Review – Transformers Shockwave
NOTE: Huge thanks to Dr. Kent (blog) for getting this Shockwave into my hands. One of the greatest Transformers ever, and one of my favorite toys when I was a kid, has a good home here. He’s gonna be very loved.
Shockwave!
A massive, flying laser cannon, Shockwave looked cool as hell in the first episode of the Generation One Transformers cartoon, but it was his appearance in the Marvel comics — and especially the issue five cover (shown here) — that turned me into a Shockwave fan. I still remember when I got the toy back in 1985; Shockwave saw hours and hours of play until the left arm snapped off at the elbow. I tried repairing him, but my Shockwave was eventually retired to the trash can.
A massive Transformers toy, Shockwave was my biggest Transformer (at least until I got Metroplex) and he always felt out of place. Over 9-inches tall in robot mode, Shockwave is a great example of the biggest flaw with the Generation One toys: there was no standard scale and the toys never really looked great together. Blaster towered over Soundwave, the Autobot cars were all over the place, and even the great Optimus Prime looked puny and weak next to figures like Jetfire and Shockwave. It’s too bad Hasbro’s 25th anniversary line was killed before we got more figures, because a lot of those felt better planned and more like a line than what we got in the eighties.
Easy to Transform
I looked around a little online to find the original instruction booklet, but no luck. No matter, since transforming Shockwave is as simple as popping off the gun barrel, swinging the arms out, flipping the rear of the gun up, and then sliding the legs down and apart before finishing by flipping out the feet. I transformed Shockwave instantly and without any problems at all; and unlike a lot of the older toys, Shockwave looks fantastic in robot mode. The only unsightly piece hanging from his body is the trigger on his torso, and that’s not even terrible.
Articulation? Really?
Yep. Unlike a lot of the older toys in the line, Shockwave here actually has some decent articulation. Hinged thighs and knees, hinged elbows, swivel head . . . you can almost pose Shockwave. He’s not as cool as the newer Cyclonus (review here) when it comes to articulation, but for a Generation One toy the articulation is excellent. But I would kill for an authentic, modern Shockwave with newer design standards (as long as he still transformed into a space cannon).
Closing Thoughts
I know I’m looking at the toy through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, but Shockwave might be the best of the Transformers Generation One toys. Tall, great colors, good articulation for the time, and a great look, Shockwave makes me very happy. It’s too bad the old cartoon didn’t treat him as seriously as the comics did, but at least the toy looks fantastic and is fun.
I don’t recommend anyone rush out and pay the insane prices Shockwave demands, but if you can score one for $30 or so I say grab him. Hell, even a cheap “Shackwave” (see Wikipedia) would be worth grabbing.
Thanks, Kent, for making Shockwave a part of my toy collection. This piece is a great addition to the house.
Philip Reed now wants to find the instruction booklet and battery cover for Shockwave. The box would be neat, but it isn’t necessary.
Good review!
I never much cared for Shockwave, probably because he didn’t represent a “real-world” artifact or vehicle, which was the part of the original Transformers I liked the most. Besides, there was only room for one gun/robot toy in my box, and Shockwave was always going to have a hard time competing with my beloved Megatron (a kid-targeted toy that I doubt could be made nowadays).
That is a GREAT toy haul right there! Sadly, it was my brother who owned Shockwave rather than me, but I still snuck in some time with the big cannon. That sound is just stuck in my head until the day I day. Heh. Fantastic figure, and one of the best made Transformers.
I always thought Shockwave was awesome, and as a kid I didn’t really know anything about him because I didn’t watch to cartoon too often and never read any comics, so to me he was a mysterious character.
I totally had an original Jetfire. A gift from my grandmother. Man he was awesome. And I have no idea what became of him. So sad…
Shockwave is my favorite G1 Transformer. For one thing, he looks exactly like he did in the cartoon, like he stepped right off the screen. He’s fantastic in both robot and gun modes and his purple shade is a thing of beauty. This is one toy that Hasbro or Takara desperately needs to re-release.
Phil, flip his forearms around… the screws go on the inside and the sculpted panels go on the outside! Ha ha ha! 😛
Great review! My childhood friend had a Shockwave, and I always played with it when we played Transformers. We always pretended the barrel of the gun was a type of floating drone he used as a remote control weapon! God, I miss being a kid!
@Monsterforge – I’m scared to flip the arms around. The last thing I want to do is snap one of these off at the elbow.
I don’t mean to flip it around like a gorilla ripping bananas off of a tree! Gently… gently… 😀
I have a real soft spot of Shockwave. I love the character even if I never watched the cartoon much as a child. I think it might be my bizarre fascination with mono-eyes… 😀
My first exposure to Shockwave was in issue #4 of the original Marvel Transformers comic when he blasted through that cave and blew away all the remaining Autobots in one shot. He proceeded to gut and dismember the Autobots and even attempted to use Optimus Prime’s severed head to create an army of new Decepticons. So yeah… he kinda made a big impression on me from early on!
In the G1 Transformers comic book, Shockwave had a more impressive reign as Decepticon leader than Megatron.