Astrotrain’s locomotive mode is obviously the secondary alt form as it isn’t as polished as the shuttle mode. Unfortunately, it’s also the second faux pas that Hasbro made with this figure. Instead of recreating the original’s old steam engine mode, Hasbro made him a modern bullet train mode. I agree, that this helps the shuttle mode along a lot, but I just can’t identify this form with the G1 character this toy is supposed to be based on. Besides, which, I just find the bullet trains to be boring. It’s just a tube with a nosecone. Apart from that, it’s ok. The shuttle thrusters remaining on the back is a pretty obvious piece of kibble, but it’s cool that you can mount his cannon on the back. [I would have shown that if I had it handy, but alas, Astrotrain’s gun is at the bottom of some other tote. -FF] Overall, this mode just doesn’t do much for me. I really miss the steam engine.

Astrotrain’s robot mode is pretty much on par with his shuttle mode: Great sculpt and design, poor color. Not to beat a dead horse, but this white deco just doesn’t say Astrotrain to me, but he is at least showing more purple than in his shuttle mode, but where’s the grey? Everything else about the figure is spot on. The headsculpt is extremely reminiscent of the G1 animated character and the paint apps on the face are excellent. The shoulder armor can be positioned straight out, or up on an angle, which is the way I like it. The two halves of the train nose shift to the side to reveal his hands, which is a cool idea, but they don’t lock and tend to shift back easily. If you have his gun in one hand, that will keep that arm right.

The articulation is quite good. Astrotrain has a ball jointed neck, his arms have ball jointed shoulders and elbows. His legs have universal movement in the hips and knees with hinges and swivels.

Even with his various flubs, I still really enjoy this figure. That having been said, Astrotrain is one of those figures that you may want to go Japanese with if you don’t yet have him. Buying the Henkei version won’t fix the fact that his train mode is still a modern one and not a steam engine, but it will fix all his color issues, and you’ll also get cool Decepticon insignia on the wings instead of the unsightly rubsign. Considering how good his shuttle and robot forms are, I think it’s worth the extra money to get him in the proper colors, something I defintely plan on doing some day.

Prowl is the weakest of the bunch, mainly because the paint doesn’t sufficiently hide the fact that his doors and front quarterpanels are cast in clear plastic. There’s an awful lot of slop on these parts of the car’s paint, making it look dirty and it doesn’t match the parts of the car’s body which are cast in white plastic. On the up side, the lettering on the doors is nice and crisp, as is the Autobot emblem on his hood. Prowl’s lightbar is the only structural difference between all three of these car modes.

Silverstreak has some similar issues as Prowl with the doors and quarterpanels, but the silver paint doesn’t show it as badly. My real issue with Silverstreak’s car mode is that I just think his colors are bland, but then they were on the original figure too. Had Hasbro used a higher gloss on the black, I think this guy would have looked much better in his alt form. He’s got a much larger Autobot emblem on his hood, which is crisp and clear.

True to his original toy, Smokescreen is the most visually striking of all three of these cars. He’s very patriotic looking with his red, white and blue deco, and he’s got the racing number, 38, on both doors and his hood. He’s also got a really cool Autobot emblem on his hood done up with a white outline. Smokescreen’s thick and glossy paintjob also overcomes the dodgy look that Prowl and Silverstreak had on their doors and fenders. There’s a tiny bit of bleed along some of the blue and white borders, but nothing too bad at all.

Transforming these figure’s is fidgity affair, mainly because of those pesky door/quarterpanel pieces. They tend to pop off the ball joint really easy, especially on my Prowl, and you have to do some serious manipulations on them to get them positioned right for the robot modes. As a result, I just tend to pop them off, do what I need to do, and pop them back on. It’s cheating, yeah, but definitely less frustrating than trying in vain to keep them attached. Each figure also stores their gun between their front wheels.

Hasbro did a fantastic job replicating the animated look of the original G1 characters. This has always been my idea of the quintessential Autobot look with the door wings and the front bumper chest, and I still think it looks really great. The door-wings are on ball joints to help position them out of the way and while the configuration of the lower legs is a little different than the original toy designs, it still works well and the overall proportions are excellent. The shoulder cannons are designed so that they flip up, rather than be separate attachable pieces. This is a great design since you don’t have extra pieces to hang on to. Plus you can customize the look of these guys by leaving the guns down, or just flipping one or the other up. The only difference between these guys in robot mode are the paint jobs, so let’s take a look at each one.

Besides being my first Transformer, I always used Prowl as Optimus Prime’s first lieutenant so he’s always been an important figure for me. Prowl’s car mode paint problems mostly go away in his robot mode, as those quarter panels are folded behind his door wings. His black and white deco is very striking, although I find myself worried that the white plastic may start to yellow over time. The silver paint app on his face is fantastic and his eyes feature blue light piping. The only place I take issue with Prowl’s paint in bot form is the lack of any paint apps on his shoulder weapons. These should have at least been painted partially black or silver. Left white as they are they just look unfinished. One of these days I’ll get up the nerve to do it myself.

Silverstreak’s robot deco looks great. The heavier use of black really sets him apart from Prowl and the additional maroon and silver looks nice and very much like the original G1 toy. Silverstreak’s face is painted white and he has the same blue light piping as Prowl. Fortunately, Silverstreak’s shoulder weapons are colored, and in a maroon and silver to match his deco. It really makes all the difference when you look at him standing next to Prowl.

Even in robot mode, Smokescreen is still the most colorful bot of the bunch. His glossy red and blue go well with the molded grey bits. His numbers, 38, are clearly visible on his door-wings and the Autobot emblem on his chest just looks fantastic. His face is painted silver and the blue helmet with yellow horns looks great. Smokescreen’s shoulder weapons are not painted, but they are at least molded in grey plastic, so they don’t look as bland as Prowl’s.

The articulation on these Autobots is solid. The necks rotate, the arms have double hinges at the shoulders so that they can rotate and have lateral movement. The elbows are hinged and the fists can swivel. The legs feature ball joints at the hips and double hinges in the knee. As mentioned, the door wings are also ball jointed. You can get some really nice poses out of these figures, although they do tend to be a little top heavy. Hasbro might have short changed them a bit in the feet department.

Even with the few issues I have with this trio, I still adore them because these are the figures I dreamed about owning as a kid. I can remember watching the cartoon and wondering why my figures couldn’t pose like that, and now they can. I don’t miss the diecast at all, but I do wish that Hasbro had made some different choices in the manufacture, particularly the use of the clear plastic. They would have been better off without any side windows at all like the original toys. But that’s just nitpicking with hindsight. When you get down to it, these three figures are superb updates. They take all the great design and decos of the originals and add loads of articulation and play value. Simply awesome.