It really never occurred to me how little the pricing made sense for these, until you brought out Blaster and Thundertron. And even the sprue justification falls apart because the Ratbat mold was originally part of a two pack with Frenzy. The micromaster that comes with thundertron is a repaint of Skarr which was a new head version of the ratbat which came in the spy patrol cassette four pack, with rumble, Wingthing and knok. So they were able to separate the bat cassette from the rumble/frenzy cassette and put it with thundertron, but they couldn't separate Buzzsaw from ravage and sell the soundwave as a voyager? If they're going to insist on selling the figure as leader, they should have included all four of Soundwave's typical minions. At least then it wouldn't feel like such an obvious rip off when compared to blaster, a better painted, more complex figure that isn't a retool of another figure that came with a cassette at the voyager price point.
@@MaxM210 Thank you for also pointing out the flaw that "Laserbeak and Ravage have to come together" when yes, Ratbat/Wingthings mold has been parsed out.
In terms of price value, the Soundwave is a voyager which about 37 with tax, buzzsaw and ravage are a micromaster set which is about 12 with tax, and rumble is a core which is about 12 with tax. Those are their separate retain prices, and that adds up to 61 dollars. That does match leader pricing. With that said I understand where you're coming from, as the cassettes don't quite justify their original price value. I joined around kingdom, so I completely missed the netflix soundwave (glad too because it yellows to hell and back) and I'd grabbed this since I wanted a proper scaled g1 soundwave; I do enjoy this set very much, and it gives me 3 of his cassettes that I don't have to buy separately for inflated prices.
Blaster/Twincast has way less pieces. There are less parts on a sprue and less labor to assemble/paint them. The remaining budget then allows a simple cassette-bot as an accessory. The more sprues, the higher the cost to manufacture a mold; which can range from $100,000 - $200,000 each. It can also cost tens of thousands more just to repair and maintain said molds. This is why a lot of voyagers have random scale and sizes, such as Leo Prime, Blaster, and Tarn. Hasbro couldn't add-in a "freebie" cassette bot because the parts count on Soundwave most likely exceeded the Voyager price budget allotted for that wave. Feel free to take a part your old Netflix Soundwave and Blaster and count the number of individual parts. Blaster was able to include a cassette-bot because Eject shared it's parts on the same sprue as Blaster. Not to mention there's not a lot of parts on both bots. Remember, the budget is spread across their wave of release for that quarter; not for the entire calendar year. That's why sometimes you'll only have 4 different deluxes in one wave, while the most recent one only has 3. That's because one of those figures are eating up most of the deluxe budget allotted for that wave release. Perfect example would be G1 Deluxe Optimus Prime. A good chunk of the deluxe wave's budget was allotted for his slot. This is what you get, (8) separate sprues to assemble: Clear Blue = Matrix/guns (painted glossy black) Clear Orange = Energon Axe Clear Plastic = Windows/Eyes (painted yellow) Opaque Blue = Legs/head Opaque Red A = Body Opaque Red B = Joints (made with a denser plastic) Opaque Grey = Thighs/hubcaps/Smoke Stacks, Soft PVC black plastic = Tires Most deluxes are generally 4 sprues, but because Optimus is an evergreen character, Hasbro gave it an insane budget. Unfortunately, it also means that some corners were cut, such as the shortened thighs/legs, making him much shorter by scale, even after being scaled down from his original G1 counterpart. Hasbro could have released Soundwave with 1 bare-bones cassette-bot, but that would require an entirely different mold/sprue to repair and maintain. It would literally put the figure way beyond it's voyager budget. Hasbro was able to include 2 cassette-bots in the Netflix version years ago, due to working with Wal-Mart directly. Toy companies first need a reasonable MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) with their retail partner. The bigger the order, the less it costs to manufacture the toys at a factory level. Being Wal-mart, it was a huge order, so Hasbro was able to add Battle Masters/Micro Masters to most Voyagers/Leaders in the Netflix line. That's also why the most recent Wal-mart exclusive was able to pack in 1 Micro Master, 1 Deluxe and 1 Voyager for the price of a Leader class. It was a ridiculously high MOQ. By no means am I defending Hasbro, but I am attempting to explain how the toy industry functions as a whole.
@@PolishTamales i see the points you're making, but Soundwave is also an evergreen character that people are constantly clamoring for so allotting more budget for him should've been the move. We've seen Hasbro adjust pricing before as well, like leader Thundertron being $5 more than a regular leader and I'm sure if Hasbro packed a Voyager Soundwave with Buzzsaw at $40 then everyone would be happy. A big issue I have with this is that Hasbro/Takara has def made the money on the molds used in the pack as there's 0 new parts so they should be able to pack things cheaper like they did in the past. There's good insight here, but it doesn't really change my thoughts on the pack or how they should've gone about this release
You know, I'm still looking forward to getting this one in the future but I appreciate an honest negative review! Biggest issue why I haven't gotten it yet is cuz I'm waiting for a discount 🥴
I bought this pack and I really like it. I am a newer collector, and Soundwave is one of my favourite characters. The NF Soundwave mold has been unavailable for several years and was going for insane prices on the aftermarket. SS86 Rumble has also been really hard to find at a reasonable price. In fact, most of the 86 Rumbles I see for sale are almost as expensive as Leader Soundwave.
I have Netflix Soundwave along with Rumble and Ravage (Laserbeak is around the house somewhere). I had to go out of my way to get Rumble and Frenzy, and personally those are terrific where I don't need the repaint. I can't justify the price for just Buzzsaw. If someone didn't have Soundwave and none of those tapes, yes it would be good deal.
6:05 the only problem with the leader thundertron is that hes 20$ more than soundwave (at least in my stores) so i think soundwave has a better value for me atleast
Ill be honest I'm a newer collector and stuff like this is great for me, yeah it's overpriced but as a new guy who just wanted a Soundwave and Ravage it did its job for me pretty well
I'm glad! I mention that this would be really cool for new collectors, but saying you only wanted 1 of the 3 cassettes proves my point that a Voyager Soundwave with 1 cassette wouldve been better for all consumers
There are some Netflix Soundwaves that are almost entirely bronze, if not gold matching his paint. It doesn't look bad, it's just inaccurate and makes him look blinged out
Like it or hate it their prices are voyager 35 core class rumble a micromaster with accessories 12 bucks and seeing as the two pack of micromasters without accessories before was the same price point 12 bucks again so 24 +35 is 64 and the price of this is 55. So what are we bitching about core rumble? Soundwave has more accessories than blaster one is kinda useless and no one gets but it's on the spru that's why he don't get a pack in micromaster. I agreed to buy rumble and Frenzy at core price to come with their accessories so I can't really bitch at their perceived worth here as it still comes with said accessories. Just my opinion, I see where the numbers come from and you do get a better deal with thundertron by like 6 dollars of extra value but it's also an exclusive.
@@krizilid the Core Class Frumble just doesn't feel up to par with other cores like Iguanus and Optimus. The lack of elbows is really inexcusable imo. At $10 plus tax for a core, the cassettes don't hold up compared to almost anything else in the size class
@Bots_Obsession I believe the lack of elbows was intentional for piledrivers, also it still had to fit into soundwave so they upscaled it as much as they could and gave us all the accessories we needed to have with them at least 6 parts of accessories which puts it well above a single micromaster if you're looking at parts count the accessories could equal a second micromaster and thus one micromaster plus accessories equals or at least close enough to a twin pack without accessories. Iguanas and Optimus was just the figures with one part accessories comparing the cassette by itself to that seems a lil unobjective, but I do get feeling it's not worth it subjectively.
Haven't bought it even though I seen it at GameStop multiple times. I have the Netflix and I feel like they did all us fans dirty. I haven't wanted to do purchase this and expect a new mould soon for the character eventually. If not then we shall see I just really feel dirty about buying it when I already have both siege and Netflix Lazer leak and ravage and don't need a third ravage.
@@kachowskien my biggest gripe is nothing in the set feels like a good value of its price point. Soundwave is a lackluster "voyager" (never had a solo release), Frumble is the worst core class, Laserbeak and Ravage are ok if not just a little flawed. So charging a premium for it feels bad
I think any value for money that you could criticize this guy for is mostly just with the core rumble or frenzy. If maybe instead he also included the other rumble and frenzy instead of all of the two pieces of plastic on his arms, then I think it would be a really good value for money honestly, especially considering the fact that those studio series releases are so unbelievably impossible to find for a reasonable price for literally no reason. It's definitely not as good of a value for money as the thundertron pack, but then again, I still think the gap between that and this is infinitely smaller than the gap between this soundwave and that ATROCIOUS studio series 86 Springer which is literally just a voyager they released prior, but instead of coming with 3 extra figures, it's a bunch of canisters, and that's it. That's not to say that this is entirely excusable, but I think my biggest issue with this set is that outside of the people who couldn't get the original earthrise release and wanted to finally get it, there's no reason to buy it as we should just wait for the studio series one, which is probably gonna be a way better figure anyways (hopefully it also has better tape decks, like I'm sorry but that siege ravage is one of the worst molds in recent times, and ravage deserves better). Honestly, I think the only thing I majorly disagree with you is that while core class frumble's value for money is questionable, I would still argue that four of the six dinobots are way worse core classes than rumble and frenzy (not to mention steeljaw, who doesn't even look good, and they didn't even give him the second accessory that he needed, yet he is still ten dollars for a five dollar figure).
@@AwesomeMooseSmile I agree the Core Frumble is horrible on the after market and a reissue is good. I just think they could've restocked on Pulse and fan outlets rather than upcharging on a soundwave that should've just been a voyager.
I'm just exhausted. Like... nothing in this pack is bad. I dare say everything is better than what came before. But after Netflix Soundwave yellowed, and I bought the Dramatic Capture version intending that to be it... but then Hasbro made this set the only way to get Buzzsaw. It's incredibly frustrating. Especially because I enjoy the NF Soundwave mould. It's just tiresome to get retread it so many times.
my netflix soundwave looks like absolute shit so yeah i ordered this new one for the paint refresh + buzzsaw even though I have the fuckin FansToys KO. Something nice about the Hasbro ones. Got it for $50 on amazon a few weeks ago so at least saved $5
It really never occurred to me how little the pricing made sense for these, until you brought out Blaster and Thundertron. And even the sprue justification falls apart because the Ratbat mold was originally part of a two pack with Frenzy. The micromaster that comes with thundertron is a repaint of Skarr which was a new head version of the ratbat which came in the spy patrol cassette four pack, with rumble, Wingthing and knok. So they were able to separate the bat cassette from the rumble/frenzy cassette and put it with thundertron, but they couldn't separate Buzzsaw from ravage and sell the soundwave as a voyager? If they're going to insist on selling the figure as leader, they should have included all four of Soundwave's typical minions. At least then it wouldn't feel like such an obvious rip off when compared to blaster, a better painted, more complex figure that isn't a retool of another figure that came with a cassette at the voyager price point.
@@MaxM210 Thank you for also pointing out the flaw that "Laserbeak and Ravage have to come together" when yes, Ratbat/Wingthings mold has been parsed out.
Blaster gets special treatment because he's Blaster. Great video. Cheers!
In terms of price value, the Soundwave is a voyager which about 37 with tax, buzzsaw and ravage are a micromaster set which is about 12 with tax, and rumble is a core which is about 12 with tax. Those are their separate retain prices, and that adds up to 61 dollars. That does match leader pricing. With that said I understand where you're coming from, as the cassettes don't quite justify their original price value. I joined around kingdom, so I completely missed the netflix soundwave (glad too because it yellows to hell and back) and I'd grabbed this since I wanted a proper scaled g1 soundwave; I do enjoy this set very much, and it gives me 3 of his cassettes that I don't have to buy separately for inflated prices.
Blaster/Twincast has way less pieces. There are less parts on a sprue and less labor to assemble/paint them. The remaining budget then allows a simple cassette-bot as an accessory. The more sprues, the higher the cost to manufacture a mold; which can range from $100,000 - $200,000 each. It can also cost tens of thousands more just to repair and maintain said molds.
This is why a lot of voyagers have random scale and sizes, such as Leo Prime, Blaster, and Tarn. Hasbro couldn't add-in a "freebie" cassette bot because the parts count on Soundwave most likely exceeded the Voyager price budget allotted for that wave. Feel free to take a part your old Netflix Soundwave and Blaster and count the number of individual parts. Blaster was able to include a cassette-bot because Eject shared it's parts on the same sprue as Blaster. Not to mention there's not a lot of parts on both bots.
Remember, the budget is spread across their wave of release for that quarter; not for the entire calendar year. That's why sometimes you'll only have 4 different deluxes in one wave, while the most recent one only has 3. That's because one of those figures are eating up most of the deluxe budget allotted for that wave release.
Perfect example would be G1 Deluxe Optimus Prime.
A good chunk of the deluxe wave's budget was allotted for his slot. This is what you get, (8) separate sprues to assemble:
Clear Blue = Matrix/guns (painted glossy black)
Clear Orange = Energon Axe
Clear Plastic = Windows/Eyes (painted yellow)
Opaque Blue = Legs/head
Opaque Red A = Body
Opaque Red B = Joints (made with a denser plastic)
Opaque Grey = Thighs/hubcaps/Smoke Stacks,
Soft PVC black plastic = Tires
Most deluxes are generally 4 sprues, but because Optimus is an evergreen character, Hasbro gave it an insane budget. Unfortunately, it also means that some corners were cut, such as the shortened thighs/legs, making him much shorter by scale, even after being scaled down from his original G1 counterpart.
Hasbro could have released Soundwave with 1 bare-bones cassette-bot, but that would require an entirely different mold/sprue to repair and maintain. It would literally put the figure way beyond it's voyager budget.
Hasbro was able to include 2 cassette-bots in the Netflix version years ago, due to working with Wal-Mart directly. Toy companies first need a reasonable MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) with their retail partner. The bigger the order, the less it costs to manufacture the toys at a factory level. Being Wal-mart, it was a huge order, so Hasbro was able to add Battle Masters/Micro Masters to most Voyagers/Leaders in the Netflix line. That's also why the most recent Wal-mart exclusive was able to pack in 1 Micro Master, 1 Deluxe and 1 Voyager for the price of a Leader class. It was a ridiculously high MOQ.
By no means am I defending Hasbro, but I am attempting to explain how the toy industry functions as a whole.
@@PolishTamales i see the points you're making, but Soundwave is also an evergreen character that people are constantly clamoring for so allotting more budget for him should've been the move. We've seen Hasbro adjust pricing before as well, like leader Thundertron being $5 more than a regular leader and I'm sure if Hasbro packed a Voyager Soundwave with Buzzsaw at $40 then everyone would be happy. A big issue I have with this is that Hasbro/Takara has def made the money on the molds used in the pack as there's 0 new parts so they should be able to pack things cheaper like they did in the past.
There's good insight here, but it doesn't really change my thoughts on the pack or how they should've gone about this release
I sanded down the handles of my Legacy Deluxe Optimus's guns, and they are plain transparent plastic, not blue. The blue matrix is its own sprue.
You know, I'm still looking forward to getting this one in the future but I appreciate an honest negative review! Biggest issue why I haven't gotten it yet is cuz I'm waiting for a discount 🥴
Only way I would go for this at this price would have been if it came with new cassettes like slugfest and overkill
Thank you🙏, we need more people to call hasbro out on shit like this.
My netflix soundwave was sooo bad... like you yellow, mine went GREEN...
I bought this pack and I really like it. I am a newer collector, and Soundwave is one of my favourite characters. The NF Soundwave mold has been unavailable for several years and was going for insane prices on the aftermarket. SS86 Rumble has also been really hard to find at a reasonable price. In fact, most of the 86 Rumbles I see for sale are almost as expensive as Leader Soundwave.
I really want the next generations Soundwave to be the Cybertron version
That'd be DOPE
I'm guessing one of the designers was threaten to be fired just to put soundwave in the line
@@tahumusprime6751 its just a really disappointing release. Im sure they thought they were helping collectors but I'm unimpressed and disappointed
A valid criticism. I still think this is worth buying once it hits clearance.
I have Netflix Soundwave along with Rumble and Ravage (Laserbeak is around the house somewhere). I had to go out of my way to get Rumble and Frenzy, and personally those are terrific where I don't need the repaint. I can't justify the price for just Buzzsaw. If someone didn't have Soundwave and none of those tapes, yes it would be good deal.
6:05 the only problem with the leader thundertron is that hes 20$ more than soundwave (at least in my stores) so i think soundwave has a better value for me atleast
@PortalBricks thats wild. He's only $5 more than the average leader at retail in USA
Ill be honest I'm a newer collector and stuff like this is great for me, yeah it's overpriced but as a new guy who just wanted a Soundwave and Ravage it did its job for me pretty well
I'm glad! I mention that this would be really cool for new collectors, but saying you only wanted 1 of the 3 cassettes proves my point that a Voyager Soundwave with 1 cassette wouldve been better for all consumers
There are some Netflix Soundwaves that are almost entirely bronze, if not gold matching his paint. It doesn't look bad, it's just inaccurate and makes him look blinged out
Like it or hate it their prices are voyager 35 core class rumble a micromaster with accessories 12 bucks and seeing as the two pack of micromasters without accessories before was the same price point 12 bucks again so 24 +35 is 64 and the price of this is 55. So what are we bitching about core rumble? Soundwave has more accessories than blaster one is kinda useless and no one gets but it's on the spru that's why he don't get a pack in micromaster. I agreed to buy rumble and Frenzy at core price to come with their accessories so I can't really bitch at their perceived worth here as it still comes with said accessories. Just my opinion, I see where the numbers come from and you do get a better deal with thundertron by like 6 dollars of extra value but it's also an exclusive.
@@krizilid the Core Class Frumble just doesn't feel up to par with other cores like Iguanus and Optimus. The lack of elbows is really inexcusable imo. At $10 plus tax for a core, the cassettes don't hold up compared to almost anything else in the size class
@Bots_Obsession I believe the lack of elbows was intentional for piledrivers, also it still had to fit into soundwave so they upscaled it as much as they could and gave us all the accessories we needed to have with them at least 6 parts of accessories which puts it well above a single micromaster if you're looking at parts count the accessories could equal a second micromaster and thus one micromaster plus accessories equals or at least close enough to a twin pack without accessories. Iguanas and Optimus was just the figures with one part accessories comparing the cassette by itself to that seems a lil unobjective, but I do get feeling it's not worth it subjectively.
Haven't bought it even though I seen it at GameStop multiple times. I have the Netflix and I feel like they did all us fans dirty. I haven't wanted to do purchase this and expect a new mould soon for the character eventually. If not then we shall see I just really feel dirty about buying it when I already have both siege and Netflix Lazer leak and ravage and don't need a third ravage.
@@coolcrusaders7778 thats how I felt. I really wanted to like this and it fell so flat
It would be a much better sell for me if it was enemy and howlback
@@kachowskien my biggest gripe is nothing in the set feels like a good value of its price point.
Soundwave is a lackluster "voyager" (never had a solo release), Frumble is the worst core class, Laserbeak and Ravage are ok if not just a little flawed.
So charging a premium for it feels bad
Could be worse, could be thundertron which the only reason why you would get it is because of the blue guy and damn that’s a nice blue guy
there are 2 blue guys in that box
@ I’m talking about the blue guy not the blue guy
I think any value for money that you could criticize this guy for is mostly just with the core rumble or frenzy. If maybe instead he also included the other rumble and frenzy instead of all of the two pieces of plastic on his arms, then I think it would be a really good value for money honestly, especially considering the fact that those studio series releases are so unbelievably impossible to find for a reasonable price for literally no reason. It's definitely not as good of a value for money as the thundertron pack, but then again, I still think the gap between that and this is infinitely smaller than the gap between this soundwave and that ATROCIOUS studio series 86 Springer which is literally just a voyager they released prior, but instead of coming with 3 extra figures, it's a bunch of canisters, and that's it. That's not to say that this is entirely excusable, but I think my biggest issue with this set is that outside of the people who couldn't get the original earthrise release and wanted to finally get it, there's no reason to buy it as we should just wait for the studio series one, which is probably gonna be a way better figure anyways (hopefully it also has better tape decks, like I'm sorry but that siege ravage is one of the worst molds in recent times, and ravage deserves better).
Honestly, I think the only thing I majorly disagree with you is that while core class frumble's value for money is questionable, I would still argue that four of the six dinobots are way worse core classes than rumble and frenzy (not to mention steeljaw, who doesn't even look good, and they didn't even give him the second accessory that he needed, yet he is still ten dollars for a five dollar figure).
@@AwesomeMooseSmile I agree the Core Frumble is horrible on the after market and a reissue is good. I just think they could've restocked on Pulse and fan outlets rather than upcharging on a soundwave that should've just been a voyager.
In your opinion, should I buy the Legacy Soundesve set or the Generation One 40th Anniversary re-issue?!
@@rollin-kimblecroskey9110 depends on budget and what works in your collection.
I dont even like the base toy because it tries to be mp13 and then doesnt deliver on anything that made mp13 so great.
I'm just exhausted. Like... nothing in this pack is bad. I dare say everything is better than what came before.
But after Netflix Soundwave yellowed, and I bought the Dramatic Capture version intending that to be it... but then Hasbro made this set the only way to get Buzzsaw. It's incredibly frustrating.
Especially because I enjoy the NF Soundwave mould.
It's just tiresome to get retread it so many times.
so does it turn yellow
@@notcookie5180 hopefully, this one does not
I highly disagree but I still love you *kisses*
@@dergrat at $55 he's mid
my netflix soundwave looks like absolute shit so yeah i ordered this new one for the paint refresh + buzzsaw even though I have the fuckin FansToys KO. Something nice about the Hasbro ones. Got it for $50 on amazon a few weeks ago so at least saved $5