Review: #317
Name: Laserwave (Shockwave)
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Laserwave, otherwise known as Shockwave, is finally introduced into the Masterpiece line, especially to fill in the much needed Decepticon ranks.
He comes in a fancy box and the back of the packaging has some nice stock photos which shows how screen accuracy and poseable he is.
Being a Masterpiece figure, Shockwave naturally comes with a number of accessories. This time however, the designer went for alternative hands, so you get a saluting right hand, a left fist, and then clear purple versions of the above as well as his left gun hand.
A mini-Shockwave gun is included, and the hose is replicated with a piece of string, which is much better than a thin piece of plastic that would break easily.
He comes with a block of plastic which acts as a stand for his gun mode and can clip onto the back of his robot mode.
The collector's card contains a fantastic piece of art and it's unfortunately that this small piece of cardboard is the only place we get to see it.
Lastly, there are Decepticon insignia stickers, you can either use the traditional Decepticon insignia or ones that's more like the G1 cartoon.
GUN MODE:
Shockwave transforms into a Cybertronian handgun, and it doesn't look too much different to the original G1 toy. The difference here is now you get a stand to keep the gun displayed upright.
It looks good from the front and sides but not so much from the back or from above. You can see the hollow gap from the back, and from the top, there are a lot of exposed screw holes.
You can also easily tell how Shockwave transforms and in this aspects, it's a little bit disappointing. The "rubber" hose is now made of coiled metal so this should mean it'll last a lot longer than the original toy's rubber.
In terms of size, Shockwave is approximately the same size as a contemporary Leader classed figure. Yes, you can also hold Shockwave in your hand and it fits perfectly, including the trigger.
If you have two spare AAA batteries, you can insert them for the light gimmick. The barrel will light up purple, and pressing the trigger will activate the light. Furthermore, there is a switch on the back right which allows the light to pulsate.
This is a nice handgun, and while it doesn't improve as much as other Masterpiece figures, it's still an improvement.
TRANSFORMATION:
To get Shockwave into robot mode is actually fairly simple. The arms unfold as you'd expect, as does how the barrel collapses, this is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the figure since it doesn't do anything clever. It is at this step that you realise that the long piece that's attached to the barrel is made of die-cast, which is what contributes to the hefty weight of the figure. The handle and the back of the gun forms the legs and this is where Shockwave deserves the Masterpiece moniker. Effectively the rear of the gun bulks up the legs and it's quite neat. You'd find out that Shockwave's feet is also die-cast.
ROBOT MODE:
Shockwave's robot mode looks good, the proportions are clearly based upon the G1 cartoon as he's a bit chubby especially around the torso area.
The barrel sits on his back as expected. It's permanently attached, unlike the original toy where you detached and set it aside for transformation.
The headsculpt is nice with his single yellow eye. He has a lightpipe that works quite well.
Size-wise, he's a little bit shorter than Age of Extinction Leader Optimus Prime but much hefty and feels a lot more solid.
He's just a tad bit shorter than MP Soundwave.
You can transform with the pipe still attached and it looks great in robot mode.
What's even cooler is that you can rotate the right arm such as that the hose attaches to the top of the forearm.
As expected, Shockwave is very poseable, he has a few ratchets including for his shoulders, elbows and knees.
Looking at it and when initially fiddling with the figure, you'd would have thought Shockwave's hips to be the most limiting in terms of articulation but this is not the case.
His hand is jointed to open, mainly for holding his weapon. The wrist is on a balljoint.
To peg in the mini-Shockwave gun (named the Laser Vulcan) there is a slot inside the palm. The gun's handle can get caught sometimes and be hard to pull out.
His ankles can tilt up and down and this is a huge boon when it comes to dynamic poses.
He comes with a saluting hand but his chest is too bulky so his hand can never reach his head, :(.
Shockwave's hands are interchangeable and he comes with a normal left fist since he turns up in the cartoon in some episodes with two normal fists.
However, it just doesn't seem like Shockwave with his gun-hand.
Shockwave's normally shown with the light lavender colored hands but you can swap them for clear purple ones which looks really nice, although it makes them harder to define and pick out.
One of the reasons for the clear hands is there's another lighting gimmick in relation to his left arm. If you have two button batteries, you can light up his left arm.
Of course, you can interchange the solid colored hand and the clear plastic hand anyway you want.
Something really surprising was that Shockwave doesn't have a waist swivel. He has this weird waist "crunch" joint though. This is probably to accommodate the electronics within the torso.
Lastly, the gun stand can wrap around the barrel and create a bigger backpack, but it is now show-accurate and gives Shockwave a bulkier look.
Looking from the front, you can't even tell much that it's an additional piece tacked onto him.
The most limiting piece of articulation is his knees since they can't bend as far as 90 degrees.
A fantastic robot mode that is instantly recognizable as the iconic Decepticon from the original G1 cartoon.
OVERALL:
You can be in two minds with Shockwave. On the one hand, he doesn't improve as much as other Masterpiece figures have, but on the other, he just looks so good and is so much fun to play with. Sure, he might be a big simple but the play value of having a toy gun that you can actually wield is cool. The robot mode looks great and just like the cartoon model. He doesn't have many unique meaningful accessories but on the whole, Shockwave is still worth your money. You should import him now, who knows if he'll ever be released for the West!
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