zorian wrote:Coolyfett chill man. I have generally agreed with you in this thread ,not every word mind you ,but the giest of it.
However the repeated post that is being done from your account is annoying me, so I know it is annoying the people on the other side of this debate. That is not good debate style and weakens your argument.
Tramp if I am read you correctly your biggest argument* why you do not want Soundwave to be a vehicle is that it is conspicuous and not in fitting with his G1 infiltration role. This seems to be more important you than to others, please understand this. I personally always thought of Soundwave as more of an intelligence officer who analized the info that is spies (cassettes) and his ability to intercept/decode broadcasts. After that I see him as physically powerful. Then a comm officer. Then as an infiltrator. You obvously see him as an infiltrator first.
On the topic of being able to show the info... he could always broadcast it to other cybertronians through radio or cable or ever do a partial transformation to a screen like the weapon shifts nearly every TF in the movie did.
Also I wouldn't mind some mass shifting ,but I never really liked the shifting by 1000's of %s and the partial shifting.
Something else to keep in mind is that the only reason that Soundwave was a tapedeck in the first place was there was already a toy in an older Japanese toy line. Same with reflector.
*(not reason which is probably you want him to be as close to G1 as possible)
Yes, I do see him as an infiltrator first, because that is what he mostly did in the field, then as an intelligence officer analyzing the data he and his minions gathered, then as Commmunications Officer, and finally as Megatron's advisor equal to Starscream in authority, hence why he needs to be capable of growing to full 20+ foot size in robot mode.
It was also his alternate mode that he used to record, analyze and play back the data that he and his minions gathered. And from a movie perspective, this also makes it better for him to have his stereo mode because, unlike a vehicle, a stereo entertainment system, particularly an Audio/visual system, uses every internal component for the purpose of translating electronic signals into sound and visuals that others can see and hear. Vehicles require some of their systems for mobility, and all of the internal components of the robot mode are derived from its alternate mode, thus, in robot mode, all of those internal components are being diverted to other tasks than communications or data recording, analysis, and playback. Whereas in a stereo mode, all those components are devoted to that primary task, which is what a stereo system does anyway. He'd just be more powerful, with hidden surveylance features built into the package, which are still devoted to that one function. It is a dedicated system. A vehicle isn't. Too much of a vehicle's systems are needed for mobility since that is a vehicle's primary purpose. Very little of his internal resources would be devoted to communications, data analysis, or recording and playing back audio/visual data. A stereo system, sacrifices mobility for dedicated service to a single function. As an alternate mode, it also provides an ideal disguise in any situation and location.
And, yes, I do know that he came from a previous Japanese line. My other point is that is was still that previous toy's alternate mode which gave him his name when he was turned into a Transformer. He got the name "Soundwave" because he was a tape deck— a device whos sole purpose was the recording and playing back of audio data, of soundwaves. Hence the name.