Soundwave (Transformers)


Soundwave is a fictional character appearing in the various Transformers continuities in the Transformers robot superhero franchise. His most well-known transformation is that of a microcassette recorder. Throughout most of his incarnations, he is an undyingly loyal lieutenant of the Decepticon leader Megatron. He is Megatron's eyes and ears and, in some interpretations, only speaks when mocking the Autobots.

Transformers: Generation 1

Soundwave is one of the most recognizable characters from the original Transformers line, because of his alternate mode – a microcassette recorder – and his distinctive monotone, computerized voice.
Soundwave is able to detect and jam transmissions across the entire energy spectrum, a talent that makes him suited to his position as Decepticon Communications Officer. Additionally, he has a photographic memory thanks to the vast data storage capacity of the magnetic disks in his chest compartment, and he is armed with a shoulder-mounted laser cannon and hand-held concussion blaster. Soundwave is physically strong compared to most Transformers. His alternative form - which involves an apparent loss of mass - is that of an Earthly microcassette deck. Within the tape compartment, which becomes his chest in robot mode, he stores a variety of Decepticon spies, all of which take the alternative form of a microcassette. These spy characters include Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ratbat, Rumble, Frenzy, Slugfest, and Overkill, all of whom are under Soundwave's command in the original television series. Squawktalk and Beastbox were additional cassette characters under Soundwave's control in the US toyline, who were never shown in the cartoon.
Soundwave's cassettes are quick to serve and defend Soundwave in a crisis, and generally relate to him as servants or even pets. However, when his cassette Ratbat became leader of the Decepticons in the Marvel Comics series, Soundwave fully shifted his trademark loyalty from Megatron to him. In the Dreamwave comics, Ratbat led the Ultracons faction, while Soundwave remained with the Decepticons led by Shockwave, although within that continuity these events occurred before Ratbat took up a cassette form. In the IDW comics, on pre-war Cybertron Soundwave functioned as personal assistant to Ratbat, who was a Senator at the time, however Soundwave's true loyalty lay with Megatron. When the time came for him and Starscream to massacre the Senate, he enslaved Ratbat by bestowing the smaller, weaker cassette body upon him.

Reception

According to X-Entertainment Soundwave was the top Transformers figure of all time.

Animated series

In the original Transformers cartoon Soundwave was Megatron's right-hand mech, frequently sent on important reconnaissance missions with his cassettes, and often playing a key role in many schemes against the Autobots. On Cybertron, he used his ability to transform into a lamp-post to spy on the Autobot city of Iacon, learning of the Autobots' plan to search for energy on other worlds. Joining in Megatron's attack on the Autobots' craft, Soundwave fell to the same fate as the rest of the ship's occupants when the craft crashed on prehistoric Earth, entombing everyone within stasis. Immediately after the Transformers awakened on Earth in 1984, Soundwave played an essential role in the generation of energon cubes and the formation of plans for a new space cruiser to return the Decepticons to Cybertron.
Later, he used his mind-reading talents to acquire an antimatter formula for the Decepticons from the brain of Chip Chase. He and his cassette minions were often on spying missions against the Autobots.
One of Soundwave's most notable misadventures came in season 2 when, operating a plan conceived by Starscream, he brainwashed humans with ultrasonic vibrations, leading to a confrontation with his Autobot Communications Officer counterpart, Blaster, and to a lasting rivalry between the two.
Soundwave rarely displayed much emotion, infrequently exhibiting any traits that could be considered to be in line with his tech spec. However, he showed distress when one of his cassettes were hurt in battle, and he always came across as extremely loyal to Megatron, even going so far as to recover his body after beaten close to death by Optimus Prime at the battle of Autobot City in 2005. But while Soundwave was loyal, he was far from outspoken, and kept silent when Megatron's body was subsequently ejected into space, and although he did suggest himself as a replacement leader, Soundwave again loyally served Megatron when he was reformatted as Galvatron.
In season 3, although operating in a less prominent capacity for most of the time, Soundwave played a prominent role in Galvatron's attempt to learn the secret of a sonic weapon on the planet Eurythma, where sound and music were the way of life, leaving Soundwave entranced by the planet's perfect melodies. Recording each piece of the harmony that formed the devastating sonic effect, Soundwave was defeated when the Eurythmans countered the harmony with white noise, and was again pulled into a confrontation with Blaster, who erased his recordings.
Soundwave made his final appearance in the American cartoon series, the Season 3 finale The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 as he was only seen giving the latest piece of information gathered by Ratbat that two scientists had discovered of Optimus Prime's body which made Galvatron to destroy once and for all. Although Soundwave only appeared as a background character in the American cartoon series finale, the three-part The Rebirth, he returned to the forefront in the new Japanese-exclusive series, ', which was created to replace The Rebirth. Reborn as Soundblaster Soundwave's new toy incarnation was, like the series, available only in Japan.
In the ', Soundwave and Blaster's rivalry had increased dramatically. In the opening cut and thrust of Headmasters, Soundwave and Blaster engaged in their final clash in the Arctic Circle as the Autobots and Decepticons were in the process of searching for the missing Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The two opponents inflicted fatal damage to each other, and Soundwave's body exploded even as Blaster collapsed. Soundwave's fragments were recovered by his cassettes. Using reconstructive technology from the planet Master, the leader of the Decepticon Headmasters, Zarak successfully rebuilt and resurrected Soundwave and renamed him Soundblaster—essentially identical to his former self, except for his predominantly black color scheme. As Soundblaster, he served the same role as he had as Soundwave under the leadership of Galvatron and later Scorponok, frequently embarking on spying missions with Ratbat. In Headmaster his character was somewhat changed to have a father-son relationship with the cassettes, as it was hinted on his resurrection as 'Soundblaster'.
Soundwave was performed by Frank Welker, whose voice was heavily modulated by a vocoder to achieve Soundwave's distinctive, metallic monotone. However, Welker's voice was left unmodulated at certain points during the episodes "Roll for It" and "Webworld" due to production errors.

Books

Soundwave appeared in the following books:

3H Enterprises

He also appeared in the Furman written Reaching the Omega Point, as one of the Transformers legends who came to the aid of the forces of Optimus Primal against the Predacon/Unicron hybrid Shokaract, distracting him long enough for Primus to deal the fatal blow.

Devil's Due Publishing

In Devil's Due's run of G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comic book miniseries, Soundwave was among the Transformers captured by the ruthless terrorist Cobra Organization, when they discovered the Ark. Refitted by Destro, Soundwave was intended to become a battlefield communications station, but when he and the other Decepticons eventually broke free of their control he was damaged in a battle with the Autobots and his parts were captured by the US Government for study. From his data banks, the android SerpentO.R. downloaded information on the history of Cybertron, using it to further the Decepticon goal of conquest. It is indicated that his pre-Earth form was similar to his Dreamwave War Within form.

Dreamwave Productions

In Dreamwave's 21st century re-imagining of the Generation 1 continuity, Soundwave was recruited to the Decepticons 9 million years ago through Megatron's underground gladiatorial games, and made head of communications. When a new Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, was chosen, Soundwave was sent along with the Insecticons and Ravage, to attempt to kill him and recover the Autobot Matrix of Leadership for Megatron, but they failed, forcing Megatron to confront Optimus personally.
Even in the face of failures such as this, and later the loss of Megatron in an early space bridge experiment, Soundwave's loyalty to the Decepticon cause never wavered, as he remained true to the faction under Shockwave's leadership.
As in most other continuities, the story continues in the traditional manner, with Soundwave a member of the Nemesis crew who attacked the Ark and was sent into stasis when the craft crashed on Earth, awakening again in 1984. After years of fighting on Earth, eventually the combined forces of the Autobots and their human allies were able to defeat and capture the Decepticons. The intent was for the Autobots to take their enemies back to Cybertron aboard a new craft named the Ark II, but just as the ship cleared the atmosphere, it exploded, the victim of machinations by Shockwave, who did not want Prime and Megatron to return to Cybertron yet.
Soundwave's body crashed back to Earth in the Arctic, where he lay inactive for several years, until rogue military scientist Adam Rook, calling himself "Lazarus," recovered and reactivated him, putting him under his control with a program he had developed while studying the Transformers before their explosive departure. Several other Autobots and Decepticons fell to the same fate, and were to be sold on the black market—Soundwave himself was put on display by being sent to attack the Smitco Oil Refinery alongside several other Transformers—but when Megatron liberated himself, Soundwave was soon freed by his leader and assumed his position at his side.
When Shockwave arranged for the capture and extradition of Prime and Megatron's forces as war criminals, Soundwave was among the captives, but when Starscream jettisoned Megatron into space on the return trip to Cybertron, Soundwave made the best of a bad lot and teamed with Starscream to return to Earth and conquer it, being reunited with Ratbat in the process. Heading back to Earth in a kidnapped Sky Lynx and with the Combaticons now added to their ranks, the Decepticons attacked the Ark in hopes of acquiring parts to make the Nemesis spaceworthy again, however Soundwave, Skywarp and Thundercracker were defeated and thrown in the Ark's brig. When the Combaticons, combined as Bruticus, laid into the vessel, they were freed.
It was not much later that the surviving Megatron made contact with Soundwave from space, and Soundwave was all too willing to return to his service, setting up Starscream to fall before Megatron when he returned. And return, Megatron did—but the bankruptcy and subsequent closure of Dreamwave left the rest of the story untold.
Soundwave also appeared in the Dreamwave Transformers/G.I. Joe series as one of the Decepticons uncovered by Cobra at the start of the World War II. Transforming into a radio, he was deactivated at the series' close by Grimlock. Although Dreamwave's collapse precluded the completion of the second series, released art and information revealed that Soundwave would have been involved in the conclusion of that series.

Fun Publications

Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story. Megatron survived the crash of the Ark on Earth, reformatted himself into a new form and now leads Astrotrain, Laserbeak, Ramjet, Ravage, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream and the Constructicons. Optimus Prime has also returned to Earth commanding Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Jetfire, Mirage and Rodimus. When the Cybertronians Skyfall and Landquake arrive on Earth unexpectedly Megatron attempts to destroy them, but Optimus Prime and his Autobots are able to drive Megatron away.
Soundwave was among Megatron's troops when Megatron defeated Deathsaurus in combat for leadership of the Decepticons and when Megatron attacked Iacon with his new weapon, Devastator.

IDW Publishing

Soundwave's first chronological appearance in the rebooted IDW Publishing Generation One universe was in the prequel miniseries, '. In the story, Soundwave works for Senator Ratbat, who takes an interest in the rising gladiator, Megatron. Ratbat sends Soundwave to offer weaponry to Megatron and his followers. Soundwave also assists Megatron with the interrogation of Autobot soldier, Bumper. Soundwave is later jailed along with Megatron and other when Sentinel Prime's forces capture them, but is released by Ratbat. When Megatron's plan is sprung, Soundwave helps Starscream massacre the Autobot Senate. He later confronts Ratbat and forcibly extracts his Spark for implantation in one of his Cassette bodies. Soundwave's alternate mode appears to be a communication vehicle with tank treads.
Sometime later, Soundwave was part of the conference of scientists called by Thunderwing in ', where he refuses to accept Thunderwing's findings that Cybertron was dying. In around the same time period he had Beachcomber captured and implanted with a cerebro-shell, having the unwilling traitor eject his opposite number Blaster into space in order to demoralize the Autobots prior to a Decepticon offensive.
Soundwave's story was later continued in his own ' one-shot, where he was a self-serving and duplicitous Decepticon internal affairs agent. Soundwave was dispatched by Megatron to keep an eye on Bludgeon's investigation of Shockwave's lab. However, he kept quiet about Bludgeon's obsession with the Regenesis project, thinking he could turn it to his advantage. Following him to Earth in 1984, Soundwave monitored Bludgeon's attempts to harvest Ultra Energon and confronted him after he'd acquired it. Horrified to discover they were not planning to use it in a power-play but instead to reanimate Thunderwing, Soundwave attempted to stop them but was trapped in stasis-lock in cassette player mode. It was revealed in the epilogue that two young humans considered buying him at a pawn shop in 2007.
In ' #1, Optimus stated there was evidence that Soundwave had been present in Earth's history. Despite this, he did not reappear until issue #4 of ', where, still trapped in cassette player mode, he interfered with Skywatch's control of Laserbeak and Ravage.
Soundwave also appeared as one of the Decepticon forces, serving under Starscream in the out-of-continuity ' tale "Hearts of Steel". He appeared as one of Starscream's lieutenants. He was presumably destroyed when John Henry and Bumblebee diverted the Decepticon train convoy into a chasm.

Marvel Comics

Like much of the original 1984 cast of Decepticons, Soundwave played a much smaller role in the Marvel book series than he did in the cartoon. He quietly and efficiently served loyally, first under Megatron, then under Shockwave, attacking an aerospace construction plant whose facilities were used to build the Constructicons, who then built a massive radio dish that Soundwave used to beam a message back to Cybertron.
Continuing to operate under Shockwave, Soundwave then moved to serving Ratbat, and co-led the defense of Buenos Aires against the Underbase-empowered Starscream alongside Fortress Maximus, only to wind up deactivated by the villain.
Unlike many of the others deactivated by Starscream, Soundwave would appear again, under Scorponok's command. Throughout the U.S. comic, Soundwave was colored purple instead of his more trademark blue, and additionally was frequently drawn with a visible mouth.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in the UK, a sister title to the American series was also in production. It reprinted the American stories, but as it was released on a weekly schedule, it soon began to run out of material to reprint. It opted to create its own original stories at that point, which deftly weaved in and out of the ongoing American storyline. Under writer Simon Furman, Soundwave—coloured-blue was a fairly major player, portrayed in a manner much more consistent with his profile - that of a manipulator and blackmailer, reading others' minds and using their secrets to his own ends, always working towards his own goals.
When Megatron and Shockwave were both briefly believed deceased, he assumed leadership of the Decepticons during Optimus Prime's Crisis of Command and then the Dinobot Hunt story arcs, manipulating events to weaken the Autobot leadership and cause maximum casualties. When the two commanders returned and vied for leadership of the Decepticons, he turned the situation to his own advantage by working both sides of the field. He also enjoyed a rare victory in this period when he, Dirge and Kickback took over a NASA complex in an attempt to contact Cybertron with the facility's deep space radio equipment. The Autobots arrived, but a series of miscommunications between Prowl and Jetfire resulted in the transmission being sent, allowing the Decepticons to claim victory.
Towards the end of the UK series, a storyline began which separated from the regular ongoing American continuity, covering the exploits of the proactive Autobot Earthforce. In these stories, Soundwave sold Decepticon secrets to both the Autobots and Shockwave's group of Decepticons. Wildrider was blamed for this intelligence leak, and Soundwave silently allowed him to be killed rather than be discovered. After Starscream successfully removed Megatron and Shockwave from power, he and Soundwave entered into joint leadership of the Decepticons.
Issue #279 of the Marvel UK Transformers comic featured a story called "Divide and Conquor!" where Soundwave lead the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Earth against the Autobot Earthforce headquarters while Starscream attacked an oil tanker. Sent into battle by Prowl, the Dinobots routed the main Decepticon forces while Springer lead the Autobot Survivors, Broadside, Inferno, Skids, and Carnivac to defeat Starscream.
Soundwave attained leadership of the Decepticons in the future world of 2008, following the death of Shockwave. Soundwave led his era's Decepticons back to 1989 to participate in the Time Wars when the fabric of reality began to crumble, but as the conflict came to a head they fled back to their own time. Since it was later established that the damage done to the time stream may have resulted in their future being erased from the timeline, the final fate of the future Soundwave is unknown.
Soundwave returned to the pages of the US Transformers comic books for the relaunch of the series as '. He participated in the Decepticon attack on Earth, and oversaw the reconstruction of the damaged Darkwing into a new, more powerful form.
Like many of the other Generation 1 Decepticons, Soundwave seemed to return to a command position on Megatron's return.
Soundwave made an appearance in the Decepticon forces under the command of Megatron in issue #7 of the Marvel Generation 2 comic series, in a story called "New Dawn." Megatron lead his Decepticons against Jhiaxus' second generation Cybertronians near the moon of Tykos. The Decepticons were defeated and Megatron left injured, presumed dead, but swearing revenge.
He was aboard the Warworld when Jhiaxus' forces attacked, but managed to evacuate. His fate within the Generation 2 comic series beyond this point is unknown.
Soundwave would also play a brief but important role in the text-only novel, Alignment, writer Simon Furman's take on what happened after the ' comic series ended. He was the one who recovered Megatron's broken body after his duel with Galvatron. Subsequently, he was the ringleader of the conspirators who gave some of their spark energy to resurrect Megatron in a more powerful body, allowing him to defeat the forces of the Liege Maximo. After Megatron executes the Decepticon High Council save Shrapnel, Soundwave once again acted as Megatron's second in command and coordinated the strike against the Maximo with Ultra Magnus. His fate beyond this is unknown, save for a brief cameo in Beast Machines.
Soundwave as depicted in the Marvel Universe tends to be the most intellectual and philosophical of the Decepticons. He is appalled by the barbarity of Megatron and Shockwave battling in hand-to-hand combat for leadership of the Decepticons, especially as the entire spectacle is being broadcast on live television for human entertainment by Robo-Master. When the future Autobots and Decepticons join forces and repel an alien invasion of Cybertron he begins to propose a lasting truce to Ultra Magnus but stops himself, observing that too much has occurred between the 2 factions and their differences are irreconcilable.

TFcon comics

Soundwave appeared in the TFcon 2009 voice actor play Bee for, Bee now.

Other appearances

A parody of the Generation 1 Transformers was aired in the December 23rd 2008 episode of Frank TV, called "Frank the Halls". In the story, Optimus Prime and his Autobots battle Megatron and his Decepticons when Optimus runs out of gas. Optimus becomes enraged at the price of gas, steals the fuel from the annoying hybrid Autobot Prius Maximus, then joins the Decepticons in destroying the city.
Soundwave appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Toy Meets Girl" voiced by Seth Green. He is portrayed as having retired from the Decepticon army and obtained honest employment as a transformable portable toilet. Frank Welker reprises his role of Soundwave when he appears again in another Robot Chicken episode "Werewolf vs. Unicorn" where in the current years it's revealed that because the audio cassette tape and cassette players have long become obsolete and therefore no longer widely used, that his spy tactics now do not work. He is later found by Megatron and Shockwave to be on sale on eBay with options to place a bid for 500 dollars or "Buy it now" for 1000 dollars, whereupon Shockwave exclaims "Request permission to buy it now!" The Commemorative Soundwave figure was used in "Werewolf vs. Unicorn."
Soundwave made a cameo appearance in the Family Guy episode "The Courtship of Stewie's Father" as Peter's new supervisor. In it, Soundwave releases a framed photograph from his cassette deck cavity, of himself and a human woman named Denise, who Soundwave proclaims is his wife, whom he met in a Christian chat room. Soundwave also appears in the Sealab 2021 episode "Hail, Squishface" as a toy on an Asian girl's cart, who sells Capt. Murphy Gloop, from the show The Herculoids.
A music video featuring Soundwave and a robot similar to Rumble and Frenzy named Lazer breakdancing has surfaced throughout the Internet since 2000. The video contains audio clips from both the animated series and alongside music.
In 2007, shortly before the release of the live-action Transformers film, Soundwave appeared in the viral comedy short "Soundwave: The Touch."

Toys

A character named Soundwave—but with no relation to the original character—was released as part of the Beast Wars Mutants sub-line in 2000. As a Mutant, this Soundwave transforms from bat to alligator, with no humanoid mode. Due to his in-built radar in bat mode, and crushing jaws in alligator mode, he excels at a variety of missions. However, due to his situation, Soundwave is a dark and bitter character. He has an ultra-sensitive internal radar in bat mode, and in alligator mode, his tail can send seismic shockwaves through the ground.

IDW Publishing

This version of Soundwave also appeared in IDW Publishing's miniseries. Activated on Earth by Magmatron and a group of Predacons from the future, Soundwave and the mutants emerged from their stasis pods and took up residence in a swamp that they quickly made their own. When a group newly activated Predacons led by Transquito ventured through the swamp on a mission they were attacked by the Mutants. Poison Bite attacked Retrax, Soundwave attacked Powerpinch and Icebird attacked Transquito. Deciding the swamp was not worth their lives, Scourge and Insecticon fled. However, in "The Ascending" it is revealed that Powerpinch, Transquito and Retrax survived.
IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook series identifies the mutant Soundwave as a former warrior who may have been a veteran of the Great War, though the details are ambiguous at best. Sourcebook #4 states that Soundwave became an actor/entertainer after the ratification of the Pax Cybertronia, developing a "dramatic flair in everything from his movements to his speech paterns".

3H Enterprises

In Transformers: Universe - The Wreckers the Mutants traveled to Cybertron and sought the guidance of the Oracle computer, seeking a cure for their condition. What they did not know is that the Oracle was under the influence of the Quintessons. The Mutants were sent to the outer Orion Cluster. Once there they were captured by the Quintessons, found in contempt by the five-faced aliens, and destroyed in an attack by a swarm of Sharkticons.

Toys

In ', Soundwave's origins are greatly altered. While in the original G1 continuity, he was a native of Cybertron like Megatron and Starscream, this incarnation of Soundwave is the second Transformer from the mysterious Planet X. This is also the first incarnation to have an actual vehicle mode. He transforms into a Planet X Jet and is partnered with a smaller robot called Laserbeak '. In the English dub of this series, he has a synthesized voice, albeit more human than his G1 counterpart, which is counterbalanced by his tendency to speak like a modern disc jockey—using terms like "He got served" and "Peace out, bots" and calling the battlefield, "The Floor", giving him more of a personality than his normally emotionless G1 counterpart.
The package bio for Soundwave mentions that Planet X itself may be a total deception, and that it is actually a term the agents use to refer to their service to Unicron. Although he and Sideways are the survivors of a dead civilization, they actually serve Unicron throughout space and time as his heralds in taking over new worlds to replace his loss of previous forms.
Soundwave is armed with two cannons, and can hide himself behind holograms when working in conjunction with Laserbeak.

Animated series

Soundwave first makes his appearance in the episode Titan, offering to lead Megatron and his minions to the planet Gigantion, however in a scene featuring Sideways and Starscream aboard the Atlantis a purple cassette player with the Decepticon symbol is on board playing music to ease the tension between the two evil robots. It is not clear if this is Soundwave or not, but it is interesting that he appeared in "Titan" just a few episodes later. In his first encounter with the Autobots he fought Optimus Prime and Wing Saber in their Sonic Wing mode and was able to hold his own in combat until Megatron was defeated by Metroplex and the Decepticons retreated.
Shortly after they arrived on Gigantion and there Megatron was upgraded into Galvatron, Soundwave abandoned the Decepticons, and joined up with his counterpart, Sideways. During a battle with the Autobot Cybertron Defense Team, he revealed the history of his world, and how they desired the Cyber Planet Keys to get revenge on the inhabitants of Gigantion.
Later, he and Sideways attempted to intervene in the epic battle between Galvatron and Starscream in order to claim the Planet Keys and Omega Lock, only to be sent into another universe by the distortion caused by the two fighters' conflict.
However, Soundwave would appear later, when Starscream reached out to Galvatron across dimensions, seemingly trapped along with him and Sideways. However, Starscream seemed to have returned by the series' end, while Soundwave and Sideways were shown to have found a dimension where Planet X still existed.
Soundwave is the only major transformer in the series who never summons his Cyber Key. In his toy version, his Cyber Key opens his chest compartment to store Laserbeak or one of his two cannons. In his first appearance to the Autobots, Soundwave demonstrates the ability to do this without the aid of a Cyber Key.
G1 Soundwave makes a cameo appearance in the animated series as a blue boombox that Sideways used to hear music.

Fun Publications

The Cybertron incarnation of Soundwave was among the characters to appear in the comic strip published exclusively through the Transformers Collectors Club, arriving on the planet itself to observe Vector Prime, Sentinel Maximus and Omega Prime after their defeat of Unicron's heralds, Nemesis Prime and Ramjet, and capture of the Dead Matrix. Dispatching Laserbeak to recover the Dead Matrix from its place in storage, Soundwave threw the talisman into the black hole that had been created by the collapse of Unicron, allowing the Chaos Bringer's Spark to escape and infiltrate the planet Yst, which he corrupted and transformed into his new body. Soundwave would link up with his master, and watch the unfolding carnage of a Mini-Con civil war. However, when Unicron chose that moment to attack, Soundwave was attacked by several Mini-Cons, including Scythe and Perceptor. Unable to hit the smaller Mini-Cons, Soundwave fled with Unicron when Primus awoke.

Toys

Films

In Revenge of the Fallen, Soundwave spends his time hovering above Earth in orbit. He receives a message from Wheelie about Mikaela Banes possessing a shard of the Allspark and orders him to retrieve it. Docking onto a satellite and hacking it, Soundwave intercepts information on the location of Megatron's corpse and the Allspark shard. He deploy his servant Ravage to retrieve the shard and sent the Constructicons to rendezevous at Megatron's resting place. After the death of Optimus Prime, Soundwave carried out Megatron's orders to prepare the Decepticons for the invasion of Earth. While coordinating attacks, Soundwave located Sam Witwicky's parents in Paris, France, and called Judy Witwicky via her cell phone. He demanded she tell him where Sam was, but Judy did not take him seriously, believing him to be a pervert caller, and hung up. He later intercepted calls from the Egyptian government on Sam's location, and informed the other Decepticons. Soundwave did not take part in the last battle, although Ravage did and was killed by Bumblebee.
Frank Welker returned to reprise his role as Soundwave in this movie, and the film following after. but unlike his G1 counterpart, his voice was not vocoded, which the character was well known for.
In Dark of the Moon, Soundwave is revealed to have been on Earth since the 1970s. He discovered the Autobot spaceship, the Ark on the Moon, and forcibly recruited various human servants from the U.S. and Russian space agencies to prevent further exploration of it following the initial Moon landings, while he ordered an army of Decepticons to steal most of the pillars onboard and hide under the moon's surface. In the modern day he appears at Megatron's base in Africa, where he and Laserbeak report the Autobot's recovery of Sentinel Prime and the remaining pillars from the crashed Ark. Megatron praises Soundwave's initiative in the decades-long plan and orders Laserbeak to kill their human allies. The only human ally they don't kill, Dylan Gould, has Soundwave disguise himself as a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG that belonged to Sam's girlfriend, Carly, in order to get close to the Autobots. He reveals himself and captures Carly once the two humans learn of Gould's alliance with the Decepticons, and threatens her in order to convince Sam to discover the Autobot's plans. During the battle in Chicago, Soundwave and Barricade lead several Decepticons in capturing some of the Autobots. Gould convinces Soundwave not to take prisoners, and Soundwave orders the others to execute their "trophies". Once Que is dead, Soundwave prepares to kill Bumblebee himself, but a Decepticon battle-cruiser hijacked by Wheelie and Brains drops fighters near Soundwave, distracting him and allowing the Autobots to fight back. Bumblebee attacks Soundwave who tries to shoot him, but is confused among the crushing ships and shoots the other Decepticons. He throws Bumblebee, but Bumblebee then slays Soundwave by sticking his cannon into Soundwave's chest and shooting upwards. This causes Soundwave's head to disintegrate, killing him instantly.
In Bumblebee, Soundwave is seen on Cybertron along with Shockwave and Starscream commanding the decepticons in the war against the Autobots. He apparently manages to capture Optimus Prime with the help of a small army and Ravage and then Prime escapes from them.

Creation and development

Almost from the moment the live action Transformers movie was announced in 2007, producer Don Murphy and the production team made it clear they did not want to feature mass/size shifting in transformation, due to concerns over realism. With this process an inherent part of Soundwave's tape deck alternate mode, there was some discussion over whether or not to change it due to its obsolescence, or to include the character in the film at all. It was announced by Hasbro at SDCC 2004 that movie Soundwave would be a helicopter. Early leaked movie scripts proposed that his alternate mode would be a helicopter, but animatics shown at the 2005 Comic Con were poorly received. This led to a rethink, with the eventual helicopter character rechristened as Vortex, then finally Blackout. 2006 script reviews named Soundwave as a spying boombox on Air Force One, able to transform into a small robot, but eventually, this character was amended to being Frenzy, with Don Murphy stating that Soundwave will be reserved for a future sequel, until they can "do him right". When the film was released on DVD a special on-line content from Best Buy showed early animation footage of Blackout as a blue helicopter with a head that resembled Soundwave.
In a USA Today online fan poll, Soundwave was one of the 10 Transformers that the fans wanted in the sequel, winning with 20% of the votes.
Soundwave appears in '. Soundwave is a satellite in the film, and he is also a Triple changer as he has the form of a Cybertronian jet as well. Soundwave is not seen in his robot form in the film. Frank Welker reprised his voicing role, and used his Doctor Claw voice from Inspector Gadget, which, when run through a vocoder, gives Soundwave his unique voice from the original animated series. The lack of this vocoder in the 2009 film left the voice sounding more like Doctor Claw than the original Soundwave. He has his minion Ravage to do his bidding in the film.
Soundwave also appears in ', this time transforming into a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and with Laserbeak to serve him. Soundwave is armed with sonic cannons.
His Hasbro Battle Bio states that he is 22 feet tall and that his main weapons are sonic cannons which can only be used in the atmosphere, as sound waves will not travel in vacuum.
Soundwave also makes a brief appearance in the movie Bumblebee. His appearance closely matches his G1 counterpart and appears alongside Shockwave and Starscream. He is voiced by Jon Bailey, who also voices Shockwave in the film.

Other media

Comic books

In issue #4 of Transformers: Defiance, it is revealed that the reason for Soundwave to have believed to have been dead is because he was on the Decepticons ship that The Fallen was commanding, and that all of its crew were missing by the time Megatron noticed the emergency signal emitting from the ship while he was chasing the Allspark.
Soundwave first appeared in issue #2 of where he arrived at the crash site of the Nemesis on Mars. There he found Dreadwing's head, as well as the body of Frenzy, then contacted Starscream and told him to rally to his signal. Starscream was surprised to hear from Soundwave, as he had been believed dead for years. Soundwave deployed a number of his forces on Earth, leaving others on his ship.
In Tales of the Fallen #5 Soundwave, still in orbit after the events of the 2009 film, notices someone has reactivated Ravage.
Soundwave appears in Transformers: Nefarious #1, set months after the events of the 2009 film. Bumblebee, Breakaway, Jolt, Knock Out and Dune Runner are sent to investigate spark fragments detected at Kingdom Petrochemicals. Arriving first Breakaway is warned by Soundwave to leave, but unwilling to give in the Autobot is swiftly defeated. Bumblebee and his team fire on Soundwave, who escapes. In "Nefarious" #2, Soundwave sent Dirt Boss, Reverb, and Brakedown to Wendover, Utah to find an "Initiative" facility. Soundwave then contacted Ravage in order to discover how he was resurrected. Then, he proceeded to assist Reverb, Dirt Boss, and Brakedown, in a fight with the Autobots. After a battle with Optimus Prime, Soundwave convinces the Autobot leader to join forces temporarily, in order to find "the Initiative".

Novels

In the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen coloring book Soundwave is depicted hacking into a military satellite.

Television

In Cyber Missions #1, Soundwave successfully infiltrates the NEST command base, which is guarded by Bumblebee. Soundwave transforms and smashes the screen projecting Optimus Prime and engages the Autobot. Bumblebee fires a shot, but Soundwave sends it back to Bumblebee as a sonic boom. Bumblebee then fires several more rounds with Soundwave frantically trying to absorb all the bullets, but is finally blown backwards. In Cyber Missions #2, Bumblebee trapped Soundwave in a vacuum-sealed electromagnetic bubble, rendering his abilities useless.

Video games

Like the movie, Soundwave coordinates the mission to the playable Decepticon. His voice is now a similar Vocoder fashion of his G1 counterpart.
In Dark of the Moon, Soundwave is a playable character. He is ordered by Megatron to destroy a Sector 7 nest base that contains information about Sentinel Prime. Soundwave is among the Decepticons that greet Shockwave at the end of the game in South Africa. He shows Shockwave a 3D hologram of Chernobly and the artifact he must recover. He transforms into a Modified white SUV similar to a Cadillac SRX
In the Nintendo DS game ', Grindor, Sideways, Soundwave and Starscream greet a new Decepticon protoform and send him on a mission. Soundwave directs the new protoform to survive on Earth.
In the downloadable content pack for the Xbox 360 and PS3, Soundwave is confirmed to be a playable character. He is probably based on the Deluxe toy.
In ' for the Wii and 3DS Soundwave is a playable character, and transforms into a heavily modified Cadillac SRX
In , Soundwave is a playable character taking the alternate form of a cybertronian truck. He is playable in levels 3, 4 and 5 of the decepticon campaign and is a boss that players have to fight in the autobot level 2. Like all characters within the game he is playable in escalation mode, and players have to have their decepticon leader look like him in multiplayer mode. In the game his default weapon is a neutron assault rifle, although he does have an energon repair ray in level 5 of the decepticon campaign.

Toys

Soundwave appears in Transformers Animated as a modular music-based Decepticon, who specializes in sonic interference. Whilst his robot mode still retains elements of his original tapedeck incarnation, more so in his toy form, his alt-mode is now a loudspeaker-equipped Scion xB. He also possesses two supporters: Laserbeak, who transforms into an electric guitar he uses for a sonic boom attack, and Ratbat, which becomes a keytar for use in sonic hypnosis. His voice, now provided by Jeff Bennett in the United States and Nobuo Tobita in Japan, once again requires a vocoder to create Soundwave's trademark robotic monotone voice.

Animated series

Soundwave was originally a simple robotic toy that Sari got for her birthday, built by Megatron as a part of a plan to take advantage of Sari's careless and repeated use of her Allspark key to continuously upgrade the toy until it serves as a suitable body for Megatron to host. However, the excessive usage of the key to enhance Soundwave caused an unexpected side-effect: Developing almost Cybertronian sophistication at an alarmingly increasing rate to the point of becoming self-aware to the point where he refuses to take orders from Sari any more. It was by observing the common labor-robots in the city that he concluded that not only robots are superior to humans in every way, but that it's illogical that robots are forced to succumb to their human masters, and it should be the other way around. By then, Megatron introduced himself to Soundwave through televisions in a nearby electronics store as his creator "of sorts" to impose unto him his plan to crush the Autobots. At first, Soundwave declared this illogical to fight robot-kind until Megatron insisted that they were traitors that upheld the human race's slavery of all robot-kind, convincing Soundwave to ultimately side with the Decepticons with the intent to overthrow all humans and obliterate the robots that protect them. He used his technology-manipulating speakers to summon all nearby labor-robots to convert them into his new Transformer body while using his stereo-system to spark a robot-revolution against their "human-oppressors." All automated forms of public transportation stopped and the city's labor robots jumped the Autobots when they appeared on the scene. After failing to convince Bulkhead into joining him and killing Sari in the name of all robot-kind, it appeared that Bulkhead destroyed Soundwave with a single blow of his powerful wrecking-ball arm, shattering his body into hundreds of pieces. However, unknown to the Autobot, his core survived, in the form of a small, almost-invisible media player.
Soundwave regenerated at Christmas time as ex-Sumdac Systems Vice President Porter C. Powell, who had acquired Soundwave's original patents while he was in charge of the company, was distributing multiple Soundwave toys during the Christmas season. Soundwave managed to reprogram some of the toys, using one of them to spike the Autobots' oil nog. With the Autobots now sedated and out of commission, Soundwave proceeded to take them to the basement where he attempted to brainwash them into taking on his ideology as Decepticons by placing them in a virtual program in human form. However, the plan was briefly halted by the attempted intervention of Sari as well as the Autobots learning the truth of where they are. Soundwave had a backup plan, using Laserbeak to force Sari into a retreat, then using Ratbat in keytar mode to complete the Autobots' reformat. Soundwave succeeded in placing the Autobots under his control, and used the numerous toy replicas of himself to take control of the humans in Detroit. However, since Sari was techno-organic, she was immune to the mind-control waves. Soundwave was defeated when Sari recruited the help of Scrapper, Snarl and Wreck-Gar to fight the brainwashed Autobots, and was smashed apart along with Ratbat by Optimus using Laserbeak's guitar mode as a makeshift axe. Though Soundwave's core still remained intact, it was eventually turned off by Sari before being rescued by Laserbeak. It is unknown what became of Soundwave after that.

Toys

This Soundwave is an alternate good version of the Generation 1 character from the BotCon exclusive "Shattered Glass" comic, in which the Decepticons are on the side of good and the Autobots on the side of evil. His appearance is based on the white music label Soundwave MP3 player, while Buzzsaw seems to be based on Steeljaw in appearance.

Fun Publications

Soundwave first appears as a member of Megatron's forces in the Transformers: Timelines story "Shattered Glass" story by Fun Publications. He helps in the attack on the Autobot's Ark launching platform, working with Buzzsaw.
Soundwave makes a cameo in the fiction "Dungeons & Dinobots", a text based story. When the Autobots are gaining the advantage in an attack on the Arch-Ayr fuel dump he calls in the Mayhem Suppression Squad to help the Decepticons.
Soundwave appears in the story "Do Over". He is among the crew of the Nemesis, which follows the Autobot's Ark to Earth. When the ship is damaged in battle with the Ark he escapes in a stasis pod to Earth.
Soundwave is spotlighted in the story The Desert Heat!. In this story, having crashed to Earth in an escape pod, Heatwave recovers Soundwave and helps his fellow Decepticon get back online and assume an Earth-style alternate mode.
Soundwave appears in the story Eye in the Sky. Cliffjumper, Crasher, Frenzy, Heatwave, Ravage and Soundwave are sent on a mission to Burpleson Air Force Base to stop the Autobots from controlling the GODS defense system. Heatwave uses his powers to convince the GODS transmitter to fire the weapon on itself and stop the Autobots from taking control.
Soundwave is spotlighted in the story Blitzwing Bop. The Elite Guardsman Thunderwing intercepts a radio signal from Earth which mentions Soundwave. Finding Soundwave is wanted for a minor offense from long ago he heads to Earth. Thunderwing finds Soundwave involved in a battle the Autobot Blaster for the possession of the malfunctioning Decepticon Blitzwing. Although not interested in the dispute, Soundwave convinces Thunderwing that Soundwave cannot leave Earth for trial on Cybertron until his commanding officer can be notified, and the only way to get Starscream online is to rescue Blitzwing. Thunderwing is still unwilling to takes sides in the battle against Blaster, merely following the Decepticon, but Soundwave tricks Blaster into mentioning a crime he committed on Cybertron while Thunderwing is in nearby. Thunderwing immediately goes into arrest mode and tries to capture Blaster, but Blaster escapes in a malfunctioning Stellar Spanner. With Starscream back online Soundwave confesses to his minor crimes and Thunderwing passes a sentence of community service on him.

Toys

An official toy exists, as part of the SG Blaster Vs SG Soundwave box-set, and is a repaint of the G1 Soundblaster toy. In addition, the white Music Label Soundwave figure matches his colors almost exactly, save for the Decepticon symbol on his chest, and has been officially repurposed as one of this character's forms.
Soundwave was a gladiator around the same time as Megatron. He has many pet Mini-Cons who work for him, particularly Laserbeak.
Soundwave is one of the main group of Decepticons in the 2011 computer animated series . Unlike his previous incarnations, Soundwave chooses not to speak with his own voice, but instead records archive audio and video from other sources and repeats it when needed, displaying it on his face, which is composed entirely of an electronic screen. The fact that Soundwave does not speak by choice is indicated in an interview with producer Jeff Kline. He is armed with two cables that extend from his chest that have an electrical appendage on each end that have a variety of uses, and he has integrated ground bridge/space bridge controls. He is rarely seen in combat, spending most of his time supporting the Decepticons as communications officer and technical specialist, but has shown himself to be a very proficient fighter when circumstances demand it, displaying not only extraordinary fighting skills, but also the expert use of Laserbeak, his electric cables, and even his ground bridge/space bridge controls as effective weapons against his enemies.
When Soundwave speaks in Prime, he sounds like his G1 counterpart, only with his voice distortion slightly less enhanced, thus sounding more human than robotic. In Robots in Disguise they return to using the same voice distortion they used in the G1 show. Frank Welker reprises his role as Soundwave in this continuity.

Prime series

In the Darkness Rising 5 part mini-series, Soundwave detects the presence of Arcee, so Starscream sends a pair of Decepticons to attack her. Later, Soundwave detects a signal from deep space, which he is certain is Megatron, so the Space Bridge is opened, and Megatron returns. Later, Soundwave deploys Laserbeak at Starscream's orders to capture Fowler in order to locate the Autobot base. He is later assigned to highjack an Earth bond radio telescope array to location of Cybertron, as part Megatron's plan to use their Space Bridge to transport Dark Energon to Cybertron. However the Autobot's young human allies figure out the Decepticons have highjacked the array and go to the array to shut it down. The young computer wiz Raf hacks into the array computer system, and Soundwave attacks them. He cuts the array's main line locking the dishes in place. While preparing to leave, the Autobots human ally Miko takes a picture of Soundwave with her cell phone, Soundwave responds to this by taking a picture of Jack, Miko, and Raf.
Soundwave is well aware of Starscream's treachery against Megatron, and on several occasions saved Megatron from his treacherous lieutenant. In "Masters & Students", Soundwave sent Laserbeak to make sure that Starscream retrieved the incapacitated Megatron from the Space Bridge wreckage while he witnesses Optimus' battle with Skyquake. In "Sick Mind" when Starscream and Knock Out conspire to euthanize the comatose Megatron, Soundwave at first appears to consider agreeing with the two, but points out the cord of Bumblebee's cortical psychic patch Bumblebee is hooked up to, and orders Megatron be put back online so that he will not have fallen by an Autobot's hand.
In "Rock Bottom" Megatron reveals he is aware of Starscream's ongoing treachery due to Soundwave having constant surveillance on the traitor and relaying his attempts of usurping him.
In "One Shall Rise" Pt. 3, Airachnid is placed in temporary command of the Decepticons when Megatron leaves to aid Optimus in defeating Unicron. In an attempt to secure her power for good, and to escape Unicron's wrath, Airachnid suggests that the Decepticons leave Megatron to continue their efforts on another world. Soundwave, being eternally loyal to Megatron, vetoed her orders and displayed unexpected combat skills to secure the ship for when Megatron returned. It is implied that, although Megatron is made aware of Airachnid's attempted grab for power, he does not punish her until Soundwave reminds him of her treachery in the season 2 episode "Crossfire".
In "Orion Pax" Pt. 1, Megatron orders Soundwave to remove Arcee from the ship after she broke in to try to rescue Optimus Prime. Soundwave manages to open a ground bridge to bridge her off, right before Orion saw her.
In "Triage", Soundwave hunts for an ancient Cybertronian relic. Having lost his minion Laserbeak, he continues the search on his own, fighting Wheeljack to claim the relic, the Resonance Blaster and defeat Wheeljack before he reclaims Laserbeak. He returns to the Nemesis with Megatron's prize, and is highly praised for it by Megatron, putting Knock Out and Dreadwing to shame who lost their relics to Arcee, Bumblebee and Starscream.
In "Hard Knocks", Soundwave captured Smokescreen and brought him on board the Nemesis after the Decepticons learned that Smokescreen was a clue to finding the final Omega Key.
In "Regeneration" and "Darkest Hour", Soundwave, along with Starscream and Knock Out, captured the children and held them for ransom unless the Autobots gave the Omega Keys to the Decepticons. However, when Optimus Prime destroyed the Omega Lock, Soundwave retreated back to the Nemesis with the other Decepticons.
In "Darkmount, NV", when Jack and Arcee were spotted in Jasper following the destruction of the Autobot base, Soundwave sent Laserbeak, along with two Vehicons, to terminate them. However, after Laserbeak was destroyed, Soundwave was unable to retrieve any surveillance footage from his remains.
In "Scattered" and "Prey", Soundwave was present when Shockwave presented Predaking to Megatron.
In "Rebellion", when Starscream sent out members of his armada to investigate a number of Autobot signals, Soundwave pointed out to him that their army was thinly spread and suggested that the Autobots were using the Harbinger as a base of operations. He later retreated with the other Decepticons as Darkmount was destroyed by Optimus Prime, aided by Agent Fowler and several Air Force pilots.
In "Thirst", he oversees the destruction of the mutant Terrorcons and is confronted by a newly freed Airachnid and her army of minions. When she charges him he opens a space bridge to one of Cybertron's moons stranding her and her minions.
In "Minus One", Soundwave is taken captive by the Autobots and questioned for information regarding Megatron's motives. However, Soundwave erases all the data of Megatron's plans before Optimus gives Ratchet approval to crack him open. The normally mute Decepticon then taunts the Autobots in his own voice before deactivating. Later, Laserbeak attacks the Autobot base and hooks up with Soundwave, reactivating him and giving him a new copy of Megatron's plans. He then proceeds to incapacitate Bulkhead and Smokescreen before kidnapping Ratchet and bringing him to the Nemesis.
In "Deadlock", Soundwave fights Jack and Miko on the bridge of the Nemesis. With help from Raf, Jack and Miko trap Soundwave in the Shadowzone.

Robots in Disguise (2015)

Soundwave returns from the Shadowzone in the tenth episode of the second season of the sequel series . He escapes, trapping Bumblebee in the Shadowzone. Then, he quickly immobilizes most of the Autobots before getting tricked by Fixit and the humans into letting Bumblebee back in. The Autobots corner Soundwave and throw him back into the Shadowzone.
However, he returns in the final season, as a major antagonist with a new body. In "Collateral Damage", he tries to return Megatron from his exile but his plan failed when he was defeated by Bumblebee and his team along with Optimus Prime who was upgraded with Hi-Test.

Books

Soundwave appears in the novel '. He was one of Megatronus's opponents and nearly defeated him, however this instead brought respect between the two. Soundwave commanded the Mini-Cons Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy, and Laserbeak, and joined Megatron as one of the Decepticons.
Soundwave appears in the short story "Bumblebee at Tyger Pax" by Alex Irvine.
Soundwave appears in the novels ' and .

Video games

Soundwave appears in the 2010 video game ' as a playable character in the last three chapters of the Decepticon campaign. While is established as 's second-in-command, Soundwave is shown acting as Megatron's right hand during the campaign in Shockwave's absence.
Soundwave assists Megatron and Breakdown into infiltrating Iacon, defeating Zeta Prime, and hunting down Omega Supreme. He is also a boss in the Autobot campaign, being the warden of Kaon Prison in the Decepticons' capital city and using his tape cassettes Frenzy, Rumble and Laserbeak to attack. The Autobots manage to defeat him, but not before he delivers a fatal blow to Zeta Prime, absorbing what remained of his life force energy in order to regenerate his own strength, and then manages to escape before Optimus can finish him.
Aside from transforming into a Cybertronian truck, Soundwave can also turn into a boombox, as shown right before his boss battle, in the game's ending credits and a GameStop promotional commercial for the game featuring Shockwave. In this mode, he plays the Stan Bush songs "The Touch" and "Till All Are One".
In the sequel game '; Soundwave is playable in two levels. The first time is in Chapter 9 in which he rebuilds Megatron after he was destroyed by Metroplex. The other level is the final one in which Soundwave boards the Ark and helps destroy the Ark's defenses. Rumble and Laserbeak assist Soundwave in these tasks. He pops up throughout the rest of the game as an NPC.

Toys

Soundwave appears in Transformers: Cyberverse, appearing sporadically in season one and becoming a primary villain starting in season two. More brutish and petty than previously incarnations, he is often shown playing fitting music for whatever situation is at hand on his speakers, annoying both Autobots and Decepticons alike.