Ah ha ha ha ha. I love it. I love you guys.
Dreadwing dead only sucks in the "but his toy hasn't even arrived yet!" sense. The character reached a natural crisis point, and "resolved" it in a way that fit his character.
1. He learned that Starscream desecrated his brother. If we know ONE thing about Dreadwing, it's that he would not let this stand.
2. Dreadwing has a track record of failure. He currently has no reason to think Megatron would "see reason" and back him over Starscream. He's not an idiot, he knows that Megatron wouldn't accept Starscream back at all if he wasn't serious about keeping him around.
3. Now we have the conflict point. Dreadwing cannot join the Autobots, who killed his brother. But he cannot stay with the Decepticons, who are complicit in the desecration of his brother. He also knows the tactical situation. Megatron's going to go win and the Autobots can't stop him. Dreadwing no longer wants Megatron to win, as then he'll be REALLY out of options. Hating both sides, he elects to level the playing field. The only plausible alternative anyone has put forward is for him to join the Autobots, which would be wildly out of character, or leave and go back to blowing up Wreckers, which... probably wouldn't satisfy him.
Important: He delivers the Forge before he talks to Megatron, or attacks Starscream. He knows what is going to happen.
4. Back on the Nemesis, Megatron confronts him and Dreadwing just outright lies and misdirects him. He doesn't ask for Starscream's spark, try to pin the theft (which Megs hasn't noticed) on him, he just tries to buy himself a few minutes.
5. Dreadwing attacks Starscream. Note that Mr. Explosive Surprise does it up close, no guile. Just walk in, crush, accept whatever fate awaits him.
6. Megatron walks in and challenges Dreadwing one last time. Dreadwing has stood up to Megatron before, but for the first time he completely rejects him. Megatron therefore has no further use for him. Dreadwing turns his back and tries to kill Starscream before he goes down himself. He just fails, because uh, he turns his back on Megatron right there.
7. Except for not finishing off Starscream, Dreadwing got everything he wanted didn't he? He betrayed his unworthy faction in a most substantial way, died in the execution of a final vengeance, and, importantly for a pseudo-samurai character, died at the hands of
his lord when he could no longer serve him.
I'm sick of pseudo-critics (some of whom I'm wondering if even watched the episode) suggesting that Dreadwing or Megs or even Knock Out should have behaved in some arbitrary manner to keep Dreadwing alive and therefore make the episode "better." Megs didn't cut the rather more competent Airachnid any slack. It would be insane to tolerate Dreadwing's open defiance and berserker attack.
As far as the "anti-climatic" deaths, I submit that this is evidence of writing competence, hardly the reverse.
Prime is making a VERY deliberate point in its treatment of death thus far. I fully expect them to turn it around and give a deserving character a "Dinobot"-like sendoff when the time is right, because that's going to hit HARD. But until then, we know that
Prime characters die suddenly, "stupidly," and not necessarily at the end of the episode or the final battle. You may not like it, but it's complete nonsense to suggest that if only the writers were "better" everyone would go out in a stereotypical blaze of glory.
Meanwhile, Dreadwing, having personally rendered the Autobots from useless also-rans stuck in the dirt to an interstellar faction seconds from reviving Cybertron, is sharing an energon brew with Dinobot somewhere snickering at the very idea that anyone think his efforts "useless" or "wasted."
Oh yeah, and the rest of the episode was AWESOME. Totally agree with the people noting that it was one of the greatest battle royales we've ever seen in the franchise. Smokescreen is probably a little overpowered now though.
" on AMAZON](/images/products/tmb/76ce8e24b09a30c8158cbde7d36bb274.jpg)
