No mass shifting? How do you explain that AllSpark thing in the movie then?

 

Exactly...Err well it didn't exactly change mass. It just reconfigured it's self into a smaller form. Kind of like the exterior of the large cube built itself into the smaller cube. I could see that working for Soundwave. Maybe not have him be as big as the rest of the robots Maybe have him like the size of Frenzy or maybe just a little bigger like if he is a big ol 1980's style 3 1/2-4 foot wide boom box he could be about 7 or 8 feet tall. Which at least is half as tall as Bumblebee.

I think that's been covered already. Roberto Orci said that the Allspark was the lone exception to the "no mass shifting" rule.

 

Which is fine with me, because nobody knows how the flippin' thing works to begin with. It's supposed to be beyond Transformer technology.

The Allspark definately mass converted. That thing was solid, not hollow, and had to have weighed some serious tonnage. When it began shrinking, it was collapsing in on itself, as little cubues combined together layer upon layer as both size and mass shrank, so that by the time it finished, it was small and light enough for Sam to carry with ease. That is Mass Conversion.

 

As for Soundwave, having him only 8' tall would still result in the same problems as the original intent of having Frenzy be Soundwave; it just doesn't fit the character. Frenzy's size was one of the primary reasons why they decided to rename him Frenzy instead of Soundwave, as was originally intended. Even 8' is too small. Soundwave needs to be full sized, which is why Hasbro was so insistant that Soundwave have mass conversion and why he was held off until a sequel. You can't do a proper Soundwave with a soundsystem alternate mode without mass conversion. A small robot mode just doesn't fit him.

My understanding is that it was the writers who changed Soundwave to Soundbyte and then to Frenzy for the reason you mentioned. Either way, I would be highly surprised if they were to introduce mass shifting into the sequel(s), considering the extreme lengths they went to with this movie to avoid it. I just can't see Michael Bay being okay with magical shrinking robots.

It has been mentioned in a number of interviews and discussions, many of which I have linked to on the past, that the reason why they didn't use Mass conversion in the first movie was not because they didn't like the concept. It was because it would have been too much in one movie for the audience, particularly the non-TF fan, to accept. As it stood, the audience already had to accept the idea of transforming alien robotic life forms, and this gigantic mystical "allspark" cube with the power to grant life to ordinary machines. There were enough fantastic elements in the first movie and simply not enough time to devote to yet another fantastic element without the risk of destroying suspension of disbelief. In a sequel, however, all of the elements from before have already been accepted, so there is now time to devote to new fantastic elements within the story such as combiners, dinosaur bots, and mass conversion. You simply can't put too many fantastic elements in a single movie without risking the destruction of suspension of disbelief. By spreading the fantastic elements over multiple movies, it allows an audience to accept these elements in smaller doses over time, which is much easier to accept than if they were all thrown in all at once. Also, by having Soundwave mass convert, the human characters within the story itself will be going "Oh my God! How did he do that?!!!" and this pushes the plot further. As long as it isn't over-done by having a large number of characters with the ability, and instead limiting it to one character with a unique power, it will work.

Mass shifting is ghey, though.

In your opinion, and I have no intrest in debating opinions. Some people like it and others hate it. To each his own. I wouldn't be too surprised to see it in the next movie though; and done in a way that is believable.

In all actuality Mass shifting isn't really needed for Soundwave since if you think back to the first episode of G1 he changed into a light post. So he could be like a CIA van or a military communications Humm-vee. I know we are all wanting Soundwave to be a stereo but fact is seeing a small tape deck that is between 6", and 3' or 4' wide changing into a 15' or 16' robot would look really unrealistic. Unless of course they use a professional like Rock musician set up.

If done poorly, I agree it could look very unrealistic. If done well though, it could be mind-blowing. It all depends upon the execution.

Of course if he scanned a concert stage he could be huge, and Laserbeak, Rumble, Ravage, and Ratbat could be instruments. Laserbeak, and Ratbat could be electric guitars, Rumble could be the drum set Ravage could be a key board. That would rock. Though it wouldn't be much of a disguise since he would be kind of out of place depending on where he set up at.