Soundwaves (issue)

« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #22 » Dark Cybertron Prelude »
"Soundwaves"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 30, 2013
Cover date	October 2013
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Andrew Griffith (present) Livio Ramondelli (past)
Colors by	Priscilla Tramontano (present) Livio Ramondelli (past)
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2013)

As the secrets of Soundwave's past are laid bare, Shockwave's preparations reach their final phase.

Synopsis

Four million years ago, at the peak of the Decepticon uprising, Shockwave joins Soundwave in the Senate chambers just as the communications officer is extracting Ratbat's brain module. Kaon burns as Megatron battles Sentinel Prime, which Soundwave sees as the first step towards a new Cybertron, but which Shockwave views as an end unto itself, rather than a means.

In the present day, Soundwave attacks Shockwave, furiously declaring that he has no understanding of loyalty. Based on his brief battle with Dreadwing, Shockwave believes Soundwave has come without his cassettes, but the spymaster proves him wrong when he ejects his entire army of tapes from his chest.

Before the Decepticons' uprising, Megatron and Soundwave talk about their ongoing attempts to destabilize the political climate of Cybertron. Soundwave has recently gained full control of his mind-reading powers, and with the new clarity he has gained, he puts forth a plan to use his employer Ratbat to achieve Megatron's goals: allow the Decepticons to be captured, forcing an emergency assembly of the Senate in Kaon. The Decepticons could then kill their oppressors, at last making a clear declaration to the planet that they are a force to be reckoned with.

While most of the cassettes tackle Dreadwing, Soundwave and Ravage grapple with Shockwave. Ravage flings himself in the path of a blast meant for his master and is fatally wounded, driving Soundwave into a rage, but that only lasts a moment as the Ore-14 of the cavern restores Ravage to life. Shockwave explains this to Soundwave in terms he believes he will understand: thanks to Shockwave's work, the concepts of life and death are now mere data to be manipulated.

Soundwave watches silently as Shockwave is brought before Megatron for the first time and charged with creating a combiner for the Decepticons. Unable to detect any emotions from the former senator thanks to the Shadowplay he was subject to, Soundwave is both awed and disgusted by his utter unreadability, and knows that one day, it will be his job to kill Shockwave.

But thanks to Ore-14, no matter how hard he and his cassettes fight, Soundwave discovers that Crystal City is not—or more accurately, cannot—be the place where he'll fulfill his millennia-old vow...

Not long after his first meeting with Megatron, Soundwave is brought to the gladiator pits of Kaon, where he watches Scorponok and Grimlock brawl. Megatron inquires if the damage to Cybertron that Ratbat's manipulation of the burgeoning Decepticon movement causes bothers Soundwave, but Soundwave struggles to answer, bombarded with the unfocused input of so many minds and emotions around him. Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzaw also intrigue Megatron, and he is pleased to see Soundwave views them as equals, rather than lesser beings as the Functionists do. Megatron permits Soundwave to read his mind, and Soundwave sees within Megatron's spark his genuine desire for Functionism to be done away with and all Cybertronians made equal. The strength of this dream gives something Soundwave to believe in, to focus on...

Knowing that the battle within Crystal City is unwinnable, Soundwave and his cassettes depart, and Shockwave allows them to go, much to Dreadwing's consternation. Shockwave re-establishes contact with Jhiaxus, who updates him on the events on Gorlam Prime: though the planet is dying, Orion Pax lives, and the Titan is ready to depart for Cybertron. In a flash, the Titan begins to materialize in the cavern behind Shockwave.

Far into the past, a destitute Soundwave is living in isolation on the streets with Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, slowly gaining control of his mind-reading powers when he is approached by Ratbat, who offers to employ him for his abilities. Soundwave hates him on sight, but the hate gives him focus...

Soundwave returns to the Decepticon camp, where his comrades demand to know if Shockwave has been stopped. The sudden eruption of a mysterious light from off in the distance confirms that Soundwave has not succeeded, but as they wonder what the illumination is, Soundwave informs them that it is the beginning of the Decepticons' most important battle—the battle to save Cybertron.

Long, long ago, Ravage, Buzzsaw, and Laserbeak are wandering through the street, grousing about the Senate, when they happen upon a young bot: delirious, barely coherent, and being bombarded by a sensory maelstrom of information. Ravage approaches him, saying that he smells like "an alright guy", and shares with him that he himself had to learn how to control his senses. As Laserbeak perches on the bot's arm, Ravage explains that focus is the key. Find something to focus on, and mastery can be achieved.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Shockwave: "When Megatron tasked me to convert Rumble and Frenzy to join your beasts, you claimed they were all equals."
Ravage: "This guy botherin' you, Boss?"
Soundwave: "Do not call me that, Ravage. And former Senator Shockwave merely needs to learn... some are more equal than others."

—Shockwave questions Soundwave's "recycling" of Ratbat.

"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND LOYALTY!"

—Soundwave smash!

"I am no one's servant."
"I stand corrected, Soundwave. Now that you have... pulled yourself together, your pride-"
"You misunderstand. I listen. I hear everything. Every transmission, every vocalization, every flash of light, every hologram. I hear it all. And now that I am able to... focus my attention... I know how to use the Senator to further your cause."

—Soundwave tells Megatron where his loyalties lie.

"Information is all there is. Life, death, time, place... merely information, data to be manipulated. Hope is meaningless, Soundwave."

—Shockwave's one eye makes him see the world in strange ways.

"Orion Pax and the others are on Gorlam Prime, which is being consumed by the Death Ore."
"Yet they live?"
"As you asked."
"I did not ask, Jhiaxus... I commanded."

—Jhiaxus gets upstaged by his former student Shockwave

Notes

Continuity notes

• As with the previous issue, the flashbacks in this issue occur in reverse-chronological order, moving further backward in time with each passing scene. Where last issue's flashbacks were about Soundwave and Shockwave's history together, this issue is specifically about Soundwave's personal history; as such, its title "Soundwaves" parallels the title of issue #17, "Shockwaves", which was about Shockwave's history.
• The first flashback occurs concurrently with Megatron: Origin #4, continuing the scene within its pages of Soundwave removing Ratbat's spark. Here, in accordance with the establishment of Rossum's Trinity that has taken place within IDW continuity since the publication of Megatron: Origin (specifically, in More than Meets the Eye #3), Soundwave is further seen removing Ratbat's brain module.
• The second flashback takes place somewhere within Megatron: Origin #3, and reveals that it was Soundwave who formulated the plan to allow the Decepticons to be captured that was then carried out across the third and fourth issues of the series.
• Flashback number three takes us back to events seen in issue #17 of Robots in Disguise, also occurring within Megatron: Origin #3, again extending a scene from that issue.
• The fourth flashback occurs between Megatron: Origin #2 and #3, and shows us Scorponok and Grimlock battling in the gladiatorial pits under Megatron—something that we've been told is part of the characters' histories, but which we've not actually seen until now! This scene also shows the moment and reason that Soundwave came to believe in Megatron's mission, something that Megatron: Origin itself didn't actually go into.
• The Titan arrives in Crystal City following its departure from Gorlam Prime in issue #19.
• The "sunrise" that glows behind Soundwave upon his return to the Decepticon camp is that same mysterious light that we saw appear at the end of issues issue #18 and issue #20.

Real-life references

• When he declares that "some are more equal than others", Soundwave is quoting from George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Errors

• On page 6, the word "Decepticons" in Soundwave's first speech bubble in panel 4 is lacking the emphasis for the plural-"S" the rest of the word has. The first speech bubble in the previous panel had the entire word emphasized.
• The Senate having an emergency all-members meeting in Kaon doesn't totally square with the relevant scene in Megatron Origin: there, Starscream was sneering "do your empty chairs also hold me in contempt" (and we see empty chairs), implying they didn't all bother to show up because the uprising isn't important enough to them. That being said, the next issue will establish that Shockwave and Dai Atlas were supposed to be in attendance but didn’t make it (because Shockwave was obviously in on the whole scheme and made sure neither he nor his old friend Atlas would be there), so one could No-Prize that Starscream was referring to their absence.
• Rumble and Frenzy have had a torturous history when it comes to their colors in IDW continuity (see the FIRRIB article for details), but we're willing to give Robots in Disguise the benefit of the doubt this issue and assume the decision to color Rumble (identifiable through his use of piledrivers on page 7) blue is a mistake, since the series has been consistent in sticking to "FIBRIR" up until now.
  • That said, we should probably note that Rumble's actually in his purple color scheme from the Generation 1 cartoon here—an affectation of colorist Priscilla Tramontano, who used it on Frenzy when she last coloured an issue of RiD in which he appeared, back in issue #11. Regular RiD colorist Josh Perez has always held to Frenzy's toy-blue hues.
• Shockwave's empurata is credited as the reason Soundwave cannot read his mind, but in actuality, it was the Shadowplay that affected his brain.
• The Functionists are still being referred to as "Functionalists". Later, when an arc of More than Meets the Eye brings this concept to the fore, the term will become standardized.
• Ramondelli uses a heavily-photoshopped photograph of an Earth construction site for his backgrounds on page 20, which includes at least two human construction workers.

Trivia

• Despite their reconfiguration as tanks, Rumble and Frenzy can still function as "cassettes" inside Soundwave's chest.
• This issue reveals that Soundwave didn't always have his iconic mask. Prior to his meeting with Ravage and co., he had a normal face, like most bots.

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title: "Onpa" (音波, "Soundwave")

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Shockwave, Monstructor, Dreadwing, and Jhiaxus, by Andrew Griffith.
• Cover B: Soundwave and his cassettes, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente.
• Cover RI: Soundwave and Laserbeak, by Livio Ramondelli, in the third part of a three-part image formed with the RI covers of issues #20 and #21.

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Reprints

• The Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 5 (December 4, 2013) ISBN 1613778368 / ISBN 978-1613778364
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #17–22.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: Robots in Disguise Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404261 / ISBN 978-1631404269
  • Collects Robots in Disguise Volumes 1–5.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 5 (February 22, 2017) ISBN 1631408445 / ISBN 978-1631408441
  • Collects Primacy issues #1–4, Robots in Disguise issues #19–20 & #21–22, and More than Meets the Eye issues #17–21, #22 & "The Sound of Breaking Glass".
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 58: Shockpoint (May 15, 2019)
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #15–22.
  • Bonus material includes a 2-page history of IDW Shockwave's history-setting plans.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Robots in Disguise Volume 5 – cover art by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente

• 

  Robots in Disguise Box Set – cover art by ???

• 

  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 5 – cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 58: Shockpoint – cover art by Don Figueroa (Monstructor) and Livio Ramondelli