Shockwave is one of the core Decepticons, but for whatever reason it took Hasbro until late 2018 to make a worthwhile Generations figure for him (FoC Shockwave was too small and too weird). He began the era of smaller but more detail-packed Leader-class figures we’re still currently enjoying. This was not without controversy, as many decried him as just a Voyager with extra parts. Which he is…but he has a good reason for that.
The base robot is really nice. Yes he’s Voyager-scaled, but he has none of the hollowness or "waffling" that we sometimes see as a cost cutting measure. His articulation is leaps and bounds ahead of any other mainline Shockwave available at the time (though again, that was a very short list) although I do wish he had front to back movement in his ankles. His hips and knees are equipped with sturdy ratchet joints. He can do The Pose from the iconic cover of Marvel's Transformers #5 just fine. His light piped optic is very bright and menacing. His lavender blaster hand? Not so much.
Like Megatron, Shockwave’s G1 alt mode was a gun. A purple sci-fi laser gun, but still, we can't have that. So this Soundwave turns into a starship reminiscent of Space Battleship Yamato and similar vessels from ancient sci-fi anime, with a command tower sporting the same light-piped optic as Shockwave’s face so you know it’s him. By pure coincidence I’m sure, you can flip this spaceship upside down and it looks more or less like his G1 gun mode. The grip would be a little small for my preschooler niece but it’s the thought that counts. (There’s a third party upgrade kit to give it a real grip.)
The core figure has been reissued by itself several times, and it's even the basis for his Studio Series 86 figure, with lots of remolding to get rid of that icky surface detail. For a lot of people, that one will be the one to get. But to really get everything out of it you need the Siege release, especially if you like the play pattern Siege introduced. Which I do! I’m also one of the rare weirdos that likes the battle damage on Siege figures, which the rest of the fandom hates. To each their own. Y'all are wrong, but that's okay.
Shockwave comes with a ton of extra pieces which function similarly to the Weaponizers introduced in Siege. In fact, in its original context this figure seems designed to introduce and sell you on the play pattern and ideally send you out to the store to pick up Brunt or Cog or whoever. In robot mode, he gains two extra blaster arms, giant shoulder pads, some lifts for his feet, and a backpack with two...tentacles? hanging down the sides. It really befits his mad scientist tendencies.
In gun starship mode, the backpack piece bulks up the fuselage, adding more forward guns and making it look even more like a space battleship, while the arm and feet pieces plug into the back end to give him some wingalings. You can (and I often do) orient the foot pieces vertically for a slimmer profile, but this is the way it's "supposed" to look. Undocumented in the instructions, the extra pieces can partsform together to form a hoverboard or drone. You can also flip it upside down to make a little battle sled for a Scout or Core-class figure!
All these years removed, I think Shockwave is the best of the Siege Leader molds in terms of functionality. Magnus’s trailer/armor and Astrotrain’s launchpad/caboose/backpack have more limited applications. Plus the whole idea of experimenting on himself suits his character. Shockwave was a major shelf warmer but once he was gone from stores, aftermarket demand started ticking up. I’m not sure if that's still the case given that there are somewhat more cartoon-accurate versions available now, but until HasTak actually builds a new-from-the-ground-up Shockwave (not the whale, a G1 version, ya silly), those are quite literally missing something.
