Here we have the ‘my style’ Soundwave… Which is honestly TFP Soundwave because I love the eerie look he had there haha.
His personality changed a bit from the moment I initially conceptualized him in the Extriverse too. As always notes/headcanons etc under the cut.
EDIT: added a panel to his upper chest.

Spent many cycles travelling Cybertron before becoming a Council archivist with his own office.
He discovered a note from the office’s previous inhabitant that ultimately lead him to Megatron.
He has no face. The screen IS his face.
Is 33’ 5” tall
His ‘ribs’ can open up to store a Mini-con partner. While within him they gain protection and faster travel, while in turn they give Soundwave a minor energy boost.
As they do not transform into Cassette’s Soundwave’s Mini-con’s are referred to as his “Troop”.
He has two tentacles that emanate from his back, they are used for basic machinery and data interaction as well as extra limbs when it comes to battle. They have a max length of approximately 40ft (No ones measured).
Just under his chest he has two small tendrils of roughly 4-5ft length. These are the ones specially adapted to read brainwaves/processorwaves.
However due to their length Soundwave must be holding onto a victim to read their mind, even when retracted the two tendrils are obvious targets on his body. Shooting them or landing a good, strong enough hit on them will effectively knock Soundwave out of the fight or at least for 95% of it.
Autistic.
Mostly tends to speak in the “Soundwave: Superior” style but is fully capable of talking in other ways too. He does not often do this however so if he does he is either very tired, very frustrated, or relaxed enough in your presence to let a few lines go.
Is aware of Laserbeak and Ravage’s secret and as such does his utmost to protect them whenever possible.
Met Rumble and Frenzy when he snuck into the illegal gladiator pits multiple times. The duo (to him) were way too young to justifiably be locked up in Kaon prison or to be in the pits here. That combined with their more friendlier attitude at the time lead him to gradually ‘adopt’ the duo.
When he doesn’t feel up to talking he plays edited sound bites of various people/broadcasts or plays a gif on his screen.
Likes using his recorded sounds to mess about with others when he’s in a more jovial mood.
A more common thing for him to do, however, is to blast severely bass boosted music when he so feels like it, often doing it to make people shut up or to annoy/startle them.
Or just for shits and giggles.
Has a high score on tetris.
He only became aware that Megatron had been mistreating Rumble and Frenzy while on the trip back to Cybertron from the battle at Autobot city. This is why he said nothing when he was thrown off the ship.
Met Orion Pax a few times before the war and had a few pleasant conversations with the librarian.
Is excellent at silent/stealthy movements.
Initially hated Galvatron.
Soundwave only saw Galvatrons breakdowns as proof that he was going to be/was as abusive as Megatron was and quietly sowed the seeds of mutiny among the other Decepticons.
This act was thankfully stopped by Scourge who showed him the medical reports from Torkulon.
Now aware that their leader had neurological issues and, unlike his predecessor, never truly meant to batter his own men during battle Soundwave conceded and worked together with the huntsman to sort out the messy aftermath of the Torkulon incident.
Soundwave printed off and handed out many leaflets about mental health after adding his own chapter detailing what was wrong with their leader.
Soundwave is secretly EXTREMELY proud that not only did this improve relations with their leader but many other Decepticons were becoming more aware of issues both of their own and with others, gradually working together better.
After becoming friendlier with Galvatron and allowing him to even look after his ‘troop’ occasionally, Soundwave hit upon the realisation he did it again.
He’s sort of adopted their leader.
Heck.
Much like Cyclonus can Soundwave can identify and help whenever Galvatron is about to have a breakdown.

slides into view So, word around the street is that you got some AU’s concerning our top robot dad. Mind sharing? awkwardly scoots backwards out of view

*opens trenchcoat to reveal several AU’s in pockets*
I got them…

~~I’m having a bit of a brainfart considering what I just reblogged concerning “robot dad” but I’m gonna assume it’s Sounders~~

Well! My biggest AU with the most thoughts and ideas for more characters is the aforementioned @space-vagabonds!
It gets long, so it’s going under a cut!

Soundwave is yet to appear in the actual story and he doesn’t have a concrete design yet but he has two amazing potential concepts!

Concept 1)
Soundwave actually has a deformity wherein all he has is a mouth (because I prefer the Soundwave-literally-has-no-face idea) as his shell developed over his face, leaving him only with that orifice, even then his throat is subject to a lot of illnesses leading him to have a very monotone voice.
Due to being blind he grew up learning how to see the world around him through other methods such as sound and the natural EM fields produced by individual’s Sparks, leading many people creeped out by him to assume him as telepathic.

Concept 2)
There is actually a subspecies of deep sea people (In a similar route to how Autobots and Decepticons are the same species in this AU, just a different branch of it, like a corgi vs a husky!) And as such Soundwave was hatched with either no eyes, or small blind ones, a thin but sturdy frame near-covered in bio-luminescent spots, his back has four long tendril-like feelers that help him with sight and sensing his world. He has external gills that make it easier for him to breathe underwater for an entirely-undersea life while others have smaller (internal) gills and better lungs, so Soundwave can get a bit breathless on land.
Many things along those lines, but his normal exo plates/shell is dark enough that he can be near-invisible in a dark room and his habit of being able to put on dangerous, sudden bursts of speed make him quite formidable.

SO NOW SOME BACKSTORY! AAAYYYY

Depending on which concept we go with his backstory varies just a little.
BUT
Canon to both is that at a young age (possibly like 10-16 to us) he encounters Megatron, dirty, alone with no home or family left.
Megatron was an orphan from hatching and by now knew how to handle himself, seeing the rather broken and displaced individual he was happy to share food and the like with him, thus forming an excellent friendship, especially as Megatron revealed how he planned to overthrow the Decepticon royal family and Soundwave – Having suffered due to their swelling corruption – gleefully joined him on the quest.

This lead to many fights and a lot of training to mold himself into a vicious force to be reckoned with.

Now at the moment as this AU is more G1/TFP based, Cassette’s like Ravage and Laserbeak are currently just animals Soundwave has tamed and cares for.

As his first Ravage is always with Soundwave, you find Ravage at a base and that’s the only indication you got Soundeave is there before he’s already snuck up on you and got you.
Ravage is well-behaved for the most part but requires regular fur trimming around colder months to prevent grease build-up and the like.
Ravage also loathes Megatron’s pet.

Rumble and Frenzy on the other hand, well they’re a bit of a mystery.
Soundwave just… appeared with two infants one day.
He refuses to comment on if he’s related to them or if they’re his at all, the only ones who might know are the medics but they also refuse to comment due to patient confidentiality and the general fear of what Soundwave may do to them if they spill.

So when people turn Decepticons into animals they’re always big strong things and yeah that makes sense.

But Soundwave, he’s usually like a cat or a bat or something else along those lines, but honestly I think we’ve been missing an opportunity…