Shockwave

Shockwave was, under Megatron, the Decepticon military operations commander. In the comic continuities, he overthrew Megatron to become Decepticon leader for a time. In the cartoon continuities, he was quite loyal to Megatron. In all continuities, he held logic above all, and he transformed from a robot into a large gun outfitted with thrusters for flight. He was capable of firing, in both modes, a wide variety of beams covering the known range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike Megatron, Shockwave was not capable of changing either mass or volume during his transformation.

Cartoon Bio (US):

Shockwave was arguably second in command of the Decepticons on Cybertron, but when Megatron left to hunt down Optimus Prime and his group of Autobots, Shockwave was left in command until Megatron's return. When Megatron was assumed dead, Shockwave remained ruler of Cybertron and somehow managed to sustain it and keep Decepticon dominance over the four million years until Megatron's resurfacing. When Megatron contacted Cybertron again, he and Shockwave planned a "spacebridge" that could transport energy from Earth to Cybertron. Megatron was sent to Cybertron when he was knocked into the spacebridge during a fight with the Autobots.

Megatron soon returned to Earth and left Shockwave once again in command of Cybertron. Shockwave has since remained "ruler" of Cybertron in Megatron's absence. He was often in charge of manifesting the Spacebridge on Earth. He also played part in preparing Cybertron to be transported into Earth's orbit. Shockwave only got into direct combat with the Autobots unless they came to Cybertron and invaded his base.

In 2005, Shockwave was present in the Decepticon communications room when Laserbeak returned with information on the Autobots plan to retake Cybertron. He also commanded the Decepticons of Cybertron when Unicron attacked. He has not been seen since.

Article submitted by Nick Peron.

Bibliography:

More Than Meets The Eye Part 1: First appearance; Megatron puts him in charge in his absence.
Transport To Oblivion: Shockwave comes in contact with Megatron after 4 million years; they build a spacebridge. Megatron sent to Cybertron.
Roll For It: Shockwave aids Megatron in returning to Earth.
Divide and Conquer: Shockwave awaits Energon delivery on Cybertron tries and stops Autobots from escaping him.
Ultimate Doom Part 1: Shockwave and Megatron build a super spacebridge and bring Cybertron to Earth.
Ultimate Doom Part 3: Shockwave tries to eliminate the Autobots trying to free Sparkplug from Decepticon control.
Transformers: The Movie: Last known appearance.

Comic Bio (US):

Shockwave originally served as military strategist for the Decepticons on Cybertron. He left Cybertron with a group of Decepticons to pursue a group of Autobots, who had already left the planet aboard the Ark. Aboard the Decepticon ship, Shockwave laid out the battle strategy to the other Decepticons for invading the Autobot ship. While all the other Decepticons left to attack the Ark, Shockwave stayed onboard the Decepticon ship. The Ark, with the Autobots and Decepticons on board, soon crashed into the Earth. Shockwave decended from the Decepticon ship after the Ark had disappeared from his view, and went to Earth to find it, landing in what is now called the Savage Land. The Ark discovered Shockwave's presence, and with the last of its energy, reactivated and reconfigured the Dinobots to stop Shockwave. While the Dinobots were successful in beating Shockwave, bringing a mountain down on him, they inadvertenly caused their own deactivation as well by being thrown into a tarpit by the mountain's debris. Four million years later, after the other Autobots and Decepticons had already been reactivated, Shockwave was revived by a probe sent out by Ratchet to explore the area where the fight between the Dinobots and Shockwave had occurred. He then flew to the Ark, defeated the energy-depleted Autobots (who had just defeated the Decepticons there), revived most of the Decepticons, and usurped Megatron as Decepticon leader. Shockwave was later defeated by Optimus Prime when the Autobots were revived by Ratchet and rescued him.

Shockwave returned a short time later, and found Megatron had taken command in his absense. A battle between the two was delayed by news from Straxus on Cybertron that the newly-constructed Spacebridge was operational. Deciding that cooperation was the important thing, Megatron and Shockwave agreed to postphone their personal feud and attempt a joint leadership for the moment. Megatron eventually proved himself a better commander of the Decepticons, and the leadership was voluntarily handed back to him by Shockwave.

After the death of Optimus Prime, Megatron became increasingly unstable. At this point, Shockwave tried to get back the leadership of the Decepticons by contacting Cybertron and secretly having the Predacons come to Earth, wearing Autobot symbols, and attacking Megatron. Megatron beat them without knowing that Shockwave had really sent them. However, Soundwave soon discovered this fact, and Shockwave revealed that he had, in fact, downloaded his personality into the Predacons -- in effect, he was with them. Realizing that Optimus may have done the same thing before he died, Megatron, in a desperate act, blasted the space bridge while on it. He was presumed killed. Shockwave took back Decepticon leadership on Earth.

Shockwave continued serving as leader of the Earth-bound Decepticons until losing a battle at the hands of Fortress Maximus while in orbit around the Earth, where he fell to Earth in a blaze caused by his reentry into the atmosphere. Decepticon leadership was then taken over by Ratbat.

Shockwave later emerged from the Atlantic Ocean, and joined forces with the Battlechargers, Ravage, Starscream, Mindwipe, and Triggerhappy, in order to rebel against the current Decepticon leader, Scorponok. An intense battle followed between Shockwave and Scorponok in New York City Harbor. Before it was over, they, and the rest of the Earth-bound Transformers, were teleported to Cybertron by Primus, to battle Unicron. During the battle with Unicron, Shockwave retreated with Starscream to the recently-arrived (and desserted) Ark, repaired it, and left in it to return to Earth. They weren't aware that Megatron, Galvatron, and Ratchet were also aboard until they almost reached Earth. Shockwave went to handle Megatron, who was weakly kneeling in a hallway. Before Shockwave could provide a fatal blow to Megatron, Galvatron grabbed him, and threw him into a wall. Megatron and Galvatron then joined forces and beat Shockwave down. However, the Nucleon on board exploded, and sent the Ark crashing into northern Canada. Shockwave was thereafter presumed dead, and has not reappeared since.

Article submitted by Nick Peron and Ryan May.

Comic Bio (UK):

Vos and Tarn were two militaristic city states lead by Shockwave and Starscream respectively. They eventually destroyed each other with Cybertron's version of the H-bomb, the plasma missile. The survivors may have gone on to join the Decepticons, seeing as how their leaders did.

Article submitted by 95TURNERB@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk.

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