Toy Review - TFPrime Voyager Dreadwing

[griffin]

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

Series - Transformers Prime
Sub-line - Robots in Disguise
Size/class - Voyager
Wave - 3
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - not here yet (globally August 2012)
Approximate Retail Price - $40-50 (US$20-25 in America)
Approximate Size - 17cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Fighter Jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - light up flip weapon
Main Colours - Dark blue, light grey, yellow
Main Accessories - LED weapon, sword

[doublespy]

Thanks to Paulbot I finally got Dreadwing and I like him a lot.

I love the jet design on the show and the toy's jet mode is fairly accurate. Two things people complain the most about his jet mode: the hands and hip kibble. The hands sticking out is probably a compromise in favor of the LED light-piping bits on the forearms. But the hip transformation could've easily been engineered better so could be a budget thing. The hip halves don't look that bad in person though imo.







Transformation is involved and clever. When I first saw Skyquake on the show I thought he'd be one of the most difficult to design a transforming toy for. He is a sleek jet transforming to a beefy bot with wide shoulders and chunky limbs. I think the designers did an incredible job here. they cheated a little bit here in that the legs and arms are just tucked underneath the jet but it was done in a neat way. Everything interlocks together and the legs form the contour of fuselage. They didn't cheat on the chest, shoulders and backpack and I love how the nose cone cleverly unfolds and expands to form the torso, and how they have two stems attached to the upperarms to give a wide shouldered impression.

The robot mode is amazingly show-accurate. Although paint apps are lacking. the vertical stablizers, wingtips on the shoulders pads and knee caps are made of rubbery plastic and I don't think this type of the plastic takes on paint very well. So these are unpainted, but sadly they are the very parts that actually needed some deco, epecially those golden highlights on the stablizers. The head scult is full of personality and articulation is decent.

Overall, an okay jet mode but rbot mode is where Dreadwing really shines. Skyquake's color scheme looks better, but I like Dreadwing as a character. Get him.

Oh, the sword could be bigger. I took the spring out of the lame-tastic gun thingy but the way the joint was designed it dosen't stay together unless you glue the barrel piece to the box. I couldn't be bothered so in the trash bin it went.

[SMHFConvoy]

One of the best voyager figures in the prid line.

[MayzaPrime]

Dreadwing and Skyquake are 2 of the best PRID figures.

[Sinnertwin]

Great review, DS. Dread and Quake are the only two voyagers i'm after to finalise my TFP collection

[GoktimusPrime]

I found this toy to be quite disappointing actually. The hip-kibble thing on the undercarriage of the jet mode is just AWFUL. A lot of people criticised Movie 1 Voyager Starscream for having a chunky undercarriage and those big gatling guns, but I honestly don't mind it because it's a fun gimmick that makes the toy fun to play with. I can forgive certain detractions to visual aesthetics if it can enhance a toy's play value, but with Voyager Dreadwing, the chunky kibble here does nothing to improve the play value of this toy. If anything it's detracting on both fronts.

Engineering-wise, even the awful Beast Hunters Dreadwing is better (that toy just really suffers from a f'ugly design... bird-jet Fuzor? Really?? Shut up Goki, you're trying to sell this toy, remember?! Oh yeah... BH Dreadwing rocks! You buy! ). And the wings on my Voyager Dreadwing keep flopping down in robot mode - there doesn't appear to be any mechanism to lock them in an upright position. I've just improvised with Blu-Tac. The Cyberverse Commander Class Dreadwing toy is actually the best toy incarnation of this character IMHO. I consider the Voyager to be the next best, primarily because I just can't stand^totally love BH Dreadwing's god awful^eccentrically charming design.

I voted "Only if..." <---only if you really want the most show-like looking toy that's in better scale to the above-Cyberverse class toys (and even then, don't pay above RRP). Otherwise, just stick with the Commander Class toy. As usual, the smaller and cheaper toys continue to outclass the bigger and more expensive figures. Gah.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Great robot mode, bollocks jet mode from every angle but directly overhead

I voted 'only if' as in 'only if you don't already have Voyager Skyquake'.

Since I do have SQ, I'll be giving this figure a miss and probably pick up the BH Dreadwing.

[SMHFConvoy]

Uhm... Gok, you do know that the thread review is for PRID Dreadwing and not BEAST HUNTERS Dreadwing?

[GoktimusPrime]

I was mentioning BH Dreadwing (and Cyberverse Dreadwing) by means of comparison with TFPRiD Voyager Dreadwing... but I can see how my initial wording might have been interpreted otherwise. I've editted my last post to try to make it more explicit.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Great robot mode, bollocks jet mode from every angle but directly overhead

I voted 'only if' as in 'only if you don't already have Voyager Skyquake'.

Since I do have SQ, I'll be giving this figure a miss and probably pick up the BH Dreadwing.

I took one look at BH Dreadwing and decided to pass since the figure looked like some kind of mutant peacock or the bad guy from Galaxy Quest

As a result, because I loved the character so much, I decided to get the Arms Micron version of him. The alt-mode still looks pretty crap from every angle except straight above, but the robot mode is bitchin! Plus the Arms Micron version comes with a beautiful paintjob and his Arms Micron partner Jigu is a really cool little cybertronic shark - one of the better looking AM partners in my opinion These guys will definetly adorn the shelf above my computer for a while