Comparing LEGO Icons Soundwave to original inspiration

LEGO Icons 10358 Soundwave recreates a Decepticon from the early days of Transformers for the very first time, but how well does it nail the look?

10358 Soundwave uses a combination of light grey and dark blue bricks, with bright yellow accents for the finer details. On the whole, that colour scheme nails the look – although arguably the on-screen blue was a little darker and the grey a little lighter – even closer to silver. Nonetheless, it certainly captures the spirit of the aesthetic, even down to the yellow grills on the knees and a changeable visor to give him red or yellow eyes.

Zooming in on the details, 10358 Soundwave features silver plates on his arms, recreating the transforming accessories that are packed down Soundwave’s on-screen limbs. Those taper back to blue hands, matching the vast majority of his ‘body’. His head shape is spot on, using sloped plates to mimic his crown-like helmet.

While every Autobot or Decepticon is, by nature, pretty blocky, Soundwave leans into this look even more, driven home by the rectangular chest that turns into the central part of the cassette player after transforming.

That cassette player is edged in bright yellow on 10358 Soundwave. In the animated version, the yellow details are closer to gold in some lights, but the decision to steer clear of gold lacquered elements is likely a welcome one here. The yellow gives a more retro feel to the LEGO Icons set, while also not beefing up the price for a minimal advantage.

Speaking of Soundwave’s cassette player form, the colour scheme and structure has also been pretty faithfully rendered here. One change does come in the form of more writing on the player, including the word ‘Play’ written on the sound brick function. However, this once again improves the overall authenticity of the casette player variants, making it look like a bonafide gadget that wouldn’t look out of place next to 10334 Retro Radio.

All in all, 10358 Soundwave stays authentic to the original design, with the same attention to detail as predecessors 10302 Optimus Prime and 10338 Bumblebee. If it’s impressed you, you’ll be able to pick up LEGO Icons 10358 Soundwave for £159.99 / $189.99 / €179.99 from August 1.

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