Editing Shockwave (G1)/2005 IDW continuity

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[[File:Transformersrid 17 cover clean.jpg|right|250px|thumb|IDW is mostly his fault.]]

Once a right-hearted member of a corrupt [[Senate]], '''Shockwave''' is now an emotionless schemer of the [[Decepticon]] army.

==IDW Generation 1 continuity==
===Student, Senator, Shadowplay===
[[File:RID17 senator shockwave.jpg|left|thumb|275px|There's something different about Shockers here...]]
Six million years ago, long before the war, Shockwave was the greatest student of [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Doubledealer}} With the Cybertronian population growing exponentially under [[Nova Prime]]'s program of expansion, the forward-looking Shockwave grew fearful of an [[energon]] shortage that he saw as inevitable, and, inspired by Jhiaxus's talk of a prophecy known as "Dark Cybertron", began experiments to develop a a self-regenerating energy source. Distilling an ore from energon, Shockwave sought to test his creation by seeding it beneath [[Crystal City]], but unfortunately, the city was ravaged in a battle between [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] and Jhiaxus's newest terrible creation, the combiner [[Monstructor (G1)|Monstructor]]. The city's ruins were subsequently sealed beneath the planet's surface, leaving Shockwave to believe his test was unlikely to complete itself. Morever, Monstructor's defeat was the first time he saw his teacher and his works as fallible, and as Jhiaxus left Cybertron on the [[Ark (G1)|Ark-1]], Shockwave took up his role, striving to study and better his master's works. {{storylink|Shockwaves}}

Becoming a [[senate|senator]] in the new regime that formed on Cybertron, Shockwave marked his first day in the senate by announcing the founding of the [[Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology]], in memory of his departed teacher's good works. He immediately clashed with senator [[Proteus]], whose short-sightedness and [[functionism]] sat ill with Shockwave, but found a friend in senator [[Dai Atlas (Zone)|Dai Atlas]], who was initially wary of his continued study of Jhiaxus's sciences, but with whom he shared a dislike of Proteus. {{storylink|Shockwaves}} Shockwave quickly developed a reputation as an extremely expressive individual (known for changing his colour scheme regularly) that even saw him suspended from duty on occasion for "emotional outbursts unbecoming a senator". His master's teachings drove Shockwave in his work, as he focused on myriad ways of advancing the Transformer race: in addition to repeatedly voting to bring back Nova Prime's spark-splicing programs, he secretly used the Academy as a safe haven for [[outlier]]s, Transformers with abnormal abilities and functions who were hated and feared by functionists because their abilities had nothing to do with their alt modes. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}}  He taught his closest charges of the Dark Cybertron prophecy, {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}} sank billions into various offworld projects, and came into contact with the enigmatic [[Omega Guardian]]s. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}} 

[[File:ChaosTheoryPart2 Orion and the Senator.jpg|thumb|right|300px|...something I just can't quite...]]

Recognizing that Proteus and current planet leader [[Nominus Prime]] were resistant to change, Shockwave began befriending certain promising young Cybertronians and modifying them so that they could carry the [[Matrix of Leadership]], with the hope that one of them could take leadership of their race and steer Cybertron off the dark path the Senate had placed it upon. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}} When police captain [[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Orion Pax]] stormed into a Senate meeting with accusations of corruption amongst its ranks, Shockwave saw this potential in him. The damaged Pax was apprehended after his tirade, but Shockwave arranged for his release and repair, adding a Matrix chamber to his chest. After his release, Pax met his secret benefactor in front of the Ark-1 memorial, where Shockwave warned him that factions within the senate had arranged for a recent attack on Nominus Prime in an attempt to gain control of the Matrix's power. {{storylink|Chaos Theory Part 2}}

[[File:Unnamed senator in Patternism.jpg|thumb|left|275px|...seem to put my finger on...]]

In time, word of Nominus's death was released to the public; although the Prime's passing was attributed to a rust infection, when Shockwave met with Orion and his friend [[Ratchet (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Ratchet]], he was able to confirm that the Senate had their head of security [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel]] kill Nominus when the Matrix within him proved to be a fake. {{storylink|Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc|Post Hoc}} Soon after, Pax received a tip-off from revenge-seeking former Senate agent [[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] of a plot that was soon to claim Shockwave's life, so Pax had Ratchet and [[Roller (IDW)|Roller]] visit the Academy of Advanced Technology and take him into protective custody. Along with Pax's other allies, Shockwave was able to provide enough evidence to help Orion figure out that the Senate had turned the fake Matrix in Nominus's body into a bomb that they would detonate as his body lay in state, which they could blame on the trouble-making [[Decepticon]] movement, an underground organization advocating the dissolution of the functionist regime. {{storylink|Shadowplay, Part 2: Patternism|Patternism}} Shockwave gathered three of his outlier students, [[Skids (G1)|Skids]], [[Glitch (IDW)|Glitch]], and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]], to help with the theft of the Matrix-bomb, but he himself was kept under guard in case things went wrong. Shockwave laughed that off, thinking he was too high profile for Sentinel to assassinate, but in the midst of the heist, he found out how wrong he was when Senate thugs burned down the Academy and broke into the safehouse intending to capture him: Sentinel had found out about the army of outliers and was ''very'' unhappy. While Orion Pax was willing to fight to save Shockwave, the senator willingly went with his captors rather than allow Roller to be killed in his name.

[[File:Shadowplay3-SenatorWho.jpg||right|thumb|225px|IDW sure loves their splash panels of Shockwave being assembled.  And we sure love uploading them!]]

The captive Shockwave was taken to the [[Institute]] and subjected to "[[Shadowplay]]", the emotion centers of his brain cut out by [[mnemosurgery]] to change his entire personality, turning him from a fiery crusader into an emotionless husk. To add insult to injury, Proteus and Sentinel had [[empurata]] performed on him, taking away his face and hands, replacing them with a featureless mask and claws solely out of spite. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}}

===Joining the Decepticons===
[[File:RID17 useful effect.jpg|left|thumb|225px|[[wikipedia:Edward Scissorhands|I'm not finished]]]]
Proteus could not have predicted the monster his actions would unleash. Where he had considered the mutilation of Shockwave a punishment, Shockwave, freed of the bonds of morality by the removal of his emotions, felt ''liberated'' by the experience, now able to take the most logical path to saving Cybertron. Shortly after lying about his previous energon-shortage concerns during a hearing so he could continue to work toward a solution alone, Shockwave was approached by [[Starscream (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Starscream]], who brought him before [[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]], leader and founder of the Decepticons, who had recently turned to increasingly excessive terrorist tactics. Realizing that Shockwave had a goal of his own, but with no interest in what it actually ''was'', Megatron offered him a laboratory and the resources to continue his work that the senate could not provide, in return for Shockwave using Jhiaxus's technology to create a combiner for the Decepticons. Shockwave accepted, though he cautioned that the creation of the combiner could take a very long time. {{storylink|Shockwaves}} He did not know it at the time, but his mere presence had made him an object of distrust to Megatron's loyal lieuteant, [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], because he could not read his Shadowplayed mind. {{storylink|Shockpoint}}

Severing his ties with Orion Pax, Shockwave used the resources Megatron had provided to secretly continue his alternate energy experiments, more sure than ever that the political strife raging across Cybertron would ultimately give way to a war not over ideals, but resources. He distilled a variety of different synthetic energons and tested them on an assortment of innocent Cybertronians, few of whom—if ''any''—survived the myriad unusual effects the new fuels had. Seeking to speed Shockwave's science, Megatron offered him a pair of hands to replace his empurata-granted claws, but upon hearing of Megatron's plan to kill the Senate the following day and truly began a war on Cybertron, Shockwave chose to take only one hand, replacing the other with a gun he saw as being more useful for the coming conflict. In one last lingering moment of sentimentality, however, he visited Dai Atlas's quarters the night before the planned assassination and shot him, wounding him enough that he was unable to attend the Senate meeting, thus sparing him the other Senators' fates. {{storylink|Shockwaves}} Shockwave joined the Decepticons in their attack on [[Kaon]] the next day, and met with [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] to arrange the construction of a new body for captured senator [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]]. {{storylink|Soundwaves (issue)|Soundwaves}}
[[File:Autocracy8 shockwave destroys destructor.jpg|right|thumb|300px|"Shockwave, that wasn't the enemy...that was the bunny sanctuary" <br> "I'm still counting that as a win"]]
The deaths of the Senate and Sentinel Prime allowed [[Zeta Prime (G1)|Zeta]], another of Shockwave's candidates, to ascend to the rank of Prime. By the time of Zeta's reign, Shockwave's sinister experiments had earned the scientist a reputation as "obsessed with combiners". {{storylink|Omega's Conundrum}} But Zeta's extremism forged strange bedfellows; when Orion turned on Zeta, he was badly injured by the Prime and had to be rescued by Megatron and the Decepticons. Shockwave repaired his old friend's wounds, and witnessed Orion's unit form an alliance with the Decepticons. {{storylink|Choices}} When the two sides launched an attack on Zeta, Shockwave gained the satisfaction of destroying the last [[Guardian robot|Omega Destructor]], then witnessed Megatron's betrayal of Orion's unit. {{storylink|Overthrown}} Megatron's short-lived rule of Cybertron came to an end when the Autobots attacked the [[Citadel]] and defeated him, forcing Shockwave to call for a retreat. {{storylink|Endgame}}
[[File:Monstrosity9 shockwave vs grimlock.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Shockwave is foiled by the illogic of space dinosaurs.]]
Not long thereafter, Shockwave was present at [[Kolkular]] when [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] announced that he had banished Megatron for his failure to hold Cybertron. {{storylink|Wreckage (issue)|Wreckage}} When the [[Exodus (G1)|exodus]] began, Scorponok had the Decepticons assault [[Starsreach Spaceport]], an attack that Shockwave saw as an inefficient use of resources. {{storylink|Massacre}} His forces met with resistance from a raging [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] who tore them to pieces and shrugged off Shockwave's firepower, forcing him to call for another retreat while picking shrapnel out of his arm. They rejoined Scorponok at the [[Toraxxis Plains]], where to their shock and horror they found him in the process of reawakening [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]]. {{storylink|Unleashed}} With Scorponok having accomplished nothing but bringing Cybertron further into ruin, the Decepticons rejected him as soon as Megatron returned from his exile. Once their true leader had dealt with the usurper, Shockwave repaired the injuries he had sustained during his absence. {{storylink|The Illusion of Control}} He was subsequently present as Megatron turned a defeated Trypticon into a Decepticon. {{storylink|Belly of the Beast}}

As the war progressed, Shockwave helped create the super-Decepticons known as the "[[Warriors Elite]]", programming them with killswitches and viruses that would prevent them from turning on Megatron. {{storylink|Remembrance Day}} He was also known to have commanded a [[Worldsweeper]] at some point during the conflict. {{storylink|Rules of Disengagement}} Shockwave also made the mistake of earning the enmity of the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dynobots]] after they stole a cache of energon from him; reaching the logical conclusion that if he could not have the energon, neither could they, Shockwave tracked them back to Autobot territory and destroyed the energon supply. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}}
{{-}}

===Regenesis===

Six hundred thousand [[Units of time|meta-cycles]] ago, Shockwave's experiments with alternative energy sources reached a turning point with the program he called "[[Regenesis]]". He covertly launched thirteen rockets from Cybertron to thirteen other worlds with specific geological properties, each carrying with them a different kind of ore distilled from energon that would be seeded across the target planets. It was Shockwave's hope that the chain reactions which would ensure would potentially yield thirteen different kinds of energy sources that could abate the energy crisis that was now looming ever larger. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}} 
[[File:Shockwave Regenesis.jpg‎|right|225px|thumb|"A little paint, some new carpeting. A good fixer upper.]]
Around 100,000 years after launching the rockets, Shockwave left Cybertron to examine the fruits of his labor, his whereabouts left unknown to those he had left behind on his homeworld. The results were far from what had been expected: the mutated ores had taken on a variety of esoteric qualities that went so far as to affect the fabric of space and time around them. For next the next half-million yaers, Shockwave travelled from world to world, observing the various powers of the ores; on the gas giant [[Arduria]], he found that the [[Ore-6]] sent there had developed the power to halt molecular motion, blanketing the planet it eternal cold. After putting some of the slowly dying [[Ardurian roc|native rocs]] out of their misery, he remarked that while not his intended result, it served as a learning experience nonetheless. {{storylink|Syndromica (1)}}  Other explorations discerned that about half of the ores had successfully taken root on their target worlds: [[Ore-1]], on [[LV-117]], had the ability to transcend time, offering Shockwave tantalizing glimpses of the future; {{storylink|Syndromica (2)}} [[Ore-2]], on [[Gorlam Prime]], drained the life from all around it; {{storylink|Homecoming (IDW)|Homecoming}} [[Ore-7]] had attained transmutative properties; {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}} and [[Ore-8]], on [[Tsiehshi]], had taken the form of highly explosive, unstable crystals. {{storylink|Spotlight: Kup}} Though millennia away from being realized, Shockwave's mind began to piece together a scheme that would unite these different ores and their powers to achieve his dream.

[[File:Shockwaveg1idw.jpg|thumb|left|210px|Shockwave began to have second thoughts over his choice of manicurists.]]

10,000 years ago, Shockwave arrived on the thirteenth world: prehistoric [[Earth]], at the end of its [[Wikipedia:Pleistocene|most recent ice age]]. The extremely powerful [[Ore-13]] seeded on this world was catalysing so strongly that the reaction needed to be regulated with global dampers, but as he went about his business, he was unaware of a threat that had shadowed him: the Dynobots had tracked him down, and were seeking to settle their old score. As Shockwave finished planting the dampers and was preparing to visit other Regenesis worlds, the Dynobots teleported upon him. The attack threw Shockwave off-kilter with both its ferocity and its unexpectedness, as he had anticipated a stab in the back from Megatron but had failed to consider the simple vengeance of the Dynobots. Mentally and physically confounded by the assault, Shockwave deactivated his higher reasoning and allowed a subroutine simulating rage to take over. This brutal, violent Shockwave decimated the Dynobots, burning off the organic coating shielding them from the planet's high energon fields and forcing them into [[stasis lock]]. As the battle concluded, Shockwave restored his full neural operations and logged the emotional experience for further study. But, as his logic center churned away once more, it again failed to anticipate his enemies' chaotic nature. Specifically, Grimlock had set a dead-man's switch on [[Skyfire (ship)|the Dynobots' ship]], and before Shockwave could act upon his own victory, the ship shot an energy beam into a nearby volcano, causing it to erupt and consume all of the combatants, entombing them for millennia to come. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}}

Shockwave's long absence would eventually rouse Megatron's suspicions, and he assigned [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] to search through Shockwave's files, {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}} in turn tasking Soundwave with shadowing Bludgeon, {{storylink|Spotlight: Soundwave}} knowing that Shockwave had been working on something in secret and intending to use it for the Decepticon cause. {{storylink|Shockpoint}}

===Machinations===

[[File:Shockwave Agent Red.jpg‎|225px|thumb|[[Transformers (film)|Call him NBE-1]].]]

Shockwave's body was uncovered by a human [[Goring|human archaeological team]] in 2005. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}} The discovery drew the attention of the government organization [[Skywatch]], who soon swept in and took the operation over. {{storylink|Escalation issue 5|Escalation #5}} Skywatch proceeded to exhume both Shockwave and the Dynobots, and began experimenting with neural inhibitors to control their new discoveries. Results were consistently disastrous; both the Dynobots and their other captives [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] and [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] were soon running out of their control. Skywatch commander [[Joshua Red]] had Shockwave rebuilt and brought online in their [[Salt Lake City]] base {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 2|Maximum Dinobots #2}} and charged him with rounding up the rogue Transformers. Rather than a neural inhibitor, Shockwave was motivated with a decidedly less sophisticated method: a bomb placed in his head would detonate in 24 hours if Skywatch didn't transmit a reset code. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 3|Maximum Dinobots #3}}

[[File:Shockwave V Scorponok MD.jpg‎‎|250px|thumb|left|Hypothesis: [[...All This and Civil War 2|Turnabout is fair play]].]]

Given the presence of Ravage and Laserbeak on Earth, Shockwave correctly deduced that their master, Soundwave, must also be on the planet; he had followed Bludgeon there in pursuit of Shockwave's Ore-13 and wound up trapped in his alternate mode, in the possession of a child in [[Portland]], [[Oregon]]. Shockwave tracked him down shortly after Laserbeak and Ravage had retrieved him from his human captivity, and proposed a deal: Shockwave would undo the mode-lock, originally caused by a weapon of his design, in return for Soundwave intercepting the reset codes for the implanted bomb. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 4|Maximum Dinobots #4}} Soundwave attempted to further bargain for information on the Regenesis program, but was rebuffed when Shockwave observed that said information would die with him if the bomb went off. {{Storylink|Shockpoint}} Relenting, Soundwave allowed his cassettes to be "captured" and handed over to Skywatch, to sell Shockwave's deception, whilst the scientist went in search of the Dynobots. Discovering them already engaged with [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] and the [[Machination]], Shockwave decided to engage Scorponok's forces first, so he could destroy the Dynobots himself. By the time Shockwave beat Scorponok, only 12 minutes of his 24-hour countdown remained, and Grimlock proved to have more than 12 minutes' worth of fight left in him. On the 30-second mark, the two were still grappling in a Machination arms bunker, so Joshua Red ordered the reset code sent, wanting to ensure all other combatants were down before killing his pawn. The code was successfully intercepted and decrypted by Soundwave, who transmitted the information to Shockwave, who in return sent him instructions to mentally disable the mode-lock. Soundwave transformed, his cassettes attacked their would-be captors, and Shockwave abruptly walked away from his fight, declaring an end to the "charade." But Grimlock would not be denied his revenge, so before Shockwave could leave, he detonated a grenade that blew the arms bunker sky-high. The two were soon recovered, still functioning, by [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Ultra Magnus]], who took Shockwave, Scorponok and Grimlock into custody. {{storylink|Maximum Dinobots issue 5|Maximum Dinobots #5}} 

[[File:LastStandoftheWreckers3 - Shockwave.jpg|215px|thumb|So do we blame Shockwave for letting Overlord off his leash, or Overlord for unleashing the one-eyed purple people eater again?]]

Shockwave was sent to the [[Garrus-9]] penitentiary, where his spark was extracted for imprisonment. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 3|Last Stand of the Wreckers #3}} At some point prior to his imprisonment, however, Shockwave had been able to make contact with Bludgeon and the [[Pretender Monster|Monstructor Six]] and recruit them as his personal agents, though they wound up simply fighting with the main Decepticon forces some time later, when the galaxy-wide Decepticon uprising known as the [[Surge (event)|Surge]] took place. {{storylink|Shockpoint}} During the Surge, [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] took control of Garrus-9, and after one year of holding the facility, he had Shockwave's spark reintegrated with his body to make him an offer: in exchange for his freedom and a hand-picked crew, Shockwave would remove the [[Achilles virus]] that had been implanted in Overlord during his conversion to a Warrior Elite. Shockwave agreed to the terms as they served his own purposes, but he was quick to comment that Overlord's actions on Garrus-9 were less about the former general's gratification and more about attracting Megatron's attention. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 3|Last Stand of the Wreckers #3}}

During Shockwave's time in Skywatch captivity, the researchers had gathered enough information about him to design a weapon based on his technology. According to [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]], the first working prototypes were the size of a house, but with some unspecified "outside help," they were able to condense it to a size small enough for hand-held use by a human. Around the time of Shockwave's liberation from Garrus-9, roughly a year after Megatron's forces overran the Earth following the Surge, Spike was sent in with a military squad to retrieve the weapon from its [[New York City]] storehouse and use it to kill Megatron. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 9|All Hail Megatron #9}} Though his team perished, Spike survived, got the weapon, and successfully shot Megatron in the head, ending the Decepticon occupation. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 12|All Hail Megatron #12}}
[[File:RID21 a better spacebridge.jpg|left|thumb|250px]]
Over the next two years, Shockwave returned his focus to Regenesis, and began slowly putting the players and pieces in motion for his ultimate endgame. He re-established communication with Bludgeon and Monstructor, {{storylink|Shockpoint}} and also recruited the Decepticon warmonger [[Turmoil]], providing him with a ship in return for his visiting LV-117 with instructions to collect data from the Regenesis missile there. In actuality, with this particular action, Shockwave was deliberately perpetuating a [[time travel|predestination paradox]] of sorts, ensuring the the visions of the future that he had seen while on LV-117 years beforehand would come to pass. {{storylink|Syndromica (2)}} His plans for the future momentarily complete, Shockwave rejoined what remained of the main Decepticon command structure, now under the leadership of Starscream and encamped on a desolate asteroid following their retreat from Earth. Conferring with Soundwave, he agreed to help build a new body for the devastated Megatron in exchange for being able to utilize some of the Decepticons' limited resources to finally perfect [[space bridge]] travel. {{storylink|Shockpoint}} The scientist made the two projects one and the same by implanting nodes obtained from [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] in Megatron's new body, giving the Decepticon leader the power to open space bridge at will. {{storylink|Spotlight: Megatron}} {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon|Altered Carbon}}
[[File:IDWongoing7 shockwave at work.jpg|right|thumb|350px]]
Having been unaware of the plan to repair Megatron and believing Shockwave had been working on space bridge technology alone, {{storylink|All His Engines}} Starscream was furious when he discovered what he believed the pair had been dedicating their resources to: using the remnants of Megatron's old body to make tiny replicas of his gun form, with plans to distribute them amongst the population of Earth in order to create chaos amongst both the humans and Autobots. Megatron revealed his revival to Starscream, {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon|Altered Carbon}} and a short time after that, retook Decepticon leadership; Shockwave eager to run further tests on thew new technology within his body, but Megatron, unwilling to be a cog in whatever machinations Shockwave was surely planning, assured him everything was in order and had him continue working on the gun replicas. {{storylink|Spotlight: Megatron}} After finishing, Shockwave carefully calculated that [[Quetzaltenango]], [[Mexico]] was the most appropriate location to deposit the Megatron guns, and stood by Megatron as he sent the weapons through the space bridge to Earth. {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 2: Altered Carbon|Altered Carbon}} Four months later, the Decepticons themselves traveled to Earth to see through their plan, where Soundwave was heavily injured in a confrontation with Optimus Prime. When ordered to repair him, Shockwave protested that he no longer had the resources he had used to rebuild Megatron, but when pressed, affirmed that he could in fact save Soundwave's life. {{storylink|Revenge of the Decepticons Part 5: Enemy Mine|Enemy Mine}}

===Shockpoint===

[[File:RID21 shockwave watches deceptigod.jpg|left|thumb|350px|Don't see that every day.]]

Megatron would later use the space bridge technology built into in his new body to summon Shockwave and the rest of the Decepticons to him on Cybertron. {{storylink|The Question}} They arrived in the midst of [[Galvatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Galvatron]]'s attempt to prevent the emergence of the [[Dead Universe]] entity known as the [[D-Void]], {{storylink|Chaos Part Three: Kings}} and the evil entity proceeded to ensnare the minds of the Decepticons, using their collective belief in the Decepticon cause to mentally and physically fuse them all together into a huge [[Deceptigod|monster]]. All, that is, save for Shockwave, who had never believed in the cause, and silently watched as Megatron battled the giant beast.  Once Galvatron and the monstrosity were defeated, Cybertron began to reformat into a primordial state; having seen potential in the merged Decepticon monster to perfect combiner technology, Megatron withdrew into the wilderness, informing Shockwave of his plans. Shockwave then shared this information with Soundwave and [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]], and the trio began conspiring to facilitate Megatron's new scheme. {{storylink|Shockpoint}}

[[File:Needlenose Autonomy Lesson.jpg|right|350px|thumb]]

Rather than try to escape or fight a battle they knew they could not win, Shockwave and his compatriots allowed themselves to taken into custody with the other Decepticons when Ratbat negotiated their surrender to the Autobots. They were kept in confinement for a few weeks in the rebuilt Iacon, now under the unstable governance of [[Bumblebee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Bumblebee]], before being released to deal with rioting "[[NAIL]]s" who had returned to repopulate Cybertron. {{storylink|Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime|The Death of Optimus Prime}} After a while, being an enforcer for the Autobots did not sit well with [[Needlenose]], and he accused Shockwave, Soundwave and Bombshell of just sitting around instead of doing something about the Decepticons' situation. {{storylink|The Autonomy Lesson (issue)|The Autonomy Lesson}} He was wrong, of course: along with Soundwave, Shockwave was working with Ratbat to take control of the [[inhibitor/deterrence chip]]s implanted in them by the Autobots, though he was plainly uninterested in the plan, merely remarking that "Events will play out as they will." when asked for his opinion. {{storylink|The World & Everything in It}} But Megatron's ongoing plot was not the only reason for Shockwave's disinterest in Ratbat's power games: in furtheration of his own personal, secret schemes revolving around Regenesis, he had once again contacted Bludgeon and Monstructor, and had them free his old teacher Jhiaxus from Autobot captivity, before setting them on course for LV-117. {{storylink|Syndromica (1)}}
[[File:RID9 you bore me.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Swindle...who let you back in?]]
Following the failure of Ratbat's plan, Shockwave was petitioned by [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] to help [[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]], who was on the run from the Autobots after claiming to have witnessed [[Prowl (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Prowl]] murder the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]. Swindle gambled that Shockwave was not as disinterested in the political strife of the planet he appeared, but Shockwave merely questioned what Swindle expected him to do with this information. {{storylink|Dinobot Hunt}} Far greater matters occupied Shockwave's attention: Turmoil had recently returned to Cybertron, the ship Shockwave had given him now outfitted with a time machine created by inhabitants of LV-117 he had enslaved during his visit there. To ensure the future he had seen would come to pass, Shockwave had [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] steal the ship and return it to LV-117, {{storylink|Night and the City}} where it was then retrieved by Jhiaxus's group. {{storylink|Syndromica (2)}} Around this time, Shockwave also made contact with the [[Ammonite]]s, a robotic alien race whose cold war had recently grown hot again, and offered to end their conflict if they would work for him. {{storylink|The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|The Dead Are Not Enough}} Shockwave had the Ammonites attempt to obtain the one Regenesis ore that had been lost to him: Ore-7, which had been found by Metroplex. The Titan put the ore out of his attackers' reach by jettisoning it, so as a back-up plan, Shockwave had the Ammonites infect Metroplex with Ore-2, knowing that in time, he would have to call the Ore-7 back to heal himself. {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}}

[[File:Endofthebeginningoftheworld-astrotrainsoundwaveshockwaveblitzwing.jpg|right|thumb|300px|I said a dab of purple, Needlenose. A dab! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A DAB TO YOU!?]]

After an explosive assassination attempt on [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]], Starscream confronted Shockwave, assuming the attack was his doing. Though Starscream warned Shockwave to not interfere with his political ascension, Shockwave refused to humor him; Starscream had made his choice to live with the Autobots, while the remaining Decepticons under Shockwave's care rejected the growing new government architecture. Shockwave seemingly underestimated Starscream's cunning, however, and later he and his Decepticons were assaulted by [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]]. The Autobot assassin, under orders from both Prowl and Starscream, made it appear as if the Decepticons' own base had exploded and buried them, stealing Shockwave, Soundwave and those under their command away to the [[Black Room]] with Prowl's other secret prisoners. {{storylink|The End of the Beginning of the World}} In truth, this was all an act for Starscream's benefit: Prowl was under the control of Bombshell, and had only "captured" Shockwave and the others so they could be reunited with Megatron in time for his master plan: using a new and improved Devastator to conquer Cybertron once and for all. {{storylink|The Verge}} {{storylink|Before the Dawn}} 
[[File:RID17 shockwave vehiclemode.jpg|left|thumb|350px|BFF's forever!]]
His role in Megatron's plan now complete, Shockwave no longer needed to keep up appearances and promptly left Iacon. {{storylink|Plan for Everything}} Believing both Megatron's rebellion and Bumblebee's government were doomed to fail, Shockwave took [[Dreadwing (G2)|Dreadwing]] with him out into the wilderness, to the subterranean remains of Crystal City, which had somehow survived Cybertron's reversion to its primitive state ''and'' the supposed recent obliteration by an exploding [[Crystal City Metrotitan|Metrotitan]]. It was the original seed Shockwave had sown beneath the city that had recreated it each time, [[Ore-14]], the key to resurrection—which Shockwave tested by shooting Dreadwing dead, only for the ore to immediately revive him. A plan begun millions of years ago was at last reaching its endgame. {{storylink|Shockwaves}}
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===Dark Cybertron===
[[File:RID22 shockwave and necrotitan.jpg|right|thumb|225px|Schrodinger's Robotic Demi-God didn't have quite the same punch...]]
From the new base he quickly established in Crystal City, Shockwave communicated with Jhiaxus again, who, in accordance with his plans, had lured Optimus Prime to Gorlam Prime. {{storylink|Homecoming (IDW)|Homecoming}} Shockwave was briefly distracted from his work by the arrival of a furious Soundwave, seeking revenge for Shockwave's abandonment of the Decepticons, {{storylink|Shockpoint}} but after a brief, vicious battle, it became apparent that the presence of Ore-14 in the cavern meant that none of the combatants could die, so Soundwave retreated, and Shockwave allowed him to leave rather than face further delay. While this was going on, Jhiaxus duped Optimus Prime into awakening a [[Necrotitan|Metrotitan]] that had been slumbering on Gorlam Prime, which, under the direction of new recruit [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]], then teleported directly to Crystal City. {{storylink|Soundwaves (issue)|Soundwaves}} Shockwave gleefully welcomed the Titan, and watched as the Ore-2 from Gorlam Prime in its systems began reacting with the Ore-14 around them, transforming it into an zombie "Necrotitan". Through the link to that Dead Universe this behemoth provided, Shockwave was able to contact his old contemporaries Nova Prime and Galvatron, and, feigning obeisance, vowed to serve Nova in the conquest of the living universe. {{storylink|Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1|Dark Dawn}} In forging the communications link between the living and Dead Universes, however, the Necrotitan's space bridge had unexpectedly disappeared, leaving Nova and Galvatron with no means of crossing over, but Shockwave, of course, had a contingency plan: the space bridge he had equipped Megatron's body with months beforehand. {{storylink|Black Metal: Dark Cybertron Chapter 2|Black Metal}}

[[File:RID24 shockwave waspinators staff.jpg|left|thumb|300px]]

Megatron was currently in Autobot custody after the failure of his most recent scheme, so Shockwave had the deceased NAIL leader [[Metalhawk (Masterforce)|Metalhawk]] revived with Ore-14 and mentally controlled by Jhiaxus into retrieving Megatron's immobilized form for his use.  {{storylink|Winners & Losers: Dark Cybertron Chapter 3|Winners & Losers}} Unsurprisingly, Megatron refused to co-operate, so Shockwave sliced him open and activated the bridge manually,  {{storylink|Into the Abyss: Dark Cybertron Chapter 4|Into the Abyss}} but as Nova Prime and Galvatron began to emerge, the united forces of Bumblebee's Autobot and Soundwave's Decepticons stormed Crystal City. During the ensuing battle, Shockwave took possession of Waspinator's stinger weapon, through which the hapless Decepticon had forged his link with the Titan; using this link, Shockwave was able to take direct control of the Necrotitan, and brought it crashing into the cavern to end the conflict. In the chaos that resulted, Nova Prime was forced back through the portal, but Galvatron managed to make the crossing, and was then surreptitiously directed by Shockwave to disable Megatron, shutting the portal down. Finally, Shockwave sent the Titan to ravage Iacon. {{storylink|Finest Hour: Dark Cybertron Chapter 5|Finest Hour}}

In short order, Jhiaxus, Bludgeon and Monstructor returned to Cybertron, bringing with them what ores they had obtained during their travels, the last of the pieces now in place for Shockwave's endgame to be enacted. {{storylink|The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|The Dead Are Not Enough}} The Necrotitan's rampage was no mere act of random destruction: it was intended to force Metroplex's hand, necessitating that he return to Cybertron to defend his allies, bringing the Ore-7 with him, thereby gathering all the products of Regenesis on Cybertron at last. {{storylink|Finis Temporis: Dark Cybertron Chapter 9|Finis Temporis}} Uniting the Ore-7 with Ore-2 and Ore-14 put the power of life and death in Shockwave's hands; merging Ore-6 with Ore-8 granted him control of the potential energy of all matter; and fusing Ore-1 and Ore-13 bent the fabric of time to his will. The universe itself was now Shockwave's to mould, but to do so required the sacrifice of ''another'' universe: the Dead Universe. Nova Prime's failure to cross over had not been unintentional; cast back to the Dead Universe, he was subsequently slain by Optimus Prime, who had traveled there through the Gorlam Prime portal, just as Shockwave had planned. [[File:RID27 unstuck in time.jpg|right|thumb|350px]] With Nova dead, his control of the energies of the Dead Universe was lost, allowing Shockwave to drain them via an unwitting Galvatron's link. With these powers combined within him, Shockwave could now enact the perfect solution to the problem of finite resources that he had striven to solve all his life: he would bring the Dark Cybertron prophecy to fulfillment by collapsing all of reality into a pinpoint singularity, to feed Cybertron in an endless forever. {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}}

[[File:DarkCybertron12-Shockwave.jpg|left|thumb|300px|"Interrogative: Is this... emotion?"]]

The time machine from Turmoil's ship was used to drain the life energy of the Dead Universe from its very beginning to its end, then linked with Shockwave's systems. Upon the machine's activation, Shockwave was assailed with images of his life from all throughout his past; only his emotionless focus prevented his mind from being set adrift on the sea of time. The unlikely pair of Bumblebee and Megatron ventured into Crystal City to stop him, but the empowered Shockwave slew Bumblebee, sending Megatron into a rage. {{storylink|Black Planet: Dark Cybertron Chapter 11|Black Planet}} The battle between the two Decepticons was soon joined by Optimus Prime, returned from the Dead Universe, who attempted to reason with Shockwave and remind him of the kindly senator he had once been. Prime's words had little effect, so Megatron opted for a more outrageous display: his recent experiences had opened up a new way of thinking to him, and before the stunned Shockwave's eye, he declared himself an Autobot and donned the faction's symbol. Confused and distraught, Shockwave's focus began to waver, and the memories of his pre-Shadowplay self began to creep back, until Optimus gave them a final push by reminding him of small, intimate details of their friendship like a broken bench at their favored meeting spot. Senator Shockwave was horrified to see what he had become, but with the time machine integrated with his systems, he was unable to simply turn if off. At Shockwave's request, Prime and Megatron opened fire, destroying the drive, which collapsed into a singularity that consumed Shockwave's body. {{storylink|...And the Damage Done: Dark Cybertron Finale|...And the Damage Done}}
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==Trivia==
*The unnamed senator was not intended to be Shockwave back in "Chaos Theory" but James Roberts immediately thought it would be cool to make him a character we already knew. Shockwave was picked because he was one of the few important characters that did not have an IDW pre-war backstory yet, and because it allowed Roberts to tie together empurata and shadowplay.<ref>[http://theunderbase.libsyn.com/the-underbase-deconstructs-shadowplay "The Underbase Podcast Deconstructs Shadowplay"], 42:30 - 44:00</ref>

*In his subsequent "Shadowplay" appearance, the still-unnamed Senator Shockwave was deliberately designed and coloured to look like Ultra Magnus,<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-comics-discussion/716601-transformers-more-than-meets-eye-11-discussion-spoilers-29.html#post8649838 Forum post by Alex Milne]</ref> making it a real surprise that we'd been reading the origin of Shockwave all along. It helped that Shockwave was a ''Robots in Disguise'' character and this origin was then in the 'wrong' comic, tying the two together.<ref>[http://www.fullmetalhero.com/t14540/ Moonbase2's second interview with James Roberts - 01:39:20 to 59:30]</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Generation 1 Decepticons]]
[[Category:Point One Percenter]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Scientists]]