Shockwave's vehicle mode is a futuristic tank... thing. Quite honestly, though, most of it is obviously his robot mode in a "yoga position". It's quite obvious his feet are the front extensions and wheels; meanwhile, due to their asymmetrical nature and obvious shoulders, it's also obvious that his cannon is part of his left arm and his right arm folds down underneath the bottom of this mode. There's no real "cockpit" or turret of this tank mode to speak of, just a gun, and the clear transparent red front that forms Shockwave's robot chest. This mode's not solid-looking at all, with an obvious gap in the front, gaps in between the rubbery treads in the back (which unfortunately don't roll-- his front wheels do, however), and if you look at him straight-on from the side, you can see some pretty huge gaps in the underside of the main body of this mode, ruining the solidity look that the body has from the front. There's two side panels on his main body that don't really tab anywhere and seem like their idea was left "unfinished" in this mode as well, another bummer. It's also rather difficult to get his upper robot legs lined up just right where the tank front/robot chest piece pegs into them securely. Thankfully, you can cover up some of Shockwave's deficiencies in this mode by attaching his optional "Beast Hunter" armor-- namely, two wicked-looking claw attachments on his front wheel-things, and a cyclopean crab-monster-like attachment that goes over his front/chest, turning the tank into a more demonic-looking beast, which helps me accept the mode as-is slightly better. Shockwave's main color is-- in accordance with his G1 toy-- a dark purple, though it's a bit paler on this version than on most other versions of Shockwave. There's also some dark metallic gunmetal gray, pale brownish gray, and light milky gray to provide some neutral light colors for the purple to work with, though only the metallic gunmetal looks pretty good-- the brownish gray looks too "dirty" of a shade for Shockwave, and the light milky gray is blah, though it's spiced up SLIGHTLY with a bit of glitter in it. The dull red on his armor parts serves as a better contrast color, as does the silver paint on his toes and gun. Despite not having many paint apps near the back end of this mode, his plastic colors are broken up enough where Shockwave doesn't suffer from too large of an area being just one color in either mode, which is always good. Shockwave follows the usual Prime aesthetic of having stylized areas with relatively little mold detailing that transition from curvy to pointed, with a few areas having quite intricate detail-- the organic bone-like detailing on his armor parts is particularly awesome, and though it's not easily visible in either mode, the "robotic spine" detailing on his robot back also looks incredibly cool. For a gimmick, by pressing down rapidly on the gray slider on the back end of Shockwave's gun, his gun barrel will twirl very rapidly in place, the rectangular "shell halves" splitting apart and revealing a transparent red "energy projectile" in the center-- the projectile doesn't fire, but it's still a darned cool gimmick, and when closed, the gun nozzle resembles G1 Shockwave's eye structure, which is a neat little throwback. He's also got two spike-like protrusions on the back of his cannon, in case he didn't look fierce enough already.
    Shockwave's robot mode is definitely where the bulk of the design work went; this is definitely Shockwave, but a very "buffed up" Shockwave. He can calculate probabilities WHILE he kicks your butt single-handedly. (And yes, I do mean single-handedly-- he kinda has to, given that, in particular Shockwave fashion, his left arm is a gun.) Shockwave's usual features he's had since G1 are pretty much all here, but buffed up-- his thicker, spiky head with what look like mandibles in front of his large red eye (which has wonderful light piping, by the by)-- his kneecaps, now spiky; his large toes, have been split into three toes to make him a bit more bulky this time around; and his generally bulkier arms, thicker waist, and thicker backpack. He also has a G1-like transparent panel for a chest. Shockwave's treads become a fairly small backpack, with two flip-up spike bits for his upper back-- since, y'know, Beast Hunters. His backpack is a bit noticeable size-wise, but it only gets in the way of shoulder movement a bit, so I don't mind it. What I love love LOVE is how one of his rubber treads actually "unspools" and connect to the back of his arm cannon, looking like an "ammo clip" while also hearkening back to his G1 version's having a tube running from his back to his gun-arm. This is an ingenious design decision. I wish this carried over to the gun-arm, which unfortunately is the only part of this mode I find a bit off proportionally; it's a bit too bulky and long, particularly in the midsection near the base of the barrel, which makes Shockwave look a bit too lopsided (his gun-twirling gimmick still works in this mode). The spikes from his middle arm also don't really have any place to go in this mode, and just sort sit there sticking out of the middle of his gun-arm without contributing anything aesthetically. Since his vehicle mode is more or less his robot mode in a yoga position, not much new coloration is revealed in this mode, though the metallic violet on the shoulders is a great complement & contrast color that I wish was used more often on the figure. Shockwave's "Beast Hunter" armor pieces connect to his chest and his shoulders-- it's not as quite an effective placement as in his vehicle mode, but they still look pretty decent, and I do like the cyclopean monster-eye now on his chest. For articulation, Shockwave can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points on his normal arm, at three points on his gun-arm), inwards at the wrist on his normal arm, and at the hips (at three points), knees (at two points), and slightly back-and-forth at the ankles. Thus, given how well-balanced he is, he can strike a lot of cool poses, with no waist articulation and the aforementioned slight shoulder movement restriction because of his backpack being the only limitations here.
    Beast Hunters voyager Shockwave has an incredibly solid, intimidating robot mode that has a ton of personality, as well as some nice bits of mold detailing, awesome Beast Hunter armor bits, and a fun cannon-twirling gimmick. However, this comes at the cost of a very weak, gappy vehicle mode that only resembles a tank because of the big gun on top. The Beast Hunter armor parts help to alleviate this some, but his is one of my least favorite vehicle modes out of the entire Prime line-- as such, if you want this toy it's best to leave him in robot mode the vast majority of the time. You'll want this more because of the character than because he's a "solidly engineered" Transformer.

(Continued from Chapter 10, Deluxe Smokescreen)
With Megatron gone missing, Shockwave makes the decision to end his Predacon cloning program. A force of Predacons, united under Predaking could spell doom for the Decepticons as well as the Autobots. He is in the middle of shutting down his Hyperevolution laboratory when he spots an Autobot spy hiding in the shadows among the still-occupied chambers. A plan forms in his precise and brilliant mind: Destroy the Autobot and the lab, and lay the blame for the annihilation of the cloning program at the feet of Optimus Prime and his soldiers. Such an event would drive Predaking into a rage that would doubtless utterly consume the Autobots in its fury.
(Continued in Chapter 12, Deluxe Skystalker)

Hyperflux Cannon:
-Spinning panels gather ambient cosmic energy to power blast.
-Missiles create miniature black holes on impact, totally destroying any target.
-Energy collection vortex also creates a heat shield around Shockwave that deflects incoming fire.

Strength: 9.0
Intelligence: 10.0
Speed: 3.0
Endurance: 8.0
Rank: 8.0
Courage: 9.0
Fireblast: 10.0
Skill: 10.0

Review by Beastbot

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