TFtember: Soundwave

 Soundwave

Another major character, and one of my favorites. 

First, the toy/file card. Soundwave began as Cassette Man from the Micro Change series. Packaged with Buzzsaw, he went from robot to microcassette player. The Japanese release came with headphones and a microphone, I'm told. The figure was nice and big, although going by the style of the time it had darn little by way of articulation. 

Now that was pretty much it for a while, at least as the US is concerned. In 1987, Japanese kids got a change to play with Soundblaster; who was pretty much the same save his chest had been redone to hold two microcassettes instead of one. The plastic in the door was replaced with red instead of clear, mostly to read the secret plans written on the back of Buzzsaw. 

In 1990, Soundwave was part of the Action Master line. Like the others, Soundwave didn't transform but his partner Wingthing did. The figure looked nice and show accurate. Pity it didn't come with any microcassettes. The file card painted an interesting picture. According to that, Soundwave had super hearing that let him listen in to other bots and use that info for blackmail (not shown in the series), had low level mind control (shown in the cartoon) and was often a target for retaliation by his comrades (not shown). 

The comics had a pretty similar version to the cartoon. The biggest reveal about the character is that Soundwave, Megatron, and Ravage started the Decepticons together. He worked mostly as Megatron's enforcer. He also sometimes had a mouth and was purple on occasion. 

He had a role in most issues and biggest surprise at all, managed to survive the series. He was even working the same post, albeit with Bludgeon rather than Megatron. 

The cartoon version was still my favorite of the portrayals. Voiced by a modulated Frank Welker, Soundwave tended to stay in the background and shoot his cassettes, but there was an indication that he was a trusted member of the team. 

He made it all the way to season three, acting mostly the same and ending his role on screen by relating information about Optimus Prime. Not terrible for a tape deck.