Hot Rod Lite
Some time back I proposed him along with Arcee for NPG, however after my rewatch of TFP, i've realized the "corrupting qualities" I listed don't really hold up at the end of the series, so I decided to take a deeper look into the character and have concluded that he definetly fits in PG. So now let the judgement begin!
What's the Work?[]
The Aligned Continuity is one of the many adaptations of the Transformers franchise. Transformers: Prime is a show that focuses on the Autobot-Decepticon War on Earth while The Covenant of Primus details the story of the Thirteen and the beginings of the Transformer race.
Who is he? What has he done?[]
Smokescreen is a major protagonist in the TV series Transformers: Prime, serving as an Autobot Rookie who used to work in Iacon during the war, under Alpha trion's guidance.
Season 2[]
Smokescreen is introduced as a young Autobot rookie eager to participate in the war against the Decepticons, and so, he joined the Elite Guard, though it was more of a boot camp at the time. Even though he didn't like it at first, when he was put on guard duty in the Iacon Hall of Records to protect Alpha Trion, he took his job seriously and rarely ever left the Prime's side in spite of his desire to fight. He befriended Alpha Trion over the following years and came to consider him as a mentor and friend and Alpha Trion also trusted Smokescreen enough to tell him how Orion Pax became Optimus Prime. However in the final days of the war, during a direct Decepticon attack on Iacon, he stood ready to fight, though he was knocked into stasis lock. (later revealed to be used as a holder for the last Omega Key by Alpha).
Smokescreen then spent several centuries as a Decepticon prisoner and after escaping in a long-distance pod and arriving on Earth, he helped Team Prime fight off Decepticons investigating the crash. When Team Prime had trouble recovering the Red Energon from Starscream, Smokescreen took the Phase Shifter to go help, though it appeared to Ratchet that he was trying to steal it, he quickly explained his plan and earned Ratchet's approval. After being groundbridged into the fight he used the Phase Shifter to kick Starscream out of the Apex Armor and earning the Autobots a small victory. Despite Bulkhead's initial animosity towards him, he acts friendly towards him and tries to give him the Apex Armor to fight while he's incapacitated.
Smokescreen continued trying to prove himself to the Team in spite of his inexperience and continued to assist in missions such as going with the other Autobots to protect the codes of Project Damocles from the Decepticons and later going to help Bulkhead fight C.Y.L.A.S and after defeating him, which helped him make a friendship with Bulkhead who gains more confidence in him. Later on, he's stuck with Jack in order to learn more about human laws in order to not reveal himself and during this, he motivates Jack to stand up to Vince while also making sure he didn't get hurt in the process, though the way he approached it was wrong. He then goes to investigate an Iacon homing beacon, taking Jack with him and tries to retrieve the Star Saber, though the way he charged in and got himself captured was very reckless and foolish. In spite of this, after realizing his mistake and how much he endangered Jack for a simple ego boost, he becomes genuinely remorseful and apologizes to Arcee for his actions, turning himself in to Optimus to be reprimanded accordingly.
He and Arcee go to retrieve the first Omega Key, where they're confronted by Megatron who struck Smokescreen with the Dark Saber and would have killed him had he not secretly taken the Phase Shifter. Smokescreen then woke up inside the pyramid and after finding his way out of the ruins he helped Optimus take the Omega Key from Megatron and distracted Megatron right as he was about to kill Optimus, allowing the Autobod leader to overpower his enemies and letting them both return safely to base with the key. Later on, when he and Bulkhead go to retrieve the third Omega Key, the pair are subsequently ambushed by Dreadwing and lose the key, for which Smokescreen blames himself. Due to this Arcee reprimands him over his arrogant and reckless behavior, making him leave base to think for himself, however he is then captured by Soundwave as it was revealed that he carried the final Omega Key, unknwon to even himself. After being captured by the Decepticons he refuses to tell Megatron the purpose of the Omega Keys in spite of being subjected to possible torture by Knock Out who he then manages to sudbue by using the Phase Shifter to escape his binds and leave the medic stuck through a wall. Taking extreme causion, he then sneaks up to Megatron and manages to swipe all the keys from him, making a run for it until he's cornered in the Nemesis' bridge, forcing him to jump down, saving himself with the phase shifter and calling Ratchet to make a Ground Bridge, leaving all Omega Keys in the Autobots' possesion.
After Starscream stole all the keys and brought them to Megatron, he alongside the rest of Team Prime retrieved all the Iaconian Relics in their possesion and then prepared to head to Cybertron to retrieve the keys and hopefully restore their planet. Along the way, when Optimus became secretive regarding the messages from Alpha Trion in the Star Saber, Smokescreen defended him from the other Autobots' accusations, having known Alpha personally and knowing of his enigmatic ways. He then joined the assault on the Vehicons by using the Phase Shifter to pull a surprise attack, and succeeded in retrieving the Omega Keys, later dropping the Spark Extractor in the midst of Megatron's ranks to delay their assault, obliterating every Vehicon and nearly taking out Megatron himself. However just them, Megatron would reveal he had the Autobots' Human allies as prisoners, and as such he and Arcee were forced to hand over two of the keys in exchange for Jack's life. However with the Decepticons discovering the Autobot Base and the Omega Lock destroyed by Optimus, Team Prime would be forced to evacuate the base one by one to different locations in the planet.
Season 3[]
Picking up exactly where we left off, it's revealed that exactly after evacuating, Smokescreen refused to leave Optimus behind and as such rushed back at the last second, survivng the blast with the Phase Shifter which he had succesfully retrieved during the commotion in Cybertron and finding Optimus' battered body, taking him out of the wreckage and bringing him to a cave miles underneath so no one could trace their signals, saving the Prime from being found by Megatron, and even then he still apologized for disobeying orders. To help Optimus recover he tried to search for medical supplies for Optimus in the wreckage but found none and tried to go off to search for Ratchet before Optimus stopped him and asked for Solus Prime's Forge, to which Smokescreen infiltrated the Nemesis and managed to succesfully retrieve the relic, bringing it down to Optimus in hopes of using it's energy to save his life. However, Optimus would reveal that he wanted the Forge to be used to restore the Omega Lock instead of himself, to which Smokescreen disagrees as they can't use it without a Prime. This would lead Optimus to reveal that he believes that Smokescreen should be the next Prime and that he plans to entrust him with the Matrix of Leadership once he passes. Despite wanting to be a great hero and warrior, he refuses Optimus' offer claiming he isn't ready to be a Prime and that he's not responsible enough. When Optimus finally succumbs to his injuries and the Matrix presents himself to him, Smokescreen decides to instead use the remaining power of the Forge to resurrect Optimus and reform him in a new body, which allowed for Optimus to defeat Megatron and destroy Darkmount. He then followed the Prime to try and help in the battle.
In the following time, a more matured Smokescreen would continue to help in the war, now having shed his arrogance and tried to converse with Bee over leadership roles, respecting and admiring him for his choice of wanting to be promoted to warrior on Cybertron, stating he should learn from the scout. He and Bee are then able to take the Predacon fossil from Shockwave, though Soundwave retrieves a piece of it. After the Autobots captured Soundwave, he stays behind with Bulkhead and Ratchet to guard the captive communications officer. When Laserbeak attacks the base and frees Soundwave, he tries to prevent them from escaping but fails, however he manages to shoot off Laserbeak's transponder, which is later used by Raf to create Chip, which would allow the Autobots to find the Nemesis' location, leading to the events of the Final Battle where he joins the rest of the Autobots in storming the Nemesis to prevent Megatron from cyberforming Earth. During the battle, he infiltrates the ship's storage chamber and retrieves the Star Saber which he later tries to bring to Optimus and was ultimately used by Bee to kill Megatron. With the battle finally won, he alongside Team Prime, takes the Omega Lock to Cybertron and successfully restores life to the planet.
Predacons Rising[]
In the reconstruction of Cybertron, he and Ultra Magnus would make routine patrols in order to try to locate Shockwave and Starscream as well as any other possible rogue Decepticons. When they're attacked by Darksteel and Skylinx, he saves Ultra Magnus from being killed and realizing he can't take the Predacons, choses to take the injured Magnus to safety instead. He then tries to hold of the Terrorcon Predacons from reaching the Well of All Sparks, during which he admits to Bee that Optimus planned to give him the Matrix, stating that he finally understood that being in the right place at the right time doesn't mean being the right person, showing his growth.
Corrupting Qualities?[]
I recently watched a video that inspired this proposal a lot and really helps you see how much he's changed from start to finish, here it is: https://youtu.be/fHiKGo1EYbs
First up let's talk about the obvious issue in Season 2: His recklessness and arrogance. Smokescreen is introudced as an impatient youth who belives himself unstoppable and destined for greatness, not truly comprehending war as he believed he could win it himself. This is shown throughout moments such as revealing himself to a human for a prank or taking Jack with him to take the Star Saber despite knowing they could be hurt. However, this qualities are vital to his development, as most of his character arc in the series focuses on him learning the qualities of both a good leader and a good warrior, learning his own limits, such as to never underestimate a foe and also learning to take others' needs into consideration, even though it doesn't always benefit him. This is greatly shown during his time with Optimus on the starting arc of Season 3, and how nearly becoming a Prime changed his perspective of both himself and the war waging around him. He ultimately has shed both of this negative aspects by Prime's conclusion, and even his scenes in Predacons Rising go to show his newfound maturity such as his conversation with Bumblebee on the value of leadership and how he himself has begun to contain himself. In case you need further proof, a great contrast between him at the start and now is a scene where after Megatron returns, he briefly wonders what they should call him but then comprehending the gravity of the situation, chastises himself and focuses on the mission.
In terms of jerkishness, while he is still a tad mischievous at the end, it's nothing corrupting as it shows that he's just a thrill-seeker who knows when to get serious and isn't willing to put himself or others in harm's way for the sake of it. While he does have a moment where he says that Magnus' hook should become his "trademark" like Bee's voice, it was clearly meant to be a small joke to lighten the mood and not mockery of Bee, as after he realized he had hurt the scout, he talked to him during their mission and admitted he still had much to learn, and should take a cue from Bee.
Admirable Standard[]
The Admirable Standard of the Aligned Continuity is no joke. Even if we consider Prime and the War for Cybertron Games as two separate universes, there are still several admirable candidates, however Smokescreen stands out quite easily for the following reasons:
- He is directly responsible for the restoration of Cybertron as well as the survival of Team Prime and Earth. Why? Well it's simple, Smokescreen was the one who saved Optimus from the wreckage in the Omega Outpost, saving the Prime's life and stopping Megatron from taking him and possibly the Matrix. He then choose to abandon his desires of glory, as he was offered the Matrix and the chance to be a Prime and a leader for all Cybertronians in a golden platter, but instead chose to use the energy of the Forge to revive Optimus, granting him a stronger body which would allow him to quickly reach Darkmount and take out Megatron, allowing the rest of the Autobots to fight back and escape as well as succesfully destroy the fortress and stop Megatron from expanding his reign on Earth. Even Ratchet himself acknowledges in the series that Smokescreen's choice was the right one which benefitted all of them.
- Later on, he is also the catalyst for the final battle as he is the one who managed to shoot down a piece of Laserbeak, allowing Raf to track the Nemesis and giving the Autobots the chance to stop Earth from being cyberformed in the first place, leading to Megatron' demise and the end of the Great War as well as the Cybermatter being used to bring Cybertron back.
Final Verdict[]
Solid YES