Tidal Wave (Armada)

This article is about the colossal Decepticon warship from Armada. For the teeny jetski/jetpack from Classics, see Tidal Wave (Classics).

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

Tidal Wave is a Decepticon from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family. He took the name Mirage after he took a new body.

Like a vast predatory bird fish...

Tidal Wave is a powerhouse, one of the largest Decepticons under Megatron's command,(possibly a gigantion). His power is backed up by a brain that doesn't exactly run at optimal speeds; he's not so much stupid as he is single-minded and easily frustrated, although his tendency to shout his own name repeatedly as a sort of battle cry doesn't do much to refute his reputation as a knucklehead. In battle he is merciless, an unyielding engine of destruction.

He is unquestionably loyal to Megatron and his ideals, and will quickly sign up with anyone that promises power to the Decepticon cause. He may or may not have a soft spot for children.

Tidal Wave's Mini-Con partner is Ramjet.

Tidal Wave...Tidal Wave...Tidal Wave, too many times to properly source

Japanese name: Shockwave (Tidal Wave), Shock Fleet (Mirage)

Hungarian name: Szökőár (Árhullám on the Ultimate Battle DVD)

Hungarian name as Mirage: Délibáb

Polish Armada name: Falotron (Wavetron)

Polish Energon name: Falomiot (Waveblaster)

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

Voice actor Doug Parker (English), Jin Yamanoi (Japanese)

Crumbs, chief.

Tidal Wave was originally brought to Earth by the Decepticon strategist Thrust in an attempt to bolster the Decepticon forces so that they could obtain the Requiem Blaster. Thrust claimed Tidal Wave was a general that led Decepticon forces to a victory on the planet Dabola, an unsubstantiated claim that seems rather out of place considering Tidal Wave's... lack of grace. This was exemplified when Hot Shot and Blurr capsized the huge warship and sent it to the bottom of the deep. However, Tidal Wave quickly recovered and transformed into his massively powerful robot mode, quickly sending the Autobots scrambling for cover. Awakening

Pounding the Autobots with firepower, Thrust called out to Tidal Wave to initiate his party piece. Tidal Wave transformed and split into three component vehicle sections (which also somehow shrank in size), headed for Megatron and Powerlinked with him, forming a combination known as Burning Megatron. Megatron declared that "The Power is Mine!" before setting off in pursuit of Jet Optimus. Tidal Wave gave Megatron flight capability and an overwhelming amount of firepower, which kept Jet Optimus at bay long enough for Megatron to slice the connection point between Optimus Prime and Jetfire with the Star Saber. Desperate

After Starscream cracked and attacked Megatron, Tidal Wave was sent after him to Earth when the rogue Decepticon jet escaped their moon base with the Star Saber in his possession. The Autobots initially assumed both Decepticons were part of a combined attack, but eventually came to Starscream's assistance against Tidal Wave when the Decepticon shot him down. Hot Shot nailed Tidal Wave in the eye with his axle cannon, but the powerful Tidal Wave recovered quickly and caused problems for Jet Optimus, whom couldn't so much as scratch him. This prompted Starscream to toss the Star Saber to the Autobot leader, which he used to slice off one of Tidal Wave's chest guns and forced the Decepticon to retreat. Regeneration

Tidal Wave was present at the meeting between the Autobots and Decepticons during the Unicron Battles in which the two sides formed a temporary truce, notably shaking hands with Jetfire. Alliance

Energon cartoon

Voice actor Doug Parker (English), Jin Yamanoi (Japanese), Anders Öjebo (Swedish)

After the end of the Unicron Battles, Tidal Wave loyally followed Galvatron's last request—that the Decepticons remain at peace with the Autobots. During the ten year period that followed, Tidal Wave somewhere along the line changed not only his color palette but his occupation—instead of being a warrior, he was now a guardian of the energon mines in the Sol system's asteroid belt.

Tidal Wave's post was one of the first targets of the Terrorcon hordes. Cybertron City After being attacked and abducted, he was brought to Scorponok and Alpha Quintesson's base of operations, where they convinced him to side with them by promising to revive Megatron, a deal which Tidal Wave eagerly agreed to. Scorpinok Although he clearly disliked Scorponok, he carried out orders in attacking other energon reserves run by the Autobots until Megatron returned. Following this, he continued raiding Autobot bases, only under Megatron's orders.

Tidal Wave would later show disdain for the madman Decepticon recruit Shockblast. During a battle on Cybertron, an Energon Tower collapsed on top of Tidal Wave due to a shot from Shockblast. Megatron called for a retreat and hauled Tidal Wave's damaged body back into space, where the giant Decepticon was reformatted into "Mirage". With this new body also came an apparent upgrade in intelligence, although he also started to buddy up with Demolishor and Snow Cat to form a comedy relief trio. He continued to serve Megatron throughout the war for energon.

When Galvatron flung himself into the energon sun to destroy Unicron's spark, Mirage loyally followed after him and seemingly ended his life. The Sun

In Japan, after becoming Mirage, Tidal Wave became straight-up Gay For Galvatron. The dub dodged the issue as best it could (although honestly, that was probably more due to the fact that the English writers didn't seem to know what was going on in the show at the best of times), with Mirage's love-struck remarks being replaced with simple cheering for his leader or something else entirely—but it couldn't do anything about his repeated coquetteish gestures, doe-eyed expressions, or that one time he pirouetted and struck a pose while surrounded by a glowing pink heart. Maybe Tidal Wave couldn't properly articulate his love in his Armada form?

Pretty Soldier Sailor Tidalwave!

Dreamwave comics continuity

Armada comic

Tidal Wave was among the Decepticon troops allied with the Autobots and Mini-Cons during the battle against Unicron. He clutched his head in agony when the Chaos Bringer appeared and declared that this reality would be consumed. The End

Energon comic

Millions of years ago, Tidal Wave captured Ironhide and coerced him into building Seismic-shock warheads for the Decepticons, which Megatron would use as a last resort to destroy the planet should he lose the war. Whenever Ironhide refused, an Autobot prisoner of war was executed. Aftershock

In the present, Tidal Wave was recruited by Scorponok, joining the Terrorcons. This Evil Reborn While he went on several raids and missions with the Terrorcons, it became clear to him that he wasn't the most respected of the team. What Lies Beneath, Part Four

Tidal Wave attacked Ironhide and Cliffjumper while they were overseeing the contruction of a new base on Cybertron. Using Cliffjumper's life as leverage, he forced Ironhide to reactivate the seismic-shock warheads for Scorponok's scheme to use on Earth. Ironhide foiled Tidal Wave when he armed the doomsday weapon, with the cold threat of destroying Cybertron rather than allowing the Decepticons destroy Earth. Tidal Wave panicked and left through a space bridge. Aftershock

While the other Decepticons and Terrorcons thought little of Tidal Wave, Alpha Quintesson, however, saw something in him, and reformatted him into Mirage, noting as he did so that Scorponok had fallen out of Unicron's favor. Multiplicity, Pt. 2

Due to the bankruptcy of Dreamwave Productions, this storyline was left unresolved.

Games

Melbourne House Transformers video game

Megatron might be a jerk, but he cares for his troops' physical fitness.

Tidal Wave, in his combined battleship mode, was stationed as a relay and refuel point off a small chain of islands in the Mid-Atlantic. The Autobots made their way inside him to take out the Decepticlone platoons inside and destroy him, but discovered that Tidal Wave wasn't merely a transport. They escaped just in time to avoid being crushed as Tidal Wave transformed into his titanic robot mode.

Tidal Wave walked around the island chain in the deep waters, unloading volleys of missiles, lasers, and the occasional Jet Laser on the tiny-by-comparison Autobots. Despite his impressive size, firepower, and nigh-impenetrable armor, the Autobots managed to do enough damage to Tidal Wave's one weak point—his face—to cause a chain reaction that caused multiple explosions inside him, sending him falling face-first to the ocean floor.

The Autobots were able to extract information from Tidal Wave's computer that the Decepticons' main base was located in Northern Alaska, but the information was planted there by Megatron to lead the Autobots into a trap.

Tidal Wave was later seen still on Earth and has survived from his battle with the Autobots, but is now taking exercises with the survived Decepticlone army. Transformers

Toys

Armada

"TCS Tiger's Claw, Transform!"

• Tidal Wave with Ramjet (Giga-Con, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MD-06
  • Accessories: Ramjet Mini-Con partner, 2 missiles

Tidal Wave is a robot that is made up of three different aquatic vehicles; an aircraft carrier, a double-bowed battleship, and a troop-landing craft. All three can combine to form a single gigantic warship, which from there can transform to robot mode without having to separate. Each smaller craft has its own gimmick; the carrier has a working storage elevator for Tidal Wave's Mini-Con partner Ramjet, the battleship has Mini-Con Powerlinx-activated swiveling cannons (also usable in robot mode), and the landing craft opens up to reveal seats for Mini-Cons to sit on.

Alleged Decepticon Military Genius.

Tidal Wave can also combine with Megatron (and the Galvatron redeco), with Tidal Wave's aircraft carrier and battleship clipping onto Megatron's arms and his troop transport clipping onto Megatron's back (after the turret has been positioned in Full Blast Mode configuration) as a jetpack.

The Takara and Hasbro versions are considerably different. Takara's "Shockwave" replaces all the green plastic with purple, darker grays, and several of the paint colors are altered. These changes were made to align the toy more closely to the cartoon's appearance, though they're not completely accurate.

• More information on Tidal Wave at TFU.info

Energon

Tidal Wave...Tidal Wave...Tidal Wave...

• Tidal Wave with Ramjet (Ultra, 2004)
  • Japanese ID number: SD-04
  • Accessories: Ramjet Mini-Con partner, 2 missiles

Tidal Wave's Armada toy was redecoed for the early part of Energon, with "energy" patterns resembling stylized lightning bolts painted across it. Several portions of his body were also cast in transparent green plastic. This was the result of his body being infused with Decepticon-energy energon, as in the series, he did not have his lightning "scars" until after he touched (and was injured) by raw energon.

The toy has also been very slightly retooled—the notches on the inside of his body that were originally designed to prevent the missiles from firing by giving the triggers a place to rest have been made larger so they now actually fulfill their original purpose.

Tidal Wave retains his ability to combine with Armada Megatron/Galvatron, as well as Universe Megazarak.

• More information on Energon Tidal Wave at TFU.info

He went from a boat to a ferry.

• Mirage (Mega, 2004)
  • Japanese ID number: SD-15
  • Accessories: 4 missiles

Mirage is an upgraded body for Tidal Wave, transforming into a sleek assault speedboat with multiple spring-loaded missile launchers, as well as fold-out wings for his "Hyper Mode". Something of a shellformer, Mirage's transformation sequence is one of the most complex for the Energon toy line, and as a side effect, he ends up with some obnoxiously large vehicle mode shell kibble. Some bad design and excessively tight knee joints means his lower legs will often detach from the upper thighs whenever one tries to bend his knees.

The initial releases of Mirage were one-per-case, and part of a wave that saw limited distribution due to a glut of early product on the shelves. However, Mirage was later put into "Mega-Buy" multi-packs at a buy-one-get-one-free price at numerous chains, including Toys 'R' Us and Wal-Mart, relieving much of the demand for the item.

This mold was also redecoed into Energon Dreadwing and BotCon 2009 Banzai-Tron.

• More information on Mirage at TFU.info

Notes

• Tidal Wave's use of his own name as a battle cry is not exclusive to the English stories; he likewise chants "Shock, Shock, Shock waaaaaaave" as he fights in Super Link. When he upgrades to Mirage ("Shockfleet" in Japan), his battle cry becomes "ShockShockShock!"
• In the English dub of the Armada cartoon, Tidal Wave is called by his Japanese name, Shockwave, several times. Of course, the English dub was notorious for not keeping names straight.
• An easter egg on the Playstation 2 game of Transformers is that, when he's in vehicle mode, you can enter a cavity where his robot mode head is stored. You can walk all over it and a glitch enables you to walk inside his head. He doesn't seem to mind.
• Mirage may have been originally intended as a separate character. Hasbro appears to have implied this is the case, saying that designing the toys before the show was completed led to "some characters not aligning together in the animation and toy expressions".