Shockwave 75
05-21-2014, 04:18 PM
I got this off eBay from a Chinese seller (along with the Dr. Wu Blitwing upgrade kit) for a great price! $43.58 (Canadian) with free shipping.
Since the SDCC, Takara, and Hong Kong exclusive versions of Metroplex were well beyond my means I was quite excited when I first saw pics of this little beauty.
It comes nicely packed in a box that pics of it in all it's various modes and the box itself is in a nice plastic sleeve.
The instructions are printed on the inside of the box. Which I feel is an odd move for a product aimed at collectors since may of us are loath to destroy our boxes, and you'd have to completely open up the box to look at them. But if you'd rather not do that (like me) the pics on the side of the box are an easy enough guide to the transformation.
Here we have it in it's basic gun mode.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2917/14052800559_7d13a26964_b.jpg
It looks exactly like the original gun except it doesn't have a launching missile. It might have been a nice addition to this accessory, but I don't think the lack of it takes anything away from this. Hell, I don't even have the missile in the original gun!
The red is a nice match for the original, just very slightly darker, but not so much as you'd immediately notice.
The plastic quality is really nice too, it looks and feels just like the original.
Now turret mode.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5318/14052795348_ace510f94c_b.jpg
It looks really nice. It has two sets of wheels that flip out from the back, as well as two under the front of the gun. The only thing that I would have added to it would maybe have been some 5 mm pegs so that it could be manned by a legends class figure, like Scamper for instance.
The gun barrel is on a ball joint so it has lots of movement. It can turn all the way around and up and down.
Tank mode.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5479/14237184652_1f287b6e8c_b.jpg
All the parts peg together nicely. There are a couple clips that connect the front half to the back half that seem kind of fragile and might break if you are too rough with them; but if they do it won't really matter because the pegs at the front are what are really holding this together.
Here it is being held by Metroplex.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2927/14236147481_5962e33911_b.jpg
The original is in his right hand and the XT004 Interceptor is in the left.
It was a little bit of a loose fit, but that was nothing a little clear nail polish in the slot in his hand couldn't fix.
City mode (with Godzilla getting ready to rampage through downtown Metroplex apparently).
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5276/14052839500_66f4ddd1b7_b.jpg
It's the red tower on the left.
It pegs quite securely into the peg and slot provided and looks really nice there. It does a great job of filling out Metroplex's sky line.
This also gives you a better look at the wheels I mentioned before. But because of them and the way it transforms I'm not sure if it would be compatible with the extra tower stickers Reprolabels created for the 3 exclusive versions that came with the second gun. I guess the only way to know for sure would be to get them and find out.
Battle station mode.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/14236147691_006cecd1b3_b.jpg
You can tell which is which because the original has the hole for the missile.
I was looking forward to getting this gun for this purpose. I prefer the way this mode looks with the guns mounted on the platform because I think they fill in all the empty space from the way his waist is shaped.
It also comes with this odd little accessory.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2903/14237403542_395ddbcb3a_o.jpg
It's meant to be used with the Masterpiece cassettes. It can be a gun for Rumble/Frenzy, or somehow be used to combine the figures together in many different configurations.
I haven't used it yet and maybe I might do a review of it if I ever figure out how it works!
That said, I highly recommend this add on if you have the Hasbro Metroplex and have been coveting the second gun that comes with the exclusive versions.
Since the SDCC, Takara, and Hong Kong exclusive versions of Metroplex were well beyond my means I was quite excited when I first saw pics of this little beauty.
It comes nicely packed in a box that pics of it in all it's various modes and the box itself is in a nice plastic sleeve.
The instructions are printed on the inside of the box. Which I feel is an odd move for a product aimed at collectors since may of us are loath to destroy our boxes, and you'd have to completely open up the box to look at them. But if you'd rather not do that (like me) the pics on the side of the box are an easy enough guide to the transformation.
Here we have it in it's basic gun mode.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2917/14052800559_7d13a26964_b.jpg
It looks exactly like the original gun except it doesn't have a launching missile. It might have been a nice addition to this accessory, but I don't think the lack of it takes anything away from this. Hell, I don't even have the missile in the original gun!
The red is a nice match for the original, just very slightly darker, but not so much as you'd immediately notice.
The plastic quality is really nice too, it looks and feels just like the original.
Now turret mode.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5318/14052795348_ace510f94c_b.jpg
It looks really nice. It has two sets of wheels that flip out from the back, as well as two under the front of the gun. The only thing that I would have added to it would maybe have been some 5 mm pegs so that it could be manned by a legends class figure, like Scamper for instance.
The gun barrel is on a ball joint so it has lots of movement. It can turn all the way around and up and down.
Tank mode.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5479/14237184652_1f287b6e8c_b.jpg
All the parts peg together nicely. There are a couple clips that connect the front half to the back half that seem kind of fragile and might break if you are too rough with them; but if they do it won't really matter because the pegs at the front are what are really holding this together.
Here it is being held by Metroplex.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2927/14236147481_5962e33911_b.jpg
The original is in his right hand and the XT004 Interceptor is in the left.
It was a little bit of a loose fit, but that was nothing a little clear nail polish in the slot in his hand couldn't fix.
City mode (with Godzilla getting ready to rampage through downtown Metroplex apparently).
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5276/14052839500_66f4ddd1b7_b.jpg
It's the red tower on the left.
It pegs quite securely into the peg and slot provided and looks really nice there. It does a great job of filling out Metroplex's sky line.
This also gives you a better look at the wheels I mentioned before. But because of them and the way it transforms I'm not sure if it would be compatible with the extra tower stickers Reprolabels created for the 3 exclusive versions that came with the second gun. I guess the only way to know for sure would be to get them and find out.
Battle station mode.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/14236147691_006cecd1b3_b.jpg
You can tell which is which because the original has the hole for the missile.
I was looking forward to getting this gun for this purpose. I prefer the way this mode looks with the guns mounted on the platform because I think they fill in all the empty space from the way his waist is shaped.
It also comes with this odd little accessory.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2903/14237403542_395ddbcb3a_o.jpg
It's meant to be used with the Masterpiece cassettes. It can be a gun for Rumble/Frenzy, or somehow be used to combine the figures together in many different configurations.
I haven't used it yet and maybe I might do a review of it if I ever figure out how it works!
That said, I highly recommend this add on if you have the Hasbro Metroplex and have been coveting the second gun that comes with the exclusive versions.