 This is a birthday video for a very special boy, Brandon Knight, one of the regular viewers on this channel mentioned today was his birthday. Now I've never done this before and I won't make a regular practice of it, but Brandon has contributed a lot to this channel including the figure we are reviewing today. Thanks and happy birthday Brandon and hey, the character we are reviewing this week is a choir singer. It's the perfect opportunity to sing happy birthday to Brandon. Everybody sing it with me. Oh alright, in a previous video I promised to never sing again, so I can't sing happy birthday to Brandon. So instead I will ask you to sing happy birthday to the tune of the theme song. Cobra Commander here. We meet again after dark for another Night Force figure review. Night Force is one of my favorite subsets. Imagine some of the coolest figures from 1988 and 1989 recolored for night missions. Okay, they weren't all the coolest, but shockwave was. Unfortunately there was nothing new in Night Force. All the figures were reissued, there were no new characters. That's normally a knock against a figure. It's hard to make it to the top tier when the figure is just recolored, reissued old product. In this case, the first version of shockwave was a great figure and one of the best from 1988. That's a good start. They took an already cool figure and recolored it for night ops. That sounds like it could be a winner. Let's see if they can make a cool figure even better just by changing the colors. HCC788 presents Night Force Shockwave. This is Shockwave, version 2, GI Joe's SWAT specialist from Night Force. This figure was issued in 1989 and to my knowledge it was only available that year. It was discontinued for 1990. It was an exclusive to Toys R Us. Night Force was an exclusive set for Toys R Us that began in 1988 and continued to 1989. It included reissued figures and vehicles in night mission colors. There was nothing new in Night Force. It was just recolored old product. All Night Force figures were sold in two packs. Shockwave was packaged with Night Force Lightfoot. I don't have the Night Force Lightfoot figure to show you, but I do have the original 1988 standard issue Lightfoot figure. This is the second version of Shockwave. Version 1 was released in 1988 and was still on the pegs when Version 2 was released. Version 3 was released in 1992. It was different from the first two. It was part of the Drug Elimination Force, or DEF, subteam. It was an all new sculpt and we can see Shockwave's face for the first time. Shockwave Version 2 was available in 1993 as part of the Rapid Deployment Force Mail-Away set. He was packaged with Night Force Repeater, Fast Draw, and a black version of the Pocket Patrol pack. The figures didn't include their original accessories. They had some random reissued guns and extra figure stands. Because Night Force figures were exclusive to only one retailer, they weren't produced in large numbers. That makes them rare and expensive. They are also in high demand by collectors. Shockwave is the SWAT Expert. SWAT, or SWAT, stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. SWAT is usually a division of a local civilian police force deployed when law enforcement requires a major use of force with military style weapons. SWAT officers are often uniformed and equipped like Shockwave, so the figure is realistic. One problem with this is GI Joe is not a civilian law enforcement entity. They are a military counter-terrorist team under federal control. However, based on the stories in both the comic book and the animated series, GI Joe must have been given a special dispensation by Congress to run operations in the United States. That's the only way some of GI Joe's missions would be legal. A SWAT expert would be useful on the GI Joe team. They will often have missions in urban environments. Shockwave would have a lot of experience with urban warfare. Shockwave was also the name of a transformer, the Decepticon that turned into a laser gun. There were several occasions when GI Joe characters borrowed names from transformers. Let's take a look at the accessories for Night Force Shockwave, and let's take a note of a change from the Version 1 accessories. The accessories on the Version 1 figure were in dark blue, with the exception of the knife which was silver. On the Version 2 action figure, all of the accessories including the knife are black. Let's take a look at Shockwave's primary weapon, his submachine gun. It is in black plastic. It looks a little like an Uzi or an Ingrung, but not exactly, it's kind of a made up weapon. It has a magazine in the grip, it has a long folding stock, and it has a ventilated suppressor. You have to be cautious with this accessory, as with the Version 1 accessory. This stock is very thin plastic. It does flex a bit, but it would be very easy to break off. It is the same accessory as the Version 1 figure, but in black plastic instead of blue. His next accessory is his pistol. It is a black pistol, a pretty good looking pistol, but I do wish there were a holster for it somewhere. That would have been a really nice bonus. It is of course in black plastic, as are all of the other accessories on this figure. It looks good as far as a real world weapon that this might be based on. It may be a Desert Eagle, but it's not an exact match. Once again, it is the same accessory that came with Version 1, but in black plastic instead of blue. Attached to the side of the backpack is a knife in black plastic, really good looking knife and very large for the figure. It can fit in the action figures hand very well in fact, and it looks great in the figures hand, but it's really nice that they gave us some storage for the knife on the backpack. This is the same knife from the Version 1 figure, but in black plastic instead of silver. Finally, that brings us to the backpack. The backpack is in black plastic, looking very nice with some great details on it. Looks like it has a sculpted on flashlight and some pouches, and of course on the side we have the teeth, and that is for storage of the knife. It fits nicely, and it stays in pretty securely. On the backside of the backpack, on the side that connects to the figure with the peg, we can see there is kind of a raised section here with some kind of molding in it, and this appears to be contoured to the back to make the backpack fit on the figure a little better. Doesn't seem to really do anything, so nice idea, but not actually very functional. This is of course all the same as the Version 1 backpack, but in black plastic instead of blue. That's a lot of accessories, but despite coming with a lot of accessories, one thing I love about this figure and Version 1 of Shockwave is they can carry all of their accessories. It's a pet peeve of mine when figures come with more accessories than they can carry. It means some accessories will be left behind, and potentially lost. Even so, he has his hands full with a pistol and a submachine gun, so the pistol may still be a little excessive since he has even more pistols sculpted on the figure. It would have been a nice bonus to have a holster for the pistol. We had storage for the knife on the backpack, maybe we could have holstered the pistol on the other side of the backpack. Let's take a look at the articulation on Night Force Shockwave. He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures well before 1989, so he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down. He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. This was an O-ring figure, meaning the figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's take a look at the sculpted design and color of Night Force Shockwave, and I have to reiterate, Night Force Shockwave uses the same mold as version 1 of Shockwave. It is just recolored for night missions. But the original was already pretty well camouflaged for night missions. The blue, especially the dark blue parts and accessories, would have worked well for night concealment. Looking at Night Force Shockwave's head, we can see he's wearing a grey cap and a black balaclava mask. It looks great. Is it better than version 1? Maybe, but we do lose the camouflage pattern on the cap. On his chest, Shockwave is wearing a dark green tactical vest with sculpted on straps and an angled knife on the left side of his chest. I think this looks great, just like the head. The color is excellent. It provides a subtle spot of color to break up the grey, and it's perfect for night missions without going for the obvious black. There are no paint applications on either the chest or the back. That is the same as the version 1 figure. It also had no paint applications on chest or back. And that was a problem with the original figure as well. It could have used a little bit more paint. On his arms, he has long grey sleeves, excellent sculpting on the folds of the cloth, and he has black gloves. These grey sleeves are perhaps a little better for night missions than the arms on the version 1 figure, which had light blue. But we do lose something in the translation to version 2. Version 2 does not have that urban camouflage pattern. The waist piece is grey with a black belt. Not a lot of detail on that belt, but it does look like he has ammunition patches on the left hip. The legs are grey, and there are excellent details on the legs. He has two pistols, black pistols in black holsters, one on each thigh, and black straps that go around the thighs. Here's where the lack of paint applications on version 2 is a slight problem. There are straps that go from the pistol holsters up toward the belt, and they stop right at the waist piece. That's not a big problem on the left side because that ammo pouch is there, but on the right side, it just stops. On the version 1 figure, there was an additional paint application that connected that strap to the belt. On his lower legs, he has an unpainted pouch on the outside right leg, and an unpainted knife on the inside left ankle, and some pretty cool looking black boots. The first figure was a little sparse on paint, and the second version has even less. I can't praise it for painted detail. I can praise it for great colors. The grey and the black make this an unmistakable night mission uniform, and the green adds some color interest without losing the night camouflage. They could have easily gone with all black, but instead they chose a more nuanced color scheme. I would like to get some paint on the chest and back, and maybe get the ankle knife painted in. Same problems on version 1. But despite the economical use of paint, the figure still looks great. Which is better, version 1 or version 2. It's not easy to decide. Some fans may like version 1 a little better because it is iconic, and the colors work so well together. The night force version can't be far behind. They did a great job with this figure. Let's take a look at Night Force Shock Waves file card. All night force file cards were printed with this orangey yellow background. The original file card from 1988 was grey. He has the night force logo and the GI Joe logo in the faction stamp. There's a portrait of Shockwave here, with his colors updated to reflect the version 2 colors. But the portrait is reversed from the original card. His code name is Shockwave, he is the SWAT specialist. His file name is Jason A. Faria. His primary military specialty is special weapons and tactics. His primary military specialty is choir. His birthplace is Dearborn, Michigan, and his grade is E4. This is all the same as the version 1 file card, except the serial number changed between version 1 and version 2. This paragraph says Shockwave was the youngest member of the Detroit Police Department SWAT team and the holder of two citations for bravery when he signed up for and was accepted by the GI Joe team. So far still the same as the version 1 file card, except the version 1 file card says he was accepted by the Joe team and here it says he was accepted by the GI Joe team. It suggests that he went to the GI Joe team straight from civilian employment. Did he serve in the army before he was a SWAT team member? That seems unlikely if he was the youngest. When asked why he left a promising career to work longer hours for less money, kicking down doors on better armed adversaries, Shockwave replied, do you think I do this for the money? This is again the same as the version 1 file card, but on the version 2 file card they added another sentence. It goes on to say, an expert in executing successful assault tactics, Shockwave is now a member of the night force unit as the commander of their post-day light search and destroy missions. Urban assault and hostage rescue would be better uses for him any time of the day or night. Some paragraph has a quote, it says, everybody on a SWAT team has a specific job, like in a choir. Choirs have tenors, baritones, altos, etc. SWAT teams have sharpshooters, climbers, and inside men. Shockwave is the night force door kicker, he's the first inside and the first to find out how bad it really is. He is also a half decent tenor when his voice is in shape. This last paragraph is almost exactly the same as the version 1 file card, they just added that he's the night force door kicker. Looking at how Shockwave was used in GI Joe media, in the cartoon series he had no appearances in his version 1 or version 2 uniform. He appeared in the Deke era in his version 3 uniform as part of DEF. He was in two episodes, the greatest evil parts 1 and 2. Whether you like his appearances there probably depends on how you feel about DEF. In the GI Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, he first appeared in issue number 86, the 25th anniversary issue. Shockwave is on the cover. The GI Joe team meets the original GI Joe. The team fends off an attack on a secret facility in the Chrysler building. It is an urban warfare situation which is perfect for Shockwave's specialty. He appeared again in issue number 87 in a minor role when Cobra attacked Destro's castle in Scotland. He appeared in the special missions series a few times. He was in special missions number 17, a 1989 issue that was about a night mission. But Shockwave was not in his night force uniform. And it involved a team raiding a bunker. But Shockwave was not the team lead. The story would have been a perfect spotlight for Shockwave, but he didn't get the focus. He appears again in special missions number 22 and he is on the cover. He actually had a bit more to do in that issue as the Joe team tried to rescue a family from a bunch of terrorists. Shockwave was in special missions number 26. The Joes and the October Guard are on missions in Sierra Gordo. That issue saw the violent death of several members of the October Guard. The surviving October Guard and the Joes are captured. That story continued in issue number 92 of the regular series in which the captured Joes and October Guard are rescued. Shockwave is just a background character in that issue. He popped up again in issues number 124 through 128 in his version 3 uniform. That included a series of issues that focused simultaneously on DEF, eco-warriors and Ninja Force. The storytelling mechanic in those issues is very strange. The less said about them the better. For such an awesome looking character, Shockwave got little use in the animated series and the comic book. Looking at night force shockwave overall, is this a top tier figure? Oh yes, yes it is. They started out with a great figure. Even if they had made poor color choices, at least they started out with good material. But they didn't make poor color choices. The colors on night force shockwave are excellent. The gray, the black, the green, they all work together and they fit perfectly for the new night fighting role. So which do I like better, the night force version of Shockwave or the original? I don't know if I can choose between them. In the translation to the second version, we do lose some paint applications, we lose the camouflage and version 1 already had a pretty good uniform for night fighting. But I love those night force colors, I don't know if I can choose. The accessories are excellent. They look good in blue and they look equally good in black. They are appropriate for Shockwave's job and despite the fact that he comes with a lot of accessories, he can hold all of them at the same time. The only thing I would maybe add is a holster for the pistol. The only downside of this figure is because it was an exclusive figure and because everything night force is in high demand with collectors, it tends to drive up the prices. That was my review of night force shockwaves, thank you and happy birthday again to Brandon Knight. Any relation to Michael Knight and is it a coincidence that he wanted a night force review? I want to remind everybody that Joe Fest is coming up June 21st and 22nd in Augusta, Georgia. I will be there, we will be announcing things there so I hope to see you there and that's coming up pretty soon. Oh I am not ready. If you like these videos and you like GI Joe, please consider subscribing to the YouTube channel and hitting the notification bell so you get notified as new videos go up. Please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and share it with your friends. You can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter and I have a website, HCC788.com. I'd like to thank my patrons who helped make these videos possible. If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way, please check out my Patreon. You can get lots of things, you can find out how to decode secret messages, you can get a sketch from me, so just check it out. And now, as I disappear into the night, remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.