Number 3 was Soundwave - a white & blue recolour of the Classicverse Ironhide/Ratchet van toy. First introduced into their exclusive comic a couple years back, this mode was expected I guess... but like much of the Shattered Glass series (the toys on the right side of the photo below) it feels wrong - which is the whole point, so I guess it hits the intended mark.
The one thing that will bug me most with the Van form of Soundwave, is the way all the gaps in the panels in vehicle mode really ruin the look of that mould. Not to mention the way the head tends to look down in robot mode.
The other thing that will bug people, is that the bonus accessory (the headband) which is being touted as the part of its personality (and is likely to be featured with it in the entire BotCon comic), is not being given out with every Soundwave toy. The reason they had to make it separately is understandable, but then why charge extra for it, if it is meant to be a set feature of this character? Did they only make a hundred or two, and need to limit its sale to those desperate enough to want the "full package", or is it a way of making more money off the convention - a convention that they already market to toy dealers & scalpers instead of fans (by hyping up their toys & merchandise instead of the guests & events like the Hartmans did with their BotCons).
As for the 4th toy revealed (Treadshot).... what the? A blue & yellow redeco of Jazz... that's gonna take some explaining in their comic. Even if it is a "Mirror-verse" version of the Gen1 character (which usually means different colours), the Gen1 Treadshot was obviously a revolver (based on the gun parts on its non-convertable toy in 1991).
Admittedly, there have been three other Treadshot toys in the last decade, as part of Hasbro's way of keeping certain names in their possession - one was a tank, one was a jet, and the other was a purple & yellow sedan. I'm hoping that they aren't homaging that toy-character, as this was meant to be a Gen1 themed set. Since this one is written up as being a rival of Ultra Magnus (the fifth toy in the set), and that purple sedan was released in a two-pack with an Ultra Magnus toy in 2003, it seems likely that this is the Treadshot they are referring to (which is part of the Armada Universe, not Gen1).
I'm not too impressed with this one. Overlord & Tracks were decent figures, while Soundwave is average... This one drags down the set in my opinion.
Probably the only good thing to come out of this is that it is rumoured that a redeco of the Classicverse Ravage toy might be part of this year's set, which could see it being done as Treadshot's partner - Catgut.
One thing I want to mention on this though - Treadshot was the first Actionmaster toy I bought, and was the only US Actionmaster I got retail.... so I have a soft-spot for this character, and will probably be extra critical of it in this year's BotCon set. (haven't I been a bit savage already???)
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