Known as a liar, a cheater, and a compulsive gambler, G1 Smokescreen was then a repaint of Prowl and Bluestreak, and transformed into a rallye version of the Datsun Fairlady Z.
Released in the Binaltech line, Smokescreen lost the familiar red and blue paint scheme to adapt the Subaru Rally car colors - which is well and good, except that I still miss the old G1 look.
Then, believe it or not, I recently saw a picture of Cybertron Smokescreen. This homage sports the familiar G1 colors, but this time he now transforms into a Bugatti Veyron, and instead of a liar, cheater, and compulsive gambler, Smokescreen is now a practical joker.
I also noticed that Cybertron Smokescreen's head can be easily modified to resemble the old G1 design. Hmmm... instant classics Smokescreen? The hunt is on.
Reviews of the toy have been favorable, with only the negative points raised being the difficulty of transformation. Cybertron Smokescreen also looks too top-heavy, and those thin, short legs don't exactly raise optimism when it comes to stability, but what the hell, he's a Bugatti Veyron now, damnit! The coolest, most expensive sports car as of this writing!
As luck would have it, I finally got me one of these...
CAR MODE
Superb. That should say it all. This toy faithfully captures the look and stance of the Bugatti Veyron.
Solid to the feel, stable on the surface, sporty and fast even when standing still. This mode has the earmarks of a great deluxe car!
And just how do you make this car mode better? Add the spoiler/weapon!
You can attach the flame to the weapon/spoiler ala-classics Rodimus, but I'm not a fan of this. Looks ridiculous.
Being a fan of the actual Bugatti Veyron, I can say that this is the best plastic toy replica available!
But wait, there's more!
Attach the planet key and...
...a pair of rocket launchers spring forward! Truly, the sheer awesomeness of car mode has left me in a deep state of disbelief, shock, and tears.
Then, I started transforming it into robot mode...
ROBOT MODE
Transforming Smokescreen to robot mode is a bit difficult, particularly the rear quarter panels of the vehicle which is prone to detach from its ball joints when moved. The ball-jointed arms don't make things easier, and the non-detachable roof/shield adds fuel to frustration.
After minutes of pulling, tugging, and accidentally detaching parts, here's what we end up with.
90% of the car is now housed in the upper body, with the remaining 10% forming the thin legs. Despite the size, the legs do a good job of holding a standing position and a few good poses. Try to do something dynamic, and the sheer weight of the body bulk will make Smokescreen topple.
Smokescreen's robot mode also has lots of kibble, the most irritating being the car doors that attach to the shoulders and do nothing but limit his arm movements and clutter the over-all look of the robot. the door sills also complicates things.
Attaching the planet key still activates the missile launchers, adding a more G1-esque look to this homage.
But i'm sure whatever the gain in firepower and strength, Smokescreen wouldn't normally approve sticking anything up his, errr, exhaust port. But then, this is war, and in war, everyone has to sacrifice something for victory...
ROBOT OR CAR?
CAR MODE! Less disappointments, less frustration, less headaches!
After transforming Smokescreen into robot mode, I tried going back to car mode and found the process very very frustrating! Never in my life have I wanted to slap a toy designer so badly!
The main problem is the fitting issues of the arms and the roof, and the hood. All of these are dependent on the position of the arms, which are ball-jointed.
While not necessarily bad, the problem of the balljoint application here is that without ratcheting points or clicks, it's very difficult to pinpoint the correct postion and angle for everything to fit in snugly.
Compare this for example with Classic Bumblebee's arms which are also ball-jointed. Tucking this under in car mode, some parts of the toy serve as guides so you know how to correctly fold the arms. simply speaking, in robot mode, BB's arms can move freely in any angle because of the balljoints, but in car mode, there is only one way for it to correctly fold, with only little room of movement, so you easily know what you're doing wrong, and when you're doing it.
With Cybertron Smokescreen, there are no references, and no guides. The manual is no help, and the fact that the roof/shield can't detach from the arm only fuels my rage.
What I ended up with, after minutes of tweaking, is a Bugatti Veyron with gaps and fitting issues on the doors, roof, and front fenders.
It is such a shame that for a very solid and excellent car mode, someone had to mess it up with crazy balljoint arm angles.
PROS
- good homage to G1
- excellent color scheme
- excellent car mode
- robot mode grows to you
CONS
- stupid ball joint arms!
- stupid non-detachable roof/shield!
- a bit top-heavy
- lotsa kibbles
- frustrating to transform from robot to car
RATING
3 out of 5
This toy would have scored higher, really. I love this. But the arms and non-detachable shield killed the fun factor. The only thing saving this toy from a lower rating is the excellent car mode.
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