Nemesis Cyberplex wrote:Tramp wrote:Nemesis Cyberplex wrote:Soundwave is a transforming robot from the planet Cybertron. By the movie standards, he could change into pretty much whatever the hell he wanted to. So to keep him truely faithful, he would need to be a transforming robot. Alt mode is irrelevant. Because none would be his true form...his cybertronian form.
The clothes don't make the man.
*envokes the right of yellow spandex again*
Actually, in the case of Transformers, yes, the "clothes" do make the "man". For most it is their alternate mode appearances, and the look of their robot modes which makes them recognizable. For Soundwave this is definately the case.
His alternate mode is what gave him his name in the first place. Ratchet is defined by his ambulance mode. Bumblebee is defined by his yellow car mode. Warpath is defined by his tank mode. These characters are
defined by their alternate modes.
Bumblebee was named so because his car mode was a yellow VW Bug. Yellow bug = bumblebee. He is no longer a Bug. The name was made irrelevant. So Now what makes him Bumblebee is the battle mask & "wings" making his robot mode look like a bumblebee. The same thing could be done for Soundwave. He could be given a different reason for having the name: sonic weapons, audio surveilence equippment, a voice that makes him seem like he's in an opera.....& he would still be Soundwave. Without a boombox alt mode. & without Mass-shifting.
Wrong on all fronts. Yes, Bumblebee got his name from being a yellow bug, but the primary thign was the
color, not the car. Yellow and black. That is where he got the name. He was small, and cute and yellow. He is still pretty small, still cute, and still
yellow, just like a bumblebee. Not much has changes except the make of the car.
Soundwave was named Soundwave because of his alternate mode—a stereo tape deck—something which plays music. It's purpose to play specific kinds of soundwaves. Hence the name. To update that to a mondern design that fits into the movie, you need to use a stereo CD player. That is the modern equivalent to his original and still match his name and the reason for that name, thus retain who the character is. His alternate mode
completely defines Soundwave as a character.
DesalationReborn wrote:Everyone knows Soundwave has to be a shrinking blue cassette-based boombox from the 1980's for T2 to be a success. Now everybody knows Bumblebee is iconic for being that small, cute, but courageous VW bug, and the same for Ironhide as a Southern-talking red van, and Ratchet as a white ambulance, Megatron as a physics-defying Walter P-38 pistol that had to be shot by a nearby Decepticon to be useful, Starscream as a red-white-and-blue skinny pretty-boy, and Optimus as a straightforward red and blue cab-over-engine semitrailer.
Be serious. Yes, perpole know Bumblebee was a yellow bug. More importantly that he was cute courageous and
yellow. Whether he is a Bug or not isn't as important. He's still a car. He is still yellow, and he is still cute and courageous. They wouldn't have been allowed to use the Bug regardless if Bay liked or hated
Herbie the Love Bug.
Megatron has had too many
recognizable and rememberd alternate modes to have any single iconic one. He is not
defined by it. Having a gun mode is also completely unsuited for a megalomaniacle leader like him anyway because it places him in service to, and need of, another individual. It deosn't make sense for him to be a gun. That is why they have not used a gun mode for him since G1. The US toy gun laws helped too.
Ironhide too is not defined by his alternate mode. He too has had several recognizable incarnations. What makes him Ironhide is this tough demeanor and super tough armor.
Prime
is recognized by his appearance. His most iconic form is as a semi, but even there, he has had a number of different makes and models of semi, not just the Cab-Over-Engine model, and every one of them is recognizable as Prime. His Red and blue color scheme is also just as iconic and was kept, as were the windows in his chest and face plate. Nothing iconic about Prime was lost. Nothing iconic about Ratchet was lost, nor Jazz, nor Starscream.
Making Soundwave a vehicle
is taking away something iconc and completely defining of him as a character. Not making him some piece of portable stereo equipment, regardless of whether it is an old-fashioned tape deck or a modern CD player, and turning him into a vehicle is making him someone other than Soundwave. You are taking away his most iconic and recognizable feature. And if you do that, he might as well not be Soundwave at all. Name him something else. That is what they did with Blackout, and with Frenzy. Frenzy
was going to be Soundwave, and according to people here, Blackout was apparently slated for that name originally too, though all official reports deny that last bit.
Soundwave as a stereo is what makes him Soundwave, and nothing can change that. His having mass conversion is also an iconic part of his character because it put him on equal footing with the other Decepticons as one of Megatron's most trusted leiutenants.
