Edited to shorten your original post and emphasize a couple things. I find it difficult to digest that despite the fact that he is a mixed bag, with all those issues, especially the "shrimp" part, that he is "a thousand time's better than Quakewave." I have a couple Quakewaves and a Quakeblast already. And this figure is not a thousand times better save for his more accurate legs in my opinion. And I emphasize OPINION. We all have one, lol.  

That all said, I'm simply a Shockwave fan myself- I'll buy most if not all examples. But I really can't see that this is that kind of better than Quakewave on the whole, especially given that the point of the MP line is scale in bot mode and so many think this guy is "a shrimp." I guess this is one time I'm glad the 3rd party people ignored the scale chart?

Still looking forward to getting Laserwave in hand though- mine is on the way from Japan as I type. I just hope I can deal with his size on the shelf...

 

My Shockwave arrived today just as I was on the way to work,now I'm home and opened the box and.....this figure is Fantastic! Size is perfect,color is a nice,not too light, shade of purple and he does have a good amount of heft to him. I also ordered Exhaust too,but Shockwave will take my attention for a good bit. Also loving the pics Maz,and AnonymousDwell 

 

I can't stop taking pictures of him...

I think I've finally got him entirely out of my system. I think.

 

My Shockwave collection is complete now for me!

A few comparison shots I wanted to grab before I lost the sun, any specific shots people want to compare I'll do my best but I'm no photographer!







oh and just for fun, a shot of all the non transforming gun Shockwaves I have.

 

No worries. First off to be up front, I don't own Quakewave or Quakeblast. I have never had any interest in either of them. The reason I feel he's so much better is that he actually looks like toon Shockwave - from the tip of his pointy antennae to the hem's of his bell-bottom flares and pointy shoes. Quakewave looks nothing like Shocky from the waist down. His legs, coloured in a different deco, could belong to any generic transformer, while MP-29's legs are so very clearly Shockwaves. That's 50% of QW's body being wholly inaccurate.
Then there's the issues people have with the legs being so hard to transform, the excessive and many feel unnecessary use of die-cast. And finally I get a very sour taste in my mouth after the way FT handled the Quakkeblast incident. I'm a huge FT fan, they are my favourite manufacturer (even over TT official) but the hypocrisy of saying QB was a KO of their own illegal KO of a licenced figure bugs me. That shouldn't reflect on QW himself of course...
Official Shocky's issues are basically a size problem (which bugs me but as I said I can live with it) and a gappiness issue - which is pretty much standard for TT figures these days. They suck but they don't diminish the over-all sense that this is Shockwave
Quakewave is given a massive pass by so many collectors out of a sense of nostalgia or loyalty (not to mention an occasional rabid defense by those who paid through the nose to acquire him between releases )
If you go into any 3rd party figure thread (and many official threads) fans (myself included) will rant and rave about a slight variation in colour, a few mm's in height or an extra hip flap or a wheel-well being in a different spot.
If Quakewave were announced today, and tried to launch in the current 3P and official market, he'd be instantly boo'd off-stage for being so woefully inaccurate. Yet so many fans continue to hold him up as some kind of gold standard. I appreciate nostalgia - that's why most of us are collecting these things after all - but such blind nostalgia doesn't make sense to me.
Of course, again, this is my opinion and I am happy for people to collect whatever they want!
Apologies for yet another essay...

 

*slow clap*

 

One of the best posts in this thread Starganderfish.

 

Extremely well put!  

 

Really hoping my Shockwave Does NOT arrive tomorrow.

 

Got him in today.

His plastic looks cheap, but it's definitely better feeling than it looks. He's solid.

His ab crunch is weird, it seems kind of pointless and forces the panel up and out of the way when you use it.

His ratchets are nice and tight, if a little loud. Okay, a lot loud on mine.

His light up gimmick for the arm is a bit touchy. Went out of my way to buy brand new batteries (I can confirm Energizer 357's are the correct size, in case you're at Walmart shopping for them. $6.00 for 3. Ouch.) and they didn't work at first. I had to move them around a couple of times to get the connection solid enough. Once I did, it started working. The pulsating thing is a bit odd, not the choice I'd have gone with.

The eye's lightpiping is amazingly well done. Glows like crazy, even under a slight amount of light.

The backpack is an ingenious design and I love how the diecast spine contains all of the wiring responsible for the blaster effect. The stand/backpack shell is okay in robot mode, if a little big, but I don't like that it's partsforming. I really don't like it. I do like that it's a gun stand, however, so I guess it's a necessary price to pay. *sighs*

I'm a bit surprised by how short he is in robot mode. I mean, he's no midget, but for the size of the box he comes in and the stature that we've come to adopt to some degree, he comes across as a bit short in hand.

His gun mode is a bit too small for my hands. Not a comfortable fit. Almost reminds me of the Armada/Energon role play toys that were made for kids. It's really something along that size.

The transformation is a bit frustrating. The bottom half has all this craziness going on, a good crazy, but the top half is bland. I mean, the barrel of the gun is pretty neat, but it's not as flashy or as involved as the legs are. It just seems imbalanced within itself.

I'm glad they included all the hands, a vulcan cannon for him to hold and I love that he lights up, truly, but I cannot say that he's worth the $140.00 shipped that I paid, nor the $120.00 Japan shelf price.

$120.00 shipped? I'd go for without reservations.

I still think there's a place in people's collections for Quakewave/Quakeblast, as well as this figure. As for being definitive as figures go? I don't know. He's definitely toon accurate, which is what's really required for Masterpiece, but he doesn't feel like a Masterpiece.

Perhaps Quakewave/blast doesn't either, I'll be fair and say that, but I'm not sure Shockwave does either. He's sporting a very odd vibe, in my book.

He's a GOOD figure, he's well made, he's definitely Masterpiece-ish, but I don't know if he's absolutely the definitive one for me.

I'll give it some more time before I pass judgment completely.
I do recommend importing it from Japan for cheaper, rather than paying $160.00 here in the States. It's just not worth that much, period.

 

Yep, you really hit the nail on the head. In one look he's great, then look again and you see flaws, but then look closer and he's awesome.. then flawed...
If they'd just put a little bit more work in, closed up those gaps, given him a half head more height, or thrown on some nice paint, it would have made all the difference. Like Ironhides hip flaps - I sometimes get the feeling with these newer MP's that they're stepping back, shrugging and saying "good enough". I'm sure they're not of course, designing these toys must be incredibly difficult but sometimes I wonder...

 

Yeah all that ^^

Your opinion on both MP-29 and QW seems pretty balanced; what's interesting is my observation on how your "QW isn't Shockwave Jesus" comments are being selectively "heard" and processed.

Re: Which is my Shockwave, I've decided that MP-29 will be my primary (until a premium-paint version rolls along) and QW will be my secondary. I've never thought QW was a great Shockwave design because of the clunky legs, but his build quality (mine's a later-run version) and heft-in-hand are great. He was never worth a large amount of money to me, but I've certainly no regrets at the 70USD I paid (and which was one of the big reasons I said "why not").

 

It looks like you need a 1970's style space ranger squad to grab their side arms from the weapons locker. pew pew pew.

 

and there were no other offerings? People would love him



Ah... They really got the mold right. Now if only they listened to what the fans and collectors who buy their figures really wanted

 

Hahaha!

What I'd love is a men in black style reveal , wst shockwave being the noisy cricket, lol.

 

I finally got around to handling MP29.

First impressions - this is Shockwave from the cartoon. The color, the physique, the size, all jumps straight out of the toon. I don't hate the color as much as I thought I would, and there's no denying it is screen accurate. Mine has hips that are a bit loose and the tiny feet make it hard to keep his hips from wanting to rock side to side when viewed from front. He really wants to do the splits and the posing so far has been difficult. As for materials, the plastic feels like the official masterpiece line. There's always something different about official plastic from the way it is finished to the smoothing of the edges that many 3P figures just haven't quite mastered yet. It's a small thing, and it's hard to put my finger on, but it still jumps out at me on some of the bigger figures. I thought the transformation was clever and engaging, especially the legs. I'm always fascinated by the transformations these guys come up with.

There is no doubt that this is the definitive Shockwave for representing the transformers cartoon that many of you grew up watching. As a 90s kid, through the consumption of many generations of Transformers media, this is not the Shockwave in my brain. For me, I'm thrilled to own MP29, but the representation that jumps from my head is Quakeblast. Both have space on my shelf.

 

Still waiting on my shockwave  

 

Well...I finally gave in and bought this guy...and I hate you all!!  

Seriously though, it looks like amiami finally sold out so that kind of scared me into thinking 'now or never'. I figure if worst comes to worst I could always sell him for a minimal loss.

I really hope you all are right about the color...it's still my only real hang up. I don't think it'll ever be the shade that I want regardless of lighting, but as long as it's truly toon accurate, I guess I'll be happy enough.

And it gives me an opportunity to try out HLJ. My first order with them. Seems pretty nice.

 

Good lord sir, I doff my cap to you  

 

I'm going to be disagreeing with some of your points.

You're definitely right there. Quakewave his legs are inaccurate. His chest is also too small. And the sad thing is, both were fixable.

But on the plus side, Quakewave has presence. He has size and bulk. If you want the obedient servant from the cartoon, then MP Shockwave is close to perfect (I see some differences from the animation model). If you want the presence of the badass Marvel comics Shockwave, then MP Shockwave is seriously lacking. Quakewave may lack the accuracy, but he does make up for it in presence.

It isn't so much that the legs are hard to transform, but more that they really could use a release button. To slide them in/extend them, you need to apply some strength and at the same time make sure there's no skin in the way. A simple release button would've improved it so much.

And although I'll be the very first to claim Fanstoys has a tendency to use excessive amounts of diecast (to the detriment of the figure), Quakewave isn't one of those. Only the feet/heel and the panel on the side are diecast. And that is the exact right amount. It aids with posing and balancing him and picking him up and posing him, is a joy.

Yeah, that was bad, but it indeed shouldn't reflect on the figure.

I have a hard time seeing this as the Shockwave from the Marvel comics, the most iconic version of Shockwave, who fought and defeated Megatron and who fought a brutal battle with Scorponok. As you said, the size is part of this, but so is him being too skinny and lacking bulk.

I paid less for Quakewave then I would have to pay for MP Shockwave (even with discounts at AE). I have no loyalty to Fanstoys and there's no nostalgia. And still, I prefer Quakewave over MP Shockwave.

Maybe. Don't know.

Speaking for myself, I think that if I had none of the Shockwaves and wanted to buy one, the MP would likely be my third choice. Simply because of his lack of size and bulk for a Marvel Shockwave and the leader of my Decepticons. So it would be a competition between Quakewave and -blast for me. And then, yes, Quakewave his blocky legs and too small upper body might be the decisive factor in making him runner up.

I don't think that's because of his design or looks. I don't think it has ever been because of that. I think all Quakewave owners will readily admit that the way he looks isn't that accurate. A more accurate looking Shockwave was always considered possible and expected.

The 'gold standard' was because of the quality of his build. The strong plastic, the smart use of diecast and the excellent joints.

And from what I've heard about MP Shockwave...that is one part where Quakewave easily beats the official MP.


Truth be told, I would love to replace Quakewave with the official MP. Love to. Because the MP definitely does some things better than Quakewave. And as said, Quakewave has big blocky lower legs that differ quite a bit from Shockwave (and the MP is more accurate -- although I dislike something about the MP legs...maybe that there's more on the inside that the outside), and Quakewave his chest really lacks width.

But the MP lacks size and bulk to be Shockwave in my collection. Quakewave isn't perfect, but at least he has the size and the bulk to make a believable Marvel Shockwave/Decepticon leader.

And Quakewave has quality: strong, thick plastic, smart use of diecast for balance and good joints. How long is MP Shockwave out now? And people are already reporting broken/damaged hoses, while at the same time being concerned about some of his ratchets. And how many of the regular Quakewave's have broken hoses (some got loose, but not broken) or joints? (With the added bonus that Fanstoys, either directly or through sellers, replaces broken parts. Do try that with Hasbro or Takara: at best you get a replacement from the seller, but then the seller has to take the loss.)


As I said, I would love to replace my Quakewave for the more expensive (for me) and more accurate looking MP Shockwave, but the MP sadly just isn't what I want. Too small, not enough bulk or presence, (colour is a bit off,) and I have my doubt the build quality is up to the same level.