Smokescreen has had an interesting past couple years. He’s never really been a “major” Transformers character. He’s mainly just another member of Optimus Prime’s earth-based Autobot crew who has a couple traits that are just enough to make him unique among his peers. He was originally released in 1985 as part of the second wave of Autobots and was a repaint of Prowl. The result was a character that was fairly easy to ignore.
But then Transformers: Prime happened and suddenly Smokescreen was indeed a major character. He took on the traditional Hot Rod role of being “the chosen one” (there’s a lot of that in Transformers fiction, I’m now realizing), and, just like that, Smokescreen was finally getting his day in the spotlight. And then this month this bad boy was released: Transformers Masterpiece Smokescreen, another strong addition to the Masterpiece collection.
Masterpiece Smokescreen is the third release of the “Fairlady-Z” trio that also included Prowl and Bluestreak. Thankfully, Smokescreen dodges the bullet of merely being a “Prowl repaint” due to a few retooled parts, new weapons, and a new head sculpt. The result is a figure that stands unique in the collection despite some shared characteristics with Prowl and Bluestreak.
Smokescreen’s packaging is thankfully consistent with the Masterpiece line as a whole. This is one area Takara should never get creative with because it is such a simple, clean, and perfect design that shows off the character and figure perfectly. Maybe for future releases they could add a window-box feature, but this basic design is just too solid to ever play around with too much. I keep these boxes and I love the way they look all together on a bookshelf.
Smokescreen’s head sculpt is new and it is dead-on accurate to the character model used by the G1 cartoon and Marvel comic. Some people have expressed some disappointment with his head sculpt, instead expressing a preference for something that’s closer to the G1 figure (which was basically a repainted Prowl head). I’m a fan of this head sculpt because I’m a sucker for comic/cartoon accuracy, and it adds some diversity to the shelf, especially if he’s displayed close to Prowl and Bluestreak.
If you already have Prowl and/or Bluestreak, there isn’t a whole lot here that’s new, and you should pretty much know what to expect from this figure. The biggest differences here are the white “grill” of the car and his shoulders, which are designed to have the tires facing upward, rather than hiding behind a panel in his shoulders like with Prowl. He also comes with two large cannons that attach to his shoulders on either side of his head. “Large” being the operative word here.
The cannons can be removed if you prefer your Smokescreen to sport a more basic look, but the cannons are comic/cartoon accurate, so if you’re like me, those cannons are there to stay. The cannons also serve to distract from the blockiness of his chest. The white portion succeeds in differentiating him from Prowl, but it also compromises the sleekness of his ‘bot mode a bit. It’s accurate in appearance to the source material, but I still find it to be just a tiny bit off-putting. That’s just a personal reaction to this, though; I couldn’t call this a “flaw” or anything.
His primary weapon, the “electro-disruptor,” is also different from the ones Prowl and Bluestreak came with. They’re the same general shape, for lack of a better word, but the overall design is unique to Smokescreen. It’s a nice-looking weapon, but I’ve been having a hard time getting it to clip securely in his hand. The tab that’s on the handle doesn’t want to stay in place, but as long as you close his fist around the handle, he can hold it well enough. It’s annoying, but not too big a deal.
The great thing about the Masterpiece line is we’re getting the sculpts and designs we’ve always wanted from the G1 Transformers packed with all the articulation we’ve dreamed about as well. Short of an ab crunch, Smokescreen is just as poseable as any other action figure on the market these days, and when you consider how elaborate his transformation is, the engineering that went into this guy is mighty impressive. There’s nothing new here in terms of articulation if you already have Prowl and/or Bluestreak, but it’s awesome to have another Autobot on the shelf that’s this poseable.
He’s unique enough where he doesn’t feel redundant when displayed with Prowl and Bluestreak, which was my main concern. Smokescreen has never been a favorite character of mine or anything, so I bought him mainly to just support the line because I eventually want to see every Autobot car released in this Masterpiece format. The Masterpiece cars are in a very satisfying scale; the size and heft feel perfect when you hold them in your hand, and it really feels like you’re getting much more than you would out of a standard Generations release, so the price difference feels justified.
Smokescreen’s alt mode is perfectly slick and the colors really pop. His color scheme is the impossible-to-resist classic “hero” colors of red, white, and blue, which is actually a fairly rare combo to see on a Transformers figure. It’s nice to have some more blue to add to the ranks of the Masterpiece Autobots to break up that sea of red, black, and white that we have so far. And there’s something about seeing the colors and stripes all line up so perfectly in his alt mode. It looks so cool.
In Smokescreen’s case, I almost prefer the alt mode to the ‘bot mode, which almost never happens. The alt mode is so clean and sharp and it just looks “fast,” if you know what I mean. The blockiness of the front end works better here than it does in his ‘bot mode, so I guess, in a sense, this is the more satisfying mode of the two.
The grill and the spoiler are new here, but that’s about it, apart from the paint job, of course. The color scheme alone is almost enough to differentiate him from the other Fairlady-Z Autobots, but the newly tooled additions are a welcome sight.
Smokescreen has just started to hit all the online stores within the past two weeks, so you shouldn’t have a hard time snagging one. Even if you already have Prowl, I think Smokescreen is worth a purchase as well since there is quite a bit that is new and unique here. And it’s just cool to see the Masterpiece Autobot ranks slowly grow.
