Tidal Wave is a Decepticon from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Like a vast predatory bird fish...

Tidal Wave (sometimes Mirage) is a colossal powerhouse, one of the largest Decepticons under Megatron's command. His power is backed up by a brain that doesn't exactly run at optimal speeds; he's not so much stupid as he is single-minded and easily frustrated, although his tendency to shout his own name repeatedly as a sort of battle cry doesn't do much to refute his reputation as a knucklehead. In battle he is merciless, an unyielding engine of destruction.

He is unquestionably loyal to Megatron and his ideals and will quickly sign up with anyone that promises power to the Decepticon cause. He may or may not have a soft spot for children.^[1]

Tidal Wave's Mini-Con partner is Ramjet.

Fiction

Toy pack-in comics

On Cybertron, Tidal Wave rescued Galvatron when the Decepticon leader was being transported to prison. The two combined, and their power was too much for Overload and Rollout to handle. Their battle was cut short when Ramjet pointed out the gigantic form of Unicron in the sky. Armada Volume 4

In another battle, Mirage, along with Demolishor, Snow Cat, and Shockblast, were sicced on a weakened Optimus Prime, but were blasted away by Wing Saber. Energon Volume 4

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

Voice actor: Doug Parker (English), Jin Yamanoi (Japanese), Arto Nieminen (Finnish), Matti Klemm (German), Enrico Pallini (Italian), Jorge Saudinós (Castilian Spanish), Márcio Simões (Brazilian Portuguese), Armando Volcanes (Latin-American Spanish), Guy de La Berg (Swedish)

After leading the Decepticons to victory on the planet Dabola, Awakening Tidal Wave was brought to Earth by the Decepticon strategist Thrust in an attempt to bolster Megatron's forces. He passed Neptune on his way to Earth, Detection before coming upon the Autobots and Decepticons locked in a beachfront battle. Thrust's claims of Tidal Wave's prowess initially conflicted with the newcomer's... lack of grace. This was exemplified when Hot Shot and Blurr capsized the huge warship and sent it to the bottom of the deep. However, Tidal Wave quickly recovered by transforming into his massively powerful robot mode and quickly sent the Autobots scrambling for cover. Awakening

Crumbs, chief.

Pounding the Autobots with firepower, Thrust called out to Tidal Wave to initiate his party piece. Tidal Wave transformed and split into three component vehicle sections (which somehow shrank in size), headed for Megatron and Powerlinxed with him, forming a combination known as Burning Megatron. Megatron used his new flight capability and increased firepower to keep Jet Optimus at bay long enough for him to sever Optimus' connection with Jetfire with the Star Saber. However, Optimus managed to obtain the Requiem Blaster and used it to injure both Tidal Wave and Megatron, forcing the Decepticons to retreat Desperate to the Moon for repairs. Runaway

Tidal Wave later participated in the Decepticons' operation to steal the Blaster. When the Decepticons learned the Autobots had not brought the super-weapon into the open, Megatron had Tidal Wave abandon Starscream on the battlefield and combined with him to attack the undermanned enemy headquarters. There, Megatron used the extra power Tidal Wave granted him to take the Requiem Blaster by force. Sacrifice After Starscream cracked and attacked Megatron, Tidal Wave was sent after him to Earth when the rogue Decepticon jet escaped their moon base with the Star Saber in his possession. The Autobots initially assumed both Decepticons were part of a combined attack, but eventually came to Starscream's assistance against Tidal Wave when the Decepticon shot him down. Hot Shot nailed Tidal Wave in the eye with his axle cannon but the powerful Tidal Wave recovered quickly and caused problems for Jet Optimus, who couldn't so much as scratch him. This prompted Starscream to toss the Star Saber to the Autobot leader which he used to slice off one of Tidal Wave's chest guns and forced the Decepticon to retreat again. Regeneration

Tidal Wave was present when Starscream led the Autobots into the heart of the Decepticon base to liberate the captive Mini-Cons. He handily took down Side Swipe, then moved to the chamber where the Hydra Cannon was under construction to prevent the Mini-Cons from being lost to the Autobots. On the way, he encountered Perceptor and Hot Shot, the latter of whom distracted him long enough for the former to penetrate deeper into the Decepticon base.

Though Hot Shot fought hard, Tidal Wave was simply too big and powerful for the young 'bot to defeat alone, so he fled to the construction room with Tidal Wave in hot pursuit. Tidal Wave arrived just in time to see the Mini-Cons flee with Perceptor. Smokescreen then arrived and the two fought for a while before the Autobots retreated, their objectives achieved. Rescue

Megatron then sent Tidal Wave to Mars as part of a trap for Starscream and Jetfire. He beat up Starscream in the sky, but lost him in a dust storm. He encountered both the Autobots, as well as their Mini-Cons, shortly thereafter in orbit where they had located Firebot. Megatron and Thrust arrived to help him at this point, but all three were forced back when the three Mini-Con weapons reacted to their close proximity, and unleashed a powerful wave of energy. Mars

Tidal Wave participated in the attack during which Starscream returned to the Decepticons, bringing the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield with him. Once again, he fought Hot Shot and Jet Optimus. Crack When Optimus Prime and Jetfire arrived to stop the Decepticon ship from unleashing the power of the Hydra Cannon against Earth, Tidal Wave was able to use cloaking technology to sneak up on the Autobot leader. He then proceeded to pin down Optimus, only for Jetfire to throw Starscream at him, allowing Optimus to wrestle free from his grasp. Nonetheless, thanks to Tidal Wave's and the other Decepticons' efforts, Optimus was forced to sacrifice himself to stop the super-weapon's blast from reaching the planet.Crisis Tidal Wave later combined with Megatron to defeat Side Swipe, Miracle and again when they found themselves on Nemesis Prime's world. Despite being combined with his leader, Tidal Wave was not given a power boost or new colors when the Mini-Cons repaired Megatron and the others who had been severely damaged by the dark clone. Puppet He presumably took part in Galvatron's conquest of Cybertron Uprising and later tried, with only partial success, to prevent Hot Shot from getting close to Galvatron. Dash

After that, Tidal Wave was assigned a squad to Decepticons and sent to clear an area of Autobots. He engaged Jetfire during this time, calling the Autobot a "show-off". Portent He again combined with Megatron when the Decepticon leader decided to approach Optimus Prime for some... aggressive negotiations. Jetfire managed to keep him occupied single-handedly during this time. Cramp

Tidal Wave attended the meeting during which the Autobots and Decepticons formed a temporary truce to combat the menace of Unicron, notably shaking hands with Jetfire. Alliance After this, he combined with Galvatron in order to kill the traitorous Thrust, and then, with the similarly combined Optimus Prime and Jetfire, helped his commander penetrate deep into the core of Unicron, while he doubled back to keep the titan occupied. Union Though Tidal Wave participated on the final assault on Unicron, his efforts proved unnecessary; once Galvatron sacrificed himself to the dark god, there was no longer enough hatred in the universe to sustain Unicron, and he vanished from existence. The Transformers' war now at an end, Tidal Wave and his fellow Cybertronians stood united as a race, and begun rebuilding their war-torn planet. Mortal Combat

Linkage

At the climax of the Unicron Battles, Tidal Wave fought side by side with Overload against the malicious planet 'bot and his followers. Linkage Part 13

Energon cartoon

Voice actor: Doug Parker (English), Jin Yamanoi (Japanese), Anders Öjebo (Swedish), Gábor Forgács (Hungarian), Bruno Lähteenmäki (Finnish), Enrico Pallini (Italian), Jorge Saudinós (Castilian Spanish), Armando Volcanes (Latin-American Spanish), Marek Obertyn (Polish)

After the end of the Unicron Battles, Tidal Wave loyally followed Galvatron's last request—that the Decepticons remain at peace with the Autobots. During the ten-year period that followed, Tidal Wave somewhere along the line changed not only his color palette but also his occupation—instead of being a warrior, he was now a guardian of the energon mines in the Solar System's asteroid belt.

Tidal Wave's post was one of the first targets of the Terrorcon hordes. Cybertron City After being attacked and abducted, Energon Stars he was brought to Scorponok and Alpha Quintesson's base of operations where they convinced him to side with them by promising to revive Megatron, a deal which Tidal Wave eagerly agreed to despite clearly disliking Scorponok. He began by attacking the energon-mining facility at Desert City and managed to obtain a large amount of energon before being driven back by the Autobots. He attempted to retrieve a dropped raw energon star from one of the fallen Terrorcons which resulted in him being painfully shocked, leaving permanent, lightning-like scars across his body.Scorpinok At some point thereafter, he met up with Cyclonus somewhere in space and gave him a quick run-down on the situation. Cyclonus liked the idea of reviving Megatron, but was skeptical that this goal could actually be achieved and continued to Earth.

After that, Tidal Wave led a force of Terrorcons to attack Mars City and steal its energon. Due to the city's weak defenses, he was able to grab all its energon and slaughter most of its guards and inhabitants before leaving.

Fresh from this success, he led an attack on Plains City alongside Scorponok where he faced off against his old allies Cyclonus and Demolishor. They were again repelled after a fierce battle against the Autobots, but this time Cyclonus came with them, having seen that Scorponok possessed Megatron's sword and thus concluding that Megatron could be brought back to life with reasonable effort. Megatron's Sword

Tidal Wave, Cyclonus, and Scorponok returned to Unicron's body where Tidal Wave showed Megatron's corpse to Cyclonus. After Cyclonus hitting the corpse failed to resurrect it, he and Tidal Wave began to question Scorponok over whether or not it was possible to bring Megatron back, given what state he was in. They were dismissively ordered to simply keep at their Energon-gathering tasks. Tidal Wave's team then tried to raid a recently discovered Energon vein in some snow mountains, but were driven away when the Autobots warped in an entire city atop of it. The New Cybertron City

After this, the Autobots upgraded all their defenses around their energon sources, leading to a series of defeats for the Decepticons under Alpha Q's control. In frustration, Cyclonus kicked Megatron's corpse a few times in proxy revenge for all the times he'd mistreated them. Tidal Wave begged him not to do that and verbally defended Megatron when their leader's disembodied voice demanded that they treat him with more respect.

Seeing that Megatron's spark was causing trouble, Scorponok attempted to kill him outright but only succeeded in resurrecting him in a new body; at this, Tidal Wave was overjoyed and gleefully helped Megatron take control of Unicron's body from Alpha Q. He then followed Megatron in another attack on Plains City, during which Hot Shot lost an arm. Megatron Resurrected After this, they returned to their base where Tidal Wave was assigned to guard the recently inducted Scorponok. Scorponok wondered why Megatron didn't kill Optimus Prime in their last sortie and Tidal Wave told him to figure it out - in the event that he did, the rest of the Decepticons would start to trust him.

Tidal Wave later took part in the Decepticon mission to Ocean City, during which Demolishor returned to their ranks Megatron Raid for another raid on Earth's moon. Starscream the Mysterious Mercenary He also accompanied the Decepticons in their next attack on Ocean City, attacking from beneath the water but was like everyone else, repelled by the energon tower's Autobot-flavored energon. Energon Tower He was present when Megatron, for the first and only time, used the powers he gained from Unicron to restore Starscream's loyalty to the Decepticons. The Legend of Rodimus

After this, he observed a force of Alpha Q's Terrorcons investigating Jungle City, and reasoned that there was probably energon to be had. The Decepticons attacked and made off with as much energon as they could, during which Tidal Wave attempted to destroy the energon tower. On this occasion, most of their efforts went to waste when the Autobots exploded the city to prevent the Decepticons from getting the energon, but the 'Cons still came out ahead. Crisis in Jungle City

He also took part in an attempt to capture Kicker. Kicker Beware! When this failed, Megatron got the idea that chucking some giant comet-shaped lumps of Unicron at Earth would obliterate the Autobots and assigned Tidal Wave to lead the efforts in pushing them across the gulf of space. Tidal Wave explained to Scorponok that this slow procession would scare the humans much more than having the projectiles appear near their planet without warning.

However, Megatron's grand plan just gave the humans and Autobots time to prepare and so the plan failed miserably. All the Decepticons fled back to Unicron. Energon Grid Following this, Megatron ordered them to find Alpha Q, who would be the next potential target for retrieving a lot of energon. Demolishor and Tidal Wave protested that this would be nigh impossible, but Megatron would have none of it. Just before trying to track him down, Tidal Wave and Starscream were responsible for seeing that Scorponok took all his energon back to Megatron and didn't try to skim any off the top for Alpha Q. Rodimus Friend or Foe?

He later took part in a plan to lure out Alpha Q, using Scorponok as bait. However, it was Rodimus who came to Scorponok's rescue. All the Decepticons present, Tidal Wave among them, exchanged fire with Rodimus's team and retreated when Megatron was injured. Go for Unicron! Some time after this battle, he received a message from Snow Cat that he had found energon on an icy planet and so the Decepticons set off in pursuit. He attacked the Miranda II alongside Megatron and, after making some initial gains, the two were forced back by Alpha Q's new Cruellock drones.

Still, this event ended well for Tidal Wave and the Decepticons. The Autobot's used the Miranda II's Energon Ring to destroy the Terrorcons, allowing the Decepticons to take all the planet's energon. The Return of Demolishor After that, he took part in a rather half-hearted attack on the Miranda II in deep space, and was again driven off. A Tale of Two Heros After that, the Autobots under Optimus Prime decided to attack Unicron and so the Decepticons went to defend their base, Tidal Wave paying particular attention to Optimus Prime. After fighting for a while, both Unicron and the Miranda II arrived at Cybertron where both sides fell back to regroup. Battle Stations

With the arrival of Unicron, Cybertron erupted into chaos. Megatron decided to recruit the unstable and dangerous Shockblast, who was currently imprisoned by the Autobot/Decepticon coalition for having refused to lay down his arms when the two factions made peace. Knowing of Shockblast's disregard for the lives of his fellow Decepticons, Tidal Wave vehemently opposed this plan, but to no avail. Alpha Q: Identity Shockblast radioed Megatron regarding a cache of energon big enough to revive Unicron, and thus despite his objections to trusting Shockblast, Tidal Wave was assigned to lead a team to this location.

As soon as they met, Shockblast immediately took charge of the operation, sending the Decepticons to smash various towers. Tidal Wave refused to obey him and the two began squabbling with Shockblast actually using Tidal Wave as a flying surfboard from which to shoot down Autobots. Megatron ordered the Decepticons to bring Shockblast to him and, his loyalty to Megatron being greater than his hatred of Shockblast, Tidal Wave reluctantly did so. Shockblast: Rampage

Tidal Wave kept up his dislike and distrust of Shockblast, even going so far as to blame him for Unicron's highly destructive pangs of hunger. Survival Instincts When Unicron had been sated, Megatron sent the surviving Decepticons to destroy Cybertron's energy grid with Shockblast in command; Tidal Wave chafed at this, but still obeyed his commander. Shockblast ended up getting in over his head and so Tidal Wave tried to rescue him, getting hit by a falling energon tower in the process. Each One Fights... After this, Megatron rebuilt him as Mirage, a much smaller and sleeker form.

Mirage's first mission in his new body was to lead a large force of Terrorcons down to Cybertron as a distraction to allow Shockblast to sneak in with the main force. The plan worked and, despite Shockblast's incompetence, Unicron was restored to functionality. Unicron Unleashed The Autobots retaliated and Mirage helped defend Unicron. Open Fire! In the aftermath he helped Starscream save Megatron from Shockblast's attempted coup and then followed Megatron into the rift in space that had opened up in the meantime. Ripped Up Space

I got smaller after my upgrade?

Mirage followed Megatron when he destroyed the first of Alpha Q's planets and also when they took a large amount of energon from Iron Planet while deliberately not helping the imprisoned Shockblast. Protection He then accompanied Megatron on his secret mission to Iron Planet. There, Mirage advised Megatron not to release Shockblast; Megatron agreed, threatening to 'rewire' the traitor which inspired Shockblast to offer to capture an Autobot as proof of his loyalty. Megatron did release Shockblast at this, above Mirage's objections; Mirage's fears on this particular occasion proves groundless as Shockblast did indeed capture Inferno, allowing Megatron to forcibly turn him into a Decepticon. Imprisoned Inferno

When Scorponok went to harvest the energon from Jungle Planet, Mirage was among those who distracted the Autobots from this mission. Jungle Planet Mirage took part in the Decepticons' attempt to steal Jungle Planet's Energon before an energon tower was activated there. They met with failure. Bulkhead

Some time later, he took part in the attack on the Autobot base on Ocean Planet, approaching the base of the energon tower from underwater and destroying it. The Autobots brought in another tower to Ocean Planet, and Mirage tried once more to destroy it, but this time was met by an Autobot team waiting for him underwater. They foiled Mirage's attempt at toppling this second tower, and the Decepticons were forced to flee as the energon grid came online. Farewell Inferno When Planet Q was restored, Mirage was one of those sent to guard the palace in case Scorponok should get in and regain his memories, but was smashed out of the way by Ironhide. As it turned out, however, they needn't have bothered. Return! Our Scorponok

He later took part in another defense of Unicron against the Autobots, and was this time defeated by the presence of Omega Supreme and the timely arrival of Inferno, now rebuilt as Roadblock, with a huge number of energon towers. Omega Supreme He remained with Unicron and again fought to defend the chaos bringer's body from those who would destroy it, successfully doing so long enough for Megatron to reattach the Planet-Eater's head to its body. A Heroic Battle

Optimus used the new powers granted to him by his combination with Omega Supreme to toss Snow Cat and Mirage around like rag dolls as he made his way towards Megatron's throne room. As soon as the pair recovered, they were hounded by a team of Autobots led by Hot Shot, leaving them unable to help Megatron gather the last bit of Energon he needed to fully awaken Unicron. Then... the voice of the Decepticon leader was heard throughout the planet, declaring Megatron was no more: Unicron was now in command of the Decepticon's body! The Power of Unicron Mirage, Snow Cat, and Demolishor struggled to escape the planet-eater's internal defenses. They failed, and ended up bound to Unicron's surface by energy-tendrils, giving them a front-row seat for Unicron/Megatron's battle with the giant-size, Primus-empowered Optimus Supreme. Optimus Supreme Fortunately for them, they were freed by a barrage of Autobot fire moments before Optimus destroyed Unicron, and captured by Landmine. Unicron Perishes

Mirage, Snow Cat, and Demolishor were summarily put in prison where they shared a block with Six Shot. Oddly enough, given their history, Mirage didn't seem to bear Six Shot any of the hatred he had for his brother. The four jailbirds were eventually released by Starscream. Ambition During the jailbreak, Mirage was separated from the others, but soon found them again. Not seeing any Autobots around, they just decided to blow up whatever was convenient. After a while, the others left him to attend to various tasks, leaving Mirage and Snow Cat to carry on creating chaos. Wishes

After Six Shot collapsed the energon towers and flooded Cybertron with Decepticon-flavored energon gas, Mirage and Snow Cat rejoined the rest of the Decepticons in their commandeered control room, where they along with Demolishor were ready and willing to express their disdain for Six Shot when he activated the base defenses to fire on the Miranda II without Galvatron's express permission. Galvatron!

The Autobots were soon to find a way to break through the gas shroud and return to Cybertron; Mirage took part in the battle that followed, which concluded with the Autobots escaping underground. Break Through

At some point in time, both Mirage and a digital duplicate of his "Tidal Wave" body were among the Decepticons who hacked into an Autobot virtual training program that took the form of a tag-team fighting tournament. They lost their very first match against Hot Shot and Rodimus, but stuck around to watch Superion Maximus get thrashed by Bruticus Maximus and Constructicon Maximus later in the tournament. Distribution

Mirage, Demolishor, and Snow Cat followed Rad and Dr. Jones to the energon core, having been misdirected by Starscream into thinking this was the location of the Super Energon pool. Dr. Jones led Snow Cat and Demolishor off to find the actual pool, leaving Mirage to guard Rad. The Omega Train After a while, Arcee and Kicker arrived on a rescue mission. Arcee fired an energon star at Primus, temporarily re-energising the deity and causing it to drive Mirage out. Ironhide Team Mirage then rejoined the Decepticons to shoot Autobots on the surface. The Decepticons turned to the business of using the energon towers to move Cybertron through space, through the rift back to Alpha Q's realm. Mirage helped battle the Autobots as the planet moved through the rift, and later tried to defend the towers against Autobot attack. Both efforts were undermined by Six Shot's pettiness and insubordination, and Cybertron was brought to a halt. Formidable

Following this battle, the Decepticons retreated and Mirage, along with Demolishor and Snow Cat, was assigned to guard the unreliable Six Shot. Having apparently become stupider since his upgrade, Mirage and friends took seriously Six Shot's suggestion that they go and claim some super energon for themselves, and so they ran off and let their prisoner escape.

Six Shot managed to trap them and they were once again rescued by Starscream. The four blasted their way into the control room, only to find Six Shot was long gone. Then, thanks to Sally who had since infiltrated the Decepticons' control room, the Autobots arrived to take control of the Decepticon base. Mirage despaired at how Galvatron had left them to their own devices in a distinctly soap operatic manner. Galvatron Terror He was impressed when Galvatron became a giant after immersing himself for a second time in the super energon pool. Mirage helped his fellow Decepticons make war against the Autobots even as the now Unicron-sized Galvatron took to space, fluttering about like skirmishing insects around the colossus. Destructive Power

Mirage was left unable to contribute further to the conflict when Optimus channeled Unicron's essence to grow in size and match Galvatron in stature. As the two titans crashed down on Jungle Planet, Mirage tried to step in anyways, only to be stopped by Starscream, who assured him his leader wouldn't want them to interfere even if they could. Spark When Galvatron flung himself into the energon sun to destroy Unicron's spark, Mirage loyally followed after him and seemingly ended his life. The Sun

Pretty Soldier Sailor Mirage.

Dreamwave Armada continuity

Armada comic

Tidal Wave was among the Decepticon troops allied with the Autobots and Mini-Cons during the battle against Unicron. He clutched his head in agony when the Chaos Bringer appeared and declared that this reality would be consumed. The End

Energon comic

...was it Dirge?

Millions of years ago, Tidal Wave captured Ironhide and coerced him into building seismic-shock warheads for the Decepticons, which Megatron would use as a last resort to destroy the planet should he lose the war. Whenever Ironhide refused, an Autobot prisoner of war was executed. Aftershock

Ten years after the defeat of Unicron, Tidal Wave felt ill-at-ease during peacetime, and was recruited by Scorponok into joining the Terrorcons. Starscream came upon the group and openly mocked them during a cathartic exercise, wherein they unloaded their weaponry into the open. Tidal Wave and Scorponok sent Starscream tumbling into a ore processor to be crushed, though Tidal Wave's leg was injured in the process. The other Terrorcons brought him before their master, and Tidal Wave met with Alpha Quintesson for the first time. His benefactor healed his wounds and granted him an upgraded "hyper-mode," boosting his offensive capabilities. The Terrorcons were then dispatched to Earth, in order to retrieve the energon that lay there, and revive Unicron. This Evil Reborn

On Earth, the Terrorcons attacked an Alterenergy excavation/drilling operation site. Tidal Wave and Insecticon began setting up Energon siphons when the humans retaliated by sending several fighter jets their way. To Tidal Wave's chagrin, the other Terrorcons got to destroy them all while he prepped their equipment. What Lies Beneath Once that distraction had been dealt with, Scorponok made it known that he planned to gather Energon for himself, and only deliver his table scraps to Unicron. Though Tidal Wave disagreed with short-changing their master, he was too intimidated by Scorponok to speak up about it. He later alerted Scorponok to the return of Battle Ravage, who had caught the humans Kicker and Alexis while on a hunt. What Lies Beneath, Part Two Scorponok took immediate interest in Kicker Jones, as his analysis of the boy indicated that he could detect Energon from afar. Tidal Wave doubted that Kicker was anything special, but Scorponok reminded him that he wasn't on his team to think. Optimus Prime and his Autobots then traveled to Earth to battle the Terrorcons. Tidal Wave and his compatriots powered themselves with pure Energon before the battle, giving them an extra edge. Though the Terrorcons easily outclassed their opponents, they stopped short of destroying them when one of their Energon siphons was destroyed; Scorponok ordered his soldiers to retreat, so they could salvage as much Energon as possible. What Lies Beneath, Part Three

After coercing Kicker to find them another Energon vein, Scorponok left Tidal Wave behind to guard the siphons while he dealt with the Autobots. Hot Shot managed to get past the other Terrorcons, and rescued Kicker alongside Skyblast and Strongarm. The Autobots then fled, leaving Tidal Wave with the Energon canisters... which contained impure and highly volatile Energon. The stockpile detonated, and Tidal Wave was later forcibly retrieved from Earth so that Alpha Quintesson could discipline him for his failure. What Lies Beneath, Part Four

He's more verbose in this comic, but he still likes to say his name a lot.

Tidal Wave attacked Ironhide and Cliffjumper while they were overseeing the construction of a new base on Cybertron. Using Cliffjumper's life as leverage, he forced Ironhide to reactivate the seismic-shock warheads for Scorponok's scheme to use on Earth. Ironhide foiled Tidal Wave when he armed the doomsday weapon, with the cold threat of destroying Cybertron rather than allowing the Decepticons destroy Earth. Tidal Wave panicked and left through a space bridge. Aftershock

While the other Decepticons and Terrorcons thought little of Tidal Wave, Alpha Quintesson, however, saw something in him, and reformatted him into Mirage, noting as he did so that Scorponok had fallen out of Unicron's favor. Multiplicity, Pt. 2 Mirage, Slugslinger, and Sharkticon then tracked down Kicker and the Omnicons to the shores of the Black Sea and attacked, intent on once more capturing the energon-detecting boy. Multiplicity Mirage dominated the Omnicons on the battlefield, easily beating down both Skyblast and Arcee simultaneously while his acolytes took care of the other enemy 'bots. Multiplicity, Pt. 2 Mirage believed his victory was assured. As he readied to finish off Strongarm, Sharkticon rose up from the nearby body of water... and went belly up. Kicker burst forth from the aquatic Decepticon, charged with incredible power from the subterranean energon well beneath them. Multiplicity, Pt. 3 As Alpha Quintesson had instructed him to capture Kicker alive, Mirage was at a loss as to how he should handle this unexpected turn of events. While he hesitated, Kicker used his energon-manipulating abilities to revive the Omnicons to full strength. Now suddenly outgunned, Mirage and Slugslinger fled, leaving Sharkticon to fend for himself. Multiplicity, Pt. 4

Mirage fell in with Megatron after the Decepticon leader was resurrected, but was of the opinion that Megatron had lost his edge. He shared his thoughts on the matter with Shockblast, and though the other Decepticon rebuked him, he secretly agreed with Mirage. Armageddon Part 2

MegaWing Galvatron instructions

In one universe, Tidal Wave could combine with Galvatron and Dreadwind and Smokejumper to form Dark MegaWing Galvatron MegaWing Galvatron instructions using the Spark of Combination. Ask Vector Prime

Kre-O online comic

Tidal Wave, Tidal Wave

Tidal Wave was among the Decepticons present during Megatron's brief takeover of Metroplex. Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight!

Games

Transformers (PS2)

Megatron might be a jerk, but he cares for his troops' physical fitness.

Tidal Wave, in his combined battleship mode, was stationed as a relay and refuel point off a small chain of islands in the Mid-Atlantic. The Autobots made their way inside him to take out the Decepticlone platoons inside and destroy him, but discovered that Tidal Wave wasn't merely a transport. They escaped just in time to avoid being crushed as Tidal Wave transformed into his titanic robot mode.

Tidal Wave walked around the island chain in the deep waters, unloading volleys of missiles, lasers, and the occasional Jet Laser on the tiny-by-comparison Autobots. Despite his impressive size, firepower, and nigh-impenetrable armor, the Autobots managed to do enough damage to Tidal Wave's one weak point—his face—to cause a chain reaction that caused multiple explosions inside him, sending him falling face-first to the ocean floor.

The Autobots were able to extract information from Tidal Wave's computer that the Decepticons' main base was located in Northern Alaska, but the information was planted there by Megatron to lead the Autobots into a trap.

Tidal Wave was later seen still on Earth and has survived from his battle with the Autobots, but is now taking exercises with the survived Decepticlone army. Transformers

Toys

Armada

"TCS Tiger's Claw, Transform!" (Hasbro version pictured)

Alleged Decepticon Military Genius.
(Takara version pictured)

• Tidal Wave with Ramjet (Giga-Con Class, 2003)

• Takara name: Shockwave (ショックウェーブ)
• Takara ID number: MD-06
• Takara release date: 2003 July 17
• Accessories: 2 missiles
• Known designers: Takashi Kunihiro (Takara)

Released in the fourth wave of Armada Giga-Cons (the first with the "Unicron Battles" branding), Tidal Wave is a robot made up of three different aquatic vehicles, collectively called the "Dark Fleet": an aircraft carrier, a Cybertronic double-bowed battleship, and a troop-landing craft. All three can combine to form a single gigantic warship, which from there can transform to robot mode without having to separate. Each smaller craft has its own gimmick; the carrier has a working storage elevator for Tidal Wave's Mini-Con partner Ramjet, the battleship can launch two projectiles and has Mini-Con Powerlinx-activated swiveling cannons (also usable in robot mode), and the landing craft opens up to reveal seats for Mini-Cons to sit on. The Powerlinx-activated cannons on the battleship section are also ratcheted separately from the gimmick, allowing you to position them in any direction you want. Or you could just rotate the two at the back at 45° degrees, to match his robot mode appearance in both the Armada and Energon cartoons.

Tidal Wave can also combine with Megatron (and the Galvatron redeco) to form Tidal Wave's Weapon Mode (or Burning Megatron in Japan). To achieve this, Tidal Wave's aircraft carrier and battleship clip onto Megatron's arms, and his troop transport clips onto Megatron's back (after the turret has been positioned into the "Full Blast Mode" configuration) as a jetpack. The connectors for his arms are compatible with the sockets on Cybertron Megatron and Optimus Prime toys used to attach Leobreaker and Nemesis Breaker, which allows for some rather funky combinations.

The Takara and Hasbro versions are considerably different. Takara's Shockwave uses purple in place of green, uses darker grays, and has some different paint applications. Hasbro's version is less show-accurate because the Hasbro team thought there was already too much purple between the Decepticons on the store shelves at the time, and Aaron Archer was happy to make the change.^[2][3]

In Japan, Ito Yokaido stores offered one of the three Road Assault Edition Race Microns with the purchase of either Shockwave or Jetfire in August (though reportedly, most stores just gave them away with any toy in the line).

• More information on Tidal Wave at TFU.info

Energon

Tidal Wave…Tidal Wave…Tidal Wave…

• Tidal Wave with Ramjet (Command Class, 2003/2004)

• Takara name: Shockwave (ショックウェーブ)
• Takara ID number: SD-04
• Takara release date: 2003 December 25
• Accessories: Ramjet Mini-Con partner, 2 missiles

Redecoed for the Energon line, Command Class Tidal Wave was given an "energon-charged" deco with clear-green plastics and "energy" patterns painted across him. The toy has also been very slightly retooled: the notches on the inside of his body that were originally designed to prevent the missiles from firing by giving the triggers a place to rest have been made larger so they now actually fulfill their original purpose.

Takara's Super Link Shockwave release has a cartoon-accurate silver-painted forehead in robot mode, where the Hasbro has a gold-painted forehead, as shown on the boxart.

Tidal Wave retains his ability to combine with Armada Megatron/Galvatron, as well as Universe Megazarak.

• More information on Energon Tidal Wave at TFU.info

Megatron…Megatron…Megatron…

• Mirage (Mega Class, 2004)

• Takara name: Shockfleet (ショックフリート)
• Takara ID number: SD-15
• Takara release date: 2004 June 10
• Accessories: 4 missiles
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (Takara), Marcelo Matere (packaging artist)

Energon Mega Class Mirage transforms into a sleek assault speedboat with multiple spring-loaded missile launchers, as well as fold-out wings for his "Hyper Power Mode". Something of a shellformer, Mirage's transformation sequence is one of the most complex for the Energon toyline, and as a side effect, he ends up with some rather large vehicle mode shell kibble. Some poor design and excessively tight knee joints means his lower legs will often detach from the upper thighs whenever one tries to bend his knees.

Speaking of poor design, the instructions show that Mirage's feet are supposed to fold all the way up inside his boat mode, however, when doing this, his forearms don't sit flush on the top due to the raised edges of his feet occupying the same space that the elbow joints need to sit in, causing collisions. This doesn't affect the tabbing of any of the parts, it just causes his forearms to stick out, which can be annoying. Seemingly, the model designers of the Energon cartoon caught onto this, and opted to design his boat mode model with only his heels folded inside the boat mode, with his toes just folded up onto the back. This can be replicated on the toy and looks objectively cleaner overall.

The initial release of Mirage was one-per-case, and was part of a wave that saw limited distribution due to a glut of early product on the shelves. However, Mirage was later put into "Mega-Buy" multi-packs at a buy-one-get-one-free price at numerous chains, including Toys"R"Us and Walmart, relieving much of the demand for the item.

The Mirage toy was released in Japan as Shockfleet, an upgraded form of Shockwave (Tidal Wave) for the Super Link line, with no discernable differences from the Hasbro release. While the Hasbro Mirage toy was marketed as a separate character, the cartoon and comic depictions followed the Japanese characterization, even going so far as to keep the name "Mirage" for Tidal Wave in his new form.

This mold was also used to make into Energon Dreadwing and BotCon 2009 Banzai-Tron.

• More information on Mirage at TFU.info

Titans Return

Technically not Armada Tidal Wave by this wiki's classification.

Main article: Tidal Wave (G1)#Titans Return

The 2017 "Siege on Cybertron" box set from the Titans Return subline of Generations includes a Tidal Wave figure, based on the Armada character's cartoon appearance and Takara toy. However, as the box set is not cross-dimensional in nature, we've elected to include information for the figure in Generation 1 Tidal Wave's article.

Legacy

We have sailors, we have airmen. We have soldiers brave and good men.

• Armada Universe Tidal Wave (Titan Class, 2024)

• TakaraTomy name: Tidal Wave (Armada Universe) (タイダルウェーブ (アルマダユニバース))
• TakaraTomy ID number: TL-70
• TakaraTomy release date: 2024 August 31
• Accessories: Right arm, left arm, 4 gun turrets, 2 runway edge parts, super mode accessories (for Megatron)
• Known designers: Sam Smith and Mike Booth (Hasbro), Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy), Mario Carreiro (packaging)^[4][5]

The Titan Class centerpiece for the Legacy: United lineup, "Armada Universe Tidal Wave" splits from robot mode or a combined ship form into the Dark Fleet of three smaller boats. Unlike the original toy, the robot must be disassembled when transforming into the combined ship mode and vice-versa; as a way of compensating for this, the figure now sports an additional "base" mode which does not require disassembly. Tidal Wave's deco is based on his purple and grey appearance in the cartoon but with orange detailing on his windows and other elements inspired by his Legends of the Microns toy.

The swiveling gun turrets on Tidal Wave's torso are on 5 mm posts and can be removed. Additionally, the guns have hexagonal 5 mm ports in their barrels. Instead of being able to combine with Legacy: Evolution Armada Universe Megatron himself, Tidal Wave comes with several accessories that represent his body parts at a much smaller scale; these in turn attach to Megatron to simulate that combined mode despite the immense size difference between their Legacy toys. When Megatron is not wearing them, these miniature Tidal Wave parts also function as a miniature Dark Fleet. The miniature Dark Fleet pieces are strategically stored on Tidal Wave so as when combined with Megatron it doesn't detract too heavily from Tidal Wave's forms, though the combination does leave Tidal Wave without most of his forearms and hands, or with a large gap in the bow of his ship mode. A note of caution: the ratchet joints on the "battleship" accessory are extremely strong, making it very easy to bend and stress the darker purple plastic tabs when folding and unfolding it for storage. The package art and Hasbro Pulse listing inadvertently revealed Megatron in his Galvatron color scheme.

Tidal Wave was teased on the Legacy: United poster, then revealed at Cybertron Fest 2023 on December 9, 2023. He was accompanied by a pre-recorded video by Ben MacCrae and Sam Smith explaining all of his gimmicks. He was made available to pre-order on January 16, 2024.

• Designer commentary on Legacy "Armada Universe Tidal Wave" from Sam Smith on Instagram:
  • Part I - Robot Mode
  • Part II - Ship Mode/Dark Fleet
  • Part III - "Burning Megatron" mode

Notes

Tidal Wave

• In the English dub of the Armada cartoon, Tidal Wave is referred to by his Japanese name (Shockwave) several times. Of course, the English dub was notorious for not keeping names straight.
• While Tidal Wave's use of his own name as a battle cry is a trait shared in both versions of the Armada cartoon, his vocabulary is much more rich in the dub, mostly speaking in simple-minded short sentences. In Legends of the Microns, his title is "Strong-arm admiral Shockwave", with his dialog mostly consisting of repeating his name or the word "Strong-arm", saying "Combine" when combining with Megatron, or chanting "Shock, Shock, Shockwaaaaaaave", a trait he carries over into Super Link. When he upgrades to Mirage ("Shockfleet" in Japan), his battle cry becomes "ShockShockShock!"
• In the Armada cartoon, the big frowny expression and chin guard on Tidal Wave's toy is sometimes misinterpreted as a mouthplate. This alternate mouthplate design went on to be used for Tidal Wave's 3D model in the Energon cartoon.
• The only time Tidal Wave splits into his three individual vehicle modes in the cartoon universe is during the stock footage combination with Megatron/Galvatron in Armada.
• Tidal Wave's Cybertronian mode is directly based on Generation 1 Shockwave's alternate mode.
• An easter egg in the PlayStation 2 Transformers game is that, when he's in vehicle mode, you can enter a cavity where his robot mode head is stored. You can walk all over it and a glitch enables you to walk inside his head. He doesn't seem to mind.^[6]

GIVE ME YOUR FACE!

• Tidal Wave's size in the Armada cartoon is incredibly inconsistent. While the official scale chart depicts him as being only about three heads taller than Optimus Prime's Super Mode, most episodes depict him as much bigger—in particular, his debut episode, "Awakening", has Jet Optimus Prime only coming up to around his knee. His size can shift even within the span of a single episode—"Rescue" has him appear only a couple of heads taller than Wheeljack in its first battle scene, but later on, he's big enough for Megatron to comfortably drive between his legs in tank mode with room to spare.
  • The PlayStation 2 Transformers game, on the other hand, goes even bigger—its depiction of Tidal Wave forms an entire level in alternate mode, and the subsequent boss fight in robot mode retains that colossal size!
  • Energon's depiction of Tidal Wave's scale is fairly consistent throughout the show—even in his starship mode, which had actually lost its mass-shifting capabilities from Armada, due to the cartoon's use of 3D animation.
  • Tidal Wave and Megatron's toys in the Energon toyline are a couple of "scale anomalies", as Tidal Wave is in-scale with the other Decepticons in the Energon toyline (aside from the Maximus's), yet he doesn't scale well at all with Hasbro's Leader Class Megatron toy, which scales perfectly with the other Decepticon toys. Instead, Tidal Wave is better scaled with the Takara Ultra-sized "Galvatron" toy (Takara's Energon Megatron mold), but this Megatron figure doesn't scale with the rest of the Decepticon toys. How this works is uncertain, but it probably has something to do with the way their designs were translated into animation models (e.g. certain parts being longer or shorter compared to their toys, etc.).
• In the Energon cartoon, Tidal Wave's appearance is significantly altered after he touches a raw Energon star in the episode "Scorpinok" [sic]. Not only does he gain his toy-accurate "lightning" deco as a sort of scarring, his shoulders also notably sit in a higher position than before; having the tops of them sit above his head, rather than down in their natural position like his toy and Armada character model. The deco change makes sense, but what was the purpose of shifting his shoulders?
• Designer Aaron Archer opined that Tidal Wave was the only Armada mold to return for the Energon cartoon simply because "he's big and will sell well".^[7] A glowing endorsement.
• Like all non-toy Kreons, Tidal Wave is made up of existing parts, in his case using the Ironhide helmet, as well as using legs in place of his arms, with hand pieces inserted into the feet.

Mirage

• An early name used for Shockfleet (Mirage) found on Takara concept sheets is "Gigawave" (ギガウェーブ Gigauwēbu).
• Mirage was almost certainly intended by Hasbro to be a separate character: they implied this to be the case, saying that designing the toys before the show was completed led to "some characters not aligning together in the animation and toy expressions".^[8]
• Archer also states that the Mirage/Dreadwing design's alternate mode was inspired by the G.I. Joe Cobra Moray hydrofoil.^[9] The general "form" of the robot mode, meanwhile, was inspired by a fan-painted Gundam Archer saw in Hobby Japan magazine, which also served as reference for Dreadwing's colour scheme.^[10]
• Despite Simon Furman going on record to say that he wasn't paying attention to what the cartoon was doing with the characters, Mirage still ended up becoming an upgraded form for Tidal Wave in the Dreamwave comics, even though Hasbro already established him as a separate individual in his toy bio. Perhaps someone tipped Furman off about this particular cartoon change?
• In the Japanese version of the Energon cartoon, after Tidal Wave becomes Mirage, he becomes very affectionate towards Megatron/Galvatron. The English dub dodges the issue as best it could (although that was probably due to the fact that the English writers didn't seem to know what was going on in the show at the best of times), with Mirage's love-struck remarks being replaced with simple cheering for his leader or something else entirely—but it couldn't do anything about his repeated coquettish gestures, doe-eyed expressions, or that one time he pirouetted and struck a pose while surrounded by a glowing pink heart. Maybe Tidal Wave couldn't properly articulate his love in his Armada form?

Foreign names

Tidal Wave

• Japanese: Shockwave (ショックウェーブ Shokkuwēbu), Tidal Wave (タイダルウェーブ Taidaru Wēbu)
• Hungarian: Hullámsír (Armada, "Wave Grave"), Szökőár (Energon, "Tidal Wave"), Árhullám ("Optimus Prime vs Megatron: The Ultimate Battle")
• Korean: Shock (쇼크 Syokeu)
• Mandarin: Cháoxī Bō (潮汐波, "Tidal Wave"), Hǎixiào (Armada dub, 海啸, "Tsunami")
• Polish: Falotron ("Wavetron"), Falomiot ("Wavethrower")
• Russian: Priliv (Прилив, "Tide")
• Ukrainian: Khvylya (Хвиля, "Wave")

Mirage

• Japanese: Shockfleet (ショックフリート Shokkufurīto)
• Hungarian: Délibáb ("Mirage")
• Polish: Miraż ("Mirage")

References