TFs: DARE TO BE STUPID

Huh, despite having my absolute least favorite artist, Autocracy was not a bad read. That was really interesting stuff. With lots of my beautiful robot son (even if he was upsettingly ugly here), which is always nice. And also, shout out to Optimus Prime being super worn down even before the four million years of war to break him down even worse.

I am super annoyed trying to sort out what's the deal with the hardcover phase one trades, though I shelled out for those suckers because they were supposed to be, you know. Pretty complete. But I haven't seen Autocracy anywhere, even though it seems like it fits pretty cleanly in between the late-game phase one Optimus Prime stuff and Rodimus's later phase one matrix-related development.

fake edit: just went and checked out the contents for the phase two hardcovers, and there it is, whoops. I even already own that book and everything, I just haven't had a chance to open it up yet :P I still think it would have fit better into phase one, but okay, this is fine

double fake edit: also this was created in the year of our lord 2012, by then you knew who alex milne was, why are you still paying this artist to draw these characters

 

Soundwave is from the functionist period! I.. hm, some of his history is given in Dark Cybertron (ex-RiD 22), but even though I read it, I don't remember reading it. It's my least favorite artist in the flashback scenes again, which definitely didn't help, but I went back and fixed that situation, so here we go:

Spoiler: very mild soundwave-related spoilers, all ex-RiD 22

So Soundwave is straight-up telepathic, and in the pre-war days, really struggled to control his abilities. Under the functionist government, despite having a unique and useful skillset, especially with regards to information gathering, he was living on the street. At first, he was all on his own, really upsettingly unwell, and completely unable to control his abilities. Ravage, Buzzsaw, and Laserbeak found him there. Those three are beast mode cybertronians, so their quality of life under the functionist government was...... not great. Ravage took pity on Soundwave and started teaching him some control techniques that Soundwave was able to use to start pulling himself together.

Later, despite having made somewhat of a reputation for himself, Soundwave was still living on the streets. Senator Ratbat approached him and offered to hire him, and Soundwave accepted, even though he hated the way that Ratbat talked about his friends and the functionist rhetoric he was spewing. This is where Ravage, Buzzsaw, and Laserbeak were modified to be Soundwave's cassettes. At this point, I thiiink nobody but his friends knew that Soundwave was telepathic, or he would have been taken away for experimentation at the Institute (I think even in the present it isn't common knowledge that he's telepathic). Soundwave literally says that he feels denigrated by Ratbat, but he takes the offer of employment anyways.

Megatron later approaches Soundwave, asking how he really feels about his employer's attitude, etc., and the way Ratbat profits from arms dealing as Cybertron slowly falls apart. Soundwave isn't a fan, but also I like... get the impression that Soundwave is really worn down, really aware of how lucky he is to have gotten this much stability in his life, and really aware of how badly things could go if he rejects what Ratbat has given him. Megatron stands out to him as being one of the first people to recognize Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw as people instead of creatures, to treat them with respect, and he even checks to be sure that Soundwave recognizes that they're people. So that really gets Soundwave's attention.

And after so long spent working for Ratbat and hearing the toxic functionist rhetoric and hearing the things he thinks and trying so hard to not let it bother him, Soundwave can hear Megatron's sincere ideals, and it's the first time he doesn't want to block out someone's thoughts. And with Megatron's main driving goal being equality, Soundwave really latches onto that. As passionate as Megatron got over things, I really don't think there's anyone more dedicated to the Decepticon cause than Soundwave.

So yeah, Soundwave's history is really interesting and heartwrenching, and the contrast between his restrained exterior and the way he feels emotions so deeply is really fascinating to me. I love reading the times in later ex-RiD where he gets honestly upset, because his self-control is so bananas, that you just get these hints of emotion breaking through, but it's Soundwave, so you're still like hoooollllly shit buddy what's wrong can I please give you a hug? I don't know what's up with his Autocracy speech patterns except that it's definitely a callback to the original eighties cartoon, but I quietly choose to believe it's a phase he went through where he overcompensated for his original problems with his lack of control over his abilities, which nearly destroyed him, and was like maximum control all the time always. And then once he felt more centered and healthy he expanded out into more usual conversational speech patterns.

 

Actually you know what I've been back through RiD 22 like three times so far today and I love Soundwave so much I think I might die

Help, guys, I'm emotionally stunted and shipping is the only way I know for working through fictional character emotions, but I'm blanking hard on who to ship Soundwave with. Megatron is the obvious answer, but it's kind of too easy, and the whole recent Autobot thing makes me hurt for Soundwave, so I don't think I can do it right now. Shockwave is too Shockwave to get anything decently pitch going. I'm not rrrrrreally feeling it with the cassettes except as a big happy orgy pile, but that's not the kind of thing to get the shippy emotions I'm after. And then... ?????????? He's a very isolated robot, which makes it very hard to multiship him effectively :T

also i kind of ship him with optimus prime and i don't know why and i don't know what to do with it but still

 

Ohhh shit, man, so you know how a lot of us have are shipping flush megarod particularly with the added context of Megatron and Rodimus having a healthy outlet to move past their tangled histories with Optimus Prime? WELL, CONSIDER: Soundwave <3< Optimus Prime, with both of them having a healthy outlet to move past their tangled histories with Megatron.

Oh no oh no, I'm actually getting invested in this now. Because no matter how Soundwave feels about Primes in general, his and Optimus's actual ideals aren't that far separated, and they're both getting drawn against their will into some very nasty political games. Galvatron is doing things to subvert and sabotage Soundwave's efforts to build a better future, and Optimus is... kind of doing it to himself (with a helping hand from Prowl), but it's pretty obviously an unhappy turn for his character and hopefully opens the door for positive future development.

Plus plus plus! Soundwave is really violently opposed to the legacy of the Primes. Understandably. Now, how aware is he of the whole 'false Prime' shebang that went down for a while there? And is he aware that Optimus Prime was modified to be matrix-compatible without his consent? Or that the bonding with the matrix was excruciatingly painful for him, when it felt natural and wonderful to Rodimus? How much does he know about Optimus Prime trying to reject his Prime-hood and doing his best to return to being Orion Pax, and getting strong-armed into taking up the Prime mantle again? Soundwave is very bitter over how the Decepticon cause was subverted and corrupted by the war, even if he despises Primes on first instinct, he has to have some sympathy for what Optimus went through there. Plus, given how conflicted and torn and broken Optimus Prime is lately, having a mind reader around who can actually untangle his thoughts when he can't even do it himself, that would be... that would be really awesome. And then they can join forces against Galvatron and build an offworld commune for Cybertronians and maybe kiss a little.

also they both have mouths under their faceplates but look way hotter with their faceplates on it was meant to be

 

I do hear you! But also Aileron<3Cosmos what i don't only ship them because they match because they're spaceships (no, I do genuinely ship them for other reasons, promise), which nudges me a little towards Soundwave<>Cosmos territory. Which would be unbalanced given what we've seen on the screen so far, buuuuuuuuuut Soundwave is also so deeply involved with things all the time always, because he's the intelligence officer, and it's a running gag how badly Cosmos wants to be in the thick of things, and I think having someone who's familiar with distance between themself and everything else would be really great for Soundwave to get to experience.

 

There's one part (I don't know exactly where) where Wheeljack has been fixing up Optimus Prime and says 'mouths are very fashionable these days, I'm thinking of getting one myself.' I love his silly stripey face, so I'm working under the assumption he never went through with that. One of the bots at Grindcore asked what happened if you didn't have a mouth, and the officer was like 'we.... IMPROVISE' *cue flying blood spatters.* Tailgate and Krok have both had those mouth holes that are only about as large as an energon stick or a straw, and I'd assume most empurata victims have the same. Rewind said he knows what it sounds like when Chromedome smiles, which kiiiiiiiiind of implies mouth... but I don't want to believe, so I don't >_> And I choose particularly to believe Rewind has no mouth, because it sounds like something that would happen to a bunch of mass-produced memory stick bots.

Mostly I tend to assume no mouth unless the comic forces me to acknowledge otherwise :P I think everyone is much more interesting that way.

 

From JRO on twitter:

That answer always makes me smile

I like it only because of his funky cheek things! Otherwise I would have been dspleased, but that's enough robot face weirdness to keep me happy.