- This article is about the video game character. For other uses, see Wave the Swallow (disambiguation).
Wave the Swallow (ウェーブ・ザ・スワロー Uēbu za Suwarō?) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is an anthropomorphic swallow and is the technical and mechanical expert of the current generation of Babylon Rogues. She is the daughter of the tech expert of the previous generation of Babylon Rogues, which she takes after,[2] and takes care of her groups' customized Extreme Gears.
Because of her knowledge on Extreme Gear, Wave is brimming with self-confidence and can be a bit of a trash-talker and highly critical of others' work with Extreme Gear. She hates thick-headed or stupid people and she tends to give advice only she can understand.[1] Regardless, Wave is level-headed and serves as the voice of reason in the Babylon Rogues, though she is often mistreated by the other members.
Appearance
Wave is an anthropomorphic swallow with light purple and dark feathers that cover her body and head. Her hair is styled like a pair of long braids. She has a curved beak, cobalt eyes and two tail feathers. For attire, she wears white gloves with golden bracelets and red lining, a white tube top and flare-designed trousers. She also wears red boots with white accents, a necklace with a red gem and gold glasses.
Personality
Because of her knowledge, Wave is brimming with self-confidence.[1] She is very arrogant about her expertise at Extreme Gear, certain that no one can match her in this field. She is a super-achiever and holds very high standards for how Extreme Gear should be and never hesitates to dismiss others' Extreme Gear as 'junk'. She takes great pride in her skills and is passionate about her profession, becoming indignant when someone insults or blames her work for their own failures. She has a keen eye for detail, takes notice of everything, and hates thick-headed and stupid people. Also, she tends to give advice using terminology understandable to only herself and not others. Naturally, this causes tension and frustration between her and others like Jet.[1]
Wave often refuses to admit others' talents with Extreme Gear mechanics due to her dislike of anyone who could rival her. She often hold back on her compliments and will either continue to dismiss or deny that the person has any skill at all to cover up any sense of generous gesture she may hold. In the cases she does give compliments, she will disguise them as insults. It is only in the rarest of cases that Wave gives well-meant compliments.
While generally fun-loving like the rest of the Babylon Rogues, Wave is very level-headed and serves as the voice of reason amongst her group, often lecturing Jet and Storm of their responsibilities. Because her teammates' unreliability, Wave believes that she has to take charge of the team if anything is to get done. She is very serious on a job, staying dedicated to the task at hand and insists on no lack of dedication from her companions. When things do not go as planned, however, she tends to get impatient. Also, she can be quite stubborn and obstinated when making a decision.[1]
Wave is usually rude, and has a sly attitude and snide sense humor. Being the most outgoing of the Babylon Rogues, Wave has no problem insulting others and mocking their Extreme Gear. She will also take compliments or conversations from others and twist them around so that she can throw them back at others as a snide comment. Wave also finds amusement in insulting and degrading her opponents' skills during races.
When it comes to accomplishing her teams' goal, Wave is perfectly willing to cheat in official competitions, such as sabotaging Sonic's Extreme Gear in Sonic Riders and Sonic Free Riders, even without Jet knowing it. Likewise, she will gladly take whatever beneficial chance that might present itself, such as taking the Key to Babylon Garden on behalf of Jet when Sonic returned it despite Jet refusing to accept it.
Wave also has a great deal of greedy love for money and treasure, and her primary motive in life is to acquire as much wealth as possible. This was her sole reason for willingly competing in the World Grand Prix in Sonic Riders and Sonic Free Riders.
Powers and abilities
Mechanical skills and intelligence
Easily the most intelligent of the current generation of Babylon Rogues, Wave is quite knowledgeable and a superb mechanic, with her specialty lying in the field of the workings of Extreme Gear. Described as a really brilliant mecha mechanic,[4] Wave is a mechanical genius, gifted in craft of Extreme Gear mechanics and has advanced mechanical knowledge and experience about tuning, building and the workings of Extreme Gear that far surpasses that of both Tails and Dr. Eggman.[2][5] According to herself, she is the foremost Extreme Gear expert in the world.[6]
Besides Extreme Gear, Wave is also well-versed in other types of mechanics and technologies, being able to fix many things and shows well-above general knowledge of the functions and operations of different technology, such as microchip-sized diaries, MeteorTech's signal network, explosives, and even the Babylonians' technology. Additionally, Wave is quite intelligent in the field of science and physics, being able to analyze and understand the scientific concepts of the Arks of the Cosmos. She also has knowledge about how to decipher the ancient texts written by the Babylonians.
Extreme Gear skills
As a member of the Babylon Rouges, Wave is a highly adept Extreme Gear rider, and is presumably one of the best Extreme Gear riders in the world, having been acknowledged as a legendary wind master.[7] When riding on an Extreme Gear, Wave can move expertly at high speeds, perform both complex and impressive tricks and body movements while in mid-air, and engage in combat with other Extreme Gear riders while riding her own Extreme Gear and not lose control. She is also able to ride her Extreme Gear through mid-air with great precisions and control over her movements.
Miscellaneous skills
Aside from her intelligence and Extreme Gear skills, Wave is a talented and professional thief. Having pulled off many successful heists and escaped captured from the authorities, Wave is a skilled thief and talented with slight of hand.
While not having been shown fighting in direct hand-to-hand combat, Wave is skilled at utilizing various types of gadgets and tools efficiently in combat, ranging from using giant wrench/spanners as clubs to planting small explosives on her opponents.
Weaponry and equipment
Wave's main choice of equipment is her Type-W Extreme Gear. The Type-W is a Board type flight-based Extreme Gear, constructed by Wave herself, which is meant for flight at high altitude. Thanks to Wave's Extreme Gear mechanics expertise, the Type-W is a highly advanced piece of technology with an ultra-compact body that contains high-standard mechanics.
In combat, Wave preferred choice of weapon is a large wrench/spanner that she uses skillfully as a club in melee combat. However, she also uses small packs of dynamite and other explosives that she plants on her opponents and then detonates for maximum damage.
Relationships
Jet the Hawk
Wave talking with Jet
Wave views Jet as an unreliable younger brother, but regardless, she does respect his role as leader and follows his leadership.[1]
Unlike Storm, Wave would not be bothered if she would call her leader, Jet, by his name. She is the creator of Type-J and always follows Jet's orders. She seemed annoyed when Jet told her that her speeches are boring. However, despite almost always listening to Jet, she says in Sonic Riders, "Unless I take charge, nothing ever gets done here!". In Sonic Free Riders, she acts much more loyal towards Jet when she shows concern for his disapproval of Team Dark, telling him that he should just ignore them. Also, in one cutscene, she slightly bows towards Jet, approving of his riding skills. Despite this attitude change, she lies to him in the game. In the Babylon Story, before Jet was about to race Sonic, he told Wave not to cheat by doing "something" to Sonic's Extreme Gear. Wave told him that she did not do anything to his Gear, and Jet proceeded to race with Sonic. Suspiciously, Jet won, much to his concern, and found out that Wave had, in fact, tampered with Sonic's Gear. Wave apologized and claimed herself guilty, while Sonic and Jet prepared for a rematch without Wave interfering.
Storm the Albatross
Wave telling Storm that it's not the board, that his skills suck.
Storm and Wave are friends, but the two seem to get into small arguments, much to Jet's annoyance. When Storm lost against Knuckles, he complained to Wave and Jet that he (Knuckles) must have cheated. Wave then thought he was criticizing how she built his Extreme Gear, which angered her and caused her to shout "What!? Are you implying that you lost because of MY Gear!!? No one can tune a Gear the way I can!!! Accept it, buddy! It's not the board. Your skills just suck!". Storm, feeling shocked and offended by this, repeated "Wh-wh-what?! Su...S...S...Suck!?" to which Wave witheringly replied; "Yes. 'S-U-C-K. Suck!" Other than this incident and others, they seem to get along just fine.
Miles "Tails" Prower
Wave examining Tails' customized Extreme Gear.
Wave and Tails are rivals at inventing, since they are both intelligent. In Sonic Riders, Wave was impressed by Tails' inventions but couldn't admit it; when she examined the custom Extreme Gear Tails had created for Sonic, she privately noted that it was 'not half bad, for an amateur...', but out loud she insulted it instead, saying that he had made "a piece of junk". She also teased Tails by calling him "shorty". In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, the two did not seem to rival each other at anything. When Wave was injured by SCR-HD, Tails was seen trying to help her get up. In Sonic Free Riders, she called him "shrimp" instead. Once again, they did not talk much or show much rivalry until one scene, when Tails examined the Extreme Gear she made and commented, "Your Gear is still as amazing as ever, Wave...." Wave ungratefully replied, "Is that supposed to be sarcasm, shrimp?", much to Tails' dismay, and he told her that he actually meant it. This is if she loses the competition to Tails; if she wins the competition instead, her response to Tails' comment is "Try not to sound so surprised, shrimp". Wave and Tails have not spoken to each other since.
Friends/Allies
Rivals
- Miles "Tails" Prower (arch-rival)
- Rouge the Bat[8]
Enemies
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Sonic Channel (Japanese). Characters: Wave. Sega. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved on 3 July 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sonic Riders official website. Characters: Wave the Swallow. Sega. Archived from the original on 12 June 2006. Retrieved on 29 October 2020. "This mechanical-gifted member of the Babylon Rogues is a genius and Extreme Gear is her specialty. Her father, in fact, was the mechanic for the previous generation of Babylon Rogues. While Tails and Dr. Eggman are talented, Wave's skills are far superior."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Devra Newberger Speregen (2016). Sonic: The Ultimate Character Guide. Scholastic. p. 54-55. ISBN 978-1338033243.
- ↑ "Yeah, but she has a point. She's a really briliant mecha mechanic" - Tails in Sonic Riders.
- ↑ "While she's capable of fixing many things, Extreme Gear is her specialty, and her knowledge and experience surpass both Tails and Eggman in this area." - Sonic Riders English manual.
- ↑ "No one can tune a Gear the way I can!" - Wave in Sonic Riders.
- ↑ "The legendary wind masters of the Babylon Rogues certainly all talk a big game!" - Omochao in Team Babylon's story in Sonic Free Riders.
- ↑ Sonic Riders Japanese manual.
