I’m a sucker for Takara Tomy premium redecos. Out of all the mainline Shockwaves I’ve seen, this is the one that offers the best of both worlds – limitless playability + G1 goodness.

I’m aware that the previous WFC releases came with all those other goodies to make him look all powered up, but I think they look pretty bad in robot mode – just extra appendages and ornamentation that looks redundant on a figure that already looks good on its own. I don’t need them and they don’t justify the Leader Class price hike. A powered up spaceship mode or hoverboard isn’t a big draw for me. (In fact, it doesn’t even count as the real alt mode in my book.) I just need a good robot mode that transforms into something, and they delivered on that.

The original reason I got the Dramatic Capture 3-pack was for the silver paint apps on Soundwave. To be honest, I’m not even interested in taking out Megatron out of package because I’m not a fan of the design at all. But after having played with this figure and Soundwave for a few weeks now, I think this Shockwave is really the star of the show – at least a close tie. The articulation, the sculpt, the proportions, and most of all – gorgeous colors! I’m usually (almost always) toy-accurate over cartoon-accurate, but in this case we see a balance struck somewhere in the middle. It’s not lavender like MP-29, deep indigo purple like the original G1 (which I posted an even deeper purple KO here) or toy-accurate MP-29+, or a navy blue purple like its original mould mate, WFC Siege Shockwave. No, it’s another purple. It’s violet purple. VIOLENT purple, perhaps, as it’s Shocky?

Let’s talk about purple for a sec. This is a super controversial topic by the way, and not just Shockwave thing. Purple is one of those “exotic” colors that people working with color (designers of all types) love to get creative with. After all, the color purple was originally only reserved for royalty, as it was so hard to obtain the needed ingredients to make purple dyes, or so the story goes. (Now magenta, however, is a whole other story. We can’t even begin to describe magenta, because it does not even exist.) So, if I’d had to pick the appropriate color for this Shockwave, I’d have to say it’s “Metallic Violet”. How fitting. Now I have to call it “METALLIC VIOLENT Shockwave” purple. IDK, which purple do you think is closest?

Shockwave looks best to me in his cartoon deco, and they’ve matched it artfully with the NB release. I won’t say flawlessly, as it would be nice to have his black hose and darker gray on the legs and feet. Plus a purple backpack would make sense as well. But not nitpicking. Really. I think they’ve done a great job, and I really don’t have any big gripes with this guy at all… in robot form.

Oops I’ve got the hose in the wrong… hole? 😬

Seeing as MP-29+ is fetching over $1K on eBay, I think I’ll be content sticking with this Shockwave. MP is usually the gold standard for the most premium transforming toy available, but I just don’t see think the price tag for most new releases is really justifiable anymore given the declining build quality and QC issues. I also don’t anticipate many future mainline Shockwave designs to be this good, for a long while. Just having Shockwave be able to do this is good enough for me:

When you get giddy over posing a toy like it’s on a comic book cover from 40 years ago, you know you’re happy with your recent acquisition. Not only is the sense of nostalgia so exhilarating, but the likeness is super satisfying, side by side.

For more G1 homage, or rather alt-G1, the Galactic Man deco is a cool headnod to Shocky’s Shackwave roots from Radio Shack in 1985. It even has “Galactic Man” tampo’d on its chest, in full tribute. I actually owned one back then when I was around 8 years old and I’m pretty sure I destroyed it once the electronics stopped working. I faintly recall having some broken Shackwave parts gathering dust at the bottom of my toy chest. I have vague memories of seeing Galactic Man at Radio Shack whenever my dad would go to get audio parts. I was always on the lookout for robots of any kind, and I remember it being pretty odd to see one at Radio Shack, although I think they also had a few other cheapo electronic toys like RC cars – last minute gifts for kids from hobbyist dads and uncles. I was a hardcore (and still am) TF fan, and so I probably dismissed the Galactic Man I received as a KO, even though it’s really a sublicense. I still don’t have an authentic G1 Shockwave. That’s ok. A good G1 KO took care of that itch, a while back.

Ok, the bot mode is undeniably great and all, but we’ve got to talk about the elephant in the room. What about the space gun mode?

We know Hasbro wouldn’t risk releasing a toy gun alt mode for a mainline Shockwave, after a long history of having scrapped gun modes for Megatron. So this is what we get. An official “spaceship” alt mode that looks somewhat passable, if only because the deck / cockpit gives it Spaceship Yamato vibes. The rest is a far stretch of the imagination.

But there’s definitely a gun mode, which is what I believe was the original intent of this design, just unofficially, in order to pass toy gun laws. Just flip it upside down, and we see a familiar shape emerge…

Was it intentional? Fan service? Is it even a good gun mode? Who cares? The G1 gun isn’t really all that “realistic” anyway, as it’s a space gun, and as long as he’s got the barrel and some kind of handle looking parts, it qualifies as Shockwave’s gun mode to me. There are aftermarket upgrade kits to this release that give it actual handles, such that it will sit upright easily on its own and also fit into the hand – of a child. Sort of. This is decent enough for my needs. I just need to be able to kind of hold it, or look like I’m holding it. And I can make my own “pew pew” sounds.

The only logical conclusion: When the water is this good, my friend, you drink.