Transformers Siege Leader Class Shockwave has been a long time coming for many Classics/Generations collectors. This is certainly not the first Shockwave figure we've gotten since Classics began in 2006. We've had Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Shockwave and Combiner Wars Legends Shockwave. While both were fine figures in their own rights, neither was the right size for a modern "G1" collection for anyone concerned with scaling among characters. We even had some alternatives along the way, like Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Voyager Shockwave, which again was a good figure, though definitely a stylization of his G1 self, and the budget "Cyber Battalion" figure, which while Voyager in size was much less complicated and articulated than a like-sized figure from the Generations line. Though not ideal, all of these were reasonably affordable options as "placeholders." Now that a properly sized Generations styled Shockwave is here, is he worth the hefty $50 USD price tag normally associated with bigger "Leader Class" releases?
Siege Shockwave's robot mode is fantastic. Once again, Hasbro and Takara Tomy have succeeded with giving us a sculpt of a character in Transformers Siege that looks like he could have stepped right out of the cartoon. The proportions are right. Everything is in the right place. Everything is the right shape. The greebling detail is fantastic and really enhances the premium look and feel of the figure, something that I don't think is achieved successfully with some other figures in this line. One obvious way in which "Leader" Shockwave falls short, however, is that he's one of the smaller figures in his base "Voyager" mode, that is, without all of the extra C.O.M.B.A.T. pieces attached to him. He's a whole head shorter than Megatron. That's not so bad in a relative sense of scale, but it does pose some warranted questions about his overall value as a Leader Class figure. We'll address this more when we talk about his "accessories."
The alt mode is another potentially divisive issue with fans. Obviously, Hasbro (and Takara Tomy) are advertising the alt mode for Siege Shockwave as some sort of alien space ship. This is par for the course with G1 characters that traditionally had "gun" alt modes. Titans Return Leader Class Sixshot got stuck with a "Submarine" mode, as far as the box will tell you, which is little more than an upside down sci-fi laser gun. The same is true here with Shockwave. You can certainly achieve the G1 alt-mode look just by turning the spaceship mode upside down, taking off the extra pieces, moving a few panels, are reconnecting the hose elsewhere. Yes, the "grip" is small for an adult hand, and there is really no trigger, but it looks the part otherwise. It's a fair compromise, and adult collectors know what's going on. Hasbro and Takara Tomy have not left us high and dry on this. It's probably the most reasonable and well-executed compromise we could have while still being able to say in the most technical sense that Shockwave does not and is not intended to convert into a toy gun.
Shockwave's transformation scheme is fairly straight forward, borrowing a bit from the Masterpiece version from a few years back. It works quite well, and doesn't really have to be any more complicated than it is. Obviously, the main figure converts in the manner we expect of modern Transformers toys, but to fully transform the figure into spaceship mode, you need to do some parts forming too, a la Shockwave's wave mate, Siege Leader Class Ultra Magnus. What you get are extra pieces to fill out the "wings" in the back and add some bulk to the main body of the craft. It's a much more interesting (and convincing) spaceship with all of the accessory parts attached as intended.
The battle damage paint apps are done really well on Shockwave. Hasbro and Takara Tomy definitely went the "less is more" approach with Shockwave, and it's welcome. In the base robot mode, most of the battle damage is visible on the feet. The majority of it is actually relegated to the extra accessories, so you get a very "clean" looking basic robot mode from the knees up. Where Shockwave misses a step or two is not with paint apps, but with plastic color choices. Shockwave is indeed a DARK shade of purple, darker than even the original G1 toy, far darker than his appearances in the original cartoon. He doesn't look bad this dark purple, but it's off the mark. Similarly, his light purple hand and "gun" are too light, almost indistinguishable from the gray plastic in his thighs in some lighting conditions. In some early stock renderings and stock photos, Shockwave did sport some parts cast in a much lighter purple (biceps, wing tips, and pelvis), presumably to help break up some of the big chunks of solid dark purple. Ultimately, Hasbro and Takara Tomy went for a more accurate uniform purple layout, but I can't help but think how much more accurate this figure would have looked had they used that intermediate purple plastic color from some parts of the prototype figure instead of the dark purple they chose for the official retail release.
Now for the accessories. I've already talked around them a few times during this review, namely in terms of overall value and their use in alt mode, so here I'll describe their use more expressly in robot mode. Shockwave gets a couple of platform shoes, extra gun arms, and an upsized backpack. It's a new design for Shockwave, not based on any previous look or iteration of the character. It's fun to play with a bit, but unlike Ultra Magnus, where the main draw is the completed "armored up" robot mode, most fans will want to stick with the base Shockwave figure in their displays. The armor doesn't really increase Shockwave's height substantially either. It brings him up to about the same height as Siege Voyager Class Megatron, with just a bit of added bulk. Ultra Magnus still towers above Shockwave in their respective armored-up modes, and they're in the same size class! Don't worry, though. Just because the armor pieces may not be all that interesting to you, that doesn't mean you need to relegate Shockwave's extra accessories to a storage bin. They can be reconfigured into a Shockwave-themed drone, that Shockwave can either ride upon like a surfing gorilla or place on a flight stand (sold separately!) to have a hovering drone at his side, a la Triclops from Masters of the Universe 2002. It's more fun than you might think, and it does add a little more play value to the figure overall. It certainly fits in with the C.O.M.B.A.T. system of the Siege line, especially when compared to some of the Deluxe class figures like Cog, Sixgun, and Brunt.
What you essentially get with Siege Leader Class Shockwave is a great, but slightly under sized, Voyager class Shockwave figure that looks G1 almost to a T. He also comes with a color-coordinated "C.O.M.B.A.T." buddy in roughly the Deluxe size class. Like Cog, Sixgun, or Brunt, said "buddy" can be disassembled and configured onto the Shockwave figure (or any Deluxe or Voyager Class Siege figure) in multiple ways. Yes, you could use the Shockwave accessory parts on other figures if you wanted. It's all the same 5mm pegs and holes. The parts will still look very unmistakably like arms and such from Shockwave, though. Unlike the Deluxe size Weaponizers, Shockwave's drone doesn't have its own robot mode identity. If it's not armor on robot mode or parts of the alt mode, it's just a little drone shaped like Shockwave's iconic chest (or maybe his head). So, does one smallish Voyager ($30 USD) plus one Deluxe Weaponizer ($20 USD) without a robot mode really equal one Leader Class figure at $50 USD? I'd say, nearly so, but not quite. We're paying a premium for a package deal that not everyone is really interested in. I'm glad to FINALLY have a Shockwave figure for my collection like this one, but I think I would have happily paid just $30 to have the figure without the extra accessories involved.
I can't blame anyone who might want to wait to grab Shockwave at a discount, but it's definitely something you don't want to let slip through your fingers in the long-run. It's a VERY good Shockwave figure, with some extra stuff that you can literally either take or leave.
)
And could you take a couple of shots of Megatron and Shockwave without his extra stuff side by side? They should be the same size, right?
