Shockblast Review Capsule

Shockblast is a repaint and retool of Meister from 2004. New head, new heand, and some new car parts in an all new color scheme. Recommended if you think it's OK for Shockwave to take a form of a car, and we do. $19.84 at Wal-Mart.

Introduction

Hasbro made their Alternators Decepticons by modifying Autobots, and Shockblast is the second one that's obviously not originally meant to be an Autobot in the wrong colors. The new head and hand make it obvious who this should be, and it's a neat toy-- if yours is assembled properly.

He turns from a car to robot. He has a small weapon, but the real highlight here is his retooled left hand-- which is a gun, and an obvious throwback to the original Shockwave toy.

Robot

He's the same size as all the rest of this line, a 1/24 scale car that turns into a robot. It's cool and nicely jointed, and in most respects just as good as any other robot based on this character if not better.

There aren't many new parts in robot mode, but it's pretty obvious that the new head and hand make the toy. Also new: the front of the car. Fans have often said that a new head in a robot mode could easily make for a new figure that fans won't complain about, and this is quite true in this case.

The figure has an eye that lights up-- something Hasbro has enjoyed since Generation 2-- and it really works here. Instead of a window on the back of the head, the eye lights up through use of a triangle shaped "skylight" on the top of the head. We like it. The new head is also a dead ringer for Shockwave.

While it's basically just Meister with a few new parts, that's OK-- the whole Alternators line basically looks the same in many cases. (Admit it.) The result is a sleek robot that somehow manages to capture the look of a toy with an altmode that was originally a gun. That's no small task, so the results here should be applauded. Still, the whole "front of car becomes the chest and oh look, we made the trunk into feet" thing is very been there done that.

Vehicle

It's a car. Like the entire line.

Mazda's RX-8 has been used for Meister in two colors in Japan, and in the USA it was just a white car. Here, a modified version of the car is in purple to satiate your Decepticon warlord needs. The car has an opening trunk, hood, and doors, but we should note that ours was misassembled. When trying to transform it we realized that the hood was not properly connected to the vehicle, and getting it back on was no easy task-- we assume this to be an isolated incident, but if it isn't, you can easily fix it with a screwdriver and a large amount of patience. (We did.)

This is its out-of-the-box configuration from the bottom. You might say "hey, the tool/gun arm doesn't fit right." Good eye, it doesn't. It's still capable of rolling but it sticks out a little bit.

Additional Accessories

As if the weapon hand isn't enough, Shockblast includes a muffler gun. Like all guns in the line, it integrates well with the vehicle mode.

It goes from car part to gun and back again. It's also pretty much identical to Meister's down to the colors.

Comparisons

For your convinience, here's a look at the new and old toys.

The white one is Meister, but you knew that. He's modeled after Jazz from Generation One, the Japanese name of which was-- you guessed it-- Meister.

Packaging, Tech Specs, & Co-Sells

This toy came packaged in the second style TransFormers Alternators packaging in a red box that vaguely looks like the old Autobot packaging.

Nothing too fancy. Like the entire line, it has but one co-sell, and this time it's Battle Ravage.

Fin

Shockwave hasn't got a lot of love since G1 ended, but in the past year he's gotten a lot of attention, namely this toy and a couple of Energon toys based on the same mold. The proportions, articulation, and overall look of this toy is enough to make us satisfied with this being a top-notch representation of the character. As far as repaints-- or remolds-- go, this is one of the best. The character hasn't had a lot of alternate modes that weren't basically a weapon, so this is really something different. It works, though, and at the price we think fans of the original character will love this toy if (and only if) they're fans of Alternators. Otherwise, it's an overly complicated and overpriced toy.

Reviewed and photographed by Adam Pawlus
Sample purchased at a Phoenix, AZ Wal-Mart in March 2005 for $19.84
Reviewed on March 14, 2005.