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Soundwave in Fanfiction |
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I have often been told that my writings tend to be true to Soundwave's character. Keeping him in character generally tends to be one of the most difficult things to do in fanfiction. In a strange way, Soundwave has a distinct personality in the sense that he has no personality. One would find it difficult for him to do anything drastic and illogical, or even for him to express any kind of emotion. Even a line as simple as "Soundwave smiled" seems strange and out of place. With this in mind, I will attempt to explain how I try to keep him in character.
One thing I keep in mind while writing is that although he generally doesn't show emotion, he is not incapable of emotion. Shockwave, for example, has never showed anything regarding emotion in any episode that I have seen. (I don't count the old comics, but I do count the newer ones). Writing any kind of emotion for Shockwave would be almost impossible, but for Soundwave this is not so. He has a paternal bond with the cassettes, so he is capable of love. He is loyal to Megatron, which indicates that he is capable of caring for someone or something other than his own creations. Twice he has laughed at the expense of another, which also shows that he has a hidden, sadistic streak. (This side of him is rarely shown, so whether or not you would wish to focus on it, or away from it would be your choice.) However, he rarely if ever expresses his feelings openly unless provoked. One thing to keep in mind is that even during the most drastic of circumstances, he probably wouldn't do anything expreme (such as cry or scream or dance or grin.). What I try to do is keep his actions calm and muted. Instead of him screaming with rage, I just have his visor brighten, perhaps have his fists clenched or a change in the tone of his monotonous voice. Such simple gestures, but for someone like him could indicate extreme anger.
A final thing to consider is that Soundwave has a face plate, so general facial expressions are likely beyond his abilities. Simply writing "he smiled" or "he scowled" would be difficult for another to imagine. (This is unless you believe in the whole face plate = removable mask, which I've only seen in Beast War's Optimus Primal.) Generally, I am forced to improvise. It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and with that in mind I try to use Soundwave's visor and body language to indicate his feelings.
These are simply some suggestions. It is possible to write Soundwave differently, and still have a successful and wonderful story. This way of thinking has helped me thus far, and I hope that sharing this information will perhaps help others in writing a presumably unwritable character. |
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Silence was my first Transformer fanfic, and one of my proudest creations. This fic shows a bit of a shonen-ai relationship between Soundwave and Megatron, which is not how I depict them in my other works. This is because I always thought that they would be fairly cute together, but after this fic was written I discovered Nightbird. I later figured that she would make a better mate for him than Soundwave would. With that in mind, I changed the essence of their relationship in my more recent fics. |
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Despite the craptastic cover page, The Sound of Music perhaps the most popular of my transformer fics (either just above Silence, or just below). In this fic, I focused on the paternal relationship between Soundwave and his cassettes and how the ravages of war can even send one as stoic as he into acts of rage. Also, I depicted Megatron as a fatherly figure instead of giving them the shonen-ai relationship that I had them with in 'Silence.' Ultimately, I think that the fatherly standpoint is a more realistic one, and most likely the one I will keep. (However, I'm always up for a challenge. If I get enough requests for another shonen-ai Megatron/Soundwave fic, then I may just write one.) |
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Although this fanfic was probably the least well-accepted of any of my Transformer fics, I had quite a bit of fun writing this. I always have seen Transformers as being genderless. (They are -robots- for crying out loud! And that doesn't make them sex machines!) They are incapable of reproduction, and sex is meant for reproduction (sex is not simply for fun, despite what some may believe). If they can't reproduce, then they shouldn't be able to have sex, at least in the organic way. Whether or not it is possible for transformers to pleasure each other is something that only the author can decide. Generally, the romantic fanfics I tend to find show transformers having sex like humans. As a result, I wrote this fic with the thought that Decepticons, having fairly little contact with humans, would be fairly innocent in regards to organic sex. |
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