Lego’s returning to Cybertron for its latest big set, but with a twist: after giving us the Autobot leader Optimus Prime and one of his most loyal soldiers in Bumblebee over the past few years, now it’s finally the turn of the Decepticons to get their brick-based glory. Except it’s not who you might have expected to get that early honor.
This morning Lego revealed that the first Decepticon joining the ranks of the Transformers line is none other than Soundwave himself. It’s a surprise to not see Megatron take the mantle of the first Lego Decepticon, but it may not be too surprising given that both of his classic alt-modes, a tank and a gun, are not exactly things Lego are fond of depicting in brick form (unless it’s through the sci-fi bent of something like Star Wars).
Soundwave certainly does a lot to fill that illustrious bill himself, however. Clocking in at over 33 cm tall when in his robot mode, the 1,505-piece Soundwave can completely transform into his cassette tape alt-mode without need for disassembly, and even comes with an opening cassette bay to use in either mode. To fill that bay, you can use the included models of either Laserbeak or Ravage, who likewise can transform between cassette and robot modes.
Lego Transformers Soundwave
That’s not all, though: a sound brick is built into Soundwave just behind the play button on his torso, so that when you press it, it actually plays specially recorded classic Transformers voice lines and sound effects—the first time any of the Lego Transformers sets have had this kind of electronic functionality. All that should hopefully take the sting off of anyone who was hoping for a Lego Megatron to menace their Autobots!
The Lego Soundwave will be available to purchase from August 1 for members of the Lego Insiders VIP program, before going on general sale August 4. He’s available to pre-order now, for a hefty $190.