The Energon Pub

[El Duque]

Courtesy of the ameblo blog we have our first in-hand images of Takara Tomy's Transformers Prime Arms Micron AM-26 Smokescreen. The figure is a repaint/remold of AM-13 Medic Knockout with new head and Arms Micron. Without his stickers the figure is virtually a blank slate! Check out the images mirrored below.

[rpetras]

Kinda disappointing.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Am I seeing this wrong, or does S.2 have the designation M-28 on his mold tree? That's weird, that number should be for Shining R.A., even though R.A. himself is M-04.

[gantzrunner]

I have been resisting the urge to complain about arms micron figures...but this is pretty much a new low, even for this line. If I can barely justify what I pay for hasbro tfs these days, the LAST thing I'm going to do is import an unfinished figure! This isn't a kabaya kit! And an unfinished micron isn't much of a draw for me, and in my opinion the armada minicons were designed far better than these. I think I will finish off the last few figures that appeal to me in general (like rumble) and then move on, instead of completing my Prime collection. From junk molds like weaponizers, to bad decisions like no US Breakdown ( again, I am not gonna import him in his unfinished state, and that's part of my decision to dust this line), and finally to takara cheaping out on quality (which blows my mind as I have been importing figures just BECAUSE they are superior paint-wise), this line has become my second least liked in the history of transformers ( dotm is number 1, worst line EVER). Whoever made the decision to step away from the direction they were headed with the 1st editions should be banned from the industry. While some of the rid line figure look great, too many other characters suffered bad designs.

OK, I have ranted enough, that was building up for a few months

[craggy]

someone should knock up a set of police stickers.

[PaxCybertron82]

Isn't he supposed to be...you know....white? Making him silvery grey really takes away from the character design.

[PrymeStriker]

Craaap! Why does this actually look decent to me!? What is wrong with me!?

I'll give you a chance, Smokes. If Hasbro doesn't give you a new mold (or at least try to put wings on you) I'll import you. Sound fair?

[Sodan-1]

Wow! No. Someone should probably tell Takara Tomy that they're shipping out prototypes.

I love Smokescreen, and this doesn't even come close to doing him justice. Uber pass.

[RAcast]

That's astoundingly awful. It's like they didn't even try.

[robofinch]

Poor, poor Smokescreen.

[MGrotusque]

Ouch! what a half assed effort. Smokescreen is a good character worthy of better.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I'm not sure if it was Hasbro's original intention to release Smokescreen as a Knockout repaint, it all depends if that head is a pretool (or pre-planned) or not. Maybe he started out a Knock Out KO, but his model was tweaked further down the line. Definitely worth asking.

[Xephon0930]

So Smokescreen is a crappy Knockout remold. Weak.

[welcometothedarksyde]

Anyone else notice how his micron's head looks like Devcon?
But damn, one of the most liked characters in the show (Knockout) gets a bad mold. A new character who people are liking gets the exact same bad mold despite the fact that he doesn't look like that in the show.
In other words I've stopped collecting Prime

[welcometothedarksyde]

Why didn't they retool his shoulders? They have no purpose other than to be detail, so why didn't they retool them to look like Bumblebee's shoulders? I don't think it would be difficult

[skymagnus12]

i think bumblebee would have made a better reapint for this guy. And i think im gonna need to paint him white before putting on the stickers

[kirbenvost]

Easy pass for me. The character doesn't look really look like Knockout in the show, and the almost complete lack of paint in vehicle mode just kills it. I hope Takara's take on Frenzy/Rumble turns out better than this.

[PrymeStriker]

Give him door-wings, put his "chest pieces" where Knock Out's instructions tell you to and retool the arms and you've got a perfect Smokescreen. He's not drastically different from Knock Out.

[Bumblevivisector]

Another effect of the detail-less plastic is that I'm not sure what he and Knock-Out are doing in pic#14...

...and that's the only thing amusing about this failed attempt at a Smokescreen toy. This might be acceptable as a Botcon exclusive representation of an obscure and/or made-up-for-the-con character, but as the main TF line's toy for an important Autobot on a show with such a limited cast? Suddenly, Airachnid looks SO damn good, I feel like canvassing all 5 Aldis in my neighborhood for an army of her.

Unless maybe Reprolabels can salvage this mess? We'll have to wait and see if Hasbro does any better, but with their history of using darker colors where Takara uses white since the days of Tigatron, I'm wondering if their version will be a lustrous cigarette-filter shade of tan. Y'know, cuz he's SMOKEscreen; screw show-accuracy!

[xyl360]

His head and stickers will be mine (for my custom/kitbash Smokescreen ).

[Arctorro]

Gotta say, I'm impressed, didn't think Takara could do it.

They took the worst mold in the line and made it even worse!

[PrymeStriker]

Gotta say, I'm impressed, didn't think Takara could do it.

They took the worst mold in the line and made it even worse!

Putting Knock Out below Airachnid? Oooh!

[Arctorro]

Gotta say, I'm impressed, didn't think Takara could do it.

They took the worst mold in the line and made it even worse!

Putting Knock Out below Airachnid? Oooh!

Don't like Airachnid either, but at least I can stand to look at her without wanting to barf!

*looks at KO*

[RAcast]

Gotta say, I'm impressed, didn't think Takara could do it.

They took the worst mold in the line and made it even worse!

Putting Knock Out below Airachnid? Oooh!

Don't like Airachnid either, but at least I can stand to look at her without wanting to barf!

*looks at KO*

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/593388-knock-out-show-accurate-complete.html

You're talking about this mold, right?
This beautiful sonuvabitch? I mean, those paint touch ups aren't even that intensive. Just a few small paint apps and it goes from nice to AMAZING.

Airachnid is worthless garbage in any color scheme.

[Overcracker]

For some reason I'm liking this. The spoiler and big ass thrusters just speak to me. But the fact he is entirely gray kind of dampens that feeling.

Other than that, I like the Knockout mold its pretty nice once you get to know him. yes he's lacking paint but the mold itself is pretty good.

And a blank slate like that could be used for say Prime Jazz maybe.

However the price to import it kind of makes it a pass now since he really has nothing on him to warrant it.