#but Soundwave’s hands have consumed my thoughts and I kinda fell down a rabbit hole

[novafire-is-thinking]

Transformers: Prime Decepticons - Hands

So, I was looking at hands, as one does when they’re bored, and I noticed a few things:

Every single ‘Con has claws, except Soundwave and Breakdown.

Megatron, Starscream, Shockwave, Dreadwing, Skyquake, Knockout, and Airachnid have 5 fingers.

Soundwave, Breakdown, Insecticons, Predaking, Darksteel, and Skylynx have 4 fingers.

Vehicons only have 3 fingers.

Predacon claws are flawless in form and aesthetic.

While I know Soundwave has spindly fingers for practical reasons, it’s the perfect symbolic representation of how he declawed himself for the sake of the Cause, giving up much of his power to follow Megatron.

Kudos to the character designers for crafting each Decepticon’s hands to match their function:

Megatron, Dreadwing, Skyquake: Sharp and wide for various combat situations

Soundwave: Thin and straight for work with computers and tech

Starscream: Light and “bony,” perfect for a flight frame

Shockwave, Knockout, and Airachnid: Sharp and delicate for scientific and/or medical work

Breakdown: Wide and blunt for brute force attacks

Vehicons: Useless

Insecticons: Wide and curved for digging and slashing

Predacons: Sharp with additional armor plating for evisceration (help I love this word so much)

The Autobots could only dream of having hands this masterfully crafted ✨