UPDATE (4/7/2012): I have finally obtained an American/Australian boxed Human Alliance Soundwave.  That review can be found here.

Got this in the mail today.  I’m a little disappointed.  The site I bought it from, YAHobby.com, pictures an American/Australian Boxed toy, and what I received was a Chinese version.  I won’t be buying from them again.  I’ve purchased an American one and will compare the toys when I receive it, but I think the toys are likely very much the same.  I would be curious to know how the Japanese version compares, as I won’t be getting one of those.

Transformers DotM Human Alliance Soundwave with Laserbeak (Chinese Version)

I like this a lot more than the deluxe one that I previously reviewed.  He looks more like he did in the movie than the deluxe version, though still quite a bit different.

He is extremely top heavy and has very spindly legs and bizarre tripod feet.  Add to that Laserbeak hanging off his back sticking out about three inches, and he has a hard time not falling over backwards.

Aside from his inability to easily be stood up, the robot mode looks awesome.  He has a lot of blue on him that I don’t believe he had in the movie.  I think it works well for the toy.  He has a very nice head sculpt that is hinged, so you can rock it back and forth so it looks like he is opening and closing his mouth.

Laserbeak actually looks more movie accurate than the deluxe toy.  Very cool looking.  He transforms into a shoulder cannon and seat for the Dylan Gould figure, which looks nothing at all like Patrick Dempsey.

Soundwave’s vehicle mode looks awesome, I just wish it were in silver instead of gray.  It’s nicely detailed, and holds together well, unlike the deluxe version.  My only real complaint about the car mode is there are no seats.  There are seat backs that the figures can be plugged into, but no actual seats beneath them, just folded up robot parts.  Kind of odd.

I did not do this comparison myself, but I saw it pointed out online that the Dylan Gould figure is not in scale with the Sam Witwicky figure that comes with Bumblebee.  This has been the biggest problem with Hasbro’s Human Alliance line that has led to it (hopefully) being canceled, and that is that the action figures are not all in scale with each other.  The figures that come with the Basic sized vehicle that were introduced with the DotM line are smaller than the ones that came with the previously released larger figures.  This likely might have worked better if the figures were all in scale and a bit better detailed.  It also might have helped if there weren’t so many repaints, but that’s kind of true of everything Hasbro does these days.

While I still need the American version of this toy, the only DotM mold I still don’t have is Wheeljack/Que, but I hope to have that next week.

Thanks for reading!