Smokescreen is the name of several different fictional characters in the Transformers universes.
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Alternators Smokescreen |
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| Autobot | |
|---|---|
| Sub-group | Deluxe Vehicles |
| Function | Diversionary Tactician |
| Rank | 6 |
| Motto | "A look can be deceiving; a touch can be lethal." |
| Alternate Modes | Nissan Fairlady Z (Datsun 280ZX-R), Subaru Impreza WRC rally car, Nissan 350Z |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Alternators Transformers: Titanium Transformers: Universe |
| English voice actor | Jack Angel |
| Japanese voice actor | Masashi Ebara |
Smokescreen is one of the second year Autobot Cars in the Transformers series. His toy was remolded from Prowl and Bluestreak, itself originating from an earlier Japanese line named Diaclone. Smokescreen's vehicle mode was based on an actual existing car—a 1979 Nissan Fairlady Z race car in the Electramotive team livery. Team founder Don Devendorf's car was accurately recreated, except that his number 83 was changed to a 38.[1]
Smokescreen's bio originally indicated that while he appeared calm and easy-going, he was in reality the closest thing the Autobots had to someone who thought like a Decepticon. He would cheat to win without hesitation, and often covers his true goals from even his fellow Autobots. Autobot leaders even use him as a spy amongst the ranks at times.
Smokescreen first appeared in issue 14 of the Marvel Transformers comic. Here, he was brought to life alongside Grapple, Hoist, Skids and Tracks via the downloading of their personalities and Sparks from storage. Bumblebee took all but Grapple on a tour of the surrounding area—but ended up in a trial by fire when the Decepticons tried to steal sonic energy from a rock concert. The group battled Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, defeating them, but left when the humans accused them of sabotaging the concert.
After this, Smokescreen played more of a peripheral role, battling the Decepticons, but not having any major roles. He was one of the many casualties when trying to stop the Underbase-powered Starscream. He was not shown to be revived, but returned in the pages of the Transformers: Generation 2 comic, where he accompanied Grimlock on a disastrous raid on Jhiaxus' forces. After this, he battled against Jhiaxus forces under Optimus Prime's command—only to be killed by a squad of Jhiaxus' troopers alongside Ironhide.
The Smokescreen of the post-movie universe appeared in the Marvel UK comics, most prominently in the "Legacy of Unicron" arc. He and Inferno were dispatched to escort Wreck-Gar back to the planet Junk. There, they discovered it had been taken over by the decapitated head of Unicron. The two escaped to warn Rodimus Prime, leaving Wreck-Gar behind to free his people, with Inferno being badly injured by the mind-controlled bounty hunter Death's Head. The two arrived on Cybertron—only to discover that Unicron's puppets Cyclonus and Scourge had launched an all-out Decepticon assault. The Decepticons badly damaged the shuttle, and Smokescreen refused to leave his injured friend. Inferno had other ideas and bodily threw him through the windshield to safety, before crashing and killing as many Decepticons as he could. Smokescreen returned to Junk with Prime and the Dinobots, determined to avenge Inferno, and contributing to the Chaos-Bringer's eventual defeat.
Smokescreen originally appeared in "Dinobot Island pt 1". Smokescreen was used quite frequently in season 2, taking the starring role in the episode "The Gambler". This saw him strike a deal with a gambler named Bosh in order to save his fellow Autobots—he would win energon for Bosh if Bosh used some to restore the others. Predictably cheating his way to victory, he was caught and lost all his winnings. With the help of Devcon, he and Bosh ended up battling and defeating Astrotrain, Dirge and Ramjet. After this Bosh freed the other Autobots. The cartoon actually made use of his abilities—in "The Key to Vector Sigma", for example, his smoke saved the Autobots' super-fuel after Prowl's security detail was compromised, and in "Auto Berzerk" he downed the famed Seekers—including Starscream—with his disruptors.[2]
Smokescreen was not amongst the Autobots whose death was shown in The Transformers: The Movie, although an animation mistake which colored the body of the deceased Wheeljack in red did caused some speculation—indeed, the storyboard of this scene clearly depicts Smokescreen's dead body, not Wheeljack's. Smokescreen did not appear in the post-movie Season Three, and so it is generally assumed that, even if he was not featured in this particular scene (or even the movie for that matter), that he was killed in the attack on Autobot City, or even in the years before the movie. If this was not the case, neither animators nor series editors for Season 3 made an effort to alleviate confusions regarding which characters' deaths in the movie were included, or excluded.
Smokescreen appears in the Japanese opening for season 3, as the movie was not shown in Japan at the time.
Smokescreen also made a brief appearance in the first episode of Transformers: The Headmasters.
Smokescreen is one of the characters appearing in the unlicensed comic book Transformers Chronicles Book One by Hirofumi Ichikawa. This story has him working with the Autobot Axelerators against the Skyscorchers, facing Dreadwing, and being reformatted into the Generation 2 Decepticon jet Smokescreen.
Decepticon Smokescreen |
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| Decepticon | |
|---|---|
| Partner | Dreadwing |
| Alternate Modes | Jet |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 2 |
In addition to the appearance of the original Smokescreen in the Generation 2 comic, the 1994 Generation 2 toy line featured a different character with the name Smokescreen: a Decepticon who transformed into a fighter jet and combined with Dreadwing, who transformed into a stealth bomber.
Armada Hoist toy |
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| Autobot | |
|---|---|
| Japanese name | Grap/Grap Super Mode |
| Sub-group | Deluxe Vehicles |
| Function | Diversionary Tactician |
| Partner | Liftor, Refute |
| Motto | "Strike hard, strike straight." |
| Alternate Modes | Crane truck, Backhoe |
| Series | Transformers: Armada Transformers: Universe |
| English voice actor | Dale Wilson[7] |
The name Smokescreen is reassigned to an Autobot who transforms into an orange construction crane. The name is unrelated to his personality or function, but his Japanese name in 'Micron Legend' is Grap; the Japanese name for G1 Grapple who also transforms into a construction crane. However, due to copyright reasons the name Grapple could not be used.
His bio indicated that he was an Autobot who was always in the thick of battle — not because he enjoyed it, but because he can't be bothered thinking about complex tactical maneuvers. He was immensely strong, but sometimes this habit of rushing in without thinking rebounded against superior odds.
In Transformers: Armada, Hoist (Grap Super Mode in Japan) is the new name adopted by Smokescreen after he was rebuilt following severe damage at the hands of Megatron and the Requiem Blaster. He transforms into a white backhoe, and is partnered with the Mini-Con Refute.
In the cartoon, Smokescreen is the first Autobot reinforcement to join the Autobots on Earth. In his first mission, he encountered Rad, Alexis and Carlos, who unwittingly foiled his attempt to rescue the Mini-Con Drill Bit. However, after he rescued them from Cyclonus, he revealed his role to them. Smokescreen served as one of Optimus Prime's most trusted soldiers, acting as the group's sniper. He put up the most resistance when Prime welcomed the double agent Scavenger into the group, eventually making up with him after he contributed to an Autobot victory.
Later, he was nearly killed when he sacrificed himself after to stop Megatron using the Requiem Blaster on the other Autobots. Megatron gunned him down at point-blank range, although Smokescreen refused to give up until the Decepticons had retreated. Only then did he allow himself to go offline, much to his comrades' grief. This was not the end for him, as he was rebuilt by Red Alert into a new and improved body. After this, he renames himself Hoist.
After nearly being killed by Megatron's requiem blaster, Smokescreen was rebuilt by Red Alert as Hoist. Hoist went on to have many further battles against the Decepticons, and survived the battles against Unicron.
In Dreamwave Productions's accompanying Armada comic, Smokescreen would play a smaller role than his animated counterpart. One of the first Autobots to appear, he was unable to prevent the fall of Cyber City to the Mini-Con enhanced Decepticons. One million years later, when the signal from the escaped Mini-Cons was received, he was one of the Autobots who journeyed to Earth under Optimus Prime. After battling the Decepticons and gaining his Mini-Con partner, he disappeared, revealed in issue #12 that he and Scavenger had been sent to an observation post in California. He was subsequently recalled to the Autobot base after Prime's disappearance — only to be confronted by a full-scale Decepticon assault. Scavenger and Smokescreen battled Megatron and Demolishor, only for Smokescreen to get shot in the head by Megatron at point blank range. Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scavenger subsequently avenged him by knocking Megatron into Unicron's gaping maw.
Although it was not clear if Smokescreen survived or not, Hoist appeared in the subsequent Transformers: Energon comics, indicating he had died at one point, making it likely that as in the animated continuity, Smokescreen was resurrected as Hoist.
Armada Hoist continued to appear among the Autobots in the Transformers: Energon comic series by Dreamwave. His back story was never fully explained, but he mentioned he had died at one point, indicating that as in the animated continuity, he was Smokescreen in a new body.
In the Transformers: Universe comic, Armada Smokescreen and Generation One Smokescreen were both been abducted from their home dimensions by Unicron, and were forced to fight each other to the death in gladiatorial combat. Armada Smokescreen prevails in the contest. Please note that the depictions of these two combatants are of the original G1 Smokescreen and the original Armada Smokescreen; the comic was written before the Universe Smokescreen toys were created.
Cybertron Smokescreen toy |
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| Autobot | |
|---|---|
| Sub-group | Deluxe Vehicles |
| Rank | 6 |
| Alternate Modes | Bugatti Veyron |
| Series | Transformers: Cybertron |
Smokescreen was the original name given to the Autobot who was based on the Galaxy Force character Autovolt, but later Hasbro changed their minds and called him Crosswise.
Smokescreen appeared in the text story from Fun Publications called Force of Habit. This story explained where he was during the events of the Cybertron story. Ultra Magnus was the commander of various Autobot ships sent to other planets in search for the Cyber Planet Keys. He also served as captain of the Iron Hope which was crewed by Bonecrusher, Grimlock, Ironhide, Knock Out, Overcast, Prowl, Quickstrike, RipTide, Skyblast, Smokescreen, Swoop, Wreckage and the Sky Scorcher Mini-Con Team.
His head colors are more intended as an homage to Rad (Transformers) the Action Master.
Smokescreen toy |
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| Autobot | |
|---|---|
| Sub-group | Deluxe Vehicles, Fast Action Battlers, Legends |
| Rank | 7.5 |
| Alternate Modes | Cybertronian car, Pontiac Solstice |
| Series | Transformers Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen |
Smokescreen is the Autobot in charge of diversionary tactics. He's fully loaded with sonic burst weapons, magnetic smoke bombs and oil slicks designed to scramble Decepticon sensors.
Smokescreen appears in Transformers: Defiance by IDW Publishing. In issue #2 Smokescreen sides with Optimus Prime against Megatron's orders to counter-attack their invaders. In issue #3 Megatron learned that Optimus has broken into his room he sent Bumblebee, Camshaft, Cliffjumper, Jazz, Prowl and Smokescreen to arrest Optimus for treason. Optimus demanded to speak directly to Megatron, but when the group was traveling to Megatron's location they were ambushed by Barricade, Brawl, Crankcase, Frenzy, Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker who had orders to kill the lot of them. Smokescreen was able to cover Optimus and his group's retreat in the confusion of an explosion. In issue #4 Arcee, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Jazz and Smokescreen ambush Ironhide, who they believe works for Megatron, but Ironhide instead joins Optimus Prime's Autobots.
Smokescreen is among the Autobot forces who witness the launching of the Decepticon ship Nemesis.[9]
In Reign of Starscream the Decepticon Starscream barely makes it to the Nemesis on Mars before he runs out of power. His return is noted by the Autobot Cosmos, who alerts Arcee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Camshaft and Air Raid. Aided by Thundercracker on the Nemesis Starscream recovers and sends the information Frenzy had gathered back to Cybertron just as Hardtop spots the Autobots closing on the Nemesis. When the Autobots attack the Decepticons Smokescreen is seemingly killed by Starscream.
After being rescued from control by the Initiative, Armorhide, Blaze Master, Brawn and Smokescreen join the Autobots at the NEST base on Diego Garcia. Optimus Prime insists they spend time there recovering.[10]
All toys of this character (except the Revenge of the Fallen Legends figure) are officially licensed from General Motors.
| Decepticon | |
|---|---|
| Sub-group | Scouts |
| Partner | Dreadwing |
| Alternate Modes | Stealth bomber |
| Series | Transformers |
At the 2010 Tokyo Toy Show, Takara Tomy released a Decepticon version of Smokescreen as an homage to the Generation 2 incarnation. In keeping with the homage, both Smokescreen and Dreadwing sport Generation 2 Decepticon symbols.