Dreadwing, another of the Decepticon drones from the console Transformers movie game to get his own toy, has the alternate mode of a jet. For the most part, this mode looks pretty nice. There's plenty of mold detailing, with panels and "rivets" molded everywhere, a cockpit molded inside the transparent plastic on the nosecone, and even some robotic-style detailing on the underside of the wings, which are more visible in robot mode. The arctic/urban camo looks fairly nice, and all the colors fit together alright, with the bits of purple used to give Dreadwing a bit of variety so he doesn't look so monochrome. It's not particularly mind-blowingly awesome of a color scheme, but not bad, either. There are two major problems I have with this mode, however-- the first is that Dreadwing has some pretty darned obvious robot kibble hanging off his underside in this mode. I suppose some of it could be explained off as a huge missile that's permanently attached to his underside, as his robot legs SORT of look like that in their particular configuration on his underside in this mode, but his upper arms, located under the sides of the main body, don't look like anything and just give Dreadwing way too much girth down there when he should look more aerodynamic. Also, although I love the way Dreadwing's two spring-loaded missile launchers-- which are his exhaust engines-- double as "jet plumes" in this mode, his missiles fire WAY too easily, to the point where it gets so annoying you just want to leave them out of their ports.
    Dreadwing's robot mode is just plain doofy-looking, with absolutely ridiculous proportions. His legs and waist are ludicrously tiny, his arms too long, and his head is one of the most ridiculous designs I've seen on a Transformer. There's nothing wrong with a monocle-optic head, considering that he's a drone and all, but having the entire nosecone sitting behind the head looks... really weird. His chest splitting apart to make it wider in this mode is pretty cool, though, as is the piece on each wing that flip out a little bit to make the wings a bit less irregular in shape-- both are completely unnecessary, but really help Dreadwing fit in with the movie aesthetic. (The widening of the chest, by the way, is Dreadwing's "automorph" feature-- it happens by itself as you swing Dreadwing's lower body into its proper robot mode position.) I also like how the sides of his "exhaust port-hands" can slide open and closed a little, giving him a little bit of claw articulation-- another unnecessary, but appreciated design aspect. Dreadwing's articulation is fair, most of it being concentrated in his legs-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), two claws on each hand, waist, hips (at two points), and knees (at two points). His elbow articulation is really wonky, however, really limited his movement in that area. Because of the construction of those parts and the transformation, he can only move his lower arms INWARD at the elbow, and not up, back, or outwards. Considering that he's supposed to be able to aim his missiles before they fire, and he can't do this very well, this point of articulation is missed more than most would be. Also, if you move his shoulders back, you also have to move his wings back as well, which can look rather odd-- other than that caveat, though, all of the vehicle mode extras tend to work pretty well with the look of this mode.
    Dreadwing is the worst mainline movie mold, in my opinion, with a decent vehicle mode (even if does have a lot of undercarriage), and a really horrible-looking robot mode in nearly every aspect-- easily the worst-looking robot mode out of any of the mainline movie toys. Not recommended except for completists.

Review by Beastbot

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