
Soundwave's rocket launcher featured a spring-loaded firing mechanism that Hasbro had removed, as they did with all such features at the time. Originally in the Cassette Man release, the figure came with either Rumble, Frenzy or Laserbeak, as different releases and copies varied. To further emulate Cassette Man, Takara's Soundwave came with Rumble, rather than Buzzsaw, and a clear plastic case that he could fit into in tape mode. Takara's release of Soundwave reinstated the extra Cassette Man accessories that Hasbro had excluded from their release: a set of headphones and a microphone, both non-functioning. The Hasbro instructions mistakenly state that a pair of trapezoid-shaped stickers intended to decorate these batteries should be attached to Soundwave's legs. Soundwave is armed with a shoulder-mounted cannon and a hand-held concussion blaster, which both transform into imitation batteries that store in a compartment on his back while he is in his alternate mode. He transforms into a realistically-sized blue and silver microcassette recorder, complete with an opening cassette door that can accommodate any of the numerous Mini-Cassette figures, and came packaged with Buzzsaw to fully exploit and advertise this interactive gimmick. Soundwave began life as the Micro Change toy "Cassette Man", and went mostly unchanged when he was imported by Hasbro to become part of the Transformers toyline, save for exclusion of some accessories, and the removal of a molded "Cassette Man" logo and "MC-10" on his cassette door.

Known designers: Shinji Aramaki (concept artist).Accessories (Takara release): Rumble, tape case, rocket launcher, 3 rockets, headphones, microphone, concussion blaster.Accessories (Hasbro release): Buzzsaw, rocket launcher, 3 rockets, concussion blaster.


Soundwave and Condor Cassette: Buzzsaw (Decepticon, 1984-1986, 1990).
