Animated Elite Guard Prowl

Prelude: Elite Guard Prowl is a repaint of the original Prowl toy and was available exclusively at the Tokyo Toy Show in 2010. Since I’ve already reviewed Prowl back in 2008, this review here will focus on the differences.

Robot Mode: Elite Guard Prowl comes with a new paintjob that is clearly a homage to G1 Prowl, the bot he takes his name from. Mostly white, he has black and golden highlights and looks pretty dashing, a good deal more regal than his more subdued dark paintjob. His hubcap throwing stars are now silver and his strange traffic light mace weapon is also white. His Autobot symbol now carries the wings of the Elite Guard. Nothing else has changed, meaning he’s still an excellent, extremely well-articulated, and (given that he becomes a motorcycle) surprisingly symmetrical robot. I love this guy.

Alternate Mode: Same as above, Prowl is now mostly white with black and golden highlights to emulate the paintjob of his G1 successor. Apart from that the motorcycle remains the same. Still amazing how this tall robot folds together into this relatively small bike with no visible robot bits. Fabulous!

Remarks: Elite Guard Prowl works on several different levels. To some he is Prowl as he might have looked had he lived to join the Autobot Elite Guard. To others he is Ghost Prowl, the disembodied spirit of the Autobot that was all set to return (maybe even bodily?) in the unproduced fourth season of Animated. And finally, he is paying homage to G1 Prowl with his white and black paint job. So take your pick.

Anyway, this convention exclusive version comes in the same packaging as the regular Takara Animated Prowl (just with a sticker added) and, given that he never appeared like this in the series, isn’t strictly necessary, of course. Being an Animated nut, though, and a big fan of Prowl as a character, I really wanted this guy. A must-have? Certainly not. But well worth it for Animated completists and Prowl fans. And everyone should own at the very least one version of this excellent figure, just saying.

Rating: A

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