Darkwing (Transformers)

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Darkwing is the name of two fictional characters from the Transformers series. Both are Decepticons who turn into jets

Transformers: Generation 1

Transformers character
Name Darkwing/Darkwind
Decepticon
Series Transformers: Generation 1
Transformers: Universe
Information
Alternate modes Panavia Tornado, XB-70 Valkyrie
Gender Male
Motto "Things are never as bad as they seem -- usually they're worse."
Partner Throttle
Rank 5
Sub-group Powermasters, Ultra Vehicles

Darkwing has formed part of Hun-Gurrr Super Robot.

Fictional biography

Profile: If Dreadwind is the ultimate pessimist, Darkwing completes the equation by being a manic-depressive. He believes that life is one long ordeal of pain and suffering, and that it's pointless struggling against it. However, where his brother-in-arms just sits back and lets this bleak outlook get him down, Darkwing is no passive bystander. If he's destined to suffer, then by Primus he's going to make others share it... only more so! His avowed purpose in life is to make the lives of others worse than he believes his to be! To him, death is getting off lightly. Better to leave a foe still alive, in terrible pain. He somehow feels better knowing that others are suffering more than he is. But there is a side to Darkwing that's every bit as gloomy as Dreadwind. No matter how well things are going for him, he's convinced that it's not going to last. To Darkwing, the next personal disaster is always just around the corner. If nothing else, this attitude keeps him alert to impending attack. He's partnered to Throttle, a (self-admittedly) low-life thief. He revels in his chosen profession and loves mixing with society's dregs. Throttle sees this as simple honesty and appreciates that in others. If he doesn't like you, he'll tell you in no uncertain terms. With Throttle, what you see is what you get. In a way, that's why he gets on okay with Darkwing (though Darkwing might have something to say about that), because at least Darkwing doesn't pretend to be anything he's not. So he's a pessimist - so what?

Abilities: Darkwing's jet mode abilities mirror Dreadwind's almost exactly. Darkwing combines with Dreadwind to form the vehicle Dreadwing, so they are not so much two jets as two halves of the same jet. Fast and deadly, Darkwing is similarly laden with weaponry, the most deadly of which are his two laser-guided electro-kinetic blasters, which turn an enemy's power against its owner. The more powerful the foe, the more Darkwing can hurt him. Unlike Dreadwind, he is mobile and lethal in robot mode, specializing in hand-to-hand combat.

Weaknesses: If he weren't teamed with such a reckless hothead, Darkwing could probably claim to have no weaknesses. As it is, Throttle is so keen to prove himself that he over-exerts himself in engine mode, desperately trying to outdo Dreadwind, and overheats. When this happens in the heat of battle, it can have disastrous consequences, leaving Darkwing high and dry and a sitting duck. Darkwing hates combining to form Dreadwing, and is often distracted by continually bickering with Dreadwind.

Recepticon

Darkwing and Dreadwind are considered highly collectable.[1]

Fictional biography

Never has anything nice to say, but says it anyway. Believes that life is one long ordeal of pain and suffering and strives to insure that others experience more of it than he does. Binary bonded to the Nebulan, Throttle, a hot-headed burglar prone to over-heating while in engine Mode. Armed with two laser-guided electro-kinetic blasters. Combines with Dreadwind to form the fearsome Dreadwing.

Books

Darkwing was among the Decepticons featured in the 1988 book and audio adventure Autobot Hostage by Ladybird Books. [2][3]

Comics

Dreamwave Productions

Although Darking and Throttle did not appear in any fiction by Dreamwave Productions they did get a full bio in their More Than Meets The Eye series.

IDW Publishing

Darkwing made his first IDW Publishing appearance in The Transformers: Stormbringer, where he led an infiltration cell on the planet Nebulos. When Thunderwing arrived, Darkwing and the other Decepticons did their best to stop him, but when Ruckus, Crankcase and Roadgrabber were destroyed by the monster, Dreadwind and Darkwing both fled.

Fun Publications

Darkwing (still called his original name, despite being described as his new Darkwind toy) was among the troops of Bludgeon in the Fun Publications story At War's End.

Marvel Comics

The peaceful planet of Nebulos had earlier been visited by the Autobots and Decepticons in Marvel ComicsTransformers series, and when they departed, only ruin was left in their wake. To prevent such horrors from occurring again, Nebulan scientist Hi-Q detonated a bomb in the planet’s atmosphere which “poisoned” the planet’s various fuel supplies and resources – although harmless to Nebulans, the “poison” was toxic to Transformers. This was the fate which befell Dreadwind and Darkwing when they came to the planet looking for the departed Scorponok, and refueled from Nebulan resources, causing their bodies to cease functioning. Their rotting, immobile hulks soon became tourist attractions. Meanwhile, Hi-Q’s jealous partner, Hi-Test, had vowed to outdo his contemporary, and hired criminal Throttle to steal Hi-Q’s latest fuel conversion theories, which he had dubbed the “Powermaster Process.” Using this data, Hi-Test bio-engineered his and Throttle’s bodies, and offered partnership to Dreadwind and Darkwing, who accepted; the two Nebulans transformed into engines and connected to them, supplying them with untainted energy direct from their own bodies. The Powermasters ran roughshod over the planet, but were eventually defeated by a new team of Powermasters, including Hi-Q himself, bonded with Optimus Prime, and exiled from Nebulos.

Dreadwind and Darkwing soon entered into a partnership with the robot-eating Mecannibals, hiding their own robot nature by dealing through Hi-Test and Throttle, whose job it was to find other robots for the Mecannibals to feast upon. Setting their sights upon Autobot Pretenders Landmine and Cloudburst, the Decepticons lured them into the Mecannibals clutches, but in a strange twist of fate, the Pretenders were sent to gather spices to improve their flavour. Dreadwind and Darkwing pursued them to make things difficult, but when the fact that they were robots was revealed to the Mecannibals, Landmine and Cloudburst departed while Dreadwing and Darkwind fled.

The Mecannibals pursued the two Powermasters to Cybertron, where they took an assignment from Megatron to acquire the body of the deceased Decepticon, Starscream, hoping it would allow them to shake off their pursuers. Heading to Earth, they discovered that the energies of the Underbase that had destroyed Starscream continued to animate his corpse, but when Throttle and Hi-Test drained them away, they took the body back to Megatron for revival as a Pretender. Megatron’s subsequent apparent death put the duo out of work, however, and they drowned their sorrows at Maccadam’s Old Oil House, where they remained drunkenly unaware of some Mecannibals that had picked up their trail being dispatched by the Autobot Quickswitch.

Dreadwind and Darkwing participated in the attack on Unicron when the chaos-bringer assaulted Cybertron, and survived to serve under Bludgeon’s leadership.

Darkwing appeared in issue #77 "Exodus!" where he was among the Decepticons who backed Bludgeon's plan to conquor an inhabited world for the Decepticons once they abandoned Cybertron, rather than go with the Autobot plan to start from nothing on an uninhabited world.

He aided in the raid on planet Klo, where they seemingly killed the Autobot Getaway.

Darkwing started as one of Bludgeon's troops in the Generation 2 comics. He attempted to sneak up on the newly enhanced Megatron, but was shot out of the sky in issue #5, "The Power and the Glory".

In issue #6 Frenzy and Rumble worked to rebuild Darkwing.

In issue #7 Darkwing sent to steal Rheanimum, a potent substance Megatron intended to use in his quest for power, from the planet Tykos. Darkwing's rebuilt body based on the Generation 2 Dreadwing toy.

Transformers: Mosaic

Darkwing appeared in the Transformers: Mosaic story "The Cassandra Effect" by Richard Cookson.[4]

Toys

  • Generation 1 Powermaster Darkwing (1988)
A Powermaster toy that came with Powermaster partner Throttle. He was later recolored into the Decepticon Godmaster Hydra.[5][6]
Darkwing is a Panavia Tornado jet which is 16.72 meters long. The toy is 20 centimeters long, making it 1:84 scale. Toy robot mode is 17 centimeters tall, so the real life robot would stand 14.2 meters (46.6 feet) tall.
  • Generation 2 Dreadwing (1988)
In the Marvel comics the toy of Generation 2 Dreadwing was the model for Darkwing's upgraded form.
  • Universe Generation 1 Series Ultra Darkwind (2009)
A Toys "R" Us exclusive black/purple redeco of Universe Ultra Silverbolt, which turns into a 1/222 scale XB-70 Valkyrie jet. With this scale his robot mode would stand 178 feet 5 inches tall.[7]
  • Hasbro Transformers: Generations Power of the Primes Deluxe Blackwing (unreleased)


Shattered Glass

Transformers character
Name Darkwind
Decepticon
Series Transformers: Robot Masters
First appearance Around Cybertron #27
Information
Alternate modes B-2 Spirit stealth bomber/Tank

This version of Darkwind is the mirror universe version of the Generation 1 character and a member of Megatron's heroic Decepticon forces. Darkwind and Dreadwind are stand-up comedians. According to the author of the character he is based on classic comedians Oliver Hardy and Lou Costello.[8]

He can become a stealth bomber or tank. In jet modes, he and Dreadwind combine into Dreadwing.

Fun Publications

Darkwind and Dreadwind are executed by the evil Autobots in Around Cybertron from issue #27 of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine. According to the author, it's possible Darkwind and Dreadwind just flew away from their execution.

Toys

  • Robot Masters Gigant Bomb (2004)
A Takara exclusive recolor of Generation 2 Dreadwing. This toy was repurposed as Shattered Glass Darkwing.
  • Reprolabels Heroic Decepticon Emblems (2009)
A set of Decepticon symbol labels in red. A Captured Prey exclusive.[9]

References

  1. Bellemo, Mark (2007). Transformers Identification and Price Guide. Krause Publications. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-89689-445-7. 
  2. http://www.green-ranger.com/stuff/ladybird/09-hostage/
  3. John Grant (1988). Autobot Hostage. Ladybird Books. ISBN 0721411185. 
  4. http://transformers-mosaic.deviantart.com/art/The-Cassandra-Effect-192897154?offset=10
  5. Cobra Island Toys - Darkwing
  6. Alvarez, J.E. (2001). The Unofficial Guide to Transformers 1980s Through 1990s Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition. Schiffer Publishing Ltd.. p. 74. ISBN 0-7643-1364-9. 
  7. TFW2005.com - Darkwind
  8. Around Cybertron
  9. http://www.capturedprey.com/store/browsebycompany/co_capturedprey/heroic_decepticon_emblems

External links