Soundwave/Cartoon continuity



If you only remember two things from the Transformers cartoon, odds are one of them is Optimus Prime, and the other is that tape guy with the cool voice.

The Transformers cartoon


Nine million years ago, during the Golden Age of Cybertron, Soundwave was one of Megatron's first Decepticons and was seen flying through the planet's skies alongside his leader and Shockwave by Orion Pax. When the Great War with the Autobots erupted not long after, Soundwave served as Megatron's intelligence officer and most loyal subordinate, and as keeper of the Decepticon Mini-Cassettes, diminutive robots designed for espionage. While Soundwave was a nigh-constant battlefield presence, he would himself often play no major role in combat, more regularly being present merely to deploy his cassette minions, and, off the field of battle, to replay for his fellow Decepticons the information they would gather for him.

After five million years of war, Cybertron found itself in the throes of an energy crisis, and Soundwave was charged with spying on the Autobots to learn how they were dealing with it. Using his unconventional alternate mode as a space-age "lamp-post" to position himself on the street outside Iacon, Soundwave was able to deploy Laserbeak to snoop even closer. Laserbeak discovered that the Autobots were preparing to depart Cybertron to search for new sources of energy on other planets, and Soundwave quickly took this news back to Megatron, prompting the Decepticons to pursue the Autobots' spacecraft when it left the planet. After navigating a treacherous meteor shower, the Decepticons intercepted and boarded the Autobots' ship, and battle erupted between the two factions, during which Soundwave displayed his prowess by holding his own against Jazz, Prowl, Sideswipe, Ironhide and Ratchet. However, the fighting was soon cut short when the Autobot spacecraft was caught in the gravity of the nearby prehistoric planet Earth and crash-landed. The ship impacted with the side of a volcano in a collision so violent that all the Transformers onboard, Soundwave included, were knocked off line.



Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984, a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, Teletraan I back on-line, and it reactivated and repaired the Transformers indiscriminately, reformatting Soundwave with the Earthly alternate mode of a portable cassette player. Before the Autobots were restored, the Decepticons pulled out of the ruined hulk of the ship, and Megatron immediately charged Soundwave with drawing up plans for a new space cruiser to return the Decepticons to Cybertron. Soundwave then deployed Rumble to help Starscream ransack a power plant to gather materials for construction, sent Ravage to scare off humans who came to investigate, and dispatched Laserbeak to search the planet for sources of energy. Laserbeak soon returned to report his discovery of an offshore oil platform, which the Decepticons promptly attacked, gathering oil and storing it in the energon cubes Soundwave generated from his chest. The Autobots soon arrived to stop the Decepticons, but Megatron collapsed the rig, forcing the Autobots to save the human workers and allowing the Decepticons to escape.



Seeking to exploit the data that Teletraan I had gathered on Earth in its short time on the planet, Soundwave positioned himself close to the Autobots' base, where he transformed into his cassette player mode and allowed himself to be found by the Autobots' new human friend, Spike Witwicky. Unaware of the true nature of the unassuming tape player he had found, Spike brought Soundwave into the Autobot ship and then left him unattended, allowing the Decepticon communicator to release Ravage. The feline felon interfaced with Teletraan I and located the computer's data on energy sources, which Soundwave then recorded. Soundwave was soon caught in the act by Spike, but managed to escape to report to Megatron. Using the information Soundwave obtained, Megatron decided to attack Sherman Dam, where Soundwave instructed Rumble to use his earthquake-generating powers to create a tidal wave that maximized the plant's energy output.

The Decepticons' raids continued apace, until only one more theft was necessary. As Megatron put his plan to attack an Air Force base together, Starscream attempted another of his infamous coups by trying to shoot him in the back, but Soundwave proved his loyalty to Megatron by warning his leader of the attack. The subsequent raid on the Air Force base went smoothly, and the Decepticons were at last poised to return to Cybertron when the Autobots made one last-ditch attack on their launch site. Soundwave and his tapes went into action, but Megatron soon called the battle off and ordered the Decepticons to board the completed space cruiser. Soundwave served as the ship's helmsman as it blasted off from Earth, but the flight proved a short one, as Soundwave discovered that the Autobot spy Mirage has used his invisibility powers to stow away. Before the Decepticons could react, Mirage had sabotaged the ship and sent it plummeting back towards Earth. With Soundwave unable to stop its descent, the ship crashed into the ocean, and the Autobots believed the Decepticons destroyed.

In truth, however, Soundwave and the other Decepticons had survived the crash, and after months of working in secret, reconstructed their spaceship into an undersea headquarters. The villains revealed their continued existence to the world when Soundwave again used his inconspicuous tape player form to infiltrate a solar power plant and proceeded to take control of it, allowing the Decepticons to harvest its energy that they planned to send back to Cybertron over their new intergalactic "space bridge" transport system. Soundwave repelled an Autobot counterattack by wielding Megatron in pistol mode, but ultimately, the plan backfired when Megatron himself was caught in the space bridge's pull and believed destroyed, leaving Starscream to take control of the Decepticons. Soundwave chafed under Starscream's inept leadership, and their first sortie with the air commander in charge ended in a comical defeat that saw Soundwave bowled over by Prowl as he ran away. Thankfully, Megatron soon returned, with a scheme to steal Doctor Alcazar's antimatter formula, and Soundwave happily latched back onto his master. After Alcazar deleted the formula from his own computer, Soundwave used his mind-reading talents to acquire the formula from the brain of Chip Chase.

Soundwave participated in a Decepticon attack on Autobot Headquarters when Optimus Prime was mistakenly believed to be fatally wounded. Soon after, during a scheme to drain heat energy from the Earth's core, the Decepticons unearthed the frozen body of Starscream's old friend Skyfire in the North Pole. Soundwave helped reactivate him by delivering a million-volt shock to his systems, but Skyfire ultimately sided with the Autobots to stop the Decepticons' plan. Later, Soundwave and Reflector were sent on a data-gathering mission, acquiring information about the Great Falls to facilitate a Decepticon attack on the hydro-electric plant there.



On a mission to the Peruvian Andes, Soundwave successfully proved that the legend of the Incan Crystal of Power was true when he deduced that the pyramid containing the fabled gemstone rested on a shaft leading to the Earth's core. On a mission to gather steel for a weapon frame to channel the crystal's power, Soundwave and Reflector were ambushed by Brawn and Windcharger in mid-air, and Soundwave found himself driven face-first into a mountain by the small Autobot in the first of several clashes that they would engage in over the years. Soundwave tried to fight back with his own rifle, and even tried blasting Brawn with Megatron in pistol mode, but the little Autobot took everything he had to give and escaped in one piece. Later, Soundwave's mind-reading abilities came into use again when he scanned the brains of the Dinobots, Grimlock, Slag and Sludge, in order to determine their weaknesses.

When Megatron schemed to use the space bridge to transport Cybertron into Earth's orbit, he required human slaves to gather the energy that would result from the massive natural catastrophes such an action would cause. Soundwave and his cassettes were dispatched to capture Sparkplug Witwicky, who served as a guinea pig for the mind-controlling hypno-chips created by the Decepticons' new ally, Doctor Arkeville. The plan to transport Cybertron was subsequently accomplished despite Autobot interference, and Soundwave ensured that energy collection could begin quickly by forcing the Autobots to flee with a barrage of painful audio disruptor waves. Soundwave later transported a cache of energon cubes to the orbiting Cybertron, and was still there when a group of Autobots arrived, searching for the hypno-chip master control. In another encounter with Brawn, Soundwave was taken down by a single blast from his undersized rival, and then alerted the Decepticon forces on the planet to the Autobots' escape. It did little good, as the heroes were able to evade capture, find the hypno-chip control, free the slaves and blast Cybertron out of orbit.

Megatron was briefly thought destroyed by the explosion that pushed Cybertron out of orbit, by the Decepticon leader soon returned to Earth, where Soundwave immediately informed him of Starscream's latest play for leadership. Soundwave later accompanied Megatron and Thundercracker to Bali, where they met the Insecticons. Later still, when Megatron challenged Optimus Prime to a one-on-one duel, Soundwave and the other Decepticons contributed their power chip rectifiers to a machine built by the Constructicons that would transfer all their powers into Megatron, so that he could win the fight with ease. While Megatron never used Soundwave's powers in the duel, he still claimed victory, but when his breach of the rules was revealed, he, Soundwave and all the Decepticons were sent tumbling into a river of lava by the fighting-mad Autobots.

As 1985 rolled in, Soundwave participated in a Decepticon attack on an Air Force base, and helped in the construction of the Solar Needle in the jungles of South America. When Megatron sought to conquer New York City, Soundwave, Rumble and Frenzy battled a group of Autobots in Central Park, and Soundwave was later put in charge of the weapons systems of the so-called "New Cybertron" that New York was being turned into. That control was soon lost, unfortunately, when a stray blast from an irate Megatron destroyed Soundwave's console.

Soundwave and his cassettes were next sent on a distraction mission, keeping the Autobots occupied while Megatron and Starscream snuck inside their base and sabotaged their recharging chambers with a Personality destabilizer device, narrowly avoiding another pounding from Brawn in the process. After helping to steal electro-cells and the Autobots' new Immobilizer invention,  Soundwave was appointed to guard the captive Autobots after Megatron succeeded in trapping them in vehicle mode with the Transfixatron. The communications officer put his skills to work disabling the Autobots' communicators, but neglected to disable Hound's hologram projector, which the Autobot was able to use to summon the small number of his comrades who had not been affected by the Transfixatron. Wheeljack and Ratchet developed a grenade to undo the device's effects, and together, Spike and Chip Chase outran Soundwave and Ravage to detonate it and restore the Autobots.



When Laserbeak and Buzzsaw stumbled upon the subaquatic city of Sub-Atlantica, Soundwave immediately summoned Megatron to view their findings. Megatron and the Decepticons set out for the city at once, and forged an alliance with its leader, the boastful telepathic King Nergill, in order to conquer Washington, D.C. Starscream, however, did not trust the fish-man, and had Soundwave put his own telepathic powers to use to decrypt the scrambled messages Nergill repeatedly gave to his underlings. Soundwave discovered that Nergill was planning to betray the Decepticons, leading to the breakdown of their alliance.

Soundwave and Megatron used their diminutive alternate modes to infiltrate Quantum Laboratories as part of a plan to take over the computer TORQ III. Later, Soundwave helped steal the human-made robot ninja Nightbird (finally getting one over on Brawn in the process by collapsing a balcony out from under him), and aided Bombshell in reprogramming the femme-bot to serve the Decepticons.



When the Decepticons discovered strange energy emanations coming from a crevice, Soundwave dispatched the Autoscout to investigate, discovering the crevice was filled with Korlonium crystals. Megatron schemed to create a clone of Optimus Prime as part of a plan to harness the crystals' power, and while the plan failed, the clone was at least impressive enough to completely fool Soundwave, and he was in on it! Subsequently, Soundwave took part in the Decepticons' plan to drill to the Earth's core, and was then made a mind-controlled pawn of the Insecticons, who used him to download data from the human military defense computer at Iron Mountain. Megatron and Optimus Prime were forced to team up to stop the Insecticons and destroy the cerebro-shell controlling Soundwave, erasing the data he had gathered in the process.

While spying on Autobot Headquarters, Soundwave learned of the existence of the mysterious prehistoric Dinobot Island, and sent Laserbeak to follow the Dinobots as they travelled there. Soundwave proceeded to join the Decepticons in raiding the island's energy sources, before the Autobots, Dinobots and the island's native dinosaurs saw them off.

Using his alternate mode to infiltrate a military testing site, Soundwave and his cassettes made a hard-fought but ultimately failed attempt to steal the Autobots' new Negavator weapon. Later, when human archaeologists uncovered the wreckage of the Decepticons' old space cruiser in South America, Soundwave alerted Megatron to the news report about their findings, then accompanied him to the wreckage, where they removed the ship's power source, the Heart of Cybertron. Celebrating the new power that the Heart bestowed upon Megatron, Soundwave joined his fellow Decepticons in over-energizing on energon, leaving him too inebriated to do much of anything.



When Megatron framed the Autobots for energy theft and had them exiled from Earth, Soundwave took part in the Decepticons' pretense of being heroes. Soundwave was quite popular among the humans: a young child was heard cheering for him by name, and when he and his cassettes attended a disco, he acquired many female admirers. After Megatron revealed his deception, however, Soundwave was made the slave-master of the work camp that Central City was turned into. Thankfully, the Autobots soon returned to Earth to clear their names and rout the Decepticons.



In one of his most impressible displays of sneakitude, Soundwave was able to position himself, in tape player mode, inside Ironhide's vehicle mode, right next to Blaster, and spy on the test run of the Ultra Plane, with neither Autobot noticing until he deployed Ravage. While Blaster wrestled with Ravage, Soundwave escaped to report to Megatron, after which he and Starscream joined their leader in attacking the lab containing the blueprints for the plane. The Autobots saw them off, but during their flight away, the Decepticons' systems began to malfunction as a result of cybertonium degradation. Soundwave's cassettes began ejecting without his command, and his flight powers gave out, sending him crashing to the ground. Once repaired with fresh cybertonium from Cybertron, Soundwave joined the Decepticons on a mission to Great Britain.

Soundwave was among the Decepticons who were granted invincible electrum coating by the "Golden Lagoon". With their new power, the Decepticons captured Seaspray and Perceptor, but when Starscream attempted to have the two Autobots fight each other for the villains' amusement, Soundwave immediately ran off and tattled on him to Megatron.



Following the Decepticons' alliance with the Geddis brothers, Soundwave joined in the Decepticon attempt to create a space bridge in a baseball stadium, where he wickedly delighted in playing catch with one of the players (literally!). The Autobots soon arrived, and another brawl between Soundwave and Brawn erupted, ending when the small Autobot threw Soundwave into the space bridge. When a stray blast then activated the bridge, Soundwave and a small group of Autobots and Decepticons were inadvertently hurled to a world of alien giants. After being menaced by the huge cat Nitro and trapped in a toybox by Nitro's owner Aron, Soundwave was taken with the other Transformers to the planet's authorities for study and dissection. Ravage succeeded in freeing them, and the Decepticons all escaped back to Earth through a mock space bridge Perceptor created out of a telescope. Upon his return, Soundwave was caught up in the menace of the Morphobots, analyzed the energy of an alien asteroid,  and helped operate the Decepticons' new energy magnet.



After joining Megatron on a mission to the planet of the Tlalakans, Soundwave embarked on one of his most notable misadventures when, under the command of Starscream, he set about brainwashing humans with ultrasonic vibrations inside the Decepticon-built nightclub Dancitron in New York City. This led to his first major confrontation with his Autobot communications officer counterpart, Blaster, with whom he engaged in a sonic duel. Soundwave had the upper hand in the violent jam session, until Blaster used the club's sound system to magnify his own sonic attacks and win the fight.

When the Decepticons captured Hybrid Technologies heiress Astoria Carlton-Ritz, Soundwave tried to use the psycho-probe to read her mind, but her innate ability to jinx machines made it a challenge, and eventually led to Soundwave and Rumble being electrocuted. When Powerglide subsequently caused the Decepticons' new sub-orbital base to crash, it fell to Soundwave to inform Megatron that the base didn't have any forcefields. Whoops!



On a mission to recover some incriminating footage taken by a movie studio of their activities, Soundwave showed up Starscream by pointing out that while the air commander had recovered the film reel, he had not destroyed the negative. Soundwave then helped Megatron track the negative down, but they were tricked into thinking it was destroyed by Hoist. Soon after, Soundwave accompanied Megatron to Cybertron to give life to his new Stunticons, helping him locate the key to Vector Sigma and unlocking the door to the mega-computer's chamber. Upon their return to Earth with the now-living Stuncticons, Soundwave aided Megatron in analyzing the key to discover what other powers it possessed. By happenstance, its power to de-energize matter and turn it into metal was only discovered when Soundwave tripped and dropped it.



Soundwave soon returned to Cybertron to take part in Megatron's plan to trap the newest addition to the Autobot ranks, the Aerialbots, in the distant past, then went back to Earth and used his scanning powers to help Megatron locate the Pearl of Bahoudin. Soundwave later had Laserbeak monitor the Cosmic Rust infection spreading through the Autobot ranks,, and had the cassette remove Starscream from Decepticon Headquarters after Megatron finally banished the perennial traitor from the Decepticon ranks. When Starscream returned with his own army, the Combaticons, Soundwave was almost able to shoot the traitor in the back until Swindle caused his shot to go wild. Soundwave tried to summon the Stunticons to help, and while they initially rebuffed him, they eventually arrived to tip the scales in Megatron's favor.

Suspecting the Autobots had tampered with Megatron's new ruby laser cannon, Soundwave advised his leader to abandon the weapon, but Megatron was caught up in a battle-frenzy and ignored him. Predictably, the weapon promptly exploded. For his final recorded adventure in the 20th century, Soundwave invented a device to control the flow of Earth's tides. Before the Decepticons could use it, however, it was necessary to blast the moon out of orbit to remove its controlling influence, so they developed an orbit disruptor cannon to do the job. Unfortunately, the cannon would only be operated by Bruticus, and all the Combaticons save Swindle had been destroyed, so Soundwave installed a bomb in Swindle's head to give him the incentive to gather up their parts and rebuild them. Bruticus was restored, and Soundwave participated in the Decepticon attack upon Autobot Headquarters that served as a test run for the disruptor cannon, but the complex plot was foiled when three college students used makeshift robot to destroy the cannon.



Over the course of the following twenty years, the Decepticons withdrew from Earth and focused all their efforts on conquering Cybertron entirely. By the year 2005, they had accomplished this goal, and the Autobots were consigned to their new "Autobot City" on Earth, and to bases on two of Cybertron's moon. Thanks to Laserbeak and Soundwave, Megatron learned of an upcoming Autobot strike against Cybertron, and resolved to cripple their war effort by destroying Autobot City. During the subsequent battle, Soundwave was instructed to jam a distress call to Optimus Prime from Blaster, so he sent Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy and Ratbat to dismantle the communications array being used to broadcast it. Blaster's own team of cassettes fended Soundwave's off, and the call made it through, summoning Optimus Prime and a support team to aid the stricken city. A fateful final battle between Prime and Megatron ensued, which ended with Prime's death and Megatron mortally wounded. As the other Decepticons beat a hasty retreat, Soundwave demonstrated his loyalty to his leader by recovering his damaged body and carrying him aboard Astrotrain, but when it became necessary to jettison excess weight so that the Decepticons could safely make it back to Cybertron, Soundwave made no move to stop Starscream from setting Megatron adrift in space. In fact, with Megatron gone, Soundwave himself made a bid for leadership, declaring himself a superior choice to the Constructicons and deploying his cassettes to fight for his honor. Starscream ultimately emerged victorious in the fight for leadership, but during his coronation ceremony, Megatron returned, having been recreated by the giant transforming god-planet Unicron into Galvatron. Galvatron promptly killed Starscream, and Soundwave started cheering for his returned leader.



Galvatron's leadership did not get off to a great start, however: Unicron soon attacked Cybertron, and while he was destroyed by the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron was lost to the depths of space, and the leaderless Decepticons, in a state of disarray after Unicron's attack, were easily routed and forced off Cybertron by the Autobots and their new leader, Rodimus Prime. Low on energy, Soundwave and the other Decepticons were forced to relocate to the burned-out planet Chaar, where they eked out a miserable existence on the brink of death. When Rodimus Prime and Grimlock came to Chaar to investigate a mysterious attack on the Galactic Olympics, Soundwave and the Decepticons attacked them, and were then later approached by the true instigators of the Olympics attack, the alien Quintessons, with the prospect of an alliance. Under the Quintessons' instructions, Soundwave and the other Decepticons launched an attack on the Autobots on the planet Goo 8739B, during which Galvatron returned, having been found by Cyclonus and Scourge. With Galvatron back in charge, Soundwave was amongst the Decepticons who were sent to Earth to try and stop Metroplex's transforming cog from being delivered.



In 2006, Soundwave went with Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps to search for isidrite in an asteroid belt. Soundwave dispatched Ratbat to search for the mineral, only for the cassette to discover that the Autobots were already mining it. Soon after, Soundwave accompanied Galvatron to the planet Eurythma to investigate a mysterious sonic weapon. They discovered that sound and music were the way of life on the planet, and Soundwave was entranced by the planet's perfect melodies, specifically the destructive harmony weapon, which was shared by three Eurythmans. One by one, Soundwave coerced from them each piece of the harmony, recording and combing them with the intention of turning the musical maelstrom upon Autobot City. He was defeated, however, when the Eurythmans countered the harmony with anti-sound, and Blaster erased his recordings.

Soundwave was among those transfixed by a hypnotic Quintesson signal, then later aided in the Decepticon conquest of the peaceful planet Paradron. Later still, during a battle on Earth's moon, Soundwave was shocked when his ejection system activated on its own, releasing Ravage, Ratbat, Slugfest and Overkill, who departed with all the other "Primitive" Transformers present to follow a mysterious voice. Mere moments later, the threat these Primitives had been summoned to fight, Tornedron, arrived on the moon and drained the energy from all the Transformers present, Soundwave included. Thankfully, the Primitives succeeded in defeating Tornedron and restoring everyone's energy.

For his final appearance, Soundwave was seen playing back the latest piece of information gathered by Ratbat: two human scientists had discovered the body of Optimus Prime, which Galvatron resolved to destroy once and for all.

Madman The Transformers comic
In 2001, Soundwave and his squad of cassettes were deployed to the construction site of Autobot City while the balance of the Autobot forces were engaged in an evacuation of Cybertron. He managed to record a secret conversation between Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus where the Autobot leaders discussed hiding the Autobot Matrix of Leadership in a bunker at the build site, against the chance Prime would be captured or destroyed while off-world. Soundwave returned to the not-so-secret bunker and deployed his minions to dig up the Matrix. Just as the artifact had been secured and Soundwave was about to call for retrieval, the young Autobot Hot Rod took the Matrix and defeated Soundwave's team.

e-HOBBY comics
Early during Megatron's attempted conquest of Cybertron, Soundwave was among his troops of Seekers and Silver Soldiers, raiding Autobot energy warehouses. Their attack was cut short by the unexpected arrival of a Guardian robot, who quickly trounced everybody.

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers comic


In the late 1980s, while Megatron and the Decepticons engaged the Autobots in battle in Arizona, Soundwave and his cassettes were dispatched to do something unspecified (but likely evil) in Tokyo. Optimus Prime dispatched a unit of Autobots led by Bumblebee and Kenji to track them down. He was ultimately defeated when Bumblebee got the drop on him with a patented "Bumble-Kick" and shattered his chest. This made it impossible for his cassette forces to return to him, leaving them to be captured as well. When he next appeared, Soundwave hadn't quite got over his injuries, and was seen with bandages stuck to his chest-window.

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers story pages
When Soundwave learned that the Autobots were keeping themselves in shape by having a friendly race, he set up a trap within a narrow canyon, walling the Autobots in and opening fire on them. Luckily, Hound arrived on the scene and delivered a powerful punch to Soundwave's chest, shattering his tape door once again. Soundwave immediately fled.

Blaster battled Soundwave in what seemed to be the foothills of the Alps, while Perceptor kept the Decepticon communicator's cassettes busy.

Scramble City
Before the 1980s were over, the Decepticons detected some unusual magnetic field fluctuations, and Megatron ordered Soundwave to send Ratbat, Laserbeak and Ravage to investigate. The cassettes discovered a hidden cavern where the Autobots were constructing a mighty battle fortress named "Scramble City", and Soundwave promptly took this information to Megatron.

Full Throttle Scramble Power!
Soundwave was present when the Decepticons terrorized the Earth with their new "Omega Whip" cannon and captured the Autobots' human allies Toru and Jenny. When the two humans tried to escape, Soundwave released Ravage to stop them, but Blaster then appeared to dispatch the cassette. Blaster and Soundwave proceeded to grapple as more Autobots arrived and the battle grew bigger and bigger, and when Metroplex arrived, he actually collided with Soundwave and knocked the Decepticon for a loop.

The Battle of the Star Gate


In the 1990s, continued Autobot/human interaction led to a formal alliance being forged between the heroic robots and the American government and the construction of an interstellar teleport system called the Trigger. Naturally, the Trigger space station was a prime target for the Decepticons, and Soundwave was instrumental in taking over the device, as he hacked into its systems and placed it under Decepticon control. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, the sole surviving member of the Trigger's crew, Makoto, activated the system and blasted them into space before they could take control of it, and the Autobots soon arrived to send the Decepticons packing.



Three months later, while the Trigger was still undergoing repairs after the damage the previous battle had caused, Soundwave patched through a transmission from Laserbeak, who was spying on a test run of the new human-built C-X battle droid. When the droid ran amok during the test and tried to kill Optimus Prime, the amused Megatron thought Soundwave was responsible for hacking the robot's systems, but Soundwave denied it. In truth, the drone had been possessed by the time-displaced ghost of Starscream from the future, and he was not yet through making mischief in the past. Starscream's ghost teamed up with his present day counterpart, and together, the two Starscreams took control of the repaired Trigger and possessed it, transforming it into a giant, twisted robot form. Soundwave was among the massive armada of Decepticons and Autobots who battled the giant Starscream-thing, which was ultimately defeated when Prime and Megatron combined their power to destroy the traitor's new body. Soundwave and all the other Transformers were caught in the backwash of the explosion and sent tumbling towards Earth in uncontrolled re-entry, not to be heard from again for many months.

Music Label
In 2007, Soundwave created a series of diminutive clones of himself, disguised as portable MP3 players, and disseminated them among the populace of Earth as part of a plan to brainwash the youth of the world with hypnotic music.

The Headmasters cartoon

 * Voice actor: Issei Masamune (Japanese), Guillermo Romano (Latin American)

The Decepticons went off the radar for the year that followed Optimus Prime's resurrection, but in 2011, they returned in full force. When Vector Sigma began to destabilize as a consequence of Optimus Prime releasing the energy of the Matrix, Galvatron led the Decepticons' newest troops, the Headmasters, in an attack on Cybertron in an attempt to secure the computer and restore a Decepticon power balance to the planet. To prevent Autobot reinforcements from Earth reaching Cybertron, Soundwave and a legion of other Decepticons under the command of the faction's new Earth commander, Sixshot, kept the Autobots on the planet busy in a large battle. In an attempt to learn the Autobots' plan of action, Soundwave and his cassettes infiltrated Autobot City, and although they were discovered by Blaster and his own cassettes, they were able to escape with the knowledge that the Matrix was hidden somewhere on Earth, and that the Autobots were preparing to search for it. Blaster and Hot Rod subsequently embarked on a search mission to the Arctic, where Soundwave and his cassettes attacked them. Blaster covered Hot Rod's escape, and he and Soundwave engaged in a one-on-one battle, with shattered chests and severed limbs aplenty. It momentarily appeared that Soundwave had won the battle when Blaster collapsed, but seconds later, the fatal damage Blaster had inflicted upon him made itself apparent, as Soundwave's body exploded. His cassettes scooped up as much of his remains as they could and beat a retreat, but Soundwave was triumphant in death, as Blaster too died seconds later.



Soundwave's remains were brought back to Chaar by his cassettes, where the Decepticon Headmaster leader Scorponok was able to use the super-science of planet Master to restore him to life. Reborn in a new black body, Soundwave was rechristened Soundblaster, and following a reunion with his delighted cassettes, immediately went straight back to working for the Decepticon cause. Soundblaster was, in fact, instrumental to the Decepticons' newest plan, as he used his broadcasting powers to send signals from a sonic control device implanted in his chest to direct the actions of the villains' newest weapon, the Madmachine, in another attack on Cybertron. As coincidence would have it, Autobot Headmaster leader Fortress had also used the science of Master to restore Blaster to life as "Twincast", and the two rivals clashed for the first time in their new lives when the Autobot destroyed Soundblaster's sonic control and foiled the Decepticons' plot.

Soundblaster was among the Decepticons who invaded and enslaved the planet Beast. Later, he dispatched Ratbat to spy on the Autobots and learn more about a mysterious blackmailer holding six countries to ransom, reporting his findings to Cyclonus and Scourge. Later still, Soundblaster and his cassette force were able to infiltrate Cybertron's lowest levels and spy on Vector Sigma, discovering that the mega-computer had developed a powerful new alloy named cybertonuron. Acting on Soundblaster's information, Galvatron staged a massive attack on Cybertron, but Scorponok plotted treachery, planting a bomb in Vector Sigma's chamber in order to destroy the alloy, rather than let Galvatron gain its power. When Galvatron discovered this, Soundblaster attempted to stop him from going to Vector Sigma's chamber, but Galvatron ignored him, and paid for his hubris when the bomb detonated in his face, destroying the cybertonuron and reducing Cybertron to a burnt out husk.



With Galvatron having disappeared in the destruction of Cybertron, Soundblaster met with the other senior Decepticons to discuss what should be done next. During their meeting, the shadowed figure of Galvatron appeared in the room, but Soundblaster quickly analyzed the newcomer's voice pattern, and realized it was not Galvatron, but Scorponok engaging in a bout of gallows humor. Shedding his disguise, Scorponok claimed that Galvatron was still alive, and that while he could not reveal where he was, he had commanded Scorponok to lead in his absence. None of the Decepticons were entirely convinced (in truth, it was a bold-faced lie), but Soundblaster, in need of a leader to follow, chose to accept it as truth, and followed Scorponok's command to send Ratbat to spy on the Autobot/human launch of the Sol 1 satellite. Soon after, when Scorponok began scheming to keep the Autobots occupied on Earth with various threads, Soundblaster and his cassettes kept an eye on the Autobots' movements and were able to inform their leader that his plans were working.



Following Scorponok's instructions, Soundwave directed the planting of plasma energy bombs beneath the surface of Mars, in order to destroy the planet and harvest even more of the energy. At Scorponok's command, Soundblaster then recalled all available Decepticons to Chaar, where they all witnessed their leader's dramatic unveiling of his gigantic new Transtector. With this powerful new body, Scorponok kept the Autobots occupied while Soundblaster himself pressed the fateful button that detonated the plasma bombs and destroyed Mars.

Soundblaster and his cassettes did not take kindly to the arrival of Scorponok's new intelligence officer, Counterpunch, who irked Soundblaster with his remarkable ability to dig up information that Soundblaster couldn't. Of course, Soundblaster had no idea that Counterpunch was able to do this because he was really the Autobot spy, Punch, and so he and his cassettes set out to prove themselves by going to Earth to see what Autobots secrets they could unearth. Unable to find any information, Soundblaster was moping around the Decepticon Earth base when a story suddenly dropped itself right into his lap: a glowing UFO descended from the sky and abducted Sixshot right before his eyes! Soundblaster attempted to report his findings to Scorponok during a battle with the Autobots on Earth's moon, but there and then, the UFO reappeared, and its owner was revealed to be Galvatron, who had survived his appeared destruction and retook leadership of the Decepticons.



Soundblaster and the Decepticon Headmasters were manning the scanners at the Decepticon base on Chaar when the Horrorcons arrived to join up with Galvatron's forces. Soon after, Soundblaster joined the Decepticons on a series of interplanetary energy raids, helping to scan the spaceways and communications channels to keep his leader appraised of Autobot and alien activity as they went from planet Hive to Twin Star  to Daros. The Decepticons' quest eventually brought them to Pirate Planet, where they were stymied in their pursuit of the planet's fabled energy by their inability to enter the pyramid that held it. Soundblaster observed Highbrow and Daniel Witwicky departing for the field of debris near the planet, and, suspecting they knew something he didn't, followed them. Soundblaster proceeded to ambush the two heroes and demand they share their information, but Daniel was able to get the drop on the Decepticon with his video game light gun, which Highbrow had amped up into a real weapon.

When the Decepticons returned to Earth, Sixshot proceeded to lead a series of major attacks upon the Autobot forces. Soundblaster reported to Galvatron on the departure of Fortress Maximus from Athenia, and suggested sending Scorponok to keep him busy. Galvatron was wary, knowing Scorponok had his own agenda, but Soundblaster vowed to follow him and keep an eye on him, and Galvatron agreed. However, Soundblaster was surprisingly lax in his duty, as Scorponok didn't bother engaging Fortress, and Soundblaster didn't report this at all!



Following Galvatron's death at the hands of the Headmasters and Scorponok's subsequent re-assumption of Decepticon leadership, Soundblaster was among the Decepticons who travelled with his new leader to the planet Master. When the Autobots followed them there, Soundblaster boldly infiltrated their spaceship, the Maximus, and spied on them with Ratbat. When he was discovered, however, he leapt overboard and flew back to the surface of Master, inadvertently leading the Autobot Targetmasters to the Decepticons' hidden subterranean base. Soundblaster was able to repay them in kind after a later battle, though, when he stealthily followed the retreating Targetmasters and discovered that the Autobots had started working with the young warriors of Master.

After Scorponok successfully completed construction of his new Zarak Shield weapon, the Decepticons headed back to Earth, but as they were passing through the asteroid belt, Soundblaster noticed a malfunction in their propulsion system that required them to set down for repairs. While they were resting there, Soundblaster detected the approach of an object, which turned out to be Sixshot, who had become separated from the Decepticons on an earlier leg of their journey.

Finally, once the Decepticons returned to Earth, Scorponok began raising "Death Towers" of crysmagnetal at strategic points around the Earth, intending to use them to tear the planet apart. While on patrol in the Alps, Soundblaster observed the passage of the Autobots' battleship, and radioed the Decepticons in Egypt to let them know of their enemies' approach. Subsequently, with all the Death Towers in place, Soundblaster participated in the climactic battle between the Autobot and Decepticons armies at the South Pole, which ended when Fortress Maximus destroyed Scorponok's Transtector and saved the planet.

The Headmasters comic
After their defeat at the North Pole, the Decepticons were preparing to retreat from Earth entirely when Scorponok instructed Soundblaster to remain on the planet in secret to act as a spy for the Decepticons. Soundblaster proved that he wasn't up to the challenge by making his presence and intentions known almost instantly when he kicked Wheelie square in the face and took the Witwicky family hostage. Chromedome was left powerless to do anything but surrender, as Slugfest and Overkill brutalized Spike and threatened Carly. Daniel finally snapped and beat the living crap out of the two Cassette dinosaurs, leaving Soundblaster open to Chromedome's poorly named "Master-Chrome Hurricane Throw to the End of Hell!" Chromedome chucked Soundblaster over the horizon, and when he recovered from his fall, he found Sixshot staring down at him. Demanding to know what Sixshot wanted, Soundblaster was informed that the six-changer was no longer affiliated with the Decepticons, and wanted to travel from planet to planet, learning new transformations. One day, Sixshot told him, he wanted to learn how to transform into a human! Soundblaster was left absolutely dumbfounded by this, unable to even compute such a concept, and wagering it would be a few million years before he could.

Super-God Masterforce comic
Years later, the image of Soundwave was among the holograms of older Decepticons projected by King Poseidon to deceive and confuse the Autobots under Ginrai's command.

Wings Universe
When Megatron captured Deathsaurus's base, Soundwave was by his side. After defeating Deathsaurus in single combat, Megatron ordered Soundwave to check the computers for information on Combiner technology, and sent Starscream with him. A week later, Soundwave was part of the Decepticon forces who entered Iacon after Devastator breached the city walls. He was still by Megatron's side when Devastator fell, and took part in the subsequent retreat.