Editing Soundwave (Transformers) (section)

===Animated series===
In the original ''[[The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers]]'' cartoon, Soundwave was Megatron's most reliable aide, frequently sent on important [[reconnaissance]] missions with his cassettes, and often playing a key role in many schemes against the Autobots. On Cybertron, he used his ability to transform into a lamp-post to spy on the Autobot city of Iacon, learning of the Autobots' plan to search for energy on other worlds. Soundwave participated in Megatron's assault on the Autobots' spacecraft, the Ark, and met the same fate as the other occupants when the ship crashed on prehistoric Earth, leaving everyone trapped in stasis. After awakening on Earth in 1984, Soundwave played a crucial part in generating energon cubes and devising strategies to construct a new spacecraft for the Decepticons to journey back to Cybertron.

Later, he used his mind-reading talents to acquire an [[antimatter]] formula for the Decepticons from the brain of Chip Chase. He and his cassette minions were often on spying missions against the Autobots.

One of Soundwave's most notable misadventures came in season 2 when, operating a plan conceived by [[Starscream]], he [[brainwashing|brainwashed]] humans with [[ultrasound|ultrasonic]] vibrations, leading to a confrontation with his Autobot Communications Officer counterpart, [[Blaster (Transformers)|Blaster]], and to a lasting rivalry between the two.

Soundwave rarely displayed much emotion, infrequently exhibiting any traits that could be considered to be in line with his [[tech spec]]. However, he showed distress when one of his cassettes were hurt in battle, and he always came across as extremely loyal to Megatron, even going so far as to recover his body after being beaten close to death by [[Optimus Prime]] at the battle of [[Autobot City]] in 2005 (''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''). But while Soundwave was loyal, he was far from outspoken, and he kept silent when Megatron's body was subsequently ejected into space, and, although he did suggest himself as a replacement leader ("''Soundwave: superior, Constructicons: inferior.''"), Soundwave again loyally served Megatron when he was reformatted as [[Galvatron]].

In season 3, although operating in a less prominent capacity for most of the time, Soundwave played a prominent role in Galvatron's attempt to learn the secret of a sonic weapon on the planet Eurythma, where sound and music were the way of life, leaving Soundwave entranced by the planet's perfect melodies. Recording each piece of the harmony that formed the devastating sonic effect, Soundwave was defeated when the Eurythmans countered the harmony with white noise, and was again pulled into a confrontation with Blaster, who erased his recordings.

Soundwave made his final appearance in the American cartoon series, the Season 3 finale, ''The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1'' as he was only seen giving the latest piece of information gathered by Ratbat that two scientists had discovered Optimus Prime's body, a fact which made Galvatron eager to destroy it once and for all. Although Soundwave only appeared as a background character in the American cartoon series finale, the three-part ''The Rebirth'', he returned to the forefront in the new Japanese-exclusive series, ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters]]'', which was created to replace ''The Rebirth''. Reborn as '''Soundblaster''' ('''New Soundwave''' in the [[English language|English]] version and '''Vizar''' in Italy) Soundwave's new toy incarnation was, like the series, available only in [[Japan]].

In the 1987 anime robot superhero TV series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters]]'', Soundwave and Blaster's rivalry had increased dramatically. In the opening cut and thrust of ''Headmasters'', Soundwave and Blaster engaged in their final clash in the [[Arctic Circle]] as the Autobots and Decepticons were in the process of searching for the missing [[Matrix of Leadership|Autobot Matrix of Leadership]]. The two opponents inflicted fatal damage to each other, and Soundwave's body exploded even as Blaster collapsed. Soundwave's fragments were recovered by his cassettes. Using reconstructive technology from the planet Master, the leader of the Decepticon Headmasters, Zarak, successfully rebuilt and resurrected Soundwave and renamed him Soundblaster—essentially identical to his former self, except for his predominantly black color scheme. As Soundblaster, he served the same role as he had as Soundwave under the leadership of Galvatron and later Scorponok, frequently embarking on spying missions with Ratbat. In ''Headmasters'', his character was somewhat changed to have more of a father-son relationship with the cassettes, as it was hinted on his resurrection as Soundblaster.

Soundwave was performed by [[Frank Welker]], whose voice was heavily modulated by a [[vocoder]] to achieve Soundwave's distinctive, metallic [[Pitch (music)|monotone]]. However, Welker's voice was left unmodulated at certain points during the episodes "Roll for It" and "Webworld" due to production errors. This left him sounding like Dr. Claw, another role Welker performed, from ''[[Inspector Gadget (1983 TV series)|Inspector Gadget]]''.