Shaken by the Shockwaves from the blehblehblehPHHTTT (Part 2)

Part 2, without any electricity or boogalooing.  Plenty of monoeye horror, though!  Please, proceed.

Shockwave (Dark of the Moon, 2011)

Transformer movies!  Love 'em or hate 'em you gotta admit: there's a LOT of stupid shit!  However, robots are ripping each other apart, so I tend not to notice until after the movie is over.  Save for a few things...like how this movie Shockwave is totally awesome and scary lookin' and barely does anything in the movie.  He's got some weird/awesome worm thing that eats buildings and dirt, but beyond that Shockwave shows up to do three things without the worm: Shoot down Optimus as he's flying around, get totally owned by a bunch of soldiers shooting at him with guns, and then once that brings him to tears, Ripapartimus Prime runs in to beat the ever loving total end-all-be-all SHIT out of him and then tears out his monoeye through his throat.  I was surprised Optimus didn't throw the eye down afterward and do the Ickey Shuffle. 

Needless to say...I would have liked to see Shockwave be as badass as his figure looks.  There needed to be a button like on Starship Troopers that popped up saying "Would you like to know more?" which shows Shockwave doing SOMETHING 'cause I know he had to have at one point.  But hey, "HOW BADASS IS HE?" shouts the crowd.

Well they gave this one a "blade" so to speak.  You can put it there or on the end of his gun (which I forgot to photograph, so turn on your Symbio-Brain implants and I'll send you the painful memory bleed).  It's standard movie-style crazy-metal-all-over-the-place and looks pretty cool!  In a certain way it could almost past for a gun as well.

Then there's the GUN, of course.  Seems like the standard for Shockwave is to have the gun on the left arm, but this one forgoes that and puts it on the right.  Then again, the movies generally forgo the standards, so no surprises here.  This guy has the option of having either the normal only-a-gun-for-an-arm or you can flip his hand out and just have the gun attached to his arm.  It is removable, too!

The gun does have one action feature (I believe it's called Mech Tech.)  You can push the little silver tab forward and FWIP two more guns pop out on his...gun.  So if you like guns on your guns, dawg, then this is the cannon for your blammin'.  It's a neat little gimmick, and if you want the guns to stay out, you can push the tab down after you push it forward to lock it in place.  Glad they added that in there.

Now Shockwave just has to have his pipe, because he likes to relax in the easy chair and smoke while he reads the stocks. 

Zing.

The pipe goes from a thing on his back to an adjustable thing on the front of the gun, so you can swing it around depending on how you want to pose him.  Generally you're gona want to pose him defensively, covering his eye so it doesn't get ripped out (Jokes on you - it's coming out through your throat!). 

Now, what does this guy turn into?

Yooouuu guessed it: A tank-like thing!  Granted, he's a bit more tank-like than Shockblast, but it's still pretty crazy.  However, that is par for the course with movie designs.  Now it's possible I have the tube in the wrong place...who knows.  I folded him up from memory.

He rolls nicely and all his junk still works, but I have to say that his robot mode is way more interesting than this.  I believe this is the first time I've transformed him since I got him.  Still, you've gotta admire the freakiness of this beast tearing through a city and blasting things.  Would have been cool to see that in a movie or something! 

I'd suggest tracking this guy down if the newest one didn't outdo him so handily.  But really, it depends on your preferences.  The newest one is a bit more smooth, but if you like yours monstrous, then you should totally go for this.  There's nothing stopping this from being a good toy: he's got great articulation, you can't put him in a bad pose, and he plays well.  Even the action feature is neat!  As usual you can pretty much ignore his tank mode, but it's better than some. 

At the time this toyline came out they also started a sub-line called Cyberverse, which were smaller but no less transformable and poseable figures.  I of course bought the small one too...

Shockwave (DotM Cyberverse, 2011)

This one is just as poseable as his big brother and doesn't lose much from the size change.  Worst thing I can say is that his gun arm is a bit more awkward, since it takes up his whole arm.  You can put it on in various ways, but the only way it'll look right is to put it along the length of the arm and eliminate the elbow joint.

Not that you need the elbow.  You can see on the other arm that the same blade is there, and it can be moved around like on the big one.  For some reason it's now longer than his arm, but EH.  Still cool.

He's got a pipe as well, but he's too young to smoke.  It falls out a lot, and even more so if you use it like they tell you to.  The red circled area is where it's supposed to go, but if you wana pose him firing then it'll just pop out!  Best to shove it in the arm like I've got it there.

AAAAND just like his brother, he turns into the same tank-thing!  Works a little less here, and he's kinda wobbly.  He also came with a big 'ol butt piece that I think was supposed to mimic his driller worm from the movie, but I couldn't find it and it doesn't do anything amazing other than turn into a gunner station and attach to the back of his tanky thing here.  Understandably, I don't really care where it is, regardless of it being a good chunk of his cost.

You can probably still find him collecting dust on a bottom shelf in TRU.  That's where I found 'em!  All in all he's the more forgettable version, though if you're looking to save space he still moves great and provides a decent representation of the movie guy.  Plus: crazy monster robot in Joe size!  Always adds points to the test.

Next we have another favorite and a mid-sized contender from his designs in the recent video games.

Shockwave (Fall of Cybertron, 2012)

I've only ever played the first game so far, so I dunno how this guy is involved in the second.  Hopefully he's playable.  Beyond that: DAYMN gurl you lookin' fine!  In a manner of speaking.  He's thin, yet still imposing!  The monoeye will often do that for you.  The gun will also do the speaking!  As usual, Shockwave is sporting his Left Hand of Public Speaking that usually quiets all dissenters.  Of course, it can be a right hand if you like, 'cause his hands fold in and you can put that gun on either arm. 

The gun actually has two modes, and they're achieved by simply sliding off that big chunk on the front.  [casanovafrankensteinvoice]It's really quite cool![/casanovafrankensteinvoice]

So you can have your heavy firepower Shockwave, or rapid fire Shockwave with the simple switch of a household appliance.  A Cybertronian household appliance.  Guns.  All guns.

Now you may be wondering: "Does this Shockwave turn into a tank-like thing?" and if you said yes, you'd only be half right! 

You got the "like" and "thing" parts right, 'cause now he's a plane-like thing!  More of a plane-chunk thing.  You can just imagine a sort of chugging sound as it flies by, like a pod racer or something.  I actually like it!  Makes sense for Shockwave and puts his firepower right up front where it should be.  Now you have to forgive me, 'cause the wings are actually upside down, but I didn't figure it out until afterward, and I ain't redoin' these pics yo.  But he's mostly in the correct form, so there you go.  Nothing like a resounding "GOOD ENOUGH!"

I really liked this one.  It's the first one out of the bunch that I like transforming back and forth.  Probably because it's so simple!  On top of that, he's got the coolest looking alternate mode so far.  Just a pure warship!   Add in the fact that he's nice and poseable and simple (not a lot getting in the way) and you've got a winner.  I highly suggest him, and you can probably find him along with DROVES of the first wave he's in at places like Target, or if you're in or around Michigan, Meijer (especially Meijer.  They can't get rid of him.)  This is another one that transcends the character and is just a fun toy, so pick this one up no matter your interests!

Now we come up close to our finishing point.  Yeah, I haven't managed to get a ton of this character; mostly just what happened to be in stores at the time (save for Action Master Shockwave).  The rest I'd have to hunt down and decide on if I felt like paying the prices for after market figures blahblah you get the idea.

Anyway, moving on: We're on the newest incarnations of Shockwave, and we'll start with the tiny version because of course I bought both.

Shockwave (Transformers: Prime, 2013)

This guy continues from the last movie's Cyberverse subset in that they're smaller versions of the larger normal figures.  Now though, they're toys for the current Transformers cartoon, Prime.  I haven't seen much of it, but what I've seen I like.  Shockwave in particular is just fantastic.  Fantastic looking, I mean.  I haven't actually seen him in action, though apparently he's central to the whole Beast Hunters thing going on right now.  To me, he's the perfect fusion between classic and new ideas, all mashed into on malevolent looking toy robot.

 
Of course the small one doesn't get the same ideas across as the big one does.  His legs don't move quite as well, and for some reason he doesn't have any neck articulation, which kinda hinders his ability to strike a menacing pose with that big dust buster he's got on his arm.  It fires a missile, by the way, but I didn't photograph it 'cause it's dumb.  I mean it's just...silver.  Like his barrel.  But it's sculpted like a blast.  They couldn't mold it in some translucent color, or at least SOME bright color to show that it is a blast?

At least in general he's cool, but doesn't have as much articulation as the movie Cyberverse one.  This one does get an elbow joint on the gun arm, though! 

But another problem is the detail...like the chest.  It's just shinny purple even though it's red in the larger one.  Kinda plain.  That and his monoeye is a bit bigger with this version, but you can see that they didn't paint the whole eye; just threw a red dot in the center. 

Now as awesome as this Shockwave is, I gotta say his alternate mode is one of the goofier ones.

It's not terrible, but it also looks...well, goofy!  His big 'ol legs are just out front there.  The whole thing looks like it doesn't have much support.  I'm not sure what I'd want him to turn into, but I suppose if he had to turn into something cooler but it made him stranger in robot mode, then I'd go for this dog-like thing.  More on that in the FINAL PART.

Which is right now.

Shockwave (Prime, 2013)

That's right folks, we made it!  This is the current Shockwave, and the reason I decided to go back and look at the Shockwave's I've collected up to this point.  This guy is so awesome that he pretty much blew away all my other Shockwave's and shot to the top of my list.  Will you agree?  Does it matter?  Find out!

 

Now I see pics of a lot of toys before they come out and mark them for purchase.  Often times when I actually DO purchase said figures, they won't live up to what the pictures promised.  Well, I saw Shockwave and wanted Shockwave, and I knew nothing was going to deter me from him. 

He lived up to the hype my mind created.  OH I LOVE HIM DO.

Now I know the cannon looks a little funny, but it seriously has an awesome action feature.  Your results may vary, but it's just so much cooler than the standard missile launcher.  You ever play with one of those toys where you press a button and the top part spins open?  For instance, you may have gotten a Death Star toy from a fast food place one time where you press the button over and over and as it spins faster, the Death Star opens up to reveal an explotion.  That's how this works.

All you gotta do it press that button on top over and over and his cannon will split apart and show the energy inside.

I LOVE THIS.  It's so much fun!  You can imagine that he fires regular shots when the gun is normal, then this sucker starts spinning and charging - electricity and energy arching inside between the halves - and then fires off this BIG 'OL blast that rakes across the battlefield and explodes!  I don't think I can fully explain how awesome I think this is.  It's just perfect.  I wana go back in time and hand this to myself - that's right.  I'm not even gona warn my young self of important things, I'm just gona time travel so that I have this awesome friggin' figure earlier on so I could make the most use of it.

Okay...okay comin' down.  Now some other neat things: the gun is large, but totally doesn't get in the way.  He's even got an elbow joint on that arm, so there are lots of posing options!  They also worked in his tube thing in an interesting way.

The tank tread on one side unfolds from the tread well and clips into the back of the gun!  Nice and secure, too.  Pretty clever and it works nicely!

Now of course we have to transform him at some point.  He IS a Transformer.  Though, since you've seen his smaller version you pretty much know what we're gona get.  Still, here's a mid-way shot:

WHOA MAN get that hand outta there!  What are you doin'?  Come on!  Aw.  Geeze.  But seriously, he spreads them legs, shoves his hand on his crotch from behind, and...well doesn't do much else other than swings the gun arm on top.

So yeah, dog thing!  Once again, it's not terrible, but it certainly feels like the most...side-thought of them all.  Like they built the figure first and figured out a way to make it turn into something second.  It is kinda freaky, so that's cool. 

I suppose if I had to say nice things: I think it's cool that it looks like it could drive or walk around.  I do wish they'd figure out how to make him more tank like, but like I said with the Cyberverse one...if I had to sacrifice the robot mode, then forget it.  The robot is THAT COOL.  I don't care what he turns into so long as that robot is cool, and he daymn cool I tell you no lie. 

OH right, did I mention that he's part of the Beast Hunters part of Prime?  That means he needs beast...parts.  I guess.  They're basically simple add-ons so you can have your normal Shockwave, since he didn't have a normal figure before this. 

They're not actually bad parts!  Especially since they're optional.  I do kinda wish they...I dunno, clipped together?  Maybe formed some sorta wacky little beast on their own.  I tried to do that myself, but couldn't get anything that worked or fit together. 

The important thing to remember from this is that this is the BEST Shockwave.  That's sprinkled with a generous helping of my Opinion Salt, but you knew that when you clicked on my blog.  So I'll just gush: this blows 'em all away.  The articulation, the look, the MENACE.  His alternate mode may not be my favorite, but it does work and it is solid, even if it doesn't look like it.  The feature even works in "tank" mode!  I love this figure as a Shockwave as just as a toy.  The most important fact is that he is fun.  Fun fun fun!  Buy this for you, buy this for your kids, buy this for your friends and family.  Give one to Grandma and Grandpa, hand them out on Halloween.  Use them as currency!  You simply cannot go wrong with this figure.  I love him. You'll love him.  Find one and give 'em a hug.

SOOOO...that's the short and long of it!  Mostly long.  I've collected Shockwave as almost an afterthought, because I just kept getting the guy who had an awesome monoeye.  I learned about Shockwave and liked the character as well.  So I'ma keep buying him, most likey...but I'll bet it'll take a lot to top this one. 

Now I'll kill this by one small addition by the Techno-Viper:

I would have loved that set, but I don't think I'll ever get my hands on any Hasbro exclusive save for the after market...and then I probably won't want to pay those prices.  So the absolute perfect made-for-me sets will just have to pass me by.  It's not like it's the perfect Shockwave or anything...but dang that was a cool set. 

Well, I hope you learned a bit about some great Shockwave toys!  There have been some real great ones over the years and they've all made generally good to great toys.  If you love a monoeyed robot or just love Shockwave then you've got some great choices!  Come on back next time when I wait EVEN LONGER to make another post!