*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.