Why My Wife is Awesome!

She buys me toys!

See, today is our five year anniversary, and to celebrate, she didn't buy me just ANY toy, she bought me a Japanese re-issue Soundwave Transformer.

Why is that special you ask?

Well, it's because Soundwave is the best.
I mean that. There is no cooler example of 1980's robot-that-turns-into-things than Soundwave. Originally voiced by Frank Welker (whose voice was heavily modulated for that cold robotic sound), Soundwave was really the only effective Decepticon. Megatron was always hamstrung by the machinations of Starscream, and all the other Decepticons were really just a rogues gallery of thugs and dullards (OK except for maybe Shockwave, but he was on Cybertron for most of the series).

Yup, it's all about Soundwave. He was not only an effective combatant, but he also had a whole collection of his own minion that included not only warriors but ESPIONAGE units. Soundwave was the only reason the Decepticons ever had any intel on the Autobots, not that they could ever do anything with it.

More importantly Soundwave was my entrance to the world of 1980's action cartoons.


I don't know if my parents would even remember, but our first Christmas after moving from Albuquerque to San Antonio, they gave me a Soundwave. I was five years old, but it's still a very vivid memory. I remember not being entirely sure what to think. I had watched some Transformers, but I had never had a toy like this before. Big robots. Big Guns. Totally Rad! AND IT LOOKED LIKE A WALKMAN! How cool is that!

Peter Cullen is pretty much responsible for me working in voice over today (I'll write more about that later), but I never would've found out about him if it hadn't been for Soundwave.


That's why my wife is awesome!


Just for fun, here's Soundwave doing a little pop and lock: