#geek rantics

[geek-antic]

Soundwave is a powerhouse and an enigma and we don't talk about it enough so i'mma just gonna make a compilation of "how the hell did he do that" and "what the hell is he" moments that i've managed to find from across several transformers continuities

first off is from the first IDW comic continuity

this is never explained, so i can only assume its because soundwave is technically an outlier but i haven't seen a panel that shows other outliers having "off the scale" readings, whatever that means.

and then in the last moments of this continuity he sacrifices himself to save the universe/earth by using his outlier ability along with the enigma of combination to essentially connect the dead to the living in the entire galaxy for a hot minute . idk how the hell he did that or how he knew to do that, my money is on bad writing but i digress.

next up Transformers Prime

tfp fans: elaborate on that. tfp writers: no. transformers prime soundwave is definitely a powerhouse and an enigma for several reasons but number one is this god damn scene with ratchet exclaiming soundwave isn't your standard cybertronian and then to my frustration the show refuses to explain why.

also he can open portals. the only explanation for that is in the novels where he actually was part of the invention of spacebridge technology. i guess he could've incorporated that into himself, which frankly is kinda unheard of in of itself. but still I feel inclined to tell him that skywarp called and they want their powers back.

Next, we have the game Transformers: fall of cybertron. where he scavenges together all of megatrons parts and puts him back together which, yeah sure why not? it's essentially like putting a corpse back together but then he just REVIVES HIM??

with his mind completely intact despite having been decimated by Metroplex and being dead for several hours. excuse me sir but that shouldn't be possible. I guess I could just chop it up to the writers being a bit loosey goosey with their own rules for the world but it's still quite a feat. but thinking back to G1 where he did the same thing with skyfire I guess they assumed it's just something he can do?

although skyfire's revival was a bit more reasonable considering he was still in one piece and frozen solid which they explained to be the reason as to why he was kept intact. but I'm assuming that's why the writers were like "well let's just have him do the same thing for megatron" and everyone was like yeah okay why not. also like a lot of things in G1 this inbuilt high voltage canon/defibrillator is never brought up again which is hilarious and par for the course for G1.

there are several more moments throughout all the tf continuities where soundwave just does something inexplicable but these are a some of the moments that stuck out to me the most. I welcome others to add onto this post if they wish. because I'm sure I've missed some "how the hell did he do that" moments that would be a shame not to bring up.

#geek rantics #soundwave #character study #ish #I have several crackpot theories in regards to soundwave #purely based on moments like these #tf soundwave #IDW1 #IDW #transformers #tfp #transformers fall of cybertron #G1 #tf idw comics spoilers #I guess but not really

[geek-antic]

I wish I could’ve asked the writers of idw2 about the background story they had written for soundwave.

Because it seems like they had something pretty clear in mind that they wanted to delve into. And from the looks of things it could’ve been a rather interesting background story.

i love the how the artist was able to make him so expressive I can only imagine that it would’ve given some much needed depth to Soundwave’s character. Also would’ve been nice to finally see him get a proper origin story which I don’t think he really got in idw1 (the fact he starts out with no memories of his origins and no resolution still bothers me)

But I admittedly have a lot more issues with idw2, (mostly the repetition of words and sentences) yet surprisingly from what I did read in regards to soundwave I didn't have any major issues with his portrayal. (y'know aside from his yellow visor and job position) from what we did see of him he behaved coherently and according to his character. His little issues with starscream added some fun drama and made him a bit more relatable.

And then throughout the comics there are hints to soundwave having what seems to be a complicated past involving both soundblaster and sixshot? Which points towards it being a mercenary group of some kind.

And we never saw him in any of the flashbacks of the war against the Three fold spark, despite it being the perfect place for soundwave to become acquainted with megatron. but no, there's no explanation for how they met but there is a lot of megatron giving soundwave both orders and almost mentor like advice.

Its always a shame to see a continuity go dead when it had just started but I can’t say i’ll mourn anything else from it that isn’t soundwave. which says a lot.

RIP idw2 tf continuity, atleast you gave us a nice little story in the shattered glass comics you made before you lost the license.

Though now that the new license holder is image comics, I look forward to seeing what they’re gonna do with it. And if they’ll learn anything from the previous continuities.

#geek rantics #alright image comics #i have one request *points to soundwave* explain this #soundwave #idw2 #transformers idw 2 #idw1 #shattered glass soundwave #SG soundwave #character study #starscream #megatron

[geek-antic]

the things Soundwave has to put up with these days

Megatron is down bad huh

#don't you hate it when people have whole ass conversations in front of you like your not there? #cuz I bet soundwave does #earthspark #soundwave #megatron #optimus #tfe #transformers #i don't really ship megop but megatron do be giving optimus the heart eyes at the end there so uh #megop #geek rantics #tf earthspark #optimus prime #earthspark spoilers

[geek-antic]

Man shockwave must really be envious of Soundwave’s ability to read minds.

He’s been invading minds via cortical psychic patches or whatever in like… three continuities now?

I mean there’s transformers prime, transformers cyberverse, and now transformers earthspark.

Hilariously enough Soundwave hasn’t been shown to be able to read minds in any of those very same continuities.

Best we got since G1 of soundwave reading minds is transformers animated and the idw comics. Which is a bit sad.

#shockwave stop stealing Soundwave’s ability you can already do science #soundwave #geek rantics #shockwave #transformers

[geek-antic]

face paint

sometimes I find myself thinking about the cultural differences between transformers from caminus and transformers from cybertron. especially about how on caminus red face paint indicates your a cityspeaker.

 meanwhile on cybertron it means your a gladiator. 

And it’s so freakin funny to think about scenarios where windblade would get confused for a gladiator not only because of her facepaint but also due to her carrying around a sword. huge missed oppertunity to not have rumble and frenzy see her and go “OOOOh scrap! they got gladiators on caminus?!” and then they go there to relive some glory days only for them to end up in a dance battle instead because they couldn’t find the nonexistent gladiatorial matches and apparently people on caminus are really into music and dancing.

they’ll bring soundwave next time for a beatboxing match

#geek rantics #transformers #gladiator megatron #cityspeaker windblade #rumble #frenzy #soundwave #idw #cybertron #caminus #idw1

[geek-antic]

*kicks down door*

I finally got to watch the new transformers earthspark episodes!

Admittedly there was a somewhat lack of soundwave which is always tragic. But he did show up in two episodes even if one of them was just a flashback where he tried to be a goalkeeper.

Warzone was amazing btw I love shockwave being a snobby scientist with biases of his own. Also glad that he’s not dead, some of you guy’s reaction to the trailer really had me worried. A bit sad that the micro expressions from the animatic didn’t make it to the final take but oh well.

The hashtag oops episode/the first new episode had me hyped for the few scenes that soundwave did appear in. tho I wonder where the heck the falling rocks came from? that stuff just came outta nowhere, I mean no one had damaged the structural integrity of the facility, to my understanding at least. But whatever, Twas a true D&D “death” if I ever saw one.

It’s likely that they just wanted to have an excuse to put whatever soundwaves plans are, on hold. Or they decided to use it as an opportunity to have ghost utilize his abilities for something in future episodes. I mean we did find out in the tarantulas episode that ghost apparently has a memory erasing device. So it could go a lot of ways.

And in the last episode where we find out that the leader of ghost is collaborating with mandroid and where she pretty much offers up all the prisoners as disposable test subjects to mandroid. The camera does a little spin around to catch glimpses of the prisoners and, correct me if I’m wrong,  but I didn’t see Soundwave anywhere.

So it could be ghost is keeping him and his long range lock breaking ability as a backup, in case mandroid decides to try and pull one over on em. Y’know what with the brain control devices I could easily see that being a thing.

I guess it’s about 50/50 chance that soundwave is even capable of interfering with those devices but it’s still better than nothing.

Also the last episode with frenzy and laserbeak was amazing. There was a lot of the usual self doubt and wholesome family moments etc with the main crew. but I really liked the side characters little character development with the payoff of spray painting over the rude graffiti to flip the meaning.

Also we got to hear laserbeak talk and holy crap is it hilarious. Definitely hope they keep that up for future episodes. Though now I’m even more curious about what their deal is with soundwave and how they ended up working for mandroid of all people. And if they were referring to him when the first talked about not having to listen to someone anymore.

The story can sometimes be a bit all over the place but I enjoy watching it anyway and I honestly wish I had something like that to watch when I was a kid.

#soundwave #Tf earthspark #transformers #Transformers earthspark #geek rantics #earthspark spoilers

[geek-antic]

I’m so happy to see Skywarp and Novastorm in earthspark, their abilities are so cool and so tragically underutilized in most tf stuff they just show up and end up being either killed or conveniently cast aside. because their abilities would solve most problems far too quickly for there to be a story. Which is utter fucking nonsense because you should build the stories around the characters not see them as tools that can either further or prevent the plot. (Oh this is turning into a rant now you’ve been warned)

Like here’s a freakin example in IDW that kept grinding my gears at all the missed opportunities. I read the MTMTE comics and I read The Windblade comics. And I kept thinking “Man, I wonder what would happen if Soundwave was here.” Admittedly I do that to a lot of things, it helps me read through stuff I’m not a 100 percent fixated on. But I digress, so lemme give you some examples of moments that had me desperately wishing that Soundwave wasn’t in the hands of John Barber in RID.

The idw windblade comics literally has bumblebee stuck in starscreams head. now imagine how fucking interesting it would be if Soundwave showed up and was like “when the fuck did bumblebee get back” because soundwave can literally read minds. and since it turns out bumblebee is actually just some form of transmission from that weird little black hole thing shockwave created during dark cybertron. Suddenly starscream is not so crazy. Suddenly there’s hope for bumblebee. Suddenly soundwave has a far more interesting role than he did in RID. I also desperately and I do mean DESPERATELY want soundwave and windblade to interact because they’re both supposed to be telepaths but so far each continuity they’ve been in has had only one of them have the ability, or neither of them have had it, which is just SO frustrating to me. I wanna see Soundwave try and take over a titan. and wanna see him duke it out with Windblade telepathically.

I also really wanted to see sanctuary station have a bigger role, it felt so isolated and inconsequential because we never even really saw any of the decepticons just hang out in it or how their life was like on the station. It just felt like a from point A to point B plot location which is such a missed opportunity because it would’ve been a big fucking thing after the war. To have a place just full of Decepticon war veterans.

I really just wanted to see Soundwave actually still have a link to cybertron instead of being carded off as the token decepticon in Optimus prime’s story with the GI joes on earth. I fucking wish I was kidding but that is literally what he turned into. There’s so much stuff related to the decepticons happening on cybertron during the Windblade comics and I can’t help but feel like I’ve been robbed of seeing Soundwave actually play a vital role in how decepticon are treated after the war with the autobots. I’m just lamenting at this point so, moving on.

Imagining Soundwave in MTMTE is less about loss of potential and more about satiating my curiosity frankly, because the crew on the lost light end up dealing with A: charisma eating robots, B: a giant robot named Sunder who can fuck with peoples minds and eat their thoughts. And C: a whole freakin planet powered by telepaths. And don’t even get me started on Tarns abilities.

I see you James Roberts and I see your previous fan favorite UK soundwave as clear as day in the pattern of antagonists. Ok so maybe it’s just because I’m fixated on Soundwave but istg reading MTMTE feels like an exploration of some thoughts that have been cooked up for a while by someone who have been wondering about Soundwaves abilities. A: soundwave has been notoriously established as uncharismatic simply because of the first transformers movie. B: soundwave actually has a cassette called Sundor, but that’s more of a fun fact of sounding close to Sunder because what really caught my attention was Sunders way of describing how he felt thoughts which reminded me of how Soundwave describes his telepathy. And C: a whole god damn planet fueled by telepaths creating your dream destination idk that’s just fun to imagine what that’d do to soundwave. Would he be able to call bullshit of would it be like a feedback loop of telepathy?

Okay so let’s get started on Tarn, who I can best describe as a combination of all of decepticon high command but mostly he resembles Soundwave. and for good reason because it seems to me that James Robert tried to make something resembling a UK Soundwave who unlike the G1 cartoon Soundwave was more of a charismatic sweet talker villain type. When I first saw Tarn in my early days of transformers I couldn’t help but think “that’s literally just soundwave wtf” I know better now, but I’m still a bit sour over not getting to see Soundwave get the MTMTE makeover (idk what sorta magic they used to create such god tier robot designs but I want some) but regardless Tarn is a damn good villain who draws in the audience and then makes them boo at him as he has his kick the dog moment or in this case rip the cat, that makes him completely irredeemable. And makes the audience cheer for megatron as he kills Tarn.

A few thoughts on this Tarn guy and the bullet that soundwave managed to dodge by having a healthy support system in idw and not being solely loyal to Megatron.

Soundwave in the war for cybertron game was put in charge of almost the exact same type of prison as Tarn was in IDW. They would capture autobots, kill them, and recycle their parts. Tarn would melt them alive. Soundwave would gun them down. One is considered an agonizing death the other is considered quick. I just find it interesting how they’ve essentially been put in the exact same role of being the guy who takes care of the dirty work, yet they have such a different approach to it. But those are two separate continuities so let’s go back to the IDW one, where they seem to have worked together alongside megatron during the war. Idk if tarn was a part of high command but he was definitely standing at the side usually reserved for second in command at the end of the transformers vs ROM comic. Talk about missed opportunities, I would have loved to see how Soundwave and tarn interacted during the war.

Ah well, I really love IDW for what they gave us with transformers even if there is a bunch of missed potential and opportunities. That just means other tf stories and continuities can pick up on it and do something with it.

Oh god this rant went places, I’m too tired to edit structure into it now though so peace out

#geek rantics #idw1 #Soundwave #Tarn #Megatron #Windblade #idk how to tie this back to earthspark sorry folks #character study #I guess? #starscream #Damus #I’d apologize for rambling but I remember how much I love reading other tf blogs rambling so I won’t #also it’s my blog and I get to make the unstructured rants late at night on a phone #rly wanna add pictures tho I love seeing panels from idw #transformers

[geek-antic]

Ok take off the megop goggles real quick. Was anyone else like “Okay…?” At this scene?

Because it felt a bit out of nowhere for Optimus to say that. Nothing wrong with the statement in itself it just seemed out of place to throw it at Soundwave who wasn’t really contending that or pitching himself as being better in that regard.

To me It seemed a lot more like he just wanted to point out megs hypocrisy and let out some pent up anger and frustration at his former leader having basically joined the autobots. Well, that. And he wanted to stage being captured but whatever. Point is, that accusation Optimus throws at soundwave just seems a bit out of the blue and also a bit like optimus might have misread the situation or made an assumption as to what kinda beef soundwave had with megatron.

Idk I just wanted to point it out because it seemed so odd to me

#Aaand I’m still waiting for the season 2 earthspark episodes #soundwave #geek rantics #earthspark #megatron #Optimus prime #transformers #tf earthspark

[geek-antic]

It's also mentioned in the tfp lore books that Soundwave has telepathy

But to my understanding it’s never really shown in the show. I’m a big fan of the whole “show don’t tell” rule and a simple mention in a lore book just seems like a “yeah we know he had telepathy in g1 but we’re not using it in this series because we’d rather have him be a walking warp gate who’s always quiet.” And that feels like such a slap to the face somehow even though his design is really cool in tfp he gets almost no screen time. I would’ve been fine with him being quiet all the time if only he had some more screen time to actually express himself silently somehow I mean come on.

#geek rantics #skywarp is like RIGHT THERE GUYS sheesh #ask me anything #transformers #soundwave #tfp

[geek-antic]

If I remember correctly based on what I've heard from others, the Maccadam tag was created when the first Michael Bay Transformers movie came out, and because of that, the transformers tag was being flooded by images of the actors, so it was difficult for people to find any robot content

To fix this, the Maccadam tag was created as something like a bonus tag so people could find transformers robot-based content easier. It's no longer an issue anymore, but I think some people still use it in a similar way. The tag was named after the Maccadam's bar, since it was something that appeared in multiple transformers continuities

gotta love that the fans all just collectively decided on that word so they'd get to see their favorit robots in the human flotsam of bayverse actors.

also I did not expect there to be lore regarding the naming

thank u so much for answering my question folks

#transformers #maccadam #geek rantics

[geek-antic]

so I started thinking about IDW1 soundwave again, and how he was blackmailed by optimus and how there was little to no resolution to that little subplot which is par for the course when it comes to the guy who wrote the robots in disguise comics at the time.

But I always keep jumping back to it because it bothers me that, from beginning to the end, it made no sense. the blackmail material that optimus had at his disposal hinges on a technicality. to summarize the situation: the autobots had the decepticons holed up in a camp with bombs in their head that would blow up at the push of a button if they ever stepped out of line or caused a threat.

bumblebee was the leader of the autobots at the time and held the remote detonator to those bombs.

unbeknownst to bumblebee and the autobots, Soundwave had discovered the frequency and made sure no decepticons got their heads blown off if the autobots ever were to use the detonator. the plan was to lay low and play along.

however, only a select few decepticons knew about this plan. most of the rank and file decepticons did not know about it. then a decepticon named horri-bull started causing trouble and bumblebee pushed the button to blow his head off. to play along as he was ordered to and to avoid rousing suspicion Soundwave had to either allow this to happen or had to send the detonation signal to the bomb in horri-bull's head to keep up the act.

but here's the thing, not only was it under orders that soundwave did it, it was still bumblebee who decided to push the damn button and kill horribull.

it's like... you know that saying that goes something like "you don't blame the gun you blame the guy who's pulling the trigger"? it's the exact same scenario! I just think this writer is bad, sure he has made some few good scenes and stories and dialogue that I genuinely appreciate but it doesn't make up for the majority of terrible stories and mischaracterization he's written for the sake of pushing the plot forward in a specific direction. it's just the worst way to write a story but I digress.

there is little to no resolution for this blackmailing subplot aside from some quick wrap up where horri-bull's romantic partner needlenose digs into soundwave when he finds out the truth. but the thing is: sure he can be pissed at Soundwave for going along with it, but bumblebee is still the one who decided to kill the guy, so it doesn't really make much of a difference. at worst it could've all been a minor dispute if they had talked it out but alas.

if I were to make a guess at anything out of that mess it would be that Soundwave allowed himself to get blackmailed because he probably felt tired, lost, and guilty all things considered. Because aside from soundwave all of the decepticon high command had gone off to fulfill their own goals, leaving the cause and the rest of the decepticons behind. Ravage who had pretty much raised Soundwave, was away to keep an eye on megatron who had not only given up but decided to change sides to the autobots, double whammy right there. the decepticons had lost the war so soundwave decides to pick up the pieces and tries to give the decepticon veterans a place where they can live in peace away from the rule of primes which happens to be earth of all places. but then he has to deal with galvatron who ended up joining them and he's looking to reignite the war all over again. god, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

point is: by the time thundercracker of all people, shows up at his doorstep with optimus prime in tow. Soundwave is probably like "yeah this might as well happen" this isn't even mentioning that ravage up and died at one point during lost light and soundwave felt that.

mostly i'm not counting that in because idk when it happened in robots in disguise on soundwaves end but whether it was before or after optimus blackmailed him makes little difference because either way the guy was already emotionally defeated at that point.

#geek rantics #soundwave #optimus prime #bumblebee #horri-bull #needlenose #transformers #god i just needed to get that out there cuz woooooo boi does it bother me #one day i'mma get good at grammar #in the meantime i'mma go read a fix it fic cuz ugh the end to idw was bad i hate the heroic sacrifice shtick #especially after said hero was so horribly mischaracterized #idw 1 #idw1

[geek-antic]

I don’t know why people tag things as maccadam in the transformers fandom and at this point I’m too afraid to ask

#m- #maccadam #transformers #geek rantics #WHAT QUALIFIES A POST TO CONTAIN THE MACCADAM TAG #i don’t understand

[geek-antic]

I miss nice jetfire

why is he so mean now

what happened to my giant G1 roboman who chuckled to himself as he tried to sneak around because he was so fucking massive.

I miss him.

#geek rantics #idk he's not my boi'tm but still #the whiplash you get from watching him in G1 and then seeing all his future interpretations specifically the war for cybertron games #and the netflix series that shares the same name #where he is just so mean #always sad to see a gentle science giant go edgy #jetfire #skyfire #? #WHAT IS HIS NAMMME

[geek-antic]

Not gonna lie, the first time I saw twitch's alt mode in a clip I legit thought it was laserbeak

I mean the black and red with yellow eyes and then a drone no less which laserbeaks alt mode was in the IDW comics. Regardless of my confusion, I am so excited to see the show

But i wonder if laserbeak actually is in the earthspark show since we now know Soundwave is in it. If so, I hope they call attention to the similarities because that would be amazing. I mean unless laserbeak looks completely different in that case idk, but fun to think about nonetheless.

#soundwave #Twitch #Laserbeak #Lazerbeak #? #Transformers earthspark #Soundwave could either end up being their mortal enemy or end up surprise adopting twitch just cuz she looks like his bird buddy #Soundwave looks so dope in it tho aaaaargh #Tf earthspark #Geek rantics

[geek-antic]

I feel like artists (including myself) have to hold up a picture of their fan art side by side with the original character and think to themselves… Is this the same character? or have I just made an oc based off of them?

Because at some point you have to realize that you’ve just made an entirely new character purely by projecting

#geek rantics #I realize this is like screaming into the abyss #but whatever maybe some of u folks can scream with me #it’s viktor im talking about btw #the one from arcane I mean #I need season 2 to get here fast so I can bash people over the head with the machine herald design #curious to see if other people feel the same with other characters

[geek-antic]

i go off tumblr for about a week and i come back to get my tf robot serotonin and am met with a whole new layout and i am afeared

#tumblr live is now more prominent than ever on my phone and i do not care for it #geek rantics