Review – Third-Party Transformers Autoscout Cassette

I first mentioned this third-party Autoscout Cassette over a year ago (mentioned here) and then slowly found myself curious enough about the toy to order one of my own. Well, I’ve now spent enough time with the opened toy that I’m ready to share my opinions; I just know how much you guys love to hear me chatter on about completely unnecessary toys.

Packaging and Accessories

The box is extremely simple in design, but the idea to design the box to look something like Soundwave was fantastic and iGear pulled off the trick almost perfectly. It’s a simple cardboard box with a window where Soundwave carries his cassettes, and as you can see in these pics it makes for an attractive package. MIB collectors will really appreciate owning this package since it almost looks like you’ve got a Soundwave sitting on your toy shelf.

Popping the box open we find everything packed securely in a clear shell. The simple comic (shown below) is folded up and tucked beneath the packaging. And while iGear could have just given us the Autoscout Cassette and called it a day they packed some fun little extras along with the toy. For one, there’s a clear cassette case a lot like the one included with the Generation One Soundwave. I don’t have any use for the case, though, since I’m gonna display the toy in its robotic-form.

Also included in the package are “corlonium crystals,” the crystals the Autoscout examines in Season Two of the cartoon series.* These are simple semi-clear blue plastic bits, but the Autoscout can grasp them so they’re clearly designed for use with the toy and not just a reused bit.

The last of the extras in the box are three plastic “energon cubes,” those ever-present cubes that power the Transformers and everything they create in the eighties cartoon. These tiny plastic cubes look okay, but the edges are a little rough and the cubes are just a tad too opaque for my tastes. And they don’t even have lights in them — like the energon cubes that were at TFSource — but I guess that’s okay since these are essentially just extra pieces that I got along with the real item I wanted, the . . .

Autoscout!

Above you can see photos of the Autoscout by itself and then with a reissued Buzzsaw and a knockoff Ratbat. The Autoscout doesn’t have the stickers that the other two do but instead gets all of its colors from the plastic and the paint. Unfortunately, this kinda makes the toy look cheap in comparison to other Transformers cassettes. I would have happily sacrificed the plastic cassette case for a couple of stickers.

As you can see in the above photo, the Autoscout fits just fine in Soundwave. The fit is just a tad too tight — opening Soundwave’s chest with the Autoscout inside takes some work — but since I’m going to display the toy in its robotic form that’s not a huge negative. Basically, the toy’s cassette form is functional if a tad uninspired.

(And if you’re wondering why I inserted the cassette in upside down its because of the way in which the toy transforms. One entire side swings up so inserting the cassette properly is difficult to impossible; the piece just falls open and gets in the way when I try to insert the cassette in the proper direction.)

Robotic Mode

Transforming the Autoscout is very simple; which is a good thing since there weren’t any instructions packed in the box. The robotic arm extends from one edge, the top swings up and the tiny sensor is extended, the wheels flip down, and the two sides slide apart. It transforms quickly and easily and I don’t have any complaints with the design.

Watch the following video to see the toy transformed.

Notice how the rear wheels are designed to hug close to the toy, giving it a low profile? That matches the cartoon appearance, but as I played with the toy I found I preferred the fully-extended look (as shown in the photos here). It’s a minor change, but I think that my photos demonstrate that this change makes the toy look just a little more intimidating and ready for battle. Not that the Autoscout was designed to fight, but maybe that sensor could be a ray gun and maybe the grappling arm is super strong.

Okay, probably not.

Closing Thoughts

At $20 the Autoscout is definitely an expensive toy. Small — only about 2.5-inches tall when properly transformed — and constructed of a plastic that feels a little cheap, the Autoscout isn’t the best toy deal you’re ever going to find. But the fact that it takes a throwaway character (if you can even call it a character) and gives it a toy, and a Soundwave reinforcement at that, makes it a fun addition to my collection of Transformers. And the extras don’t hurt any.

You can completely skip this toy if you weren’t drooling at the thought of a new Decepticon cassette as soon as you read the title of this post. But if your mind started thinking about how Soundwave could use another cassette, and your blood grew warm as you looked at the pics, then I recommend grabbing yourself an Autoscout before they’re all gone. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever create this toy again.

The iGear website should be able to direct you to online stores that carry the Autoscout. Just don’t blame me when you discover there are there are two different colors available and you’ve gotta have them both.

Philip Reed wonders what other weird cassettes could be produced for Soundwave. Maybe one of those drones from the War for Cybertron game? That would be neat.