Originally written April 2019.
Siege wave 2 is starting to pop up in Canada, and I’ve managed to nab me a little bit of it. Going forward, my coverage of the line won’t be “every figure,” just “the ones I wanted to get,” and with that, we come to Prowl, the Autobot on whom the Autobot symbol itself was actually based (seriously, look at the logo, then look at his head.) Like Sideswipe and Hound, this Autobot police car’s one of the original 1984 Transformers, and, despite a bio note that painted him as a logic-obsessed strategist, didn’t really have much of a personality or presence, barely making it into the original cartoon or Marvel comics, mostly being remembered for his oddly violent death in the original animated movie.
However, unlike those other two cars, that all changed in the 21st century. Prowl wound up being one of the most important, influential characters in IDW’s original 13-year long Transformers comics run, where he was rewritten into a morally-dubious, manipulative chessmaster, obsessed with anticipating and neutralizing threats to the Aubotots, no matter the cost. He even became an outright villain during the Combiner Wars event. All of this has earned him an early, probably important role in IDW’s rebooted comic series.
In terms of toys, Prowl’s already seen a few updates, during the 2008 Universe line, the 2014 Combiner Wars line, and in Takara’s Masterpiece line. I’ve owned and sold both the Universe and Masterpiece figures, finding them too complex and fiddly for my tastes. This new Siege one hopes to improve upon them, and has the bonus of representing his current IDW comics look, as you can see below:
Robot Mode
I’ll get this out of the way right at the top: He’s kind of short and stumpy-looking out of the box, and it feels like his legs should be longer. That being said, once you take him out and pose him, you get used to it, but it’s still a bit of a drag, especially since, for their problems, all of the other Prowl updates looked more proportionate.
Design-wise, they haven’t reinvented the wheel with his look, and he still has the car chest, door wings, and trunk boots that most early Autobot cars were known for. Like most Generations figures, his design’s not based on a specific look, but definitely evokes the character. As has become the case with Siege, I’ve got to call out the excellent headsculpt, that looks like a shrunken-down version of his Masterpiece look.
In an odd twist, he’s the only Siege figure at the Deluxe scale that doesn’t include any of the line’s trademark battle damage and grime, which is oddly fitting for the character. Aside from that, he’s a fairly standard police-colored black and white, managing to not look plain, despite his fairly basic colors. One thing he does share with the rest of the line, though, is that he’s got that excellent Siege poseability and construction, with ankle tilts and wrist swivels included, and can even pose mid-kick, something a lot of figures can’t pull off.
It’s all because those big, stompy boots make him stand up well, and are impressively articulated with giant ankle tilts. (Note: He’s a bit mistransformed in the box, and you can flip out heel spurs to make him more stable.)
Like Sideswipe, Prowl feels a bit under-armed. He’s got a white laser rifle, and, oddly, a removable police lightbar that you can attach to the top of his weapon. The instructions say you can hold it like an axe, but there’s actually no way to do so with this figure’s hands. If you don’t want the lightbar out there, you can also mount it on his back.
The original Prowl figure had a pair of shoulder cannons, though his character model typically didn’t have them deployed. Most Prowl updates still included them, though, so it’s a bit disappointing to not see them included here. Curiously, he’s got a pair of oval holes next to his head that make it seem like you can mount something there, but their non-standard shape means most of the line’s weapons can’t fit there. More curiously, his wave-mate Chromia has a pair of small weapon attachments that fit perfectly, and can mimic his shoulder cannons, but they’re blue, so they clash pretty significantly. (2021 note: Shoulder weapon accessories would later be included with all of this mold’s redecos and retools, including Smokescreen, Bluestreak, Barricade, and the Sparkless Bot).
In terms of other mounting points for weapons, Prowl’s got holes on his forearms and the top of his shoulders.
Transformation
This is the kind of transformation that lives or dies by how solidly the figure is constructed, and I’m pleased to report it lives well. Basically, you’re squeezing him into a car shape, and clipping a lot of panels together. If the figure’s robot bits didn’t compress well, or if the clips weren’t solid enough, the transformation and the car mode would be a mess, and this is what sunk the Universe figure in particular. But, I’m pleased to report that everything fits solidly into place, and you can figure it out yourself on the second try without needing to look up where all his stuff is supposed to fit. It’s really satisfying.
Car Mode
Unlike a lot of Siege figures, this one really decided to lean into the “alien vehicle mode from the planet Cybertron” angle. He definitely doesn’t look like an Earth car. He’s all curves, almost like a shoe, and he’s got a really low cockpit, with circuitry inside. He’s also got clear, Tron-like wheels. It’s an odd design, but having it in hand, I dig it a lot, mainly because it all fits together into something solid and sleek.
It may not be his Earthly police car mode, but it’s colored like one, complete with Prowl’s now trademark black pointed paint app on the hood. Where his “Police” logo previously appeared, he’s now got Cybertronian writing. He’s also got painted wheels! Overall, it’s a really solid-looking car.
Despite being so low-slung, he rolls perfectly, with nothing scraping, another thing that’s sometimes hard to do. In terms of other gimmicks, you can mount his weapon on top of his lightbar, or underneath it. I still kind of wish he had some weapon storage, though, or more mounting points.
Overall
It’s funny. Prowl’s not perfect, and he’s not the strongest figure in Wave 2 (that honor probably goes to Ironhide), but I like him a lot, and he’s the one I’ve gone back to and messed with the most. It probably has do do with his satisfying, well-engineered transformation.
Sure, he’s got odd, short robot proportions, and he feels under-armed, but he’s very solidly-built and poseable, has an elegant transformation, and a surprisingly sleek car mode. I like this better than the previous versions I’ve owned, thanks to how solid and straightforward he is. If you don’t have a Prowl, this is one I recommend. And if you want to wait for another deco, he’s being repainted into the Decepticon Barricade in two waves, and may get repainted into Bluestreak (like the original figure was), in an exclusive anniversary line. I hope he gets a Smokescreen redeco, too.
(2021 updates: Firstly, yes, he did get all those redecos, and then some. Secondly, there was an entirely new version of Prowl released as part of Earthrise, which changed into a proper Earth car, and also had the full suite of redecos and retools, as Smokescreen, Bluestreak and Barricade. However, that figure was only available on Amazon in a two-pack with Ironhide, sold out immediately, and has been extremely hard to find on the aftermarket. I don’t have any version of that tooling, but I’ve got to say, this version of him still holds up in 2021, particularly with his really smooth-feeling transformation, and I honestly feel like, because of that, this is still the Prowl to get, unless you happen to have really good inroads into an Earthrise version.)
