Dreadwing's alternate mode is a fairly bulky, large jet, in contrast to the skinnier, more lithe jet mode of Starscream. From a top down view, this mode looks great. The jet parts are largely proportional (though the main wings could stand to be a tad larger), and the the wings have a very dynamic, angular "swept back" pattern that really helps Dreadwing fit in with the Prime aesthetic, when combined with his relatively minimal mold detailing. Even from a top view, though, Dreadwing's hands are blatantly obvious behind his thruster-- and when you bring the view down to look at him from a more side-oriented view, things only get worse. For one, his wing halves don't clip onto the main section of the jet body very securely, which can be mildly annoying. There's also a LOT of Dreadwing's bulky robot mode stuck up underneath his jet mode. The lower legs stick out in between the main wings and the tailwings quite obviously, though worse than that are the waist halves which stick out at the sides of the nosecone. They're a different color AND they're wider than the jet parts on top of them, which make them quite an eyesore. You know that a jet Transformer has too much undercarriage junk when he has a fold-out front landing gear, but only wheels are molded onto the back end because it's so low to the ground already if you put in extending landing gear, it would make the jet mode tilt forward substantially. Dreadwing has a pretty nice color scheme, riffing a bit on the "Blue Angels" type of color scheme, with dark blue being the main color while silver and a really eye-catching shade of metallic gold make for secondary/accent colors. There's also some light milky gray (more obvious in robot mode), which is as boring a shade of the color as always, though at least it's barely visible in this mode. (It does stick up in a few places on the top of this mode, though, due to the mold color distribution-- and those small pieces end up looking bad, as well). A glittery shade of yellow colors his cockpit and part of his Powerizer weapon, and also looks pretty good against the dark blue. However, speaking of the Powerizer weapon... as with most 2012 Prime voyager toys' weapons, it's pretty lame. Its default configuration is just a bunch of very un-aerodynamic... stuff sitting on top of the jet mode (if you choose to plug it in and not set it aside). Pressing back on the dark blue piece causes the weapon to "morph" into a large cannon weapon that's similar to what Dreadwing uses in the show. A red LED light also comes on in the cannon, though the "light piping" in the cannon doesn't work well at all. Like most Powerizer weapons it can't stay in this configuration and flips back up into its useless mode as soon as you let go of the dark blue piece. In addition, Dreadwing can't hold it like he does in the show, slung under one shoulder-- nope, he has to hold it in his fist or on the back of one of his forearms, which also shows how small proportionally it is to the toy when compared to the giant cannon he wields on the show. Generally, the weapon's just a massive disappointment, here. Dreadwing also comes with a sword, which can store in a peg hole underneath either of his main wings.
    Dreadwing's transformation is actually a bit complex for a 2012 Prime toy, with the chest area in particular being something you'll likely need to look at the instructions to solve. The end result is an admirably show-accurate rendition of his show model, however, with surprisingly little jet kibble hanging off a form that's so bulky you wouldn't likely associate him with a jet alt mode if it wasn't for the wings on his upper back. And speaking of those wings, they're definitely the weak point of this mode-- they get in the way of shoulder movement quite a bit in their "recommended" position, and the flaps on the back that fold up the wings so that they look "smaller" in this mode are quite loose and don't peg in anywhere, so they flop downwards all the time, easily making this the most annoying thing about this toy. You CAN rotate the wing sections down a bit so that they're jutting out behind his waist compared to his shoulders to give him more movement at said shoulders, but this doesn't look nearly as good aesthetically. Dreadwing's bulky arms and feet have a lot of curved detailing to them, which really helps to differentiate him from other Decepticon flyers, and gives the mold quite a bit of personality. His headsculpt is also spot-on to the show model and evokes his personality well. I also love the undersides of the nosecone form the sides of his chest, and how the sides of the nosecone form his shoulders-- that's some ingenious engineering, there. I'm not all that fond of how Dreadwing's tailfins just hang off his lower legs, though. Granted, they're small little things that don't impede movement at all, but still... I wish they folded out of the way or something. Dreadwing's color scheme unfortunately has a fair amount of blah light milky gray plastic visible now, though the gold and translucent yellow plastic on his face, lower arms, chest, and near the back of his lower legs still looks pretty good against the dark blue and shakes things up a little. That said, a few more gold paint apps on his legs wouldn't have hurt. Like other 2012 Prime voyager toys, Dreadwing's Powerizer weapon can attach to his back to attempt to light up his chest, or to his lower arms in an attempt to light up the translucent yellow bits in said forearms. However, the gimmick doesn't really work at all-- as is sadly the usual for the Powerizer LED lights. Although Dreadwing can hold his sword perfectly fine in his hands, in a neat little bonus there's a peg in the middle of his back if you want him to "sheathe" it. For articulation, Dreadwing can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), wrist rotation, and movement at the hips (at two points) and knees. Thus, he's roughly average for a voyager-class Prime toy, with waist and knee rotation being the only major points missing (though remember what I said about his shoulder wings restricting some movement there.)
    Voyager-class Dreadwing offers a pretty show-accurate robot mode with only a few flaws, but it comes at the price of a very kibble-laden alt mode. His Powerizer weapon is also one of the weakest of the line, though his cool sword storage in robot mode partially makes up for it. His transformation is also a bit complex for a Prime toy, so keep that in mind when deciding which toy of the character you want. If transformation complexity doesn't matter to you and you care about the robot mode more than a convincing jet mode, this is the version you want; but if you want a more believable jet mode, a simpler transformation, or a decent version of his cannon, the Cyberverse toy of him is the way to go.

Review by Beastbot

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