| “ | All communications with Optimus Prime's crew should be filtered through me. No exceptions. For security's sake of course. And the sake for all of Cybertron. | „ |
| ~ Shockwave skillfully covering up his secret as a double agent. |
| “ | I know I can't catch you... but I can trap you. | „ |
| ~ Shockwave before crushing Blurr into a cube. |
Shockwave is a major antagonist of the 2007 animated series, Transformers: Animated.
He is a double-agent planted on Cybertron for the Decepticon and one of Megatron's most loyal followers, along with Lugnut.
He was voiced by Corey Burton, who also voices Megatron from the same series, as well as V.V. Argost from The Secret Saturdays and Cad Bane from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- Is one of Megatron's most loyal followers, alongside Lugnut. Compared to Lugnut, who is highly unintelligent, Shockwave is the only one to rival Megatron in intelligence and comes across as more magnificent in comparison.
- Compared to the cowardly and treacherous Starscream, Shockwave comes across as even more magnificent in comparison due to Shockwave's gambits usually working in his favour and is less prone to humiliating moments.
- Is played to perfection by Corey Burton, who reprised his role form the original Generation One animated series, having given Shockwave the same David Warner impersonation but with a much creepier tone as well. His role reprisal is what cemented Burton as the Shockwave.
- Using his size-altering powers, Shockwave creates a new persona called Longarm, altering his color scheme from purple to grey to divert suspicion (as he notes Decepticons have been mostly associated with purple) and his voice too, and with this, and with this, rose up the ranks to become the Chief of Autobot Intel and becoming a Prime too. He risks his own spark doing this solely out of his loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause.
- When Bumblebee overhears a conversation with Megatron, using his distaste on Wasp, who regularly bullies him for petty reasons, Shockwave plants evidence to frame Wasp as the traitor and gets Bumblebee's support in arresting him.
- Engineers Wasp's escape from prison to divert suspicion from him when he initiates multiple Decepticon Uprisings that spread the Autobot forces too thin so Megatron can use his own Space Bridge to teleport his entire army to Cybertron an conquer it with ease. This was only unexpectedly foiled when Megatron's Space Bridge overloaded.
- Hence why his decision to reveal his identity as the traitor to the Earth-based Autobots isn't as stupid, as he was moments away from victory and revealing his true identity to all of Cybertron, and only backfired due to an unexpected error nobody can even predict. The next point even helps fix this issue even more.
- Skillfully covers up his real identity by redirecting suspicions on Wasp, trapping Blurr and disposing him when has an idea on who the real traitor is, and under the guise of security purposes, he ends up banning all communications with Optimus Prime's team directly, having communication with them done only through him. The only reason this failed is due to Sentinel going to Earth without informing him, and anyway, manages to mortally wound the highest ranking and one of the most powerful Autobots ever, Ultra Magnus.
- Baits Ratchet into finding Arcee for him, successfully kidnapping her and extracting the codes of Project Omega.
- Skillfully sets up a trap that nearly finishes of the Autobots using Arcee as bait.
- While him begging Bulkhead and Bumblebee for mercy may seem like cowardice, it should be noted that the cowardice was not genuine, it was faked, and was instead a ploy to distract them while he rearms himself after his weapon is knocked out, and since his cowardice was just staged and in his other appearances, he is lying to take matters in his own hand and fight fairly and even risk his life being the double agent out of his loyalty towards Megatron and the Decepticon cause, Shockwave really isn't as cowardly as it may seem.
- Also, Shockwave's worry is very justified. His weapon was knocked out of his hand in a fight and knocked down with 2 people cornering him with weapons attached to them unlike with Shockwave, who is unarmed, giving themselves an unfair advantage over the defenseless Shockwave.
- While pretty much easily the vilest non-Pure Evil villain in the series, none of Shockwave's crimes come close to being too disgusting as he rarely engages in gratuitous cruelty, to an even greater extent than even Megatron, with many of his most horrific crimes being done to restorable robots that downplay the carnage.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- By framing Wasp as the Double Agent, he has Wasp imprisoned in the terrible conditions in the Autobot stockades and was driven to insanity as a result. A very petty bully or not to Bumblebee, Wasp did not deserve this and is pretty pitiable on how it affected him to terrifying degrees.
- Has his predecessor, Highbrow Prime, secretly assassinated to usurp his position as Chief of Cybertronian Intel.
- The Decepticon Uprisings have been shown that there have been fatalities in those confrontations.
- Nearly kills Blurr, having him compacted into a cube and disposed off. He managed to survive, which makes it worse as Shockwave placed him in a fate worse than death as he is still alive and conscious and aware of his surroundings and was forced to nearly spend the rest of his life unable to do anything at all.
- Mortally wounds Ultra Magnus, putting him in a coma and also would've died had the show not continued.
- Probes Arcee to get the codes for Project Omega and happily helps Megatron annihilate Detroit.
- Creates a failsafe program called Klemzeek to destroy all of Cybertron in case the Decepticons ever lost.
Trivia[]
- So far this is, along with his Marvel, Prime and Cyberverse incarnations, the only versions of Shockwave to count as Magnificent Baddies.
External Links[]
- Shockwave at the Near Pure Evil wiki
- Shockwave at the Villains wiki
[]
 Magnificent Baddies
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Generation One Continuity Transformers: Animated Transformers Film Series Aligned Continuity Other Continuities | ||