Crane Mode: One thing that bugs me about this figure is that there is a Decepticon symbol on his cannon. In crane mode the only way to hide it is to never lift up his crane but he's not a verry usefull crane if he can't lift that up without blowing his cover.
I was looking at some pictures of the purple version and noticed he does not have the Decepticon logo in that spot which is unfortunate sence the Purple one is no longer under cover and wouldn't be as much of an eye sore on him as it is on the blueish grey one. Whatever color it's supose to be.
I kinda of want to take and paint black over the Decepticon symbol or maybe just a black sharpie. I mean this is supose to be his Autobot mode, why is there a Visable Decepticon logo on him?
Tank Mode: The vehicle mode is easier to change from Autobot to Decepticon than the robot. All that needs to be done is flaten out his treds and there's a trigger that instantly converts his crane hook into a cannon and vice versa. Now with the placement of the Decepticon logo, it actully looks nice here but it still bothers me that it can be seen in crane mode too. The cannon itself is actully shaped like the original Shockwave's head and even has a small circle ingraved in the center for the eye. Sadly this detail was not painted.
Overall vehicle mode: The arms which become his front treds, for some reason the right arm has trouble pegging into place on mine. The left goes in just fine and I don't see any reason why that is when they're both built the same. It might just be a little loose on mine.
For some reason only the tank mode has wheels. There were no wheels added on the ends where the treds stand in Crane mode.
Longarm Prime: The first time I saw the toy I was turned off it by the pictures on the back of the box but then it was only in stores for a day and sold out never to be seen again till yesterday. Longarm's face looked like Shockwave painted white. I didn't see any mouth or eyes in the picture. Still before he sold out again sence this was the last one I decided to get him and was relived to find that his face actully does look show accurate.
The crane just hangs from his back. He can hold it but doesn't look like much of a weapon though his hook is the same design as Lockdown's. I'm fairly use to Crane Transformers haveing their hook pointed up on their back or on their shoulder. Sence shoulder is not possible I tried the other way but this again shows his Decepticon insignia.
Allthough it was never in the show, he is a member of the Elite Guard and I allways wandered why he didn't have the winged Autobot symbol the other Elite Guard have. He just looks like a regular Autobot rather than an EG.
Shockwave: Getting him from Shockwave to Longarm Prime is actully alot easier than the other way around. The difficulty mainly being with his head Transformation. It switches to Longarm's face when you barly push down on his head but oddly can be verry difficult to lift his head up.
Again, the picture on the packageing did not do the toy justice. This time because he actully misstransformed. On the packageing it looked like Shockwave had 2 white eyes which if you don't exstend his head all the way does tend to happen but if you can manage to get his head fully exstended the fake eyes will go away.
Of course again on mine he seems to have an easier time reverting back to Longarm so I have a hard time keeping his Shockwave face from getting his misstrasformed white eyes back.
As Shocwave, because of the cannon Transformation if you wanted to you could have it on his back and have it as a shoulder cannon or even better it's tall enough and fits right between his horns. Not really an offical use for it but I like it.
In his hand it makes one heavy looking cannon.
Over all Robot Mode: In both modes his legs aren't verry sturdy. Longarms hip joints are really loose and as shockwave are covered by the treds but that doesn't help at all to suport them. The transformation joint at the knees are allso loose and allthough there's a pannel to cover them that does stop his knees from bending sideways. I'm not sure how to fix the hip problem but the knees could have been easily avoided with a peg to lock the side pannels into place that cover that joint. Again the joint is not the actual knee but a transformation joint just below it that causes the leg to bend sideways.
Shockwaves thumbs are actully Longarms hands. The hands are molded into the bottom but not the top. Unfortunatly this does not actully do a good job of hideing the hands. Pluse this means only Shockwave gets to have individual finger articulation. I would of liked to have seen fold away compartments in the wrists to switch out Longarms hands and Shockwave's thums. There's enough space for it and it's not like Hasbro has never done that before.
As a hand it does have good wrist articulation though it's a bit tight on mine. As a thumb you can't really move it at all. (well you could but it just wouldn't look like a movement a thumb should even be able to make.)
Despite all the minor details that bug me it's still overall a good figure and I'd really recomend getting him especially if he sells out as quickly everywhere else as he does in my area. The Purple one I haven't even seen yet but I belive he's a store exclusive and sence that's a little far out for me it'd be easier to get him online.
In your replys tell me what you think I should do about the Decepticon decal on the cannon. Paint it, sharpie or just leave it?
