At least this makes clear that the panel left missing/mistransformed in the stock photo/render is intact.
509 likes, 18 comments - transformers_nate84 on September 17, 2025: "More in hand #soundwave #transformers #studioseries".
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There was a pretty dumb Facebook post that tried to insinuate that no, it's cool, it's supposed to look like that because that's where the headphones plug in.
There's something about it that's messing with my eyes in terms of how I perceive the proportions. Maybe it's that I keep looking for the WFC mold's proportions, or maybe it's the head size, or whatever, but there's a gangliness to this when seen head-on that is minimized from a 3/4 view. Maybe it'll be like WFC Galvatron whose photos always had weird proportions but looked decent in person.
Maybe they should just make these Leader class boxes a BIT smaller. Even with the usual "scatter everything to create the illusion of plenty/value" approach, the impression is not favorable. Especially when you know the entire space behind the artwork is going to be an empty gulf. This isn't just Soundwave (who's a Voyager really); Megatron has this impression too.