Shockwave (Animated)

Shockwave is a Decepticon from the Animated continuity family.

My awesomeness is logical.

Shockwave is a covert agent in service to Megatron. This size-changing master of disguise has infiltrated the Autobot security apparatus at the highest level: his cover persona is Longarm Prime, head of Cybertron Intelligence, reporting directly to Ultra Magnus himself. The undercover Decepticon is the perfect agent to pull this off, as he's able to change his voice, his appearance, and even his energy signature. This puts Shockwave in the perfect position to undermine and mislead the Autobots while feeding strategic information to his true master. To establish his credibility, "Longarm" attended the Autobot boot camp alongside Bumblebee and Bulkhead. Over the years, he worked his way up the Autobot hierarchy until finally he was promoted to be the very head of the Intelligence Division itself!

Befitting a double agent, Shockwave is highly secretive and fearful of detection. Befitting a cartoon villain, he can confidently give those secrets away if he thinks he's winning. If he suspects his cover may be compromised, he's given to acts of desperation.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Jon Bailey (BotCon 2015), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese), Helmut Gauß (German), Ulisses Bezerra (Portuguese), Jorge Lillo (Latin American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2), Leonardo Salas (Latin American Spanish, season 3), Julio Lorenzo (Castillo Spanish), Petri Hanttu (Finnish), Bruno Magne (French)

Why am I wearing a scuba mask?

So does that mean he's Shockwave Prime?

Shockwave was recruited by Megatron because his mass-shifting abilities allowed him to impersonate effectively a wide variety of shapes and sizes, making it difficult for Autobots to accurately track him during missions of infiltration and sabotage. It was these traits which led to Megatron sending him to enlist in the Autobot armed services as a means of climbing the ranks and eventually taking the organization down from within.

With the aid of Blackarachnia, The AllSpark Almanac Shockwave crafted an Autobot persona and form for himself from old historical records ^[1] and enrolled in Autobot boot camp, where his ability to stretch his limbs to great lengths (a limited use of his ability to change shape and size) earned him the name "Longarm" from his drill sergeant Sentinel Minor. However, he slipped up in the early days of training and was overheard reporting to Megatron by the black sheep recruit Bumblebee. Although Shockwave managed to avoid detection right away, Bumblebee was tipped off to the presence of a traitor in the camp and suspected fellow recruit Wasp, whom he spotted leaving the building shortly afterward. Bumblebee turned to the espionage-savvy Longarm for advice, and Shockwave used the opportunity to divert attention away from himself. He suggested that the young Autobot refrain from telling their commander, Sentinel Minor, so that Bumblebee could take all the credit himself. Unfortunately, all of Bumblebee's efforts only got him in worse trouble, and his fellow recruits began to bully him, with Longarm being the only one to stick up for him. After several failures on Bumblebee's part, Shockwave took matters into his own hands during a training exercise and switched the training equipment to live ammo in an attempt to offline Bumblebee and keep the whole matter of a traitor a secret. Luckily for Bumblebee, this plan was foiled by Bulkhead.

Eventually, Shockwave found out that Sentinel Minor intended to conduct a surprise inspection, and he contrived to set up Wasp to take the fall himself. After planting a Decepticon communicator in Wasp's locker, Shockwave, as Longarm, informed Bumblebee of the upcoming inspection, telling him that it was his last chance to find the evidence he needed. Using one of his extensible limbs to trip up Wasp, Shockwave allowed Bumblebee to palm Wasp's locker key as 'Bee helped him up, allowing him to find the communicator and show it to Sentinel. In the end, Wasp was dragged off to prison, and Longarm commended Bumblebee for his deductive work.

Subsequently, Shockwave graduated boot camp and eventually became the head of Cybertron Intelligence. Now "Longarm Prime", he remained in this position, hiding in plain sight, for the fifty stellar cycles that Megatron was lost on Earth. Autoboot Camp He murdered Intel director Highbrow to get the job. Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II

After Optimus Prime's ship was lost, Longarm pressed Sentinel to continue the search for the ship's crew, the AllSpark and Megatron. His pleas fell on deaf ears. Dispatches

After Megatron succeeded in restoring himself and the Decepticons were assembled on Earth, he re-established contact with Shockwave on Cybertron and initiated a plan to construct a space bridge that would allow the Decepticons to conquer the planet from within. Mission Accomplished Wasp, now criminally insane, escaped from prison, and Megatron started receiving transmissions from his double agent on Cybertron. When Megatron's captive, Isaac Sumdac, attempted to alert the Autobots to the existence of the double agent by bouncing a transmission to their base, Bumblebee again suspected Wasp. He reported the news to Longarm Prime on Cybertron, but of course, that accomplished nothing. Autoboot Camp

Pinchy pinchy!

When the completed space bridge failed to function, Megatron contacted Shockwave and instructed him to locate the top space bridge specialist on Cybertron to help correct the problem. Shockwave was surprised to discover that the specialist was already on Earth; it was Bulkhead! Bulkhead was subsequently captured by Megatron and forced to perfect the space bridge. A Bridge Too Close, Part I The other Autobots arrived too late to stop him, and they were defeated by the Decepticons and strung up to watch as the bridge was activated. Shockwave revealed his alter ego of Longarm Prime to the Autobots, disclosing that he had already given Megatron an appropriate access code and forcing Bumblebee to feel the shame of sending an innocent Wasp to prison. When Megatron tried to test the space bridge by sending Optimus Prime through it, Shockwave assured his master that he awaited the "test subject" on the other side. Unfortunately, an attempt by Megatron to boost power caused the space bridge to overload, deleting the access code and setting the space bridge to random coordinates. A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Megacycles later, Shockwave, as Longarm once more, assured Ultra Magnus that the Decepticons would not be able to reach the Cybertron Space Bridge nexus. Shockwave then contacted Team Chaar, who had successfully taken over a space bridge and were ready to use it in order to gate to Cybertron. Strika asked for permission to begin the assault, only to have Shockwave deny her request. She was to stay put with her team and wait for Megatron to arrive, even if he was megacycles overdue.

"Whoops—there's a bug on your head, Blurr. Holllld stilll..."

Not long afterward, the entire Space Bridge Nexus powered down. Confused, Longarm questioned Cybertron Command, and Cliffjumper informed him that Ultra Magnus had ordered the shutdown in order to prevent the Decepticons from accessing Cybertron. Just then, Agent Blurr arrived and (very) quickly informed Longarm that while on Earth, he had intercepted a transmission between Megatron and his double agent on Cybertron, Shockwave. Further, Blurr noted that Shockwave's voice didn't match that of the suspected Wasp, but a quick search of the Cybertron Intel Database would allow them to find the true identity of the traitor. Shocked, Longarm asked if Blurr had shared this information with anyone else. When Blurr replied that he had not, Shockwave decided it would be wise to quiet him down—permanently. Blurr eluded his initial attempts and escaped into the corridors around the nexus control center. Rather than give chase, Shockwave simply had the corridors' security hatches slam shut and close in on Blurr, trapping and crushing him.

At the Metroplex, Longarm handed over Blurr's remains to Cliffjumper, calling the small cube "sensitive materials." He received an incoming transmission from Lord Megatron in his private office. They traded information on their respective setbacks, but Megatron assured Shockwave that he had a method of preventing the Earth Autobots from blowing Shockwave's cover.

Shortly, Longarm Prime attended an Autobot High Council meeting, where Ultra Magnus declared that the Decepticons' attacks were too organized to be random acts of sabotage. Rather, evidence pointed to a double agent in the Autobots' midst. Longarm nervously pointed out that the Decepticon uprisings had started after Wasp's escape, making the cause plain. Ultra Magnus agreed and ordered Jazz and Sentinel Prime to organize an Elite Guard Unit to find the escapee. He then requested that the Earth-bound Autobots be contacted. Increasingly distraught, Longarm declared that all communications should be first filtered through him, without exceptions—for the sake of security and the protection of Cybertron, naturally. TransWarped

Unfortunately, Longarm's insistence on diverting blame toward Wasp was his undoing. When Wasp headed to Earth, Ultra Magnus didn't inform him about Wasp's destination until the Elite Guard's ship was in sight of the planet. Knowing he was on the verge of being exposed, Shockwave tried to contact Megatron, but still received no response. With no other orders on how to proceed, Shockwave took matters into his own hands: In an effort to inflict one last blow to the Autobots, Shockwave attacked and seriously damaged Ultra Magnus, stealing his Magnus Hammer in the process. Where Is Thy Sting?

When the Autobots became trapped in Soundwave's virtual reality, Shockwave appeared to invade and attack Earth. However, he didn't seem to do much besides set an apartment building on fire. Human Error, Part I

Wish you'd bought that repaint now, don't you?

After escaping, Shockwave hid in an underground tunnel, concealed from detection, waiting for Megatron to call. The Decepticon leader, trapped inside of Omega Supreme along with Starscream and Lugnut, contacted Shockwave, who revealed a way to gain the access codes for Omega Supreme. However, Shockwave was soon discovered by Ratchet and Captain Fanzone. He easily defeated them and went to find the female intelligence agent Arcee. To do this, he "asked" an informant-bot named Rattletrap for the directions. However, he apparently got lost, and so merely hid and waited for Fanzone and Ratchet to find her. He battled Ratchet and severely wounded the elderly Autobot. During the battle, he then found Ultra Magnus, still wounded. He was about to kill him for good when Ratchet used his EMP generator on both Shockwave and Ultra Magnus's hammer. Ratchet was then distracted by the arrival of temporary Magnus Sentinel Prime. After getting back online, Shockwave took Arcee and escaped to Omega Supreme, using the access codes to transwarp to Earth's orbit. He then celebrated his freedom to serve Megatron openly by changing into more... suitable colors, while Lugnut silently fumed at Megatron's description of him as his "most loyal servant". This Is Why I Hate Machines

It is only logical that you're an idiot.

Shockwave worked on the captured Arcee, initially hitting an early datatrax from her time as a teacher before the Great War. Megatron assured his "ever-loyal Shockwave" that if any bot could access the right datatrax, it was him. Combined with some taunting by Starscream, this sent Lugnut into a frenzy of jealousy, and he knocked Shockwave across the room as he begged for Megatron's favour. Shockwave in turn pointed out that while Lugnut was "fawning at Megatron's feet", he'd risked "spark and servo" as a double agent. This didn't go over well, and soon the two purple 'Cons were fighting one another. Later, with both sent to convert material from the wrecked Decepticon flagship into clones of Omega Supreme, Shockwave could be seen pointing and laughing at a misfortune on his rival's part.

After dropping a bit of stripped material from the wrecked ship, unwittingly nearly crushing a spying Bumblebee, Shockwave returned to working on Arcee and successfully restored her to the point at which her memory was wiped. Briefly returning to his grey "Longarm" mode, he confirmed that she had the activation codes, so he ripped the wires which artificially sustained her from her head, knocking her back into stasis. Outside, with the clones ready for activation, he rebooted Arcee. Despite "Longarm's" prompting, she refused to give the activation codes to Megatron voluntarily. Instead, Shockwave knocked her back into stasis and extracted the codes manually, making no comment when they ended up in Lugnut and Megatron proclaimed Lugnut his "most loyal lieutenant". As it turned out, however, the codes which Shockwave had torn from Arcee were missing a crucial "security upgrade patch", and he was forced to rig up an inelegant bypass—involving Lugnut directly puppeteering the clones—until he could retrieve the rest of the code from Arcee. Endgame, Part I

You wouldn't hit a purple guy, would you?

As Shockwave attempted to find the patch in Arcee's processor, Megatron grew impatient with Lugnut's giving a long speech on the greatness of his Glorious Leader before he would actually do anything with the clones, and angrily inquired of Shockwave if he was done yet. Shockwave replied, with great amusement in his voice, that he was still working on it and Megatron would have to relay all orders through Lugnut for the time being.

Decepticons have failed forevermore.

Apparently, he gave up on extracting the patch, and instead left Arcee—her datatrax once again reverted to her teaching days—on the lunar surface as a trap, while he waited to ambush any Autobots who came for her and Omega Supreme. The group which transwarped there, led by Ratchet, blundered straight into the trap, and Ratchet was forced to flee with Arcee and Sari Sumdac while Bumblebee and Bulkhead confronted their old classmate. While Shockwave initially had little difficulty as they attempted to attack from distance, he couldn't deal with Bulkhead's strength Bot-to-Con, and was left sprawled on the lunar surface, his cannon knocked out of reach. In a desperate attempt to buy time, he switched to Longarm mode—forgetting to activate his electronic paint job—but the pair of Autobots were not impressed, and Bulkhead smashed the cannon.

As the Autobots' prisoner, he was paraded before a large crowd on Cybertron. Endgame, Part II Shockwave would be incarcerated in Trypticon Prison alongside his master The Stunti-Con Job when his Kremzeek virus was unleashed and ran rampant across Cybertron. Megatron questioned why he'd create such a dangerous weapon, and Shockwave meekly admitted that the plan had been for Kremzeek to be unleashed when the Decepticons weren't on Cybertron. The Return of Blurr

Legends comic

While still locked in prison, Shockwave received the visit of a restored Blurr. He was visibly shocked (ahem) of seeing his sensitive materials still alive.Epiloge

The Cool comic

With all foes defeated, Megatron contacted Shockwave on Cybertron to activate the space bridge. When the Space Bridge would not work, Shockwave deduced that it had yet to be connected to a power source. The Cool Episode 8

As Ultra Magnus lay wounded in a medical facility, Shockwave plotted to end the Autobot's vital functions once and for all. His assassination attempt was foiled by the combined efforts of Ratchet and Ultra Magnus though, and although victory seemed briefly within Shockwave's reach, having acquired the famed Magnus Hammer, he did not anticipate it still being under Ultra Magnus's control, and was electrocuted to death for his troubles. The Cool Extra issue 1

Toy bios

After graduating near the top of his class at the Autobot Academy, he rose through the ranks of the Cybertron Elite Guard to become the head of its Intelligence Division. Though he normally enjoys a subtle approach, blackmailing Autobots in positions of authority, Bumblebee's hyperactive personality annoys him enough to make him break cover and attack the Autobot directly.

Precursor World

Shockwave was a member of the Purple Order. Through a screen, he listened as his commander Purple Wicked Convoy received word of the fall of the Blue Order and the threat of the interdimensional warlord Ultra Megatron Omega from the Primus Vanguard's eponymous supreme leader. God Neptune comic 1

Games

Transformers Animated: The Game

"Hello, Dave."

Voice actor: Corey Burton (English)

When Megatron put out the call to his Decepticons to take as many Space Bridges as they could, Shockwave reported back that they'd captured over a dozen and were ready to invade Cybertron. Megatron radioed back to stand by and wait for his orders. Transformers Animated: The Game

Toys

Animated

Punch/Counterpunch.

• Shockwave (Voyager Class, 2008 / 2010)

• Takara name: Decepticon Shockwave
• Takara ID number: TA-14
• Takara release date: April 24, 2010
• Accessories: Blaster/Longarm Crane arm/Shockwave Tank Barrel
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy)

Released in the fifth wave of Hasbro's Animated Voyagers, this toy features four distinct modes. In "Infiltration Mode", the shorter, stockier Autobot Longarm transforms into a four-legged crane platform. If one fancies, one can stretch out his Shockwave-mode limbs to emulate his limb-stretching ability in Longarm mode (albeit not very well). In "Spy Mode", he stretches and converts into the taller, lankier Decepticon Shockwave, as the crane portion of Longarm's body converts into a hand-held cannon. The center panel on his chest flips between Autobot and Decepticon symbols; both chest symbols are vacuum-metalized, with very shiny silver and gold (respectively). Curiously, while the rotating faction symbols on his chest use the usual "classic" designs, the tampographed Decepticon symbol on his cannon/crane is in the movie style and is visible in his Autobot modes. Additionally, the only mode in which Longarm's head is not fully visible is Shockwave himself.

All the differences between Shockwave and Longarm can be difficult to remember, even for Hasbro. In the "tank mode" picture at right, the secondary guns are incorrectly folded back. On the back of this toy's box, there are several small transformation errors, the most obvious being that only one of Shockwave's shoulders has been correctly rotated up. Also, the toy's instructions do not show Shockwave's neck correctly extended (his chin is touching his chest plate in the instructions, just as for Longarm). The instructions also fail to mention that you can bend his upper torso forward as Shockwave to better replicate the slouch that he has in the cartoon. In his Longarm mode, it is also possible to extend his neck and push the tab forward, so that he maintains his Longarm face while having a better-articulated neck. One final and often missed feature is the forehead panel that contains Shockwave's red eye is actually on a hinge so that when his neck is fully extended, the panel can be pushed back into the "T" shaped groove, covering the gaps where his Longarm eyes used to be.

The instructions for the trilingual packaging version of Shockwave have an odd error: in the space that should explain the transformation for his hands, the final two steps are instead repeated.

Shockwave was released in the second wave of TakaraTomy's Animated toyline, quite early! This version uses a much lighter, neutral-gray base plastic than the Hasbro version's bluer-tinted base, plus his molded Autobot and Decepticon symbols are now painted red and purple instead of the standard Hasbro silver/gold. The Decepticon symbol on his tank barrel is now also purple with a white outline.

• More information on Shockwave at TFU.info

Chugway.^[2]/One-eyed one-horned giant purple people squisher...

• Shockwave VS Bumblebee (Multi-pack, 2009)

• Accessories: Blaster/Longarm Crane arm/Shockwave Tank Barrel
• Known designers: Joe Kyde (deco artist)

A predominantly-purple redeco of the Voyager toy, this version of Shockwave is packaged with an apparently unaltered Activators-class Bumblebee figure. Shockwave retains his four modes and gimmickry within each. Although this version seems to be a less convincing Autobot due to its purple paint job, in one respect he would be a better spy in this form, as the redeco doesn't have the Decepticon symbol on the cannon arm to give him away. The Autobot and Decepticon symbols are also now red and purple, as opposed to the original silver and gold.

A Target stores exclusive, this set was available simultaneously with the Sunstorm/Ratchet multi-pack.

• More information on Purple Shockwave at TFU.info

“It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no Longarm, kid. Never was. Fella in my line a work takes on a variety of aliases. Hell, once I was even a Prime for six months...But, you've been a sport, so I guess I owe you a little honesty. The name's Shockwave.”

• Shockwave Original Ver. (Voyager, 2010)

• ID number: TA-45
• Release date: October 2, 2010
• Accessories: Blaster/Longarm Crane arm/Shockwave Tank Barrel

Released in the ninth wave of TakaraTomy's Animated line, this edition of purple Shockwave was available individually, and like most Takara Animated toys, the figure features a shiny metallic finish for some of the purple parts, including Shockwave's chest and main shoulder and leg pieces. The Decepticon insignia on his cannon also makes its return, this time in purple.

Oddly, despite Japanese toys generally having less stringent safety requirements than U.S. toys, the soft plastic used on this Shockwave's claws and antennae are made of a noticeably more rubbery plastic than in the Hasbro release.

Notes

• Actor Corey Burton reprises the role of Shockwave from Generation 1, reusing the same British-accented, David Warner-inspired voice for the character (while employing an American accented variation for Longarm). In an online interview with Seibertron.com in early 2009 (sadly lost owing to a server crash), Burton revealed that Shockwave's inclusion in Season 2 arose from a between-scenes conversation he had with the production team, regarding how little the original Shockwave actually had to do.
• Shockwave's status as an Elite Guard member in his Longarm identity is an issue fraught with much confusion. His on-package bio states that, as Longarm, he rose through the ranks of the Cybertron Elite Guard to reach his current position; this theoretically meshes with Longarm's cover story in "Autoboot Camp", where he states that he wishes to become an Elite Guard intelligence officer. However, Derrick J. Wyatt has informed this wiki that Longarm is not actually a member of that group in the cartoon continuity.
  • Shockwave's status as a nonmember of the Elite Guard is supported by Longarm's lack of the Elite Guard's winged Autobot symbol, and the evident fact that, while Longarm is head of the Autobot Intelligence Division, the Autobot Intelligence Division is not a part of the Elite Guard; Longarm's immediate predecessor as head of the organization, Highbrow, did not sport the Elite Guard symbol either.
  • Adding to this confusion, Longarm was drawn with an Elite Guard symbol in The Arrival #1, but this seems to have been in error, as Sentinel Prime—stated to be the second-in-command of the Elite Guard in the story—sported a normal Autobot symbol throughout it, suggesting the symbol-paster got confused.
  • Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II suggests that part of the reason Shockwave is not an Elite Guardsman is because the toy's faction symbol rotates to switch allegiances, and the wider Elite Guard symbol would not have been mechanically feasible.
• Both "Shockwave" and "Longarm" have official alternate capitalizations. The credits of "TransWarped" give "LongArm Prime", and the credits for "This Is Why I Hate Machines" have "ShockWave".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Shockwave (ショックウェーブ Shokkuwēbu), Longarm (ロングアーム Ronguāmu)

See also

You look familiar...

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Versions of Shockwave have appeared in other continuity families, including:

• Shockwave, the logical Decepticon who's to blame for everything from Generation 1.
• Shockblast, the murderous Decepticon berserker from Energon.
• Shockwave, the Decepticon beastmaster and killing machine from Dark of the Moon.
• Shockwave, the logical Decepticon scientist from the Aligned continuity family.
• Shockwave, the Decepticon mad scientist from Cyberverse.

For more information, see Shockwave (disambiguation).

References