[En Sabah Nerd]

Found studio series Shockwave at Walmart. I'm not very happy to be paying leader class price for this figure but evidently "leader class" for the past year or so just means voyager class sized toy with extra stuff, so at least this figure is a large sized voyager with extra stuff. This figure is built around the same base/skeleton as the studio series RotF Megatron so his transformation is very similar to that figure's while also being easier/simpler since he doesn't turn into much of anything. His "tank" mode is just a retake on his DotM toy's alt-mode but then since he never actually transforms in the movie I guess it's all they could do. Robot mode is where this figure puts all of its energy and it mostly delivers on this front. The paint and articulation are great but to keep it from being perfect they decided to overuse this soft rubbery plastic on parts like his left-hand, arm-blade, toe-spikes, and the end of his cannon. Aesthetically these parts are fine (aside from minor warping from the packaging on some of them) but functionally they're just weird and don't make a lot of sense given how many other figures in this line already come loaded with hard-plastic pointy/sharp bits. The included Wheelie and Brains are actually very well done for their size in terms of sculpt and paint but they're so damn tiny that I'm throwing them straight into an accessory box so I don't lose them. The paratrooper guy on the other hand straight up sucks, it doesn't actually perform the gimmick of being a working parachute toy very well and then it's nowhere near detailed enough to be used as a display piece. All that being said, at the end of the day I'm a Shockwave fan and this figure has a great shelf presence so despite its flaws I do quite enjoy it overall.