The robot mode is nice enough. The cannon-arm is a bit too big and ungainly. The rear treads section really needs something to lock it into place, because when the left tread is attached to the cannon-arm, it makes the whole backpack move when you move the cannon-arm. It's almost as if it was only designed to just look nice with little consideration as to how it should play well.

The alt mode is incredibly underwhelming. This toy just takes too much of a cue from DotM Shockwave; it would've been nicer if it'd taken more of a cue from G1 Shockwave (like FoC Shockwave; sure he's a jet, but it's a jet inspired by G1 Shockwave's gun mode (so much so that people can make an unofficial gun mode out of it!)). It would've been nicer as say a G1 Shockwave's gun mode inspired tank instead of being a... whatever that thing is that the alt mode is.

I find this toy to be comparable with TFPRiD Megatron. Both toys have those "WTH?!" alt modes, but at least Shockwave doesn't come with the lame TFPRiD gimmick that Megatron has (the sword that can never stay deployed ), nor is he predominantly covered in Hasbro Grey (even the images of the Hasbro version doesn't look as bad as Megatron). And as annoying as the non-locking backpack is, it's not as bad as Megatron's shoulders that poorly lock into place (the easy solution is to just disconnect the tread and play with the robot without it connecting to the cannon-arm). The main advantages that Megatron has over Shockwave is better head articulation and no oversized cannon arm that gets in its own way.