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Hasbro- Transformers- Dark of the Moon: Shockwave.
Dark of the Moon? Yep, I have a number of figures from two Transformer movies ago and figured it was time to crack them open. Before I get to Shockwave I just wanted to get a few things off my chest about the current state of Transformers and the toys.
A lot of people might take unbridge with this, but I feel that Hasbro is creatively bankrupt and are on a downslide in terms of the Transformers franchise. Obviously this is only my opinion, but I can’t imagine that I’m the only one who feels like this. Consider the following: The Generation 1 era lasted 8 years (1984 - 1992) with the cartoon spanning 3 (and a bit) seasons (1984 - 1987), The Generation 2 era was only 2 years (1992-1994) with minimal new toys and contents and then 2 years with nothing until Beast Wars (1996-1999), Beast Machines (1999-2001) and Transformers RID (2001-2002). In a span of 18 years we were gifted with so many different new and cool things in the Transformers mythos. For example, Optimus Prime started as a truck; then he died and transferred leadership to Ultra Magnus, but when he couldn’t cut it, transferred to Rodimus, just to be transferred back to Optimus at Rebirth. From there an Ape took over leadership of the team, but had a total crisis of faith and basically gave up and finally became a Fire Truck to somewhat come back full circle to his wheeled predecessor. And that doesn’t even count the Japanese series’ like the Headmasters where Chromedome was the leader, the Beast Wars 2 series where he was a Lion and finally my favorite in the Beast Wars Neo series where he was a frick’n WOOLY MAMMOTH. When you compare that diversity with the last 15 years (2003-present) it’s just the same thing over and over: Armada- red truck, Energon- red truck, Cybertron- red truck, Alternators- red pick-up truck, Classics- red truck, 5 blockbuster movies- 5 (basically the same) red trucks. Animated? Prime? RID? RED TRUCK! RED TRUCK!! RED TRUCK!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I can’t really blame Hasbro for sticking with what works, but as with other major corporations, they are only really interested in the tried and tested thing as they know it makes money; but how long can that really last? I think the current ‘Last Knight” offering has given Hasbro some food for thought in that the same thing, over and over, might not work and we as fans might get something cooler in return. That said, I just wish it was not a Bumblebee movie…
Ok, off my high horse. Shockwave was a cool edition to the Bay-verse and this design stays relatively true to his G1-self what with the arm cannon and single red eye. Transformation is fairly easy and intuitive and his Cybertronian vehicle mode, while not a gun, looks good. I’ll be honest and say that I can't really recall his characterization in the movie save him riding some large space worms though Chicago; but I seem to remember it being fairly destructive? I will also say that I’m not really sure what the rubber hose is for in robot mode as it doesn’t seem to reach anywhere. (edit: figured it out and feel dumb that I didn’t get it sooner)
Pros: A nice updated “Bay-Verse” Shockwave that has echoes of his G1 counterpart and a nice Vehicle Mode.
Cons: Some limited articulation in the arms and a hose that doesn't seem to do much.
