“Soundwave is absolutely devoted to Megatron. He uses his ability to intercept any electronic transmission to ensure the supremacy of his leader, and the eventual victory of the Decepticons over the Autobots.”
Let’s start off this post by making sure everyone knows that Soundwave and Megatron, according to Soundwave’s package bio, are basically married. We got that? Okay, we can move on now.
Soundwave was the guy from wave 1 that I was looking forward to the most. He comes with a little guy! And he was in more than one episode. In the show, he’s basically Shortpacked!‘s Mike, if Mike were mute, and also if Mike only hated Starscream. Okay, so not very much like Mike. But his function on the show so far is to be a jerk to Starscream without saying a word. And Soundwave is very good at it. It’s very entertaining. I hope he never speaks. It would diminish him.
Prime Soundwave turns into some sort of unmanned drone jet. His toy looks more like a convoluted knob of transformation joints, but the wings and nose of the plane remain smooth and alt-modey. The obvious robot mode greebles and hinges everywhere make the jet mode less satisfying than it should be, but like Voyager Megatron they at least are in service of creating a great robot mode.
For all Soundwave’s convoluted knob of joints, he transforms pretty simply. The nose splits up to make legs. The rear opens to reveal the head. The wings unfold into arms. Those joints are there mostly for articulation, like the knees and balljointed hips that sit between the wings and the fuselage.
Soundwave’s robot mode, also like Megatron, is amazingly faithful to the show’s design. I never would have thought you’d get that robot mode out of anything, even a ball of joints with wings. The backs of Soundwave’s legs are kind of messy, but that’s my only complaint. He has all the articulation you’d need, plus a little extra joint in his tummy to help him hunch over properly.
Speaking of all the articulation you need, Soundwave has his little buddy Laserbeak. You can peg Laserbeak into Soundwave’s arm and have Soundwave talk to him all you like. And when Laserbeak’s work is finished, you can fit Laserbeak right back onto his resting place on Soundwave’s chest. He can remain there in jet mode or plug into the top of the jet mode and look conspicuous there.
I kind of wish Laserbeak had, y’know, a beak. Also I think Laserbeak should talk. That’s something Dark of the Moon got right.
Soundwave’s only one per case in wave one, unlike everyone else in the assortment. He’s shortpacked! So have fun with that. When Graham and I found these guys on Wednesday, we had to go to more than one store to make sure we had one for both of us. Let me tell you, it’s much easier to ask an employee to get a box out of the back if you’re buying most of the case than it is to ask an employee to get a box out of the back to get the shortpacked guy. Even if I know I’m not doing this to scalp them, it makes me feel a little guilty for no reason.
“I hope he never speaks. It would diminish him.”
I always knew you had good taste Willis.
But seriously, I’m not sure whether I like this or Wheeljack’s toy more, but in terms of character Soundwave wins out.
Not a fan of the look going for soundwave, but he’s not bad on his own.
You neglected to mention that, with Laserbeak in place, Soundwave’s chest is basically movieverse-Frenzy.
This cannot be unseen.
His pelvis has eyes.
He really is the best Soundwave ever.
Also agree on Laserbeak needing to talk, but I have to wonder if the show’s writers even consider him to be Laserbeak or whether he’s just a mindless drone Soundwave keeps in his chest at all times. Let’s hope not, I hate missed character opportunities.
He totally is. I had my doubts because I do love G1 but this Soundwave is such a badass. Maybe I just like the strong silent types. Doesn’t hurt that he looks Daft Punk 3.0
It helps that he’s the first Soundwave with a compelling character angle: he was always a recorder, but this is the first time he’s really put that to use so extensively.
“Let’s start off this post by making sure everyone knows that Soundwave and Megatron, according to Soundwave’s package bio, are basically married. We got that? Okay, we can move on now.”
Who let… her… write tech specs?
Soundwave looks a bit like he could be a variant of one of the EVA’s from Evangelion.
Mainly around the shoulders.
Soundwave’s not exclusively a jerk to Starscream. He also gives Airachnid a hard time when she tries to order the Decepticons to abandon Megatron and flee Earth. I guess when you take Starscream’s job, you get all the perks that come with it.
I bet now Knock Out is glad he got passed over for THAT promotion.
Well, Airachnid and Screamer have similar insubordinate personalities – the main difference being that she’s more overt with it, skipping the OTT sycophancy that Screamer feigns to try to hide it.
Too bad about him being so rare. Soudwave is always my favorite character from every incarnation of the franchise, and I have made a point to get one of every version of him. Now I may actually have to hunt him down.
Has Laserbeak been shown in any TF Prime episodes yet? I’m drawing a blank on even seeing him on the show.
I know I’m likely wrong, but given Soundwave’s silence, you would think they would at least give L beak bird sounds.
He was in the opening 5-parter; he was the one who took out Fowler’s helicopter and captured him.
He was also in the first regular episode, Masters & Students. When Soundwave detects a life form in the vacinity of the destroyed space bridge, and Starscream flies into space to check it out, Soundwave takes the precaution of sending Laserbeak to keep an eye on HIM.
Smart move as it turns out. Starscream, having found Megatron, still barely functioning, he removes the shard of dark energon from his chest and is about to leave him to die, when he spots Laserbeak approaching.
Starscream then hides the shard of dark energon and call out to him — and through him, Soundwave — to prepare a medical pod for Megatron.
And now I want to see Mike’s face (eyes, scowl, eyebrows) drawn on Soundwave’s face-screen.
his vehicle mode looks like a global hawk spy drone, which i always thought looked sick!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk
Looks more like a Predator with the tail stabilizers oriented up instead of down to me.
The TF wiki suggests he’s based on the Reaper which looks about right to me. (The Reaper is a descendant of the Predator, so it makes sense it’d look a lot like it.)
Of course, given what they’ve done with everyone else’s vehicle modes, chances are he’s meant to be a drone of no particular model, either to avoid paying for the rights to make an actual version, or to give themselves more wiggle room in designing his robot mode. (Or, you know, both.)
Been reading this comic for years(?) now. Finally learned the definition of “shortpacked”!
You know, I would be totally fine with this new, “weird, everyone’s skinny and kinda look like Aliens thing” going on with the cannon. I would even almost be fine with how they’ve basically created a new character and named it Soundwave (because this thing will NEVER be MY Soundwave). I’d be fine will all of this, if they weren’t insisting on making this all “cannon” with the War for Cybertron story. Can’t they just be separate? Can’t War for Cybertron be something for the older fans, and this new Prime series be to reel in younger ones? I do agree that Soundwave shouldn’t talk though. If he’s not going to sound like Soundwave, then don’t have him talk at all.
/end rant of fanboy.
I’m pretty sure WfC *is* for older fans than Prime. That’s precisely why it looks more like G1. I’m not sure why that means they can’t be the same continuity. Rescue Bots also takes place in the same universe as Prime, and they’re not the same age group either.
When you’re the adult fan of a children’s toy property, you’re just going to have to accept that some of it’s going to be targeted at people younger than you.
His vehicle mode has a bird head for the nosecone. I can’t unsee this, especially since his heels hinge like a mouth. The paint apps look like a face, too.
I have only purchased two Trasformers toys since, well, I became an adult, BUT this guy is one of them. I just had to have this Soundwave. I love that he’s a spyplane.
Also, my other Transformer toy I bought is the new-most-awesome Kup!
I have both toys on my entertainment center in “action poses”! Kup is pointing his gun at Soundwave, while Soundwave is leaning forward in a noiseless snarl, with his arms posed in such a way to look like he’s about to hug Kup. Or something.