Transformers Siege Prowl review

Prowl is a prick. In case you wonder where you get that from, it's a running gag that the TFWiki editors do when they're sometimes funny. I feel that this character's shining moment was when he became the head of Devastator because he seems remembered from only being on the toy catalogs and having some lines in the cartoon. People say that he's obsessed with logic like Shockwave, but I don't buy it. Toy-wise, he's done fairly good, but how about his Siege figure? Let's find out.

Here is Prowl in his vehicle mode. It's a Cybertronic version of the Fairlady Z, what with the lettering, tires, and aesthetics overall looking more futuristic or alien than the car it's based on. I kind of like this approach, though I see it more as the Autobots entering Earth in the far future than in 1984. Honestly, seeing Prowl go from this altmode to an old two-door vehicle from the past would kind of be a downgrade; sure, Cybertronian alt modes could be seen as getting downgraded into Earth modes, but unless this is Prowl going from a vacuum cleaner from the cartoon to a car, I'd rather have Prowl stay in this form. It's pretty cool in my opinion!

Overall, it's certainly not as Earthy as it could be, but it's pretty close. I do feel that the doors not having any broken up details to mimic the windshield does look off. It just contrasts poorly with the clear windows.

You can place the gun on top of the siren. It's a simple form of weapon storage, but it's effective as an attack mode of sorts.

Transforming Prowl is pretty much a slightly altered take on the way he converted in the old days. You extend the legs, rotate the waist, bring out the arms, and fold the doors forward. The only thing that feels new is the abdominal piece folding out and filling in the missing midriff of the robot mode. As for the feet, while you do have heel spurs, I suggest to not hinge the feet all the way to the top. Doing so will lead into the figure leaning more than it should.

In robot mode, Prowl captures the G1 design pretty well, though it has somewhat of the futuristic cues that the others don't really have. For a robot mode comparison, here is Prowl next to his 2008 Universe Deluxe form, his original G1 toy, and the Masterpiece form, with the latter two being alternate variants of the original forms. The Universe figure does look good, though it's got some crappy door paint that comes off too easily while the head looks like it's not really integrated. The G1 figure is pretty classy despite being dated, and the Masterpiece looks the best, though I'd prefer having darker windows. Siege Prowl doesn't fare too terribly next to the Universe and MP versions, though I don't like the lack of detail for his midriff to break up all of the black coloring around his chest, nor do I like how wide the torso is without any of the real definition of his Universe or Masterpiece forms. The weakest part has to be how thin the thighs are. They make the legs look like they're fragile at the knee. The other Prowl figures have better leg proportions. This is a nitpick, but I wish the doors could be angled, as they don't look too visible when viewed from the front. At least there's no Siege battle damage in sight.

The side and view profiles don't look too hot. There is thankfully less of a "slapped-on" backpack as the rooftop isn't too noticeable, but the figure still feels kind of basic in terms of engineering. It's almost like it's becoming one of those bootleg Transformers called Morphbots (the ones that have Ford licensing). I hate to use that comparison, but it feels like a shortcoming compared to Wave 1's Sideswipe and Hound.

Face sculpt is pretty faithful to how Prowl looks, though it does almost look like Impactor's without the forehead crest. It's an appropriate design for the character, though.

Articulation is consistent with the rest of the Deluxe-up Siege line. Head is on a ball-joint, shoulders swivel front and back, hinge in and out, swivel at the biceps, bend at the elbows, and swivel at the wrists. The waist swivels, hips move front and back as well as in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and pivot at the ankles.

His weapon can be displayed on its own or with the siren attached on top. When I first saw the images of this toy, I thought the gun would be integrated with the siren and thus require that the gun is inside the car mode at all times. Thankfully, you can have the gun without the siren attached at all times, though the siren being removable likely stems from it not being used for Bluestreak and Smokescreen.

You can position him like his G1 toy if you like. It's a weird fan mode, but hey, Geewun accuracy to the max, yo!

In terms of repaints, Prowl was reused in the mainline as Barricade. He looks pretty slick with the matte black body and the lush purple windows, but the robot mode is kind of ruined with the lavender plastic. If they were in a metallic color, I wouldn't mind so much. Also, it seems that the text on the doors is about the same as on Prowl. It came with some shoulder cannons that could double as a Targetmaster-esque blaster as well as zappers for an attack mode. Also, the head was reused in Smokescreen, but it doesn't look like the case due to how it's colored. Sure, an Evergreen version of Barricade would be neat, but at least the repaint looks cool for the most part.

As expected, a Bluestreak redeco was bound to happen, though the head sculpt is retooled, and the cannons are included along with the gun. I like this deco, though I'd rather wait for a discount before I get this repaint.

Up next, Smokescreen gets made, this time from Hasbro Pulse. He has the same cannons that came with Bluestreak, but in white, and he now has the same head design that Barricade came with. I don't think I'd get this repaint immediately, but it does have a neat take on the 38 decals.

And this is the Sparkless Bot, who comes in a rather convincing rust deco and has only the two shoulder cannons. I'd rather call him a Rusticon or a Terrorcon in honor of TFP for the latter, but those that want undead Barricades that look like abandoned die-cast cars would want this.

Overall, this guy is somewhat of a mixed bag. The proportions are a bit off, the robot mode almost looks like the Morphbot knockoffs, and the door wings could go for an angled appearance. That said, the articulation is good, the car mode looks pretty nice, and the lack of battle damage on this figure makes it look clean all around. I'd suggest getting this figure at a cheaper price because it's not an awful figure, though it could go for a bit of a bulk-up.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐