Siege Shockwave

Working area for reviews.

Moderators: Skyquake87, ganon578

Post Reply
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Siege Shockwave

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Shockwave
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size Class: Leader
Accessories: 2 LV Duo-Pulse Radiographs, 2 LV Gamma-Disruptor Launchers, Backpack

I was very excited when I saw pictures of Siege Shockwave. The one eyed monstrosity has always been one of my favourite Transformers and I've been waiting for a decent modern take on the guy. I don't often buy into the need for a Classics version of a character, but there's some where I look at the original toy and go 'Yeah. That could have been done better'. See, whilst the original was massive and spacey, with it's silly laser noises and light up hand, it was just a bit too gangly and I hated the awful crotch wound the robot mode had. Modern versions of the guy have been pretty much misses for me, save for the excellent Binaltech toy and the less said about the rubbish tanks and flying bits of nothing some lines have turned the guy into, the better. Even the Prime version, which is pretty awesome, is ruined by weird cloven hooves and an alt-mode that's a bunch of arse.

So along trots the Siege version, in all it's glorious majesty. A ridiculously flamboyant take on the character with his shoulder pads, many arms and some sort of space flippers. But at least they got the colour right! Nice and dark, not that cartoon lilac or some muddy shade of purple.

Robot Mode: Let's start with the 'default' mode – the armoured up one that looks very silly indeed. It's a funny one, because I'm not sure what they were going for here. It looks like he's wearing his own body parts, like some freakish clone nightmares didn't work out and he thought he might as well make use of the leftovers. If I saw this coming towards me I don't whether I'd be scared or would burst out laughing. I mean, those things on his feet just can't be practical, like walking about in flippers. It's kind of awesome looking, all the same.

Robot Mode: Stripped of all the gaudy add-ons is a nice, if slender, take on Shockwave. The look of the thing is spot on. He's all this nice deep shade of bluey-purple with some appropriate spots of lilac and silver, and some neat battle damage applications. The best part though is the magnificent light piping the figure has which makes his eye glow. They've chucked in a hose too, which is nice, but it could have been a fraction longer as it's a bit restrictive. In both robot modes, the detailing is superb and I just enjoy looking at him, in much the same way I do a work of art. Which then makes me notice how big his bloody hand looks. Boo.

Vehicle Mode: With all the armour plugged on, Shockwave forms a bigger version of whatever that thing was his Fall Of Cyertron toy turned into. It's somewhere between a Star Destroyer and his original alt-mode. It's nice, but don't exactly know what it is I'm looking at. That's the problem with supposed Cybertronian alt-modes – the designers can pass off any bit of half-arsed folded up robot as something specific to Cybertron. And I thought we'd moved on from the Pretenders. Makes me pine for the days of Beast Machines.

Vehicle Mode: As a bonus fan service mode, if you take off all the extra parts and turn the space thing upside down, you've got an approximation of his old space gun mode. This would be good, except the robot mode legs don't form the handle, so he looks a bit odd as the back of the gun is basically feet. The handle is made out of the command tower (or whatever) of the space-thing mode and it's a bit short for you to hold. Still, it's nice that they tried, having probably thought some people will moan if he didn't turn into the gun, as the character was never outfitted for Earth in the comics or cartoon.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: It's average, I suppose. The sequence borrows from the Masterpiece figure, but fumbles it around the legs for the sake of the add-ons. This is becoming a noticeable feature of the Siege line; Got robot parts that you don't know what to do with? Just leave them where they are and say it serves a purpose for them on Cybertron. 5/10

Articulation: All the range and movement you could possibly want for the smaller robot mode, less so for the pantomime villain super-robot. 8/10

Durability: Shockwave's plastics are awesome. He feels chunky and dense, like a Transforming Dairy Milk. Only the hose feels a bit wibbly, especially as it has to be stretched a bit to clip it places in alt-mode. 9/10

Fun: Shockwave is brilliant fun. The armour can be plugged in however you fancy and you can make a sort of hover-thing for him to ride around on out of it. Although the big alt-mode is a pile of nothing, it still looks magnificent and I think he's just dandy on the whole. 9/10

Price: £45.99 because despite being barely bigger than a Deluxe figure, the glam metal outfit he wears meant he needed a bigger box. It feels alright to me, as I do feel Shockwave is a quality piece of work. He says, justifying his own disappointment. 6/10

Overall: Probably a bit too Marmite for me to flat out say he's amazing. There's design choices I don't like and he's a bit on the small side for my liking. I didn't want some looming great lump like Jetfire, but something that didn't look like a stiff breeze would take him out. As modern versions of Shockwave go, he's pretty great. The Binaltech version is still better though. 7/10
Attachments
Siege Shockwave 017 (640x480).jpg
Siege Shockwave 017 (640x480).jpg (203.23 KiB) Viewed 6428 times
Siege Shockwave 015 (640x480).jpg
Siege Shockwave 015 (640x480).jpg (195.43 KiB) Viewed 6428 times
Siege Shockwave 012 (480x640).jpg
Siege Shockwave 012 (480x640).jpg (210.2 KiB) Viewed 6428 times
Siege Shockwave 009 (480x640).jpg
Siege Shockwave 009 (480x640).jpg (200.62 KiB) Viewed 6428 times
Siege Shockwave 004 (480x640).jpg
Siege Shockwave 004 (480x640).jpg (195.1 KiB) Viewed 6428 times
Post Reply