Classics Comparison: Smokescreen (with Reprolabels!)

Smokescreen has been one of my favorite characters since before I can remember. This is partly due to Smokey being my very first Transformer, ever. I distinctly remember playing with him at the tender age of four at my father's place of business. Of course when I picked him from the shelves I really didn't know anything about the character or who he really was since he wasn't featured much in the show. But I loved his colors! Red was (and still is) my favorite color, coupled with the blue and white highlights how could I refuse this guy? Over the years my Smokey suffered a lot of damage mostly because I carried him around a lot and that particular mold was very, very fragile. How any of those things made it out of the '80's with their windshields intact is a mystery to me.

Anyway, on to modern day where we have a new Smokescreen released, a recolor of the mold used for Prowl and Blue(silver)streak. Unfortunately the paintjob on Classics Smokescreen was just abysmal.

Top: Classics. Bottom: The much improved Henkei version.

 Ok, so obviously I should have gone with the Henkei release like every other collector. I mean, really Hasbro?!?! What five year old was in charge of this one? Well instead of paying a huge amount for the same figure again, I decided to go with Reprolabels to save myself some money. I won't say it is a perfect solution, but it is better than paying out the ass for Henkei Smokescreen because he is not cheap.

The new numbers and white pinstripe made a huge difference, so I think I can deal with it. He certainly looks much better than before and not so out of place. I really can't believe that the same company that produces this can produce such a crappy painted figure but I don't know the inner workings of Hasbro.





So now, he doesn't look so out of place next to G1 Smokescreen.

And he certainly looks better than any other version of Smokescreen we have had up until this point (Cybertron and Armada Smokescreen not pictured because I refused to buy those pieces of crap)

So if you find yourself like me and can't afford or don't want to pay for Henkei Smokescreen, go the Reprolabels route, your wallet will thank you.