Soundblaster is a Decepticon intelligence officer and an upgraded version of Soundwave. Originally introduced in the Japanese Transformers: The Headmasters cartoon series, he has a darker colour scheme and a larger cassette compartment that can hold two cassettes at once. He is a ruthless spy who can read the thoughts of others through their computer brainwaves and uses his cassette troops to gather information for the Decepticons.

Name: Soundblaster (reissue)
Line: The Transformers Collection #18
Manufacturer: Takara
Released: 2005
Price: ¥4,980
Scale: 26cm tall
Accessories: Jaguar + Buzzsaw + Vibration Blaster Gun
Motto: “Volume intact, destructive power doubled.”

Soundblaster is the upgrade version of Soundwave. Originally I never much cared for Soundblaster. But, don’t get me wrong, as Soundwave is one of my favourite Transformers ever, which I was also lucky to have as a kid. But, I just didn’t see the point of Soundblaster really and the extra cassette space just felt like a tacked on gimmick to me.

After watching the Headmasters cartoon series, I warmed to the character a little bit and eventually would end up buying the Transformers Collection reissue a few years ago from Mandarake, as I wanted to fill some space on my Japanese exclusive Decepticon Transformers display shelf. 

After receiving the toy and transforming it and playing around with it, I definitely had more of an appreciation for the Soundblaster toy and character and he does look pretty cool with the darker colour and red chest piece.

SCULPTING

Soundwave is one of the most iconic of the original G1 Transformers toys and Soundblaster, minus an upgraded chest piece is exactly the same mold. There’s a lot of details throughout the toy and his size makes him stand out among most other G1 Transformers toys.

PAINT

Excellent neat and crisp paint work on this toy. This is what I love about Takara’s reissues – the paint work is pretty much flawless. Having a brand new one really feels special as it looks and feels like a premium product.

ARTICULATION

 Soundblaster is definitely a brick, no way around that. He however, has great arm articulation and some head and leg movement, even if these are just trade offs from the transformation process. It still makes it fun to be able to pose him even just a little bit. Soundblasters’s transformation is intuitive and fun, its not to hard to figure out how to transform this toy, the reissue’s joints are as smooth as butter to transform, it really made it enjoyable that nothing felt fragile when being moved.

ACCESSORIES

You get both Buzzsaw and Jaguar included in the box! Honestly that is pretty great deal. Also included are Soundblaster’s vibration blaster gun and shoulder rocket launcher.

Getting two cassette troops is an excellent inclusion and a highlight when it comes to accessories for Soundblaster. His weapons are exactly the same as the original Soundwave toy, obviously now in a darker colour.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

I can’t see you having too many problems with this reissue of Soundblaster, he’s sturdy and tough.

PRICE

I paid not too much above the original retail price from Mandarake for this second hand Soundblaster. But the condition was pretty much unused, so it was a good purchase.

OVERALL

I think Soundblaster might always be a bit of a hard sell as a toy and a character as he’s very similar to Soundwave. However, he’s still very cool as he has a dark colour scheme and extra storage space. Probably more suited to Japanese exclusive collectors more than anyone else. Still a nice variation of the original Soundwave mold!

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