Spotlight: Soundwave

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File:Spotlight Soundwave a.jpg
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 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 watched and observed, relaying information back to Megatron as he did so. He noted that one of Shockwave's projects called Regenesis was of particular interest to Bludgeon. Bludgeon never mentioned it in his reports to Megatron, and by the same token neither did Soundwave. 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 with facsimiles by Bludgeon. Soundwave recorded their conversations, and learned that they had discovered Ultra-Energon below the construction site.

When the foremen 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. That night, Laserbeak "liberated" Soundwave from his "owner" and flew him to Bludgeon's base within Mount 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 told 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: for once, he remarks, he's working for the greatest good instead of his own! He loosed Ravage and Laserbeak, who took out Iguanus and Bomb-Burst but were easily dispatched by Bludgeon. Soundwave hesitated for a moment before remembering the apocalypse that was nearly perpetrated by Thunderwing and renewing his resolve. Unfortunately, that one moment was all it took: Iguanus recovered and blasted Soundwave with one of Shockwave's experimental weapons, overriding his transformation circuits and forcing Soundwave back into his alternate mode. Bludgeon remarked 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 erupted. A year later, Laserbeak and Ravage were extracted from Mt. St. Helens by an unknown team of humans. However, they didn't realize the true nature of the cassette deck buried amongst the rubble and Soundwave ultimately found his way to a pawn shop, where he was purchased by a teenager.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons Humans Facsimile constructs

Errors

Skywatch? More like Skydwarf.
  • Rob Ruffolo is credited as Rob Ruffalo; this seems to be a fairly common misspelling.
  • 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.


Items of note

  • 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.
  • 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".
  • The issue pays homage to some events in the cartoon, such as the term transformation cog and "The Autobot Run"—the episode where the Autobots were locked into their alternate modes.

Covers (4)

Let's see what you can see...

This article is in need of images.

Specifics: alternate covers
  • 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

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