New Gallery: Transformers Masterpiece MP-28 Hot Rodimus

He looks really great. Glad to see the comparisons with the original MP Rodimus. People just keep showing comparison that 3rd party garbage figure. He's really tempting but I'm saving my Master Piece purchasing for Shockwave

This new Hotrod is definitely more fun to play with, and scale better, but it got its own issues. The ground clearance in alt mode, the comparative lack of details (vs. Hasbro's toy accurate red lower legs with paint apps), the flat chest, the overall body proportion, etc. are a turn off to me. As a shelf display piece, IMO the old MP is still better.

Guess I'm the lucky few since my old MP Rodimus doesn't have any major QC issues as so many others have, so I never hated the toy.

I'd surely trade the old for the new though if I get the opportunity just for that new toy smell.

cloudballoon wrote: The ground clearance in alt mode

Yours has ground clearance issues? It was debunked when people started to get him that any gound clearance issue was due to mistransformation.

william-james88 wrote:

cloudballoon wrote: The ground clearance in alt mode

Yours has ground clearance issues? It was debunked when people started to get him that any gound clearance issue was due to mistransformation.

There are two things that cause the ground clearance issue ... when his lower legs are not properly pegged into the two tabs on the underside of where the spoiler is located and when the orange collar is not properly positioned. Once those two areas are properly adjusted, he just barely has ground clearance, but isn't that kind of typical of fancy looking sports cars in the real world?

I bet even real world super cars got better clearance than this Hotrod .... besides, no car owner really care the underside of their car other than the mechanics

I'm getting evermore selective in my purchases. As shelf space is more "premium" even than the cost of the purchase sometimes. Hard for me to justify buying another figure with basically the same look. What's why I don't mind trading the old one for the new... if someone bites

Some other thoughts on this figure ...

I like him a lot better in hand, but I still have issues with him. Legs and groin area are not wide enough, legs are a little too long, but those things can be chalked up to style choice. My biggest gripe, even more so than the flat chest, is the very obnxious red pieces that stick up behind his head and interfere with his silhouette with regards to the yellow spoiler behind his head. For a Masterpiece figure, that should have been resolved by rotating those pieces 180 degrees or by having a couple of extra panels that fold down, which would also help fill in the gap behind his head. I even figured out an alternate chest transformation that bulks him up a little more and gives some additional dimension to his awkward chest. The backpack isn't quite as obnoxious as it appears in pictures online either.

Hot Rodimus is better than Tracks (though both suffer from being too thin) but not as good as Wheeljack (who is currently my personal "this one is perfect" Masterpiece figure, with Prowl being an extremely close second). I have issues with Ultra Magnus as well, though he has some clever transformations. The unique transformation on Hot Rod is his upper arms which you'll see when you get him.

Transformation is enjoyable and good and most everything has a place to peg into. Face sculpt is great, head shape is great, visor implementation is great. Hands are great for holding weapons, but his middle finger is sculpted weird and the joints that are seen on many Transformers fingers are too large so they look like he's wearing multiple rings on each finger.

One other thing that irks me on him ... his upper legs connect to his pelvis via ball joints which I'm not a fan of on a Masterpiece figure. It kind of makes him seem like he could have been a really nicely done Generations figure had he been downsized a bit to fit in scale with those figures.

It's a good figure, it just needed a few more things done to make him a true Masterpiece.

I'm just glad to see the windows are a proper blue and not just barely tinted like a lot of the earlier in-hand pictures showed. I still need to get myself an Ultra Magnus, but unfortunately the next few months are very expensive looking thanks to MP Shockwave and Grand Galvatron among other things.

Emerje

I believe that Takara Tomys second take on Hot Rodimus:-? was that the original who was also Rodimus Convoy suffered from numerous quality control issues

Seibertron wrote:...but not as good as Wheeljack (who is currently my personal "this one is perfect" Masterpiece figure, with Prowl being an extremely close second).

Wooooo Wheeljack!! I adore that dang figure.

Seibertron wrote:...I have issues with Ultra Magnus as well, though he has some clever transformations.

I'm scared now. Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod will be arriving together Saturday or Monday. I really hope I'm not disappointed with UM considering how expensive he ended up being.

itscramtastic wrote:

Seibertron wrote:...but not as good as Wheeljack (who is currently my personal "this one is perfect" Masterpiece figure, with Prowl being an extremely close second).

Wooooo Wheeljack!! I adore that dang figure.

Seibertron wrote:...I have issues with Ultra Magnus as well, though he has some clever transformations.

I'm scared now. Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod will be arriving together Saturday or Monday. I really hope I'm not disappointed with UM considering how expensive he ended up being.

Quit yer frettin' Cram. It's gonna be alright.


Seibs, if you're still out there. You have said a lot lately that you wish Takara would ease back on taking the cartoon models so literally when designing these more recent MPs, what's your take on Hot Rod in that regard?

Cobotron wrote:

itscramtastic wrote:

Seibertron wrote:...but not as good as Wheeljack (who is currently my personal "this one is perfect" Masterpiece figure, with Prowl being an extremely close second).

Wooooo Wheeljack!! I adore that dang figure.

Seibertron wrote:...I have issues with Ultra Magnus as well, though he has some clever transformations.

I'm scared now. Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod will be arriving together Saturday or Monday. I really hope I'm not disappointed with UM considering how expensive he ended up being.

Quit yer frettin' Cram. It's gonna be alright.

itscramtastic wrote:

Seibertron wrote:...but not as good as Wheeljack (who is currently my personal "this one is perfect" Masterpiece figure, with Prowl being an extremely close second).

Wooooo Wheeljack!! I adore that dang figure.

He is phenominal and also my favourite MP. He will be on a few lists to come

Cobotron wrote:Seibs, if you're still out there. You have said a lot lately that you wish Takara would ease back on taking the cartoon models so literally when designing these more recent MPs, what's your take on Hot Rod in that regard?

Yes, I still think they're taking the cartoon models too seriously. Convoy Grand Prime is another recent example where they try to go after the cartoon look with some extra paint apps (particularly on the hands of Mirage and Optimus Prime) but it ends up looking kind of goofy because the hands are painted but the inside of the fist (where the weapon's peg attaches) is unpainted.

Do it right or don't do it.

Same goes with the ultra simplicity of the look of Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus. There needs to be some extra detail on their parts. I always liked that the cartoon models were simplified versions of the toys. There needs to be a healthy mixture of what's on the screen and the complexity of a robotic humanoid figure. I'm not talking complexity like Bayformers, just some extra detailing in panels and such that wouldn't translate to the cartoon. Regardless of what was on the cartoon, oftentimes the actual G1 toys got it right with its style and look and that look might be better remembered than what the cartoon had.

One exception to my rule ... can we please have an accurate G1 Skyfire toy? Please! Classics Jetfire doesn't count. Generations Jetfire was close if he had the look of the cartoon jet instead of the Macross jet.

Seibertron wrote:There needs to be a healthy mixture of what's on the screen and the complexity of a robotic humanoid figure. I'm not talking complexity like Bayformers, just some extra detailing in panels and such that wouldn't translate to the cartoon. Regardless of what was on the cartoon, oftentimes the actual G1 toys got it right with its style and look and that look might be better remembered than what the cartoon had.

I'm reading this and all I can think about is how MP Wheeljack answers all this perfectly!

The problem with Hot Rod and Magnus is that they are fictional vehicles and thus were not based on real and more detailed vehicles that the toys could pick up on. So we are left with the simpler animation models (which at least were introduced to the west through the film which had more detailed animation).

Mine is just now on its way. Is anyone else using it in a CHUG display?


Also: first post in like 3 months. How's it going? Lol

Optimizzy wrote:Mine is just now on its way. Is anyone else using it in a CHUG display?


Also: first post in like 3 months. How's it going? Lol

Hey Mizzy!

Just got mine yesterday. Still absorbing.
Never thought about putting him in with the CHUGs. He's pretty big, ya know, he might make a nice Rodimus Prime with the CHUGers. That's an interesting way of looking at him.

Cobotron wrote:Just got mine yesterday. Still absorbing.
Never thought about putting him in with the CHUGs. He's pretty big, ya know, he might make a nice Rodimus Prime with the CHUGers. That's an interesting way of looking at him.

Yeah I knew he was on the big side, so Rodimus Prime is my aim. I think he's supposed to be about as tall as Generations Springer? iF so, then it's about right for me.

We are proud to bring to you today the latest gallery from Seibertron.com: Masterpiece MP-29 Destron Laserwave (Shockwave)! This toy has been highly anticipated by many fans and the color can be highly divisive amongst other fans. Share your thoughts about this high ranking one-eyed "Spock-like" Decepticon villain who has been known as both Megatron's staunchest supporter and as Megatron's greatest rival for Decepticon leadership. Logic dictates that you check out the full gallery which can be found by clicking any of the images below. Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments section. And as always stay tuned to Seibertron.com for all your latest Transformers News and Galleries!

Transformers Masterpiece Laserwave

Nice photos! What an outstanding figure.

Man, that figure looks so nice.

I wish the purple was darker and his optic more yellow instead of green otherwise he looks great!

Nice shots!!

I think I need some of those clear stands..

Sabrblade wrote:Man, that figure looks so nice.

It is very much underrated. The toy itself is perfect in my opinion. The only thing I didnt like was the price tag. I found it a bit pricey for the parts count, size and simplicity of engineering.

Deadput wrote:I wish the purple was darker and his optic more yellow instead of green otherwise he looks great!

Do you have the figure? I ask because in hand I found his eye to be as yellow as can be.

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Man, that figure looks so nice.

It is very much underrated. The toy itself is perfect in my opinion. The only thing I didnt like was the price tag. I found it a bit pricey for the parts count, size and simplicity of engineering.

AND the lack of "licensing"! Why is it the non-licensed characters are more expensive from Japan?!

william-james88 wrote:

Deadput wrote:I wish the purple was darker and his optic more yellow instead of green otherwise he looks great!

Do you have the figure? I ask because in hand I found his eye to be as yellow as can be.

I agree WJ, all kinds of yellow.

itscramtastic wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Man, that figure looks so nice.

It is very much underrated. The toy itself is perfect in my opinion. The only thing I didnt like was the price tag. I found it a bit pricey for the parts count, size and simplicity of engineering.

AND the lack of "licensing"! Why is it the non-licensed characters are more expensive from Japan?!

I dont know, that was weird, and good point. The whole licensing thing is odd though, I dont think money is an issue. Because if it was then they wouldnt be able to sell hotwheel cars for so cheap.
The only reason I bought this toy now rather than waiting for Hasbro's is because I feared that Hasbro wouldnt release him due to him being a gun, nomatter how unlike a real gun he is. And I had to pay an extra 40$ on top of it since Canadian customs "caught" him. He turned out to be far more expensive than anticipated (then again, pretty much the same price as an American buying straight from BBTS). But I still cant take points off the toy itself which I find is amazing and has everything I would want in an MP Shockwave.

william-james88 wrote:

itscramtastic wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Man, that figure looks so nice.

It is very much underrated. The toy itself is perfect in my opinion. The only thing I didnt like was the price tag. I found it a bit pricey for the parts count, size and simplicity of engineering.

AND the lack of "licensing"! Why is it the non-licensed characters are more expensive from Japan?!

I dont know, that was weird, and good point. The whole licensing thing is odd though, I dont think money is an issue. Because if it was then they wouldnt be able to sell hotwheel cars for so cheap.
The only reason I bought this toy now rather than waiting for Hasbro's is because I feared that Hasbro wouldnt release him due to him being a gun, nomatter how unlike a real gun he is. And I had to pay an extra 40$ on top of it since Canadian customs "caught" him. He turned out to be far more expensive than anticipated (then again, pretty much the same price as an American buying straight from BBTS). But I still cant take points off the toy itself which I find is amazing and has everything I would want in an MP Shockwave.

Maybe Hot Wheels/Matchbox signed the license fees decades ago and they stuck?

Maybe it comes down to the electronic gimmick? Then again, if it was that, why are the jets so expensive from Japan but not when Hasbro releases them (no gimmicks)? I just find the cost side of things really confusing, especially when they've made so many variants of the MP03/MP11 mold that is about the same size as Shockwave.

Back on topic, galleries are cool.

I'm going with, the price is higher due to the electronics.

The gallery does look nice. Seib said the color was hard to photograph, but I think the shots came out nice and crisp.

Cobotron wrote:I'm going with, the price is higher due to the electronics.

Its a good theory, but then you look at these which also have electronics and were priced at less than half that:


Transformers (2007) Optimus Prime (Convoy) Gallery


Transformers Prime: Robots In Disguise Optimus Prime Gallery


Transformers Dark of the Moon Ironhide Gallery


Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime Gallery





My point is I dont think electronics cost all that much due to its prevalence in kids toy. Sam with die cast.

william-james88 wrote:

Cobotron wrote:I'm going with, the price is higher due to the electronics.

Its a good theory, but then you look at these which also have electronics and were priced at less than half that:
ALL OF THE THINGS!!
My point is I dont think electronics cost all that much due to its prevalence in kids toy. Sam with die cast.

Word up WJ, we agree again. And the stuff I said about $200 seekers goes with that.

Nice gallery and a great-looking figure. I received mine last week. For $150 they should've made him fully die cast metal but at least he looks tv show accurate.

You know, the talk about licensing has me wondering. Takara doesn't have the license to the original mold that was used for G1 Shockwave. So how can they make new figures based so closely to that design? Isn't that the same kind of infringement that 3rd party toys commit when they make figures?

RiddlerJ wrote:You know, the talk about licensing has me wondering. Takara doesn't have the license to the original mold that was used for G1 Shockwave. So how can they make new figures based so closely to that design? Isn't that the same kind of infringement that 3rd party toys commit when they make figures?

Great question Riddler. Its been debated before and while the rights are complex the latest theory is that Hasbro and Takara do have the majority of the rights. Its not that they didnt have them but that they were shared, which made it complicated. But the other companies that may have had the rights are no longer around to sue (example, Radioshack).

Also itscram, the seekers are 200$ because we can only get them as the asian exclusive version. If they werent exclusive, BBTS would sell them around the same price as Shockwave (and they could be obtainable for about 110$ in Japan). But of course all these numbers I am throwing out are all a far cry from the 60$ we now know they can be sold at. And you know whats crazy, TRU didnt even boost the price up when they got a restock.

I'm so glad that a TransFormers Authority like you Seibertron, agrees with me about how much I dislike Takara's blatant overuse of LILAC and LAVENDAR for some of it's most ICONIC Decepticon villains. There are instances where slavish cartoon-acuraccy simply doesn't work in a real-world 3-D representation. Our beloved G1 cartoon-series is infamously inconsistent in it's animation as far as character colors, body-proportions, and scale are concerned. The limited color-palette of 1980's cell-shaded animation should not always be the final deciding factor when designing Masterpiece TransFormers figures. I, for one, have always wanted more homages to the G1 toys and to the real-world vehicles & objects that originally inspired the vintage figures and characters. That is why I would have preferred having more (high-quality) chrome on car-bots and their weapons, more mold details in general, and a deeper, truer PURPLE for MP Shockwave, Re-issue Galvatron, and Henkei Cyclonus.

AutobotAlvaron wrote:I'm so glad that a TransFormers Authority like you Seibertron, agrees with me about how much I dislike Takara's blatant overuse of LILAC and LAVENDAR for some of it's most ICONIC Decepticon villains. There are instances where slavish cartoon-acuraccy simply doesn't work in a real-world 3-D representation. Our beloved G1 cartoon-series is infamously inconsistent in it's animation as far as character colors, body-proportions, and scale are concerned. The limited color-palette of 1980's cell-shaded animation should not always be the final deciding factor when designing Masterpiece TransFormers figures. I, for one, have always wanted more homages to the G1 toys and to the real-world vehicles & objects that originally inspired the vintage figures and characters. That is why I would have preferred having more (high-quality) chrome on car-bots and their weapons, more mold details in general, and a deeper, truer PURPLE for MP Shockwave, Re-issue Galvatron, and Henkei Cyclonus.

Thanks AutobotAlvaron. Just doing my part to help get the word out there. I couldn't have said it better about the purple (though I am anti-chrome as well ... the chrome on Masterpiece Hot Rod is already coming off 6 weeks after owning him and transforming him a few times).



Apparently, I'm with the minorities on this figure. I was extremely excited about Shockwave when he was first announced last year, after wanting a Masterpiece Shockwave ever since Masterpiece debuted back in late 2003.

Unfortunately, my liking of this figure has done nothing but decrease the more it was revealed all the way up to actually owning it. Here's my rundown of dislikes for "Masterpiece" Shockwave. Normally I try to refrain from posting my opinions when I strongly dislike something, but in this case I've got to level with all of you because I find all of the "wow this toy is amazing" comments from so many of you kind of odd when I find the toy frustrating overall.

• This is the WRONG color purple. It doesn't match the cartoon and to be honest I'm not sure I'd want any Shockwave toy to "match" the color of his cartoon counterpart. Dark purplish blue, bluish purple. Not lavender or light purple or whatever! This toy's color was the hardest color to photograph that I've ever dealt with in 12.5 years of photographing Transformers toys (well aside from some of the crazy neon orange and pink colors like G2 Starscream). I couldn't match it no matter what camera settings I used, no matter how much I tinkered with the RAW files (adjusting hue, saturation, color temperature, contrast, etc). The toy doesn't match the cartoon, and like AutobotAlvaron said above, cartoon accuracy should be used as a guide but common sense should take over at some point.
• What the heck is up with his backup? I'm in disbelief that this was the best solution they could come up with. All we did was trade one partsforming piece for another, hardly an improvement on a toy designed by a lesser known company called Toyco back in the 1980s. If you transform the front of the cannon properly, it screws with his silhouette and overall color scheme since he know has a giant light gray piece on his back. It doesn't get any better when you add the backpack cover, because then he just ends up with a massive purple block on his back (which looks better, but not as good as it does on the original).
• The light grayish purple hands, left arm cannon, and ears ... Takara you're killing me. Not interested in colors like this on my Transformers that should be silver and dark purple!!!!!!
• The lower legs are a mess. I can't tell you how many few dozens of times his leg panels collapsed or didn't stay together when I would move him into a new position or different angle for the camera. I swear every time I kept grabbing his lower legs (because that's where I usually handle a Transformer so that it doesn't tip over when I rotate them for the photoshoot, which I kept grabbing by mistake because of force of habit). The lower legs are a poor design no matter how you want to argue it ...
• ... which brings me to his feet. Ok in robot mode, but the fact that you can't even do what the G1 toy does so that he can "stand" in gun mode is absurd and unfortunate. But hey, we ended up with a silly looking purple stand instead. Nice.
• As for the light piping for his singular eye ... it's a nice feature, but the light piping is too dark or something. While light piping is one of my favorite features on Transformers toys since late G1.5/G2, and while it's something I wish had been on Masterpiece figures from the start, at this point I'd rather they had just painted it properly instead of doing light piping poorly, plus it just kind of looks out of place amongst the other Masterpiece figures.
• The light up feature was kind of a slap-in-the-face. It was a nice touch, but also a reminder that the sound effects were absent, which is what helped make G1 Shockwave so iconic. I liked how they implemented the light up feature, especially with the brief "stay-on" feature, but the lack of sound was disappointing.
• The "hose" is also another disappointment. That metal coil will not last. It will become dented or bent, or whatever. We'll just end up with a hose with a different problem from the original. I just can't believe that was the best they could come up with.
• His size ... Shockwave should have been bigger. And please for the love of god, if someone pulls out that silly G1 size chart, I'll go crazy. Shockwave should be big. Optimus Prime or bigger. Just like his G1 toy was bigger. He should be bigger than Soundwave and Starscream and I wouldn't mind if he was bigger than Megatron (though not the MP-5 Megatron). Ultimately, he just feels like another take on the original G1 toy with the only improvement being posability. So many details are the same, which is probably good, but at the same time it just feels like a rip-off of sorts or a 3rd party G1 Shockwave's original toy is so iconic that to not do it right just seems like an injustice.

A proper G1 colored Shockwave is on the top of my want list. It doesn't resolve the other issues, but fixing his colors would go a long ways toward not making him look like a character that belongs in the My Little Pony universe.

So those are my thoughts. I've unloaded my opinions. Bummed about Shockwave and a few others recently released. Here's hoping we can get back to figures along the "masterpiece" levels of Masterpiece Wheeljack and Prowl soon.

Nice!


Transformers Masterpiece Shockwave (Laserwave) Gallery

Seibertron wrote:

AutobotAlvaron wrote:I'm so glad that a TransFormers Authority like you Seibertron, agrees with me about how much I dislike Takara's blatant overuse of LILAC and LAVENDAR for some of it's most ICONIC Decepticon villains. There are instances where slavish cartoon-acuraccy simply doesn't work in a real-world 3-D representation. Our beloved G1 cartoon-series is infamously inconsistent in it's animation as far as character colors, body-proportions, and scale are concerned. The limited color-palette of 1980's cell-shaded animation should not always be the final deciding factor when designing Masterpiece TransFormers figures. I, for one, have always wanted more homages to the G1 toys and to the real-world vehicles & objects that originally inspired the vintage figures and characters. That is why I would have preferred having more (high-quality) chrome on car-bots and their weapons, more mold details in general, and a deeper, truer PURPLE for MP Shockwave, Re-issue Galvatron, and Henkei Cyclonus.

Thanks AutobotAlvaron. Just doing my part to help get the word out there. I couldn't have said it better about the purple (though I am anti-chrome as well ... the chrome on Masterpiece Hot Rod is already coming off 6 weeks after owning him and transforming him a few times).



Apparently, I'm with the minorities on this figure. I was extremely excited about Shockwave when he was first announced last year, after wanting a Masterpiece Shockwave ever since Masterpiece debuted back in late 2003.

Unfortunately, my liking of this figure has done nothing but decrease the more it was revealed all the way up to actually owning it. Here's my rundown of dislikes for "Masterpiece" Shockwave. Normally I try to refrain from posting my opinions when I strongly dislike something, but in this case I've got to level with all of you because I find all of the "wow this toy is amazing" comments from so many of you kind of odd when I find the toy frustrating overall.

• This is the WRONG color purple. It doesn't match the cartoon and to be honest I'm not sure I'd want any Shockwave toy to "match" the color of his cartoon counterpart. Dark purplish blue, bluish purple. Not lavender or light purple or whatever! This toy's color was the hardest color to photograph that I've ever dealt with in 12.5 years of photographing Transformers toys (well aside from some of the crazy neon orange and pink colors like G2 Starscream). I couldn't match it no matter what camera settings I used, no matter how much I tinkered with the RAW files (adjusting hue, saturation, color temperature, contrast, etc). The toy doesn't match the cartoon, and like AutobotAlvaron said above, cartoon accuracy should be used as a guide but common sense should take over at some point.
• What the heck is up with his backup? I'm in disbelief that this was the best solution they could come up with. All we did was trade one partsforming piece for another, hardly an improvement on a toy designed by a lesser known company called Toyco back in the 1980s. If you transform the front of the cannon properly, it screws with his silhouette and overall color scheme since he know has a giant light gray piece on his back. It doesn't get any better when you add the backpack cover, because then he just ends up with a massive purple block on his back (which looks better, but not as good as it does on the original).
• The light grayish purple hands, left arm cannon, and ears ... Takara you're killing me. Not interested in colors like this on my Transformers that should be silver and dark purple!!!!!!
• The lower legs are a mess. I can't tell you how many few dozens of times his leg panels collapsed or didn't stay together when I would move him into a new position or different angle for the camera. I swear every time I kept grabbing his lower legs (because that's where I usually handle a Transformer so that it doesn't tip over when I rotate them for the photoshoot, which I kept grabbing by mistake because of force of habit). The lower legs are a poor design no matter how you want to argue it ...
• ... which brings me to his feet. Ok in robot mode, but the fact that you can't even do what the G1 toy does so that he can "stand" in gun mode is absurd and unfortunate. But hey, we ended up with a silly looking purple stand instead. Nice.
• As for the light piping for his singular eye ... it's a nice feature, but the light piping is too dark or something. While light piping is one of my favorite features on Transformers toys since late G1.5/G2, and while it's something I wish had been on Masterpiece figures from the start, at this point I'd rather they had just painted it properly instead of doing light piping poorly, plus it just kind of looks out of place amongst the other Masterpiece figures.
• The light up feature was kind of a slap-in-the-face. It was a nice touch, but also a reminder that the sound effects were absent, which is what helped make G1 Shockwave so iconic. I liked how they implemented the light up feature, especially with the brief "stay-on" feature, but the lack of sound was disappointing.
• The "hose" is also another disappointment. That metal coil will not last. It will become dented or bent, or whatever. We'll just end up with a hose with a different problem from the original. I just can't believe that was the best they could come up with.
• His size ... Shockwave should have been bigger. And please for the love of god, if someone pulls out that silly G1 size chart, I'll go crazy. Shockwave should be big. Optimus Prime or bigger. Just like his G1 toy was bigger. He should be bigger than Soundwave and Starscream and I wouldn't mind if he was bigger than Megatron (though not the MP-5 Megatron). Ultimately, he just feels like another take on the original G1 toy with the only improvement being posability. So many details are the same, which is probably good, but at the same time it just feels like a rip-off of sorts or a 3rd party G1 Shockwave's original toy is so iconic that to not do it right just seems like an injustice.

A proper G1 colored Shockwave is on the top of my want list. It doesn't resolve the other issues, but fixing his colors would go a long ways toward not making him look like a character that belongs in the My Little Pony universe.

So those are my thoughts. I've unloaded my opinions. Bummed about Shockwave and a few others recently released. Here's hoping we can get back to figures along the "masterpiece" levels of Masterpiece Wheeljack and Prowl soon.

I thought I was alone on the leg issues! I have to be honest, I don't really feel like he was worth the BBTS price tag. He's nice and all, but the legs are my biggest problem - they really don't hold together well. I got the Takara Quillfire in my Pile of Loot on the same day and thought he was a way better value for his price. I don't know, maybe I'm just comparing him to my high standard of MP Soundwave, G2 Bee and Prime, but a darker purple and some better support in the legs would have made a huge difference. He still would have felt a bit too expensive, but it would have helped.

I agree that this figure is truly awesome but equally frustrating in many regards. I feel like it's nowhere close to deserving a masterpiece tag unlike Ultra Magnus, wheeljack et al. Looks great in the line up and yeah could be bigger buti think the size was due to then proportions. The price was ridiculous too. I haven't tried the light up features but come on, you add lights to this and don't add a light for his eye? missed opportunity in my book.

Other huge probs are the hollow part in the back of the gun mode. This i find glaring considering the original toy didn't have that apparently. Also - screws and screw holes all over the place. I'd be more accepting from say generations figure but blargh.

Also, yeah hot rod's chrome was fading off the same day i got him though I find him a vastly more fun figure...

They're all great toys at the end and worth having but i think shockwave's price left a bit of a sting...

Seibertron wrote:This is the WRONG color purple. It doesn't match the cartoon and to be honest I'm not sure I'd want any Shockwave toy to "match" the color of his cartoon counterpart.

It matches one his purples. He was painted various shades throughout the show. I wouldn't have minded a deeper colour either. Ironically, the screen caps in the instruction sheets are a different purple than the MP.

Seibertron wrote:The lower legs are a mess. I can't tell you how many few dozens of times his leg panels collapsed or didn't stay together when I would move him into a new position or different angle for the camera.

Strange, mine doesn't do that, at all. I hope it won't be an issue with the replacement figure. Are you sure you tabbed everything?

I agree that it would have been cool if he could stand in gun mode! I should find a better looking stand for him.

Seibertron wrote:As for the light piping for his singular eye ... it's a nice feature, but the light piping is too dark or something. While light piping is one of my favorite features on Transformers toys since late G1.5/G2, and while it's something I wish had been on Masterpiece figures from the start, at this point I'd rather they had just painted it properly instead of doing light piping poorly, plus it just kind of looks out of place amongst the other Masterpiece figures.

This surprises me, because I think he's got the best light-piping I've ever seen. It doesn't take much, just standing on my desk.

For the MP line I think he should be the only one to have this feature because he didn't have a face, just a flickering light-bulb. So that's a nice homage.

I'm actually glad that he doesn't have sound-effects.

His height feels right to me, in the series he was the same height as Starscream and a bit shorter than Soundwave. But to each their own!

I didn't/don't have the G1 toy. What sounds did he make?
The same stock laser gun sounds that all 80's laser gun toys made, (especially the ones from Radio Shack)?
If they are the ones I'm thinking of, they were awesome, and drove Mom and Dad crazy. Would have been hilarious if this Shockwave made those ridiculous 8 bit sounds.

Pew pew.

Cobotron wrote:I didn't/don't have the G1 toy. What sounds did he make?
The same stock laser gun sounds that all 80's laser gun toys made, (especially the ones from Radio Shack)?

Go to the 2:50 mark



I am glad my MP doesnt make this noise.

And funny you mention radioshack, guess who was sold there:

Those are EXACTLY the sounds I was thinking of!
Well at least two 2 of the 4 the Radio Shack blaster I had circa the '80's.

Cyberpath wrote:His height feels right to me, in the series he was the same height as Starscream and a bit shorter than Soundwave. But to each their own!

I agree. Even before that size chart showed its face to the world, Shockwave always struck me as being about a head shorter than Megatron and Optimus in the cartoon.

Sabrblade wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:His height feels right to me, in the series he was the same height as Starscream and a bit shorter than Soundwave. But to each their own!

I agree. Even before that size chart showed its face to the world, Shockwave always struck me as being about a head shorter than Megatron and Optimus in the cartoon.

The biggest issue I have with his size is that in both robot mode and space gun mode, he's basically the same size as the toy that I've had since I was a kid. Add to it the other problems with this toy, and it's just kind of a blah experience. Hardly a "Masterpiece". I really wish they'd stay far away from "cartoon" accuracy especially when it comes to colors or simplicity of the panels (such as Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod).

In regards to the figure's color, it's pretty obvious isn't it? Look at Red Alert, we're about to get a "more animation accurate" version. I have little doubt that in a year or so they will announce a "more toy accurate" version of Shockwave. It's a well-known sales technique that some of the third party companies have been using for years; sell the less desirable color first, then get customers to double dip when the more desirable color is released. Double sales for the same mold.

The Masterpiece line just isn't what it used to be back when Hasui was at the helm. I don't think he would have ever let that Ironhide/Ratchet mold get by with those horrible hip panels. In the past, I had confidence that the official version would be the best, that is no longer the case. There are a number of third party companies that are putting out figures on par with or exceed the official ones. The rumored MP Inferno is a prime example. I've already got an outstanding MP Inferno from MakeToys, and it appears that Ocular Max/MMC will be even better. I really don't see how Takara can pass them. I welcome them to, but I just don't see how.

The bottom line for me, Takara needs to get their act together. They aren't the only game in town.

El Duque wrote:In regards to the figure's color, it's pretty obvious isn't it? Look at Red Alert, we're about to get a "more animation accurate" version. I have little doubt that in a year or so they will announce a "more toy accurate" version of Shockwave. It's a well-known sales technique that some of the third party companies have been using for years; sell the less desirable color first, then get customers to double dip when the more desirable color is released. Double sales for the same mold.

I've been preaching this for years, ever since there was a clear divide between Hasbro and Takara products at retail with the products being different from each other instead of the same. They figured out that they could sell the same products twice, thanks to a global market and collectors. It has nothing to do with if Takara or Hasbro has the better paint scheme ... it has everything to do with just coming out with something different to appeal to a different type of buyer.

I still don't get the choice for Shockwave. The product photography on the packaging is darker than the toy as are the screen caps they used. It's not the same color as what's in the cartoon, but I really don't want that color purple either. Let's hope Takara has a 2nd version coming out later ... and I'll take a gray version as well for Shackwave, Shockwave's clone! Now we just need a new Megatron, and a repaint for Megaplex, and then Shackwave and Megaplex can hang out together.

Seibertron wrote:

El Duque wrote:In regards to the figure's color, it's pretty obvious isn't it? Look at Red Alert, we're about to get a "more animation accurate" version. I have little doubt that in a year or so they will announce a "more toy accurate" version of Shockwave. It's a well-known sales technique that some of the third party companies have been using for years; sell the less desirable color first, then get customers to double dip when the more desirable color is released. Double sales for the same mold.

I've been preaching this for years, ever since there was a clear divide between Hasbro and Takara products at retail with the products being different from each other instead of the same. They figured out that they could sell the same products twice, thanks to a global market and collectors. It has nothing to do with if Takara or Hasbro has the better paint scheme ... it has everything to do with just coming out with something different to appeal to a different type of buyer.

I still don't get the choice for Shockwave. The product photography on the packaging is darker than the toy as are the screen caps they used. It's not the same color as what's in the cartoon, but I really don't want that color purple either. Let's hope Takara has a 2nd version coming out later ... and I'll take a gray version as well for Shackwave, Shockwave's clone! Now we just need a new Megatron, and a repaint for Megaplex, and then Shackwave and Megaplex can hang out together.

I'd put money on both a gray "Shackwave" and a darker purple "Toy" Shockwave. I can't say that I blame them really, if I could figure out a way to sell the same product to the same consumer three times I probably would too. I'm okay with this "animation" version, so I'm not sure if I would double dip. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it looks, but I have no doubt it will happen.

MP Shocwave is a great example of over engineering at its worst. The original figure was well ahead of its time with a simple yet super effective transformation that you'd think would be hard to screw up, and yet they somehow managed to. First off, they clearly started with the bot mode because the gun mode is full of compromises. I do have the figure in hand, but I'll use Seibertron's photos to illustrate some points.

1. The barrel doesn't look right with all of the obvious cut out parts and hinges.

2. The underside of the bared had a huge gap in it so the swing arm can fold up into it.



3.The swing arm itself ruins the guns silhouette by adding that ridge underneath and the HUGE hings on the top that's hard to ignore. Making the swing arm out of diecast is a terrible use of diecast that would have been ideally in the legs.




4. The grip of the gun isn't cleanly connected to the rest of the gun leaving an obvious gap between the two parts (even the original got this right!).



5. The trigger is tiny and the space between the trigger and the bot chest is so small that I imagine very few average men can fit their finger in there. it's also very loose and floppy, as is the door that hides it in his abdomen, it just slides up and down with gravity.

6. The feet aren't well designed at all so you end up with lots of caps in the handle that the original figure would have fill with the feet folded up.

7. The back of the gun in hollow and there's a huge gap in the back that isn't covered at all. That is unbelievably poor design.



8. They made a bigger attempt to hide the big gap in the stand in gun mode than they did the big gap in the gun itself. There's actually a piece that folds down to hide the gap!



9. Moving onto the bot mode where I don't have nearly as many complaints: the barrel on the back in dumb and having to cover it with the base (which itself increases the cost of the figure) to make it look like any G1 Shockwave representation ever is stupid.

10. If you bend him forward the door in his ab hiding the trigger gets pushed up and you have to pull it back down every time.

11. The legs are some of the worst conceived in this line. On mine the left legs holds together nice and firm, but the right leg splits constantly and there's nothing I can do to make it tab in properly. Every time I move the right leg it splits right open.

So with that all said, what do I like? Well, aesthetically the bot mode, with the backpack on, is pretty much perfect. I like that we have options for the hands (I'm using the opaque hand and gun myself). I like the articulation, though I think the wrists are a bit week just spinning. I feel like, aside from the legs, the rest of the figure pegs together pretty solidly. And the colors don't really bother me all that much.

Last point is the light piping. If you know me then you know I hate, HATE light piping and most uses of clear plastic when I don't feel its necessary. However, I have to say that this might me a prime example of light piping at its best. It's golden yellow and crystal clear. I'm guessing they used acrylic for this part because it's far beyond the simple clear plastic we usually find in light piped eyes. You can literally see the inside of his head from the back in great clarity. It really does a great job of capturing light and if more figures had this level of light piping I probably wouldn't be so hard on it.

So in the end my feelings on this figure are very mixed. On one hand the gun mode is garbage, but the bot mode, which I'll be keeping him in most of the time, is rather nice. I don't regret buying him, but I'm not completely satisfied either. I think if they make another one in darker colors I'd probably buy it at retail, but wouldn't go out of my way to get one that's an exclusive.

Emerje

Seibertron wrote: Normally I try to refrain from posting my opinions when I strongly dislike something, but in this case I've got to level with all of you because I find all of the "wow this toy is amazing" comments from so many of you kind of odd when I find the toy frustrating overall.

I welcome that immensely, and I hope you wont mind if I, in return say why I think this toy is amazing.

This is the WRONG color purple. It doesn't match the cartoon and to be honest I'm not sure I'd want any Shockwave toy to "match" the color of his cartoon counterpart. Dark purplish blue, bluish purple. Not lavender or light purple or whatever! This toy's color was the hardest color to photograph that I've ever dealt with in 12.5 years of photographing Transformers toys (well aside from some of the crazy neon orange and pink colors like G2 Starscream). I couldn't match it no matter what camera settings I used, no matter how much I tinkered with the RAW files (adjusting hue, saturation, color temperature, contrast, etc). The toy doesn't match the cartoon, and like AutobotAlvaron said above, cartoon accuracy should be used as a guide but common sense should take over at some point.

I was fine with the hue of purple chosen. I dont want anything bluish, so this was good. And the colour matches the show model. But they did make a mistake with the finish though. Its not a full colour. By that I mean it looks like they went with a pastel tint even though the purple itself is a nice purple (which reminds me of the colour used on packages of kids medecine when somthing is grape flavoured). And then when you combine bathing him in light for a photograph along with the brightness of screen monitors, he looks a shade lighter with a whitish finish enveloping him (he looks closer to the colour I see in hand when I look at your pics on my phone rather than my laptop). It was an odd choice on their part and it could have been corrected if the colour they chose was fuller/deeper and maybe matte instead of glossy. I wouldnt want it darker though, since then it wouldnt match the show at all. I have no complaints about the colour in hand though and he is a big step up from that cyclonus and galvatron. Sadly, it looks like they are going back to that even lighter lilac with their next shockwave release

What the heck is up with his backpack? I'm in disbelief that this was the best solution they could come up with. All we did was trade one partsforming piece for another, hardly an improvement on a toy designed by a lesser known company called Toyco back in the 1980s. If you transform the front of the cannon properly, it screws with his silhouette and overall color scheme since he know has a giant light gray piece on his back. It doesn't get any better when you add the backpack cover, because then he just ends up with a massive purple block on his back (which looks better, but not as good as it does on the original).

As someone mentionned before, the partsforming is improved since you arent forced to clip on that backpack cover unless you want to achieve a look. With the G1 toy, the parsforming was a must and the parts went nowhere in robot mode. Here in robot mode, you can attach it all, get the nice G1 look and have no peices left over which was not the case in the G1 toy. So thats a pretty massive improvement. And the cover works dual purpose as a stand to make up for the fact that he cant stand on his own as a gun.

The light grayish purple hands, left arm cannon, and ears ... Takara you're killing me. Not interested in colors like this on my Transformers that should be silver and dark purple!!!!!!

If you are basing your want for dark purple on the G1 toy (which I agree looks awesome), then Takara actually gives you the translucent hands that achieve the G1 toy look. And I see you have used those for many of the pics and thats awesome. As for the other coloured hands, I have never seen any portrayal of G1 shockwave where his "hands" are coloured the way you are describing it. The only thing I can think of is the action master which has a grey hand but then his canon was orange and I doubt you would want that instead.

The lower legs are a mess. I can't tell you how many few dozens of times his leg panels collapsed or didn't stay together when I would move him into a new position or different angle for the camera.

Your toy might be defective. This doesnt appear to be the case that was with roadrage where her shoulders unpeg for everyone, instead this seems to be isolated. The legs on mine peg realy well together and they stay together (its similar to the stellar pegging we see at points in the Hot Rodimus transformation). There are no gaps when I have everything pegged in to the point where you wouldnt be able to tell that the legs transform that way if you didnt know. The bell bottoms can have a gap but taking just a moment to make sure everything is alligned makes it work. This reminds me of the issue with Hot Rodimus' ground clearance which was fixed once everything was tabbed in properly. The Legs are my favourite part of his transformation and I find it really innovative how this creates a nice sleek handle, as well as the back of the gun, which comes together to make legs that are beefier than the G1 but not as huge and odd as Quakewave. This to me is what really sells this toy.

... which brings me to his feet. Ok in robot mode, but the fact that you can't even do what the G1 toy does so that he can "stand" in gun mode is absurd and unfortunate. But hey, we ended up with a silly looking purple stand instead. Nice.

As I said above, the stand makes up for that. So when posing him in either Robot or Alt mode, all pieces of the toy are used, which beats the G1 version where the barrel went nowhere in robot mode.

As for the light piping for his singular eye ... it's a nice feature, but the light piping is too dark or something.

This surprises me because this is probably the best lightpipng I have ever seen. Not in terms of implementation or the effect (this is just a dot), but simply in the way that you dont need much of a lightsource to have his eye glow. And the yellow looks great. Once again, it might be deffective. While that would be too high a conicidence I am holding out hope that if you do return this one for his legs which arent holding as well as they should, the next one you get will have that stellar light piping I experience with mine.

The light up feature was kind of a slap-in-the-face. It was a nice touch, but also a reminder that the sound effects were absent, which is what helped make G1 Shockwave so iconic. I liked how they implemented the light up feature, especially with the brief "stay-on" feature, but the lack of sound was disappointing.

I never had the G1 toy and I didnt grow up in that era, so I didnt have any of these expectations. I looked up his sounds and I preffer that we only got the light. Those radioshack sounds would have been a bit jarring with this toy that is honouring more the cartoon than the original toy.

The "hose" is also another disappointment. That metal coil will not last. It will become dented or bent, or whatever. We'll just end up with a hose with a different problem from the original. I just can't believe that was the best they could come up with.

Its better than you might think. While I dont encourage it, if you try bending or stretching the metal spring, you will realize that it cant be done. There is actually a wire within it, keeping it in shape and making it so that it cant be worn out. This is a far better than rubber and I dont see how they could do better. I also dont find it fair to score marks off for something that might happen. The only annoying thing that can happen, after I looked into it online, is that the paint might chip a bit from the spring. I would have preferred they didnt paint it.

His size ... Shockwave should have been bigger. And please for the love of god, if someone pulls out that silly G1 size chart, I'll go crazy. Shockwave should be big. Optimus Prime or bigger. Just like his G1 toy was bigger. He should be bigger than Soundwave and Starscream and I wouldn't mind if he was bigger than Megatron (though not the MP-5 Megatron). Ultimately, he just feels like another take on the original G1 toy with the only improvement being posability. So many details are the same, which is probably good, but at the same time it just feels like a rip-off of sorts or a 3rd party G1 Shockwave's original toy is so iconic that to not do it right just seems like an injustice.

I always thought he was a head shorter than Megatron, so he should be ahead shorter than optimus in this line and thats pretty much what he is. I have no issues with his size especially since I want to pose him with others, like the seekers. I do get that someone of that stature, icon wise, would be fun to have bigger, but then all he would scale with would be MP 05.

So those are my thoughts. I've unloaded my opinions. Bummed about Shockwave and a few others recently released. Here's hoping we can get back to figures along the "masterpiece" levels of Masterpiece Wheeljack and Prowl soon.

I agree that he isnt as good as Wheeljack who is the best so far. But I dont really see what they could have done. The cartoon model was already very close to the toy (aside from the colours) so what they did is recreate the G1 toy but make him more accurate in proportion to the cartoon. This is great news to me since I always wanted a G1 shockwave toy but due to his high after market price (since a rerelease of the toy has some rights issues) I didnt think I would get him. And now this toy comes along which is basically the G1 toy with better proportions and modernized articulation without the jarring retro sound effects. So I can still marvel at what was the G1 toy while also having a modernized Shockwave toy. Its like the best of both worlds.

And I totally get that we have differring points of view. I for isntance do not like Prowl for the reasons you dont like this Shockwave. His backpack extends too far and I am surprised its the best they could do. And just like you do not like how cartoon accurate Shockwave is in colour, I dislike Prowl's cartoon accurate feet. Unlike wheeljack, they dont look like feet at all and while I get what its going for, I also find it a bit lazy and clunky in a line that I thought was about giving the perfect figures. But its not, its about working off the show models. I begrudgingly accepted it for Prowl when he came along and I now revel in it with Shockwave.

I do have 3 issues with Shockwave though that you did not bring up, just to show you that I am not looking at this toy through rose coloured glasses:

1. I hate how that robot head locks. It isnt obvious at all and the amount of strentgh needed is very unnatural and it has happened that his head would come off in the process. This is no fun.
2. Its really too bad that the small garage door on his stomach cannot peg into his waist. It ends up being a bit loose and keeps coming up. We can see that in the gallery too. That whole waist area is a little odd. I dont like that sensation of it popping in and out as I play with him.
3. While I love this toy and think he is very good, I have no clue where that price came from. Its not the parts count and we both know that electronics and die cast have little to know impact on the cost. I feel they just look at their development cost as a pool and then even out the prices based on size. For instance, I am pretty sure MP Bumblebee had as much (if not more) development time and costs put in but due to his small stature, they couldnt price him that high. And thus toys that are bigger but have less development costs (like the seekers) make up for that.

As much as I'd be respecting various opinions but from what I read y'all just love the old G1 fig and want the MP to be a carbon copy of it. Kind of like you all "bonded" with it thru nostalgia....it's a modern version. Some compromises had to be made. The color isn't 100% accurate by a few hues. No pew pew effects. I can live with it.