After the Unicron Battles, Tidal Wave obeyed Galvatron's final order for Decepticon peace with the Autobots. Over the next ten years, he shifted from warrior to guardian of an energon mining facility in the Solar System's asteroid belt, adopting a new green and white color scheme to reflect this role. His mining outpost was among the Terrorcons' first targets. Following a fierce defense, Tidal Wave was overwhelmed, captured, and taken to Scorponok and Alpha Quintesson's base. There, he agreed to join their cause based on their promise to resurrect Megatron, despite his personal distrust of Scorponok. This allegiance saw him participate in attacks on Autobot energon facilities like Desert City. During a raid, he mishandled a raw energon star, suffering severe electrical burns that left permanent lightning-bolt scarring across his body. He later led a devastating assault on Mars City, overwhelming its defenses and stealing its energon reserves. When Megatron was independently resurrected, Tidal Wave immediately transferred his loyalty back. He remained skeptical of new recruits, particularly Shockblast, due to unresolved animosity from a past conflict on Dabola where Shockblast and Six Shot had served under him before being driven out for insubordination. This distrust proved justified during a battle on Cybertron when an energon tower collapsed onto Tidal Wave after a shot from Shockblast. Severely damaged, he was retrieved by Megatron and reformatted using Unicron's power into a new form called Mirage. This reformatting significantly altered him. Mirage possessed a smaller, sleeker physique and demonstrated increased intelligence, including more complex speech patterns, though he retained his habit of third-person self-references. His personality shifted toward overt, almost affectionate devotion to Megatron, sometimes expressed through flamboyant gestures like forming glowing pink hearts. This loyalty defined his actions until the conflict's climax, where he followed Megatron into the energon sun to destroy Unicron's spark, resulting in his apparent destruction. In the alternate Dreamwave comic continuity, Tidal Wave willingly joined the Terrorcons from the outset, displaying greater intelligence than his animated counterpart. After surviving an encounter where Starscream nearly dragged him into oblivion and suffering a leg injury from Scorponok, he participated in raids against Autobot facilities. His tenure ended violently when Scorponok severely damaged him for perceived failures. Alpha Quintesson subsequently rebuilt his shattered body into Mirage, granting him enhanced abilities like limited invisibility. The character featured multiple transformation capabilities. He could reconfigure into a massive battleship formed by combining three distinct vessels: an aircraft carrier with an elevator for his Mini-Con partner Ramjet, a double-bowed gunship with rotating turrets activated by Ramjet, and a landing craft with seating for Mini-Cons. This combined warship mode could also merge with Megatron (or Galvatron) to augment their combat capabilities. His Energon toy incarnation incorporated translucent green "energon-infused" parts and lightning-bolt deco patterns reflecting his injuries from raw energon exposure.