When Cybertron first started, I wasn't really paying much attention to it (I was mostly focused on Binaltechs at the time). So, if this has already been discussed ad nauseum, please forgive me!  

Anyway, earlier today I was scanning over my Classics collection, and found myself being irked for the upteenth time by the fact that I have a Dreadwind but no Darkwing to go with him. As I thought about what recent Voyager-sized jets could theoretically be kitbashed into Darkwing (another Jetfire? Voyager Starscream? Who???) my eyes suddenly fell on Cybertron Soundwave. And I realized.... he ALREADY looks a lot like Darkwing, to the point that I wonder if it may have been a deliberate homage.

Check it out: backpack made of up-swept wings, tailfins up around his shoulders, double-vented designs on his knees that look like Darkwing's feet, etc. Most strikingly, his head looked like Darkwing... the V-shaped purple visor, the ears, the cheek vents. He just has a mouthplate instead of a mouth.

Even the Laserbeak minicon could conceivably be seen as a parallel to his Nebulan partner (albeit an avian version). And while I'm not a big fan of Soundwave's alt mode, a stealth bomber is the perfect choice for a character named "Darkwing."

So I slapped them side by side to compare (images borrowed from Seibertron.com.... hopefully it's all right to do that. Thanks Seibertron!):



And then I did a quick and very sloppy digibash to see how Soundwave would look in Darkwing's colors:



So whaddya think? Am I seeing homages where there are none? Or, alternatively, did everyone else already see this and I'm just late to the party?  

All I know is that suddenly C. Soundwave's head looks more like Darkwing than Soundwave to me... and I find myself wishing that THIS had been the Universe 2.0 repaint instead of Blaster.  

 

I honestly don't see this figure as Darkwing at all. The digibash looks very nice though.

 

I'd do the feet in purple, myself, so they blend better with the jet mode. Maybe Dark Blue for the shoulders so they don't stand out as much.

Very cool observation though, I never put these two together before but they do fit. It would be nice to get this one so I can display him with Botcon Dreadwind. His Laserbeak could be named after his Powermaster!

 

I really think Jetfire should've been done up as Darkwing instead in the first place. They're both swing-wing fighter planes. Jetfire's limbs already look a lot like Darkwing's anyway. And Jetfire's made to have his wings in the up position as it is. Why they chose to make him into Dreadwind instead is beyond me.

They should've made Dreadwind out of Cybertron Thundercracker or summat instead.

Granted, your digibash does look good, but I think it'd be too similar to the original for them to have considered releasing it. At least before Blaster, I mean.

 

Thanks for the comments, guys. Sol Fury, I think you're right... if I were actually going to turn this into a real kitbash, I'd probably make the feet purple and the shoulders blu. Good suggestions, thanks!   I'll probably never make it, though... I've kinda given up kitbashing, it just takes too much bloody time.  

a person and Chaos Convoy, you make excellent points. Yeah, I might be making a bit too big of a leap with this connection. Fun to do anyway, though.   And CC, I COMPLETELY agree that Dreadwind should have been painted like Darkwing to begin with in the Botcon set. In fact, when the set was announced, I had the two confused in my mind, and was all excited because I thought it WOULD be Darkwing colors (I always preferred the Darkwing toy). The Jetfire mold would have looked great in dark grey, and like you said, the jet mode fits perfectly. I was disappointed when I got the names straightened out.  

Anyway, thanks again for looking! Here's to hoping there will actually be a REAL Universe Darkwing figure someday....

 

The digibash looks nice (and I like it more than the Blaster recolor we've now seen), but I think any similarities you see are just wanting more than is really there  

 

Yeah, stuff like that always makes me want to take an axe to someone's head