Spock from “Star Trek” is easily one of the most influential science-fiction characters ever, flat-out. Even actor Leonard Nimoy never escaped the Vulcan’s shadow — despite having a long, fulfilling career outside of it. Indeed, before his passing in 2015, Nimoy voiced villains in two separate “Transformers” films.

In the 1986 animated “Transformers” film, Nimoy played Galvatron, the reborn form of Decepticon leader Megatron, galvanized by the power of the dark god Unicron. Later, in Michael Bay’s 2011 live-action film, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Nimoy voiced Sentinel Prime, mentor of Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). Starting a “Transformers” tradition, Sentinel turned out to be a villain, allying himself with the Decepticons to conquer Earth and restore the Transformers’ war-ruined world of Cybertron.

Aside from his two voiceover roles, Nimoy impacted “Transformers” in another important way via Spock. Marvel Comics writer Bob Budiansky, who wrote the original “Transformers” character bios and much of the proceeding comic, modeled the Decepticon Shockwave after Spock. Spock’s defining character trait was his commitment to logic and restraint on his emotions, so Shockwave was written as an evil version of that: cold, brutally efficient, and willing to usurp Megatron if he felt his leadership performance was lacking.

Like his leader, Shockwave transformed into a gun, but a sci-fi laser pistol unlike the realistic Walter P-38 handgun that Megatron became. (Both were toys imported from Japan and rebranded by Hasbro; Megatron began as Takara’s “Gun Robo” and Shockwave as Toyco’s “4 Changeable Astro Magnum.”) Shockwave’s toy debuted on the U.S. market in 1985, in year 2 of “The Transformers,” but he’s often remembered as a year 1 character because he appeared from the beginning in the cartoon. The animated Shockwave was played by the prolific Corey Burton, with a voice modeled on David Warner’s performance in “TRON.”

Shockwave disappeared from the cartoon after season 2 — a deleted scene from the movie had him killed by Unicron, while some unrealized plans for season 3 had him switch sides to the Autobots. But while “The Transformers” forgot about Shockwave, few of the later reboots have. He is one of the franchise’s most recurring characters, and part of the “big four” Decepticons along with Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave. While Shockwave has a consistent design (purple color scheme, cannon on his left arm, and a square cyclopean head), later “Transformers” projects have reinterpreted his Spock-like characterization in logical and illogical ways.