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Soundwave
Soundwave and Laserbeak
voiced by: Frank Welker
First Appearance: "Portals"
Two veterans of both the Prime and the Great War itself, Soundwave was Megatron's most trusted, deadly lieutenant and he's back with a bone to pick. Laserbeak is Soundwave's Minicon parter.
Most of their character's traits remain the same, but click here for their folder regarding their appearance in the previous series.
- All for Nothing: For all his planning and preparation, Soundwave's plan is undone by the Bee Team shortly after escaping the Shadow Zone. Twice. Even if Soundwave had succeeded in contacting Megatron, his efforts would have been for naught, because Megatron had long since renounced the Decepticon cause and exiled himself.
- Arm Cannon: Possesses one which he uses to fire on Russel and Fixit.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Soundwave works with the High Council to restore Megatron to power, which spans well over two thirds of the Combiner Force season, though Soundwave acts as The Heavy.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He's one of the primary antagonists in the Combiner Force season, alongside Motormaster and Steeljaw, though he spends most of the season operating from the Shadow Zone, directing a team of Activator Mini-Cons to steal the Bee Team's Decepticon Hunters, so that he may return to the real world and resume his objective of summoning Megatron back to Earth.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: A variant, as Soundwave destroys Denny's gun with a precise shot from his Arm Cannon. A straighter example is Laserbeak knocking Strongarm's Decepticon hunter out of her hands following several blasts In the Back.
- The Bus Came Back: "King of the Hill, Part 2" reveals that Soundwave has not only found a way out of the Shadowzone, he has also recruited at least one Minicon.
- Combat Tentacles: Strong enough to lift Grimlock, he makes full use of them against Bee's team. Laserbeak also has a pair of these.
- Cool Plane: He retains his alternate mode from the previous series, a Reaper drone plane. In Collateral Damage, he ultimately ditched it for an SUV form.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Upon his return in "Portals", Soundwave wastes no time laying out the Bee Team with little effort, and they're only able to defeat him through sheer luck. He dishes another to Steeljaw in "Collateral Damage", forcing the wolf Decepticon to flee. Once Bumblebee regains the Decepticon Hunters, Soundwave finds himself on the receiving end of this trope.
- Detachment Combat: The only Minicon deployer from Transformers: Prime, he once again stores Laserbeak on his chest and can deploy him in combat.
- The Dragon: Fixit mentions that he was this to Megatron in the Great War, and considering how many Dragon's Megs went through in Prime, Soundwave was the only one who remained consistently loyal. He later becomes this to the High Council in Combiner Force, in order to summon Megatron to Earth.
- The Dreaded: Bumblebee and Fixit are rightfully terrified of having to face them, even more so than when they fought Megatronus.
- Feathered Fiend: Though he predates the animal-based Decepticons in this series, Laserbeak still fits right in among them as a mechanical bird.
- Flunky Boss: Like they did before, Laserbeak engages the enemy while Soundwave focuses on his objective.
- Harmless Freezing: He first froze Strongarm except her head, then Bumblebee's legs when he was about to kick the Decepticon. As soon as Bumbleebee frees his legs, he then grabbed the mega Decepticon Hunter after Sideswipe kicked it out of Soundwave's hands. The empowered Autobot then encases Soundwave in ice, except his head and tentacles.
- The Heavy: For the High Council, as his job was to summon Megatron back to Cybertron, so that he could lead the Decepticon conquest. He briefly shared the position with Steeljaw, but that partnership ended when their end goals conflicted.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is defeated in much the same way as in the previous series after Russel maneuvers him into opening two portals in close proximity, which tears a rift into the Shadowzone through which Bumblebee is able to escape. Denny then uses a crane to knock him through said rift, then Strongarm and Grimlock throw Laserbeak through the rift, sending them back where they came from.
- I'll Kill You!: Vows to destroy Hi-Test when he fails to bring him a Decepticon Hunter and subsequently runs in fear of punishment.Soundwave: Do not flee. You will be terminated at the earliest opportunity.
- It's Personal: Seeing as Bumblebee is the only member of Team Prime to be present, Soundwave really has it out for him after escaping his confinement.
- The Juggernaut: Bumblebee describes Soundwave and Laserbeak as being "next to impossible to take down". Soundwave himself withstands several punches from Grimlock without any apparent damage or injury.
- Knight of Cerebus: He's just as dead serious as he was in Prime, and brings with him a lot of poignant Continuity Nod's to that Darker and Edgier series, and also poses the greatest threat to Earth besides Megatronus himself.
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the one directing the Activator Mini-Cons that have been stealing the Bee Team's Decepticon Hunters over the course of Combiner Force.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Soundwave eventually adopts a more beefed-up appearance strongly resembling his G1 incarnation in Collateral Damage.
- Near-Villain Victory:
- In Portals, he almost succeeds in his plan to send a signal into deep space, which Bee fears will draw even more Decepticons to Earth.
- The same event happened in Collateral Damage and still fails.
- Non-Standard Character Design: In his appearance in "Portals", he retains his design from Prime, which makes him look a little out of place thanks to his subdued colors and more alien-looking design. His redesign in Season 3 averts this by giving him a blocky build and brighter colors to better fit the Cybertronian designs for the show.
- Oh, Crap!: On the giving end. As soon as Bumblebee recognises him, he has this reaction.
- Pragmatic Villainy: As before, Soundwave focuses on his objective and ignores Fixit, Denny and Russell until they actively try to sabotage him.
- Put Their Heads Together: The first thing he does upon emerging from the Shadowzone is smash Strongarm and Grimlock's craniums together via his Combat Tentacles.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Or in this case, an alternate dimension. He's resealed into it at the end of the episode. By the end of the first two-part episode of season 3, he seems to ally himself with several Mini-Cons who aid him in secretly taking the Autobot's Decepticon Hunters in order to escape the Shadow Zone.
- Shock and Awe: Just like in the previous series, he is capable of delivering electric shocks from the ends of his tentacles to quickly down enemies. Laserbeak also has this ability.
- Too Powerful to Live: Considering his sheer competence, if he'd allied with the Alchemor prisoners there'd be no stopping them. Naturally, he had to be taken out of the picture at the end of the episode during his first reappearance. This trope is also presumably the reason for his comically quick defeat when he returns with a new body and scheme to summon Megatron.
- Tranquil Fury: He expresses this after Bumblebee destroys the communicator he was building, curling his hand into a fist before proceeding to lay into the Autobot.
- Undying Loyalty: His first act after being freed is to attempt to contact Megatron, and he is freed by the High Council with the express purpose of trying it again. After being defeated for the second time, he defiantly declares that Megatron's return is an inevitability before shutting down.
- Villain Decay: A minor example, as Bumblebee notes that Soundwave isn't as effective in trapping his enemies in portals and warping them away as he used to be, as he's out of practice following several years of imprisonment. His overall combat performance, however, is still top-notch, as his track record against Team Bee can attest to. It gets even worse in Combiner Force where he apparently "upgrades" himself to a new form, and is quickly beaten by Bumblebee upon losing the Decepticon Hunters.
- Villain Team-Up: With Steeljaw and his pack, as Soundwave mentioned to them that he is in the league with benefactors back on Cybertron in Prepare For Departure. Quickly subverted, however, as it was revealed in Collateral Damage that Soundwave has complete disregard for all life on Earth, even if it means calling back Megatron. Steeljaw was not too happy with this plan whatsoever.
- Vocal Evolution: Reconstructed. On the rare occasions Soundwave speaks, he retains the synthesiser echo he had in G1 that was absent in Prime, though the mixing of it and the natural Dr. Claw voice is different from G1, wherein the growl in his voice is still evident. Not that you'll hear him talking for much more so than the latter.
- The Voiceless: As in the previous series, Soundwave voluntarily opts not to say a word during his screentime. In Season 3, he eventually averts this trope, but his new Mini-Con allies play this straight. In the second episode of Season 3, he is heard giving orders to his Minicon minion. He doesn't have any choice but to speak, since there's no one around whose voice he can copy like he did back in Prime.
- Wandering the Earth: What he'd apparently been up to since the end of the end of the previous series, having followed Megatron's corpse from the Shadowzone when it fell to Earth and being stuck on the Shadowzone's version of Earth afterwards with no way off the planet.
- Weaponized Teleportation: He tosses Bumblebee into the Shadowzone and warped Strongarm and Grimlock a considerable distance away from the scrapyard. He also attempts to do the same thing to Russel and Fixit. Overall, he used this power far more often in combat than he did in the previous series.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has no qualms with shooting lasers directly at Russell.
- You Have Failed Me: Soundwave is far from pleased when Hi-Test fails to steal a Decepticon Hunter while the other Minicons in his service have succeeded, and when the latter flees, Soundwave threatens to kill him when he gets his hands on him.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Implied in episode Collateral Damage. Soundwave informs Steeljaw that, like the Activator Mini-Cons, the wolf Decepticon will fall under this trope once the mission is complete, to Steeljaw's rage.
Activator Mini-Cons
In General
- Face–Heel Turn: In Collateral Damage, Optimus Prime reveals that all of them were reprogrammed against their will by the benefactors that freed Steeljaw and his crew, as the wolf Decepticon had mentioned. Hi-Test was the first to snap out of this, although by himself.
- The Speechless: None of the Activator Mini-Cons speak during the series, and the way Hi-Test communicates telepathically with Optimus implies that they can't speak at all..
- What Happened to the Mouse?: With the exception of Hi-Test, none of the Activators are seen again once Soundwave escapes the Shadowzone, leaving their fates unknown.
Stuntwing
Stuntwing
First Appearance: "King of the Hill (Part 1)"
- Villainous Rescue: The term "villain" is a stretch, but he did rescue Bumblebee from Heatseeker's missiles, only to snatch the Autobot's Decepticon Hunter when he wasn't looking for Soundwave's secret project.
Trickout
Trickout
First Appearance: "Defrosted"
- Expy: His robot form possesses an uncanny resemblance to G1 Ironhide.
Hi-Test
Hi-Test
First Appearance: "Guilty as Charged"
- Adaptational Heroism: His G1 toy shows him as a Decepticon-aligned Nebulon. Here, he is a complete Cybertronian who will not hesitate in assisting the Autobots, despite the fact that we do not see the Autobot insignia on his chest as of now.
- Blue Is Heroic: Double-Subverted. He initially obeys Soundwave's orders in Guilty As Charged. In Collateral Damage, Optimus Prime reveals that his concern for others have overshadowed his orders.
- Diving Kick: He delivers one on Laserbeak before the latter could interrupt Optimus, who is attempting to flee a structure from collapsing onto him, courtesy of Laserbeak himself.
- Oh, Crap!: When he realizes what Soundwave intends to do to him for failing to retrieve a Decepticon hunter, Hi-Test is visibly frightened and runs.
Goldgear
Goldgear
First Appearance: "Railroad Rage"
- Toyless Toyline Character: The only Activator Mini-Con without a known toy.
