Dreadwing has known Starscream for too long for the cowardly Seeker to hide from him. Still, when he smashes into his former commander's hiding place, he expects a vicious fight, and is surprised to instead find Starscream with his weapons lowered. "Listen!" Starscream says. "Since when do I flee the moment Megatron is out of the picture? If he was deactivated because of me, I'd take command! As is my destiny!" Dreadwing aches to blast his fellow air warrior to atoms, but he knows Starscream is telling the truth. He levels a finger at the other Decepticon. "You will help me find Megatron then. Find him and bring him back."
I'm going to talk a little about one of the best Transformers toys ever made. Dreadwind from Generation 2. A combination of great articulation, colors, and play value, Dreadwing is just the best. Dreadwing is a set though, combining the Dreadwing toy with his partner Smokescreen (they reused names, get over it) to create the combined vehicle form.
On their own, the two figures are solid. Dreadwing is a big and bulky brute who's a triple changer. He can turn either into a stealth fighter or a tank. The gattling cannon carries over to each mode, allowing for a ton of firepower no matter the situation. Smokesreen is a much smaller toy, turning into a jet and packing two missile launchers that can be utilized in both modes. Both figures weapons use the same missiles. Combining the two is not much more than inserting jet mode Smokescreen into jet mode Dreadwing. Doing so adds to the overall look of the vehicle mode however.
The mold got reused several times as different characters, in fact the first intended reuse in G2 as Megatron and Starscream is one of the most rare Transformers ever. A version of this set came out in Beast Wars 2, but it's not completely the same. I think my favorite version of the mold is the Gigant Bomber and Smokesniper set from Robot Masters. It's just a super pretty version of the set as new characters from Victory!
One of the more interesting toys from Energon was Mirage. A Decepticon, Mirage turned into a boat. His 'hyper mode' (one of the gimmicks from Energon was Hyper Mode, a sort of attack form for the Decepticons) was wings that extended in boat mode for a flight mode. Mirage was a pretty unique toy to say the least.
In fiction, Mirage had sort of a dual persona. According to the toy packaging he was an individual Decepticon, while on the cartoon he was a new form for Tidalwave. Common complaints for Mirage were the complex transformation and those who didn't like established names being reused. I liked a lot about Mirage. He looked like a holdover design for a Beast machines Vehicon, or maybe even a planned design for Transtech. He had this neat armored alien look and his boat bits always gave me the impression of a cape. I could easily imagine him as an higher ranking officer. Not to mention, I loved his colors.
As you could expect, Mirage's toy mold got reused later in the line as Dreadwing. Dreadwing was a straight repaint of the toy as a new character. Cast in lighter blues with some purple and yellow highlights, Dreadwing is a really nice looking figure. He shared the same complaints as Mirage, so really it was a subjective at best if you took issue. Some fans used him as a new Scourge toy, which paired with Energon Galavatron and BotCon 2002 Cyclonus worked pretty well. Dreadwing didn't show up in the cartoon, but did make an appearance in a Fun Publications story.
A few years went by and it seemed like the mold had been forgotten when it popped up as a BotCon exclusive in 2009. Serving as a new Banzai-Tron toy... it worked pretty well. Another straight repaint, in the colors it looked like Banzai-Tron so much one has to wonder if that was the character the toy was originally intended to be. Speculation aside, it was nice to see the mold get another use. I doubt they'll ever be any sort of homage to Mirage, which is a shame as it was such a neat and different looking toy.
Streaks in from excessive altitudes while cloaked
in stealth armor. Bombs Autobot strongholds without ever being detected.
Separates into Smokescreen jet fighter and armored tank to enhance
destructive capabilities. As robot - or plane - the giant Gatling
gun blasts a multitude of missiles at enemy forces while jet fighter
enters dogfights with wing-mounted launchers. Impossible to shoot
down; you can't hit what you can't see!
The Japanese versions of G2 commercials are pretty simple, just an announcer talking over US footage with custom ending bumper. Can't argue as the G2 commercials are pretty much perfect as is. Pretty decent for the time CGI, good selling of the toys features, and those cheesy raps. They're a perfect time capsule of the early 90's.
