Shockwave's alternate mode is a flying gun, although it's a bit less "gun-ish" than his G1 form, looking a bit more like some spacecraft, although not as obviously like one as his FoC form. There IS a flip-out handle on the rear underside of this mode that you can that other, larger Transformers can use to hold him him. (The box says he's paired with Bruticus, but by no means can he only connect to that mold.) There is an odd, rectangular second handle in front of the "actual" handle that can hinder posing-- I'm not sure why that was included, as it just looks weird and only subtracts from the mode. Like most Shockwave toys, he's got a long barrel in this mode, with the mouth of the barrel looking a bit like Shockwave's iconic head. His two robot knees are quite obvious inside the mouth of the barrel, though, which is a negative-- I would've preferred one obvious area where the make-believe "blasts" would theoretically have come from. Shockwave's robot feet are also pretty darned obvious on the sides of the long nose of this mode. I suppose one could say they're little "wings", but I can't see anything but feet, there. Otherwise, design-wise this mode is great, with relatively slim proportions, the other robot extras hidden away fairly well, and a nice targeting reticle on top of the mode. The mold detailing is fairly good, with panels and ridges everywhere they need to be, along with molded-in "thrusters" on the back end. From a back end view, Shockwave's hands are a little obvious, but this is a minor issue at worst. This mode's weakest point is with the color scheme-- he's got your regular Shockwave purple (though a bit darker and duller than usual this time), and a bit of nice transparent pinkish purple used for the barrel mouth. However, there's some of that really bland light milky gray color used for his robot feet, targeting reticle, and a few other minor pieces-- the reticle in particular really could've used some paint apps, but as a whole the color scheme for this mode is pretty dull and nearly all dark, dull purple. It doesn't catch the eye nearly as well as it should.
    Shockwave's transformation mostly consists of just pulling apart and folding down his arms and legs, and then pulling back on the center section to have his head fold up while said center section goes onto his back. It's a very small bit of gun mode stuff on his back, and it doesn't get in the way of his overall silhouette or articulation at all, so it's a very minor negative at most. There are obvious half-panels of the rear portion of his gun/vehicle mode on the sides of his hands, which are mostly just molded onto the bottom side of those panels. Otherwise, this mode is pretty extra-free-- I particularly love how the barrel splits apart and the hips move up to make for pretty much flawless, proportional legs (though from a back view, they are hollow). His chest hearkens back to his G1 form, with a lot of excellent mold detailing, such as the abs and chest that look like a more detailed version of his G1 hexagonal chest. His headsculpt is spot-on, and pretty much exactly his traditional headsculpt, with the head narrowing perhaps a tiny bit more than usual but still very much within his "usual" head design parameters. The yellow eye in the midst of the black looks as intimidating and emotionless as ever. Shockwave's color scheme is thankfully more broken up in this mode, though it's still a bit two-tone-- there's more light milky gray breaking up all the purple, and he does have more transparent pinkish purple visible on his chest and hand and gun-hand, but there's still a bit too much dark dull purple on him-- I wish he had a few more paint apps like the silver on his abs. For articulation, Shockwave can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), hips (at three points), knees, and a bit forward-and-back at the ankles. Given that he's also well-balanced, this means he can pull off a lot of dynamic poses.
    The Combiner Wars version of Shockwave is a nice "middle" between his very gun-like G1 form and his more spacecraft-like FoC form. He's a great accessory for the CW gestalts, and has an extremely well-designed, articulated, and proportioned robot mode. His vehicle/gun mode is a bit weaker, with obvious feet and not enough paint apps, but he's still a great mold and highly recommended if you want a Shockwave that's small enough to actually be wielded by most other TFs.

Review by Beastbot

Back to Transformers: Generations Index