The Beast Within

The name or term Smokescreen refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Smokescreen (disambiguation).

Smokescreen is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family.

Liar. Cheater. Compulsive gambler. Meet Heroic Autobot Smokescreen, kids!

Every Autobot has a purpose, be it as a leader, a warrior, a healer, or a scout. Or, in the case of Smokescreen, a cheater. Fair fights are a foreign concept to him. If he can't outthink, charm, or just plain outrun you, he'll blind you with a magnetized cloud of smoke and shoot you a few times. And then he'll laugh at you a bit. Smokescreen affectionately refers to his teammate Powerglide as "P.G."

French-Canadian name: Écran de Fumée

Hungarian name: Füstfelhő (meaning Cloud Of Smoke)

Italian name: Leo

Fiction

Animated continuity

Voice actor: Jack Angel (US), Masashi Ebara (Japan)

What a blockhead!

After being transported to planet of giant aliens, Optimus Prime failed to introduce Smokescreen to the alien boy Aron. Smokescreen didn't seem to mind.

After fleeing the planet, the group of Autobots are captured by a Bounty Hunter and then de-energised to prevent escape. Somehow, Smokescreen is unaffected, breaking free from the containment tubes and then making a deal with said Bounty Hounter. The two head down down to a nearby planet where Smokescreen gambles away the freedom of his friends after his cheating is stopped by a small Jawa looking creature. Well done, Smokescreen.

The best way to cheat is to make ambigiously suggestive comments about your cheating. Extra points for making sly winks and nudging your friends.

He eventually makes good on his debt thanks to the help of Autobot bounty hunter Devcon. And the Autobots drive into the darkened horizon of the gambling planet.

In the original Storyboards for The Transformers: The Movie, it was Smokescreen who lay dead, rather than Wheeljack.

Binaltech storyline

When the Decepticons unleashed Cosmic Rust on Earth, Smokescreen was one of the many Autobots infested with the virus. As Earth Defense Command created the Binaltech Project in order to help the Autobots, Smokescreen was one of the first patients to undergo transference into an electro-cell powered new body. With the help of his fellow Binaltech Autobots, Smokescreen and his new power helped drive the Decepticons off the planet. He remained part of the soldiers based at Autobot City on Earth.

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

When the Autobot forces on Earth were severely depleted by several battles, Optimus Prime instructed Wheeljack to construct five additional warriors using a device called the Mind Bank. It seems that before the Ark left Cybertron, Smokescreen and four other Autobots allowed their minds to be encoded on crystalline containment vessels, in case reinforcements were needed on the starship's mission. Left in storage for the last few million years after the crash, the crystals were miraculously still intact, and Wheeljack had constructed new Earthen bodies for the Autobots. Upon their revival, Smokescreen and his fellows were entrusted to Bumblebee's care, to act as their guide in adapting to Earth roads and customs.

As their training and acclimation mission continued, Prime contacted the group and ordered them on an additional reconnaissance mission to watch out for a Decepticon attempt to steal sonic energy at a local rock concert. Naturally, their "reconnaissance only" mission quickly turned into a battle with Shockwave and the Seekers, but Smokescreen and the others acquitted themselves well on their first terrestrial mission. Rock and Roll-Out!

Later, Smokescreen was assigned by Optimus Prime to surreptitiously guard Buster Witwicky from harm, after the young human personally humiliated the Decepticon commander Shockwave in battle using a mech suit. Taking Ironhide, Tracks, Brawn, and Buster's worried father Sparkplug Witwicky with him, Smokescreen followed Buster and Jessie to a demolition derby. Smokescreen was fascinated by the spectacle, seeing it as a form of gladiatorial combat. In fact, he was SO fascinated that he reactivated his Facsimile Construct circuitry in his front seat without realizing that Sparkplug had climbed back inside. An unpleasant silence followed. Devastation Derby!

When Optimus Prime, Prowl and Ratchet mysteriously vanished in a flash of light, Smokescreen shined under adversity and, alongside the likes of Jetfire and Ironhide, rose to a command position among the Autobots during their battles with the evil Galvatron and his minions. He and the others suffered a severe pounding at the hands of the future Decepticons and the Autobot Jazz, who had been temporarily turned into a zombie-drone by Galvatron after being taken prisoner. At one point, Jetfire was ready to pack it in and lead the Autobots in a retreat, but Smokescreen rallyed them into continuing the fight. Target 2006

Like many Autobots, Smokescreen disappeared after the Underbase Saga, and is presumed to have been killed battling Starscream or the united Decepticon armies of Scorponok and Ratbat. Dark Star!

Generation 2

Smokescreen was fighting alongside his friend, Inferno, and some former Wreckers against the Cybertronian Empire. However, he suffered heavy damage and was apparently killed in battle. Escalation!

Find Your Fate Junior

Desert Flight Back on Cybertron, Smokescreen's home was almost sent flying off into space when the Decepticons attacked with an unstable anti-gravity weapon.

Dreamwave Comics Continuity

Smokescreen and Inferno were under Grimlock's leadership in the Lightning Strike Coalition during the Dark Ages. After the Great Shutdown, Smokescreen returned to civilian life while the Unified Cybertronian government rose up around him. Initially complacement with shared rule with the Decepticons, Smokescreen's optics were opened thanks to the revolutionary actions of the young Autobot Hot Rod and his followers. Smokescreen gathered a resistance unit of his own with Tracks, Devcon, and several Minibots. Thanks to his Autobot connections in the Triple-Changer Strike Force, Smokescreen managed to get Prowl and the rest of the Ark's crew released from custody to join up with his cell. This soon led to a successful insurrection, clearing out Shockwave and his corrupt influence, leaving Cybertron under peaceful Autobot control.

Toys

Generation 1

• Smokescreen (1985, 2002, 2003)

Japanese ID number: 45

He can only get away with those colours because he's from the 1980s.

Smokescreen transforms into a Datsun 280ZX Turbo based upon Electramotive Davendorf/Sharpe touring car, however, the 83 car number is reversed to 38 to avoid legal issues. He is predominantly blue, red and white in both vehicle and robot modes. Like Bluestreak and Prowl, he features two spring-loaded missile launchers mounted either side of his head, and is armed with a silver laser rifle.

In 2002, Smokescreen was re-released as part of the Transformers Collection series in Japan. This version has slightly-altered decals, and fully-functional spring-loaded missile launchers.

In 2003, Smokescreen was released as part of the Toys "R" Us exclusive "Commemorative Series" line in the US. This version of Prowl uses a softer , unchromed black plastic for his rifle and missiles owing to breakage issues, plus his launchers are completely non-firing. He uses the same decals as the Japanese "bookbox" release.

Smokescreen is a retool of the Bluestreak/Prowl mold. He features a much larger front fender and has an additional spoiler on the back.

Alternators

• Smokescreen (2003, 2004)

Alternator ID number: 1

Japanese ID number: BT-01, BT-07

We're gellin? Are you gellin?

Alternators Smokescreen transforms into a 2003 Subaru Impreza WRC rally car, with opening hood, trunk, and all four doors as well as a detailed interior. He also featured working steering and rubber tires. His robot mode is based upon his original toy, as well as his cartoon model, but with changes made to reflect modern standards of Transformers toys, as well as his new vehicle mode. He is armed with a laser rifle formed from his turbo intercooler, and has the capacity to mount two spring-loaded rocket launchers on either side of his shoulders, though these were only included with his 2004 Binaltech retool, Smokescreen GT.

There are several major differences between the Takara Binaltech Smokescreen and Hasbro's Alternators version. While the Binaltech version of Smokescreen is constructed partially out of die-cast metal and painted in a metallic electric blue paint job, Hasbro's Alternators release has plain blue plastic. Additionally, Takara released both the number 07 Solberg / Mills and the number 08 Makinen / Lindstrom versions of the 2003 WRC car, Hasbro only released the number 08 version. There have often been complaints, however, of Binaltech Smokescreen's paint being very easy to scratch or scrape.

Oh, we're gellin!

In 2004, Takara retooled him for their Binaltech series into Smokescreen GT. He recieved a new front end, hood, roof, spoiler and wheels to reflect the changes made to the Team Subaru WRC car in the 2004 World Rally Championship. He also included a single spring-loaded missile launcher (with missile) that could be attached either side of his head via two small holes.

Note: Smokescreen was actually a retool of Alternators/Binaltech Silverstreak, a stock Subaru WRX. However, the marketing department at Takara felt that the more flashy Smokescreen would make a more suitable debut toy and would grab more attention than the plain silver Streak would.

Titanium Series

• Smokescreen (3-inch Robot Masters, 2006)

Squatmaster Smokescreen

This version is of the Alternators toy, but lacks the Alternator's Subaru racing deco. While all Titanium mini-figures are somewhat squatty, Smokescreen may, in fact, be the squattiest of them all.

Trivia

Not cast in the '07 movie.

• Smokescreen's original deco has been used for multiple homage toys. Armada Prowl and Cybertron Smokescreen both use the red-and-blue deco with "38" on the hood.

• Said deco is in fact based on a real-life rally car deco.

• In late 2005, Subaru displayed a life-size robot-mode prop of Binaltech Smokescreen GT using body shell parts of the then-current Impreza WRC for a corporate event. Ironically this prop had the same parts fits problems in vehicle mode that the increasingly worn-out Binaltech Smokescreen and Streak toolings would exhibit in the then-current Binaltech Asterisk Alert release.

External links

• Smokescreen on TFU.info
• Smokescreen's Universe profile on NTFA.net

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