I wanna give a shout to the Universe bios as well; they're basically the Tech Specs but, well, longer and they're honestly my go-to reference for G1 characters.

 

My friends had a blast when I showed them Carnage in C-Minor.  

 

The only comic books I’ve ever owned are those that included the TF bios. As you say, they were basically just expanded from the brief sentences printed on the toy tech specs, and I assume they were authored by Budianski.

 

I’m not sure I even watched that one the first time around, given that it’s pretty deep into S3. I got out of the TF hobby after the ‘86 Movie, not enjoying the direction it took.

 

I find myself enjoying S3 more than before, but only every once in a while. The animation sucks so it's fun to laugh at, but I just enjoy seeing those characters from some unkown sense of attachment. Maybe IDW?

On a related note, one of the few characters my friends remembered or recognized were the DJD- or the EDP as they called it. The only reason I understood what they were saying was because they mentioned, "the electric chair guy".

 

Personally I prefer Soundwwve as a loyalist, there are already so many backstabbing and potential usurpers in the decepticon ranks that it's actually refreshing to have one standing by Megatron through thick and thin.

Having them ALL crave leadership just makes you wonder how they managed to do anything without constantly squabbling for control. I think that's why I'm not a fan of evil factions where everyone is in it just for themselves. It's only done right a very small number of times, and Transformers is not one of them.

I think it would work best as a dynamic like as follows:

Megatron as the leader and the one who wears the pants.

Starscream with dilutions of grandure but thwarted by his ego and unable to beat Megatron mono-a-mono.

Soundwave as the staunch loyalist who everyone else hates but wouldn't dare try to take him out least they get Megatron's wrath.

Shockwave as the one playing the long-game and willing to let Megatron lead but secretly has plots of his own and knows its best to keep up a facade of loyalty.

 

To each their own, but I like the more independently-minded opportunist described in the tech spec bio. Loyalty is fine when it’s deserved, but Soundwave is too smart for blind allegiance to Megatron.

Oh, and “dilutions of grandure” had me rolling. Speech-to-text is a bitch sometimes.

 

Sorry! That's "delusions" and "mano-a-mano" (Spanish for "hand to hand")

I like your assessment of the basic dynamic of the Decepticon leadership, and I think it works well. It could be spicy to throw another character into the works as a side-foil to one of the others; some kind of issue between Thundercracker and Starscream, or someone like Impactor unexpectedly screwing things up for Shockwave who is always so well-prepared. Soundwave has limited personality due to his speech gimmick, so being a loyalist works, as it's easily conveyed despite his limited diction. But I think it can sometimes hurt his depth as a character. Then again, back in Sunbow Season 1 I really enjoyed moments like where he says "FREE TO GO... TO CYBERTRON" when he's about to jettison Spike & Bumblebee into the space bridge. I guess there's otherwise nothing wrong with a character that's characterized by being cold, competent, and obedient.

 

I personally see Soundwave as wanting to be leader, but he's not going to try overthrowing the current leader to get the position. He'll loyally serve whoever's in charge, whether it be Megatron or some other commander, he'll do his job, and he'll do it well. Naturally, such excellent service will be rewarded with a high rank... and all Soundwave will have to do is wait for some enemy to take his leader out out, and leadership will automatically be his.

And of course, letting his leader know when some other Decepticons might try to step out of line will certainly go a long way in eliminating the competition.

 

Monkey-to-monkey?

 

Personally, I just give Soundwave's toy bio to Soundblaster. Maybe an unpopular opinion given the Netflix trilogy was bad but making Soundblaster an actual character rather than a black repaint worshipped because it was Japan-only toy was actually a nice idea.

 

That’s why he was ready in ‘86 to thrash the Constructicons! He knows he’s next in line and is ready to back it up!

 

You know what they should do for the next Transformers show? Include an Autobot combiner team as part of the main cast. The last time they actually did that was like RID 2000 (and also RID 2015 if you count Bumblebus Maximus or whatever that thing was called lol. Plus Cyberverse had Volcanicus for the last couple episodes). I think the Protectobots would work well, as they have a diverse set of designs, and the whole "rescue" theme fits the Autobot cause. Before anyone says "xxx was a boring character in G1 tho!", I think IDW proved that you can turn nobodies into fan favourites with a little effort.

 

That's also kind of how I see him, albeit it more manipulative and definitely working to become leader himself.

Like in Marvel where Shockwave was commander, but then Soundwave discovered that Megatron was still around. So he came to Megatron's rescue (poor guy was out of fuel stuck in a coal mine). Megatron formed a second Decepticon army opposing Shockwave. And Soundwave? He served as XO to both Shockwave and Megatron, both thinking he was loyal to them and spying on the other. But in reality, he was biding his time waiting for the two to kill each other and then take over himself.

Decepticons like Starscream and Shockwave they seek the confrontation and want to kill Megatron and take over. Soundwave pretends to be loyal but secretly works to cause the leader's downfall making him the natural successor.

 

If we’re officially correcting the grammar, it’s also “grandeur”, not “grandure”.

It’s interesting that you noted Soundwave’s voice “gimmick” and how it might limit his depth of character, because Soundwave was one of my earliest TF toys— received before the cartoon debut— and during pretend play, in my head I gave him a normal speech pattern. That stuck with me and I never mentally adopted the synthesized, minimalistic way he spoke in the cartoon. I likewise gave voices to the animal mini-cassettes. For me at least, it made the characters more complex and socially-interactive than their animated portrayals.

 

Jem and the Holograms had plot progression and some damned complex characters. And as noted, the first season of G1 did as well.

Sunbow Optimus will always be my all-time favorite version of the character. he was and still is awesome. Gimme an Optimus who will kick ass on the battlefield, play basketball with his troops and manage to get Autobot City built and humanity on his side! Someone who can say, "There's a thin line between being a hero, and being a memory,' and 'Fat chance, fathead!' and both sound natural coming from him.

 

Give me reasonable humans in stories again. I'm sick and tired of them being the actual worst beings in the entire universe!  
I want a utopia, I need a reminder that we don't all suck.

 

Maybe he dips is grandure in solvents? Lol.

But seriously stupid tablets autocorrect.

 

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