GI Joe Classified Series Shockwave review — No. 105 (2023)

Shockwave is one of the few masked characters I’ll accept in my GI Joe ranks. Beach Head cornered the market for me with the non-ninja masked look, but Shockwave adds a little flair to the look with a hat. He also has one of the cooler modern (for the time) camo applications along with an awesome color scheme to really stand out among the Joes.

Unlike most of his 1988 Joe wave mates, Shockwave got released just as the Classified Series line went over 100 figures. He’s been waiting on some backup for a while now and when he finally hit a minor sale, I finally decided to pull the trigger and get him.

Let’s see if the Joe’s main SWAT officer sends some shockwaves through my Joe display or if he barely registers as a tremble.

Packaging: Shockwave got released during the close package era. That wasn’t ideal but for Shockwave, his setup was worse as the CS team made a rare gaffe and swapped his backdrop complete with SWAT truck with Helix’s background where she was supposed to be along a landing underneath a bridge.

That makes him look way out of place as he looks like he’s ready to invade a riverbank.

The rest is the norm with one side featuring the smaller portrait, skill stats and QR Code to Nowhere. On the other is a larger, full color portrait. Over on the back is a breakdown of his accessories and smaller windows focusing on some of his gear.

His skill stats make sense for a SWAT Specialist. He’s got a 4 star in tactics and 3s in vanguard, light weapons and urban combat.

Likeness: Shockwave had a fun design with his Real American Hero debut rocking a balaclava, a tactical vest and a baseball cap. All of those elements make it onto the Classified Series figure with the expected sculpting enhancements.

The vest retains the mini rounded collar with ribbed lining along the shoulder blade area. His sheath remains on the left side of the vest, which also has more pouches to store supplies. He’s got the Joe Pro on his left shoulder and a bullet pouch near his right shoulder.

For added protection, Shockwave has forearm, knee and shin pads. On either leg, he’s got holsters for his guns. His outfit has lined sleeve cuffs and he’s sporting fingerless gloves.

There’s not much detail to the head sculpt with the lined balaclava doing most of the heavy lifting. The open area for his eyes features good intensity in his eyes, but more of that is left to the paint job. His hat is removable, but it’s really part of his look so I’m including it here. It’s a good fit without being too bulky or too loose.

Scale: Shockwave was a regular height figure and doesn’t need to tower over anyone. He’ll be looking at most of your figures like Beach Head, General Hawk, Duke and Mutt eye to eye while looking up at guys like Outback and Heavy Duty.

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Paint: The paint job is one of the more fun aspects to Shockwave. His RAH figure had a mix of blue and dark blue, that almost looked purple, for his protective gear.

That color scheme remains intact here with slight changes to the tech camouflage pattern. The RAH figure had his camo like random stripes along the outfit that alternated between the darker blue and yellow. It was a unique look but worked for Shockwave.

For his CS figure, the paint details have been enhanced with the tech camo having more of a digital block visual along with the yellow being almost triangle shaped consisting of three smaller blocks. There are smaller details like his Joe Pro and his vest bullets that get some paint app love as well.

The only area that seems to have some inconsistency with the paintwork is for his eyes. They’re key in selling Shockwave’s intensity. Some are painted properly while others make him look somewhat disinterested. It seems that the Night Force Shockwave eye paint is more consistent on that front.

Articulation: Shockwave is the Joe who’s the front line in kicking down doors and breaking Cobra blockades.

He’s got the usual terrific articulation although the vest does slightly limit more dynamic riot shield charging poses.

Still, you can strike some fun action shots putting him in the thick of urban combat against Cobra’s Alley Vipers.

Shockwave has:

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• forearm
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• waist
• hips (ball-jointed)
• drop down hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: Shockwave is all set for battle as the Joe’s SWAT officer as he’s loaded with gear.

First up, he’s got a pair of HK MP7s. These can fit snugly in his holsters and have removable magazines.

To stay on the offensive even when the fight gets closer, he’s got a pair of knives.

One is a basic knife with a shorter handle. The other is more of a hook knife with its curved blade.

This one best fits on his ankle sheath while the short knife works better in the sheath on his tactical vest.

Next up is his nightstick. That’s good for keeping a Cobra agent or Headhunter down although the downside to this is it’s the one weapon Shockwave doesn’t have a place to store it.

Finally, he’s got a ballistic shield, which is probably helpful in pushing back BATs and Alley-Vipers. It’s got solid detail like dents and paint damage as well as stickers showing four crossed out Cobra logos. Maybe that’s four Cobra strongholds he took down on his own? Additionally, it‘s got two large flashlights in the center to further rattle the Vipers when he charges in.

Due to a design oversight, the notch on the left side of the shield doesn’t allow Shockwave to charge into battle with his weapon firing away from his left hand so you can’t swap it on the other arm.

Worth It? Shockwave was the one figure from this wave who didn’t drop to a staggering under $10 price at Ross or go on any significant discount at Hasbro Pulse. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worth the regular $25 price so much as it felt like he should get a price cut like the others. I did happily pounce when he dropped to $20 though.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Shockwave is another solid addition to the line though he would have benefitted from a paintjob that made his eyes look more intense.

Where to Get It? Shockwave is long gone from retail, but you can still get him from Amazon.

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