TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

MissingSea's review: Henkei Smokescreen

Name: Smokescreen
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Diversionary Tactician

"A look can be deceiving; a touch can be lethal." (Copied from his Universe Profile).

Smokescreen is one of the characters I remember well from my childhood, with the most memorable being his portrayal in the UK Space Pirates. So I was hoping that they would do the inevitable repaint of the Universe Prowl mold into Smokescreen, but I was disappointed with the Universe colour scheme that they chose. Then I saw the Henkei version and knew that when the opportunity arose I had to snag him.

Now I have been trying to avoid the Henkei releases, since they are generally £5 to £10 more expensive than the universe line, and in the case of my Henkei Grimlock and Ramjet the build quality wasn't quite up to scratch, but I have to say I haven't been disappointed this time around. The build quality is as good and in some cases better than my versions of Universe Prowl and Silverstreak (who both suffer from the sticky door paint).

Alternate Mode:

Smokescreen transforms into a modern update of his G1 alt mode, and this is complemented by a fairly faithful representation of his G1 colour scheme. I personally think this is a better scheme than was chosen for the Universe version (see ganon578's review here). The red along the top of the car remains the same between the two versions, but there is less white along the sides with only a thin strip of white above and below the thicker blue. The white bordered 38 on his doors is bigger and looks like it belongs there, and there is no number on his front (unlike the Uni version). His rear spoiler is chromed, though in red so it doesn't look too obtrusive, though I wish they had chromed the exhaust pipes (or at least painted them silver). The wheels are painted silver rather than chromed, as are the headlights.

Robot Mode:

Transformation from car to bot isn't all that tricky (though I am used to this mold now). The doors didn't pop off once during transformation and seem a lot tighter than my Universe Prowl and Silverstreak. Smokescreen is a great update of his G1 mold with the car front for a chest, door wings, and the back end of the car forming the legs. The colours here are very balanced, with the red, blue and white of the alt mode being prevalent, with a smattering of gold on his head crest, black on his fore arms, pelvis and shins, and silver on his face, pelvis, arm vents and the chromed missiles and blaster.

Unlike the Universe version, the upper arms are blue, his fore arms are black and his thighs are white (compared to grey, red and grey respectively on the Universe mold). His is quite posable, though balancing his can be tricky if you forget to pull out his feet, and he really could have done with a ball-jointed neck.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation: 7. Not too complicated, but for the uninitiated I can see that doors may pop off and cause some frustration.
Durability: 8. Definitely feels better quality than Universe Prowl and doesn't have the sticky doors that Prowl and in some cases Silverstreak suffered from. Though I can see the chrome chipping with excessive play.
Fun: 8. Great articulation, great character what more can I say.
Price: 8. More expensive than the Universe version and fairly hard to find cheaply on eBay.
Overall: 8. I love this mold and I love the paint job on him, if you can find him cheap enough get him over the Universe version... unless you prefer the other paint scheme.