DNA Design have produced some truly excellent upgrade kits for the Studio
Series line, though most are for figures I've not bothered picking up, or just
don't quite add enough justify the expense to me, personally. I've yet to write up the first two kits I bought, for Studio Series Grimlock and Ironhide, despite them both offering substantial improvements over the stock figure. I'll get around to them eventually, I'm sure, but this one for Studio Series Shockwave - which I'd been eagerly waiting on for since its announcement around the middle last year - really earnt its swift write-up.
I finally received notification of despatch in the early part of this month, from which point it was almost two full weeks before it arrived from China. Now that I finally have it in-hand, let's see how big a deal it turned out to be after so long a wait.
Packaging:
This is the typical DNA Designs packaging style - no frills, but quite sturdy... A good thing, too, since mind had been wedged into an outer shipping box very slightly too small, leading to one end of the product box being very slightly crushed as it was taped up. Thankfully, the contents were unharmed - carried, as they are, in a large plastic tray that keeps the contents well away from the edges of the box.
Compared to some of the upgrade sets, there aren't that many parts... But then, the parts contained herein are rather more substantial in and of themselves. The kit comprises most of a left arm and hand, the right 'gun arm' (both starting at the mid-bicep) and a replacement arm-mountable spike weapon molded out of solid plastic rather than rubber, and with an extension joint near its mounting peg. Like this weapon, both the new right had and the weapon's main barrel are molded in solid plastic, and both are more fully-featured than Hasbro's originals, more on which later.
The instruction sheet is the standard two-colour affair, and shows how to remove the original toy's parts and replace them with the new. It's all incredibly simple, and barely needs instructions.
In each instance, in the three photos directly above, the original SS figure's part is on the left, the DNA Designs upgrade version is on the right. The main visible difference is that DNA Designs have been more sparing with their paint, for better or worse. The sculpts are largely identical, but with fewer gaps on the DNA version, and fewer obvious screw holes, even though screws have been used in place of pins in certain parts.
Upgraded Vehicle Mode:
I know this is not what anyone's here for, I'm just a tease... however, it's
interesting to note that some of the upgrade parts do lead to potential
improvements to vehicle mode, with very little effort.
There's a flap on the gun arm which is mainly there to give access to its spring-loaded gun barrel retraction gimmick, but it can also form a kind of bridge between the robot's two arms, leading to a (marginally) more coherent vehicle mode appearance. Additionally the fact that the left hand is articulated means that it doesn't have to just drape over Shockwave's shoulder, fingers splayed. It can be balled into a loose fist, but keep its traditional orientation, or it can be turned to the side, blending all the better with the raised flap from the right arm.
Other than this, though, vehicle mode is unaffected and his transformation is identical.
Upgraded Robot Mode:
What's surprising is that, at a glance, there's so little difference between the stock parts and these upgrades. The plastic colour is basically identical, so the most noticeable change is the comparative dearth of paintwork. However, since the paint on the original was deliberately light, designed to give the impression of scuffed, tarnished metal (and achieving some success), the less extensive drybrushing here just makes him look more heavily tarnished. Nevertheless, I have to confess that I was initially quite disappointed that the bare grey plastic was more prevalent on these - not inexpensive - third party 'upgrade' parts.
The left arm is also a little disappointing in terms of the range of its articulation. The elbow has a substantially smaller bend - quite a way off even 90°, which I would have thought should be the minimum in this day and age. On the upside, the hinged wrist and fixed-pose rubber hand are replaced here with a more complete wrist joint for a solid plastic hand with jointed fingers and thumb. The wrist tilts less than 45°, and in much the same direction as the stock figure, but this is supplemented by a rotation joint. This alone allows for a greater range of expression in the arm, but then the three fingers and the thumb are able to move independently. The only odd thing is that the fingers are sculpted much like those of the original - with the index finger at an angle to the other two - but the joints are parallel, which exaggerates the offset of the index finger. Also, somewhat disappointing, the fingers themselves are not jointed, so his 'closed' fist looks very artificial. Additionally, the thumb is only hinged rather than on a ball joint, so its movement looks quite odd at times. Probably the biggest problem for the hand, and something which is exacerbated by attaching his mêlée weapon, is that the spikes on the back of the hand clash with the wrist and the weapon when rotated, meaning the wrist has to be tilted or the weapon removed/rotated to allow the hand to rotate into some positions.
The main event, though, has to be the right arm's cannon which, at first glance, is barely discernible from the original. The most apparent change is that the gun barrel is now solid plastic, rather than rubber, and the 'teeth' on the tip are shorter and more rounded. However, a quick look down the barrel reveals a spiral groove not present on the original, and this is to facilitate the spring-loaded feature. Lift up the flap close to his thumb (still articulated, like the original, but molded in plastic, like the left arm's hand), and the slide switch is revealed. Pull it back, and the barrel retracts by slightly less than half its length, spinning as it does. The switch can be locked in place once the barrel is retracted, but then the flap doesn't close (a bit of a design flaw, if you ask me). Push the switch the right way, and the barrel shoots back out again, spinning all the way. It's a neat feature, but possibly moves a bit too quickly and the barrel ends up wobbling in its channel. Additionally, it references the very final stage of deployment for Shockwave's oversized integrated weapon and, since the arm doesn't transform in any other way, it lacks a certain impact.
The final accessory, the replacement stabby-blade, can plug onto Shockwave's left arm via either of the same two 5mm sockets, but is rigid plastic with a strange, almost greenish metallic paint on the main spike to indicate battle damage and/or tarnish. For some reason, the main part is on a double hinge, and can be extended slightly. It doesn't make much difference, other than revealing a narrower inner core. While I had to bulk out the hollow rubber peg on the original to make it fit properly, the solid plastic peg on this is a good, snug fit without needing any further modification.
I think the main reason I've not already written up the first two DNA Design upgrade kits is that they ended up seeming far less significant on the upgraded figure. Sure, Grimlock gains a proper hand for his right arm, and a massive club, and Ironhide's transformation is cleaned up slightly, but this is the first of their kits that I felt was absolutely essential, given the disappointing prevalence of rubber parts on the original figure, and the missed opportunities with the gun arm.
In hand, this kit is certainly an improvement, but I can't help but think they should have added a light-up feature to the gun as well, like the one produced by Shockwave Lab. Sadly, I doubt that the two independently-produced upgrades created with such different intents could be combined into a single figure with a light-up, retractable gun barrel. Good as the kit is, this omission does feel like a foolishly missed opportunity.
Additionally, the reduced range on the elbow on the left arm is baffling. There's no obvious reason for it, but the adjusted sculpt of the lower bicep and the end of the forearm clash in ways that the original, stock toy don't... it's tempting to see if I can unpin the lower bicep part from that, and see if it will fit the screwed-together joint on the upgrade's left forearm.
The additional weapon is certainly a huge improvement on the ill-fitting rubbery mess of the original, but it doesn't really do much in and of itself, so I wonder why the extension hinge was included at all. It's certainly not as dramatic as the extending claw on the replacement Murder Arm for RotF Leader class Megatron, produced by TF Dream Factory a few years ago.
Considering the original toy was sold at the Leader class pricepoint, and was and absolute rip off, shelling out the equivalent of another Voyager class toy ($37/£27 from TF-Direct in my case) was a little galling. Nevertheless, in much the same way that I ended up not feeling cheated by Hasbro's pricepoint juggling simply because the figure looked awesome, I don't feel especially hard done by over this purchase either. Back when I wrote about the stock figure, I note that I was torn between the Shockwave Lab LED kit and the Zeus Toys upscaled version... And I'm certainly glad that I didn't buy the latter, considering its heinous quality control. I may yet pick up the LED kit and fit it to the stock arm, and just switch them out occasionally, depending on how I want to display Shockwave.
Bottom line: given the overall expense of both the original figure and this upgrade kit, I find it hard to recommend unless you're intent of having the extending gun barrel... but, even then, there's a chance you'll end up disappointed by its limited effect.
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