Soundwave

See also: List of Decepticons

Soundwave is a Decepticon and the second-in-command to Emperor Megatron. He was a combatant in the War, and the father of Frenzy, Rumble, Skyrend, Vapourwave and Deerhide. He is accompanied by Laserbeak and Ravage, all of which are his cassettes. His alt mode is that of a cyclops drone. He has acted as the eyes and ears of the Decepticons, playing a role as a surveillance system and surveillance manager all rolled into one. His chest contains a cavity where he is able to store his cassettes. He was also a gladiator in Kaon.

Personality
Soundwave is a relatively introverted Decepticon who prefers to keep to himself. He is quiet - rarely speaking unless it is through the visor he covers his face with. He rarely shows any form of emotion, seeming almost heartless and cold to others. He hides a genuinely soft and sweet personality under eerie silence and a seemingly steely, solid demeanour.

Appearance
Soundwave is tall, standing at a total of 5.5 metres (18'1) with a black-violet hull, blue optics and thin, glowing violet details. His visor is a solid black screen. He has numerous fins protruding from numerous places, including long plates rising above his head from his shoulders. His legs are bowed, and his feet possess one long frontal toe with two rear-facing toes.

In the Pits of Kaon
There, in the Pits of Kaon, he had met one of his closest companions - Megatron. The two had shared a bunker together in the Pits, with three other men about their same age. Life in the Pits was brutal and unforgiving - at any day, you can be called into the Pits to die, or to murder someone you've grown to care for or even complete strangers.

It wasn't what Soundwave wanted, but it was all he had for money and a shelter in the brutal Cybertronian society. He didn't have enough to leave Iacon, nor did he have any intention to - so he had to take what he was given, even if it was going to kill him. Soundwave had killed only one in the Pits. He would try to feign illness to flee the combat - the most notable kill of his being the very first. By this point, he and Megatron were inseparable friends, which was not wise in the Pits, because he feared he'd be forced to kill his best friend one day. His first fight was with a young Cybertronian by the name of Blue Throat - who was only three when his short life was ended. Soundwave had tried to spare the child, to the protests of the watching crowd. Before Soundwave had to face the inevitable, he allowed the child one hit on him - right over his lip, which left a scar he refused to patch up. He had assured Blue Throat's death was hasty and painless.

Afterwards, he vowed to never kill again - and left the Shadow District and the Pits of Kaon with some struggle, sneaking from the Kaon Coliseum and sneaking his way through the Molten Wastes. Upon reaching the end of the Pits, he fainted and was found not long after by Optimus, who was looking for Megatron.

Relationship with the Occulus Occult
(See also: Occulus Occult (Cult))

Soundwave's relationship with the Occulus Occult was simple - he was friends with their leader, but kept to himself and was quite content staying away from the Occult's activities.

As a Member of Songbird and The Crows
(See also: Cybertronian music, art and culture, Songbird and The Crows)

Soundwave was a bass player for Songbird and The Crows, and also played the synthesizer and managed the sound equipment for the band during shows and studio recordings. He rarely sang, but provided one hell of a baseline or a sick synth solo.

During the Start Of The Cybertronian War
(See also: Cybertronian Great War)

During the star of the Cybertronian War, Soundwave was Megatron's right-hand-man alongside Cerberus. This is when he began acting as a surveillance manager (and surveillance system on its own) for Megatron. During combat, his face-plates were damaged and ever since then, it was physically straining for him to make expressions, so he hid it behind a visor with a built-in screen which he can use to display emotions and messages, as well as security feeds and videos.

As Megatron's Second-In-Command
(See also: The Court of Cards, Black Palace)

As Megatron's second-in-command, Soundwave was in charge of doing many tasks other than just observing everyone and everything around their headquarters in the Black Palace. He was in charge of aiding in training the Princes when Megatron couldn't himself. He was tasked with caring for the Palace and its contents, and acting somewhat as a guard-dog. Aside from Palace duties, he was also in charge of military affairs and acting as a voice for the Emperor during meetings when he cannot physically be there. Later, he would maintain and help care for the ship, the Nemesis.

Acquiring Ravage and Laserbeak
(See also: Ravage, Laserbeak)

Laserbeak was found by Soundwave, critically wounded after being shot from the sky by unknown assailants. Soundwave nurtured the small bird back to health, and quickly the two became inseparable friends - Soundwave walking about the Palace with the bird perched on his shoulders. After a while, the bird and Soundwave have grown so close that Laserbeak is perfectly comfortable attaching himself to Soundwave's chest, shielding the cavity in which he stores Ravage, Rumble and Frenzy.

Ravage was a gift to Soundwave - given to him by one of the gladiators of Kaon in order to better aid him in combat, should he die. Ravage was an exellent fighter - and Soundwave and the beast quickly became the best of friends. At first, Ravage resorted to loping alongside him. After a while, however, the beast became quite acclimated to Soundwave and fond of stowing himself in Soundwave's chest.

Pregnancy and Birth of Rumble and Frenzy
(See also: Volucite Grape, Cybertronian Reproduction, Frenzy, Rumble)

Soundwave had hosted Rumble and Frenzy and sired them on his own with no partners. The twins were born after the Nemesis had left Cybertron and had embarked on the Odyssey. They were born on board the ship. They were raised by Soundwave, and Megatron alongside his own children, even though the children on board the Nemesis were raised communally.

Death of Frenzy
During an attack on the Nemesis, Frenzy was killed in combat. The young bot was attacked by the space pirate Feudelance, and found by Thundercracker, Soundwave and Megatron. Frenzy's death was a mercy-killing by the hands of Thundercracker, as there was no way he was to survive his wounds. Afterwards, the entire ship grieved - especially Soundwave and Rumble, who didn't handle his death well. Rumble locked himself up in his room and refused to come out, even if someone had tried to physically remove him. Soundwave temporarily went offline, as did Ravage and Laserbeak.

After months of being offline, the family had finally came back online at the request of Megatron. He didn't want them to have to grieve in their lonesome, and he wanted to support the friends he called family as much as he could.

Megatron
Soundwave's relationship with Megatron is brotherly in nature. They consider themselves brothers-in-arms, and helped raise each other's children communally. He would show his face to Megatron.

Starscream
Soundwave's relationship with Starscream was... threadbare in places, as Starscream's outward and loud personality had a tendency to concern or even worry Soundwave. During training, Soundwave would take extra care to observe Starscream so that he wouldn't fall and injure himself. As with all the Princes, he was like an uncle to them.

Thundercracker
Soundwave had an intense respect for Thundercracker, and of the Decepticon Princes, enjoyed his company the most. He would aid Thundercracker in rehearsing for plays, and would help him refine his scripts. He was one of the only few on board the Nemesis that saw his face.

The Song of Primes
(See Also: Primes, Song of Primes (Arc))

The Resonance Blaster, Matterhorn and The Forging of Great Howler
(See also: Resonance Blaster, Matterhorn, Great Howler, Destiny Strings)

As a God
(See also: List of Divine Beings, List of Primes)

Of Music
As a god of music, Sonorous was associated with anything and everything musical. He can use soundwaves created by his Destiny Strings to push and pull objects and opponents, as well as manipulate people, nature and even objects to his will. The only way to counter the siren's song coming from his harp is to plug your ears with wax and hope for the best.

Of Sound
As a god of sound, Sonorous Prime had the ability to control soundwaves and manipulate any form of sound. He can use his Great Howler like an LRAD machine to temporarily (or permanently if he so chooses) deafen his targets.

The White Bellbird
The White Bellbird is the loudest bird in the world, with a cry reaching up to 125 decibels. They are Sonorous's sacred bird.

Blue Whale
The Blue Whale is one of the loudest animals in the world (up there with the white bellbird) with songs that can be heard up to 500 miles away. They are also the single largest animal to ever live.

Oats
Oats are a plant commonly associated with music.

Evening Cicada
Evening cicadas are part of the family cicadidae, which is home to the one bug we all associate with summertime - cicadas. Their shrill cries haunt our summer evenings and afternoons. Evening cicadas, however, have a more pleasant sounding call!

Irish Harp
The Irish Harp is Sonorous' symbolic instrument.

Trivia

 * The trick to resisting the Destiny Strings' song is a reference to the story of Odysseus and the Sirens, from Homer's Odyssey, in which Odysseus request that his men tie him to the mast of his ship and to not let him go no matter what he begged, and he request that his men stuff their ears with wax to blot out the Siren's hypnotic song.