Smokescreen
(Alternator)
Smokescreen's vehicle
mode is a Subaru Impreza WRX sportscar. As is the case with nearly every
Alternator, this mode is practically flawless, and very realistic. No robot
extras whatsoever, and completely accurate proportions. The color scheme,
though, isn't really G1 Smokescreen-accurate,
unlike many of the other Alternators. It's mostly blue, with some light
gray visible in robot mode, whereas G1 Smokescreen's color scheme consisted
of dark red, light blue, and white. Still, Alternator Smokescreen's vehicle
mode still has a nice scheme in and of itself. I also like how "racing
carsy" it is- Smokescreen's got company logos tatooed all over him, and
it looks really nice and adds that much more realism to his vehicle mode.
(Of note, though, is that the number "8" on his sides and hood are reportedly
going to be changed to "7" and "1" later on down the line. I think it's
because the specific Rally car that Smokescreen's vehicle mode takes after
is also changing its "8" to those numbers.) All four car doors can open
on Smokescreen, and inside, there's two adjustable seats, an adjustable
steering wheel, and even a miniature stick shift! The amount of detailing
that is inside Smokescreen's interior is incredible, even if the back seats
are a little iffy (they're not molded much to look like seats, as they're
part of Smokescreen's upper legs). Smokescreen also has rubber tires, and
the front two tires are on a special magnet assembly that gets them both
to turn in the same direction if you only turn one of them. Really neat.
Definitely a winner of a mode.
Something must be said
about Smokescreen's transformation, though; although it's not TOO difficult
to get him into robot mode, it's pretty frustrating to transform him back
into vehicle mode, as every part has to be exaactly right. Some parts,
such as his car doors, also pop off rather easily during transformation.
That's Smokescreen's only big downside, though.
Smokescreen's robot
mode is also excellent in almost every way, and it's VERY heavily designed
after his G1 robot mode; he still has the front of the car in the same
position on his chest, his legs look pretty similar, his car doors are
behind his arms, etc. His head is also styled very similar to his G1 head,
with that same golden head fin and general sculpting. It does look a bit
stockier than his G1 head looked, although this may be intentional. His
proportions are also pretty good, although his feet are a bit large and,
frankly, rather odd-looking. But G1 Smokescreen also had a similar foot
design, so I can understand the design decision, since this line IS supposed
to appeal primarily to adult collectors, anyways. Smokescreen's also got
great articulation- he can move at every major point and then some. Even
his index finger can move seperately from the rest of his fingers, which
is admittedly hard to pull off on a toy of this scale. The only point of
articulation that's missing- and it's a minor one- is sideways elbow articulation.
So he can't really aim his engine-gun to the side or anything. But it's
a pretty small quibble. The small pieces that attach to his magnetic assembly
in vehicle mode can also get in the way some of shoulder articulation,
although all it requires is a little extra force and the problem's fixed.
Smokescreen is an awesome
transformer in both modes, with his only real flaw being his difficult
transformation. I whole-heartedly recommend this guy to any Transformer
fan that's not real young.
No Stats
Review by Beastbot