I had the scrawny little dude at TRU climb up and pop a new case of Voyagers, since all they had was like a billion Primes. I guess ol' one eye is shortpacked or something. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the guy:

 

I heard a lot of b!tching about his WFT-is-that cybertronian tank thing alt mode. Well, I for one think it looks pretty good, and it makes perfect sense. Shocky didnt come here to hide, or blend in. He's here to F some sh!t up, and a huge gun with tracks/wheels seems like a good choice to me.

 

My gripes are few, and he only real issues I have with him are the looseness of the knee joints in his right leg. I tried to tighten the screws, but theyre overtightened and stripped from the factory, so Ill just try some Future floor wax in the joints since this has worked great in the past. They should have flipped his lower arms around so that the screws werent exposed when he's in robot mode, this is kinda dumb. Im not really sure what to do with his right hand...leave it folded away, so it looks all GeeWunny with a giant gun for an arm? But then its obvious he has a hand tucked into his forearm. On the other hand, his having two 'normal' hands doesnt quite feel right either. The design of his feet and kneecaps looks great, but they do obscure the cool looking tracks when he's in vehicle mode. His hose just seems to kind of get in the way no matter what you do with it, so its in my storage box. Again, these gripes are very minor.

 

There's a lot to like about this guy. The articulation is great, I like the 'ribcage' thingy, and the head looks like Shockwave a-la Bayverse. The light piped eyeball lites up nice I just cant decide if Id like it better in yellow. His mechtech weapon is about the least stupid of them all--outside of Fireburst Prime's axe/rifle. The two smaller swing-out barrels are ok, personally Id have liked the feature to make the gun become a double bladed sword or something. The other little bayonet blade on his left arm is a nice touch, so he's got some melee weapon action going on. The sculpting on the figure is very nicely detailed, and the customizers who like to weather everything should have a ball with this guy. I may even attempt some of that myself. I tried to perch Laserbeak on his left arm and while it DOES technically work, I just cant seem to get it to look right. Again his alt mode seems to suit him very well. A big ass halftrack cybertronian tank in purple could be no one else. Even though they seem an afterthought, the little front wheel carriage thingy is a nice addition, and keeps him from looking too much like a re-hashed version of Energon Shockblast's tank mode. With all the obscuring parts on his front set of tracks, these wheels were needed to make him look more vehicular, I think.

 

Overall Im pretty happy with DOTM Shockwave. Great representation of the character, well put together outside of the assembly flaw in mine, and Id call him a must-buy in the DOTM line.

What I don't like about this guy, and a lot of other toys, are the damn elbow joints. I can not stand toys that have elbows that can only turn inwards. Either put a swivel below the elbow or at the wrist!!!

 

Universe Onslaught handled the issue beautifully, and then hasbro undoes it and makes a bunch of armpit scratchers. What the eff??

What I don't like about this guy, and a lot of other toys, are the damn elbow joints. I can not stand toys that have elbows that can only turn inwards. Either put a swivel below the elbow or at the wrist!!!

 

Universe Onslaught handled the issue beautifully, and then hasbro undoes it and makes a bunch of armpit scratchers. What the eff??

 

 

Agree 1000%