Animated Prowl

My Review:

Robot Mode: Prowl makes for a very tall, lean robot that perfectly captures the look of his cartoon counterpart. At rest he seems aloof, as if nothing could possibly disturb him. Once he explodes into action, though, he''s the master of poses. There''s pretty much no humanly possible pose he can''t do. He can even do a handstand, no problem.

Look-wise there is nothing to complain about, either. Prowl is as finely detailed as any Deluxe figure I''ve ever seen. I especially like his face. It has that same slightly bored and miffed look that cartoon Prowl carries most of the time. As a homage to G1 Prowl he has the same forehead-shield that the old Prowl had. And, of course, he has the Animated-style oversized chin. Originally I didn''t much like his colours, but now I''m a fan. It just fits him in some indefinable way.

As seems to be the rule for the Animated Autobots Prowl doesn''t carry any kind of firearm, but rather a more classical weapon, in his case two throwing stars that emerge from the hubcaps of his bike wheels. The stars are very well engineered. Pull out one of the three blades and a tiny cog mechanism inside them pulls the other two out, too. Prowl can hold them in his (finely sculpted) hands without any problems. Prowl also comes with a traffic light... not sure what that is about. It''s connected via string to a grip, so maybe it''s supposed to be a kind of improvised morning star. Not sure. It''s fun in a weird, strange way.

To sum it up for the robot mode: Pretty much perfect. I honestly can''t think of anything that could have been done better here.

Alternate Mode: A police motorbike serves as Prowl''s alternate mode. It''s actually quite amazing how this tall robot folds himself together into this relatively small bike. Especially the folding of the legs is very well done. As a bike, Prowl offers no clue that a robot might be hidden inside. If you look very closely at the rear you might catch a glimpse of the hands, but that''s it.

The bike is very nicely detailed, too, including sculpted details for the cockpit and posable steering handles. There is a police siren behind the seat. The bike also includes a small supporting stand so it can stand on its own. Very nicely done. I can''t really say much more about this vehicle mode. Solid, no complaints.

Remarks: Like a true ninja should, Prowl really snuck up on me. I certainly didn''t expect him to become possibly my favourite character among the Animated Autobots, but he is. Most of the time he acts like Batman, always appearing superior, aloof, almost arrogant. He becomes truly likeable, though, when his calm exterior is cracked, either by the antics of his fellow Autobots, or by his bursts of compassion, like when he saved the Dinobots from being dismantled. Prowl is always cool or slightly frustrated by his inability to remain cool. You just have to love a guy like that.

The figure pretty much perfectly captures this character. I could add a lot of big words here about how nicely this figure is made, but I''ll keep it short and simple. If you''re looking for an Animated character perfectly translated into an action figure, Prowl is your man. Go get him!

Rating: A

And for a second opinion the review by Tobias H:

Prelude: In Transformers Animated Prowl plays a role not unlike a Bhuddist monk. He lives in harmony with himself and his environment, or at least that's his philosophie. Of course his peace is regularly disturbed by Bumblebee and/or Bulkhead, which causes the normally well-balanced Prowl to get somewhat frustrated.

Prowl is a ninja and as such a very serious character, who normally hides his emotions pretty well. Doesn't mean that he's "cold", quite the opposite. The Autobots' martial arts expert is a very compassionate guy, but also very disciplined.

Prowl is another great example of the new direction Transformers Animated has taken. The characters are a lot deeper and far more distuingished than the characters of previous series'.

Robot Mode: To make it short and sweet, Prowl in robot mode is just incredible. The robot is, as seems to be standard for TFA-figures, highly posable. He bend in ways no one could even imagine during earlier Transformers series. Martial arts poses are no problem and all and look really good on Prowl. His feet are of perfect size and have an extra joint for his 'toes', giving Prowl a stable platform to stand on.

Colour-wise Prowl's primary colour is black, as you'd expect from a ninja. There are multiple golden highlights scattered over the figure, though, giving Prowl a very regal look.

The figure also offers a lot of very nice details. He has individually molded fingers. They can't move individually, but they look really nice and he has no problems holding all sorts of stuff in his hands. Another very nice aspect is Prowl's face, which perfectly captures the somewhat stoic, humourless look of the cartoon character.

Overall Prime holds some resemblance to an American motorcycle cop, which is kinda fitting, seeing as his alternate mode is a police motorbike. In the series he often creates a holographic driver image for his bike mode.

I saved the best for last, though. Prowl has a highly interesting gimmick. He has two throwing stars hidden in his legs. The stars are disguised as golden hubcaps. Once removed you can use a tiny mechanism inside them to unlock the blades. In my opinion one of the best-designed gimmicks ever, highly innovative and perfectly realized. This gimmick alone makes Prowl into something very special.

Apart from the two throwing stars Prowl has one more weapon included. It's a traffic light, connected to a rope and a handle. At first I really couldn't make heads nor tail of this thing, but by now I think that the idea behind this "club-whip" is that many kids might not get too much play value out of the two small throwing stars, seeing as they're pretty tiny, as befits a ninja. The whip is a rather big and obvious weapon in comparison.

I suspect that small children might prefer this bigger weapon. For myself, I just look at it as an additional goodie, which is to represent Prowl's ingenuity. After all, a ninja is supposed to be able to transform everything into a weapon, even a traffic light, should it be necessary.

In the end I can only come to one conclusion: Prowl features one of the best robot modes I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Absolutely fabulous.

Alternate Mode: Prowl's alternate mode is, as I mentioned above, a police motorbike. The bike as such is a very streamlined vehicle and you can easily imagine something very much like it on today's streets. Just like the robot mode, the alternate mode is nicely detailed. Many of the golden highlights visible in robot mode are visible here, too, and do a lot to improve what might otherwise be a rather boring look.

A closer look at the motorbike reveals how much love and effort went into this figure, for there are many small details which one might overlook on casual inspection. One example are the steering handles of the front wheel. On a motorbike with this kind of design, where the "control panel" is almost completely covered, it would have been easy to simply leave those aside or just hint at them. Instead Prowl has fully sculpted handles, which can even be moved back and forth a little for a more realistic look.

Another such detail is the supporting stand, which can be folded out and back, enabling a secure stand for the motorbike. Here, too, it would have been easy to just put this thing in immobile or leave it out entirely. Also worth mentioning are the police lights, which are of different colours and mounted on the rear end of the bike.

One final detail: It is even possible to move the front wheel of the motorbike from side to side, almost as if the bike could actually be steered. Another detail that, especially among motorcycle Transformers, is often neglected.

What else can I say about this vehicle mode? Prowl strikes as a good a figure here as he does in robot mode. His alternate mode offers a lot, much more than is apparent at first glance. Superbly done.

Conclusion: Before coming to the actual conclusion of this review I just wanted to express my thanks to ebay seller silentmaster27, without whom this review wouldn't have been possible. So, thanks a lot!

Prowl is one of the best-designed and best-realized Transformers I have ever encountered and I'm very glad to have him as part of my collection. A large amount of details in both mode and a truly fantastic posability will offer lots and lots of play value to both collectors and those, who simply want this figure to play with. All that plus the great throwing star gimmick, which keeps fascinating me.

All of the above means that Prowl fulfills all the necessary expectations for an "A"-rating. He is highly detailed, highly posable, looks great, and manages to truly capture the look of his cartoon character. All that plus extras would easily suffice for a "very good" rating. But since I really, really adore his throwing star gimmick and find it highly innovative, I gladly award Prowl an...

Rating: A+

Picture Gallery: