Soundwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity

"Mouths are very 'in' at the moment."

Soundwave did a lot of stuff in the Marvel Comics continuity!

Marvel The Transformers comics

Ravage, Megatron, and Soundwave, the first Decepticons.

Millions of years ago, Soundwave was one of the first members of the Decepticons and part of the nucleus with Megatron and Shockwave. Datafile: Megatron After sowing discontent among the masses, he, Megatron and Ravage began the war that would tear the planet itself out of its orbit. The Transformers Soundwave was at Megatron's side during his assault on Iacon and updated his leader with information throughout the course of the battle. And There Shall Come...a Leader! The Decepticons, including Soundwave, attempted to hijack the Ark four million years ago, only to fail and fall into deactivation sleep for four million years. The Transformers Cold Comfort and Joy! Once upon a Time... In 1984, the detonation of the volcano, Mount St. Hilary, reactivated the Autobots and Decepticons, unleashing their war on Earth. Learning the inhabitants of this planet had access to its vast energy sources, Soundwave joined the Decepticons in raiding a drive-in movie theatre. The Transformers Soon after, Soundwave participated in a raid on Harrison Nuclear Power Plant, and after helping the Decepticons make off with large chunks of its machinery, helped use their bounty to build a new headquarters atop a cliffside. Requiring help to find a way to process Earth fuels into a form usable by Cybertronians, the Decepticons subsequently abducted the Autobots' new human ally Sparkplug Witwicky. Power Play!

"Fly, my pretties, fly!"

While Sparkplug was labouring away on a conversion method, Soundwave devised means of his own to develop a crude form of fuel out of electric power. The Decepticons staged an attack on Sherman Dam to put Soundwave's formula to use, and the communications expert oversaw the production and extraction of the fuel while others prevented the Autobots from interfering. Decepticon Dam-Busters! Soon after, the Decepticons' headquarters were infiltrated by the Autobot Gears and the human superhero Spider-Man, seeking to rescue Sparkplug. Soundwave engaged the intruders, but was suckerpunched by Gears while distracted by the wall-crawling adventurer. Prisoner of War!

When Starscream nearly caused the death of Ravage, Megatron rallied the other Decepticons, including Soundwave, to enact vengeance for his treason. The Enemy Within! Later, the Decepticons unleashed a surprise attack on the Ark. After Soundwave defeated Jazz, the battle was halted when Aunty, the Ark's computer system, turned rogue. After the crisis was averted, Soundwave and the others were able to retreat. Raiders of the Last Ark Although Sparkplug's fuel conversion process was completed soon after, as one of the more seriously injured Decepticons after recent battles, Soundwave was unable to join his fully-functional comrades in launching a fresh attack on the Ark—which turned out to be fortunate for him, since Sparkplug had poisoned the fuel. Only the surprise arrival of Shockwave prevented the Autobots from claiming victory, The Last Stand and Soundwave quickly fell into step behind him as he took command of the Decepticons and seized control of the Ark. The New Order

Soundwave was relocated to the Decepticons' new headquarters on the captured Blackrock Enterprises oil-drilling platform, The Worse of Two Evils! but he did not stay there for long. First, at Shockwave's command, he returned to Ark to instal a thermo-nuclear bomb in the Guardian droid that guarded the ship, programming it to detonate should any surviving Autobots or traitorous Decepticons turn on Shockwave. The Wrath of Grimlock! Next, Soundwave infiltrated Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One by having a hapless worker bring him inside in his tape deck mode. Once he had breached the facility's defense systems, Soundwave attacked and secured the plant for Decepticon use. Warrior School! Despite the human slave-workers under his command not being as efficient as he had hoped, Soundwave prepared an assembly line to Shockwave's specifications. Repeat Performance! The plant's facilities were used to create the Constructicons, who built a massive radio dish that Soundwave used to beam a message back to Cybertron. However, the radio dish was destroyed when Soundwave was defeated by Huffer and the human trucker Bomber Bill. The Next Best Thing to Being There!

That's a pretty weird way of admitting your attraction to him, Prime.

After Soundwave had returned to the aerospace plant, Shockwave had him search the facilities for any proof that the Autobots were spying on them; he had deduced that their continued interference was more than just coincidence. Sure enough, Soundwave discovered that the plant's phones had been tapped, and through them the Autobots had been eavesdropping on the Decepticons' plans. Shockwave then had Soundwave build a false head for Optimus Prime, one which would control the Autobot leader's body for the Decepticons. After the Autobots were made to believe that the real head would be dumped into a nearby swamp, they came to put the false head onto Prime's body, which immediately turned on them. Soundwave and the other Decepticon troops then joined in pulverizing the Autobot forces. Their rampage came to a halt when Buster had Jetfire bring the real head out to the battlefield, and it was swapped out with the duplicate without anyone noticing. Optimus Prime, once again whole, turned on the Decepticons and beat them all back single-handedly. Prime Time!

With both Megatron and Shockwave left missing in action by these Autobot victories, Soundwave assumed command of the Decepticons, dismissing Starscream's own ambitions of leadership. Crisis of Command! His claim was that he was loyal to "either" Megatron and Shockwave, and was a mere acting leader... unless, of course, neither of them ever came back.... #48's Soundwaves

"And you—YOU!—no longer exiiii... oh, wait."

For his first plan as leader, he had his cassettes lead the weakest Autobot Bumblebee into a trap, taking him prisoner, but his attempt to use Bumblebee as bait to lure Optimus Prime to his doom failed, as Prime once more took on their ranks on his own, defeated them all, and rescued 'Bee. Crisis of Command! Soundwave's second plan, on the other hand, enjoyed much greater success. Discovering that the Dinobots were on a rampage across North America, Soundwave, Skywarp, and Scavenger managed to subdue and capture both Sludge, and the Autobot unit sent to bring the Dinobot in. Soundwave then made use of a sonic lance to agitate Sludge into fighting Grimlock near Doonstown, endangering the local humans. Though the sonic lance was destroyed and the hostages rescued, many Autobots were left badly injured, and the Decepticons even walked away with a bonus in the form of fuel stolen from a nearby power plant while the Autobots were distracted. On the way out, Soundwave proudly declared their victory, a turn of events that Optimus Prime did not enjoy. Dinobot Hunt! Left in a vegetative state following these events, both Grimlock and Swoop dreamed of defeating Soundwave, though in each case they were ultimately beaten by their own pride. Victory!

Soundwave subsequently went to ground, hiding in a human electronics shop in alternate mode. While there, he observed a news broadcast about Megatron, who had resurfaced but wound up rendered immobile in a Wyoming coal mine due to lack of fuel. Soundwave sped to his rescue, re-energizing him. I, Robot-Master! The pair agreed that Megatron should lie low in the coal mine for the time being, while Soundwave sought out the recently-returned Shockwave in hopes of organizing a peaceful alliance between the two rival leaders. Second Generation! Awaiting the right time to drop the news that Megatron had returned, Soundwave began serving under Shockwave again, and started training the Constructicons so that their integration into Devastator would yield a more capable soldier. Pleased with their progress, Shockwave ordered the Constructicons to seek out a human... which outraged Soundwave; the very thought of sending their crack troops on such a mundane errand appeared as a total mismanagement of resources. Shockwave clarified that he was not after any human; he planned to abduct Buster Witwicky, and use the Autobots' friend as leverage. Soundwave and the Constructicons tracked Buster down to a demolition derby. Though several Autobots were present, Devastator took care of distracting them while Soundwave made his advance on the boy. Buster had collapsed into a comatose state upon seeing Devastator, and intrigued as to why, Soundwave used his mind-reading abilities. He was shocked to find within Buster's mind a Matrix-induced vision of the Transformers' future. Soundwave considered this revelation too big a variable to proceed as initially planed, and ordered an immediate retreat. Shockwave was furious over Soundwave's decision, but upon hearing what Soundwave had uncovered, his anger likewise turned to curiosity. Devastation Derby! The vision, Soundwave and Shockwave deduced, showed the next leap in Transformer evolution. Soundwave reported his findings to Megatron as well, prompting him to battle Shockwave for leadership. The Decepticons' human ally, Robot-Master, televised the battle, much to Soundwave's distaste, and in order to prevent the Decepticons from looking like fools, he interrupted the duel and insisted that they agree to a joint leadership. Second Generation!

At this time, Soundwave's signal finally reached Cybertron and Lord Straxus discovered that Soundwave and the other Earthbound Decepticons were still alive. The Smelting Pool!

As the Decepticons began constructing a new base of operations, Soundwave helped Finkleberg broadcast another one of his supervillain-style monologues to the entire North American continent. Finkleberg was increasingly dissatisfied with his lot in life however, and demanded to speak with Megatron about how the Decepticons treated him. Soundwave warned the human that Megatron would not tolerate dissent among his ranks, but Finkleberg went off to rant at the Decepticon leader nonetheless. The Bridge to Nowhere!

Soundwave was part of a group of Decepticons who staged a petty attack on a human town when a strange energy blast reversed all of their personalities! The cruel robots turned nice, and apologized profusely as they cleaned up the mess they had made. Once the blast's effects wore off, the Decepticons tracked its origin to England. They headed overseas to retaliate for what they assumed to be an Autobot trick. Though Starscream found the device responsible, a human invention called the "PARD," it was destroyed before he could take off with it. To a Power Unknown!

A Decepticon group on Cybertron then made contact with Megatron's Earth-bound forces, informing them that several soldiers were teleporting over via space-bridge. Megatron left to meet the new arrivals, only for the Autobots to attack in his absence. Soundwave suggested that Megatron return to deal with the situation, but Megatron instead opted to attack the Ark, which he incorrectly believed was unguarded. Though the Decepticons faced defeat on both fronts, Megatron managed to spin the situation to make himself appear more successful than Shockwave. Soundwave was thus present for Megatron resuming complete control of the Decepticons. Command Performances!

You find: Insanity!

When the Robot-Master hoax the Decepticons were perpetrating was threatened by the investigative work of Joy Meadows, Soundwave was instrumental in ending the conflict that ensued between the Decepticons and the Dinobots by holding the reporter hostage and destroying her footage, and making it clear she'd be dead if she tried this again. In the National Interest Not long thereafter, when the deranged future Decepticon, Galvatron, traveled back in time, Soundwave was intrigued by the fact that he was unable to scan his mind to discern the truth of his identity. Siding with Megatron when conflict erupted, Soundwave and his leader were buried under an avalanche by Galvatron and then rescued by the Autobots in the name of forming an alliance to defeat their common enemy. Target: 2006

After sending the Insecticon to take control of Optimus Prime, Soundwave and Megatron received a communique from Bombshell alerting them that his cerebro-shell had failed to subjugate the Autobot leader. The mission was far from a total loss, however, as the cerebro-shell allowed Megatron to tap into the Creation Matrix whenever Optimus activated it. The Autobot did so in order to give life to the Aerialbots, allowing Soundwave to aid Megatron in bringing on-line his own latest creations, the Stunticons. Heavy Traffic!

Prior to Christmas 1986, Soundwave, Kickback, and Dirge took control of a NASA space monitoring station in order to send a message back to Cybertron. Though the Autobots inevitably arrived to interfere with the mission, Soundwave's teammates managed to hold them off long enough for him to get his message through. He then transformed into his alternate mode, hoped aboard Thrust, and fled the scene. The Gift

Megatron recruited Runamuck and Runabout from Cybertron, and instructed the duo to deliver a challenge to Optimus Prime; Megatron desired to duel him to the death! Soundwave questioned Megatron's methods, as he pointed out he could easily open a channel to the Autobots' base and issue the challenge with no hassle. Megatron responded by clobbering Soundwave for his insolence. Decepticon Graffiti!

Soundwave's loyalty to Megatron was shaken when the latter became increasingly paranoid. Consequently he manipulated his leader into summoning the Predacons to Earth as part of a scheme by Shockwave to ensure a weaponless Megatron was destroyed by Optimus Prime. Prey! With Shockwave once more in charge, Soundwave soon found himself pitted against yet another contender for leadership of the Decepticons: Galvatron, once more back from the future. Upon detecting Galvatron's explosive arrival on Earth, Shockwave mobilized the Decepticons to aid the Dinobots in battling the mad time-traveler. As soon as Soundwave and the other Decepticons joined the fray, Galvatron fled, unwilling to destroy his own future-troops. Fallen Angel Afterwards, Megatron was revealed to have survived and soon returned to Decepticon leadership, albeit with his memories of the betrayal that had lampooned him on Cybertron lost. At Shockwave's behest, Soundwave had a cursory glance inside Megatron's mind, confirming that his amnesia was not an act. Resurrection!

Soundwave and Laserbeak tried to steal energy from the town of Midville, only for a team of Autobots to show up to foil their plot. Faced by greater numbers, both Decepticons retreated, Soundwave assuming his alternate mode to be carried away by Laserbeak. The Night the Transformers Saved Christmas

Soundwave again served as co-conspirator when Shockwave once more used the Predacons to destroy Megatron. In the process a deranged Megatron seemingly committed suicide on the space bridge. Gone but Not Forgotten! Soundwave then came into contact with Ratbat, who had seized control of the Decepticon forces on Cybertron, and patched him through to Shockwave so the two commanders could communicate regularly between the two worlds. King of the Hill!

While patrolling on the Decepticons' mobile island base, Soundwave found himself attacked and subdued by the time-traveling freelance peace-keeping agent, Death's Head, and tricked into giving up information on the whereabouts of Galvatron. Hunters Although Death's Head's attempts to track down the Decepticon met with failure, Galvatron was ultimately entombed in lava, where he was later discovered by Susan Hoffman. Soundwave observed a televised broadcast of her discovery, and he and the Combaticons attempted to destroy Galvatron with explosives planted around the volcano in question. After a battle with the Throttlebots, Soundwave found that he was unable to remote-detonate the explosives thanks to Blaster jamming his signal. Ladies' Night

After the Seacons had been called in to aid in underwater operations, Galvatron returned, making a bee-line for the Decepticons' command center. Soundwave rushed to Shockwave's side to receive his orders on how to deal with the situation, nearly getting his head blown off in the process; Shockwave had been left a nervous wreck by the prospect of facing down Galvatron once more. Though Soundwave's advice was to negotiate with Galvatron, Shockwave acted out of self-interest and instead told Soundwave to have the Seacons bar his advance. This wound up working to Galvatron's advantage; having anticipated such a reaction, the future-Decepticon easily tore through any opposition and breached the headquarter's walls, only to announce he had only wished to talk. This was a complete lie, but it served to sow the seeds of rebellion among the Decepticon ranks. Enemy Action!

When the Autobots launched an attack on the Decepticons' island headquarters to rescue a recently captured Buster Witwicky, Shockwave converted the landmass into its rocket-ship mode and had it blast off into space. Soundwave was standing at the ready, within the ship's control room, as this took place. The Desert Island of Space!

When Shockwave was removed from power, Soundwave smoothly transitioned to serving under the new Decepticon leader, Ratbat. While attending his post, Soundwave detected both the Steelhaven and Ark Autobot spacecrafts on the Earth's moon, and alerted Ratbat to his find. Seizing the opportunity to catch the united Autobot forces unawares, Ratbat had the bulk of his troops launched a surprise attack. During their assault, Soundwave lamented that he couldn't hear his opponents' death-screams in the vacuum of space. They were eventually forced back when Blaster and Grimlock rallied their forces, and the Decepticons absconded to their vessel. Totaled! Upon returning to Earth the Decepticons relocated their base to the Caribbean Sea and opened it as a holiday resort for humans. Soundwave participated in this charade, as it allowed the Seacons to search the nearby sea bed for the Autobot tapes Grand Slam and Raindance. Club Con!

In Soviet Russia, tape commands you!

Soundwave helped to operate his Realvision playback system to decode data from Grand Slam and Raindance. The Flames of Boltax! The tapes, it was discovered, contained information on the Underbase, the power of which was desired by Starscream so badly he sparked off a Decepticon-Decepticon war to cover himself. Soundwave ended up having his fuel pump torn into by Bomb-Burst. Cold War! Once the infighting came to an end, the Decepticons returned to their headquarters for repairs. Their reprieve was brief, as Soundwave detected an Autobot invasion force approaching them. This turned out to be another of Starscream's distractions, and a temporary alliance between the two factions was struck to stop him. Following Starscream into space, they were able to cut his absorption of the Underbase's energies short. Unfortunately, the morsel of power Starscream had taken in was still enough to grant him unimaginable might. As Starscream rampaged across the Earth, Soundwave co-led the defense of Buenos Aires alongside Fortress Maximus, but was temporarily deactivated by a blast of cosmic power. Dark Star

He was back on his feet by the time that Starscream, now a Pretender, was busy doubting his self-worth. Soundwave was extremely scared of Starscream by this point, and gave him a wide berth whenever they crossed in the halls of the Decepticon base. Fallen Star! Soundwave continued to operate under the command of the new Decepticon Earth commander, Scorponok, though like the other troops he was very unhappy about Starscream being allowed back in after trying to kill everyone. Primal Scream He was put in charge of guarding Optimus Prime after the Autobot leader surrendered his troops to Scorponok, hoping to elicit an alliance against the coming of Unicron. When Prime changed his mind about meekly waiting in a cell for Scorponok to make time for him, however, Soundwave provided little resistance in keeping him there. Surrender! After the Decepticon auxiliary army bombed Scorponok's base in New Jersey, Soundwave assumed temporary command of the active Decepticons in fighting back against the traitors, led by Starscream and Shockwave. ...All This and Civil War 2 But Soundwave was caught off-guard by Mindwipe, who managed to hypnotize him. Though Mindipe had intended to have Soundwave order those under his command to lay down their arms, making them easy pickings, Kup had him do some alterations to his scheme at gun-point. Through Soundwave, all Decepticons were ordered to unite and join forces with the Autobots, in anticipation to the looming threat of Unicron. No sooner had this transpired did Primus summon all Transformers back to Cybertron to combat the Chaos-Bringer. Out of Time! Using Emirate Xaaron as his avatar, Primus told all of his children present, Soundwave included, about his eons-old struggle against his dark opposite. The Void!

He's found a new gunformer to toady up with.

Soundwave survived the battle with Unicron, and attended a meeting between the briefly-allied Autobots and Decepticons with Treadshot. There Blaster announced the imminent end of their world, and an evacuation was called for. Soundwave was still hanging out with Treadshot when he witnessed a fight break out between Grimlock and Fangry. Bludgeon, who had assumed command of the Decepticons, demanded assurances out of the Autobots for this incident, and the latter were forced to comply. After being allowed to leave the planet ahead of the Autobots, the Decepticons double-crossed them by sabotaging their ships. Soundwave was last seen beside Bludgeon as the Decepticons left their self-destructing homeworld. Exodus!

Robo-Capers

After issue #51's Robo-Capers strip was misprinted, Soundwave visited the offices of Marvel Film Makers to extract an apology from a hapless film-maker, destroying the building in the process. Robo-Capers issue 59

When Grimlock threatened to beat up Soundwave and take over his letters page, the Decepticon columnist gave up the position willingly, leaving behind heaps of unopened mail for his replacement. Rather than face Grimlock, Soundwave snuck out of his office by being carried away in his boombox mode by a human collaborator. Robo-Capers issue 74

Transformers Annual 1985

Realizing that their mission on Earth would be infinitely more difficult without capable human allies, Optimus attempted to open a dialogue with the American government. Though the meeting was planned in utmost secrecy, one foul-up on the humans' end allowed for Soundwave to learn of it; a phone call mentioning it was made without the proper scrambler procedures. Soundwave immediately informed Megatron of his discovery, and the Decepticons set about sabotaging any hope their enemies had of forming an alliance with the humans. Plague of the Insecticons!

Marvel UK future timelines

In one timeline, the Decepticons managed to conquer all of Cybertron by 2005, relegating the Autobots to its two moons. Upon Laserbeak's return from a spying mission on Moonbase One, Megatron ordered Soundwave to play back the cassette's findings. The information encoded on his minion revealed that the Autobots were planning to make an Energon run to Earth, allowing the Decepticons to ambush the Autobots' shuttle partway to its destination and slay all aboard. The Planet-Eater!

After the Decepticons' subsequent attack on Autobot City ended in failure, Megatron was deposed as Decepticon leader, and Starscream took over the position. Soundwave attended Starscream's coronation ceremony, only for the processions to be interrupted by a returning Megatron, having since been reborn as the super-Decepticon Galvatron. Galvatron reduced Starscream to a pile of scrap with a single blast, and Soundwave cheered as Galvatron retook his former role as Decepticon head-honcho. Judgment Day!

In 2008, Soundwave was under the command of Shockwave on Cybertron. When the bounty hunter named Death's Head arrived with the deactivated bodies of the renegades Scourge and Cyclonus and demanded an audience, Shockwave had Soundwave wait nearby as a precautionary measure. Sure enough, Soundwave's monitoring abilities alerted Shockwave that the two Decepticons were not as dead as they seemed, and the three invaders began an assassination attempt on Shockwave. Soundwave summoned the Stunticons, hoping that Menasor could breach the sealed doors of the audience chamber in time, but wasn't swift enough. Death's Head killed Shockwave, and together the trio demanded that the Decepticons accept Scourge and Cyclonus as their new leaders. Faced with superior firepower and a hefty dose of explosives, Soundwave was reluctantly forced to accept on behalf of the Decepticons.

Wasting no time, Scourge and Cyclonus commanded the Decepticons to begin a full-scale assault on Autobase. This was effectively suicide, as the two armies were just about evenly matched. That, of course, was the point—Scourge and Cyclonus's true master, Unicron, wanted the children of Primus exhausted and depleted in number by the time of his glorious resurrection. After Rodimus Prime and Death's Head took the fight straight to the recuperating Unicron on Junk, however, he summoned his two minions back to his side. Seeing their "glorious leaders" abandon the battle, Soundwave and Hun-Grrr sounded a retreat. In the absence of Unicron's spawn, Soundwave became the new permanent leader of the Decepticons. The Legacy of Unicron!

Or, in short, "Soundwave: Superior".

Aching to make a name for himself in Decepticon military history, Soundwave soon fell into a Quintesson trap. A lone Quintesson arrived at Decepticon headquarters, seeking an alliance against the Autobots, who supposedly had assembled most of their fleet and were on their way to Quintessa. Instead of helping the Quintessons, Soundwave saw this as an opportunity to invade and destroy the Autobot territory on Cybertron, when most of their warriors were off-world. He assembled his various sub-commanders and set out aboard Astrotrain to claim a glorious victory.

It's funny, this situation. It reminds me of a joke...

Instead, Soundwave and the Decepticons walked right into an ambush. There were no Autobots on Quintessa: it was a ruse to draw them out of their base, where legions of Allicons and Trident Attack Crafts waited to overwhelm the Decepticons. Seeing the danger his troops were in, Soundwave was forced to call in the Autobots. Sending a garbled distress beacon to Autobase, Soundwave hoped to draw a suitable fighting force of Autobots to their location. He was successful, as Ultra Magnus and his men remained to fight even after learning who the distress call came from. Autobot and Decepticon fought side-by-side until the Quintesson invaders were either destroyed or driven off-world. In a moment of introspection, Soundwave realized how effective the two armies were when fighting as one instead of as enemies... but quickly brushed aside the idea. Simply too much had happened between the Autobots and Decepticons to ever hope for a peaceful end to the war. Space Pirates!

In 2009, Soundwave and the Terrorcons were on Earth, prepping a new energy extraction system to leech the planet dry. A surgical strike led by Kup and Ultra Magnus destroyed all their equipment, however, leaving their power cells empty of energon. Looking for revenge, the Decepticons pursued the Autobots back to Autobot City, only to find an open trans-time dimensional portal. Realizing the Autobots had fled back to 1989 on a mission of unknown purpose, the vengeful Terrorcons wanted to pursue them. Giving in to popular opinion, Soundwave led his troops back through time and right into the midst of the Time Wars.

Recognizing that the uncontrolled timestorm could conceivably destroy all of existence, Soundwave chose to put aside vendettas for the moment, and added his men to the alliance of Autobots and Decepticons from two time periods against the unmatched power and evil of Galvatron and Megatron combined. Still, the alliance was far from perfect: Soundwave was more than willing to allow the Autobots to charge in first, letting them die in order to "soften up" the resistance. When things turned ugly, Soundwave and the Terrorcons then fled back to 2009, apparently without ever getting their hands dirty. Their final fate after reality restructured itself and the timestorm abated is unknown. Time Wars

The Big Broadcast of 2006

In an alternate future of 2006, Soundwave was drawn to a battle on Junkion after succumbing to the hypnotizing effect of a Quintesson signal. After the Autobots managed to disable the signal, returning all combatants to their senses, Soundwave boarded Blast Off and left the planet behind. The Big Broadcast of 2006

Earthforce

I agree, Soundwave!

In an alternate timeline, Soundwave left Scorponok's army and returned to serving at Megatron's side, helping him with the launch of a global warming satellite. Starting Over! When an Enclave was called by Shockwave to prevent a Decepticon Civil War between the two factions, it was Soundwave that found evidence that Shockwave had set up Megatron for assassination. The Civil War duly broke out, both sides unaware that the attempt on Megatron's life had been staged by some Autobot saboteurs. The Bad Guy's Ball!

Then Soundwave immediately turned into a double agent for Shockwave! When an energon shipment was hijacked by Shockwave's forces thanks to information Soundwave had given them, Megatron came to suspect the presence of a traitor in his ranks, but ironically assigned Soundwave to identify the culprit. To keep his own duplicity a secret, Soundwave set up Wildrider to take the fall, and Megatron destroyed the Stunticon. Soundwave not only got away with his treachery, he went on to happily blackmail everyone he'd mind-scanned. Eat your heart out, Starscream! Secrets

Whoops, then Starscream blackmailed him: agree to merge the two factions under a joint leadership for the good of the Decepticons, or be exposed. Once Megatron and Shockwave were lured into battle with each other and then attacked by Autobots, Soundwave and Starscream took control and publicly teamed up. In secret, Soundwave had decided this was actually a good deal and all he needed now was to ensure Starscream had an... accident. Internal Affairs! Subsequently, Soundwave led an all-out attack on the Earthforce base as a diversion, while Starscream attempted to plunder an oil tanker. Starscream met with failure, however, leading Soundwave to withdraw his forces and hint to them that maybe be should have sole command... Divide and Conquer!

Starscream was aware of Soundwave's goals, and when he was attacked by a group of alien assassins, he suspected that Soundwave had ordered the hit and struck back at him. Soundwave had the foresight to record an explanation before Starscream confronted him, and played a recording outlining how the hit against Starscream was an obvious set-up, its purpose to turn the two of them against one another. Soundwave was successful in convincing Starscream he was not responsible and that in actuality, it was the work of Megatron and Shockwave. As soon as their battle ended however, Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold stormed their base to finish them off. External Forces! Unexpetely, the Autobots arrived to help fend off the assassins, as they needed Starscream in order to save Snarl from a case of Corrodia Gravis. Soundwave got a few shots in before Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold were forced to retreat against superior numbers. The Lesser Evil!

Soon afterward, Soundwave learned that human reporter Irwin Spoon had secured an interview with the Autobots that could potentially resolve the public view of the Transformer war. Seeking to prevent this, he had the Stunticons capture the journalist. Front Line! Although the Autobots were able to rescue him, a carefully planted cerebro-shell ensured that the story Irwin wrote was anything but accurate. End of the Road!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

Soundwave was present when the Decepticons unleashed a robotic hell-beast known as 'King Con' on New York and helped Megatron and Shockwave to set up a mine belt around the harbor. However Optimus Prime rented a helicopter to fly a banner announcing huge raw oil deposit finds in the Rocky Mountains. After a short hesitation, the Decepticons retreated to pursue these findings. New York — A City Sinking in Terror

When Optimus Prime was kidnapped, Shockwave directed Soundwave to check on their prisoner at the laser-lab. Transforming Robots in Action: The Case of Optimus Prime

Marvel Generation 2 comic

He gave the "complete sentences" thing a decent go, but he never really got the hang of commas.

After Megatron deposed Bludgeon and reassumed control of the Decepticons, Soundwave once again served Megatron as a close adviser. One of his first acts was to ask, "Why revive Starscream?". Megatron shared Soundwave's concerns, and assured him the on-again-off-again traitor would be dealt with once Megatron had regrown his army. Tales of Earth Part Three When Optimus Prime finally intervened in the Decepticons' attack, Megatron and Soundwave both descended to Earth's surface. Megatron brutally beat Optimus near-death, and Soundwave then produced an energy-siphon to pilfer the Creation Matrix's energies from the Autobot commander. With this task done, Megatron then readied to snuff out his nemesis, only to be interrupted by Autobot reinforcements led by Grimlock. Finding his signal jammed, Soundwave was unable to call for reinforcements of their own to match the Autobots' numbers. Megatron sounded a retreat rather than risk losing his means of bring a new Decepticon army to life. The Gathering Darkness

Megatron afterwards drew his Decepticons to the moon of Tykos to violently acquire Rheanimum from the natives. However, things soured when Soundwave received a distress call from Skullgrin. In moments, Jhiaxus's Cybertronian Empire was upon them. After several casualties, and Megatron missing in action, Soundwave led a party to discover if Megatron had survived and recover him if he had; when Mindwipe expressed doubts about the mission, Soundwave told him to shut up. He appeared to assume command when Megatron appeared dead, but ceased when Megatron turned out to still function. New Dawn Soundwave was present when Megatron began an alliance with the Autobots against the Cybertronian Empire. Tales of Earth Part Five After a united battle against the Empire on Ethos, Soundwave was also forced to deliver a message to Megatron, the three most ominous words a Decepticon commander could hear..."Starscream is missing." Escalation!

He was in command of the Warworld while Megatron was on Earth. When the Empire boarded the ship (thanks to Starscream's treachery) he and his bridge crew fled down to the planet in escape pods. Total War! He was later seen standing by in the final battle against the Swarm. A Rage in Heaven!

Classics

Soundwave was apparently one of the first Decepticons to return to Megatron's side after the Decepticon leader re-emerged. He helped Megatron rebuild his power base on Earth in secret, using human proxies to covertly recover the remains of Astrotrain and other Decepticons lost on Earth during the Underbase Saga. Astrotrain's Classics profile

After the arrival of the mysterious Decepticon Landquake, Soundwave ran a neural scan on the Transformer to confirm his story of alternate dimensions and Unicron singularities. Soundwave confirmed that, at the very least, Landquake believed he was telling the truth. The Decepticons took off aboard Astrotrain to explore a new energy signature in the Southern Hemisphere...one which materialized at the same time as Landquake and possessed a similar resonance pattern. Crossing Over, Part 2 In South America, Soundwave engaged Optimus Prime's troops alongside Megatron and Devastator on the ground. At Megatron's command, he dispatched Ravage and Laserbeak to intercept the Autobot scouts who had been sent after the energy source. Crossing Over: Part 3

The Cassettes soon reported back that the energy had been discovered, and Megatron rallied the Decepticons behind Soundwave to break for the source's location. Grimlock interferred with the Decepticons' progress, however, by hurling Constructicons like shotputs until he knocked Soundwave down. Crossing Over: Part 5

Soundwave and Astrotrain got caught exchanging fire with Rodimus and Mirage until the latter Autobot turned invisible and snuck around behind the Decepticons, getting the drop on Soundwave. An explosion from below rocked the battlefield, however, and the Decepticons withdrew from combat. Crossing Over: Part 6

When Bug Bite tried to assassinate Megatron, he used cerebro-shells to take control of Soundwave and several other Megatron loyalists. The shells' effects were soon jammed by an attacking Autobot team, and in the chaos that followed, Soundwave noticed that the Autobots were targeting their base's computers, but failed to stop them. Games of Deception

Soundwave was stationed aboard Starscream's warship when Megatron orchestrated the downfall of Bludgeon and his splinter faction. After their inside men terminated Bludgeon, Soundwave informed Starscream he had received a transmission of surrender from the forces below. At Fight's End

Regeneration One

I'm blue at last!

Twenty-one years after the return of the Last Autobot, Soundwave had taken charge of what Optimus Prime dubbed the "Neo-Decepticon" insurgents. After rallying his troops at Fort Scyk he led a strike force on the Kalis Baird Beaming Transmitter, killing the guards and taking control of the facility. He then used it to direct one of Cybertron's orbital defence satellites back towards the planet itself, targeting Iacon and destroying the Last Autobot! Counterpoint

Tapes are so last century.

Soon afterwards, the insurgents Windrazor, Afterburner, Terradive, and Eagle Eye had blundered while trying to steal warheads from the Pax Cybertronia Decommissioning Depot and were engaged in a siege with Ultra Magnus's Cybertronian Civil Defense. Soundwave seized upon the opportunity to turn the Skyscorchers into martyrs for the Decepticon cause and had Venom, Ransack, and Chop Shop assassinate them. Unfortunately for Soundwave, the Wreckers were also on the case and they easily captured the three Insecticons inside a detention-sphere.

Back at Fort Scyk, Soundwave was contacted by Bludgeon, who had apparently gathered almost all the resources he needed to take revenge on the Autobots. Only one element remained and if Soundwave could procure it for him, Bludgeon agreed he would provide troops and firepower for the insurgency campaign. Loose Ends, Part 1

After Dirtbag informed Soundwave of the departure of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus for Earth, Soundwave saw his opportunity. Loose Ends, Part 3 His unique talents made him highly suited for infiltrating the Hall of Silence, constructed by the Autobot Grapple to safely contain the remains of Thunderwing and, within him, the last remnants of the Matrix. Loose Ends, Part 4 Hot Rod and the Autobots on Cybertron faced the dilemma of destroying the Hall to prevent the Matrix from falling into Soundwave's hands but destroying the Matrix altogether. Loose Ends, Part 5

Soundwave's mastery of sonic energy allowed him to navigate the booby traps inside the Hall of Silence, and then he used the pre-emptive destruction of the Hall by the Autobots to cover his escape. Natural Selection, Part One He arrived on Bludgeon's Warworld and allowed the Pretender to use the Matrix's residual energy to power his Blitz Engine warrior drones. Natural Selection, Part Three Soundwave was impressed by the drones when Bludgeon unleashed them on Cresta Superior as a test. Destiny, Part One

Soundwave returned to Cybertron in advance of Bludgeon's invasion to sow chaos. Spinister transmitted live footage of a fight breaking out at a blockade to Soundwave, whose enjoyment of the riot was interrupted when he realized their comm-line had been hacked into. In order to neutralize the intruder, Soundwave deployed the Mayhem Attack Squad. The "intruder" was Blaster, who had been convalescing in The Garage with other Autobots that had recently been cured of the adverse effects of Nucleon. Blaster had randomly accessed an old Decepticon comm-line frequency that Soundwave had been using, and overheard his discussion with Spinister. With the Autobots still rattled after the effects of Scorponok's Gene Key were reversed, Soundwave had been transmitting an irritant, subsonic signal across a frequency shared by all Cybertronians, agitating the Autobots into such a restless, rebellious state that they would be left defenseless. After thwarting their would-be assassins, Blaster convinced Prowl to take the intracomm offline "for essential maintenance", stopping Soundwave's signal. With communications out, however, the Autobots would have no way of knowing if an attack was coming until it was too late. Destiny, Part Two

Soundwave continued his preparations for Bludgeon's invasion, dispatching Wingthing to alert the Neo-Decepticon cells that the time to begin the next phase of their plan had come, while Soundwave readied Monstructor for battle. Destiny, Part Three As the invasion proceeds, Omega Supreme was ordered into action to repel the Blitz Engines, but Soundwave ordered Monstructor to stop Omega. Before Soundwave could retreat from the field of battle, though, he was intercepted by Blaster. Destiny, Part Four Soundwave attempted to use his powers to distort Blaster's senses, but was defeated when his opponent overwhelmed Soundwave's hyper-senses. Destiny, Part Five

Soundwave's actions in attempting to restart the war had really all been part of a greater plan by the Dark Matrix creature, which sought to escape into the Multiverse and spread chaos across multiple realities. The War to End All Wars, Part 5 Ravage, sensing this sinister influence, concluded that he could no longer trust his master. When the creature began its endgame, it proceeded to transform every Transformer on Cybertron it could reach into shadow-leeches, including Soundwave. The Soundwave-leech absorbed his surviving minions Howlback, Slugfest, Squawktalk, Beastbox, Wingthing, and Overkill, but Ravage managed to elude him long enough to be rescued by Starscream. King of Shadows Rodimus Prime defeated the Matrix creature in Zero Space; cut off from their creator's lifeforce, the shadow-leeches expired. Soundwave's dream of reviving the Decepticons and fulfilling Megatron's vision of universal conquest died with him, as the surviving Transformers—Autobot and Decepticon alike—would spend the remainder of their days as emissaries of peace. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Transformers '84

Part of Decepticon High Command, Soundwave attended a meeting at the Presidium where Megatron planned an invasion of Stanix, Secrets & Lies #1 fighting on the front lines during the attack. '84 #0

When Cybertron found itself hurtling towards the Stellae Cimeterium, Megatron held off taking any action until he knew what Optimus Prime's response was. Secrets & Lies #1 Soundwave was later present when Counterpunch brought Megatron knowledge of the Ark, '84 #0 later boarding the Nemesis, the warship that Megatron had been commissioned to attack the Autobot craft. Secrets & Lies #1

Royal Mail stamp bio

Soundwave used his telepathy in the service of Autobot Overlords before the war. As their influence waned, he and Ravage monitored Megatron in Tarn, and both found themselves sympathetic to his rhetoric. In a secret ceremony in Helex, Soundwave became the first official Decepticon recruit.

Notes

"Free! For only NINETY-NINE NINETY-NINE NINETY-NINE!!!"

• The Marvel US comics chose a purple scheme for Soundwave. This could have been an attempt to distinguish him from the other Decepticons, who were mostly blue (especially since blacks also ended up as blues in the industry's then-limited color palette). Or it could have been a simple error. But very likely, it had something to do with his early animation model, which appeared lavender, rather than blue. (See right) Compounding this error, Marvel US Soundwave was drawn without a mouthplate by artist José Delbo. The Marvel UK comics colored him blue like everywhere else (partially due to using a more sophisticated coloring system) and always included his faceplate.
• Soundwave was in charge of the UK letters page from issues #22 to #73, barring a few interruptions. While always quick to take the opportunity to talk trash about the cartoon, he admitted the one thing it had got right was his voice.^[2]
• Despite multiple Soundwave toy molds having multiple releases to date, no Soundwave toy has yet been produced with colors evoking his anomalous Marvel US scheme.

References