Why don't ever see him fight or even talk?? The only time he fought was against Arachnid and the time when the kids were in a lab, other than that he doesn't fight as opposed to his counterparts that always seen to be in the middle of the fight like G1, TFA etc......
He's an intel dude more than a fighter. Right now he's busy decoding more of the stuff Orion Pax found.
One, he's Soundwave. Two, he speaks by his actions. Three, he knows everything and sees everything, making him too important to risk losing for Megatron.
Given the way people act around him, he seems to be the kind of guy you don't want to get in a fight with. He's Megatron's right-hand man, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been the ACTUAL first lieutenant this whole time, and Starscream, Airachnid, and Dreadwing are just amusement for Megatron.
That's the point. You're left in suspense wondering what he'll do next. That'd be ruined if he did stuff every week.
Soundwave would create a frequency that matched the one that Airachnid made to hypnotize the Insecticon on the entire army of them that Airachnid now has and make them kill her. Done. Don't fuck with Soundwave. He wiped his ass with her once and he'll do it again.
It's like the scene in The Simpsons when Marge opens a pretzel stand. Homer hires the Mafia and Marge's rivals hire the Yakuza for an epic fight at the end of the episode. Homer knows the little guy who's not doing something is waiting for the perfect moment to do something. Marge drags Homer inside, who then hears the little guy yell and kick ass and Homer missed seeing it. Soundwave is that little guy.
He's the whole decepticon secret police, and head intelligence officer. That higher than second in command in some areas of authority, though generally lower. I think soundwave prefers it that way.
It's about time we got a Soundwave hinted at by his original bio: Wish we had more... less loyal Cons for him to clash with. Always enjoyed seeing Starscream squirm just thinking about what Soundwave could do.
As the creators have said before he will speak and play a bigger role this season. Give it time. Also He's my all time fav con. He has to do something or im gonna be pissed lol. I do feel he is the "real" second in command. Megatron just chooses to keep it secret so he can still use him to spy on everyone.
him and Ratchet are on reserves status. we know Wave can kick ass, but he's that "quiet guy" like Knockout alluded to.
