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Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Year: 1985
Clarity of thought before rashness of action!
Cold, brutal, scientific approach to war. Seeks to overthrow Megatron as leader of the Decepticons because he believes logic says he would be better. As laser gun, can emit lethal beams of energy from anywhere on the electromagnetic spectrum: gamma rays, X-rays, visible light, infrared rays, radio waves, etc. Flies in laser gun or robot mode. High fuel use, but can be powered by nuclear sources. Often confounded by initiative, emotional thinking.
Robot Mode: If Shockwave has one fault, then it's his size. He's too big to properly interact with the other Transformers from this time. Apart from that, though, I can't find much that is wrong here. Shockwave looks pretty cool, is surprisingly posable for a G1 figure, and his partially metal construction makes him pretty solid. His left hand ends in a gun that can light up if you include the batteries in his massive torso. An all-around classic robot that could have been a mite smaller.
Alternate Mode: Shockwave is the second Decepticon to transform into a gun (after Megatron, of course), but instead of a realistic Earth hand gun he becomes a futuristic laser weapon (or space gun as he's sometimes called). The weapon is pretty big for a child's hand, but well-molded. The one disadvantage here is that the gun looks pretty silly if you happen to lose the barrel. A targeting screen flips up from the top, too. I'm not a big fan of gun mode Transformers, but Shockwave does a pretty good job of it. There's a reason why his alt mode was never changed across the many series he appeared in.
Remarks: This figure is, of course, not the original Transformers Shockwave, but rather the 'Galactic Man' figure available from Radio Shaq at roughly the same time. There is an ongoing debate in the fandom of whether 'Shaqwave' (as he's sometimes called) is a knock-off, a special edition, or whatever. I really don't care that much, truth to tell. He's Shockwave as far as I'm concerned, just with a different colour. That said, the figure still holds up strong after more than twenty years and Shockwave is one of the all-time favourite characters from G1, so I had to have him. Recommended to all G1 enthusiasts.
Rating: B
Update: I've since acquired the original G1 Shockwave.
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