Spotlight: Soundwave

« The Transformers: Spotlight #6 »
Soundwave commands his cassettes with the Finger of Doom!
"The Transformers: Spotlight Soundwave"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 21, 2007
Cover date	March 2007
Written by	Simon Furman
Art by	Marcelo Matere
Colors by	Rob Ruffolo
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Edits by	Chris Ryall & Dan Taylor
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	1984/Infiltration

Soundwave is keeping tabs on a group of rogue Decepticons... but who is keeping an eye on Soundwave?

Synopsis

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 watches and observes, relaying information back to Megatron as he does so. He notes that one of Shockwave's projects called Regenesis is of particular interest to Bludgeon. Bludgeon never mentions it in his reports to Megatron, and, by the same token, neither does Soundwave. He continues watching as something is recovered from Cybertron's depths, sealed up, and guarded around the clock. He continues watching as, long after Cybertron is quarantined, Bludgeon, Iguanus, and Bomb-Burst leave for Earth in 1984. Soundwave, of course, follows. Taking on his cassette deck alternate mode, he allows himself to fall into the possession of a construction worker in order to spy on the two foremen, who had been replaced with facsimiles by Bludgeon. Soundwave records their conversations, and learns that they discovered Ultra-Energon below the construction site.

When the foremen leave to report to Bludgeon, Soundwave sends Ravage and Laserbeak to track them. Listening in via Laserbeak, Soundwave overhears Bludgeon's plan: the foremen will plant explosive charges to destroy the construction site, and then Bludgeon's team will remove the Ultra-Energon ore they need. That night, Laserbeak "liberates" Soundwave from his "owner" and flies him to Bludgeon's base within Mount St. Helens. He allows events at the construction site to run their course; the site is destroyed, the energon is claimed, and the Decepticons return to their base. While they are still disoriented from the orbital bounce, Soundwave announces his presence and tells Bludgeon that he wants a cut of the profits. Bludgeon sneers at him and tells him that they are not motivated by avarice or ambition; rather, they have seen the truth, and their goal is the resurrection of Thunderwing himself!

Soundwave, remembering Thunderwing's previous devastation of Cybertron, decides that the only recourse is to destroy them: for once, he remarks, he's working for the greatest good instead of his own! He looses Ravage and Laserbeak, who take out Iguanus and Bomb-Burst but are easily dispatched by Bludgeon. Soundwave hesitates for a moment before remembering the apocalypse that was nearly perpetrated by Thunderwing and renewing his resolve. Unfortunately, that one moment is all it took: Iguanus recovers and blasts Soundwave with one of Shockwave's experimental weapons, overriding his transformation circuits and forcing Soundwave back into his alternate mode. Bludgeon remarks on how much of an inconvenience that must be for him, before dropping an explosive charge into the lava below and transporting his team and the energon away as the volcano erupts. A year later, Laserbeak and Ravage are extracted from Mt. St. Helens by an unknown team of humans. However, they don't realize the true nature of the cassette deck buried amongst the rubble and Soundwave ultimately finds his way to a pawn shop, where he was purchased by a teenager.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons	Humans	Facsimile constructs
Soundwave (1) Bludgeon (4) Megatron (5) Skullgrin (6) Bomb-Burst (7) Iguanus (8) Finback (9) Ravage (12) Laserbeak (13)	Bud (10) Hiro (11) Joshua Red (14) Jimmy (15)	Fleming (2) Markham (3)

Notes

Continuity notes

• Ravage and Laserbeak's story would be followed up on in Escalation #6, while Soundwave would be seen in Devastation #4. All 3 would be visited again in Maximum Dinobots, which would also identify Soundwave's "owner" as "Jimmy".
• First appearances: Laserbeak, Ravage. Soundwave previously appeared as a holographic head in Stormbringer.

Transformers references

• Much of the issue's background is an homage to the original Generation 1 stories:
  • The 1984 setting is based on the starting year of the original toys and fiction.
  • The notion of Transformers lying dormant within an active volcano mirrors the original G1 comic and cartoon storylines.
  • The story gives us a valid excuse to have Soundwave and his cassettes in their long-outdated G1 alternate modes.
  • Portland was a frequent setting for the events of the Marvel G1 comics.
  • The issue reintroduces the term "transformation cog" to the mythos; it originally was used in the G1 cartoon five-part episode "Five Faces of Darkness".

Errors

Skywatch? More like Skydwarf.

• Rob Ruffolo is credited as Rob Ruffalo; this seems to be a fairly common misspelling.
• On page 19, "succinct" is misspelled as "succint".
• In the panel introducing the two facsimiles, the one with a goatee is shown with a beard that covers his lips instead of the beard he wears for the rest of the issue. If this isn't an illustration error, then that means he has super hair-ingesting powers. Ew.
• In the scene depicting the two facsimiles arriving to receive orders from Bludgeon, Skullgrin can be seen in the background, despite the fact that Soundwave had previously stated that only Bludgeon, Iguanus, and Bomb-Burst journeyed to Earth.
• Scale is pretty wonky in this issue: When Hiro picks up Soundwave in his alternate mode on page 6, the tape deck mode is smaller than a thick comic book slipcase. When Laserbeak picks up Soundwave out of Hiro's hands on page 11, he can barely hold the tape deck in his mouth, making Laserbeak about the size of a large dog (not counting the wings). Yet when Skywatch discovers Laserbeak on page 22, his head alone is suddenly the size of an adult human.

Other trivia

• The eruption of Mount Saint Helens in this story does not appear to correspond with an actual historical event. The most famous eruption of the real world volcano took place on May 18, 1980. Although there have been many smaller eruptions since then, according to a US Geological Survey Fact Sheet, none of the three eruptions recorded in 1984 included any "explosive activity", which the eruption in this story certainly does.

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Soundwave and cassettes at night; art by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham (colors).
• Cover B: Soundwave and cassettes with blasted wall; art by Marcelo Matere and Josh Burcham (colors).
• Cover RI-A: Uncolored cover A
• Cover RI-B: Uncolored cover B

• 
  "You prefer Gobots? Attack!"
• 
  "For the last time, Ravage and Laserbeak, I don't have any more kitty treats or crackers! See?!"
• 
  Cover RI-A
• 
  Cover RI-B

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• Manga editions of The Gathering and Stormbringer
• Movie Prequel comic, issues 2, 3, and 4, plus a 6-page preview of the first issue
• Transformers posters
• The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD
• IDW trade paperbacks (Infiltration, Stormbringer, The Gathering, Hearts of Steel, War and Peace, Generations) (back cover)

Reprints

• 2008 — The Transformers: Spotlight Volume 2 (February 20, 2008) ISBN 1600101542 / ISBN 978-1600101540
• 2009 — The Transformers: The Premiere Collection Volume 2 (June 17, 2009) ISBN 1600104371 / ISBN 978-1600104374
• 2010 — The Transformers: The IDW Collection Volume One (May 26, 2010) ISBN 1600106676 / ISBN 978-1600106675
• 2015 — The Transformers: Spotlight Omnibus Volume 1 (April 15, 2015) ISBN 1631402463 / ISBN 978-1631402463
• 2016 — The Transformers: The IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1 (July 6, 2016) ISBN 163140637X / ISBN 978-1631406379
• 2017 — Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 36: Stormbringer (January 11, 2017)

• 
  Spotlight Volume 2 – cover art by Gabriel Rodríguez
• 
  The Premiere Collection Volume 2 – cover art by Nick Roche & Josh Burcham
• 
  The IDW Collection Volume One – cover art by E. J. Su
• 
  Spotlight Omnibus Volume 1 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
• 
  The IDW Collection Compendium, Vol. 1 – cover art by Jeffrey Veregge
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 36: Stormbringer – cover art by Guido Guidi