Review: #100
Name: Shockwave
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations (Fall of Cybertron)
Year of Release: 2012
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 1)
Variations: repainted into Fireflight
VEHICLE MODE:
Shockwave transforms into a "Cybertronian mobile artillery" mode, basically just a spaceship with a cannon in front. Predominantly purple with silver highlights.
There is a thruster at the back, but you can clearly see the joints for his arms. For a Cybertronian mode, it's very good and looks plausible.
Shockwave doesn't have any sort of landing gear, but he does rest flat on the table. Everything pegs together nicely, there are no loose pieces anywhere.
The underside shows his robot legs and torso clearly, somewhat hard to avoid and it's not like you would look underneath anyway.
Size-wise, he's about on par with the smaller Prime First Edition Deluxes (but not to the point of the normal Robots in Disguise line), that said, he's still very small. Compared to the first Generations line, he has noticeably less mass.
All in all, a much better mode than I expected, fairly static, but well executed.
TRANSFORMATION:
Much more interesting that you would have thought by looking at the packaging. You thought it'll be a simple affair? Well it is, but it's intuitive and well-engineered. It makes the transformation fun. The legs pretty much just split apart, and the arms are simple, but there's just some charm about the way Shockwave transforms. There's a head reveal gimmick similar to the Prime Robots in Disguise Deluxes, in that when you peg in his chest, the head automatically pops up. The chest is bulky enough for this gimmick to be unobtrusive.
ROBOT MODE:
So we come to the main point of the review, the robot mode of Shockwave. He has the classic look, from the chest to the one eyed head. This nails the character well.
He has big shoulders and skinny legs, but Shockwave looks great. The wings behind his back are a nice touch.
The headsculpt is wonderful, and there's a great lightpipe. The eye glows even when he's not directly in near the light source. However, the head's only on a swivel joint, there's no up or down motion here.
His feet is angled downwards, which can be somewhat annoying when trying to make him stand up straight.
Focusing on Shockwave's gun, it's a single barreled cannon that's shaped like a triangle/flower. You can also pull the silver bit off for a three barreled gun, but what you do with the bit you pulled off I have no idea (attach it to his back?). This gun forms an integral part of the vehicle mode, so don't lose it!
If you prefer to have your Shockwave to have two free hands, then you can attach the cannon onto his back for storage.
Or you can have Shockwave hold it in either of his hands. I wouldn't recommend this as the handle sits too far forward and impeded Shockwave's elbow articulation.
Lastly, and it's probably the one that people will use the most (which, oddly enough, is not in the instructions, even though it's on the back of the packaging), is that you can fold Shockwave's hand in (either of his hands) and peg the gun directly onto it so it looks like his gun arm.
The articulation is decent, barring a waist joint, he has everything you would think he would need.
There's great sculpting on his body and if you look carefully, although he doesn't have too many paint apps, he doesn't need them.
The feet is too static for my liking, it's annoying to get a pose where he would stand properly, a ball joint of swivel ankle would do wonders.
Just like vehicle mode, Shockwave is extraordinary tiny. He's a Deluxe in name only, compared to previously WFC toys, he's absolutely tiny and would not fit into any WFC collections.
What's more, Shockwave also feels very hollow, he has a fair few hollow parts, they've take cost cutting to the max now.
Despite all of that, this robot mode evokes Shockwave very well and is a great robot mode.
OVERALL:
An excellent toy, if a bit small. He's fun in both modes and the transformation is simple yet fun. A much better toy than I expected and everyone should give it a chance (if you haven't already).
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