Masterpiece Soundwave is a more intricately engineered version of his Generation 1 counterpart, transforming into his classic tape deck alternate mode, but substantially thicker. His chest compartment still opens, of course, and remains scaled to accommodate the original Generation 1 mini-cassette figures, as well as the new Masterpiece mini-cassette figures, such as his pack-in partner, Condor. A spring-loaded panel inside his chest can be pushed back in increments to allow Soundwave to hold up to three cassettes at once; after one is removed, pressing a button on his back slides the panel forward, pushing the remaining cassettes up and putting the next into position, ready to be removed when his chest door his opened again. However, this feature is so finnicky that his instructions actually have to include a little segment telling owners what not to do with the toy to make sure it works.
Soundwave comes with his traditional concussion blaster weapon, and his non-firing rocket launcher is now an integrated, non-removable piece. Unlike the Generation 1 toy, both cannon and launcher do not become batteries for his alternate mode, instead storing on his back. He also comes with the wrist-mounted sensor from "Fire on the Mountain", and his forearm panel opens up to reveal sculpted speakers. He also comes with a retool of the Megatron gun originally released with Masterpiece MP-01 Convoy.
Additionally, Soundwave comes with an empty energon cube which can plug into his chest panel, and a grid-patterned display panel that also fits over his chest door. His instruction booklet includes two images that can be cut out and slipped between Soundwave's chest and the display panel to simulate readouts displayed in "More than Meets the Eye": the Decepticon space cruiser's blue prints and intel reports hacked from Teletraan I.
Soundwave and his accessories can also interact with the other Masterpiece mini-cassette figures in many other ways. Laserbeak or Buzzsaw can perch onto the tabs on Soundwave's shoulders and forearms. Soundwave can also wear Masterpiece Rumble and/or Frenzy's piledrivers on his forearms as cannons, and can store one set of Rumble or Frenzy's guns in compartments on Soundwave's feet/at the back of his tapedeck mode. Additionally, Soundwave's sensor can combine with Rumble and Frenzy's piledrivers to form the link cable used by Soundwave to hook up to a larger monitor in The Transformers: The Movie.
The edition purchased via Amazon.com in Japan came with two additional energon cubes. The Asian version includes a commemorative coin contained in a package looking like Soundwave's tapedeck mode.
For this release, some Soundwaves suffer from a paint error, leaving the small upside-down triangle on his forehead crest unpainted, though it is animation accurate.
Soundwave was re-released on September 28th, 2013. The minor quality control issues with the re-release were lessened or not as widespread as the initial release.
