Transformers: Generation 1
| Dreadwind | |
|---|---|
| Transformers character | |
 Dreadwind box art | |
| Information | |
| Affiliation | Decepticon |
| Sub-group | BotCon Exclusives, Powermasters, Voyagers |
| Function | Air Defense |
| Rank | 6 |
| Partner | Hi-Test, Bug Bite, Thrust, Thundercracker, and Dirge |
| Motto | "Fear is a friend whose presence is felt long after he's left." (Generation 1) "We're Doomed. Not that it matters." (Timelines) |
| Alternate modes | F-16 Fighter Jet Cybertronian Jet |
Dreadwind was a pessimist, constantly taking the "glass is half empty" view (somewhat reminiscent of the Stunticon Dead End). The other Decepticons, bar Darkwing, avoid him, as they know he'll only depress them more. While Dreadwind does inspire dread on the battlefield, this only gets him even further down. Dreadwind transforms into an F-16 Fighting Falcon jet. His partner is the Nebulan Hi-Test. Hi-Test is the polar opposite of Dreadwind, who enjoys danger, and tries to get his partner to cheer up.
Recepticon
Darkwing and Dreadwind are considered highly collectable. [1]
Marvel Comics
The peaceful planet of Nebulos had earlier been visited by the Autobots and Decepticons in Marvel Comics’ Transformers 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.
Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.
Scorponok is the name shared by several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. Characters with this name are usually Decepticons or Predacons that turn into robotic scorpions or have scorpion-shaped robot modes. Some versions of the character are also known as Megazarak or Black Zarak in Japan.
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.
Optimus Prime, known in Japan as Convoy, is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. He is a Cybertronian, an extraterrestrial species of sentient self-configuring modular robotic lifeforms, a synergistic blend of biological evolution and technological engineering. In almost every version of the mythos, Optimus is the leader of the Autobots, a faction of Transformers who are rivals of the Decepticons, another faction. He is defined by his strong moral character and is almost always portrayed as the primary hero of the story, opposing the evil Decepticon leader Megatron.
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.
Pretenders is a subline within the Transformers toy line, introduced in 1988. The concept behind the toy was that the Transformers were capable of disguising their robotic forms through the use of synthetic organic outer shells.
A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. A cloudburst can suddenly dump large amounts of water e.g. 25 mm of precipitation corresponds to 25,000 metric tons/km2. However, cloudbursts are infrequent as they occur only via orographic lift or occasionally when a warm air parcel mixes with cooler air, resulting in sudden condensation. At times, a large amount of runoff from higher elevations is mistakenly conflated with a cloudburst. The term "cloudburst" arose from the notion that clouds were akin to water balloons and could burst, resulting in rapid precipitation. Though this idea has since been disproven, the term remains in use.
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.
Dreadwind appeared in issue #77 "Exodus!" where he was among the Decepticons who backed Bludgeon's plan to conquer 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.
They aided in the raid on planet Klo, where they were seemingly killed the Autobot Getaway.
Of the two, Dreadwind was a particular favorite character of series writer Simon Furman, and served a long stint as the character who answered reader's queries on the letters page of the U.K.’s exclusive Transformers title.
Animated series
The U.S. animated series was canceled before Dreadwind was produced, so he did not appear in the series, however, the redeco of Dreadwind, known as Buster, appeared as a regular in the Masterforce series in Japan. Dreadwind's only true appearance in animated form was in the commercials for Powermaster toys. [2]
Books
Dreadwind was among the Decepticons featured in the 1988 book and audio adventure Autobot Hostage by Ladybird books. [3]
Dreamwave Productions
Although Dreadwind and Hi-Test did not appear in any fiction by Dreamwave Productions they did get a full bio in their More Than Meets The Eye series. This bio describes Hi-Test as an over-achieving former scientist who annoys his both partner and Darkwing.
Fun Publications
Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story (ignoring all events of the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics). Dreadwind, now without his Powermaster or his partner Darkwing, is one of the troops commanded by Bug Bite, under the ultimate command of Bludgeon. In this story he retains his usual pessimistic attitude, noting that Darkwing had been left with Bludgeon's troops, and that Hi-Test had been killed by Grimlock. He was the only one to see the spying Mirage, and blasted him. After Megatron's forces were implanted with cerebro shells and subsequently broke free, Dreadwind was seen holding Scrapper up with one hand, asking "Why doesn't anyone like me?".
Dreadwind appeared in Withered Hope by Fun Publications. [4]
IDW Publishing
Dreadwind made his first IDW Publishing appearance in The Transformers: Stormbringer , where he was part of an infiltration cell on the planet Nebulos under Darkwing's command. When Thunderwing arrived, Dreadwind 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.
Toys
- Generation 1 Dreadwind (1988)
- A Powermaster toy that came with Powermaster partner Hi-Test. [5] He was later recolored into the Decepticon Godmaster Buster. [6]
- Timelines Dreadwind (2007)
- A remold of Classic Jetfire available as part of an exclusive set available at BotCon 2007.
