Soundwave (ROTF)

The name or term "Soundwave" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Soundwave (disambiguation).

Soundwave is a Decepticon from the Revenge of the Fallen portion of the live-action film continuity family.

Just wait till he tentacle rapes that other satellite!

Soundwave, the Decepticon communications officer and one of Megatron's staunchest supporters, doesn't just master the frequencies that carry information across our planet, he revels in them. Stationed high in the upper atmosphere and capable of processing millions of data streams at once, he is fully capable of taking over communications on a planetary scale. Whether he uses this to direct civilization or destroy it remains to be seen.

Soundwave has two extremely powerful weapons: his spread of Sonic Cannons... and Megatron. If any Decepticon crosses him, he does not hesitate to send a full record of said Decepticon's failures to Megatron, almost certainly ensuring an untimely demise. His lofty position has made Starscream suspicious, so Soundwave has his minion Ravage keep an eye on the Air Commander if he gets out of hand. Soundwave is also nearly defenseless in space, as his devastating Sonic Cannons only work within the atmosphere.

Nothing moves on the orb below without my being aware of it. I see and hear everything, be it out the open or behind closed doors. My reach is invisible, intangible. My grip...cast-iron.Soundwave sees and hears all, Nefarious #1

Fiction

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

Starscream was in talks with Soundwave to get him to join in the attack on Earth and be in Michael Bay's next documentary. Soundwave is known for talking in several frequencies at once, apparently just to be annoying. #15's Star Screams Starscream doesn't trust Soundwave but notes his intelligence, and so views him as a worthy successor in the event of his death. #21's Star Screams

IDW Transformers movie comics

No full body shot in the movie or comics.

Soundwave was assigned by Megatron to take command of the newly built Nemesis with the sarcophagus containing The Fallen. Soundwave's task was to find a planet with a star harvester that could be used to free their mysterious benefactor. Soundwave left Cybertron just before the outbreak of war. Defiance issue 4

Alas, poor Dreadwing. I knew him, Ravage.

Presumed dead for years, Soundwave arrived on Mars one month after Megatron's death. He quickly took stock of the situation, scanning both Dreadwing's remains, and an imprint of Frenzy's body. He contacted Starscream after his battle with Wreckage, learning of the loss of Megatron and the AllSpark, while informing Starscream that he had sent troops from his ship to Earth, with more waiting in stasis. As Starscream headed for the ship, Soundwave informed him he still had orders to follow. Alliance issue 2 As more and more Decepticons made planetfall on Earth's surface, Soundwave assumed the form of a satellite and silently observed their operations from orbit. Alliance issue 4

Titan Magazines Revenge of the Fallen comics

Soundwave appears unknown to the Autobots.New Tricks He commanded a small Decepticon cell, based out of Mars' moon Phobos. While nominally under the command of The Fallen, The Fallen is merely in contact with the Decepticons and currently incapacitated. This left Soundwave free to do his own thing... Back-to-Back

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only... Oops, wrong movie.

One of his goals was to find the location of the Tomb of the Primes. The aging Seeker Ransack knew it but would only tell it to The Fallen. Strangely unwilling to put The Fallen and Ransack in touch and oddly prefering to personally know the location of the key to a monstrous superweapon himself Back-to-Back, Soundwave turned to the dormant Seekers instead. He directed Grindor to Las Vegas to carve up one such Seeker for its "memory tree". He refused to explain the reason why to Grindor. When NEST showed up, Soundwave appeared contemptuous of them and their whole species, noting Transformers owned this world long before mankind. To Grindor, he simply said to get the memory tree to him and not get captured. Learning Curve

Later, on The Fallen's orders, he directed Ravage to find Skids and Mudflap, find out what they knew about The Fallen's plans and who they'd told it to, and then terminate them. When Ravage had cornered Mudflap, Soundwave talked through him and attempted to interrogate the Autobot; this failed, with Mudflap not even being bothered about who Soundwave was. While the hit was a bust, Soundwave ensured the base was bugged. As a result, he discovered Sideswipe distrusted the twins.

"There you go, fellas!"

This was something Soundwave found interesting New Tricks and he hatched a plan to ensure the twins were believed to be traitors: which would ensure nobody would follow up on their intell! Somehow, he got Scorponok to Diego Garcia at the same time the twins were there. He then had Sideways get captured, so that when he was taken to Diego Garcia Scorponok would free him. With the Decepticon attacking at the same time the twins were distracting Optimus and on top of previous acts, they seemed guilty and were taken into custody. Reversal of Fortune Soundwave sent Starscream to blow up the soldiers escorting the twins to orbitary exile, and Wheelie parachuted in to convince them to defect. When Bumblebee tracked down the twins - who had kidnapped Sam Witwicky in a failed attempt to convince him to speak to Optimus on their behalf - Soundwave finally landed on Earth and blasted the scout. Soundwave told the twins The Fallen would offer them sanctuary, something they seemed happy to accept... Outlaw Blues

Poor Soundwave soon had to put up with the twins, as they insisted on chatting through his briefings and dissing the other 'cons. He just about, through ominous glares, got them to pay attention to their mission: to capture Ransack and bring him in to be "re-educated". This, however, was all a big con on the twins: he just wanted them as expendable bait to draw out Ransack, so Grindor and Sideways could knock him out. Soundwave also spoke for the entire Decepticons when he said that if the twins survived any encounter, kill them anyway. Turnabout

KERPOW!

Once Ransack was in his hands, Soundwave beat the snot out of him and demanded the location to the Tomb of the Primes. The Seeker still refused to talk, and insulted Soundwave as being a mere cog who could barely understand the big picture. He almost killed Ransack for that, having to be held back by Starscream (don't want The Fallen knowing you've killed his Seeker!), but the elder continued to mock him for believing he had freedom of action just because The Fallen was absent.

When the twins, revealed to have been faking their defection, returned to beat the crap out of the Phobos base, an annoyed Soundwave ended their brief success with overwhelming violence. Unfortunately, before he could kill the Autobots, Ransack took the opportunity to leg it; desperate to stop The Fallen from being informed of what he'd been up to, Soundwave gave chase and the Phobos base was abandoned. Back-to-Back As he's still around later, it seems Soundwave made sure Ransack never made it to The Fallen...

The following events occur in the Law and Disorder continuity.

Barricade considers Soundwave to be an untrustworthy jerk who never pulls his weight in a fight. Megatron, however, loves the guy. #7's Law and Disorder

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Frank Welker (English, French, Italian), Horst Lampe (German), Daisuke Gōri (Japanese)

Next time, Gadget. Next time.

Soundwave received a transmission from Wheelie, who was tailing Mikaela Banes, and instructed him to obtain a surviving shard of the AllSpark in her possession. He found a satellite transmitting a conversation between NEST and the United States military. Tapping into it with his tentacles to listen, Soundwave overheard Theodore Galloway mention another shard of the AllSpark in storage at Diego Garcia, and of Megatron's burial in the Laurentian Abyss.

Ravage: Eject. Operation: Childhood rape.

Formulating a plan, Soundwave waited until it would be nightfall on Diego Garcia, then ejected Ravage (who was equipped with Scalpel and the microcons comprising Reedman) to Diego Garcia to steal the shard. Once they had stolen the shard, they reunited with some Constructicons and managed to resurrect their leader.

Soundwave remained in space, tapping into the satellite he had found. When Megatron decided to reveal the Transformers presence on Earth after killing Optimus Prime, Soundwave issued the mobilization order to the waiting troops on the Nemesis. As the Decepticons streaked toward Earth, Soundwave tracked down Ron and Judy Witwicky in Paris. He called Judy on her cellphone, demanding to know where Sam was, which the human dismissed as a crank call by a pervert. This allowed the Decepticons to track them down and capture them to use as bait for Sam.

Yes, yes, you fans all thought about Kiss Players when you saw me do this.

When the CIA discovered that Sam was in Egypt, Soundwave relayed the information to the Decepticons. During Operation: Firestorm, Soundwave blocked the satellites covering the Egyptian area, making things appear normal. General Morshower was unconvinced though and got other local informants to know what was happening at the pyramids. Revenge of the Fallen (film)

In the comic, Megatron rendezvous with Soundwave after killing Optimus, making the demand for Sam Witwicky himself, which Soundwave broadcasts through the satellite he clutches. Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adaptation issue 2

IDW post-Revenge of the Fallen comics

Soundwave detected Ravage was alive and active, and was furious someone else was ordering his pet around. Tales of the Fallen issue 5 Nefarious #1 Nefarious #2 Nefarious #3 Nefarious #4

Cyber Missions

Voice actor: Bronco D. Jackson

Through the dark, to the light, it's a super sonic flight! Gotta keep it goin'!

No! Too many sonic booms! I can't absorb—!

When Soundwave and Bludgeon descended on Diego Garcia, they interrupted an Autobot mission briefing. While Ironhide headed outside to face Bludgeon, Bumblebee remained inside to guard the Autobots' precious data tracks from Soundwave. Bumblebee fired shot after shot, but Soundwave was able to simply use his sonic powers to repel the attacks back towards Bumblebee. However, Bumblebee gambled that Soundwave would be unable to repel a great number of attacks simultaneously, and the Decepticon was overwhelmed by Bumblebee's automatic weaponry. Cyber Missions 1 Bumblebee confined Soundwave inside a vacuum-sealed electromagnetic bubble, where his sonic weaponry would be useless. Cyber Missions 2

Titan Magazines post-Revenge of the Fallen comics

Instructed by Megatron to "hound" humans and "get up close and personal" in his attacks, Soundwave cut a swathe of destruction across the North Atlantic, destroying ships as he headed on a course towards Florida. Identifying his pattern, William Lennox and Robert Epps staged an ambush, laying out a cargo ship for Soundwave to attack and then blindsiding him with a volley from a hidden warship. Badly damaged in the surprise assault, Soundwave was forced to retreat, venturing into the confines of...the Bermuda Triangle! (Dun dun dunnnn!) Amidst the storm clouds, Soundwave discovered another ship that he decided to attack out of spite, but faltered when his databanks identified it as a vessel that had been lost in 1918. Caught off-guard by a volley of primitive weaponsfire (even for humans!) and damaged even further, Soundwave tried to limp away, only to cross paths with another mystery ship, this one allegedly from 1941! Pelted from both sides and unable to get a handle on his situation, Soundwave fled high into the air, out of the ships' range...and right in the path of a squadron of World War II bombers! Rattled by their machine gun fire and unable to overcome their superior flying skills, Soundwave decided to break upwards...all the way upwards. Whatever strange chronal chaos he had encountered in the depths of the Bermuda Triangle, Soundwave concluded that the solar radiation, meteor showers and space debris he would face on the moon would be much safer! Making Waves

Games

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game

Voice actor: Peter Jessop (English)

Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC

Decepticon campaign

On August 27, 2009, Soundwave was made available as a playable character (for multiplayer games) as optional downloadable content for Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 owners. However, instead of the silver colour scheme established on his regular release toys and movie appearance, the character model was coloured blue, like Generation 1 Soundwave and the Toys"R"Us-exclusive Soundwave figure from the Gathering at Nemesis figure pack. His special attack consisted of a deployable turret that generated earthquakes, a reference to Rumble, who was one of Generation 1 Soundwave's tape minions.

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class toys

• Soundwave (Legends, 2009)

No matter what mode you put him in, he is always ready to get down and dirty with unsuspecting satellites.

Part of the fifth wave of Revenge of the Fallen Legends Class figures, Soundwave transforms into a simplified version of his satellite alt mode which is notable for being more movie-accurate than his Deluxe Class toy. The satellite head is completely covered in blue, however.

• Infiltrator Soundwave (EZ Collection, 2010)

In Japan, Legends class Soundwave was redecoed to match the colors of Deluxe Infiltration Soundwave (see below). He was part of the Japanese Transformers Animated promotion, and was only available to those who bought the Voyager "Optimus Prime VS Megatron" set at amazon.jp and Yamada Denki stores.

Deluxe Class toys

War fork!

• Soundwave (Deluxe, 2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RD-04
  • Accessories: 1 Ravage missile

Part of the initial Movie Preview wave, Soundwave is a Triple Changer, transforming into a satellite and a Cybertron jet, which are not exactly what could be described as "distinct" from one another. In all three modes, Soundwave features a spring-loaded missile launcher which fires a missile intended to resemble Ravage, in reference to the scene in the film in which he launches the feline fiend down at Earth. In his (rather stocky) robot mode, Soundwave has blue light piping in his visor, but it is disabled, having been painted over in red; his other modes feature a second, armored version of his face, which is stored on the back of his robot mode. Probably to avoid giving the toy a very obviously two-headed robot mode, the alternate face lacks any paint details, and has an unpainted blue visor. Soundwave features numerous red and gold paint applications which are very cleverly and subtly positioned around his body to replicate similarly-colored and -positioned details on the original Soundwave toy.

The configuration for the satellite mode depicted in the toy's instructions is not the way Soundwave appears in the film, featuring a different angling for the panels on his shoulders. It's not a big change, but transforming the toy in accordance with his movie appearance does help to distinguish the jet from the satellite a little, since otherwise, virtually the only difference is in the positioning of the large panel "wings".

• More information on Soundwave at TFU.info

You can get him in blue, but you gotta get those other guys, too!

• Gathering at Nemesis (Figure multi-pack, 2009)
  • Accessories: 1 Ravage missile

A Toys"R"Us-exclusive three pack (technically four pack if you want to count the Ravage missile), also featuring The Fallen, and a silver Voyager Class Megatron from the first movie toyline. Soundwave is redecoed in predominantly blue as an homage to the original Soundwave. The Fallen was unchanged from his original release.

• Soundwave Black Version (Deluxe, 2009)
  • Accessories: 1 Ravage missile

Exclusive to the 2009 "C3 X Hobby Chara Hobby" show that ran across August 29-30 in Japan, Soundwave Black Version is a redeco of the deluxe Revenge of the Fallen Soundwave toy in black and red with orange highlights. Following the convention, remaining quantities of the figure were made available to purchase via lottery through the e-Hobby website.

• Soundwave Black Version at e-Hobby

Look out for Escalation Soundwave, Devastation Soundwave, and Soundwave Loves Drift-Chan.

• Battlefield Bumblebee Vs. Infiltration Soundwave (Deluxe 2-pack, 2010)
  • Accessories: 1 Ravage missile

Part of the NEST Global Alliance campaign, Infiltration Soundwave is another redeco of the Deluxe Class Soundwave mold, this time in dark blue and dark gray, plus bright red that simulates the intense heat of orbital reentry. He comes with Battlefield Bumblebee, a retooling of Cannon Bumblebee with a new battlemask head. Also included in the packaging is a "Mission Guide" catalog and ordering form for the mail-in exclusive Recon Ravage, a "starter sticker" for said ordering form, and a NEST Global Alliance iron-on patch. Two additional stickers from specially-marked NEST Global Alliance products and $4.95 shipping are required for the promotion. Sadly, this promotion does not exist in Europe or Australia, but Recon Ravage was made available in the latter country as a Toys R Us exclusive. Surprisingly, the package does not recognize his Cybertron jet mode, instead only acknowledging his satellite mode.

Merchandise

Burger King

I spy with my little eye.....impending tentacle rape.

• Seeking Soundwave (2009)
  • Accessories: 2 blue solar panels

The Burger King version of Soundwave is a representation of the communications satellite which Soundwave hacked into in the movie. The dishes have tendril details added to them. Peering into an opening in the top gives a sort of periscope effect, although as there is only one mirror, everything looks backwards.

Notes

A Soundwave-headed Blackout from an animatic.

Soundwave, before losing his weight.

• Soundwave was originally supposed to feature in Transformers; he fulfilled both Barricade and Frenzy's roles, hacking into the CIA headquarters as a portable stereo, then morphed into a Humvee to track down Sam Witwicky. Michael Bay's decision to minimalize the amount of morphing in the film resulted in a change to a helicopter who openly attacks the army. Soundwave and Ravage were changed to Blackout and Scorponok as the film's location was changed from a jungle to a desert. Soundwave's name remained attached to the separated portable stereo character for a while, but Hasbro felt the resulting character did not properly represent the original Soundwave—he was first renamed Soundbite, but eventually ended up with the name Frenzy.

• According to the trade paperback, Soundwave was a major character in the third draft of The Reign of Starscream.

• In early drafts of Revenge of the Fallen, Soundwave came to Earth and scanned a black Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck form. Artist Paul Ozzimo created a visualization of this idea, and Hasbro based the Cybertronian satellite form's robot mode on this abandoned concept, particularly a Cybertronian version of the Chevy grill and small headlights on the lower torso. They then combined Ozzimo's body design with an unused, heavily G1-esque head design that had been created by artist Josh Nizzi (although Soundwave's finalized head design was also incorporated into the toy's satellite mode, in a manner akin to anti-kibble).

• Hasbro's description and arrangement of Soundwave's toy as a triple changer runs counter to the filmmakers' intent to introduce the technology in the next film.

• Even though Frank Welker returned to voice Soundwave for the movie, his voice was not vocoded, but rather synthesized in the same way all the other Transformer voices in the movie were. Because of this, the voice he uses is much closer to that of "The Cave of Wonders" from Walt Disney's Aladdin and Darkseid from The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, both voiced by Welker. However, in the Revenge of the Fallen video game, Soundwave's voice (Peter Jessop) is vocoded in a manner similar to that of Animated Soundwave's first voice, only with a more musical tone.

• Frank Welker voiced Soundwave not only in the English version of Revenge of the Fallen, but also in a large number of foreign dubs, including the Italian one. Welker described the process as "very hard". Althouth Welker is also credited in the German dub of the movie, German dubbing insiders insist that the voice heard in the actual movie is by someone else (Horst Lampe, who also dubbed Animated Ratchet), presumably as a last-minute decision because Welker's "German" performance was considered sub-standard.. Welker is also credited in the Spanish dub (which character he voiced is not listed, but it was most likely Soundwave).

• Soundwave is unique among the Decepticons introduced in Revenge of the Fallen because he survives (Scalpel's fate is ambiguous in the film itself but he was clearly scrapped in the two adaptations). All the others are presumably killed, meaning if all our information only came from the films, then the only Decepticons alive are the original triad of Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave, along with the oft-overlooked Barricade.

• Soundwave was included as a downloadable addition to the roster of the Revenge of the Fallen Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 video game, along with several Generation 1 homages and fellow movie character Sideswipe. Soundwave's special abilities deploy an aerial jammer pod that looks suspiciously like Laserbeak, and an AOE pod that continuously smashes the ground with piledrivers; undoubtedly a nod to Generation 1 Soundwave's minion Rumble. According to concept artist Ken Christiansen, his appearance was based more closely on the Deluxe class toy than his movie design.