TRANSFORMERS: Revisiting The Characters of Generation 1 - SMOKESCREEN

 TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

"A look can be deceiving; a touch can be lethal." - Smokescreen, 1985.

AUTOBOT

Name - SMOKESCREEN

Function - Diversionary Tactician

Series Debut - 1985 / Wave 2

Sub-Group - None

BACKGROUND...

        Smokescreen was among the second wave of Autobots that came to Earth to help Optimus Prime protect the planet.  As a "Diversionary Tactician", it is his job to distract and confuse the Decepticons while in the heat of battle.  His preferred way of doing this is by releasing a thick trail of smoke from his car mode's tailpipe.  The smoke can adhere to metal and is not easily removed.

    Smokescreen is well-liked among the Autobot ranks.  Yet, he tends to have ulterior motives in everything he does.  Despite his sneaky tendencies, his teammates know they can rely on him and consider one of the most trusted of the Autobots.  

    Smokescreen once got himself in a fair amount of trouble when he and an alien named Bosch went gambling on the planet Monacus.  Manipulating slot machines and racking up a high amount of winnings, Smokescreen and Bosch were eventually found out and he lost it all, including the deactivated Autobots he used as collateral.  Thankfully, Smokescreen ran into an Autobot Bounty Hunter named Devcon and teamed up with him to rescue and reactivate his friends!

MY THOUGHTS...

    I thought Smokescreen was, by far, the coolest of the Wave 2 Autobot cars.  Yet, surprisingly, I never bought him...?  I'm really not sure why.  Maybe I couldn't find him in the stores... I don't know.  I had all the others.  Strange...

    Anyways... I thought he was great!  I was a fan of the figure model that was also used for Prowl and Bluestreak.  He looked awesome with the twin rocket launchers on his shoulders and I thought he had the best rifle mold of all the Wave 1 and 2 Autobots!  The idea of him blasting the Decepticons with his magnetic smoke was fun.  I would have liked to see him use that on a few Stunticons.  It reminded me of the 80's arcade game Spy Hunter where you can use smokescreen or oil slick to defeat your adversaries!

    Standing in for the original Smokescreen is the figure from the Combiner Wars series.  This figure has a great car mode and an excellent head sculpt!  However, I miss the rocket launchers and proper rifle.  Also, I don't like the idea of Smokescreen being a combiner!

Autobot cars from the Series 2 catalog!

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original Tech-Spec.)