I was going through One Shall Rise Part 3 to take screencaps of Ratchet’s history lesson,

I was going through One Shall Rise Part 3 to take screencaps of Ratchet’s history lesson, and noticed a rapid shift in Soundwave’s design. Soundwave is bulky and Laserbeak-less when Megatron is still Megatronus, but changes to his current form and has Laserbeak on his chest once Megatron is on his killing-spree. I know from the DVD commentary that some of these paintings were done in the US due to the earthquake in Japan, so it could just be an animation error, although I prefer to believe that Megatron’s creation of the Decepticons simply inspired Soundwave to take on a new vehicle-mode (although that wouldn’t explain why he gained the ability to transform into a vehicle on Earth, so I don’t know).

On another note, Megatron has a blade in his left arm in the second photo, which I’m assuming was simply integrated into his cannon hand later on since he hasn’t used any sword but the one in his right hand throughout the entire series thus far.