With the departure from Earth of the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS, SHOCKWAVE and the Sky Attack Team found themselves free to pursue their own interests. SHOCKWAVE has spent the last decade hiding among the armed forces of dictators and tyrants around the world, signing on with whoever is most likely to give him the opportunity to rain fire down on helpless soldiers and civilians. There's nothing SHOCKWAVE loves more than to see a huge column of oily black smoke rising from the center of a populated area, and know that it was his bombs that lit the fires.

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After the Unicron Battles, many Mini-Con chose to remain on Earth, in hiding and separate from the ongoing conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons. Tankor, with his teammates on the Air Defense Team, hid among the armed forces of Earth so that they could protect the humans from Shockwave and the Sky Attack Team. The desire to protect human life is nearly an obsession for Tankor; he exists solely to prevent the damage inflicted by Shockwave and his aerial companions. The return of the Transformers to Earth has forced them once again to take sides in a larger conflict.