Shockwave (WFC)
| The name or term "Shockwave" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Shockwave (disambiguation). |
- Shockwave is a Decepticon from the Aligned continuity family.
Shockwave was a member of the scientist caste in the industrial city of Kaon. In a reversal of the usual order, he was swayed by the ambitions of the former mining caste member turned gladiator Megatron. Serving as Megatron's "pet mad scientist" and second-in-command, he saw to the fighter's armament during his rise to prominence, all the while fantasizing on the prospect of mass producing such warriors. Thankfully, Megatron's more practical nature reined in Shockwave as the movement which became the Decepticons finally moved out of the shadows.
Fiction
Aligned novels
Shockwave was a scientist who lived on the fringes of Cybertronian society, admitting to Orion Pax he knew little of Iacon. He was one of the scientists whose innovations allowed the mass production of stressed-crystal material used to build Crystal City. There he began his combiner experiments, creating Bruticus Maximus, whose lack of intelligence in combined form made him a danger to friend and foe, and he was put in stasis lock. Shockwave moved to Kaon, becoming a surgeon for the gladiators, where he met Megatronus. He continued his combination experiments with the three Insecticons, whom Megatronus bested in combat: it was in this match that the crowd chanted a shorter name for the gladiator, Megatron. Megatron recognized two things about Shockwave: that he was bereft of any morality or ethics, and that while he was his most loyal ally, he would turn on him one day.
During the Autobot-Decepticon war, Shockwave perfected his experiments with the Constructicons, creating a Devastator which was unleashed on Crystal City. Shockwave set up a laboratory in the ruins but was ordered to take command of the newly conquered city state Tarn. Autobot sympathizers became fodder for experiments, while Shockwave's forces conquered Vos. He quelled dissent in both cities by requesting Vos' Air Commanders photon missile strike Tarn, for which he claimed the Autobots were responsible, and then had a photon missile strike (of supposedly unknown origin) ordered on Vos, killing the Air Commanders whose true loyalty lay with Starscream.
When the Decepticons captured Trypticon Station, Shockwave oversaw two of Starscream's scientists ingest Dark Energon: the powerful result activated a security gyro-inhibitor charge which rendered Shockwave unconscious. Shockwave later subjected the two subjects to a deprivation study, and found it necessary to muzzle them as the duo agonized as a result of Dark Energon's absence in their bodies. Shockwave also used the Sparks of those killed in the capture to turn Trypticon into a Decepticon, able to spawn drones and Minicons in its corridors.
Shockwave remained on Cybertron in command of the Decepticons, while Megatron left with his elite soldiers on the Nemesis to pursue the Autobot Ark. Shockwave promised Megatron that Cybertron would remain as he left it, the notion of which Megatron chastised. He ordered Shockwave to rebuild Cybertron and enslave the remaining Autobots. Exodus
Prime cartoon
- Voice actor: David Sobolov (English)
While most of the population left Cybertron during the Great Exodus, Shockwave stayed behind. He spent his time building and scavenging technology, and managed to reverse-engineering space bridge technology. His efforts had come to fruition when Starscream, while delivering Energon to power the bridge, brought him an encrypted Autobot transmission along with two prisoners, Arcee and Cliffjumper. By using his own invention, the cortical psychic patch, on Arcee, Shockwave gained the codes to decrypt the transmission, revealing it to be a message from Optimus Prime calling the Autobots to Earth. He later found the two Autobots sabotaging the space bridge, and was buried in rubble during the ensuing fight. After he dug himself out, he followed them into the space bridge and was only stopped when Arcee hit his optical sensor. Shockwave was still inside the space bridge when it exploded, but Cliffjumper hoped he survived, as he wanted a rematch. Out of the Past
Shockwave appeared in a clip released a preview for season 3, so it appears that he survived. In said clip he's presenting a monster to the other Decepticons that even Megatron is frightened by.
Games
Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3)
- Voice actor: Steve Blum
Transformers: War for Cybertron
Transformers: War for Cybertron - Decepticons (DS)
- Voice actor: Steve Blum
Shockwave was at the Energon Purification zone when the Decepticons had used it for their stores of Energon. Shockwave challenged Megatron and his troops to a fight, saying if they beat him, he'd join their ranks. Shockwave was indeed defeated, and somewhat reluctantly joined the Decepticon ranks. Transformers: War for Cybertron
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
- Voice actor: Steve Blum
When Cybertron was beginning to shut down, Shockwave wanted to reboot it, but to do this, he needed an large energon supply. As he searched for one, he discovered an ancient technology in the Sea of Rust called Space Bridges. Using the observatories of the ancients that used to reisde in the Sea of Rust, Shockwave began searching for new planets that he could suck the life out of, and found one rich in raw energy. He also began experimenting on several Insecticons which had started coming onto the planet's surface, and took three unusually intelligent Insecticons, Hardshell, Kickback and Sharpshot, under his command. He later used them to capture five Autobots, whom he gave new forms based on the large reptiles he saw on the planet.
After Megatron was killed during siege on the Autobot's Ark, Starscream took command of the Decepticons. The two argued over the use of a lake of Energon near the Space Bridge tower, and though Shockwave attempted to convince him of its potential usefulness, Starscream simply wanted to drain the lake. When Cliffjumper and Jazz disrupted the fuel line leading to the tower, Shockwave unleashed an army of Insecticons upon them while he attempted to rectify the problem. He failed to do so, but luckily he had already built a replica tower in Kaon. Following Soundwave's resurrection of Megatron, Shockwave went to Kaon meet him and informed him of his discovery of the Space Bridge and the planet they could plunder. Megatron subsequently went to retrieve Trypticon's power core so that they could power a craft to get the there, while Shockwave went to finalize the completion of the tower.
Later, Starscream infiltrated Shockwave's facility and watched as Shockwave and his Insecticons tortured one of the Autobots he had experimented on, before he attempted to recruit Grimlock, which failed and resulted in the Autobot being freed. Shockwave decided to consider the breakout a test of Grimlock's new abilities, and monitored him closely as he fought his Insecticon minions, and proceeded to tear apart every one of them. Much later, Grimlock had attempted to attack Shockwave at the Space Bridge, but he was quickly restrained. Shockwave taunted Grimlock saying that he wouldn't create such a powerful weapon without a means to control it, calling him a pet, and contacted Megatron to let him know the tower was active and the portal was open. After Megatron assigned Shockwave to take charge of the Decepticons in his absence, Grimlock was enraged enough for him to transform into his Tyrannosaurus mode and attack Shockwave, tearing his right arm off and knocking him away with his tail. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Transformers On Your Street
Shockwave arrived on your street from space in jet mode. He fought Grimlock and landed a blow against him while you watched through your blinds. Grimlock retaliated by transforming into dinosaur mode, the sight of which sent Shockwave flying away. Transformers On Your Street
Commercial appearances
- Voice actor: Corey Burton
Megatron left Shockwave to handle an unknown battle when he arrived. Shockwave instructed Soundwave to transform into boombox mode and play The Touch! After a while, Starscream asked about Shockwave's choice of songs and was told once he got a higher hit percentage than Shockwave then he could choose a soundtrack. GameStop's commercial for their Shockwave multiplayer exclusive
Toys
Generations
"Acknowledged, Master Control."
"End of line."
- Shockwave (Deluxe, 2012)
- Series/number: 01/#003
- Accessories: Two-piece laser cannon
- Part of the first wave of 2012 Generations Deluxe Class toys, Shockwave is based on his War for Cybertron design, and transforms into a "Cybertronian mobile artillery" mode. The front center fuselage of the vehicle becomes a hand-held laser cannon which can be stored on his back, and undocumented in his instructions, can replace his hands by folding either one of them in, revealing a socket on his wrist that a tab underneath his cannon can mount to. As another undocumented feature, the cannon actually consists of two pieces, with a large y-shaped barrel that can be removed, revealing the sculpted ends of a triple-barreled gun. The y-shaped barrel part can also be stored on Shockwave's back, forming some sort of jet-pack exhaust.
- Shockwave features two examples of faux-parts: The undersides of his heels resemble the front end of the y-shaped barrel part, effectively serving as an extension of the barrel in vehicle mode, whereas a fake replica of the top end of his head (including his signature "ear" panels) is sculpted on the top side of his vehicle mode (which ends up on the underside of his backpack in robot mode).
- The figure has a "dramatic reveal" feature, where pressing the chest into place causes the head to pop up. The clasp used to hold the spring-loaded piece in place is fairly strong, and requires a small amount of force to latch if the head isn't pressed down before moving the chest assembly. Depending on the individual quality of the figure, this can cause the latch to wear out, and the spring is strong enough that the head will push the whole assembly out of place in vehicle mode if not properly retracted. As such, care should be taken on this step of conversion.
- This toy was repurposed as Generation 1 Shockwave in IDW Publishing's Robots in Disguise comics.
Prime
- Shockwave (Deluxe, 2012)
- Japanese ID number: AM-29
- Accessories: Gun, Arms Micron
- In Japan, Generations Shockwave is sold as part of the Prime toyline. He comes with a new accessory in the form of an as-of-yet unnamed Arms Micron partner.
Notes
- In the map of Cybertron from the "Binder of Revelation" included in Transformers Vault, Shockwave came from Tarn, which explains why he took control of it during the war.
- As noted above, Shockwave's model is usable in War for Cybertron multiplayer as the Retaliator-type chassis for Scientist-class characters. His parts are also available for Scientists in Fall of Cybertron, now classified as Defender-type components.
- Shockwave is usable in both the Autobot and Decepticon versions of the War for Cybertron games for the DS. He is used only for multiplayer, bonus missions and Arena mode in the Autobot version and used in Multiplayer, Arena mode, and campaign in the Decepticon version.
- In the XBOX 360/PS3 versions of War for Cybertron, Shockwave's left arm is his Plasma Cannon, but in the DS version, it's his right arm.
- The GameStop War for Cybertron commercial describes Shockwave as second-in-command of the Decepticons, and Starscream is never officially referred to as such.
- For said commercial, Shockwave was voiced by Corey Burton, voice actor of Generation 1 and Animated Shockwaves. He later lamented over a forum post that the performance was so rushed and the "gag" nature so out of character, that it hardly even sounded like him:
- "Two different sessions; and while they were awfully nice to work with, I have to say that the gag line was written and directed completely off-character. Since it was all supposed to be pretty "camp" anyway, and it had to be wedged-into a space that wasn't even there in the initial cut, I just went along with it. Figured it's just a silly bit of hype, that wasn't worth taking seriously enough to fuss over."
- The aforementioned commercial also indicates that Shockwave is evidently a fan of Stan Bush.
- According to his Transformers Hall of Fame bio, Shockwave's emotions sometimes get the better of him, leading to irrational behavior. He also hopes that one day his work will let him reformat all Cybertronians to a new form of existence- and ideally become ruler of Cybertron in the process. Looks like Megatron's hunch wasn't far off...
- Although Shockwave is a Jet in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, he's a ground vehicle in the DS Version. This is most probably because the mission he is unlocked in features his Autobot counterpart, Grimlock, a Heavy Ground vehicle. Shockwave's increasable stats are, however, those of a Flying Vehicle.
- His ship mode has more than a passing resemblance to Animated Lockdown's ship, Death's Head.
Foreign names
- Russian: Vzryvala (Взрывала, "Blaster")
