Just like his voyager class toy, the commander class version of Shockwave is a futuristic tank thing, not really resembling any vehicle on Earth and more or less a byproduct of his robot mode. As messy as his voyager-class toy's vehicle mode was, the larger toy had a few extra steps that helped connect things together and helped make most of the tank mode feel a bit more "solid". This toy, however, doesn't have this; Shockwave's tank mode this time around is very much NOT a solid toy, with the joints moving quite easily and many pieces not feeling quite like they're locked in where they should be-- the sides of the tank body and the leg-front sections are particularly bad at this. The front "window" made from his robot chest doesn't lock into the upper legs/waist at all, and the sections of his chest that fold down to make room for the arm-gun to fold onto the top of the tank mode also don't really lock in anywhere and look out-of-place in this mode. Other than the small treads on the back and the large cannon on top (which has a push-missile launcher on it), there really isn't any part of this mode that looks more like a tank than part of his robot mode; his left arm is very blatantly sticking out below the main body of the tank, the front sections are obviously his legs and feet, the main body is obviously his chest and waist, etc. It's just a very haphazard mode. However, on the plus side the colors used for this version of Prime Shockwave are pretty good-- the light metallic purple may be a bit lighter and paler than Shockwave looks on the show, but it's a pretty nice color that both complememts and contrasts against the dark purple paint apps. It also complements and contrasts against Shockwave's silver and milky gray plastic. Usually I'm not a fan of light milky gray plastic, but the swirliness and shade of it is a little metallic-looking, which I actually don't mind. The one color choice I'm not fond of is the charcoal black; a more pure black would've contrasted and just generally looked better. (Of note is that, no, Shockwave's turret can't move at all tabbed in like it's supposed to be; if you unpeg it it can move on a balljoint at the rear, but this makes this mode a litle more unstable than it already is.)
    Shockwave's robot mode-- due partially to how bad his vehicle mode is-- is very cohesive and a quite solid-looking form, with the treads on his back being the only real vehicle mode "extras", and those stay against his upper back and out of the way quite well. The proportions are generally pretty good, though not quite as show-accurate as his voyager-class toy; due primarily to what I assume are engineering limitations at this size, his head is a bit small and his shoulders a bit wide proportionally, while his upper legs are a bit smaller in comparison to his lower legs; none of these are particularly egregious, though. The only thing I really don't like about this mode is just how huge his gun-arm is, due to its push-missile gimmick-- with the missile in, it's longer than Shockwave is tall, and the underside of the launcher is exposed in this mode, which just looks rather ugly. His mold detailing is quite well-done, however, with most of the show details replicated fairly well, such as his curved three-toed "feet", chest and head design, and two back-spikes. With his alternating curved and pointed lines, he fits right in with the rest of the Prime toyline. For articulation, Shockwave can move at the shoulders (at three points, with one being his shoulder "pads"), his elbows, his hips, his knees (at two points), and a bit at his ankles. He has large feet, but he is slightly back-heavy; so overall he's pretty well-articulated for a commander-class toy, but he can fall backwards a bit more easily than I'd like.
    Prime Cyberverse Shockwave has a pretty good color palette, articulation, and a good robot mode, but his vehicle mode is even more haphazard and messy than on his voyager class version. If you want one version of this character, I'd get the voyager class toy, no contest.
 

Review by Beastbot

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