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A Collection Of History On Cassette Soldiers

Takara in Japan keeps the G1 love rolling with more additions to their Encore line for 2009. The 15th issue in the line are 4 of the cassette soldiers employed by either Soundwave or Blaster. Two minions serve Soundwave (Ravage and Laserbeak) and the other two report to Blaster (Eject and Rewind). In this blog, we'll look at their history.

History

Anime

Ravage & Laserbeak

Ravage (a jaguar in beast mode) and Laserbeak (a condor in beast mode) were the first of the Decepticons to appear on the animated series. Both were microcassettes that were launched from Soundwave. Laserbeak was the first to appear, and was one of the only Transformers to be shown in his Cybertronian form before being adapted by Teletraan-1. Ravage is introduced later in the series when he guarded the electrical substation overtaken by the Decepticons. Two humans that were sent to figure out what happened to the substation were the first to lay eyes on Ravage. Both Ravage and Laserbeak were animalistic, having no speech other than mechanized animals noises. However, during a playback session Ravage exudes a beast-like voice. Ravage and Laserbeak are regulars in the series throughout Seasons one and two. Less common was Laserbeak's twin, Buzzsaw, who only appeared a few times.

Eject & Rewind

Eject and Rewind weren't on scene until Season 3, when Blaster introduced his cassette soldiers to counter Soundwave's. Both humaniod soldiers first appeared in the Movie, attempting to guard the communications tower against Soundwave's cassettes. Rewind went on to make several more appearances in the show, mostly as a historian. Eject was not seen as much as Rewind, and was likewise a bot of few words. Rewind and Eject were both twins, possessing different coloration from each other.

Comic

Ravage was originally a bodyguard to the Overlords, the previous rulers of Cybertron. After the last Overlord fell, Ravage sided with Megatron. He followed the Decepticons to Earth and was put to effective use as a spy... including spying on fellow Decepticons. Some time after his duties began on Earth, he was temporarily in stasis lock for a few years after a battle with Skids sent him down a mine shaft. Ravage awoke during the "Time Wars", when both Megatron and Galvatron (his future self) plotted to destroy the Autobots. Sensing impending doom, he sought out Shockwave to find him insane from the illogical effects of the time anomolies. Ravage was able to snap Shockwave back from insanity to help restore the time/space balance. Ravage was part of the great gathering of Primus in an effort to defeat Unicron, but was last seen fleeing. Unlike in the anime, Ravage was able to speak.

Laserbeak more closely served by Soundwave's side in the comic. Although he had the gift of speech at first, he somehow lost that ability around the time Shockwave came to Earth. Laserbeak was often used as a symbol of leadership, perching on the shoulder of the Decepticon who currently had command. Laserbeak was eventually destroyed while serving under one of the teams penetrating the Underbase to stop Starscream from taking over.

Eject and Rewind were not featured in the Marvel comic series.

Figures

Ravage & Laserbeak

Laserbeak was packaged alongside Frenzy when introduced in the US. In Japan, Condor (as he was known) was packaged solo. Red and black were his primary colors. Laserbeak's twin, Buzzsaw, was packaged with Soundwave. During the Beast Wars series, Lazorbeak had a similarity to Laserbeak, though the tie-in was never explored. Laserbeak shows up again for Armada, except now he is an Autobot who is given the task of guarding the 3 human children. Laserbeak appears again in Cybertron, and is once again paired with Soundwave as a drone. He also is paired with Soundwave for the Animated series figure, though he has yet to make an appearance on the show. When Soundwave was released in 2003 as part of the Commemorative series, Laserbeak was packaged with him.

Ravage shared packaging with Rumble in the US, while sold solo in Japan. During the Beast Wars years, the name Ravage was trademarked by another company. Instead, he was known as Tripredacus Agent (or Shadow Panther in Japan) He came with a water launcher and was later used as a redeco for Tigatron. For Beast War Metals, he was known as Jaguar X9. He transformed from robot to jaguar, with a 3rd flight mode. However, an episode of the anime showed him instead transforming into a cassette which played 80's guitar music. For the World's Smallest Transformers lineup, Ravage was packaged with Soundwave and could transform from cassette to a (something resembling a) jaguar. Ravage was featured during the Energon line with 2 figures, either Battle Ravage or Command Ravage. Both transformed from a jaguar to a robot and were part of the Terrorcon subline. Ravage was released twice during the Alternators/Binaltech run. His first release was a redeco of Tracks, with a Jaguar head in robot mode and was named Battle Ravage. Towards the end of the line, Ravage got his own mold and returned to having an alt mode and a beast mode. This mold was sold exclusively at Walmart. Ravage was slated to be packaged with a redeco'ed version of Soundwave called Soundblaster for the Titanium line, but the line was nixed before it happend. For the Universe lineup, Ravage is packaged with Hound and retains his G1 microcassette/jaguar modes.

Eject & Rewind

Eject was packaged with Ramhorn in the US, while Rewind was packaged with Steeljaw. Both figures were solo packaged in Japan. One anomoly with both figures is that they originally had gold chromed weapons when released, but later released had silver weapons. The gold chromed figures are considered rare and command a premium. Neither figure has seen use in the Transformers universe.

Pricing



Ravage can be found regularly in auctions and can command a price of anywhere from $12 to $25. Laserbeak is also commonly found, but offers a much lower price, anywhere from $4 to $25. Eject is less common of the cassettes and starts out around $25. Finding his gold plated weapon version will add money, up to $75 when partnered with Ramhorn. Similarly, Rewind can be had for $25 although he is more commonly found. The Encore set lists for $48, with release set for March 2009.

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