Review: #148
Name: Prowl
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Prime - Beast Hunters
Year of Release: 2013
Size Class: Legion (Wave 2)
Variations: retool of BH Smokescreen and the original mold was also repainted later on as BH Bluestreak.
VEHICLE MODE:
In typical fashion, Prowl transforms into a black and white police car, the black paint used is really nice (since it's rich and glossy). Prowl is a technically a retool of Smokescreen since there's the addition of a painted lightbar.
The spoiler is wicked and the car overall is great. Prowl is well painted too, his wrap-around windshield along with the back windows are painted.
One of the best things about this mold is that the back is fully molded realistic! The designer could have easily gone the lazy route like with many other Legion toys (heck, even some Deluxe toys!) and leave the back all gappy, exposing robot joints but no, it's perfect here. Granted, it's unpainted but that might be asking for too much.
Prowl feels small, but he's actually the same size as RtS Prowl from a few years back.
A nice trend with Legions is that they come with weapons (although there isn't too much variety). Prowl has a few peg holes where you can attach the hammer.
Basically, on either side. The hammer itself has a few pegs so it depends on your preference on which orientation to attach it to.
A great car mode with plenty of sculpted detail. It's impressive and the paint job is stunning.
TRANSFORMATION:
Refreshing and complex for a Legion. It's something that you'd expect of a simple Commander class toy (although to be fair, it's not quite that level yet). The way the arms and door wings form was interesting. Too bad the top of the car is a big piece of plastic but the transformation of the chest exceeds your expectations.
ROBOT MODE:
I didn't like this mold's robot mode at first. Why? The huge feet (something the Deluxe also shares) and the awkward looking long legs.
That said, Prowl has grown on me, mainly because of the transformation. The large feet does mean that Prowl is very stable.
There's no remolding for robot mode, he retains the same head as Smokescreen, so Prowl loses some character in this department (the remolded head for the Deluxe toy is amazing though). At least it's painted.
Thanks to the long legs, Prowl becomes fairly tall in robot mode, but in the process, losing some bulk.
His weapon is the justice hammer! He shares the weapon with a few other toys.
One of the nice things that they've fixed since the DOTM Legions is that you can plug the weapon in either hand.
You can also plug it in such a way that it kinda looks like a ranged weapon, it's not the best but it'll do.
Articulation is limited but about what you'd expect from a figure this small. He has balljointed hips and shoulders. He also has some ankle joints which help in a few points. The fixed knees is a hindrance since it makes Prowl look unnatural in a lot of poses.
Overall, a decent robot mode with a nice color scheme (although the feet are a bit too bland).
OVERALL:
An excellent mold. He has two good modes and an amazing transformation scheme. I found him to be surprisingly good and he displays very well. The door wings look amazing and the paint is nice and glossy.
--------------------------------
Check out a few other reviews from this page here.