Toy Review - POTP DLX Blackwing

[griffin]

(Please post comments, photos or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just some brief details to start you off)

Blackwing (Darkwing)
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Power of the Primes
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - Heavy remould of CW Skydive/Airaid
Wave - 2
Released here - not yet (Asia & America FEB 2017)
Approximate Retail Price - AU$25-35 (US$17)
Approximate Size - 14cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Fighter Jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - Combiner limb & combines with Dreadwind to make bigger jet
Main Colours - Blue, grey, purple
Main Accessories - 2 guns, combiner fist

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/transformers/2018/gpp21.jpg

[snaketales]

You should know what to expect from a Combiner Wars jet... the only difference is the ability for the wings to rotate 360 degrees for robot mode (and maybe combined with Dreadwind mold? I haven't tried it yet).

Two points, one serious and one not:

Where are the back-mounted boosters shown in the packaging art?

My Blackwing came out of the pack with the blue tail fins bent at the tip from the way it was packed. I boiled a kettle of water, soaked the legs in the boiled water for a few minutes, then held the fins in the proper position and ran them under cold water to fix them.

[Sutton]

He's a good toy, and I'm glad to have a Dreadwind and Darkwing in my CHUG collection, but I can't help but feel that both of these guys would have benefited from brand new molds - Darkwing in particular has a lot of over-engineering in those wings just so they can turn the right way to homage the original. Plus the robot head doesn't fit in jet mode very well due to the 'teddy bear' ears. The combined jet mode is lame to the point where it should maybe have been a hidden bonus rather than explained in the instructions. At some point surely it's easier to just make a new toy...

[SharkyMcShark]

He's a good toy, and I'm glad to have a Dreadwind and Darkwing in my CHUG collection, but I can't help but feel that both of these guys would have benefited from brand new molds - Darkwing in particular has a lot of over-engineering in those wings just so they can turn the right way to homage the original. Plus the robot head doesn't fit in jet mode very well due to the 'teddy bear' ears. The combined jet mode is lame to the point where it should maybe have been a hidden bonus rather than explained in the instructions. At some point surely it's easier to just make a new toy...

Yeah. I appreciate the effort they've put into remolding these two and tweaking the engineering, and it's something that I'd like to see HasTak keep doing in lieu of straight repaints, but I think it's perhaps misapplied here.

[Sutton]

Yeah. I appreciate the effort they've put into remolding these two and tweaking the engineering, and it's something that I'd like to see HasTak keep doing in lieu of straight repaints, but I think it's perhaps misapplied here.

Yes. Ever since the great job they did on retooling Springer into Sandstorm, it's almost been a competition at Hasbro to see how crazy their retooling can get. With a combiner figure, it makes sense, because the length of the combined modes need to be uniform. But on other figures, why? Did they really save any money or effort retooling Scourge into Highbrow???

I don't mind characters being headmasters or combiners that weren't in G1, but in this case I think these two characters would have been better served as separate figures later on with a proper powermaster gimmick and better combined vehicle mode.

[dirge]

I just got mine (a friend grabbed it in the USA); I have not seen this wave locally at all.

Anyway, I do agree there's some extra engineering due to the retooling / some redundant aspects of the mould.

I'm a fan of this toy though. While he's not amazing, it's a nice updated Darkwing. Yes Darkwing. There's no black on this toy.

Worth my $26.

[GoktimusPrime]

At least they didn't call him Scattor Tankorwing. :p

I'd buy this toy if I found it locally but not enthused enough to import it.

[shockNwave]

Don't like it that my versions head is not properly attached to the body and I agree that the combined mode isn't special but there is an alternative and better combined mode that involves removing Dreadwinds vertical back fins that may be of interest to Mr. snaketales.
It ends up with Blackwings nose and cockpit pointing forward instead of backwards.

Ps. The main reason I got Blackwing was to combine him with Starscream.

[Sinnertwin]

I love these guys. I'm a big Super-God Masterforce fan, so I am noticeably biased. Nothing beats forming Darkwings and whooshing around the room.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm a big Super-God Masterforce fan,
If TakaraTOMY were to release this toy (and POTP Dreadwind) in their Masterforce colours I would definitely get them. Hail Hydra.

[Sinnertwin]

If TakaraTOMY were to release this toy (and POTP Dreadwind) in their Masterforce colours I would definitely get them. Hail Hydra.

I'd definitely buy them again, but alas, with TT and Hasbro's Global Unification, it'll be a while before I can fwoosh around in SGMF colours :(

[GoktimusPrime]

A year after getting POTP Dreadwind I finally found Darkwing!
(and yes, expect to see Universe Darkwind on my sales thread soon :p)

https://i.ibb.co/BgN9trm/POTP-blackwing01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4sm7jDT/POTP-blackwing02.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CJR5JB3/POTP-blackwing03.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZYdTbYS/POTP-blackwing04.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nPcVJVZ/POTP-blackwing05.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/DRtHFCV/POTP-blackwing06.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6Jvb4JT/POTP-blackwing07.jpg

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Welp, I just got these guys recently, and being in lockdown/social isolation is boring, so might as well add my two cents...

These guys are my first experience with the CW Aerialbot molds, besides a friend's kids having CW Blast-Off, which is a different mold anyway. Honestly, they've sort of confirmed for me why I didn't get the CW Aerialbots - from pictures the jet modes just looked sub-par with the arms just hanging off to the side, and they kind of are. If you can get past the 'block of wadded-up robot parts with plane parts attached' then they both look good together, and the fists-as-Powermaster-engines sort of work in a goofy-blocky way. BlackDarkwing's engine should have had some colour variation like Dreadwind's though. The ball joints on Blackwing's wings make him a bit fiddly in jet mode, and the fins on mine are very very bent out of shape.
I haven't done the super-jet mode yet, but it's a nice touch that Hasbro included it.

They look better together in robot mode. Beautiful headsculpts and good colour scheme. Both of mine have kind of loose leg joints, but nothing terrible. Dreadwind suffers from having only one large gun rather than two slightly smaller guns - think I'll try getting some Shapeways guns for him somewhere down the track. Like just about everyone else, I've got Dreadwind's legs with the wings wrapped around - it works surprisingly well in person as opposed to in photos. Both toys have a lot of character and work pretty well together as a pair, and are a good homage to their G1 selves despite the slight design changes. Poseability is OK but the joints are just a little on the loose side.

I got them for $70 shipped as a set from Savier's Toys, partially 'cos I had some replacement parts for something else that were going to cost shipping anyway. They sort of feel a little overpriced for that much, mostly due to the alt-modes being so blatantly 'folded-up-robot-with-jet-parts-attached' alt-modes. I actually quite like Dreadwind and Darkwing as characters (I like Dead End too - there's just something about nihilist/depressive Decepticons that appeals to me), and not having any of the other versions of the mold I can't say I regret buying/having them. I really do like that Hasbro did these guys as an homage, and it's a clever set of remolds. But a lot of their attraction (for me) comes from the theory/thinking behind them, and as toys/in actual execution they're just Adequate.

Only If Cheap is my vote.

[Deano85]

Darkwing and Dreadwind in combined mode

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