Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 26, 2011 21:16:34 GMT
Dark of the Moon Shockwave
Shockwave toys are few and far between. We never got the original here in the UK but loved him through the comics so when the Action Master came out it was one of the characters that was snapped up. At the moment Cybertron Shockblast, made during a period when Hasbro had lost the trademark on the name, is probably the best modern version of the character. Others have been done but SHOCKWAVE IS NOT A CAR and while the Animated version is inventive, it doesn't fit the classic line aesthetic. Neither do most of the Bay film toys so when it was announced Shockwave would be in Dark of the Moon I wasn't filled with hope.
Straight out the box he's in robot mode so we can see Shockwave has the three crucial features we expect from a Shockwave toy: he's purple, he's got a single eye and a gun on his right arm. But we're interested in the vehicle mode first.
Transform to vehicle mode: Straighten both arms and unplug the hose, which is linked to the gun arm, from the body. Lift the arms so they point forward then fold them back so they point up. Fold his left hand down onto his left forearm. Fold the knees down, then fold the feet up over them and then the heel spurs forward into the space occupied by the feet. Pull the chest forward then fold the head & spine back. Fold the sides of the body back. Rotate each leg so the knee faces the other leg and then bend back so the lower leg is inside the upper leg. If the claws are pegged into the wheel on the spine fold them out to the sides. Rotate the 5mm peg hole mount on the spine so it's over the spine between the head & the wheel then plug the hose into it. Rotate the backpack round the neck so that the mask on it covers the face. Fold the spine between the legs pegging the legs into the wheel and the inner edge of the tracks into the spine to form the front tracks. Press the tabs on the back of the tracks into the body halves so that they become the rear tracks and lock the peg holes on them into the struts connecting them to the rest of the toy. Fold the arms down so the tab in the upper arm locks into the rear tracks and the bars under the wrists sit in the round mounts on the front tracks. Fold the head & backpack up too become the front of the vehicle: this will slot into the front tracks. Fold the cannon hose to the side, under the blades of the weapon and peg into the side of the vehicle.
My first thought on transforming to vehicle mode was THIS SHOULD NOT BE THIS STABLE! A toy with this many pegged together bits, especially one with no solid main body is more than likely going to be floppy and fall to bits. Not Shockwave. The base of the the tank mode is as solid as anything and while the arms aren't secured in place they're sitting where they aught sit to reasonably comfortably. They could be a tad better: there's something going on at the back with the robot mode chest not pegging in right and that's affecting everything else. As I mentioned, he's a tank, with an off centre gun barrel formed from his mech tech weapon like Beast Machines Tankor. In some ways he resembles his Energon equivalent Shockblast somewhat too. While the gun is on one side of the vehicle, the other side carried his sword blade. Both weapons can be removed, swapped or even combined mounting the blade on top of the gun barrel turning it into a bayonet. He moves courtesy of a of wheel embedded in each of his rear tracks and a wheel in each of the claws sticking out the front of the vehicle. This last feature reminds me of something but I can't think what. Each claw has a 3mm bar mounted in the top of it as do the folded back feet. A further bar can be found on the top of the sword blade, with another on the robot arm underneath it. There's one on each side of the of his mechtech weapon but attaching extra pieces on top of the gun will stop it transforming: move the rubber trigger at the rear forwards and the weapon will expand to the sides with two extra gun barrels springing forward. It should be possible to lock this weapon open but it's something of an effort requiring the trigger to be pushed forward and up from underneath so you better have the weapon remover first. There's several additional 5mm Mechtech ports on the toy: one on the weapon itself, another one further back down the barrel on a rotating piece usually connected to the post and one on each side of each of the rear tracks. There's another hole between the front tracks which I think is meant for the hose but plugging it in is difficult once the toy is in this mode. The overall look of the tank is a piece of alien machinery which won't look out of place on a shelf of Cybertron mode toys.
To transform him back to robot mode start by folding down the claws at the front of the vehicle. Lift the arms back & up and pull the rear treads away from the front. Pull the front treads away from the spine and the wheel. Unplug the power flex and fold the legs, feet, heel pads & knee spurs out. Pull the robot chest forward, fold the rear treads in to form the body sides and peg the robot chest onto it. Fold the arms out to the sides & fold his left hand out. Rotate the claw section so it faces backwards pegging the ends of the claws into the wheel then fold down & rotate the head forwards. Fold the spine forwards pegging the base of the neck into the chest - if you've forgotten to fold the claws in it won't quite fit and this is how it is in the packaging. Peg the power hose into the back of Shockwave's shoulders.
So now we're back in robot mode, except it's a lot more stable than it was out of the box. It's most prominent feature from a distance is his eye, lightpiped in clear red plastic. BEST LIGHTPIPE EVER. Seriously. Even a small bit of light causes it to glow bright against the dark background of the toy. Liz, my wife, walked into the room, looked at it and thought I'd left electronics in it switched on, even when he's standing in an east facing room after midday. Beyond this, and the obvious Shockwave elements I mention at the start above, the dominating element is the robot's chest which is also the most Bayformer like part of the toy: It's an eight rib rib cage which seems to sit out of place with the rest of the toys design which could easily fit into the classic line. The left arm has a hand, with the blade plugged into the forearm. The right arm has the cannon....... but turn the arm round and underneath you'll find another hand which can be folded out just like the other arm. Although both hands are moulded but there's a 5mm peg hole moulded between the thumb and other fingers allowing him to hold either Mechtech weapons or indeed the weapons that come with the toy. Articulation is good with bending knees, thigh swivels, universally jointed hips, a turning head, shoulders which raise at the body, turn & let the arm swing to the sides, a bicep rotational joint that slides apart too easily, an inward bending elbow & inward bending wrist. No wrist or elbow swivel so it's impossible to get an upward facing hand hole with the arm bent. The 3mm bars are still accessible in this mode: now on each claw on his back, on the side of each foot, 2 at the back of the mechtech weapon, with the same caveat as before, one on blade and one under it in the blade arm. We've lost some of the 5mm holes in the TF: we have one on the back of each shoulder, the gun & blade mounts, the front top of gun and at the point where the hose is normally attached to the gun.
Shockwave as a toy is fabulous, there's lots of room for changing exactly how you want the weapons positioned on the robot so the customisation aspect gives it something to start with. But we've also got a Bayverse toy that doesn't look embarrassing with the classics in either mode. Good work here.
Shockwave is a Wave 2 Dark of the Moon Voyager packed 1 per case with 2 x Optimus Prime and 1 x Skyhammer. He is the first transforming toy with the ShockWAVE name released in the UK.
REPAINTS
There's some "only slightly different" repaints of this toy in the works for various boxsets including the Streetwise Bot Brawl with Optimus Prime & Bumblebee that's emerged in Australia recently.
As a possible repaint suggestion how about a sandy coloured version, homaging Energon Sixshot, Shockblast's repaint?
Shockwave toys are few and far between. We never got the original here in the UK but loved him through the comics so when the Action Master came out it was one of the characters that was snapped up. At the moment Cybertron Shockblast, made during a period when Hasbro had lost the trademark on the name, is probably the best modern version of the character. Others have been done but SHOCKWAVE IS NOT A CAR and while the Animated version is inventive, it doesn't fit the classic line aesthetic. Neither do most of the Bay film toys so when it was announced Shockwave would be in Dark of the Moon I wasn't filled with hope.
Straight out the box he's in robot mode so we can see Shockwave has the three crucial features we expect from a Shockwave toy: he's purple, he's got a single eye and a gun on his right arm. But we're interested in the vehicle mode first.
Transform to vehicle mode: Straighten both arms and unplug the hose, which is linked to the gun arm, from the body. Lift the arms so they point forward then fold them back so they point up. Fold his left hand down onto his left forearm. Fold the knees down, then fold the feet up over them and then the heel spurs forward into the space occupied by the feet. Pull the chest forward then fold the head & spine back. Fold the sides of the body back. Rotate each leg so the knee faces the other leg and then bend back so the lower leg is inside the upper leg. If the claws are pegged into the wheel on the spine fold them out to the sides. Rotate the 5mm peg hole mount on the spine so it's over the spine between the head & the wheel then plug the hose into it. Rotate the backpack round the neck so that the mask on it covers the face. Fold the spine between the legs pegging the legs into the wheel and the inner edge of the tracks into the spine to form the front tracks. Press the tabs on the back of the tracks into the body halves so that they become the rear tracks and lock the peg holes on them into the struts connecting them to the rest of the toy. Fold the arms down so the tab in the upper arm locks into the rear tracks and the bars under the wrists sit in the round mounts on the front tracks. Fold the head & backpack up too become the front of the vehicle: this will slot into the front tracks. Fold the cannon hose to the side, under the blades of the weapon and peg into the side of the vehicle.
My first thought on transforming to vehicle mode was THIS SHOULD NOT BE THIS STABLE! A toy with this many pegged together bits, especially one with no solid main body is more than likely going to be floppy and fall to bits. Not Shockwave. The base of the the tank mode is as solid as anything and while the arms aren't secured in place they're sitting where they aught sit to reasonably comfortably. They could be a tad better: there's something going on at the back with the robot mode chest not pegging in right and that's affecting everything else. As I mentioned, he's a tank, with an off centre gun barrel formed from his mech tech weapon like Beast Machines Tankor. In some ways he resembles his Energon equivalent Shockblast somewhat too. While the gun is on one side of the vehicle, the other side carried his sword blade. Both weapons can be removed, swapped or even combined mounting the blade on top of the gun barrel turning it into a bayonet. He moves courtesy of a of wheel embedded in each of his rear tracks and a wheel in each of the claws sticking out the front of the vehicle. This last feature reminds me of something but I can't think what. Each claw has a 3mm bar mounted in the top of it as do the folded back feet. A further bar can be found on the top of the sword blade, with another on the robot arm underneath it. There's one on each side of the of his mechtech weapon but attaching extra pieces on top of the gun will stop it transforming: move the rubber trigger at the rear forwards and the weapon will expand to the sides with two extra gun barrels springing forward. It should be possible to lock this weapon open but it's something of an effort requiring the trigger to be pushed forward and up from underneath so you better have the weapon remover first. There's several additional 5mm Mechtech ports on the toy: one on the weapon itself, another one further back down the barrel on a rotating piece usually connected to the post and one on each side of each of the rear tracks. There's another hole between the front tracks which I think is meant for the hose but plugging it in is difficult once the toy is in this mode. The overall look of the tank is a piece of alien machinery which won't look out of place on a shelf of Cybertron mode toys.
To transform him back to robot mode start by folding down the claws at the front of the vehicle. Lift the arms back & up and pull the rear treads away from the front. Pull the front treads away from the spine and the wheel. Unplug the power flex and fold the legs, feet, heel pads & knee spurs out. Pull the robot chest forward, fold the rear treads in to form the body sides and peg the robot chest onto it. Fold the arms out to the sides & fold his left hand out. Rotate the claw section so it faces backwards pegging the ends of the claws into the wheel then fold down & rotate the head forwards. Fold the spine forwards pegging the base of the neck into the chest - if you've forgotten to fold the claws in it won't quite fit and this is how it is in the packaging. Peg the power hose into the back of Shockwave's shoulders.
So now we're back in robot mode, except it's a lot more stable than it was out of the box. It's most prominent feature from a distance is his eye, lightpiped in clear red plastic. BEST LIGHTPIPE EVER. Seriously. Even a small bit of light causes it to glow bright against the dark background of the toy. Liz, my wife, walked into the room, looked at it and thought I'd left electronics in it switched on, even when he's standing in an east facing room after midday. Beyond this, and the obvious Shockwave elements I mention at the start above, the dominating element is the robot's chest which is also the most Bayformer like part of the toy: It's an eight rib rib cage which seems to sit out of place with the rest of the toys design which could easily fit into the classic line. The left arm has a hand, with the blade plugged into the forearm. The right arm has the cannon....... but turn the arm round and underneath you'll find another hand which can be folded out just like the other arm. Although both hands are moulded but there's a 5mm peg hole moulded between the thumb and other fingers allowing him to hold either Mechtech weapons or indeed the weapons that come with the toy. Articulation is good with bending knees, thigh swivels, universally jointed hips, a turning head, shoulders which raise at the body, turn & let the arm swing to the sides, a bicep rotational joint that slides apart too easily, an inward bending elbow & inward bending wrist. No wrist or elbow swivel so it's impossible to get an upward facing hand hole with the arm bent. The 3mm bars are still accessible in this mode: now on each claw on his back, on the side of each foot, 2 at the back of the mechtech weapon, with the same caveat as before, one on blade and one under it in the blade arm. We've lost some of the 5mm holes in the TF: we have one on the back of each shoulder, the gun & blade mounts, the front top of gun and at the point where the hose is normally attached to the gun.
Shockwave as a toy is fabulous, there's lots of room for changing exactly how you want the weapons positioned on the robot so the customisation aspect gives it something to start with. But we've also got a Bayverse toy that doesn't look embarrassing with the classics in either mode. Good work here.
Shockwave is a Wave 2 Dark of the Moon Voyager packed 1 per case with 2 x Optimus Prime and 1 x Skyhammer. He is the first transforming toy with the ShockWAVE name released in the UK.
REPAINTS
There's some "only slightly different" repaints of this toy in the works for various boxsets including the Streetwise Bot Brawl with Optimus Prime & Bumblebee that's emerged in Australia recently.
As a possible repaint suggestion how about a sandy coloured version, homaging Energon Sixshot, Shockblast's repaint?