A post in Weibo announcing a new reissue of the Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-13 Soundawave. It didn’t take much time to be confirmed via Robotkingdom Facebook. One of the best toys of the “charismatic” Decepticon warrior is coming in hot again.
The listing indicates an expected release date in November 2019 for $109.90. Collectors must remember that this is a reissue of the Takara Tomy release, which means the toy will come only with one cassette: Laserbeak and a red visor.
Pleased with this reissue? Let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
Shockwave81
Locked down.
MegaOmnitron
Wonder if eventually we\'ll see a Masterpiece Blaster.
mixelpix
nice combo!
RKillian
Be prepared for a $300 panelsplosion when it's announced.
crazyman
It's extremely tempting to pick this up.
But damnit those v2 rumors…
…Optimus…
Not directly on topic, but I transformed this guy last night (original release) – what a great figure. It was refreshing to not have dozens of tiny panels to fold up and twist like a lot of the new MPs, and the end result in both modes is excellent. The tapes are a huge bonus, like extra little side missions that are super fun.
Soundwave is probably one of the easiest to MP since the original was relatively close to the cartoon. I can’t think of anything that would warrant a re-do, it just doesn’t need it.
All of this is just encouragement to those of you that don’t own him yet. He’s very much worth it.
franpincho
Mine is perfect, if anyone cares. While I don't think the issues aren't there, I don't think is as widespread as Hound. Matter of luck, I guess?
Syphur
Just got him and the Ocular Jaguar. They look soooooo good together.
bigcee66
EXACTLY! Molds costs nothing like folks think.
RKillian
They're so costly, Hasbro simply abandons them at factories when they go hopping around the globe in search of more desperate workers.
SPLIT LIP
Mould degradation is and always will be a thing. Moulds undergo stress during the production process, subject to drastic temperature changes. While these changes are negligible, after years and hundreds of thousands of castings of hot plastic followed by rapid cooling, the metal will start to warp and degrade in subtle ways. (which is what causes tolerance issues)
I think what's more likely though is the aforementioned drop in material quality and quality control now compared to when MP Soundwave first came out. That has been obvious as of late. Soundwave hasn't been redecoed that many times for mould degradation to set in that quickly, especially since newer moulds are themselves usually made of finer/improved materials than, say, toys from a decade or three ago. Poor QC and/or lower quality materials are the most likely culprit.
ChromeMagnus
Seems like lower quality plastic than before. It's been an issue with their releases as of late.
ILoveLuci4
That's bizarre.
Different plastics?
Are the molds that prone to "degradation"?
ChromeMagnus
Lower quality on the recent reissue (reissue #3 I think). Lots of customers, including those in Asia, have complained about this.
Only issue with 2013 version was one of the index finger tips kept popping off. It should have been connected with a pin and not just friction. Seems like that issue was fixed with the first reissue around 2015.
It's no secret that Takara has been using lower quality material/manufacturing for some time now. Even their + "toon color" repaints of their older Hasui era molds show a dip in quality that wasn't present with their original versions.
RKillian
Supposedly a noticeable drop in quality control on the reissue.
Saberblade
Is there any difference between the Takara release in 2013 and the reissue one?
franpincho
They seem to go for heavy hitters. A new Soundwave is a matter of when, not if.