I usually take a transformer to work with me every day. I have a job where I am supposed to be creative, so it's therapeutic. Anyways, I took TRU exclusive Universe Darkwind a redo of G1 Darkwing today. If memory serves me correctly Universe 2.0 Silverbolt came out first in which Darkwind was a repaint of. But I was comparing G1 Darkwing and Darkwind, and it seems that the designers had Darkwing in mind when they made this "mold" Sorry if this was a discussion from years ago. But it was one of those "ah ha" moments for me. Universe Silverbolt looks nothing like G1 Silverbolt. But Darkwind, the torso resembles Darkwing so much. Even the head sculpt is a close resemblance, even if a third party made a better head. All the appendages the colors are identical, which is not a mold design thing, but perhaps matching them all up resulted in certain design aspects. Does anyone have any extra info on this to know if in fact the designers made this particular toy originally more as a homage to Darkwing rather than Silverbolt. It just seems odd looking back that Silverbolt got released first and that Darkwind was an exclusive if that was the case. Sorry for lack of pictures, I didn't want to steal another person's G1 Darkwing and G1 Silverbolt pictures without their consent.
Hasbro had to change the name from Darkwing, so they went with Darkwind. The name Darkwing is likely unusable due to Disney and Darkwing Duck. Edit, oh no it was clearly meant to be Silverbolt, Its based on the G1 version and the Superion chest piece. Also can just link to the resource pages from the Resources section of TFW2005, it has a record of pretty much every figure released from all the toylines.
If I remember the timing correctly, that figure (which I love, it's one of my favorite store-exclusives ever) came out at around the time that Hasbro started consciously, deliberately engineering figures to have built-in repaint potential... resulting in molds that drew from several original sources and thus could do double-duty easily. More dramatic examples would have been the Tracks/Wheeljack and Sideswipe/Sunstreaker molds, but there were also small things like HFTD Bludgeon having Banzaitron's chest-vents and partial face shape built-in, or Classics Onslaught's alt-mode resembling the one Hardhead had in the comics at the time, etc. Might have been coincidences, might have been deliberate. So yeah, I think it's plausible (but not certain) that the designers had a Darkwing repaint in mind when the figure was conceived.
Photo credit to seibertron.com Photo from tfw2005 resources Here are some comparison pictures to go by. White Mocha, I can see that now that you say that. They definitely had Darkwing's torso in mind on this particular mold. And the "cutout" on the face for the light blue paint apps. And after comparing the Universe Silverbolt toy with the cartoon, I can see the design inspiration there.
The figure is a definite update and homage to G1 Silverbolt. I personally consider it complete coincidence that it worked so well for "Darkwing" but it is completely possible that the repaint was considered during the molds creation process.
Dont forget, although the breastplate for silverbolt is not included on the pic, Silverbolt was illustrated in the box art with it on. The design and color arent exactly right, but its definitelymore of an homage if you include the breast plate.
This, It seems the Design Team had inspiration from both at the time... Pretty cool thought to know Darkwing wasn't just another repaint! I'll have to get him now!
