| “ | As you command, Megatron. | „ |
| ~ Soundwave, Desertion of the Dinobots |
Soundwave was the Decepticons Communication officer, and a major antagonist of the Generation One Transformers cartoon and is an antagonist of the Transformers The Headmasters and of the Transformers Super God-Masterforce.
History[]
Season 1[]
Soundwave was one of the first Decepticons and Megatron's most loyal soldier. Denoted by his echoing monotone, Soundwave regularly gathered vital intelligence for Megatron's numerous schemes with the aid of his faithful team of cassettes, but despite his role as spy and communications officer, he never shied away the battlefield.
On a mission to the Peruvian Andes, in Fire on the Mountain, Soundwave successfully proved that the legend of the Incan Crystal of Power was true when he deduced that the pyramid containing the fabled gemstone rested on a shaft leading to the Earth's core. On a mission to gather steel for a weapon frame to channel the crystal's power, Soundwave and Reflector were ambushed by Brawn and Windcharger in mid-air, and Soundwave found himself driven face-first into a mountain by the small Autobot in the first of several clashes that they would engage in over the years. Soundwave tried to fight back with his own rifle, and even tried blasting Brawn with Megatron in pistol mode, but the little Autobot took everything he had to give and escaped in one piece.
In The Ultimate Doom Megatron planned to use the space bridge to transport Cybertron into Earth's orbit, and required human slaves to gather the energy that would result from the inevitable massive natural catastrophes. Soundwave and his cassettes were dispatched to capture Sparkplug Witwicky, who served as a guinea pig for the mind-controlling hypno-chips created by the Decepticons' new ally, Doctor Arkeville. The plan to transport Cybertron was subsequently accomplished despite Autobot interference, and Soundwave ensured that energy collection could begin quickly by forcing the Autobots to flee with a barrage of painful audio disruptor waves. Soundwave later transported a energon cubes to Cybertron, and was still there when a group of Autobots arrived, searching for the hypno-chip master control. In another encounter with Brawn, Soundwave was taken down by a single blast from his rival, and then alerted the Decepticon forces on the planet to the Autobots' escape. However the Autobots were able to evade capture, find the hypno-chip control, free the slaves and blast Cybertron out of orbit.
Season 2[]
When Megatron sought to conquer New York City in City of Steel, Soundwave, Rumble and Frenzy battled a group of Autobots in Central Park, and Soundwave was later put in charge of the weapons systems of the "New Cybertron" that New York was being turned into. That control was soon lost, when a stray blast from an irate Megatron destroyed Soundwave's console.
In The Autobot Run, Soundwave was appointed to guard the captive Autobots after Megatron succeeded in trapping them in vehicle mode with the Transfixatron. The communications officer put his skills to work disabling the Autobots' communicators, but neglected to disable Hound's hologram projector, which the Autobot was able to use to summon the small number of his comrades who had not been affected by the Transfixatron. Wheeljack and Ratchet developed a grenade to undo the device's effects, and together, Spike and Chip Chase outran Soundwave and Ravage to detonate it and restore the Autobots.
In Enter the Nightbird, Soundwave helped steal the human-made robot ninja Nightbird (getting one over on Brawn in the process by collapsing a balcony out from under him), and aided Bombshell in reprogramming the femme-bot to serve the Decepticons. While spying on Autobot Headquarters in Dinobot Island, Soundwave learned of the existence of the mysterious prehistoric Dinobot Island, and sent Laserbeak to follow the Dinobots as they travelled there. Soundwave proceeded to join the Decepticons in raiding the island's energy sources, before the Autobots, Dinobots and the island's native dinosaurs saw them off.
In Microbots, when human archaeologists uncovered the wreckage of the Decepticons' old space cruiser in South America, Soundwave alerted Megatron to the news report about their findings, then accompanied him to the wreckage, where they removed the ship's power source, the Heart of Cybertron. Celebrating the new power that the Heart bestowed upon Megatron, Soundwave joined his fellow Decepticons in over-energizing on energon, leaving him too drunk to do anything.
In Megatron's Master Plan, Megatron framed the Autobots for energy theft and had them exiled from Earth, and Soundwave took part in the Decepticons' pretense of being heroes. Soundwave was quite popular among the humans: a young child was heard cheering for him by name, and when he and his cassettes attended a disco, he acquired many female admirers. After Megatron revealed his deception, however, Soundwave was made the slave-master of the work camp that Central City was turned into. The Autobots soon returned to Earth to clear their names and rout the Decepticons.
In Desertion of the Dinobots, Soundwave was able to position himself, in tape player mode, inside Ironhide's vehicle mode, right next to Blaster, and spy on the test run of the Ultra Plane, with neither Autobot noticing until he deployed Ravage. While Blaster wrestled with Ravage, Soundwave escaped to report to Megatron, after which he and Starscream joined their leader in attacking the lab containing the blueprints for the plane. The Autobots saw them off, but during their flight away, the Decepticons' systems began to malfunction as a result of cybertonium degradation. Soundwave's cassettes began ejecting without his command, and his flight gave out.
In Child's Play, Soundwave joined in the Decepticon attempt to create a space bridge in a baseball stadium, where he delighted in playing catch with one of the players. The Autobots soon arrived, and another brawl between Soundwave and Brawn erupted, ending when the Autobot threw Soundwave into the space bridge. When a stray blast then activated the bridge, Soundwave and a small group of Autobots and Decepticons were inadvertently hurled to a world of alien giants. After being menaced by the cat Nitro and trapped in a toybox by Nitro's owner Aron, Soundwave was taken with the other Transformers to the planet's authorities for study and dissection. Ravage succeeded in freeing them, and the Decepticons all escaped back to Earth through a mock space bridge Perceptor created.
In Auto-Bop, under the command of Starscream, Soundwave set about brainwashing humans with ultrasonic vibrations inside the Decepticon-built nightclub Dancitron in New York City. This led to his first major confrontation with his Autobot counterpart, Blaster, with whom he engaged in a sonic duel. Soundwave had the upper hand, until Blaster used the club's sound system to magnify his own sonic attacks and win the fight.
In B.O.T., Soundwave invented a device to control the flow of Earth's tides. Before the Decepticons could use it, however, it was necessary to blast the moon out of orbit to remove its controlling influence, so they developed an orbit disruptor cannon to do the job. Unfortunately, the cannon would only be operated by Bruticus, and all the Combaticons save Swindle had been destroyed, so Soundwave installed a bomb in Swindle's head to give him the incentive to gather up their parts and rebuild them. Bruticus was restored, and Soundwave participated in the Decepticon attack upon Autobot Headquarters that served as a test run for the disruptor cannon, but the complex plot was foiled when three college students used makeshift robot to destroy the cannon.
The Movie[]
By the year 2005, the Decepticons had conquered Cybertron. Thanks to Laserbeak and Soundwave, Megatron learned of an upcoming Autobot strike against Cybertron, and resolved to cripple their war effort by destroying Autobot City. During the subsequent battle, Soundwave was instructed to jam a distress call to Optimus Prime from Blaster, so he sent Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy and Ratbat to dismantle the communications array being used to broadcast it. Blaster's own team of cassettes fended Soundwave's off, and the call made it through, summoning Optimus Prime and a support team.
After a final battle between Prime and Megatron ended with Megatron being mortally wounded, Soundwave demonstrated his loyalty to his leader by recovering his damaged body and carrying him aboard Astrotrain, but when it became necessary to jettison excess weight so that the Decepticons could safely make it back to Cybertron, Soundwave made no move to stop Starscream from setting Megatron adrift in space. In fact, with Megatron gone, Soundwave himself made a bid for leadership, declaring himself a superior choice to the Constructicons and deploying his cassettes to fight for his honor. Starscream ultimately emerged victorious in the fight for leadership, but during his coronation ceremony, Megatron returned, having been recreated by Unicron into Galvatron. Galvatron promptly killed Starscream, and Soundwave started cheering for his returned leader. However the Decepticons were betrayed by Unicron, and Galavatron was lost, with the leaderless Decepticons being forced off Cybertron.
Season 3[]
Low on energy, in Five Faces of Darkness, Soundwave and the other Decepticons were forced to relocate to the burned-out planet Chaar. When Rodimus Prime and Grimlock came to Chaar to investigate a mysterious attack on the Galactic Olympics, Soundwave and the Decepticons attacked them, and were then later approached by the true instigators of the Olympics attack, the Quintessons, with the prospect of an alliance. Under the Quintessons' instructions, Soundwave and the other Decepticons launched an attack on the Autobots on the planet Goo 8739B, during which Galvatron returned, having been found by Cyclonus and Scourge. With Galvatron back in charge, Soundwave was amongst the Decepticons who were sent to Earth to try and stop Metroplex's transforming cog from being delivered.
In Webworld, Soundwave went with Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps to search for isidrite in an asteroid belt. Soundwave dispatched Ratbat to search for the mineral, only for the cassette to discover that the Autobots were already mining it. In Carnage in C-Minor, Soundwave accompanied Galvatron to the planet Eurythma to investigate a mysterious sonic weapon. They discovered that sound and music were the way of life on the planet, and Soundwave was entranced by the planet's perfect melodies, specifically the destructive harmony weapon. One by one, Soundwave coerced from the Eurythmans each piece of the harmony, recording and combing them with the intention of turning the musical maelstrom upon Autobot City. He was defeated, however, when they countered the harmony with anti-sound, and Blaster erased his recordings.
During Call of the Primitives, during a battle on Earth's moon, Soundwave was shocked when his ejection system activated on its own, releasing Ravage, Ratbat, Slugfest and Overkill, who departed with all "Primitive" Transformers present to follow a mysterious voice. Mere moments later, the threat these Primitives had been summoned to fight, Tornedron, arrived on the moon and drained the energy from all the Transformers present, Soundwave included. The Primitives succeeded in defeating Tornedron and restoring everyone's energy. In The Return of Optimus Prime, Soundwave was seen playing back the latest piece of information gathered by Ratbat: two human scientists had discovered the body of Optimus Prime, which Galvatron resolved to destroy once and for all.
The Headmasters[]
In one timeline that branches off from season 3 (and the events of Season 3 occurred 5 years after The Movie), Soundwave ultimately met his end at the hands of Blaster, but was reborn as Soundblaster through the super-science of the planet Master.
Trivia[]
Soundwave was a major antagonist of Marvel's the Transformers comics.
History[]
Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.
Backstory[]
As seen in The Transformers, millions of years ago, Soundwave was one of the first members of the Decepticons; after sowing discontent among the masses, he, Megatron and Ravage began the war. In And There Shall Come...a Leader, Soundwave was at Megatron's side during his assault on Iacon and updated his leader with information throughout the course of the battle.
Marvel's the Transformers[]
Early battles on Earth[]
In The Transformers, Soundwave and the Decepticons attempted to hijack the Ark four million years ago, only to fall into deactivation for four million years. In 1984, the detonation of the volcano, Mount St. Hilary, reactivated the Autobots and Decepticons, unleashing their war on Earth.
In Power Play, Soundwave raided Harrison Nuclear Power Plant, and after helping the Decepticons make off some of its machinery, he helped use their bounty to build a new headquarters. Requiring help to find a way to process Earth fuels to be useable, the Decepticons abducted the Autobots' new human ally Sparkplug Witwicky. In Decepticon Dam-Busters, while Sparkplug was working on a conversion method, Soundwave devised his own means of developing a form of fuel out of electric power. The Decepticons staged an attack on Sherman Dam to put Soundwave's formula to use, and he oversaw the production of the fuel while others prevented the Autobots from interfering. In Prisoner of War, the Decepticons' headquarters were infiltrated by the Autobot Gears and the superhero Spider-Man, to rescue Sparkplug. Soundwave engaged the intruders, but was punched by Gears while distracted by Spider-Man.
In The Enemy Within, when Starscream nearly killed Ravage, Soundwave was among the Decepticons who wanted revenge for his treason. In Raiders of the Last Ark, the Decepticons unleashed a surprise attack on the Ark. After Soundwave defeated Jazz, the battle was halted when the Ark's computer system turned rogue. After the crisis was averted, Soundwave and the others were able to retreat. In The Last Stand, although Sparkplug's fuel conversion process was completed, as one of the more seriously-injured Decepticons, Soundwave was unable to join the others in launching a fresh attack on the Ark. In The New Order, after Shockwave had defeated the Autobots, Soundwave fell in line with him as he took command of the Decepticons.
Working for Shockwave []
At Shockwave's command, in The Wrath of Grimlock, he returned to Ark to install a thermo-nuclear bomb in the Guardian droid that guarded the ship, programming it to detonate should any surviving Autobots or traitorous Decepticons turn on Shockwave. In Warrior School, Soundwave infiltrated Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One by having a worker bring him inside in his tape deck mode. Once he had breached the facility's defense systems, Soundwave attacked and secured the plant for Decepticon use. In The Next Best Thing to Being There, the plant's resources were used to create the Constructicons, who built a radio dish that Soundwave used to beam a message back to Cybertron. However, the radio dish was destroyed when Soundwave was defeated by Huffer and the trucker Bomber Bill.
In Prime Time, Shockwave had Soundwave search the facilities for any proof that the Autobots were spying on them., Soundwave discovered that the plant's phones had been tapped, and through them the Autobots had been eavesdropping on the Decepticons' plans. Shockwave then had Soundwave build a false head for Optimus Prime, which would control the Autobot leader's body for the Decepticons. Soundwave and the other Decepticon troops then joined with the duplicate Optimus in destroying the Autobots. Their rampage came to a halt when Buster had Jetfire swap out the real head with the duplicate. Optimus Prime turned on and defeated the Decepticons.
Temporary Leadership[]
With both Megatron and Shockwave left missing in action, in Crisis of Command Soundwave became Decepticon leader, dismissing Starscream's ambitions of leadership. For his first plan, he had his cassettes lead Bumblebee into a trap, taking him prisoner, but his attempt to use Bumblebee as bait to lure Optimus Prime failed, as Prime took them on, defeated them all, and rescued 'Bee. Discovering that the Dinobots were rampaging across North America in Dinobot Hunt, Soundwave, Skywarp, and Scavenger managed to subdue and capture both Sludge, and the Autobot unit sent to bring the Dinobot in. Soundwave then used a sonic lance to agitate Sludge to fight Grimlock near Doonstown, endangering the local humans. Though the sonic lance was destroyed and the hostages rescued, many Autobots were left badly injured, and the Decepticons walked away with fuel stolen from a nearby power plant while the Autobots were distracted. On the way out, Soundwave declared their victory.
Forging an alliance[]
Soundwave subsequently went into hiding, in I, Robot-Master, hiding in a human electronics shop in alternate mode. While there, he observed a news broadcast about Megatron, who had resurfaced but wound up rendered immobile in Wyoming coal mine due to lack of fuel. Soundwave headed to find and re-energise him. In Second Generation,they agreed that Megatron should lie low in the coal mine for a time , while Soundwave sought out Shockwave in hopes of organising a peaceful alliance between the two rivals.
Awaiting the right time to reveal that Megatron had returned, in Devastation Derby, Soundwave served under Shockwave, and trained the Constructicons so that Devastator would be more useful. Shockwave ordered the Constructicons to seek out a human, which Soundwave felt was a waste of resources. Shockwave clarified he planned to abduct Buster Witwicky, and use the Autobots' friend as leverage. Soundwave and the Constructicons tracked Buster down to a demolition derby. Though several Autobots were present, Devastator distracted them while Soundwave captured Buster. He had become comatose upon seeing Devastator, and the curious Soundwave read his mind. He was shocked to find Buster's mind contained a Matrix-induced vision of the future. With this revelation, Soundwave retreated, explaining to Shockwave what he saw.
Soundwave and Shockwave deduced the vision, in Second Generation, showed the combiners as a next step in Transformer evolution. Soundwave reported his findings to Megatron as well, prompting him to battle Shockwave for leadership. The Decepticons' human ally, Robot-Master, televised the battle, to Soundwave's annoyance, who subsequently intervened in the duel and insisted that they agree to a joint leadership.
to be added
Original future (UK)[]
Originally, the UK comics depicted the events of the Movie as the definitive future of the comics storyline, however the events of Time Wars would rewrite the timeline.
The Movie[]
In this original future, the Decepticons managed to conquer Cybertron. In The Planet Eater, after Laserbeak returned from spying on the Autobots, Megatron ordered Soundwave to play back the cassette's findings. The information encoded on his minion revealed that the Autobots were planning to make an Energon run to Earth, allowing the Decepticons to ambush the Autobots' shuttle during it's flight and slay all aboard.
After the attack on Autobot City failed, in Judgement Day, Megatron was deposed as Decepticon leader, and Starscream took over the position. Soundwave attended Starscream's coronation ceremony, only for the processions to be interrupted by Megatron, revived as Galvatron. Galvatron disintegrated Starscream, and Soundwave cheered as Galvatron retook his role as Decepticon leader.
The Legacy of Unicron[]
to be added
Leader of the Decepticons[]
to be added
Earthforce[]
Earthforce occurs in a slightly different version of the Marvel UK comics.
Generation 2[]
After Megatron reassumed control of the Decepticons in Tales of Earth 3, Soundwave served Megatron as a close adviser. Soundwave asked him why Starscream was being revived, and Megatron assured him the on-off traitor would be dealt with once Megatron had regrown his army. When Optimus Prime finally intervened in the Decepticons' attack in The Gathering Darkness, Megatron and Soundwave both descended to Earth's surface. Megatron beat Optimus near-death, and Soundwave then produced an energy-siphon to gain the Creation Matrix's energies. With this task done, Megatron then readied to kill his nemesis, only to be interrupted by Autobot reinforcements led by Grimlock. Finding his signal jammed, Soundwave was unable to call for reinforcements to match the Autobots' numbers. Megatron sounded a retreat.
Megatron afterwards drew his Decepticons to the moon of Tykos to violently acquire Rheanimum from the natives in New Dawn. However, things soured when Soundwave received a distress call from Skullgrin. In moments, Jhiaxus's Cybertronian Empire was upon them. After several casualties, and Megatron missing in action, Soundwave led a party to discover if Megatron had survived and recover him if he had. He appeared to assume command when Megatron appeared dead, but ceased when Megatron turned out to still function. Soundwave was present when Megatron allied with the Autobots against the Cybertronian Empire in Tales of Earth 3. After a united battle against the Empire on Ethos in Escalation, Soundwave was also forced to reveal Starscream was missing. He was in command of the Warworld while Megatron was on Earth in Total War. When the Empire boarded the ship (thanks to Starscream's treachery) he and his bridge crew fled down to the planet in escape pods. He was later seen standing by in the final battle against the Swarm in A Rage in Heaven.
Regeneration One[]
Regeneration One continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.
Trivia[]
- While Soundwave is depicted in blue in the UK stories and Regeneration One, Soundwave was depicted in a purple colour scheme. On occasions, he would be seen with a mouth.
Gallery[]
