Transformers Generations Selects: Smokescreen (feat. Hot Shot and Cromar)

Woof. It’s October already? I need to do a better job of keeping a constant stream of content on this page. Anywho, let’s look at some Selects!

So Generations Selects is essentially Has/Tak’s answer to the lack of Botcon exclusives since there is no Botcon anymore. They’re entirely comprised of repaints of figures that already exist, sometimes with some really excellent retooling as well. Smokescreen is one such example. A repaint of Barricade, who’s a retool of Prowl, he features the same transformation and includes his shoulder cannons and blaster.

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Because they’re under the Selects line, they tend to have varying degrees of the “battle damage” featured with the Siege line, entirely tied to the amount of paint apps added to the toy. Because Smokescreen has more intricate paint applications than say, Barricade, he features zero “battle damage” paint. I’m not the biggest fan of the battle damage stuff anyway so it’s fine by me. This mold is already one of my favorites. It’s well designed, the transformation is intriguing and the alt-mode vehicle is very sporty looking.

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While Smokescreen’s color scheme is a classic and always looks top notch (CHUG not included), I have to say, I’m more partial to Barricade. The clear purple used for his windows/light bar is just incredible.

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Selects come in their own style packaging, again similar to FunPub’s Figure Subscription Service, they are packaged in cardboard boxes with the War For Cybertron Siege logos printed in black. The character is identified by a label applied to the side and is encased in a plastic tray on the inside. It’s a nice call back to the SS stuff and I can’t help but save the boxes, even though I don’t think there’s much value in that. Neatly enough, Hot Shot and Cromar, who were first avaialable at New York Comic Con also came with collectible pins!

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Speaking of Hot Shot and Cromar – they are also outstanding additions to this line. Hot Shot is a repaint of Hound with a really well done head sculpt. His character hails from the Unicron Trilogy, so his popularity is high among some of the younger, “non-G1” folks. Cromar on the other hand, is as obscure as you can get – he’s a Power Dasher, an early G1 set of toys that originated as a different toy line before being brought in by Hasbro. He’s a repaint and retooled head sculpt of Six Gun, and once all three Power Dashers are in hand (I have Zetar but haven’t opened him yet), I’ll likely want to do a separate post on them.

BOTTOM LINE

For these guys and the rest of the Generations Selects line, the same bottom line applies – they’re really very nice, I think Has/Tak is doing a much better job than FunPub ever did with theirs. But they’re a little more expensive and not as readily available as the retail guys. None of them are super necessary for anyone other than completionists, but they’re money well spent if you take the plunge.