Dave's Transformers Cybertron Rant: Ultra Wave 2 Decepticon Shockwave (Walker Tank) Shadow Striker (sportscar, not reviewed) Permalink: https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cyberverse/Ultra2 The wave is fleshed out with more Bumblebee. I haven't seen Shadow Striker yet (someone beat me to it, seems shortpacked), but it appears to share a lot of engineering with Bumblebee. Normally I'd be interested in new characters, especially in a line like this filled up with the Usual Suspects, but it really looks bad. CAPSULE $20 price point. Decepticon Shockwave: Robot mode is a little better than Warrior, altmode a little worse. Slightly disappointed that the "spare arm" has no cannon, although I guess someone might Shapeways a solution. Mildly recommended. RANT Packaging: Same as wave 1. The cosells are Shadow Striker and Bumblebee. DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON SHOCKWAVE Assortment: E1909 Altmode: Walker Tank Transformation Difficulty: 14 steps Previous Name Use: Yes Previous Mold Use: None Epithet/Gimmick: Shock Blast Function: Twisted Scientist Packaging: 5 plastic ties hold the robot mode into the package, with special care to make sure the cannon arm can't be opened up. Robot Mode: Unlike the Warrior version, there's no backpack gun (unless you want one, see below), instead the big gimmick cannon is part of the left arm. There's slightly more detail in the paint job, and a few of the cosmetic details of the mold (aside from the obvious oversized cannon) are a little different, possibly due to two different designers working from the same reference material but reading a line or two differently. This one looks less angry, as the optic is slightly lower within the face so you can see the entire circle. The backs of the boots are hollow, otherwise the figure looks reasonably solid. The top side of the gun has a cut out Decepticon symbol outline that shows through to the energy effects. 7" (18cm) tall in the usual purple and gray, plus the hot pink accent color. The feet, thighs, shoulder roots, and various mechanisms for the gimmick (both in the arm and on the back) are light silvery gray plastic. The rest of the toy is purple slightly metallic plastic. Neon pink paint us used on the chest, the energy zap effect, panel lines on the arms and torso, and the centerline of each kneecap. There's silver paint on the horns, the sides of the boots, panel lines inside the chest panel, and lines around the vent bits under the chest. The face and the central vents under the chest are painted matte black, the optic and the forehead light are yellow. There's a raised pentagon in the center of the chest painted silver with a dark purple Decepticon symbol printed on it. The head turns and the waist turns at a joint below the belt (just the lower pelvis turns), and it has a slight notch to guide it to center. The shoulders and hips are ball joints. Both arms have upper arm swivels, but only the right arm has a hinge elbow. The knees are hinged, and the ankles are on slightly restricted ball joints. Pulling back on either of the tabs of the gun pushes out the energy effects while opening up the halves of the cannon. They're designed to look sort of like pink lightning bolts flanking a missile-like tip. The energy effects seem to be made of purple plastic dipped in hot pink paint. It's possible to deploy the "spare arm" for vehicle mode and fold the cannon arm onto the backpack without transforming the rest of the way, making it look like someone shot off his arm gun or something. The articulation of the cannon arm and its strut will not let it be deployed in any useful way with the spare arm out, though. Unfortunately, the spare arm has neither a fist nor a cannon barrel molded onto it, it's just there to become an altmode leg. I mean, if it had a cannon barrel, fitting it inside the torso would be even harder. But if this toy is popular enough, maybe someone with Shapeways up a barrel that snaps into the hollow parts where the fist should be. Transformation: The hardest part is definitely getting the spare arm in and out. Even following the instructions carefully it's hard to get the arm in just the right way to shove it into the torso, and once it's in it's hard to get out. Otherwise, it's pretty simple. The three remaining limbs and the spare arm all twist around into quad walker mode, with the forearms folding down to make feet. The chest lifts up to cover the head, more or less, but it doesn't lock into place very well, or at all. Vehicle Mode: Oddly, despite the cannon being an energy weapon, there's a molded ammo belt inside the arm strut that's now on the outside. The way the cannon locks onto the back and has the tabs operated via slots in the back is pretty clever, but the limbs are generally less convincing than on the Warrior toy. Also, there's a huge gap in the left side where the spare arm used to be, and the front end doesn't lock in place. It looks okay as long as you just leave it standing on all four legs, but even just picking it up makes things flop. Fills a footprint about 6" (15cm) wide and maybe a little longer depending on how you pose the rear legs, it has no new colors revealed (the spare arm is identical to the right arm except for the lack of a molded fist). Every limb has a ball joint at its base and a hinge knee, plus the forelegs have the upper arm swivels. The ankles have hinges in front and ball joints in back. The turret can turn, although the joint is fairly stiff and it's easy to pop things out in the process. Overall: I'd say if you just count the robot mode, this is a little better than the Warrior version, but the altmode is noticeably worse. On the other hand, the walker isn't exactly a stellar altmode in either case, my affinity for the design notwithstanding. I guess the upshot is that this is worth picking up, but if your budget is tight then just pick whichever of the two Shockwaves you find more aesthetically pleasing. Dave Van Domelen, decided to do this review as a quick breather between Nemesis Prime and the Prime Wars Capstone Trio.