Spotlight: Soundwave

Several stellar spans ago, Megatron assigned Bludgeon to delve into Shockwave's research and relay all the information back to him. As the Decepticon leader did not fully trust Bludgeon, he also assigned Soundwave to spy on him. Soundwave watched and observed, relaying information back to Megatron as he did so. He noted that one of Shockwave's projects, known as "Regenesis," was of particular interest to Bludgeon. As Bludgeon never mentioned it in his reports to Megatron, Soundwave never did either. He continued watching as something was recovered from Cybertron's depths, sealed up, and guarded around the clock. He continued watching as, long after Cybertron was quarantined, Bludgeon, Iguanus, and Bomb-Burst left for Earth in 1984. Soundwave, of course, followed. Taking on his cassette deck alt-mode, he allowed himself to fall into the possession of a construction worker in order to spy on the two foremen, who had been replaced by facsimiles by Bludgeon. He recorded their conversation, and learned that they had discovered ultra-energon below the construction site.

When they left to report to Bludgeon, Soundwave sent Ravage and Laserbeak to track them. Listening in via Laserbeak, Soundwave overheard Bludgeon's plan: the foremen would plant explosive charges to destroy the construction site, and then Bludgeon's team would remove the ultra-energon ore they needed for Regenesis. That night, Laserbeak "liberated" Soundwave from his "owner" and flew him to Bludgeon's base within Mt. St. Helens. He allowed events at the construction site to run their course - the site was destroyed, the energon was claimed, and the Decepticons returned to their base. While they were still disoriented from the orbital bounce, Soundwave announced his presence and informed Bludgeon that he wanted a cut of the profits. Bludgeon sneered at him and told him that they were not motivated by avarice or ambition; rather they had seen the truth, and their goal was the resurrection of Thunderwing himself!

Soundwave, remembering Thunderwing's previous devastation of Cybertron, decided that the only recourse was to destroy them. He loosed Ravage and Laserbeak, who took out Iguanus and Bomb-Burst but were easily dispatched by Bludgeon. Soundwave hesitates for a moment, then remembers the apocalypse that was perpetrated by Thunderwing. Unfortunately, that one moment was all it took. Iguanus recovered and blasted Soundwave with a laser cannon from Shockwave's experiments, forcing Soundwave back into his alternate mode. Bludgeon remarked how much of an inconvenience that must be for Soundwave, before dropping an explosive charge into the lava below and transporting his team away as the volcano erupted. A year later, Laserbeak, Soundwave, and Ravage were extracted from Mt. St. Helens by an unknown team of humans. Not realizing the true nature of the cassette deck, however, Soundwave ultimately found his way to a pawn shop, where he sits in the window to this day.