Wingthing is aDecepticonAction Master partner orMini-Cassette from theGeneration 1continuity family.

Soundwave and his bat partner. No, the other bat partner.

Wingthing is one of themany, many animal-friends ofSoundwave. Via a high-precision "personality emulator", Wingthing is programmed to share his master's penchant for cruelty, and gleefully follows his every command, indulging Soundwave's manipulative desires. And much like his master, Wingthing is hated by pretty much every other Decepticon for it.^[1]

Fiction

Regeneration One

Soundwave dispatched Wingthing to alert the other Decepticon cells onCybertron that the time to begin the next phase of their plan had come.Destiny, Part Three He and Soundwave watched as the Autobots deployedOmega Supreme againstBludgeon'sBlitz Engines with satisfaction, knowing that they hada counter ready to be deployed.Destiny, Part Four

Following Soundwave's defeat and theDark Matrix creature's rise, Wingthing was converted into ashadow-leech alongside Soundwave,Howlback,Slugfest,Squawktalk,Beastbox, andOverkill. Their combined form menacedRavage before he was rescued byShockwave andStarscream.King of Shadows The shadow-leeches ceased to be a threat onceRodimus Prime defeated the Dark Matrix creature.The War to End All Wars, Part 5

2005 IDW continuity

Are you looking for an orange bat?

After theSimanzi Massacre, Wingthing was part of aDecepticonhygiene team that picked up prisoners forGrindcore. He perched onSkyquake's forearm.Speak, Memory: Part 1

Legends comic

WithSoundwave and the other Decepticon cassettes, Wingthing was part of an attack on theArk to steal the newTransform Super Cog in the late 1980s.Slugslinger's Ambition

Games

Angry Birds Transformers

He's a thing that has wings.

Wingthing is an "Accessory" character, giving Deceptihogs he's attached to more explosive punch to their primary weapon, dealing more "splash" damage in a wider radius as well as pushing away targets not yet destroyed. This bonus can be increased with upgrades won from random-prize Crates or in the "Shockwave's Tower" mini-game.

He can be unlocked by purchasing him with Gems in the Barracks, with Tokens during specificChallenge Events, or won from Crates andShockwave's Tower.Angry Birds Transformers

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Wingthing was created using a "personality emulator" used to bringdrones to life, creating a self-righteous little warrior with the disposition and temperament of his template, Soundwave.Decepticon Directive

Toys

The Transformers

Someday he hopes he can trade in that dumb cannon mode for a sweet rectangle mode!

• Soundwave with Wingthing (Action Master,1990)

• Known designers:Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the first assortment of individually-cardedAction Masters, released in the seventh and final year ofThe Transformers in the US, Wingthing is a robotic bat. Pushing down on his tail flips his head and a chunk of his inner body around via a spring-loaded mechanism, revealing a (non-firing) blaster. Folding his wings up forms hisconcussion cannon mode, which can be used by any regular Action Master figure. His gun barrel can be extended by attaching the handgun from any carded Action Master.

He was only available packed in with his larger partnerSoundwave.

Soundwave'sinstructions inaccurately show him withTreadshot's "pulse demagnetizer" rifle, which resulted in quite a few mix-ups on toy information websites and in identification guides, includingTransformers Generations, and, unfortunately, the photo at right. (Treadshot's instructions, however, donot have Soundwave's "photon negator" gun, but a totally different gun that no Action Master came with.)

• More information on Wingthing at TFU.info

Encore

His dream has come true.

• Soundblaster (2012)

• ID number:21
• Reelase date: February ??, 2012
• Accessories: 2 "concussion cannons", clear cassette case

Encore Wingthing is an orange, yellow, and black redeco ofRatbat, transforming from robot bat into a microcassette that can fit in the tape compartments of theSoundwave andBlaster molds. Wingthing sports a sticker in the place where a cassette spool image would be, showing a "scan" ofFortress Maximus which reveals the city-bot's weak spots when viewed through Soundblaster's clear-red chest door (in the same wayTech Spec decoders work).

Unlike the majority of Decepticon Mini-Cassettes, doesn't feature silver or gold weapons, but instead, has them in a shiny gunmetal.Like most of the reissue-line cassettes, he comes with a clear cassette case for "storage" in tape mode.

He was only available packed in withEncoreSoundblaster andEnemy.

Masterpiece

Still does not convert into a weapon.

• Cassettbot VS Cassettron (Multi-pack,2017)

• ID number:MP-15/16E
• Release date:December 23, 2017
• Accessories: Cassette case

Masterpiece Wingthing, is, naturally, a redeco ofMasterpieceRatbat. His formerly-separated "backpack" accessories are now integrated into the transformation, and separation is not possible.

Due to the modifiedtransformation scheme compared to the original toy, thecassette mode details are visible on the front of his wings. The line art of these details were actually part of Ratbat's originalcharacter model, although in most depictions of this model in fiction the wings remained solid purple.

He was only available in a limited-editionTakaraTomy Mall "Encore" set, packed in withStripes,Nightstalker, andEnemy. If purchased from a seller supplied by Hasbro Asia, the set includes acollector coin, featuring Enemy's face on one side and the Autobot logo and names of all the included characters on the opposite side. The coin is mounted in a card resembling a cassette, similar to the cards housing the coins for MP-15 and MP-16, but styled like Enemy's cassette mode on the "A" side, while the "B" side resembles Stripes's cassette mode.^[2]

Generations Selects

He's now the Buzzsaw to Ratbat's Laserbeak.

• Soundwave Spy Patrol 3rd Unit (Deluxe Class multi-pack,2020)

• Series:War for Cybertron: Earthrise
• ID number:WFC-GS10
• Known designers:AJ Piejko-Brown (packaging)

AGenerations Selects add-on toEarthrise, "Decepticon Wingthing" is a redeco ofSiegeRatbat, transforming into a flattened box that is theoretically compatible withSiege Voyager ClassSoundwave, but in practice it's slightly too large to fit into his chest compartment. He can however fit into the retooledSoundblaster, theKingdomBlaster mold, or attach to other figures as some sort of shield via a flip-out5 mm post.

Curiously,LegacyThundertron, a toy released five years later, has two slots on his right shoulder in robot mode for Wingthing, or his redecoes, to securely perch on him.

Wingthing was only available in a four-pack with fellow cassette-botFrenzy, mold-mateSkar, and PowermasterKnok.

This mold (well, the Skar tooling thereof) was also used to makeNightstrike... who came packaged with the aforementioned Thundertron. Ahah!

Merchandise

Transformers Character Card

• Twincast & Soundblaster Set (October 17,2023)
  • ID number:67 & 68

Released as part of the ninth wave of thee-HOBBY exclusiveTransformers Character Card series, this pair of holographic trading cards depict super-deformed art ofTwincast (withRosanna,Nightstalker andStripes) andSoundblaster (with Wingthing,Buzzsaw andEnemy) in their respectiveHeadmasters forms along withcharacter profiles andtech specs.

• Translation of Soundblaster's Transformers Character Card

Notes

Should probably see a dermatologist.

• InDreamwave'sMore Than Meets The Eye profile series, everyAction Master partner robot profiled wasretroactively given the "Targetmaster" classification, though the partners to characters who had previous, non-Action Master toys (like Soundwave) were omitted from the books' lineup. However, the across-the-board application of the Targetmaster term for those thatdid appear makes a pretty clear implication thatall of the Action Master partner-bots are Targetmasters... at least, as far as the Dreamwave universe is concerned.
• An early photo as well as the packaging art ofEncore Wingthing was more brown in color and had an entirely black head (with gold eyes in the art) and ears. The change to an orange head may be based on the strong similarity toa strangely orange Ratbat featured on the "Destron Heroes" poster included with 1986'sGood Bye Megatron set.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Wingthing (ウィングシングWingushingu)

References