Name: Wildfly
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Aerial Assault
Alternate Mode: Fly Monster
MONSTER MODE
Height: 5.5cm Width: 4cm
A pale yellow and claret fly monster, Wildfly shares his colours with Scowl (yellow) and Icepick (claret). He has light grey eyes and a big silver, yellow and purple sticker on his back. The claret and yellow work well together, and they've been used well - the central block of the toy is yellow, the head, wings, arms and legs are all claret. This is actually my favourite colour scheme all the Pretender Monsters.
While flies aren't bipedal, the head is quite fly-like, despite having angular rather than rounded eyes, and the wings look like vestigial insect wings. Wildfly is meant to lean forward slightly, looking like he's about to take off, and this is an effect I really like. The arms on the sides bother me slightly, since they're simply the robot arms, and aren't hiding at all. I guess this is a fly with arms. There's a hole in the front, which is the socket that Slog plugs into when the set combines.
There's some play value here - not much, but more than his teammates have. The arms can swing at the shoulders and the hips swivel, allowing you to lean him forward or stand him upright, if you prefer.
A good little fly monster, and while the arms don't quite fit the colours work well and he's fairly well put together compared to most Pretender Monsters. This is my favourite animal mode of the set, in fact.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold back the fly legs, swing down the robot legs and bring the fly legs down to horizontal. Swing the fly head down to form a chestplate. Give him his gun if you feel so inclined.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 5.5cm Width: 4cm
Again pale yellow and claret, Wildfly is now mostly pale yellow with claret arms, the claret fly legs on the outsides of his boots, his chestplate is claret along with the wings on his back. His face is light grey with moulded eyes, nose and mouth - making Wildfly's face the most detailed of the Pretender Monsters.
There are a several things to like about this robot mode, but the facet I like the most is that Wildfly's animal mode parts are features of the robot mode, which is very unusual for a Pretender. The fly head on his chest is the most obvious, but the fly feet are also prominent and the wings give him something of a cape. Wildfly is the only Pretender Monster with a well defined waist and the chestplate largely conceals the hole on his groin. The only major downside to this robot mode is the block that forms his boots - there's no separation between his shins, although his feet are split.
The only play value here is the swinging arms, which is standard for the Pretender Monsters and really about all I'd expect of a toy this size anyway.
A relatively strong robot mode, and while it's fairly simple Wildfly's robot mode rivals some of the better Pretenders of the previous year. The colours work, the body shape is good and animal parts have been integrated as features, which was rare for 1989 Transformers.
The Pretender Shell
As with all the Pretender Monster shells, Wildfly's shell is a soft plastic case with a hard lilac plate on the back, and he stows away underneath this plate. The soft body of the shell is bright purple with a fluorescent green head (like a tennis ball, except without the fuzz of course). He has red bug eyes and pointy red teeth which stick out of his closed mouth, and the red contrasts well with the green, making him look positively evil. The torso is painted a forest green. The purple and green, along with red details, work quite well.
Unlike the other Pretender Monster shells, Wildfly's shell is smooth, which I suspect is a deliberate choice rather than laziness, partly because the other shells have texture and partly because there's still attention to detail here. He has a cape of sorts hanging over his shoulders, and while the lilac plate on his back doesn't quite match the purple of the shell, it's closer than on any of the other shells. Like Bristleback's shell there are holes for the red wings to protrude from, although being on the back of the shell you don't really notice them.
The hands and feet have claws, the head hunches over and has a crest on top. This is clearly meant to be a fly monster - the bug eyes tell us that even if everything else is more monster than fly.
One of the better shells in this set, and the theme works well. I like the fact that this shell matches the robot - which is not the case for all of his teammates.
VARIATIONS
None I'm aware of. Yokuryu of the Japanese Dinoforce is a repaint (with a different shell).
OVERALL
Both the robot mode and the fly monster modes are good, the shell ties into the animal mode and is also good. Granted, the Pretender Monsters are a fairly weak set, but Wildfly's actually worthwhile for Pretender fans, even if you're not looking to complete Monstructor. Icepick's probably slightly better, but Wildfly is my personal favourite of the set - 5/10
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