Superior

 

Unfortunately I am so far behind on the + editions that I don't know how much this does for me.

 

?

 

One of the first + releases I'm actually considering... Admittedly it's mostly because it's missing the fake advertising tampos from the original. The fake made-up advertising names (Devcon Oil, Smoke Tactics, Slot Fever, etc) on the original always annoyed me. Since they'll probably leave all of the tampos off for the + release in order to emulate the toon look it'll be easier to apply proper advertising stickers/decals later and make him more real-world accurate! I know, that's probably not what will draw most people to this release, but it works for me! I'm not thrilled with the new face, but I'm betting I could swap the original head/face (which I liked just fine) with little effort. Just so long as they don't make the windows too ridiculously blue like they did with +Prowl. Those looked terrible in my opinion...

 

The fake sponsors on the original irritated me too. I been waiting for this one!

 

Dammit, gotta get em.  Him and Streak.  Prowl is fine as is, plus they didnt really change anything for the better.

 

I'm more surprised by this than I should be. He's not unexpected but I didn't think it'd be this soon. Nor did I expect a new(better!) face and an effects piece. I can't wait to complete this trio again.

 

Surprised it took this long. Looks good, tho.

 

Smokescreen (MP-19+) now has blue windows but the original windows were grey, which was already cartoon accurate.

 

『ゾイドワイルド』でビーストライガー、キャノンブルに謎の新ゾイド!?『ダイアクロン』トライヴァースシリーズ始動！さらに『トランスフォーマー』新アイテムも！【東京おもちゃショー2019速報レポート】タカラトミー①

 

Yup Takara seemed to be making all the season two bots with grey windows which as far as I know is toon accurate. Until now. I like the look of this release but I wish they would have kept the windows grey to be consistent with the other season two bots. I do like the blue windows on the season 1 plus releases but now I’m concerned that they will do plus releases of all the season two bots just for the blue windows. That would be nuts.

I really hate TT Mall exclusives! No preorder discount and I can’t use Amazon Japan.

My poor wallet! 2018 really sucked for MP releases but 2019 almost has too many!

 

Takara probably felt the datsun+ mold should have blue windows.

 

White thighs? Yes! Red inner foot piece? Yes! Cutesy logos gone? Yes!

Wrong shade of blue? Yes. New tiny lauchers? Yes. Windows tinted the wrong color? Yes.

He's a mixed bag.

 

Negative point, though: the real estate on his chin is making him look like an Animated or Prime character. Don't care for it. I hope he still comes with his original face.

 

That is one loooong chin. Sure he’ll look better sporting his smiling or shouting faces.

Smoke effect just like @Dean ML predicted!

At first I was thinking he should have the same toon insignia as Prime, but it looks like his was drawn a little more like what they’ve given him.

 

What would really make me jump to preorder this is if they also included a proper full-toy version face for the original MP release since it was a compromise sculpt somewhere between toy and anime. Then people could have full “toy” and “anime” versions of Smokescreen.

 

the launchers are ugly but I'll take it. I've got the other two in TCP stashes anyway and it's nice to see them round the trio out (and a bummer that Hasbro never did Smokescreen so I'll always have an incomplete third set.) I do hope that this focus on plus releases doesn't preclude a Mexican Prow and Deep Cover though.

 

It’s not just a new face, it’s an entirely new head. No little arrow on his forehead anymore. Probably a ball-jointed head like 18+ now too.