have silver paint and tiny Decepticon symbols, making them better overall but I once again would not be surprised if Hasbro does new ones later. I can't say these or Siege are better - they're different enough that neither one seems like a loser. But you can dump Siege Ravage.
I would grouse about $60, but $60 gets you four figures. Rumble cost us about $10, so even if you figure each tape at around $8 and Soundwave at about $36, the whole package gives you enough toy for your buck that I would not complain. I really think Hasbro should have opted for a lighter chest door, but otherwise this is a really nice toy. The plastic quality doesn't seem as fancy as SS86 Hot Rod, but it's good enough. I suspect someone is smart enough to be working on a black Soundblaster redeco/retool already, and I assume this is a toy fans will be chasing down for a few years. I can't imagine Hasbro will meet initial demand just because demand is probably going to snowball once people get their hands on it and everybody slowly comes to terms with it being worth picking up. I would also bet money that there will be an even better one by 2032. Live for today, get this one when you see it.
Confidential to Hasbro: You could have sold a Commander-class Soundwave with even more tapes and fans would have eaten it up.
--Adam Pawlus
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