Inconsistently Admirable Wiki

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Soundwave: superior, Tarn: most inferior!
~ Soundwave's last words before killing Tarn and himself with a powerful sound blast- also his most famous quote.

Soundwave is a major antagonist turned supporting protagonist in the 2018 animated series Transformers: Cyberverse.

Like most versions of the character, he's one of the Decepticons' top lieutenants, being in charge of espionage with his casette pet Laserbeak, and enforces Megatron's evil rule with his skills and sound wave powers.

While a very sardonic person through and through, this version of Soundwave becomes a hero by the time the Quintessons arrive to and threaten Cybertron and he develops into the final protagonist of the series finale "The Perfect Decepticon".

He was voiced by Marc Swint.

His Good Ranking[]

What Makes Him Admirable?[]

  • Before the War between Decepticons and Autobots started, Soundwave was simply a party-loving guy.
  • Even as a Decepticon, Soundwave had various redeeming qualities, such as very deep care for his pet Laserbeak, who is undyingly loyal in turn, and his best friend Shadowstriker, Soundwave being one of the few Decepticon to get along with her.
  • He was also very loyal to Megatron, being shocked and enraged when Starscream claimed he was dead. However, this one redeeming quality is a bit undermined by the scene where Soundwave and other Decepticon bow down to Megatron X after he lethally wounds the original Megatron, though it's a brief moment that quickly ends when Megatron X shows himself to be Pure Evil even by Decepticon standards.
  • While his relationship with Hot Rod is initially one of pure animosity, being unwilling to work with the Autobots against the Quintessons and even ordering Clobber to kill Hot Rod so he could take over as de facto leader of the resistance, Soundwave then warms up to the Autobot after the two fight many battles together and eventually they become outright best friends, leading the resistance side by side. In the end, seeing Tarn harm Hot Rod is what motivates Soundwave to fight the Decepticon and eventually sacrifice himself to save everyone and Hot Rod is the one to give Soundwave his eulogy.
  • After Whirl accidentally breaks Soundwave out of "the Loop", a simulation the Cybertronians are imprisoned in while the Quintessons drain their energon, he joins the resistance against the invaders.
  • After downloading the Loop's code from the Scientist's computer, he delivers it to the rest of the group through Laserbeak when him and Hot Rod are captured. This allows Perceptor to tamper with the simulation and trick all the Cybertronians into leaving the Loop, thus Soundwave had a vital role in ending the Loop, which was slowly killing the Cybertronians, and stopping the Quintessons and their universal omnicide in the long run.
  • When there's, predictably, very little camaraderie between Decepticons and Autobots, even in front of the common Quintesson enemy, Soundwave and Hot Rod come up with the plan to have the two factions work together in the training rooms under Macaddam's, which eventually works and the Autobots and Decepticons are ready to fight side by side.
  • He leads the attack against the Quintessons alongside Hot Rod and contributes in defeating the Quintesson Judge.
  • After Megatron is killed by Megatron X and the latter is then defeated, Soundwave becomes one of the leaders of the Decepticons and signs a peace treaty with the Autobots, finally making Cybertron a united planet once more.
  • Tries to stop his old rival Soundblaster and the Immobilizers when they try to destroy Cybertron, only being unable to do so because he's immobilized.
  • Leads the newly-united Cybertron peacefully.
  • He and the other leaders of Cybertron try to stop the Perfect Decepticons from fighting one another to establish the new leader and spreading chaos on the planet. First on their own, and then by following the treacherous Tarn so they can use the Cortex Helm to write violence out of the Perfect Decepticons' programming.
  • When Tarn reveals his true colors, Soundwave only pretends to be on his side to buy Shadowstriker time and to attempt a coupe on Tarn.
  • When Tarn almost defeats every Cybertronian, Autobot and reformed Decepticon, and threatens to kill them all with his mind-controlled brethren, seeing Hot Shot get hurt by him gives Soundwave the will to break free from the Perfect Decepticons restraining him and then take on Tarn.
  • He wrestles the Cortex Helm away from Tarn, puts it on himself and gives the Perfect Decepticons free will, freeing them from Tarn's control and their violent nature, resulting in them choosing to become peaceful.
  • When Tarn injures Soundwave and is about to put the Helm back on, which would result in the Perfect Decepticons being enslaved anew and killing the Cybertronians, Soundwave saves everyone in a heroic sacrifice as he unleashes an extremely powerful sound-blast that obliterates both Tarn and Soundwave.
  • He saves Laserbeak by ejecting him before his sacrifice.
  • His admirable scaling grossly outshines his heinous scaling, as his largest-scale crime is accessory in attempted mundicide, while his largest-scale heroic action is contributing to a universal omnicide being averted (as well as many other ones to follow had the Quintessons been left to their own devices).
  • As Hot Rod said, Soundwave was a jerk and an evil Decepticon who turned out to be much more, being remembered as a hero who saved and helped unify Cybertron once and for all.

What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]

  • He used to be one of Megatron's main enforcers as the Decepticons spread destruction and war under him, even saying that Shockwave's attempt to destroy the Earth so as to find the All-Spark "Sounds good to [him]". Even after redeeming himself, he never shows he's outright remorseful about what he's done.
  • He is an unapologetic jerk, being extremely rude, arrogant, stubborn and sardonic to enemies and allies alike. It's to the point where his very eulogy starts out as a loving mockery of him and his past crimes since "Soundwave wouldn't want to hear [Hot Rod] saying nice things about him", before it becomes genuine praise of the hero he later became.
  • He is lethal and anti-heroic even after his redemption, always being eager to do things "the Decepticon way", such as attempting to stop the brawling Perfect Decepticons by annihilating them with a bomb, indicating that Soundwave still enjoys being the darker side of good.

Trivia[]

  • This is the only version of Soundwave to be Inconsistently Admirable, as well as one of the few versions of the character to be heroic.

Navigation[]

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TV Shows
Rhinox | Dinobot | Ultra Magnus | Wheeljack | Predaking | Soundwave

Movies
Optimus Prime | Jetfire

Literature
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Comic Books
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