god i can’t fucking believe that soundwave has to answer to starscream. i cant believe stabby mcbackstab outranks mr. competency. it blows my mind that, canonically, as the chain of command goes, starscream is the boss of soundwave. what the fuck, megatron
Something that originated in the days when Megatron turned into a weapon for other people to use, and he most commonly gave that weapon mode to Screamer.
Megatron is a grade-A dumbarse.
Megatron wanted a second in command that everyone hated so everyone focused their assassination attempts on someone other than himself. Megatron really only needs to watch for murder attempts from Screamer, but Screamer has to watch out for every other Decepticon. A likable second like Soundwave would put Megatron at much greater risk of attack.
I refuse to accept that Megatron is that smart.
That’s fair.