logical emotion//
THIS IS WHAT I THINK ABOUT AT 5AM AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING, OTHER THAN MY MIND TRYING TO WORK OUT WHY SHOCKWAVE HAS SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH EMOTIONS IN A HUMAN BODY AND WHY HE IS THE WAY HE IS IN CnC.
It is proven in the comics that Shockwave does in fact possess emotions - or in some sense he is capable of some sensation of feelings. My Marvel is a bit rusty, so for now that will be left out.
In Dreamwave (vol.2 issue #3) he comes across the sensation of fear, and ultimately finds it to be utterly uncontrollable. He felt it to its full extent and was essentially frozen in place. This was brought on by a swarm of Sharkticons attempting to eat him, while only retaining 8.28% of his Energon levels. All logical conclusions resulted in his demise, thus fear. He also seems to hold a bit of a temper when his patience is tried throughout the series, resulting in a lot of shouting for one that claims to be so logical. This in turn leads to being called melodramatic. Which is rather true, as he does seem to over react every now and then.
In IDW (Spotlight: Shockwave) he faces off against the Dynobots, coming to the logical conclusion that if he continues to fight their rage in a logical manner he will loose. That he cannot properly rationalize the situation and calculate a favorable result. And trying to was getting him very close to some trouble. Thus, the logical option is to be illogical, and he shuts down his higher functions. In shutting down his higher functions he allows for a primal sub-routine to take root and describes it as "a synthetic equivalent of rage" which then allows him to win the fight. The sensation of rage is overwhelming - as the sensation of fear had been in Dreamwave - this is to the point where he found it difficult to restore his higher functions, and return to his logical self. He feels satisfaction, amongst other pleasant things right before his higher functions fully return online - more emotions.
So there are two situations of emotion here, both with different outcomes from being different sensations. A negative result and a positive one.
So if an emotional response can create a positive outcome some percentage of the time, why be rid of emotions in the first place?
THE QUESTION: Would the removal of emotions benefit decision making? Would it benefit logic?
THE RESPONSE: It would increase logical processing, making calculations more accurate without any emotional attachment or interference.
THEREFORE: Logic dictates that emotions are a weakness, and a distraction to proper decision making.
After all, you cannot rationally make a decision if you are suffering from emotional duress. You would be more likely to make a bad decision out of anger than you would if you were to calm down, think things over, and look at things logically.
To Shockwave logic is his one true master, it is what he serves and lives by. It was what he was programed for, how he reaches the most optimum results to his problems, and it has essentially become his very being. Above all else, logic is what he's known for.
So logic dictates that emotion is a weakness. In order for him to be superior, for him to fix an obvious flaw, for his use to continue to be required, the logical option would be to remove the weakness.
For someone of Shockwave's intellect and obsessive nature, removal of emotions would not be overly difficult. Just a simple modification. However with the way sparks work with holding onto memories and personality and such, it is likely that it would also hold onto emotions. And in that case, how do you remove emotion completely? He would be unable to experiment on his own spark (not to mention that a spark does not reside in a specific place), nor would he trust anyone (or believe anyone was intelligent enough) to remove emotion from it for him, so that would be left alone. There would simply be more steps taken to remove it from his processors. That would be enough to keep him cold, logical, and emotionless. This is excluding moments of extreme stress, in which case he has no control over any emotional sensations that decide to pop up - because they certainly do not show up willingly. It is likely that he would not have even known he did not remove all of his emotions completely, until the first incident.
Megatron's removal from leadership was a logical choice, as the Decepticons did not need him to continue functioning. This is viewed as a logical fact, and not inspired by ego (although he does indeed have an ego). Shockwave's abilities are unmatched in the Decepticon forces, and this was often proven with the fact that he was the one leading the Decepticons (MEGATRON WAS NEVER AROUND), making the plans, doing science to benefit their cause, leading the fights. Megatron's methods resulted in destruction, while his provided positive results. Megatron was not needed, and to allow him to continue would not be beneficial for Cybertron. Although he did have the right ideas.
In the pursuit of knowledge, Shockwave discovered that he needed the Matrix to unlock Vector Sigma. He created a master plan, and in the end got what he wanted. He ripped the Matrix from Optimus Prime's chest, and used it to unlock and download Vector Sigma into his many computers within his hidden laboratories. Taking the Matrix from Prime the way he did, also resulted in an overload of his cerebro-circuits - pretty much making him insane. Being insane is not very logical, so the insanity was subtle. However it is also a loss of control over himself, which could allow emotions to surface.
AND THEN HE GOT LUCKY AND ENDED UP HUMAN IN A STRANGE CITY WHERE EVERYONE GETS SUPERPOWERS.
Humans are emotional by nature, they also do not have programing. While Shockwave retains his personality of being logical and generally appearing emotionless, he no longer has anything stopping him from being emotional. There is nothing in the way of that except for his attempts to continue being emotionless.
Unfortunately every time Shockwave has experienced an emotion he has been unable to control it. He doesn't know how to control them, because he's never needed to. This added in with his insanity is not a very good thing. Getting possessed also helped loosen up that insanity from its hiding place.
He's struggling because he has no logical way to fix the problem, emotions are messing with his views on things, and he is basically stressed with everything that exists in the City. He is not quite afraid of being emotional, but more of concerned about what that will do to his logic. He cannot allow himself to focus his desires on logic, because he already has it. There is no point in desiring something you already have. So he still craves knowledge, and still remains as logical as he is capable of being in everything he gets himself into.
THE BLITZWING FACTOR
It is stated officially in Dreamwave that Shockwave is obsessed with multiple alternate modes - which is why he was the one that ended up creating the Duocon, Triple Changers, and eventually a Six Changer. Blitzwing is incredibly violent and easily manipulated to Shockwave's goals. He was also incredibly loyal to Shockwave and seemed to have two different jobs. Shockwave's lieutenant and at times, his bodyguard. Overall, Blitzwing was Shockwave's favorite, and someone that was trusted to a certain degree.
When a Blitzwing was ported into the City and Shockwave realized that it was not his, he set out to recreate the relationship he had back in his universe. This involved manipulating Blitzwing, gaining his trust, and humoring him. All for the point of using him as he saw fit, and gaining his loyalty to eventually overthrow Starscream. Eventually his tactic started working, however he he was slowly becoming attached in a sense to Blitzwing. As Blitzwing was at the time, the person he trusted most, despite the other's intelligence - or lack thereof. There was something just generally relieving (while in the human body) about having someone to confide certain secrets in. It almost acted as a kind of stress relief, and Shockwave has more stress than he lets on.
Blitzwing's ideas of "fun" are hardly logical, so spending time with him involved Shockwave to place himself in situations he would not normally. This led to conflicts in his mind, as well as confusion occasionally spiking an emotion or two, albeit not often. Mostly things with Blitzwing led to confusion.
Of course later on, once emotions were surfacing more, and more and he was fighting with the fact that he was getting attached to certain mechs - Blitzwing was ported out. This didn't sit too well with him making him a bit more irritable (mainly at Blackarachnia's and Perceptor's reaction of disrespect for Blitzwing). His sulking slowly formed into talking less and working more. And after some time he was finally able to regain control of himself and act more logically.
THE SOUNDWAVE FACTOR
Overtime Shockwave was beginning to trust Soundwave more and more - eventually to the point of the trust rivaling his trust with Blitzwing. Things took a turn when Desire became involved, and the two 'Wave's were affected. Shockwave's attempt to resist his desires was causing pain which was conflicting with Soundwave's desires for not wanting Shockwave to get hurt. This resulted in finding out that Soundwave cared for him, and wanted companionship from him. There was, as well, some indulgence in physical contact (kissing, hugs - more so when he finally allowed himself to give into his desires).
Such actions caused a certain awkwardness between them. Mostly as Shockwave fought with himself over what to do. Soundwave wanted him, and this was clashing with his logic. It was not often he heard such things, and such desires are not exactly easy to calculate logically.
When Blitzwing was ported out this sent Shockwave into some serious thought. He had to acknowledge that he had been attached to him, to explain his actions for when he was exPorted. In addition, he admitted that he was also attached to Soundwave which left him with two choices. Start pushing him away from then on (and quite possibly loose his trust), or keep him closer staying attached to him, and find a way to bend the weakness to his advantage. Finally deciding keeping him close would be better than pushing him away - as that had too many potential consequences - he allowed himself to remain attached.
Attachment is one acknowledgment of emotion, and since Desire, Soundwave has been able to make them surface in Shockwave more. While Shockwave does still try and remain logical and keep his emotions hidden, he cannot always do so, but he trusts Soundwave enough for them not to be used against him.
The next few events would again change things. Starscream mentioning that Soundwave wanted to interface with him (when Shockwave was not aware "companionship" went that far), and then the 'Wave's trip to Alaska. Where Shockwave gave his decision that he would be alright with interfacing - which would also prove to be an interesting experiment on how human bodies work. And later on there was Troy's singing. The results of this caused Shockwave to experience the emotion of happiness for a full 24 hours. With happiness he realized that being around Soundwave made him happy, and asked him on a date.
After you go through an entire 24 hours of happiness wanting to be close to another person and making them happy you do realize something. He couldn't completely blame the music for his actions, as the entire ordeal with Soundwave would have had to have come from somewhere inside him. The most he could say was that it was heavily exaggerated, as ignoring his actions would be illogical. If he was happiest, during that 24 hours, when he was with Soundwave that meant something.
His attachment was making him want to keep Soundwave for himself. That of course is coupled with his trust, the random surfacing of his emotions, knowing what that happy feeling around Soundwave was like, desires, and knowing that physical contact can be quite pleasing. And has lead to companionship between the two. Or rather acknowledgment that Shockwave is in fact, in a relationship with Soundwave.
This means a few things for Shockwave emotionally. There is little change in him normally, but Soundwave's well being can trigger things. Thanks to that attachment. Concern is common if Soundwave is in danger, threatened, or hurt. Shockwave does occasionally get upset when Soundwave is hurt as well. When Soundwave pushes him away he can become agitated, angry.
Emotions are still not overly common, but it is safe to say that they surface more when he is around Soundwave, than any other situation. He does not control them any better when Soundwave is around, nor can he always tell what he is feeling. He just feels more around him, due to an attachment. And a more frequent chemical reaction within his brain when the other is around in some sense - also something he cannot control.