Shockwave (Transformers)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shockwave (Laserwave in Japan) is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes, usually belonging to the Decepticons. Due to issues with Hasbro's trademark of the name Shockwave, some products were also released under the name Shockblast.
Contents |
[edit] Transformers: Generation 1
| Transformers character | |
 Shockwave |
|
| Shockwave | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Decepticon  |
| Japanese name | Laserwave (レーザーウェーブ Rēzāwēbu?) |
| Sub-Group | Originally none, later Action Masters and Alternators. |
| Function | Military Operations Commander |
| Motto | "Clarity of thought before rashness of action." |
| Alternate Modes | Cybertronian laser gun |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Alternators Transtech |
| English voice actor | Corey Burton |
| Japanese voice actor | Yutaka Shimaka |
As the Decepticons' military operations commander, Shockwave's power is second only to Megatron's, and even that is disputed. His actions are carried out with the cold, 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 will not find a suitable answer.
Having not been aboard the the Ark, 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.
Unusually for a 1985 (second year) toy, Shockwave was present in Transformers fiction from the first year, appearing in both the original 3-episode cartoon pilot, and 4-issue comic book miniseries.
[edit] Fiction
[edit] Animated series
When Megatron prepared to lead his troops in pursuit of Optimus Prime and 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 got a reply. The Transformers on Earth had been awakened, and immediately, Shockwave and Megatron co-created the spacebridge, 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 when Shockwave and Megatron co-ordinated the transportation of Cybertron itself into the Solar System via the use of a colossal spacebridge.
In 1985, Shockwave contended with the power of the Dinobots when they splintered off from the Autobots and came to Cybertron. 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 girlfriend, Carly, when they pursued the Dinobots to the planet and were able to effect their release.
Soon after, Shockwave discovered that a guerrilla team of Female Autobots 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 several of his warriors came to Cybertron to aid their female allies, and Elita One herself blasted Shockwave out of the battle. Subsequently, Shockwave located the key to Vector Sigma for Megatron (and in a cut scene, battled and seriously damaged Omega Supreme). Spying on the Autobots, he then discovered the key's hidden power to transform organics into technomatter.
When the Combaticons invaded Cybertron, Shockwave attempted to fend them off, but was turned against his sentinel drones when Bruticus seized him in gun mode and opened fire on them with him, before launching him off into space, where he crashed into Starscream. Shockwave and Starscream returned to the planet, but were captured and imprisoned when Megatron and Optimus Prime's forces arrived to stop Bruticus' rampage.
Over the next twenty years, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in fully conquering Cybertron. In 2005, however, the planet came under attack by Unicron, and Shockwave attempted to mobilize the Decepticons against the threat. The script for The Transformers: The Movie explicitly details Shockwave's death as Unicron crushes his command tower with him in it, rips it off the planet, and tears it to shreds, and although this was not shown in the finished film, 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.
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 (although notably the toy's box art itself incorrectly presented the gun barrel as being on his right arm).
[edit] Marvel Comics
Shockwave's characterization in the animated series is based on an early profile written for the character which presented him to be the guardian of Cybertron, with no desires beyond that station. His toy's tech spec and Transformers Universe profile, however, wrote of a character who sought to overthrow Megatron and rule the Decepticons because he views it as the logical thing to do. This was the version of the character who impressed fans with his appearance in Marvel's Transformers comic book series.
Here, Shockwave was part of the Decepticon unit that pursued the Ark, but he held back from actually attacking the craft, remaining on the Decepticons' own space cruiser and following the Ark down to prehistoric Earth when it crashed. His guidance systems disrupted by his travel through Earth's atmosphere, Shockwave touched down in Antarctica, specifically, in the Savage Land, whose dinosaur inhabitants the Ark used as a basis to reconstruct five Autobots to battle Shockwave. These "Dinobots" engaged Shockwave, but he slyly outmaneuvered them, and managed to trap them in a tar pit one by one by picking them off from a safe distance with his superior fire power. A stalemate was reached when the last strike by the Dinobots before sinking into the pit saw them bury Shockwave under a landslide, where he remained for four million years.
In 1984, Shockwave was reawakened by an Autobot probe and quickly struck the weakened Autobots, who had just defeated Megatron's forces. Deactivating them all and stringing them up in the Ark, which he took for his own base, Shockwave brought the Decepticons back online to serve him, and was soon challenged for leadership by a wounded Megatron, whom he soundly defeated and brought under his heel. As Decepticon commander, Shockwave commandeered the Blackrock Aerospace Plant, using its resources to construct new Transformers, which he then gave life using the Creation Matrix, siphoned from Optimus Prime. However, Prime was able to transfer the Matrix into Buster Witwicky's mind, preventing Shockwave from giving life to his newest creation, Jetfire. Shockwave instead programmed Jetfire to acquire Buster, but Buster was able to reprogram and give life to Jetfire and took Shockwave out of the game long enough to recover Optimus Prime's severed head. Prime then battled Shockwave and hurled him into a swamp.
Shockwave was able to extricate himself in short order, and attempted a series of failed plans, such as draining sonic energy from a rock concert and attempting to control Bumblebee. When Megatron resurfaced, he and Shockwave clashed again, but settled into a brief period of shared leadership until Shockwave fell victim to an Autobot trap, and saw the logic in Megatron's accusations of failure, ceding command to him. However, in the UK comic Shockwave didn't stand for this for long, and he soon sent the Predacons in to assassinate both Optimus and Megatron, failing after Megatron teleported himself and Prime to Cybertron and only just managing to cover his tracks without Megatron knowing it was him. When Megatron began to descend into paranoid insanity after the death of Optimus Prime, Shockwave attempted to take advantage of the situation by arranging a staged attack by the Predacons (in the UK comic, the dialogue was rewritten to say that due to his insanity, Megatron had forgotten his original battle with them). Megatron defeated them even in their combined mode of Predaking, but when Shockwave revealed that he had duplicated his mind to disc to guide the Predacons during their hunt, Megatron's deranged mind (accurately) began to believe that this was how Optimus Prime had survived. Desperate and insane, Megatron apparently killed himself by blowing up the spacebridge while he was on it, once again allowing Shockwave to take leadership. However, he soon faced various objections courtesy of Ratbat, the local Decepticon commander on Cybertron, who criticized his operations for being too fuel-inefficient. Arriving on Earth to oversee Shockwave's work, Ratbat encountered Buster Witwicky, whom he captured and brought to the Decepticons' mobile island base. With the Autobot Headmasters in pursuit, Shockwave transformed the island into its rocket mode and blasted off, but in a space-bound battle with Fortress Maximus, Shockwave was defeated and sent hurtling into Earth's atmosphere, where he seemingly burned up.
Although this would be all that the US comics would see of Shockwave for some time, this was not the case for its sister title, the UK-based Transformers comic, which reprinted the American stories with their own original material intertwined. In previous UK stories, Shockwave had run afoul of the future Decepticon leader, Galvatron, who was attempting to disrupt his leadership in the present to ensure the loyalty of his army in the future. After his battle with Fortress Maximus, Shockwave was revealed to have survived his fall back to Earth and returned to the Decepticons' original castle base, where he had the Seacons acquire the body of what was apparently Megatron (but would, in actuality, be later revealed as a clone), which he brainwashed into doing his bidding in order to pit him against Galvatron. When he was visited by the other future Decepticons, Cyclonus and Scourge and learned that in their future, they would kill him, he unleashed Megatron upon them, who killed Cyclonus. Shockwave then turned Megatron upon Galvatron, but rather than destroy him, he saw a potential partner in Galvatron, and they teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both the present and future in the "Time Wars", as a rift in the space-time continuum bore down on them. Shockwave, however, had become a prisoner of his own logic - to seal the rift it was necessary to return Cyclonus's body to it, thereby saving everyone, including himself. A logical action. However, to do so would be to condemn himself to death in the future by Cyclonus and Scourge's hands. Illogical. Unable to cope with the paradox, Shockwave went insane, but was saved by Ravage, who pointed out that, equipped with knowledge of his death, he could prevent it. His mind restored, Shockwave returned Cyclonus's body to the rift, after Galvatron and Scourge were consumed by it, and sealed it shut with an X-ray blast. The day had been saved, but Optimus Prime promised him that the next time they met, it would be as enemies.
A short time later, Shockwave went on to make his return to the pages of the US comic, as he established a small splinter cell of Decepticons, consisting of himself, Starscream, Mindwipe, Triggerhappy, Ravage, Runabout and Runamuck. Declaring civil war against the current Decepticon Earth commander, Scorponok, Shockwave battled him in New Jersey, only for the conflict to be interrupted when all the Transformers were transported back to Cybertron by their deity, Primus to battle Unicron. Awestruck by the chaos-bringer, even Shockwave's vast data-grid could not compute a logical course of action, and he and Starscream hijacked the Ark and fled the planet shortly after Unicron's defeat. However, the Dinobots had previously treated the Transformers stored in the Ark's stasis pods with the life-restoring fuel, Nucleon - and among those Transformers was the true Megatron, who battled with Galvatron, who had also stowed away on board the craft. Galvatron came to his senses in time, realizing that if Megatron was killed, he could cease to exist, and hid as Shockwave arrived to kill a weakened and disorientated Megatron. Galvatron intervened, but in an attempt to break the cycle of violence that seemingly bound him and Megatron, Autobot medic Ratchet crashed the Ark into Earth. Shockwave was last seen in pain as Megatron and Galvatron advanced on him just before the ship crashed. His fate remains unknown. He did not appear again in either the remainder of the US G1 comics of the subsequent Generation 2 comics.
In the Earthforce sequence of UK comic stories, both Shockwave and Megatron were running separate Decepticon cells on Earth, fighting both Autobot and each other. (It was never really explained where the Earthforce stories fit into continuity, though many believe it takes place vaguely between the original comics and the G2 run) It was clear that unless they were united, the Decepticons could not ever defeat the Autobots, and so Soundwave & Starscream organized a coup of both cells and reunified them as a single army. Shockwave and Megatron were forced to team up to retake control.
In the UK comic stories set after the Transformers movie, it is revealed Shockwave took command of the Decepticons in 2006 and, as Rodimus Prime was focused on finding Galvatron, was able to conquer half of Cybertron from under the Autobots. Part of his rule involved keeping Cyclonus & Scourge from ever being in a position to usurp him, even arranging for them to botch Death's Head's hit on Prime so he would kill them - this failed when Unicron sent them, backed up by a mind-controlled Death's Head, to assassinate him and take control of the Decepticons. Death's Head eventually killed Shockwave after a gruelling battle, promising to avenge him even as he blew him apart.
[edit] Dreamwave Productions
Shockwave was a major character in the Dreamwave Productions' 21st Century re-imagining of G1. As a major player in the Decepticon army in Cybertron's past, he led the main attack on the Autobots' stronghold shortly after the appointment of Optimus Prime, and personally destroyed two guardian robots with one blast in space gun mode. There was also tension between him and Starscream about who would lead the Decepticons after Megatron's supposed death, which eventually led to the creation of multiple splinter factions within both the Autobots and Decepticons. While Starscream created his own faction, the "Predacons," Shockwave led the Decepticons through the "Dark Ages" of Cybertron, during which his logic allowed him to put aside differences with Jetfire and the Autobots in order to defeat the greater evil of The Fallen. As the Dark Ages came to an end, Shockwave was ready to sign a peace treaty with Ratbat's Ultracons and the Autobots, but the return of Megatron derailed the plan, though the Quintesson-created clones he brought back to the planet with him greatly intrigued Shockwave.
Shockwave was left behind on Cybertron while Megatron's forces pursued Optimus Prime and were subsequently lost on Earth for four million years, and became Decepticon leader on the planet. He began experimenting with cloning, and through studies of Astrotrain and Blitzwing, began to conceive the idea of a Transformer with multiple alternate modes. Eventually, however, Shockwave and all the other Transformers on Cybertron succumbed to stasis as the planet's energy ran out, and it entered a hibernation phase known as the "Great Shutdown." During this period of inactivity, 3000 years ago, Unicron's herald Scourge located the planet, and reactivated Shockwave for study purposes. However, when Shockwave was attacked by a swarm of Sharkticons, Scourge intervened, and after saving him, was shot by Shockwave, who then proceeded to study him, learning much of the function and purpose of Transformers and Cybertron from the secrets within Scourge.
Shockwave steadily worked to restore Cybertron, reactivating its population and solving their energy needs, ending the war and unifying the planet. He also continued his experiments into multiple transformations, yielding the unstable Duocons, and then successfully mastering the process with Triple Changers. Capturing Alpha Trion, Shockwave sought to unlock the full secrets of Vector Sigma, having already learned of the mysterious significance of Earth to the Transformer race. In preparation for the invasion of the planet, Shockwave subliminally influenced the population of Cybertron to become more violent, and prevented the return of Optimus Prime and Megatron aboard the Ark II by having a human agent blow it up.
In 2003, Shockwave made his move, heading to Earth with his Triple Changer troops and capturing Megatron and Optimus's forces, planning to try the two leaders as war criminals. Megatron was jettisoned into space by Starscream, while Prime's escape from his clutches led him to fall in with a rebel group, and then to confront Shockwave himself, only to be defeated by the Decepticon, who ripped the Matrix from him. Using the Matrix to activate Vector Sigma, Shockwave downloaded the compressed contents of the mega-computer into his network, but before he had an opportunity to view the data, he was pulled into a battle with Ultra Magnus. In the course of the fight, the fuel line to his cannon was severed, and the resulting explosion destroyed his citadel and knocked him into a chasm.
While the rest of Cybertron believed Shockwave to be deceased, he had actually survived the explosion and gone underground in the wastelands of Cybertron with Astrotrain, Blitzwing, and the Seekers Thrust, Dirge, and Ramjet. He continued his experimentation, resulting in Sixshot. Soon after, however, Megatron returned to Cybertron and bested Shockwave, taking him to Earth where he did the same to Starscream. But now, the three players were assembled, each knowing certain dark secrets of Cybertron's past... but unfortunately, Dreamwave's bankruptcy and subsequently closure at the start of 2005 means that currently, this story remains unresolved.
Shockwave also appeared in several other Dreamwave miniseries, including Transformers/G.I Joe ( where he was given a World War II artillery cannon alternate mode) and the Micromasters series. In this series, set after The War Within but before the Great Shutdown, Shockwave is in command of the Cybertron Decepticons, with Scorponok and Ratbat serving under him. Later in the series a low-on-fuel Shockwave is defeated by the Micromaster Skystalker and decapitated. Whether this mini-series is in continuity with the main Generation One series is unclear.
[edit] Devil's Due Publishing
Shockwave was also the principal antagonist in the second G.I Joe vs the Tranformers series from Devil's Due Publishing. In this Shockwave had taken control of the Decepticon army after Megatron's disappearance and conquered Cybertron, forcing the Autobots underground. However, this all changed when Cobra Commander hacked into Teletran 3 with the aim of creating a wormhole to Cybertron where he could steal more Transformer technology. G.I Joe attempted to interfere and they, along with Cobra and Cobra Commander's personal transport Starscream were all transported to Cybertron. Shockwave arrived with his troops (including Cyclonus, Scourge, Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet) and attempted to eliminate them. However a squad of Autobots led by Ultra Magnus stop them, keeping the Decepticons out by erecting a shield generator. While the Joes and COBRA forces attempted to locate several time-displaced Transformers (including Optimus Prime), Shockwave's forces battered at the shield and eventually overwhelmed it, capturing most of the humans and Teletran 3 and wounding Ratchet in the process. The humans were able to sneak in and undo the blocks on the time-displacement equipment, allowing the last Transformers to return - the Dinobots, reconfigured into their now-familiar dinosaur modes. They wiped out most of Shockwave's forces and severely damaged Shockwave. As Starscream tried to weasel his way out of being killed by Shockwave for his part in the fiasco, both were instead eliminated when Cobra Commander activated his "parting gift" to the traitorous Starscream - 45 pounds of plastic explosives.
Despite the character being notoriously difficult to kill, it seems Shockwave did indeed perish in the explosion. In the third crossover a group of Autobots and G.I Joes returning to Cybertron via the Spacebridge are attacked by Cannabilizers - old and damaged Transformers after spare parts. One of these clearly has Shockwave's gun arm.
[edit] IDW Publishing
Since the Dreamwave bankruptcy, the Transformers license has been acquired by IDW Publishing, who have begun to issue their own Transformers series. The Transformers: Evolutions: Hearts of Steel, an alternate reality set during America's Industrial Revolution features Shockwave reconfigured as an Ironclad. He is the first Transformer to reveal himself to the humans, transforming from boat mode at the end of issue #1. Although he only briefly appeared after this in issue #2, showing Tobias Muldoon the Decepticon base, he was presumably destroyed when Bumblebee and John Henry managed to send the entire Decepticon rail convoy into a chasm.
In the main IDW Transformers universe, Generation One Shockwave made his first appearance in the first issue of The Transformers: Spotlight. In this single-issue story, Shockwave sees the coming state of Cybertron (which, as The Transformers: Stormbringer would show, would turn out to be accurate). Launching energon missiles into space, one crashes on Earth with Shockwave looking on this as an experiment in progress. However, he was interrupted by the Dynobots, seeking revenge for a past defeat involving Shockwave stealing their energon cache. They adopted the forms of extinct dinosaurs to combat the high energon levels of the planet. Despite the ferocity of the Dynobots' assault he was still able to defeat them all. However, Grimlock, anticipating possible defeat, programmed their ship to fire upon their location if they didn't return, burying them all in lava, until a human archeology team discovered them many years later. In The Transformers: Escalation it was revealed the bodies of both Shockwave and the Dynobots had been uncovered by the mysterious defense organization Skywatch.
Shockwave's actions here serve as a prequel to other story lines: the rich energon seams Shockwave plants here are discovered by Starscream's infiltration unit, leading to the events of Infiltration, while Megatron, at the story's close, assigns Bludgeon to seal off Shockwave's research, implying that this is how he gains the knowledge he has in Stormbringer.
[edit] Transformers: Alternators
Shockwave staged a comeback in 2005's Transformers: Alternators toyline, which featured classic characters re-interpreted with modern vehicular alternate modes. Although the American toys offered no supporting fiction, the storyline included with the Japanese version of the line, Binaltech, detailed the story of Shockwave's rebirth in this unusual new form.
When the time-displaced Decepticon agent, Ravage, used the time machine called the Kronosphere to alter the time line (branching off the Binaltech/Alternators storyline from the continuity of the G1 animated series), the chaos that ensued resulted in the destruction of Shockwave's body. With Ravage's aid, his mind was installed into a stolen Autobot "Binaltech" body, equipped with a prototype "Transmuter" device, which, when interfaced with Shockwave's personality component, allowed the chassis to "transmute" itself into Shockwave's recognizable physical form, including his cyclopean visage and gun-arm. He wields a Turbo Rifle which can also serve as a power booster for his gun-arm, and can project up to five holographic duplicates of himself anywhere on the planet (an ability mentioned in the series bible for the original animated series, but never put to use).
[edit] Toys
- Generation 1 (1985)
- The Shockwave toy transforms from a robot into a ray gun that can be wielded in a "role play" fashion, featuring electronic laser noises and lights. The toy itself was one of the first Transformers figures not derived from the Japanese Diaclone or Microman toy lines, instead coming from a company named ToyCo, which had produced the toy under the name "Astro Magnum". It is believed this was the only toy that ToyCo made. Unlike Shockwave, Astro Magnum was gray with a red eye, and a standard trigger design (changed to a flat trigger for Shockwave, perhaps due to the "phallic" position it adopted in robot mode). Also unusual is that, prior to Shockwave's release by Hasbro, Radio Shack sold the gray version in the US (often referred to as "Shackwave" by fans). However, it is debated as to whether or not the Radio Shack release was a licensed ToyCo release or a bootleg. Notably, unlike other early Transformers figures not made by Takara such as Jetfire or Omega Supreme, Shockwave was the only non-Takara toy that was actually marketed and sold as part of the Transformers line in Japan.
- In the 1980's Transformers were such a success that Hasbro wanted to get as much product out on the shelves with the Transformers name on it as possible. Since they were running out of old Takara molds to use, they obtained licences to use the molds of other companies' robot toys in the Transformers line. Shockwave, Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Roadbuster, Whirl, Chop Shop, Venom, Barrage and Ransack were among those molds. With the licences to those toys now expired Hasbro and Takara no longer have legal rights to those figures and cannot reissue them.
- Action Master (1990)
- A second toy incarnation of Shockwave was sold in 1991, as part of the non-transforming "Action Masters" sub-line. He was accompanied by a transforming "terror droid" partner named Fistfight - a loathsome little creature who enjoys dissecting late-model cars - who transforms into a long-range lightning rifle that Shockwave can wield. Although many other Action Masters had appeared in the Marvel Comics continuity, Action Master Shockwave did not.
- Transtech (unreleased)
- After the conclusion of the Beast Machines series and toy line, Hasbro's initial plans were for a follow-up series entitled Transtech, which would supposedly bring back some deceased Beast Wars characters, as well as some older Generation 1 characters, all in new, more organic-looking bodies, except with vehicular alternate modes instead of the animal forms which had dominated the two recent series. Although the idea was eventually scrapped in favor of Transformers: Armada (with Transformers: Robots in Disguise being imported for the "filler" year in between), Toronto-based design studio Draxhall Jump produced many concept sketches (from which even a few toy prototypes were produced), among which was a Transtech incarnation for Shockwave, described as a high speed assassin, who turned into a six-wheeled Cybertronian low-rider vehicle that emitted shockwaves from its engine.
- Transformers: Alternators (2005)
- Due to trademark problems with Shockwave's name (lost to toy company Lanard Toys), the new incarnation of Shockwave created for Alternators was released under the "Shockblast" moniker (although the toy itself paid homage to the original name by including a license plate that read "SHKWAV"). The figure transforms into a blueish-purple Mazda RX-8 with Shockwave's familiar head and gun arm, and also wields a rifle that transforms in the car mode's muffler.
[edit] Transformers: Energon
| Transformers character | |
 Shockblast |
|
| Shockblast | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Decepticon |
| Japanese name | Laserwave (レーザーウェーブ Rēzāwēbu?) |
| Function | Satellite Staff |
| Motto | "I see you." |
| Alternate Modes | Cybertronian Tank/Satellite |
| Series | Transformers: Energon |
| Voiced by | Brian Drummond (English) Nobutoshi Kanna (Japanese) |
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 an 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 and rude, the power-hungry Shockblast transforms into an orbital weapons platform 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 loathes and 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).
[edit] Fiction
[edit] 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 as treacherous - brother, Six Shot.
[edit] Pack-in mini-comics
Shockblast would make his only comics appearance in the third promotional mini-comic packaged with Transformers: Energon toys. When Slugslinger and Sharkticon attempted to break into an Autobot island facility as Shockblast scrambled the security system with an electromagnetic pulse from orbit, they were caught and battled with Bulkhead and Towline who had some unexpected help - Omega Supreme, who soundly defeated all the Decepticons present.
The name of Shockwave would make an unexpected reappearance in the fourth mini-comic, as one of Megatron's troops. On Earth Megatron, with the aid of Snowcat, Shockwave, Mirage and Demolisher, cornered Optimus Prime and a wounded Hot Shot. Optimus nobly refused to give up. The other Autobot reinforcements were over ten minutes away and the two Autobots looked done for when Wing Saber arrived. Making a powerlinx link with Optimus Prime, Prime soundly defeated all the Decepticons, even Megatron, and forced them to flee. The Autobots then arrived and Optimus thanked Wing Saber for his help.
[edit] Toys
- Shockblast (2004)
- Designed mainly to be a visual homage to the original Shockwave, the Shockblast figure is specifically designed for its robot mode - it features Shockwave's traditional one-eyed head, and a large gun-barrel arm. Consequently, however, it's two vehicle modes are something of an ad-hoc jumble of parts. By sliding forward the level on his gun-arm in any mode, the panels on the gun fan out, exposing gold-chromed solar-panel-like decals beneath, and the arm launches a missile with an electronic blasting sound effect.
- Shockblast was later repainted into his brother, Six Shot, with all the same features. Six Shot, in contrast to Shockblast, only transformed into the tank mode in the animated series.
[edit] Transformers: Cybertron
The Shockwave name returned to Transformers toy line in the US as part of the Transformers: Cybertron series in 2005, used on a recolor of the Transformers: Armada Mini-Con Terradive. 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.
The Shockwave and Tankor characters did not appear in the Transformers: Cybertron television series or comics, and were not part of the Japanese Galaxy Force toy line. Shockwave and Tankor were sold together on a card, as well as being included with the Decepticon Mudflap as a promotional item at Target Stores in 2006.
[edit] See also
"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.
