| Shockwave | |
| Transformers character | |
| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/Shockwave_comic.jpg/290px-Shockwave_comic.jpg | |
| First appearance | Transformers: Generation 1 |
| Voiced by | Corey Burton (television series) Darryl Kurylo (Transformers: Devastation) Brian Drummond Jon Bailey (Bumblebee) Frank Welker (Dark of the Moon) Daniel Riordan (2007 video game) Isaac C. Singleton, Jr. (2011 video game) Chris Ho Steven Blum (video games) David Sobolov (tv series) Arturo Peniche (Spanish voice actor) |
| (Japanese) | Yutaka Shimaka (television series) Kaito Ishikawa (Q Transformers: Mystery of Convoy) Nobutoshi Kanna Jirō Saitō Nobuyuki Hiyama |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Aliases | Shockblast, Onyx Prime, Laserwave |
| Affiliation | Decepticon |
| Partner | Fistfight Megatron Soundwave Fallen Mudflap Starscream Barricade Driller Sentinel Prime Lugnut Sharpshot Hardshell Kickback |
| Alternate modes | Cybertronian Laser Gun, Mazda RX-8, steam-powered warship Cybertronian, Tank/Satellite Jet/gun Gun turret and AH-64 Apache helicopter (2007 video game), Cybertronian Tank (DOTM) Cybertronian Low Rider Longarm (Autobot Disguise)/Cybertronian Tank (As Shockwave)/Cybertronian Crane (As Longarm) |
Shockwave is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers robot superhero franchise. Throughout his incarnations, he is usually distinguished by a laser cannon instead of one of his hands and his distinctive face, which is featureless save for a single robotic eye. He is also commonly portrayed as a cold, emotionless Decepticon that serves as Megatron's "mad scientist". Due to issues with Hasbro's trademark of the name Shockwave, some products were also released under the name Shockblast or Shockblast the Great.
Transformers: Generation 1
As the Decepticons' military operations commander, Shockwave's power is second only to Megatron, and even that is disputed. His actions are carried out with the cold logic, brutal clarity and perfection one would expect of a purely mechanical being—his way is not that of blood lust, like so many other Decepticons, but rather that of a scientist attempting to solve a problem. And that problem is: how can he use his abilities to most effectively eliminate the greatest number of enemies? Unfortunately for the Autobots, it is rare that Shockwave does not find an answer.
Unlike most early Transformers, Shockwave was not modified into an Earthly form, and retains his Cybertron alternate mode—a 35-foot-long ray gun. He possesses the power of flight in both modes, and commands the totality of the electromagnetic spectrum allowing him to emit beams of energy in a wide variety of forms. His high energy output makes him particularly fuel inefficient, but radioactive fuel sources stored in the reactor in his chest can help Shockwave to overcome this problem. Although his logical brain center is usually an advantage, human adversaries often pose more of a difficulty to Shockwave, as more intuitive and emotional thought processes often confound him.
While the animated series established Shockwave as fanatically loyal to Megatron, Shockwave's original bio and most fiction since have described him as coldly and patiently looking for ways to overthrow Megatron, not for personal power (as Starscream would) but simply because it was logical for him to do so. Shockwave, who is possibly even more powerful than Megatron, concluded that he should rule so that no emotion should prevent the Decepticons from conquering the universe. This was retained in most comic books, where Shockwave became leader of the Decepticons.
Unusually for a 1985 (second year) toy, Shockwave was part of Transformers fiction from the first year, appearing in both the original cartoon pilot and 4-issue comic book miniseries.
Animated series
Though a major character in the Marvel comics, Shockwave was a minor character in the cartoon, only making occasional appearances, and was unquestioningly loyal to Megatron. When Megatron prepared to lead his troops in pursuit of the Autobots on the Ark, Shockwave was instructed to stay behind and guard Cybertron in Megatron's absence. Swearing that Cybertron would remain as Megatron left it, Shockwave performed his duty to the letter for four million years, after Megatron and the other Transformers were entombed in stasis on Earth.
So accurately did Shockwave carry out his task, however, that no advances were achieved in the war, and the deadlock slowly caused what little supplies of energy the planet had to dwindle. In the Earth year 1984, Shockwave again attempted to make contact with the lost Megatron - only this time, he received a reply. The Transformers on Earth had been awakened, and immediately, Shockwave and Megatron co-created the Space Bridge, an inter-galactic transport system, with which to send Energon cubes made from Earth's energy to the depleted planet. In the first tests of the spacebridge, Megatron was transported to Cybertron himself, but Shockwave soon returned him so that further transport runs could be conducted.
Spacebridge technology was taken to its ultimate extreme in "The Ultimate Doom" when Shockwave and Megatron co-ordinated the transportation of Cybertron itself into the Solar System via the use of a colossal spacebridge.
In "Countdown to Extinction", when Starscream arrives on Cybertron (together with Doctor Arkeville) and proclaims himself the new leader of the Decepticons instead of the "late" Megatron, Shockwave does not believe him and tries to call up Megatron again and again. Starscream forbids him to do this and even fires at his computer terminal, but then he becomes too busy with preparing to receive the energy of the Earth's annihilation. Meanwhile, Shockwave succeeds in getting through to Megatron at last and in warning him of the explosive device installed by Starscream in the Arkeville's laboratory, so that Megatron and Optimus Prime have time to prevent the explosion and save the Earth.
In 1985, Shockwave contended with the power of the Dinobots when they splintered off from the Autobots and came to Cybertron in "Desertion of the Dinobots", episodes #37-38. With the aid of his guards, Shockwave was able to overpower them and put them to work in the Cybertronian pits, but failed to prevent the escape of Spike Witwicky and his friend Carly, when they pursued the Dinobots to the planet and were able to effect their release.
Soon after in episode #53 "The Search for Alpha Trion", Shockwave discovered that a guerrilla team of Female Autobots, believed to be destroyed by a missile strike during the Ark's launch four million years ago, had been raiding his Energon stores for years, and successfully tracked them back to their hidden base, arranging the capture of Elita One. Optimus Prime and later three of his warriors came to Cybertron to aid their female allies, and Elita herself blasted Shockwave out of the battle. Subsequently, Shockwave located the key to Vector Sigma for Megatron so he could give personalities to the Stunticons. Spying on the Autobots, he then discovered the key's hidden power to transform organics into technomatter, and later reported to Megatron when he saw the Autobots create the Aerialbots.
In the beginning of "Starscream's Brigade", Starscream is annoyed of Megatron's positive remarks about Shockwave. The dispute results in a clash, when Starscream attempts to overthrow Megatron again. As a consequence, he was exiled from the Decepticons and to the island of Guadalcanal. There, he decided to build an army using the old World War II vehicles he found on the island and traveled to Cybertron by Spacebridge. Evading Shockwave, he broke into a Decepticon detention center and stole personality components of five renegade Decepticons. Although Shockwave is unaware that Starscream raided the detention center, he does notice the missing components and reports to Megatron, who initially thought that Optimus Prime was the thief. In the sequel episode, "The Revenge of Bruticus", the vengeful Combaticons invaded Cybertron. Shockwave attempted to fend them off, but was turned against his sentinel drones when Bruticus (the combined form of the Combaticons) seized him stunned in gun mode and opened fire on them with him, before launching him off into space, where he crashed into Starscream. He and Starscream returned to the planet, but were captured and imprisoned by the Combaticons. They both were discharged when Optimus Prime and Megatron's forces teamed up and arrived to stop Bruticus' rampage.
Over the next two decades, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in fully conquering Cybertron. In The Transformers: The Movie, set in 2005, the Decepticons launched an attack on Autobot City. Shockwave was seen at the battle and also Starscream's coronation later due to animation errors, as he was always at his post to guard Cybertron. When the planet came under attack by Unicron, Shockwave attempted to mobilize the Decepticons against the threat. Shockwave was not seen again following the movie, although several incorrectly colored versions of Shockwave—presumably intended to be generic Decepticons—were seen in some third-season episodes of the TV series, most notably Five Faces of Darkness Parts 1-5. The IDW Publishing adaptation of the movie has Shockwave lead the Decepticons against Unicron, only to be blown in half by the Chaos-Bringer's eye beams. This was due in part to the original script for The Transformers: The Movie having explicit details of Shockwave's death.
In Shockwave's first appearance, in "More Than Meets the Eye", Part One, he has two hands. By his next appearance, in the first episode of the ongoing series, "Transport to Oblivion", his left hand has been replaced with a gun barrel, matching his toy appearance.
Transformers: Armada
"Shockwave" was the name Takara used for the character called Tidal Wave by Hasbro. Hasbro's original design for the figure cast him in shades of purple and gray, although they later abandoned this in favor of a green and gray scheme for their figure; the animated series, however, had gone into production before this last-minute change, resulting in the cartoon incarnation of the character being rendered in the purple and gray scheme. Accordingly, in the interest of show-accuracy, Takara release their figure in this color scheme, rather than the altered Hasbro one - happily, these colors fit suitably well with his Japanese name in hearkening back to the purple-and-gray G1 Shockwave, although it is unclear whether or not this was intentional, though unlikely since Shockwave was known as Laserwave in the Japanese dub of the G1 cartoon.
Transformers: Energon
Although the assorted Transformers series which followed the original often paid homage to many popular characters by naming new characters after them, or sculpting them to share their likeness, Shockwave was without a homage in the US for over a decade—it would not be until the midst of 2004's Transformers: Energon line that Shockwave received this honor in the form of Shockblast. Hasbro had since lost the trademark to the name "Shockwave" to Lanard Toys (as noted above), and compensated as best they could through use of this altered name. As previously noted, in Japan, Takara still retained the rights to their original name, hence there, Shockblast was still named Laserwave.
Hugely egotistical, cold, ruthless, and a genius, Shockblast is sometimes loyal to Megatron but occasionally acts like Starscream and seeks to overthrow his master. Shockblast's capacity for ruthlessness exceeds even that of Megatron which makes his personality a cross between his leaders and Starscream's. However, despite that, Starscream himself even under Megatron's control seems to respect Shockblast. The power-hungry Shockblast transforms into an orbital Satellite and a ground-based assault vehicle (although in the animated series, he only transformed into the former). He has an unspecified history with Tidal Wave, who distrusts him (the Japanese dub of the series indicated that this was because Shockblast was part of Tidal Wave's platoon, and turned on his fellow Decepticons after the Autobots were defeated).
Animated series
Considered to be one of the most dangerous and deadly Decepticons, Shockblast was captured by the Autobots and imprisoned on Cybertron. In the Earth year 2020, when Megatron attacked Cybertron with Unicron, he instructed some Decepticon agents on the planet to liberate Shockblast. Shockblast, however, had already begun to effect his own escape amidst the chaos Megatron's attack was causing, and broke free of his restraints just as a Decepticon agent arrived at his cell, and was killed by Shockblast simply because he had no need of him. In making his escape, Shockblast killed one of his guards, Padlock, causing his other jailer, Wing Dagger, to swear revenge.
Shockblast immediately rankled under Megatron's leadership, and was attacked by Wing Dagger when he led a new attack on Cybertron. Tidal Wave was ordered to aid him, but Shockblast had already collapsed an Energon Tower and dragged Wing Dagger under it, killing him, and accidentally injuring Tidal Wave. Both victims were soon reborn, however - Tidal Wave as Mirage, and Wing Dagger as the powerful Wing Saber. While Wing Saber merged with Optimus Prime as the Autobots ventured into Unicron, Shockblast defied Megatron's orders, lying and claiming he was under attack while sneaking off and preparing to make a power play. When Megatron faced off against Optimus Prime in the middle of an Energon reaction that had torn a fissure in space, Shockblast leaped into the middle, only to be hit by a chunk of debris and sent spiraling through the fissure, into a new region of space where Alpha Q had recreated the planets destroyed by Unicron.
Separated from the other Decepticons, Shockblast was confronted by the Autobots on Iron Planet and was defeated and captured by Wing Saber, and chained and guarded by Inferno. Megatron and the other Decepticons soon arrived to rescue him and Megatron warned him of the price of defiance. This did not stop Shockblast from attempting to seize power again, however - and in his next move, he succeeded, seating himself in Megatron's throne within Unicron, planning to take the chaos-bringer's power for his own. However, he got more power than he bargained for, as Unicron's essence possessed him, warping his body and driving him into an insane rage. Battling with Optimus Prime on Blizzard Planet, Shockblast was destroyed when Unicron's massive arm plunged down through the planet's atmosphere and crushed him, completely extinguishing his Spark.
Shockblast's place in the Decepticons was soon filled by his own younger and equally treacherous brother, Six Shot.
Transformers: Cybertron
The Shockwave name returned to the Transformers toy line in the US as part of the Transformers: Cybertron series in 2005. Packaged with Tankor, a Mini-Con Autobot, Shockwave himself is of Decepticon allegiance and a member of the Sky Attack Team. Left free to pursue his own interests on Earth following the departure of the two other Transformer factions, Shockwave has spent the last decade working for various dictators and tyrants around the world. Who he signs up with is based on how likely he is to be able to cause devastation and death - because there's nothing he loves more than seeing a city go up in flames, and knowing he lit the fire.
Transformers Cinematic Universe
According to an interview with producer Tom DeSanto published in issue #15 of the Transformers Collectors Club Magazine, the original lineup pitched for the Decepticons in the live action Transformers film consisted of Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp, and Shockwave. However, Shockwave was left out of the original film as the lineup eventually ended up as Megatron, Starscream, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Bonecrusher, Blackout (who replaced Soundwave), and Brawl (misnamed Devastator).
He does appear in the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Actor David Warner was originally being considered for the role, but the part was ultimately given to Frank Welker, who also voices Soundwave after Corey Burton declined to return to the role. This marked the second time that Shockwave was voiced by an actor who also voiced Megatron, The Joker and Batman, that Corey Burton had previously voiced all three. Bay commented before the movie's release that Shockwave was going to be portrayed as a "little bit more vicious" than Megatron. He was considered to be a main villain but he ended up being as supporting villain in film. Shockwave is armed with a hand cannon, a multiple rocket launcher and a blade, and during the film he commands Driller, a massive and powerful Cybertonian animal.
Shockwave appears in the opening sequence of Bumblebee, leading the charge against the Autobots on Cybertron. He is voiced by Jon Bailey, performing a near-indistinguishable impression of Corey Burton's David Warner-esque voice.
Shockwave's design in the film retains most of his original features from the Generation 1 incarnation, most noticeably in his head design, hand cannon, and color scheme. His design in Bumblebee is reimagined to an almost exact copy of his G1 incarnation.
Movie plot
Shockwave first appeared during Optimus Prime's mission to Chernobyl with NEST troops. They had discovered a fuel cell from the Ark in an abandoned base. At that moment, Shockwave and his Driller - a massive multi-tentacled robotic animal - appear and immediately begin destroying the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and killing some of the soldiers in the process. They then proceed to take the fuel cell and burst out of the base with Optimus Prime following. The fight then takes to the land where the Driller knocks Optimus from his trailer, separating him from his weapons. However, Prime was still able to gain access to them and cut off one of the driller's tentacles to retrieve the fuel cell. At this moment Shockwave appears out of the beast and menacingly utters Prime's name, but he quickly withdraws.
He later appears during the final battle, where the Driller once again knocks over Optimus's trailer, and is attacked by the Wreckers so that the trailer could be retrieved. After noticing falling furniture from a building that Sam, Carly, Epps, and other soldiers are in, he sends the driller to collapse the building. After tipping the building over, Optimus Prime flies in with his jetpack and is able to kill the driller, cutting off its main head by flying through the section that connects it to the body. Angered by what happened to his pet, Shockwave shoots at Optimus with multiple rockets - causing him to fly out of control and get stuck in tangled tower crane wires. With Optimus out of the way, Shockwave and the Decepticons overpower the Autobots and prepare to execute them. After the Wreckers manage to free Optimus, they join the humans in a coordinated assault on Shockwave. He is eventually damaged badly, after getting temporarily blinded by parachutes before having an explosive detonated on his neck and then gets his eye partly shot out of his head by human soldiers, but he still refuses to fall. Optimus then flies in and attacks Shockwave, who fires a shell, but Optimus dodges it and punches through Shockwave's torso using bladed knuckles and kills him by completely ripping his eye out of his head. Optimus then uses Shockwave's hand cannon to blast the space bridge control pillar, temporarily halting Cybertron from transporting into Earth's atmosphere.
"Two-Heads", two-headed human-made KSI Transformers, are modeled from the remains of Shockwave, and later become Decepticons under Galvatron's control in Transformers: Age of Extinction. One Two-Head is killed by Hound, while another is killed when Optimus sets off one of Lockdown's grenades. A photo of Shockwave listing him as deceased is also seen.
Transformers: Timelines (Transtech)
Transtech Shockwave received a full-page biography in issue #22 of the Transformers Collectors Club Magazine. He used to work for the renegade Decepticon Jhiaxus as a scientist, but after Jhiaxus was destroyed was brought in by Megatron as a prisoner. Initially put on trial for war crimes he was freed by Megatron, who argued to Optimus Prime that Shockwave's mind would be an invaluable asset to them. Shockwave is a morally ambiguous Transtech with few actual weapons, in favor of a great number of in-built tools he uses for his craft.
Transformers Animated
This incarnation of Shockwave has the ability to change his body, using this power to assume the guise of Longarm in order to creep up the Autobot ranks and serve Megatron incognito. To further his guise, changing his actual G1 color scheme to a gray pattern, Shockwave provides his Longarm guise with an alt-mode like that of a burly rough terrain crane. His actual alt-mode is heavily based on the tank mode of Transformers Armada's Megatron. Corey Burton reprises the English-accented, David Warner-inspired voice for the character, but when Shockwave is in the disguise of Longarm, he speaks in an American accent. Furthermore, while this Shockwave's voice sounds identical to that of his G1 self, Longarm's voice sounds much younger than Shockwave himself. Corey Burton revealed Shockwave's inclusion in Season 2 arose from a between scenes conversation he had with the production team, regarding how little the original Shockwave actually had to do.
Animated series
During Autobot training, his double-agent status was almost discovered by Bumblebee. But thanks to Bumblebee believing the spy to be Wasp, Shockwave managed to plant the evidence to have Wasp as his scapegoat. After successfully graduating from training, Longarm is eventually promoted to Prime rank, and made intel commander of Cybertron, allowing him full access to Autobot files, which he passes onto Megatron, who has him ensure Cybertron is left helpless as part of his master plan. In the two-part "A Bridge Too Close" episode, Shockwave informs Megatron that the Autobot who got the highest scores in the Space Bridge aptitude test is Bulkhead, leading Megatron to capture the Autobot. When the rest of the earth Autobots try to rescue Bulkhead, they are captured themselves, and Shockwave appears on a screen to taunt Bumblebee with the truth of his double agent status, and the fact that he had an innocent Autobot (Wasp) imprisoned (this later led to Wasp becoming Waspinator).
After the "A Bridge Too Close" two-parter, where he seemingly kills Blurr as he was about to unmask him, he gained a more prominent role in Season 3, and returned in the season three premiere event "Transwarped". Appearing in his Longarm guise, he was waiting for Megatron's arrival until Blurr returned to Cybertron with information regarding Megatron's communications with the double agent. Once aware that no one else on Cybertron knows the truth yet, Shockwave attacks him and manages to use the base's walls to crush him, taking the remains to Cliffjumper for disposal before being contacted by Megatron. When Ultra Magnus planned on making contact with the earth Autobots, Shockwave uses his guise to convince him to have all communication with them relayed through him, to keep his identity a secret, which is further endangered when the council begins to realize there's a spy in their team.
He next appeared in Where is thy Sting?, infuriated that Jazz, Sentinel Prime, Jetfire and Jetstorm were heading to Earth while after Wasp and attempting to get them to turn back, with Ultra Magnus "calming" him to let his group proceed with their mission. Fearing that his cover will be blown and unable to contact Megatron, Shockwave left a message for him that he would take matters into his own hands. At the episode's conclusion, once word of the truth came to Cybertron, Ironhide attempted to take him into prison, only to find the gravely injured Ultra Magnus lying on the floor, as Shockwave nearly assassinated him and stole his hammer before taking his leave into the long abandoned underground passageways to hide out.
He appeared in "This is Why I Hate Machines". When Megatron arrived to Cybertron in Omega Supreme, Shockwave began setting up a scheme to acquire the activation codes to Omega Supreme from the original Autobot who possessed them, Arcee. His plans were slowed down when Ratchet and Captain Fanzone arrived on Cybertron and try to protect Arcee from the clutches of Shockwave. Because of this, Shockwave battled Ratchet several times through the episode, utilizing the stolen Magnus Hammer as his primary weapon. After taking care of the Autobot, he encounters his "old boss", Ultra Magnus and attempts to put him out of commission. He would have succeeded if Ratchet had not intervened. Though he lost Magnus' hammer in the fight, Shockwave escapes with Arcee, resuming his natural purple color scheme upon joining Megatron's group officially.
In the third-season finale (which also acted as the series' finale), Shockwave kept Arcee in an operating chamber, where he hooked her up to several wires. Once he received news that Megatron was going to make Omega Supreme clones, Shockwave once again used his Longarm disguise in an attempt to trick Arcee into giving Megatron Omega's activation codes, so that the three Omega clones could be brought online. When the attempt failed, Shockwave took the codes forcefully. However, the codes were missing an essential security patch, requiring Shockwave to set up a bypass, leaving Lugnut to control the clones remotely from Omega. Shockwave later encountered Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Sari, who had come to save Arcee, and engaged Bumblebee and Bulkhead in battle. Bulkead managed to catch him off guard, punching him to the ground and knocking away his cannon. Forgetting his color scheme, Shockwave took on his Longarm guise in a vain and desperate ploy to gain mercy. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were not fooled however and destroyed the cannon. Shockwave makes a final appearance in the show when he gets taken to Cybertron as a prisoner along with Megatron and Lugnut.
Aligned Continuity
Shockwave started out as Megatron's pet "mad scientist" during his days as a gladiator.
Animated series
A flashback in the Transformers: Prime episode "Out of the Past" showed that Shockwave was in Kaon when Starscream was delivering energon to him. Starscream brought Arcee and Cliffjumper to Shockwave in order for him to extract the cryptic Autobot message from them. When asked by Starscream if he can extract the Autobot message from them, Shockwave stated to Starscream that he invented Cortical Psychic Patch. Shockwave successfully extracts the message from Arcee where it involved Optimus Prime giving the coordinates to Earth. When Shockwave plans to dispose of Cliffjumper, Starscream tells Shockwave that Cliffjumper is his. Shockwave acknowledges Starscream's orders and leaves. Arcee and Cliffjumper learn from Starscream that Shockwave is using the Energon to build a Space Bridge. Upon taking out two Vehicon guards, Arcee and Cliffjumper discover that Shockwave plans to use the Space Bridge to send the Decepticons to Earth to attack Optimus Prime before any other Autobot arrives. Shockwave arrives when Cliffjumper tries to distract the two Vehicon guards and attacks Arcee while she is sabotaging the Space Bridge. Cliffjumper then attacks Shockwave as Arcee takes out some Vehicons. Before Shockwave can shoot Cliffjumper, Arcee shoots part of a ceiling which knocks out Shockwave. When Shockwave tries to follow them, Arcee manages to shoot Shockwave in the head as Arcee and Cliffjumper successfully arrive on Earth. Before leaving to find Optimus Prime, Arcee and Cliffjumper are left wondering if Shockwave survived the Space Bridge's explosion.
In the third season entitled Beast Hunters, Knock Out finds Shockwave when he, some Vehicons, and some Insecticons were looking for the Iacon relics at the destroyed Omega Lock. He survived the Space Bridge explosion, but was lost on Cybertron and no Decepticons searched for him. He decided to use his time alone to move along with a lot of his projects until he saw the Decepticon search party and returned to Earth with Knock Out. After hearing Starscream's excuse why he wasn't looked for, he found his excuse logical. With Shockwave's return, Megatron established a new chain of command. While Starscream remained Megatron's second-in-command in terms of military activities, Shockwave became Megatron's second-in-command for scientific activities. While hunting Autobots with the Decepticons, Shockwave recommends one of his projects for it, a Predacon named Predaking who was under his control. Shockwave sends Predaking after the Autobots with some Energon from Wheeljack leaked during torture. But unfortunately the Predacon failed and Starscream made fun of the mute creature. Shockwave was present when Starsream was sending the decepticons to different parts of the globe. He later suggested releasing Predaking on the Autobot intruders. But after that failed Shockwave decided to handle it himself. He managed to subdue Wheeljack and Bulkhead. He was later about to execute the Autobot prisoners until he got distracted by Optimus Prime's return. After the Autobots escaped, he returns to the Nemesis through the groundbridge sent by Soundwave before the remains of Darkmount fell on him.
In "Project Predacon," it was revealed that Shockwave once used his previous clones of Predacons to Earth back in ancient times. Optimus Prime discovers that the Decepticons are looking for fossil samples of the Predacons so that Shockwave can rebuild his Predacon army. Shockwave also had his Predacons microchipped, which made it easy to track their remains. When it came to one location, Shockwave ended up engaging Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen. With help from Soundwave, Shockwave was able to obtain part of a Predacon fossil. While analyzing the Predacon fossil fragment, Shockwave is visited by Megatron who states that he heard of his encounter with Optimus Prime and how it would've been tragic if he had lost his best scientist in battle. Shockwave vows to Megatron that he will leave the fossil-fetching missions to Starscream and the Vehicons so that he can accelerate Project Predacon.
In "Evolution", it is revealed that Project: Predacon is nearing completion. After having Knock Out transport the synthetic energon to him, Shockwave finds that Predaking has learned to transform after Starscream angers him. He is present when Megatron orders Project: Predacon to be shut down before the Predacons can rebel. Shockwave surprisingly finds Megatron's decision to be logical. When Starscream puts his plan of having the Autobots destroy the Predacon clones without alerting Shockwave, Shockwave escapes the Wreckers, but first releases the Predacons which are later destroyed. He reports to Megatron later when he discovers freshly made Cybertronian alloy in his destroyed lab. He concludes that synthetic energon was the cause of what has transpired.
In "Minus One" and "Synthesis", Shockwave is working on the reconstruction of the Omega Lock, and the manufacturing of the synthetic energon. He finds the formula difficult to complete, and has Laserbeak retrieve Soundwave after he's captured, and bring Ratchet to the Nemesis. The two scientists end up working together to complete the cybermatter formula.
In the series finale "Deadlock", Shockwave is about to use the Omega Lock on Earth, but Ratchet attacks, and Shockwave easily defeats him, then the other Autobots arrive and Shockwave ends up being knocked down by Bumblebee. After Megatron is killed by Bumblebee, Starscream is distraught and swears vengeance on the Autobots, but Shockwave tries to calm him down and forces him and the other Decepticons to presumably head for Kaon. They then get into an escape pod and launch, landing somewhere on Cybertron.
Predacons Rising
In the movie, Shockwave and Starscream are the leaders of the Decepticons, and continue to relocate again and again to avoid detection from the Autobots. Together they revive Project Predacon, and have made two Predacons, Darksteel and Skylynx. Starscream later summons Shockwave to Predaking's grounds, where he has located many Predacon bones unearthed by the restoration of Cybertron. While they gather the bones, Unicron in Megatron's body comes over, and resurrects the dead Predacons with dark energon. Starscream runs but Shockwave attempts to fight off the zombies in tank mode, but is overrun and mauled by them. Later, when Predaking defeats his Predacon brethren, Shockwave is shown to have survived, and asks the Predacons to use their power more logically. It is unknown how he survived, or what happens to him afterwards.
Transformers: Timelines (Shattered Glass)
Shockwave is a Decepticon whose skills are at relations between organisms, working as the ambassador between Earth and the Decepticons,along with both his ally and aid Fistfight. Calm, wizened, he's intelligent and patient, though no scientist. Like most Decepticons, he's more than willing to put his life on the line to save humans. Although his fighting techniques are entirely defensive, he's more than capable of putting a hole through any Autobot.
In his alternate identity, Longarm, he is an Autotrooper officer. He was always kind of a wet blanket, but recently he's been acting really strangely and disappearing for long stretches of time without explanation. He's even started saying stuff like "Interrogative" and "Conclusion" before his sentences.
Shockwave's body is based on Transformers: Energon Shockblast. According to Trent Troop, his colors were chosen because they were the opposite of Generation 1 Shockwave's.
Shockwave's ability to disguise himself as Longarm is a homage to Transformers Animated Shockwave, who infiltrated the Autobot ranks as Longarm. Longarm is a disguised Shockwave, but which Shockwave is still unrevealed.
Transformers: Cyberverse
Shockwave is one of the Decepticons that appeared in Transformers: Cyberverse, appearing sporadically throughout season one and becoming a mainstay villain in season two. Having removed his own hand in order for it to become his assistant, Shockwave keeps the cold logical side from previous incarnations, although his friendship with Wheeljack before the war left him with a quite respect for the Autobot.