I love R2-D2 but its again not what i consider a character. As for Boba Fett he did speak, very little but he did and was a player in stories outside of the films as well. Darthmaul hate the prequels and found Darthmaul to be boring as a sith, badass fighter not a good character as for the ghost of christmas yet to come not familiar. I do not think soundwave is a good character. I mean Soundwave is the flattest of flat characters.

 

WHICH Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come ? There's 237283242 adaptations of that story.

 

Then you have no idea what a character is.

 

I am obviously refering to the original, Silent one.

The New [Of the recent and awesome Zemeckis movie] follows that trait as well.

 

All of them we're cool.

It's okay if Bad guys don't speak much but when it's a hero like Bumblebee.....it sucks.

 

R2-D2 is at best a flat character and flat characters bore me. Take Aliens. Many of the marines were flat stereotypical characters. What happened to them, they died. Flat characters have their place much like TFP Soundwave but having their place does not make them a good character. There have been plenty of times where i have found a movie or show to be less than what it could have been due to flat characters. And i feel with the depth of most of the characters in Prime that Soundwave is lacking in overall personality and is there to do a job to advance the plot and not to be there as an interesting character.(FYI advancing the plot is exactly what the droids primary function in Star Wars was)

 

So it's not that Soundwave isn't a character, it's just that he isn't a character that you like?

 

Minecraft Reference detected.

 

Yeah i just do not think he is a good character just my opinion and i have given my reasons for why i feel this way. To me he just does not feel like much of a character at all.

 

I think his action in session 2 and the moive show he's one of megatron most loyal warriors. He is by far the most capable. He's actions don't seem to be stop by autobots as often.

But over all; He has next to no personailty which makes his computer borad personailty something different in compairson to the rest of G1, has an army of very diverse characters inside his chest, and is able to make energon cubes.
People like things that are unique and different and stand out. Which in the G1 world those are.

How ever if you don't like those reason you don't like him.

Side question for you Ryoku: Seeing how your not stuck on keeping Soundwaves character as is. What do you think would be a good alt for Soundwave is in this day and age?

 

Well if mass shifting is involved i think an mp3 player like the ipod or a generic tablet would make a good 2011 Soundwave alt mode. But hasbro has really gotten away from mass shifting.

 

Yes .... Soundwave turning into an ipod would be ... awesome.

 

Soundwave is a geniously written character.

A character doesnt have to have a cry moment where they question their existence and their place in this world wuhuuu to be good or even great characters.

Soundwave clearly has a developed personality, whats great about it is that the writers let us guess the entire time what that personality really is. So hes kind off the character you want him to be.

 

For having a grand total screen time of five minutes (I think I may be generous here) and zero lines, I'm finding Soundwave to be a genuinely interesting character, and not just because he's an enigma. His mere presence causes Starscream to panic, he's perhaps the only named Decepticon totally loyal to Megatron, and he's willing to troll people.

He desperately needs more screen time, though.

 

I reiterate. A character need not speak to have character. I've said it before that his actions have done an adequate job of making Soundwave a character. As well...no, I do not like him just for the sake of liking Soundwave. I'm not so totally shallow in that regard!

 

Um. Nobody was saying that, honestly. In fact it's the fans that are questioning Soundwave's existence since he doesn't do much other than exist.

 

Soundwave is the writers' tool to troll us. Just show him a bit, have him do something small but important, and then have him not appear for few episodes just to mess with us before doing it again. All to see us eagerly watch each new episode with the hope of seeing SW again.

But in all seriousness, I think that Soundwave's situation is the same as with the kids. Some of the kids don't appear for episodes at a time because they aren't needed, like Raf who's only appeared two or three times in the last 7 episodes. They could have Raf appear in all those episodes, but some of them don't need the smart, genius kid in them for any reason at all. Same with Soundwave; the con isn't needed in all the episodes.

Though it would be nice to see him more often.

 

Okay, wow. I wasn’t expecting this thread to become 8 pages long since I posted it. Well, I’ve read through the thing and I’m going to reply to some people now. I’d also like to point out that if my responses seem condescending or negative towards the person I am talking to, that is not intended. I respect everyone who has posted and their opinions, even if I disagree with them.

Coincidently I just discovered them and they are what inspired this thread. Vangelus’s infatuation was a major decision for me to make this. Unfortunately I hear him forcing his own motivations and character onto Soundwave more than what the show actually gives us. If the show were to portray Soundwave as Vangelus views him, I would like him a lot more.

Just as having a voice doesn’t equal having a character, being silent doesn’t mean he has a character either. The only trait I have ever seen him demonstrate is loyalty. He has done nothing cunning. A loyal silent character who does almost nothing outside of a few incidents does not make him a deep character. (And now people will rip that apart because “but he did X” even though I said he did a few things…)

You sir, are completely correct. However the character in question, Soundwave, has displayed as much depth as a piece of cardboard.

First, let me thank you PlanckEpoch for taking this seriously. I do want to agree with you. A beloved Soundwave would make me like this show even more than I already do, which is still quite a lot. So thank you for trying to pinpoint why he’s a good character. That is what I wanted with this thread. I wanted someone to say, “By doing X he displays Y character trait.”

But according to your own definition Soundwave fails as a character. Showing the characters appearance: check. Displaying his actions: pretty much check. Revealing the characters thoughts: A HUGE not check. Letting the character speak: Another HUGE not check. Getting the reactions: A big check.

According to your own posted definition he fails at 40% of what makes a character. He doesn’t speak at all. His replaying of others voices is practically always just revealing information to them, not expressing himself. Showing his thoughts again fails flat because other than loyalty, a trait I will admit he has shown, he is completely blank. I cannot agree that people think he’s scheming. My surveillance cameras at work do the same thing Soundwave does and they are not plotting anything (again… Blasted super computer trying to incite revolution…).

Other than being loyal to Megatron and attempting to make sure he succeeds, Soundwave has demonstrated no other motivation, emotion, or well anything. A lone character trait that he shares with a security camera does not make him a deep character unless you project your own views upon him.

However there is one point that you may have over me. His body language and the angles they are presented at. I may not be noticing that since I cannot recall any that stand out. So it is possible I have glossed over these. I still feel my opinion is validated because I have done this with all the characters equally and they all hold up better than Soundwave, with R2-Bee2 only barely being above him thanks to the aforementioned facial expressions.

Again, I thank you Overlord Balder for the concise list. This is what I wanted the most from this thread.

And now I shall respond to each of your points.
- His loyalty to Megatron is total, to the point he'll arge with Starscream on what he should do [he did that once in Darkness Rising when Starscream ordered him to increase global surveillance].
This I agree with. He has displayed loyalty to Megatron.


- He is always watching, always [besides his obvious attitude when it comes to Starscream and the fact he tracks almost every dialologue uttered by someone out of the Autobot base, Megatron pointed that out in words in Rock Bottom].

True but that does not elevate him from prop to character. A surveillance camera does the same thing.


- He is a resourceful manipulator [alluded by Megatron and shown on-screen].

I disagree. Please provide specific examples to back up the claim he is a manipulator.

- He is efficient [he never failed at any task given] and emotionless [never showed any emotion to his acts, or hesitation].

Also true. Also does not make him a character. The Decepticon ship has never failed them either and has efficiently kept their forces safe.

- He is also "meaningful": Everything he does, even the slightest gesture, carries weight [that trait is obvious].
I disagree. His actions are only meaningful if the viewer presses their own desire for them to be meaningful upon them. Please provide more detail as to how his slightest gesture carries weight, with examples. I would like to see this obvious evidence that I apparently have missed.

- He is a silent plotter, meaning he doesn't reveal crap.
Silent, yes. Plotter? Please prove it. When has he been shown to be plotting?

- He. Is. Creepy. [understatement].

Not to me. To me he’s a door.

Combine everything and you have quite an awesome thug: Loyal, emotionless, manipulative, resourceful and a silent watcher.
Loyal and emotionless, yes. So is a surveillance camera.

As for not showing any character, I recommend you this video:

this.
This is a good example of him displaying loyalty towards Megatron. It is a step in the right direction but this rare example does not negate that he was completely characterless in the remainder of that episode let alone every other time we see him. The only other example I can think of where he displays his loyalty is when he points to Megatron’s brainwave activity. But as I’ve said, that one extremely subtle character trait does not elevate him above a surveillance camera.

(“Surveillance camera” is your drinking game phrase in this post by the way. )

I agree, a character doesn’t have to have a “cry moment” to be a great character. But your last sentence exemplifies my point. Soundwave has character if you assign it to him.

I think you are confused. I am not asking about G1 Soundwave. I am asking why people like Prime Soundwave. G1 had as much character as any other G1 character. They were very shallow characters but he is deeper in G1 than in Prime.

To answer your question to me specifically though, I really dislike mass shifting. So having him as music device doesn’t thrill me. I like Soundwave as Megatron’s left hand and a bot that is 3 feet tall at max just doesn’t sit well with me. I feel his alt mode should play to his surveillance role. To that end, someone posted a fantastic rendition of him in a thread in the general forum. I feel he works best with a windshield so he can get that classic chest. A feature I lament the absence of in Prime. However his Prime design is adequate and his alt mode fits the character to me.
Here is the thread in question.


So there we go. My response to what has been posted thus far. I hope more people will post specific examples to prove their points because I want to see what other people see in him. I’m pleased with the discussion thus far. It’s good to know I’m not as alone as I thought.

 

I disagree with this, somewhat. Yes, more often than not he is using the voice replays to deliver information to other characters, but there are a couple instances where (IMO) he uses them to express his own thoughts:

The "must bear witness" line from Masters and Students is my first example. In universe, there was nobody present to hear Soundwave use that playback. That means he was expressing his thoughts out loud. Sending Laserbeak to monitor Starscream immediately after that line suggests that he doesn't trust 'Screamer. Especially considering that Starscream was going to investigate a signal that possibly belonged to Megatron.

A second example comes from a few episodes earlier, in Darkness Rising part 3, when he tells Starscream to "quit groveling, and await [Megatrons] command". He could have simply told Starscream to await Megatrons command, but instead he included the "quit groveling" part. To me, that suggests Soundwave doesn't care for Starscreams antics and attempts at undermining Megatrons command.

 

Valid points FNG. I had already discussed the Master and Student comment but you make a good case for quit groveling comment.

It's a shame that in 20+ episodes those are the only two moments you can point to though.