Shockwave

Box scan from Botch the Crab

I'm going to just start this post by stating that I feel as though I've found a Holy Grail. The moment from when I started searching for one until he actually arrived at my doorstep took an exhausting two years. Why so long? Finding one without tons of cracking on the hose, decent price without overpaying and fear of buying a potential knockoff all contributed to the delay.

Shockwave has always been one of my favorite Decepticons thanks in large part to the comics.  Sure, his cartoon appearances were great, but the cartoon never gave us anything like this:

Come on!  That's awesome!

 I've never actually owned that issue, as I didn't start reading the comics until issue 30.  But at the time, you could go to stores like Ames, Zarye, or Roses and buy multipacks of old comics for cheap.  It was here that I discovered just how awesome Shockwave was, for in the first multipack was issue 8, featuring the Dinobots!  Shockwave had defeated Prime and kept his head?  And defeated Megatron?  And the Dinobots?  That cemented my love of the mono-optic one.

Really, seeing the issue cover to issue 5 drove home the key differences in Shockwave's depiction in the comic versus the cartoon.  Remember how menacing Shockwave looked on the cover for issue 5?  Well, contrast it with this:

Whee!!!

Granted, Shockwave wasn't this silly looking in the cartoon, but he was basically relegated to a background character on Cybertron.  Shockwave was really nothing more than a loyal soldier in Megatron's army.  Corey Burton did a wonderful job providing his voice, but the character as a whole just fell flat for me.

I could go on about Shockwave's comic incarnation, but this is a blog about toys, by Primus, so let's get to it.

Shockwave is one of those figures that I always wanted as a kid, but was never able to get.  I remember having friends who had him, or Shackwave the RadioShack version, or some flea market knockoff.  For some reason, the only Shockwave I was able to get my hands on was the Action Master version, which I sadly don't have anymore.

I got this for a really good price, but he's kind of dirty, which is fine since it isn't that hard to clean.  The hose has almost no cracking and not dry rot that I can find, so I'm extremely happy.  What impresses me most about Shockwave is how tall he is.  Then again, he isn't a Takara or Hasbro designed figure, so it's not that surprising.

Another great thing about Shockwave?  The articulation!  There isn't much articulation with the shoulders, but his head moves side to side, he has knee and thigh articulation, and his forearms move up and down and swivel side to side.  All of this allows for poses such as this:

The laser gun mode is pretty standard fare with nothing really special or noteworthy about it.

 Who am I kidding?  When the house is empty and my wife and kids aren't around to make fun of me, I've been walking around the house shooting at the cat with Shockwave.  I love the gun mode!  There are two different sound effects that you can switch between.  This mode is just sweet.

Well, that's it for now.  Please don't forget to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter (@optimalomega).  More posts coming soon!

Fall of Cybertron

I know that the Fall of Cybertron figures for Jazz, Optimus Prime and Shockwave have been out for awhile, but I haven't really searched them out. If you've read my previous posts, I've been kinda lukewarm about them. I was in a store yesterday and just stumbled across them.

One thing I noticed was the price. The Generations line was anywhere from $9.88 to $12.88 retail. These new figures were $15.47 a pop! That just seemed excessive. It's essentially only a $3 increase, but I just see myself paying that much for the whole line.

At any rate, I decided to purchase Jazz and Shockwave because Optimus didn't appeal to me at all. He just looked odd to me. I must say that the new packaging looks great to me. I love the new tech spechs. They're a call-out to the days of yore. Thank goodness I have to wear a ruby quartz visor so I didn't need to find a decoder to see the ratings.

First up is Jazz, and I must say that I'm disappointed. He just seems so simplistic. There isn't a lot to say about this guy. His robot mode just seemed kind of boring to me. His face is reminiscent of a Bayformer. For some reason I was also expecting waist articulation. Jazz just stands there. Looking at him, I just feel bored.

Moving on to his vehicle mode, things don't get much better. I snapped one of his arms off several times during transformation. Once I got him into vehicle mode, eh. It's sleek, I'll give it that. The metallic blues certainly make it stand out. That's a plus.

Size wise, he's in line with the previous War for Cybertron figures in robot mode. Once in vehicle mode, Bumblebee dwarfs him, which is odd. Once compared to the War for Cybertron figures, Jazz really starts to look bad. The War for Cybertron figures have more going for them in terms of articulation and mass. Jazz is just so light!

Next up is Shockwave. I like Shockwave's robot mode. It's sleek, although it is a little skinny. The light piping for his eye is awesome. That iconic purple just looks great, and the silver highlights aren't overdone. Really tasteful. Supposedly, his gun clips to his back, but on mine, it barely stays put. Still, great robot mode.

Shockwave's vehicle mode is sleek like his robot mode. I just wish it were bigger. Just looking at it, it really looks to me like a gun disguised as a ship. Still, I think Shockwave deserves a Voyager class figure. If Soundwave is getting one, shouldn't ol' one eye get one too?

Overall, with the huge price increase, limited articulation, and seemingly small size, I think Hasbro has made up my mind for me with this line. I'll still buy Bruticus, maybe a couple more, but I won't be out searching high and low for them. I will be searching out for Toys R Us Asian exclusives, however.