Soundwave (G1)

Soundwave is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity.



Soundwave is one of Megatron's most reliable troops, and has positioned himself comfortably and irreplaceably amongst Megatron's upper command structure. He stands at the Decepticon leader's side, his confidant. Soundwave guards his place in the hierarchy fiercely. Though loyal to Megatron, the other Decepticons see him as a two-faced snake. As Communications Officer, Soundwave sees and hears all, and will not hesitate to use blackmail to keep himself held high in Megatron's esteem. Bluntly, the other Decepticons hate him, and wouldn't mind abandoning him on the battlefield -- if they thought Megatron would let them get away with it.

Soundwave commands a legion of cassette troops to carry out tasks big and small.

Generation One Animated Continuity
Voice Actor: Frank Welker (US), Issei Masamune (Japan)

Animated Series
The G1 animated series was easily Soundwave's biggest role in Transformers fiction - as Megatron's right-hand man, he was frequently sent on important reconnaissance missions with his cassettes, often playing a key role in many schemes against the Autobots. Immediately after the Transformers awakened on Earth in 1984, Soundwave played an essential role in the generation of Energon Cubes and the formation of plans for a new space cruiser to return the Decepticons to Cybertron. Later, he used his mind-reading talents to acquire an antimatter formula for the Decepticons from the brain of Chip Chase. One of Soundwave's most notable misadventures came in in 1985, when, operating a plan conceived by Starscream, he brainwashed humans with ultrasonic vibrations, leading to a confrontation with his Autobot Communications Officer counterpart, Blaster, leading to a lasting rivalry between the two.

Although Soundwave rarely displayed much emotion, only infrequently exhibiting any traits that could be considers to be in line with his tech spec, which painted him as a cunning, self-serving blackmailer. He always came across as extremely loyal to Megatron, even going so far as to recover his body after being left for dead at the Battle of Autobot City in 2005. But while Soundwave was loyal, he was far from stupid, and kept his mouth shut when Megatron's body was subsequently ejected into space, and although he did suggest himself as a replacement leader, he again loyally served him when he was recreated as Galvatron.

In the year 2006, although operating in a less prominent capacity for most of the time, Soundwave played a prominent role in Galvatron's attempt to learn the secret of a sonic weapon on the planet Eurythma, where sound and music were the way of life, leaving Soundwave entranced by the planet's perfect melodies. Recording each piece of the harmony that formed the devastating sonic effect, Soundwave was defeated when the Eurythmans countered the harmony with white noise, and was again pulled into a confrontation with Blaster, who erased his recordings.

Soundblaster
Although Soundwave did not appear in the American cartoon series finale, the three-part The Rebirth, he returned to the forefront in the new Japanese-exclusive series, Transformers: Headmasters, which was created to take The Rebirth's place in the East. Reborn as Soundblaster, Soundwave's new toy incarnation (with a remoulded chest now capable of holding two cassettes) was, like the series, available only in Japan.

In the opening cut and thrust of Headmasters, Soundwave and Blaster engaged in their final clash in the Arctic circle as the Autobots and Decepticons were in the process of searching for the missing Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The two opponents inflicted fatal damage to each other, and Soundwave's body exploded even as Blaster collapsed, but his fragments were recovered by his cassettes. Using reconstructive technology from the planet Master, the leader of the Decepticon Headmasters, Zarak successfully rebuilt and resurrected Soundwave as Soundblaster - essentially identical to his former self, except for his predominantly black color scheme. As Soundblaster, Soundwave served the same role as he had ever done under the leadership of Galvatron and later Scorponok, frequently embarking on spying missions with Ratbat.

Marvel Comics Continuity
In the Marvel Comics, Soundwave is slightly truer to his tech specs, and somewhat less loyal to Megatron, at one point working for both Shockwave and Megatron simultaneously when the two were at loggerheads over the leadership, and later becoming joint Decepticon leader with Starscream in the Earthforce strips.

Ladybird See-And-Read Storybooks Continuity
Voice actor:

In "When Continents Collide," Megatron calls Soundwave "you blundering tape-filled idiot." This is notable because it is hilarious. Also, Soundwave is really, really whiny in these stories.