First appearing in the original Transformers series, Shockwave has become a staple figure within the franchise, cherished by fans for his unique traits. The character is famously portrayed in the comic books as a calculating, emotionless Decepticon, often depicted as either fiercely loyal to Megatron or as a significant threat due to his potential betrayal. Interestingly, Shockwave’s storyline almost took a dramatic turn, with plans for a major transformation in his character arc that hinged on his unexpected survival.

In the original Transformers film, Shockwave was initially slated for demise. However, when this didn’t come to pass, the character was poised for an origin story that would intertwine with new overarching villains within the series. Although this narrative angle was eventually handed to another Decepticon, Shockwave’s full story arc never made it to the screen. Consequently, he remains a steadfast Decepticon whose loyalty is undiminished.

Shockwave’s character has been portrayed in two opposing ways during the Generation 1 era. In the animated series, he is shown as a devoted follower of Megatron, overseeing Cybertron, while the Marvel Transformers comics depict him as a logical being who believes himself more suited to lead the Decepticons than Megatron. Despite these contrasting portrayals, Shockwave maintained popularity in both the comics and the cartoon, with a strong presence in the written stories.

The Most Logical Decepticon Was Meant to Become an Autobot

Image via Dreamwave Productions

As noted, Shockwave had two rather contradictory depictions in Generation 1: the cartoon had him as a loyal servant of the Decepticon leader Megatron who remained on Cybertron, whereas the Marvel Transformers comic books instead made him a coldly logical robot who saw himself (and not Megatron) as the rightful leader of the Decepticons. This meant that he was far more prominent on the printed page than in the cartoon, but he was still fairly popular in both mediums.

The animated series The Transformers had him voiced by Corey Burton, with the actor basing his voice on David Warner’s Sark from the Disney movie Tron. Showing up sporadically in the first two seasons of the cartoon, the character almost met his end in 1986. The Transformers: The Movie was going to kill Shockwave off, with the Decepticon somehow meeting his end when the Chaos Bringer Unicron attacked Cybertron.

The death of Shockwave wasn’t animated for The Transformers: The Movie, and in terms of canonicity, he can arguably still be considered alive during the events of the cartoon’s third season. In fact, he was going to have a major role in the initial set of episodes known as “Five Faces of Darkness.” This storyline would have expanded upon elements introduced in the movie, namely, the five-faced alien cyborgs known as the Quintessons.

In the cartoon, it was established that the Quintessons created the Cybertronian race eons ago, with their consumer good robots and military hardware robots eventually becoming the Autobots and the Decepticons. In the initial drafts for the episodes, Shockwave would have been distrustful of the Quintessons, with this turning him against the returning Decepticon leader Galvatron (the rebuilt version of Megatron) and having him branded a traitor. This was due to the Quintessons manipulating Galvatron’s own lust for power, and with his comrades having turned on him, Shockwave would have aided and even been accepted by the Autobots.

Shockwave’s connection to the Quintessons would have been explained through his age, as it would have been revealed that he was actually a fairly ancient Transformer. He had ancestral memories that had been corrupted through eons of uploads and downloads, with his lingering distrust of the Quintesson slave masters still lingering. This would have been a major change for the character while also potentially allowing him to take center stage in future stories.

Conversely, it would have been the first example in the franchise of a character who had existed for a long time in one faction joining another. After all, Skyfire/Jetfire became an Autobot in the same episode that he was introduced in. It would have even fit the tone of the show’s third season, showcasing how things were far different in terms of the status quo. Sadly, this interesting new direction for Shockwave wasn’t meant to be, and it even failed to stick the landing with the character it was eventually given to.

Another Decepticon Replaced This Classic G1 Villain

Image via Paramount

Shockwave’s potential change to being an Autobot in The Transformers Season 3 was canceled, and the reasons had to do with the toyline. Shockwave’s classic G1 action figure (which, like many initial Generation 1 action figures, was derived from an entirely unrelated Japanese toyline) was being discontinued in 1986, so it made no sense in the eyes of Hasbro to keep promoting him. Likewise, his turn to the side of the Autobots might have required a new Autobot-edition toy, which only further complicated things.

Instead, his role was given to the Decepticon Triple-Changer, Blitzwing. Now, he was the one who distrusted the Quintessons, and he even noted that he recognized them from somewhere. In the end, Blitzwing was even offered a place with the Autobots, but this newfound friendship with the other side didn’t last. Instead, further episodes in the season featured the new Decepticon Triple-Changer, Octane, in a similarly chummy role with both Autobots and Decepticons.

Many of the intended storylines for Blitzwing were given to Octane in The Transformers Season 3, especially the storyline involving Starscream’s ghost. After all, the seeming history with Starscream that Octane had made little sense, given how he was only recently introduced, and Blitzwing himself had mostly stopped appearing.

Ironically, the line about Blitzwing recognizing the Quintessons was never built upon, leaving it as a gigantic mystery. He was never shown as having encountered them before, and his brief appearance in The Transformers: The Movie had him only interacting with the Autobots and being far away from the alien world of Quintessa. Thus, the intended storylines for both Blitzwing and Shockwave were dropped, though Japanese media essentially canonized these ideas for one of them.

Japanese Transformers Material Explained the Biggest G1 Mysteries

Much like in the case of Shockwave in The Transformers, Blitzwing was meant to have an ancient connection to the Quintessons. Once again, this would have seen it explained that he had lived long ago in the ancient past, though he had forgotten these memories and only vaguely recognized the Quintessons. Of course, since this was never animated, its canon status largely remained in limbo. This was finally changed with the publication of the Transformers Legends manga in Japan.

A supplemental story used an interesting connection to finally tell the full origins of Blitzwing. In a tale that saw Blitzwing go to the ancient past, he encounters one of the Quintessons’ “Overcharge” drones. These looked almost identical to him, with Blitzwing bequeathing his name to one of them and inspiring him to move beyond his mere drone status. This inadvertently created the path for the Decepticon’s future self, as the drone truly was the past incarnation of Blitzwing.

Thus, it made sense why he recognized the Quintessons but had a fractured mind that could only partially piece the past back together. The Overcharge drones were truly based on Blitzwing’s past from even before the beginning of the Transformers franchise, as their color scheme was based on the toy that became Blitzwing when it was originally scheduled for release in Takara’s preceding Diaclone series. Since then, the esoteric idea has appeared in other media, including a new Overcharge toy (itself a repaint of Blitzwing) in the Transformers: Legacy toyline.

These Quintesson drones were also used to explain the presence of a seeming army of Blitzwings in the intro for The Transformers Season 3, though it’s more likely that this was merely an animation error (in a season riddled with them) than anything tied to the plans for the “ancient Blitzwing” origin.

Shockwave has only ever been hinted at as being particularly ancient, with this concept never tied to the Quintessons. However, the Dreamwave Productions comics did introduce the idea that he created the technology behind the Triple-Changers, including Blitzwing. All in all, Showckwave remained disturbingly evil and has never defected to the Autobots, and this is all thanks to the plans for the villain being completely abandoned.