Tribute to Soundwave - Soundwave Artifacts

Soundwave Artifacts

During the height of their popularity, a vast number of Transformer Artifacts were produced throughout the world in addition to the toys. Soundwave was, of course, always one of the characters included in the countless sticker sets and coloring/storybooks and trading card sets and bedsheet prints that featured the pre-Movie characters - in fact, it's interesting to note that an image of Soundwave is very seldom featured alone. There always seems to be someone else in the picture with him, who's significant in his life, and that's nicely appropriate to his nature. But there are also a number of items that focus on Soundwave specifically, and some of them are among the very best TF Artifacts ever. Here you will find a partial listing of them, with more tidbits to be added in time. Be aware that most of these items are not in scale with each other, so don't take the image size as being an indicator of the size of the actual artifact. They're divided into several categories: Electronics Clothing & Fabric Items Pictures, Cards, & Patches School Supplies Party Supplies Sliding Puzzles Miscellaneous Figures & Models Animation Cel Fan-Made Items
	Electronics The Soundwave cassette player, ©1985 by Durham Industries. Yes, it actually plays tapes! One of my very favorite TF artifacts ever. Durham Industries, incidentally, is named for its location in Durham, NC, where one of the BotCons was held. For a detailed view of the tape player's instruction sheet, click on the small image to see a 68k version, which will open up in a new window.
	A pair of walkie-talkies - maybe not quite a Soundwave Artifact, since the actual robot figures are impossible to classify as a recognizable character, but the packaging certainly is attempting to promote Soundwave's communications skills. The box also nicely features the Decepticon-style lettering. What's truly bizarre is that the © date is given as 1983 - a year before the TFs actually became an official concept. Another one from Durham Industries.
	Clothing & Fabric Items A surprisingly excellent Soundwave t-shirt from recent years. There was at least one other made around the same time, which was decidedly less excellent, because it was only a line drawing with the horrifically inaccurate Transformers Universe tech spec text on the back. So I'm showing this one, as an example of how good a Soundwave shirt can be. Changes, ©2000. Close-up of the image shows the artwork on black background. It's more-or-less toy style, but is exceptionally nice in this case.
	Kind-of hard to tell in the top picture, but that's Soundwave's image on the back of a raincoat. The bottom picture shows the closeup. This is obviously the silver one. There's a black version of this item also. ©1984 (silver) and 1985 (black) by Swell-Wear Industries, the same company that made the Thundercracker raincoats.
	A Soundwave baseball cap by R.O.C., ©1985. This is, IMO, the best of several TF baseball caps that were made, but then I'm just slightly biased....
	A Soundwave costume made in England by Acamas Toys. ©1984
	A beautiful Soundwave duvet cover from Australia. ©1984; manufacturer is unknown. The back features Megatron, Starscream, Laserbeak, Ravage, Optimus Prime, and Sideswipe images repeating on a white background. This is another of my all-time favorite artifacts.
	Soundwave beachtowel, ©1984 by Springs. Notice Ravage and Buzzsaw in the scene with him.
	Pictures, Cards, & Patches Some UK items - a framed picture, ©1986 by I.I.C. Limited -- and a considerably smaller "indented card", ©1985 by an unknown manufacturer. These images are very much not-to-scale. The framed picture came in a boxed set of two (I've seen it paired both with a Springer and a G1 Galvatron pic), while the card was likewise part of a set that featured other characters. It has peel-off stickers on the back to make it easy to mount on a wall.
	This is the Soundwave image from the 1985 set of Milton Bradley trading cards. Most character cards came with two background colors, and Soundwave was no exception - shown here in his orange and purple versions. Though both colors were common, it was my experience that the purples were a bit rarer, and thus more coveted. Nicer color, too. ;)
	This image of Soundwave is from a set of flash cards made in Japan by Showa. Though most of the depicted characters are from the pre-Movie universe, there are a few post-movie chars in the mix as well - so although no date is marked, I'm assuming 1986. After all the toy-style pictures in an endless repetition of the same pose, it's great to see a cartoon-style image on a Soundwave artifact for once!
	From a card game made in Argentina in 1987, this is the Soundwave card. By Cromy. There was an earlier card game in the U.S. which also featured a Soundwave card, but I will have to unearth that from storage before I can feature a scan.
	Soundwave's image in a set of playing cards made by the United States Playing Card Company. The character arrangement in this deck didn't make much sense (Long Haul got to be king - I guess everyone has their 15 minutes of fame), but somehow the selection of Soundwave for the "mystical number 7" is appropriate. ©2002.
	If you were eating Kellogg's Frosted Flakes in Canada back in 1985, you might have been lucky enough to get this glow-in-the-dark sticker. Part of a folding strip that also included Swoop (both modes) and Warpath (both modes), Soundwave is depicted in robot mode only. Look carefully at the picture, and you can see the glow-in-the-dark border.
	More goodies from Kellogg's cereal: two little lenticular cards that switch back and forth between a view of Soundwave's robot and tape player modes. The one on the left is from the U.S. and came in Rice Crispies; the one on the right is from Canada and came in Corn Flakes. Notice the slight size difference and "mirrored images" - the Rice Crispies card is reversed and shows Soundwave's cannon on the wrong shoulder. Less easy to see in the pics, the U.S. card has the name "Soundwave" written in white text as one word, diagonally on the right half of the square; the Canadian card splits his name into two words ("Sound Wave"), and has it written in orange text along the vertical edges. There are differences in the small copyright notice text as well. Both are from 1985.
	Soundwave iron-on patch which came with some of the carded small TF toys in 1986. Back in the day, it wasn't unheard-of for me to buy up a bunch of extra Seasprays in order to get these neat patches.
	School Supplies A Soundwave "eraser" from Spindex Corporation, ©1985 - though I would not suggest actually trying to erase with it unless you like colored smears all over your paper. Better thought of as a colored, poorly-detailed Decoy.
	A set of magnetic erasers featuring Soundwave in both modes, by Butterfly Originals. Package claims they "transform from magnets to erasers." Well, that's stretching it a bit, but they're cute none the less. As an interesting historical note, Butterfly Originals is based in Cherry Hill, NJ (or was in 1985 when these erasers were made) - which was the site of the late great Cybercon.
	Party Supplies Party supplies from Unique Industries, ©1984 - in this case party horns and a Soundwave ball puzzle party favor that came in a set which also featured other characters. Unique Industries TF party items were common throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. They were often among the last artifacts left to gether dust in the clearance aisles in the late 80's.
	Sliding Puzzles A number of Soundwave sliding puzzles were made in the U.K. by Jotastar. This one is rectangular, and dated 1984. Other characters were made as well.
	Another Soundwave sliding puzzle, also from the U.K., of a completely different design, shaped like the character outline. It has a notch in the back that seems meant to hang it on a wall. ©1985 by Jotastar. There were sliding puzzles in the U.S. as well (by American Publishing Corp), but all were square in design, and none featured Soundwave to the best of my knowledge.
	Here's a Soundwave sliding puzzle of the "character outline" style, in a different color - lavender background, as opposed to white. Also by the U.K. company Jotastar and dated 1985, this one appears to be a prototype or mock-up - its bubble is stapled to the card rather than glued, and there's a bit of velcro on the back, as though it was once displayed at a trade show. So it's open to question whether this particular color made it to market.
	Miscellaneous Partial view of the box for the Soundwave drawing/design center, ©1984 by Arrow. Contains various sketch and drafting tools, which assemble into a somewhat skeletal version of Soundwave.
	Of all things, a tube of toothpaste featuring Soundwave. The opposite side shows an Autobot symbol, but we'll be forgiving and let it pass this time. This is an item I don't have, so I'm on the hunt. By Heltis, ©1986, Israel.
	Soundwave bubble-blower, H.G. Toys, ©1984. Wonder if the soap solution is still good after all these years?
	One of the Rhino Home Video releases from the year 2000, Vol. 6: Evolution Revolution. Contains the episodes "Heavy Metal War" and "The Insecticon Syndrome," both of which show some significant Soundwave moments - and of course, you have to love the cover pic, which earned this item a place in the Soundwave Artifacts section. (Though Soundwave's cannon is on the wrong shoulder again ... grumble....) If you're so inclined, you can add this item to your own collection.
	Another amazing U.K. item, this is a Soundwave placemat by the Icarus Company. Other designs exist which feature other characters (there's even a version that shows a Soundwave vs. Sideswipe battle), but this one is by far the nicest. It has seen its share of use in my lair. ©1985.
	This stretches the definition of a Soundwave artifact a little, but here is "Transformers: The Complete Works part 1" - a U.K. hardcover book that reprints U.K. comics issues 1-4 (aka U.S. issues 1 & 2). I added it, much like the video tape, for the great cover. Alright, the art itself isn't the best, but - Soundwave blows away Optimus Prime! How can you beat that? ©1986 by Marvel U.K.
	Figures & Models A neat red Soundwave snap-together model kit from Taiwan, ©1997 by Toon Town. The date is not a typo - a number of TF artifacts were made in Taiwan and Korea that year, more-or-less under the G2 label. The Soundwave model came together in a box with an Optimus Prime model - inviting the collector to re-enact the lovely scene from the cover of "The Complete Works," I suppose....
	The 6" cold-cast porcelain Soundwave bust made by Hard Hero. Yes, it looks awful in every picture I've ever seen (I can't understand why HH has such trouble getting faces right, even a face as straightforward as Soundwave's), but the actual real-live item is surprisingly nice. ©2002.
	Palisades is working on a 6" polystone Soundwave mini-statue, due for release in October 2004. While the final product may yet show some differences from the prototype, the prototype itself is already ... well, not that great, let's say. I believe they're trying specifically for the Marvel comics look, in which case I can give them some points for truth in advertising, but I still wonder why they would deliberately create a less attractive version? I will give them high marks for getting Soundwave's personality description right - "The most loyal and trusted of Megatron's lieutenants" - and for that alone, I can forgive a lot.
The excellent Soundwave Decoys in their various colors. Up until the Action Master toy appeared, and much later the PVCs, these came closest to a cartoon-accurate Soundwave figure. The purple color was the common one and came included with various carded toys, but rarer red versions of the Decepticon Decoys were made too. During one particular shopping expedition I bought a whole cart full of Throttlebots just to get the Decoys! Those released in the U.S. were numbered in sequence, with Soundwave's number being 36. Decoys released in Japan came in boxed sets or with games, and had the sum of the character's tech spec values on the back; Soundwave was marked 53.5. Although a purple Soundwave existed both in the U.S. and Japan, the peach-colored Decoy was Japanese-only. To the best of my knowledge, the red Soundwave was U.S.-only.
	I puzzled over this mysterious little gray Soundwave figure for quite some time. (Purple decoy is shown for size comparison.) I assumed it came from Japan, but there was really no origin information on it. And then I found these:
These little rubber figures were probably gum machine prizes; they are most assuredly from Japan. Very Decoy-like but slightly smaller, they show somewhat less detail, being more flattened and less 3-dimensional than their true Decoy counterparts. On Soundwave you can see more of a toy look, as opposed to the cartoon; also he's missing his handgun. Numerous characters were made in this series, in plenty of color variants. They are presumably by Takara, and I'll guess at a release date of around 1985/86 for them.
These beautiful Soundwave and Soundblaster PVC's from Japan were made in two variants each. Soundwave, out of Act 3, came in his normal colors and a neat clear version. Though the eyeband is sometimes missing its color (as you can barely make out in this picture), these are near-perfect representations of the character. Act 6 contained Soundblaster, again in normal color as well as an interesting pewter variant, like a hero's statue. Act 3 ©2001; Act 6 ©2002, by Takara.
	Continuing the trend toward beautifully detailed mini-figures, here is the World's Smallest Soundwave - a fully transformable version standing only 2 inches tall. Complete with a miniscule Ravage! Soundwave Junior, the original "mini" from 1986, positively towers over this one. Though there are minor simplifications in the transformation (WS Soundwave can't turn his head, retract his hands, or fit a tape in his chest), the likeness is amazingly true to the full-sized toy. No sticker sheet is included, but there's a small folding instruction leaflet with stats. The World's Smallest and subsequent mini-figures continue the PVCs' frustrating tradition of being blind-packed - that is, you don't know which figure you're getting until you open the box - and worse, you're not assured of getting a full set even if you buy a whole case. Soundwave, fortunately, was one of the more common ones. You can see the uncolored prototype at lower left, and the front and back of the instruction leaflet below. © early 2003 by Takara.
	Another trend has been towards the "chibi" or "super-deformed" look. In 1990 there was a minor blip on the radar of super-deformed model kits, but they were, to be honest, rather hideous - and I don't think there was a Soundwave among them, in any case. This, however, is Takara's MyClone Soundwave from 2003 - and though I'm not normally a big fan of SD, I totally love this one. Child-like enough to look cute 'n cuddly without being so deformed as to be ugly. This poseable mini-Soundwave stands about 2 1/2 inches tall, and makes a great little action figure.
	If you thought the MyClone was disproportionate, check out the even more extreme Q-Robo development. Take a MyClone and squash him down vertically, and you basically have a Q-Robo. These tiny (but still somewhat poseable) figures came in both full-color and translucent versions - clear red for the Autobots and a gorgeous clear purple for the Decepticons. In Soundwave's case, he's even got Laserbeak soaring out of his tape compartment. Fortunately Laserbeak is removable, since he gets in the way of taking a good picture. Q-Robos are also from Takara, and came out in the latter months of 2003.
	Likewise from Takara in the concluding months of 2003, a set of bottlecaps was released - small immobile figures that affix to plain black bottlecaps marked with their names. All characters are grayscale/monochrome except two elusive chase figures, and so they give the odd effect of having materialized out of an old black-and-white movie. Soundwave is #10 in the set, and comes with Laserbeak (or Buzzsaw - you can't tell in grayscale). His pose is decidedly un-Soundwave-like, but as one minor aberration among so much luxury, I can live with it. He comes with a tiny leaflet, which is nicely personalized with cartoon screen caps. At left you can see the Soundwave bottlecap actualy acting as a bottlecap, on my favorite flavor of pop. Actually the cap doesn't fit well enough to really be useful, but it was a nice temporary image. The good things in life: Soundwave and Cherry Coke!
	Just in time for BotCon 2004 in June, another super set of mini-figures came out from Takara - this time the History Collection with 6 characters, among them Soundwave. He's slightly poseable, and exceptionally detailed and perfect - by far the most cartoon-accurate of the recent mini-figures. He comes with a bottlecap-like stand with the intrigueing appearance of a rocky surface, slightly cracked to reveal a metallic layer beneath. Now this is how Hard Hero or Palisades should do a statue!
	Some comparative pics to show style similarities and size differences. Upper left, the Bottlecap and History figures on their respective stands. Lower left, the MyClone and Q-Robo figures. And below, a group shot featuring the MyClone, Q-Robo, History, World's Smallest, and Bottlecap Soundwaves - with the original toy in the background for scale. You'll notice that the Q-Robo and the Bottlecap are in fact smaller than the "World's Smallest." Go figure.
And perhaps the ultimate Soundwave Artifact - an original animation cel from the cartoon, a genuine piece of the show itself. I was lucky enough to snag this one from Van Eaton Galleries.
Fan-Created Soundwave Artifacts The TF fan community is populated by lots of extremely talented artists, and that's apparent from some of the exceptionally neat fan-made Soundwave items shown here.
	Soundwave earrings by Skyflight/Burt Ward. He made a Megatron set as well. Obviously the reason that vertebrates are bilaterally symmetrical, is so we can wear one Soundwave and one Megatron earring....
	This amazing one-of-a-kind Metal Force Soundwave was made with exquisite detail by Harry Toor. Taking a spare Metal Force Prime, he turned it to a much better use. This figure currently stands on the highest shelf of my living room, to stay out of reach of puppy teeth.
Several items by Dave Van Domelen - some beautifully painted Decoys and a working Pez dispenser. The Soundwave Decoy was one of the BotCon '97 Dinner Exclusives, and with a different paint job, works just as nicely as Soundblaster.
	A very neat stained-glass Soundwave suncatcher by Diana Calder.
	A great "yarnmaster" Soundwave head by Barb Brewer and Tony Tuski.
	A Soundwave made entirely of balloons, as given to me at BotCon '98, and commissioned, as I recall, by Titania.
	A beautiful box for World's Smallest Soundwave, made by Charles Wallace. The WS figures came in generic boxes, and this individualized, fan-made package does the toy far more justice. You can see he's even added Ravage's box art! Every detail is here, including 2 robot points on the back, and the only other thing I could have wished for, would be a cartoon-accurate tech spec.
For more great TF Artifacts, check out the Transformer Artifacts List.

Soundwave quilt cover, toothpaste, and balloon figure images courtesy of Titania. Red Soundwave decoy image courtesy of Jon Hartman. Gray mini-Soundwave image courtesy of Zobovor.

Soundwave Artifacts

Fan-Created Soundwave Artifacts