In G1 cartoon, the one eye one hand Shockwave wasn’t a significant character but he was Megatron’s most trusted bot. When he appeared, Starscream and Soundwave pretty much lost their ranks. In the comics, Shockwave was well build into a super villain that was so powerful and unique. Very soon Hasbro lost his name rights and he was gone from the cartoons but could only wield his power in the comics. Later on Hasbro/Takara changed the name to Shockblast and he appeared again in Energon cartoon and had a toy in Alternator/Binaltech line. But that was it, he disappeared again Later Hasbro somehow reclaimed the name, Shockwave, again and he showed up on the Animated cartoon and DOTM movie. So no matter it’s “blast” or “wave”, he didn’t get much love from a toy line even though he was so popular in the comics and fans wanted a toy based on his G1 incarnation badly. Animated toy is a good one but not right, DOTM is too movieverse, Alternator/Binaltech’s alt mode is totally wrong, so the most close one is Energon but he has a left cannon arm and a horrible right hand. While I still keep my hope on Hasbro to make a classics one, there were many brilliant customizers made a nice G1 Shockwave based on Energon Shockblast. After I was so inspiring on their creation and also claimed his rightful arms with a very reasonable price, I also luckily landed the most important part, this Energon Shockblast.

In Energon, Shockblast is a triple changer but none of his alt modes make sense. First is a laser tank and second is a satellite. There aren’t really any transformation but just move the legs here and move the arms there, that’s it. The tank mode could have a little bit more fun but I see nothing from the satellite mode. And since the laser is way too big and heavy, the tank is always leaning to the side where the laser is pointing at. Since he has many rotatable parts, he can still transform into his G1 laser gun mode. Not very convincing but not bad either.

Shockblast’s robot mode is great, if you ignore both arms. Whoever designed this toy should keep knocking his head on the wall even until now. Shockblast’s head is fantastically made with lots of articulations. He has rotatable waist and legs are poseable and steady (knees are too tight). He has excellent balance and he is even taller than classics Megatron. What totally went wrong are his arms. Right arm is okay but he never has claw hands in the cartoon but this toy does. Left arm is just a huge and heavy non poseable rotatable laser stick. This gun is almost as tall as he is that he cannot keep it straight down. It is also too heavy and luckily doesn’t tip him over since he has excellent balance. I also don’t like his green color on the laser, it just seems not match well with his purple color. Overall not  a bad toy but they should just revisit it and he can be simply improved.

Transformation: 2 – Just shifting limbs here and there. Don’t think transforming him is fun.
Fun: 7 – The satellite is nothing. Tank mode is okay. What makes this figure fun is the robot mode. Only if he has more articulated arms.
Display: 7 – Don’t think I will ever display him in satellite mode and the tank mode can be passed. Robot mode is quite nice as he is poseable besides left arm.
Value: 8 - $28 with shipping from UK. A good deal as I couldn’t find him anywhere cheap or even reasonable.
Overall: 7 – I have to say this Shockblast is very kids friendly. But he serves more important purpose to me and he is currently sitting in my project pile waiting for his arm transplant.