Spotlight on Transformers Smokescreen
Transformers Universe Smokescreen is the character of interest, and the character's appearance on Transformers Prime is the reason why. This is another pretty strong Generation 1-based release from Hasbro in their Deluxe Class 25th Anniversary line. He offers a classic style with modern flourishes and there's not much more you can ask for.
Smokescreen is attractive action figure whether he's cruising down the road or beating Starscream to the ground. His car mode is a sleek sports car with some more modern looking angles, taking the appearance of a pseudo Nissan 350z (to my eyes). This excellent design is a little bit hampered by poor function with a few noticeable gaps, as well as a rear "window" that's very difficult to get to line up with the roof of the car. He's actually really tricky to get flush and smooth in his alt form, leaving him a little lackluster looking despite the nice design. There are some more intricate car details worked into this guy, with door handles, carved lines to denote the actual doors, grooves in the grill and intake, and finally a moonroof box that didn't have to be sculpted in, but adds some visual flair. One bad thing about the transformation is that it does leave a lot of robot parts visible inside the cockpit of the car, while some interior details would have looked much cooler.
Most people won't even notice these details as they move Smokescreen into Robot mode, and this is where his sculpt starts to strut its stuff. Smokescreen has a cool silhouette, aided by the doors raising out of his shoulders like wings. His legs are well designed as well and look good in a variety of poses. His upper body isn't quite so perfect, with a hollow chest and oddly place shoulders, it' still just okay. I think his head looks strangely too far back because of the slope of his chest, though it's actually perfectly on axis with his torso core. It's also weird looking on the raised black plate it rests on, because it isn't flush with his body.
I guess what it comes to with his upper body is that this guy looks great in some poses but wonky in others because of the iffy proportions. This really might differ depending on the person who is looking at it too. Smokescreen has all the necessary little robot details sculpted right in, meaning little circuit technology looking stuff on his arms, legs and various other parts. This gives him some sort of texture and keeps him from looking too basic. His weapon is small, but loaded down with details and looks good in his hand, and although this face sculpt is a kind of generic Transformers head, it still gets the job done nicely.
Smokescreen could start a new sub-unit of the Autobots, "The Rainbowers". Some of it is painted, but most of it is just cast in the right color. Let's see, there is red, blue, clear, gray, black, and translucent yellow all included as plastic colors, while white, black, blue, red, silver, gold, and navy are each painted on somewhere. All of these options mean there are some definite color match issues, though none of them are too drastic. The yellow rarely achieves enough thickness to hide the color underneath, and there are problems staying between the lines in a few places too. For instance, the yellow on his head prongs doesn't reach all the way to his head, and the blue paint on his rear window is lazy around the corners, rounded off and fuzzy instead of sharp. Neither of these problems is bad enough to notice at first glance, and probably won't bother you a whole lot, yet you can't ignore that they're there.
The decals (his number panels and autobot symbol) are very crisp and straight. The color scheme is definitely a little busy, particularly in car mode, but he doesn't look that bad as a robot, even managing to look charming. His silver face is a bit goopy and messy and his accessory is too simple as it's just molded in a basic red. This is a classic paint job, that while it could benefit from some cleaning up, it still looks good and brings across that generation 1 feel.
Articulation and Smokescreen get along quite well, although I wouldn't call them life partners just yet. He definitely has enough joints to do some cool things when playing or find some nice poses when displaying, but more could've been offered. In robot form Smokescreen has ball style shoulders (technically composed of two hinges and swivel, but they work like balls), hips, and also with the doors extending from his shoulders. There are also functional hinges at the elbows, knees (two for each knee), and shoulder mounted weapons, and swivels at the knees, biceps, wrists, waist and neck. The only things I would like to see are a head with vertical options and ankles that have useful articulation, both of which would be extremely difficult with this design.
His car form doesn't have any "articulation" to speak of, but his wheels all roll smoothly and spin freely. There are numerous other joints that operate in the transformation, each of which works plenty well. Sometimes pieces will snap apart, but they're easily reattached. No stuck or loose joints to be found with Smokescreen and nothing is too grating towards his sculpt. The double hinged knees can look a little funky in some poses because the joints are so far apart, but they're really intended to transform him moreso than for posing in robot form, so just use them wisely! The shoulders can get stuck because of the wheels attached to them, and his hips are strangely difficult to move, but with just a tiny bit of work both problems can be solved.
The easiest way to sum up Smokescreen is that he's a load of fun with great articulation and a good, but not great sculpt and paintjob.
- Name: Smokescreen
- Line: Transformers Universe
- Year of Release: 2009
- Manufacturer: Hasbro
- Scale: 5-inch
Sculpt and Design
Smokescreen is attractive action figure whether he's cruising down the road or beating Starscream to the ground. His car mode is a sleek sports car with some more modern looking angles, taking the appearance of a pseudo Nissan 350z (to my eyes). This excellent design is a little bit hampered by poor function with a few noticeable gaps, as well as a rear "window" that's very difficult to get to line up with the roof of the car. He's actually really tricky to get flush and smooth in his alt form, leaving him a little lackluster looking despite the nice design. There are some more intricate car details worked into this guy, with door handles, carved lines to denote the actual doors, grooves in the grill and intake, and finally a moonroof box that didn't have to be sculpted in, but adds some visual flair. One bad thing about the transformation is that it does leave a lot of robot parts visible inside the cockpit of the car, while some interior details would have looked much cooler.
Most people won't even notice these details as they move Smokescreen into Robot mode, and this is where his sculpt starts to strut its stuff. Smokescreen has a cool silhouette, aided by the doors raising out of his shoulders like wings. His legs are well designed as well and look good in a variety of poses. His upper body isn't quite so perfect, with a hollow chest and oddly place shoulders, it' still just okay. I think his head looks strangely too far back because of the slope of his chest, though it's actually perfectly on axis with his torso core. It's also weird looking on the raised black plate it rests on, because it isn't flush with his body.
I guess what it comes to with his upper body is that this guy looks great in some poses but wonky in others because of the iffy proportions. This really might differ depending on the person who is looking at it too. Smokescreen has all the necessary little robot details sculpted right in, meaning little circuit technology looking stuff on his arms, legs and various other parts. This gives him some sort of texture and keeps him from looking too basic. His weapon is small, but loaded down with details and looks good in his hand, and although this face sculpt is a kind of generic Transformers head, it still gets the job done nicely.
Paint and Color
Smokescreen could start a new sub-unit of the Autobots, "The Rainbowers". Some of it is painted, but most of it is just cast in the right color. Let's see, there is red, blue, clear, gray, black, and translucent yellow all included as plastic colors, while white, black, blue, red, silver, gold, and navy are each painted on somewhere. All of these options mean there are some definite color match issues, though none of them are too drastic. The yellow rarely achieves enough thickness to hide the color underneath, and there are problems staying between the lines in a few places too. For instance, the yellow on his head prongs doesn't reach all the way to his head, and the blue paint on his rear window is lazy around the corners, rounded off and fuzzy instead of sharp. Neither of these problems is bad enough to notice at first glance, and probably won't bother you a whole lot, yet you can't ignore that they're there.
The decals (his number panels and autobot symbol) are very crisp and straight. The color scheme is definitely a little busy, particularly in car mode, but he doesn't look that bad as a robot, even managing to look charming. His silver face is a bit goopy and messy and his accessory is too simple as it's just molded in a basic red. This is a classic paint job, that while it could benefit from some cleaning up, it still looks good and brings across that generation 1 feel.
Articulation and Posing
Articulation and Smokescreen get along quite well, although I wouldn't call them life partners just yet. He definitely has enough joints to do some cool things when playing or find some nice poses when displaying, but more could've been offered. In robot form Smokescreen has ball style shoulders (technically composed of two hinges and swivel, but they work like balls), hips, and also with the doors extending from his shoulders. There are also functional hinges at the elbows, knees (two for each knee), and shoulder mounted weapons, and swivels at the knees, biceps, wrists, waist and neck. The only things I would like to see are a head with vertical options and ankles that have useful articulation, both of which would be extremely difficult with this design.
His car form doesn't have any "articulation" to speak of, but his wheels all roll smoothly and spin freely. There are numerous other joints that operate in the transformation, each of which works plenty well. Sometimes pieces will snap apart, but they're easily reattached. No stuck or loose joints to be found with Smokescreen and nothing is too grating towards his sculpt. The double hinged knees can look a little funky in some poses because the joints are so far apart, but they're really intended to transform him moreso than for posing in robot form, so just use them wisely! The shoulders can get stuck because of the wheels attached to them, and his hips are strangely difficult to move, but with just a tiny bit of work both problems can be solved.
Overall Thoughts
The easiest way to sum up Smokescreen is that he's a load of fun with great articulation and a good, but not great sculpt and paintjob.
