2-001
Hasbro- Transformers Combiner Wars: Shockwave
I was always a fan of Shockwave from the early days of the Transformers. He really had that look and sound that was quite different from the others and it made for a unique robotic character; I also thought his futuristic space gun mode totally kicked ass. When I was around 10 a neighbour of mine was getting rid of some of his old toys and offered to sell me his Shockwave. Sure. it was missing a few accessories, wasn’t purple and had an enormous trigger dong, but I was pretty impressed with my luck.
I’d later find out that this was either a Shockwave bootleg figure or the Radio Shack release of the same character nicknamed appropriately “Shack-wave” but I feel that, aside from the trigger dick, it was more or less the same as the Transformer release and in my book still considered a win for me.
Over the years Shockwave has seen a number of iterations, some better than others, that do well to capture the overall look of the classic Shockwave. Much like Megatron, the biggest differences to his G1 counterpart on these new figures is to make him a Tank for an alt mode. I suppose this is a fair compromise given the state of toy guns as playthings; even if it is a kick-ass space gun. This is why I love this figure as his alt mode is is just that, a kick-ass space gun! Granted not exactly full size, but given that it is to be used with the equally kick-ass Combiner Wars Bruticus, I totally love how they incorporated it to the combiner wars theme.
The robot mode is articulated well and certainly captures his iconic look down to the one eye head and laser pistol left hand. The gun mode looks good and certainly channels a G1 design, but as the legs are now incorporated in the body of the weapon, the handle is a bit lacking. Perhaps this was to help its 3rd mode; some type of silly spaceship? Doesn’t really matter to me as he will never leave Bruticus’ hands.
Overall I like Shockwave a lot. These little mini figures continue to impress me with their play value for money spend and I certainly appreciate the nostalgia factor with him once again being a kick-ass space gun.
Pros: Nice little figure for the cost, space gun mode has a great G1 vibe, nice robot mode.
Cons: Weak 3rd mode, little tiny handle.
