From Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers

Dave's Transformers Cyberworld Rant: Energon Surge

Deep Sea Explorer Soundwave (Submarine)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/CW/Soundwave

The second year of Cyberworld has the line-wide Energon Surge gimmick, which means everything gets at least some clear plastic bits and all but the smallest Cyber Changer class gets clear plastic accessories of some sort.
Still no elbows. While this is used to let them recycle a lot of molds, the bigger toys are getting all new molds, so far it looks like they aren't
reusing any of the Season 1 molds bigger than Armored Cyber Changers ($15-18 price point).
Note, Cyberworld toys continue to not be available from Hasbro Pulse,
and while Target does carry the line too, Walmart is the main place to find them (and it has several exclusives each season).


CAPSULE

$35 at Walmart.

Soundwave: It's big and has an amusing high concept, but it's very
hollow, low in articulation, and otherwise feels cheap. The altmode has a
sort of Actionmaster Elite feel to it. Very mildly recommended.


RANT

Packaging: An upsized version of the Cyber Changer "folded over card
with border around the bottom" style, although they also added an upper left corner that's just big enough to have the transformation cartouche in front
of the figure's right arm. The only other significant change to the trade dress is the addition of the Energon Surge line logo in the lower right. There's also room on the side for a QR code that goes to the YouTube page for Cyberworld.
The instructions are between the folded over layers of corrugated cardboard on the main backing card, and it can be removed without completely disassembling the tray.


DECEPTICON: SOUNDWAVE
Zone: Water
Altmode: Submarine
Transformation Difficulty: 3 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
Package Cosells: Cyber Changers Optimus Prime, Cheetor, Bumblebee, Autobot
Jazz (all Energon Surge)

Yeah, he's just a tentacle monster now. Other versions of Soundwave
have given him interface cables that had a tentacle aspect to them (notably
the Prime version), but this is outright a robotic sea monster with energy tentacles (which are used in his first cartoon appearance to wrap up Elita-1, so...).

Packaging: Four double-ties hold the robot to the tray, plus a single
tie holding the right arm tentacles in and a rubber band around the left arm tentacles. The attachment peg on the back is protected by a cardboard rectangle taped around it. The cockpit pieces are held down by three more ties, and stuck inside is a cardboard loop holding the Energon crown
accessory. The cockpit is in flattened backpack mode (not shown on the package, and the instructions just treat it as a packaging mode, but you can attach it in robot mode to the back as a very tall backpack that's a little less bulky than just putting the cockpit there).
I will note that the packaging claim of a 3 step transformation is a bit disingenuous, as it assumes that the cockpit is already attached to the back instead of being used as a capture weapon in robot mode.

Robot Mode: At first glance, it's Soundwave with tentacles on his arms
and a giant backpack. While there isn't a tape compartment on the chest, there's molded speaker cones on the shoulders and shins, the usual head, and the colors sort of normal but with a lot more white. However, at closer
look, there's more weird about it than just the tentacles and backpack. The faceplate has a zigzag of chomper teeth (reminds me of various iron-jawed supervillains). There's some cables on the forearms that look like an infection of some sort, and more open panels showing conduits than are
normally seen on Soundwave (more G2 Jhiaxus or Liege Maximo sort of details), plus a sort of collar of semi-organic-looking cables. There's also some thrusters on the boots and toes, as a nod to the submarine nature of the altmode. Oh, and more of a concession to physics than an indication of corruption, the heel spurs are REALLY long, as long as the entire rest of the foot, so that the figure doesn't kip over backwards when the backpack is attached. Also, lots of hollow spaces on the limbs and head, standard for
this cheapo kiddie line.
9" (22.5cm) tall in mostly darkish medium blue, white, and light gray, plus red and yellow accents and purple tentacles. Blue plastic is used for
the head, torso front/back/top, shoulder joints, arms, left arm tentacle holder, inner parts of the hip joints, and lower legs. White plastic is in
the core of the torso, the pelvis, and the thighs. The feet and part of the backpack (see below) are light gray plastic. The two tentacles on the right forearm are rubbery purple plastic with bend-em wires down the centers (the wires are solidly connected to the base, so the tentacles can only turn as
much as the flexibility allows), while the three left arm tentacles and much
of the backpack are rigid clear purple plastic.
There's gloss bright yellow paint on the shoulder fronts, center of the chest, and some details on the sides of the chest front. The open panels and speaker cones on the shins are painted gloss deep red, which is also used for the visor and wrist stripes. The faceplate, cheeks, and forehead triangle
are painted silver. Most of each forearm is painted gloss white, with the infectious cables left blue. There's more paint on the backpack, covered below.
No neck or waist. The shoulders are pinned hinge and swivel universal joints, but no elbows or wrists. Pinned hinge and swivel hips, hinge knees that snap in place. The toes can point down for transformation but tab into place for stability. The two right arm tentacles (each 8"/20cm) long are articulated in that they're bend-ems, although the last quarter of each has
no wire. The three left arm tentacles (3.5"/9cm long) are hinged at their bases, and the whole assembly can spin freely around. A decade ago, there'd have been a button to push to make it spin (and to justify the lack of
elbows), but not anymore. The hinges are just strong enough to support a grabbed figure if you're careful.
The fists can hold 5mm pegs, and there are also 5mm sockets on the outer faces of the forearms, the top of the backpack, and the outer faces of the hips. The screw socket on the back of the pelvis is also about 5mm, although it's blocked somewhat by the backpack when that's attached. The backpack attaches with a nonstandard semi-mushroom peg and is stabilized by two fins that fit into indents on the sides.
One of the linewide gimmicks for anything bigger than Cyber Changers is snap-on Energon (or Dark Energon) accessories, and on the Ultimate Cyber Changers the accessories assemble into something. I tend to think the tentacles are sufficient to fulfill the Energon Surge premise, but they
decided Soundwave needed a hat. A chunk of clear purple plastic with glow in the dark white (glows green) paint that reminds me of the sort of headdress Superman would wear on the cover of a particularly problematic Silver Age
comic while culturally appropriating a jungle tribe's headgear. Anyway, it's easily lost (although I suppose shining a UV light around would make it
easier to find), ugly, and its storage location makes it harder to fit a
figure inside the vehicle mode mouth. So, a net negative on the toy.

The cockpit piece on its own (as a capture drone or whatnot) is 3.25" (8.5cm) long, equally tall and wide, but not actually cube-shaped. It's basically a giant robot sea monster head with windows on the top of the head and molded eyes below the windows near the front of the top piece's sides. There's propellers molded into the back, so it's clearly designed to be detached and sent out on its own. There's also some T-shaped tabs on either side in back, which fit into the slots on the inner faces of the forearms,
but that seems more accident than anything else. I wonder if it's an undocumented feature meant to connect to another toy that I haven't opened
(or bought) yet.
It's mostly darkish blue, light gray, and clear purple. The lower jaw
is light gray plastic, the upper back part that snaps onto the robot's back
is "Soundwave blue" plastic, and the upper skull is clear purple plastic with
a LOT of gloss blue paint. The upper teeth are painted silver and the molded eyes are painted gloss red. The lower teeth are unpainted, and hinged to
drop like a landing ramp. The top part is tabbed into the bottom at the
fronts of the cheeks, but there's a hinge at the top so it can open up to
chomp on enemies. Inside is big enough to hold a sitting Cyber Changer, although only the more compact/unadorned ones will fit. Elita-1 fits, so
that much can be recreated from the show.
Note, once it's snapped onto the back, the cockpit piece is REALLY hard
to remove in robot mode (rather easier in altmode). In fact, the
instructions don't suggest it should be removed (despite the molded details that clearly indicate it does operate independently), and they don't show how to get it held on the end of the right arm as seen on the card back. Near as
I can tell, they shoved a tentacle into the rear socket and then used clever camera angles or outright image manipulation to hide the tentacles in the picture on the box back. (Or totally faked in the render.)

Transformation: It's an automorph, as is fairly standard for this line. Put the robot in a t-pose with the arms aligned correctly, the left arm tentacles folded together, and the toes pointed down, then lift up the lower body which makes the head retract, the arms swing together, and the chest
lift up to make room. Then peg things together. The crown can be left on,
or stored inside the mouth/cockpit. Be careful to make sure the slots on the upper inner thighs connect to the tabs on the crotch when you snap the boots together or the legs will be misaligned.
Note, you really need the cockpit attached when doing this, there really isn't anywhere else good to grab hold of if the cockpit is removed. It's not impossible to get the backpack-less robot to transform, but is IS a
signfiicant hassle. (It's not like the results are worth it, 90% of the "vehicle-ness" is in the backpack.)

Altmode: Okay, it's supposed to be a sea monster submarine, but it
mostly just looks like Soundwave is being dragged behind a giant monster
head. Like, yeah, there's tentacles trailing out back, and the extra
thruster details molded onto the boots and the outsteps of the feet are now
all pointed backwards, but there's no real effort to hide that the robot arms and legs are just sort of trailing behind the cockpit. I suppose it's not without any virtues, as it's solidly put together and rests stable on the
table because the robot feet and cockpit underside exist in the same plane.
Not counting trailing tentacles, it's 11.5" (29cm) long, and pretty much everything from robot mode except the face is still visible. If you add the tentacles straightened out as much as possible, it's almost 16" (40cm) long. The height and width are about the same as the cockpit's, although there's a significant hollow on the underside amidships. I suppose if you wanted to
try to fix this up, you could print some side panels that would plug into the hip sockets, but it's not really worth the effort IMO.
While the fists are a bit difficult to access thanks to the tentacles,
all the other 5mm sockets remain available. There's actually two 5mm sockets in the screwholes of the back of the pelvis, one was totally covered by the backpack in robot mode, and I suppose they could be used for a robust flight stand, and they're reasonable centered.
You can do a sort of walker monster by moving the arms and legs while leaving the waist transformation hinge folded, although you have to ignore
the fact the fists are upside down. Balance is iffy, even with the long heel spurs now forming the toes, the feet don't bend in a way that would let you
put the feet farther forwards.

Overall: It has a certain goofy charm, but ultimately it feels really overpriced for what you get. Not as bad as the Ultimate Cyber Changer
Megatron that I skipped, though.


Dave Van Domelen, gotta decide what to review next, maybe more
Cyberworld to knock those out quickly.

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