Smokescreen is paired up with the much larger Decepticon Dreadwing, forming a deadly duo. Little is known about Smokescreen's past or origins, only that he can be very manipulative and has a bizarre hatred of both Autobotsand Decepticons. He takes great advantage of his partner Dreadwing's sheer strength.
"Megatron, look at me before Furman forgets I exist!"
Part of the new wave of Decepticon forces, Smokescreen was connected to Darkwing's vehicle form as they attacked the Rheanimum facility on the planet Tykos. Following this attack, he pointed Megatron towards Skullgrin's crashing shuttle. New Dawn
After overusing the GT System to control multiple bodies simultaneously, the Autobot Smokescreen was corrupted by a violent personality who took command of the main body to join the Decepticons. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part One Teamed up with Dreadwing, Smokescreen would spend much time conducting evil deeds Train WarsG-2 until the reinstatement of the Cybertron Alliance saw him and Dreadwing give up their evil ways. Epiloge
2005 IDW continuity
Smokescreen served under the command of Turmoil when their second-in-command Deadlock violated orders. Deadlock attacked the Autobots when Turmoil ordered him not to, and then executed a fellow Decepticon who planned on reporting his insubordination. Deadlock tried to rally Smokescreen and several other soldiers from Turmoil's forces under his new leadership. Smokescreen and his comrades refused, and turned Deadlock over to Turmoil to answer for his attempted mutiny. Drift #1
Commercial appearances
Dreadwing and Smokescreen flew over an empty street to harass a pitiful young human, who fled in terror at the sight of them. Smokescreen contented himself to fly overhead and fire his blasters while Dreadwing transformed into his tank mode and smushed a parked car. Two Autobots responded to the boy's cries for help, only for Dreadwing and Smokescreen to assume their robot modes start tossing them around with ease. Dreadwing and Smokescreen commercial
Toys
Generation 2
We already made the rear entry joke.Dreadwing (Decepticon, 1994)
Japanese ID number: TRF-10
Accessories: Two launchers, two missiles
Available only with his larger partner Dreadwing, Generation 2 Smokescreen transforms into a fighter jet of undetermined (probably made-up) model. He has two side-mounted spring-loaded rocket launchers that become hand-weapons in robot mode. He can combine with Dreadwing's vehicle mode to form the large stealth bomber jet. For some reason he came with an Autobot-style instruction book that instructed you to put Smokescreen's forehead sticker on the center of Dreadwing's face.
Smokescreen's arms are misassembled, as his thumbs end up on the outside of his fists in robot mode and upper arms have an exposed screw on the exposed side.
Available exclusively at the Tokyo Toy Show 2010, this Dreadwing & Smokescreen set is a redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class Mindwipe and Scout Class Skystalker respectively. TakaraTomy designer Masu Yoshi's inspiration for this set apparently stemmed from a desire to compete with BotCon 2010's Generation 2 theme for its exclusive toys.[1] Besides the obvious colour changes, the live-action movie Decepticon insignias have been replaced with Generation 2 Decepticon insignia.
Smokescreen transforms from a robot into a flying-wing-style stealth jet drone similar to the BAE Corax. Undocumented in the instructions, the two axes that peg into his palms as weapons for his robot mode can also clip directly to his forearms (giving them a superficial similarity to tonfa). For vehicle mode, they integrate into the stealth jet's wings. The robot mode feet are spring-loaded so the heels and toes collapse down and together when the feet are lifted off the ground.
The instructions include a "battle mode", which is essentially the vehicle mode with the robot legs untransformed, similar to the "Gerwalk" mode seen on Generation 1 Jetfire, which of course, derived from The Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
Like the original Generation 2 toys, in vehicle mode, Smokescreen can attach on top of Dreadwing's alternate mode via two pegs.
The blue plastic that makes up most of Smokescreen is more fragile than most and will crack under stress, such as repeated removal and replacing of the hook weapons into the wings.
This mold was also used to make Hunt for the DecepticonsSunspot and GenerationsLaserbeak. In 2014, the boxset was re-released as a lucky draw prize for the Transformers Celebration 2014 event held at Ikebukuro Sunshine City store's Toys"R"Us, though this was very likely remaining stock.
Notes
Generation 2 Smokescreen is the toy that TakaraTomy designer Takio Ejima is most proud of.
While Smokescreen is identified by name on United States (English) and Canadian (English/French) packaging (including an obligatory alternate French name for the Canadian version), European packaging doesn't even acknowledge him as a separate character: English/French/Portuguese packaging (on which Dreadwing is named "Stealth Assault") merely states that the box "Also includes robot/jet fighter!" in all three languages, whereas French/Dutch/German packaging (on which Dreadwing is named "Ace Evader") translates the English call-out into German as "Also includes robot/plane!", but misinterprets it as "Contains: Robot and a plane" for the Dutch version, and completely misses the mark with the French version, which substitutes the original call-out for "Replica of a stealth plane".
The idea of Generation 1 and Generation 2 Smokescreen being the same individual was a common bit of fanon from back in the day, but it would not be until "Legends' Revival" in 2019 that the idea would be canonized for Japanese continuity.
