Shocking Shockers review

Wowsers, another Shockwave?  How many can one guy possibly have? At least Three by the looks of things, maybe four (now).  Thus the introduction for Legends Shockwave has finished.

And the review starts.

First off, I was surprised that this guy isn’t included in the TAV line like Cosmos was, but I am kinda glad he wasn’t as I also get the delightful little headmaster Cancer with him.  Woooo.

First the box.   It’s classy and tiny as the figure is much smaller than a deluxe.  However it still oozes the class that the Japanese Legends line has.  Nice artwork on the sides.  Very good.

The back says

Shockwave and Cancer

Presenting  the ever loyal to Megatron, Shockwave with a new Transformation.

Accompanied by the Headmaster Cancer as his accomplice, they will flourish in the Legends’ world!

Man, that text is horrid to read off the back of the box.  It describes Shockwave as having a “Spaceship” mode (groaaan).  Luckily, I know better.  The section for Cancer indicates that he can “Head-on Gattai” (lit. Head on combine) with other Transtectors.  I.e, not Shockwave.

Nice to see Cancer in robot mode.  I like these boxes a lot.  Now,

Let’s OPEN!

Shockers comes with the instruction sheet/comic/bio page, continuing the story a little bit.  Luckily this story is a bit separate, just indicating how Cancer and Shocks met.  Must admit, they seem an unlikely combo.

Oh lookit that!

Profile

Function: Defense Officer

Shockwave is unconditionally loyal to Megatron and only gets irritated when he is unable to use his skills at 120%.

His new vehicle mode grants long distance travel and although Shockwave claims that he took on gunner Cancer to increase his laser's accuracy, but it is closer to the truth that Cancer reduces Shockwave's irritation and increases his satisfaction.

STR 9

INT 10

SPD 7

END 7

RNK 9

CRG 9

FPR 9

SKL 9

No stats for Cancer.

Bleurgh!  It’s a bit sappy!  So is the comic!

It's summer and Shockwave is acting as  the Decepticon's entertainment section's manager, has asked Cancer to be an Idol singer as he believes Cancer's charm can raise the image of the Decepticons.

Cancer is an orphan brought up by his Sensei Dune and he wishes to spread Chouryuken style across the world.

If Cancer becomes an Idol, he can realise his dream.

Shockwave, sees everything going as planned and confesses that Cancer is a good backup plan for Megatron's peace for the world.

Skull crashes the party.

Shockwave's mission is to protect Cybertron, but as Cancer's manager, he also must protect Cancer.

Seeing all this, Cancer busts out his Masterforce skills, which Shockwave didn't know about.

Cancer came from the G1 world, he is the original Cancer.

Shockwave and Cancer fight together.

Goodnight as Skullcruncher flies off like Team Rocket.

Cancer and Shockwave lament that they( the Decepticons) are seen as just another killer, but they believe they are clever enough to bring about Megaton's peaceful world.

They then agree to work together clean up the image of the Decepticons.

"First, you must sign these 300 Cds!"

"WAaaa, being an Idol is Hard!!"

More Talk, without getting to the toy.

So, it’s interesting to note that Shockwave’s instructions do not mention his laser gun mode anywhere.  It just refers to him as a spaceship and has him with “ride-able mode” and Spaceship mode.  Both forms have the handle folded away.  Inneresting.

Enough, onto the toy dammit!

Shockwave stands about 9 cm tall and is a nice light purple.  It looks very much like his colours are modelled on the cartoon.  Sculpting is pretty cool with a fair bit of detail considering how small he is.

His head sculpt is what you would expect, square with a yellow dot in the middle.  No lightpiping, but that’s ok. It’d be crap at this size anyway.

They’ve used translucent plastic for his laser hand, chest and legs.  Oddly his entire lower legs are painted over translucent plastic, with the aim of giving him the laser barrel.  It is for a very small amount of plastic though, odd.  Another slight oddity is that his fist and right fore-arm look like it is completely painted over translucent plastic too, well, except for the inside of his fist anyway.

Articulation

Is very nice, let’s have a run down shall we?

• Ball neck on a hinged panel for Transforming.
• Hinged (for transformation) and ball jointed shoulders
• Ball elbows
• Ball hips
• Swivel in the thigh
• Hinged knees
• Hinged ankles for transformation.

All these combine into a fairly poseable little guy.    In fact, the way the head is set allows him to be very emotive.

 

Before we go to his “Vehicle mode,” Let’s have a little look at.

CANCER

Cancer is the Headmaster that comes with Shockwave.  Although he can’t bond with Shockers, I am glad he arrived at my house.  Cancer is the Japanese name for Squeezplay.  

His robot mode is rather cool, it’s small and even though he is just the head (think Lokos from the Headmasters of G1-i-ness), there are some nice little touches in his sculpting that reference his Transtector (i.e Squeezeplay body).

Look closely at his arms and his hands, and you will see some pincer like claws and if you have a nice close gander at his feet, you will spy some very Squeezplay-esque feet as well. Very nice.  His head sculpt is also very nice with his ever so stylish goggles, with a tiny dab of paint on his chin.

HEADMODE

The is gorgeous.  Also part of the reason why I like TT over HB.  Sculpting is wonderful, his mouth has a great smirk on on and he just looks a bit rough.  The  silver paint is great as are his eyes, and those little blue bits on the side just make it look so damn good!  You can also angle out the robot arms for some horns if you want.

Let’s Transform (Shockwave) him into a “Laser.”

There’s no surprises in the transformation really just a bit of fiddling with his hips so that the cannon barrel fits together.

Spaceship! SPACEship!  SPACESHIP!

Calling this a spaceship is a bit of a stretch, but I guess calling it a gun is too.  The only difference between the two modes is that the handle for the gun is either folded in or out.  As I mentioned before, the Japanese instructions neglect to mention the gun mode.

You can mount Cancer in robot mode on the back, by, well messing about with the arms of the back a bit.  Initially I was unimpressed, but considering how any other way would have required remoulding, it’s actually a fairly inventive way of combining the two characters.

 

Hats off to whoever thought of this piece of trickery.

As the 6th Member of the Combaticons

Shockwave can also join the Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors Combaticons.  As a gun anyway… 

He can be mounted on Onslaught and by the same means, plonked onto the back of Bruticus.

Naturally he can also be held in hand.  Depending on who is holding him.  Blastoff has a bit of trouble due to the shuttle rear fin getting in the way.  You can slide it out of the way, but doing so weakens the connection between the fore-arm pieces.  Other toys with a 5mm peg can use him too, but there is a block at the front of the handle that can get in the way and he can be a bit heavy for some arms.

Put the Cookies down!

This Shockwave, much like the other Legends (and legends sized figures) has proven to be quite cool.  He’s small, but still manages to be a very cool Shockwave.  All his important Shockwave-y bits are there, laser hand, yellow eye chest window and justifiable gun mode.  The way they managed to provide him with a make-shift vehicle mode for Cancer, as well as the Combaticons connection is pretty cool. Making for a fun and adaptable figure.

Recommended.

Omake

Since he is just a little guy and is more likely to be used as PART of a base mode, I decided to forgo my base mode challenge, but I will let you in on a nice little piece of nerdiness.  In the Blurr comic, Shockwave has a Longarm mode, which can be  made with the toy too. Behold!