Transformers Animated turns 15-16 this year, and it's such a long time since we heard anything major from it. What I like about Animated is the fact that the series balanced elements of newer Transformers series with older ones, a trend that makes sense for the anniversary and is an approach I liked that we saw over time in later shows up until the release of Cyberverse, where it relied on the Evergreen aesthetic (before we saw more creative designs over time). Prowl has been in RID and Energon with Japanese-influenced design traits, with personalities that made them either similar or different from the G1 iteration; Animated's version goes for a Cyber-Ninja that was initially a loner before making a strong alliance with the space bridge repair crew that would later serve as the Autobots who saved Detroit. But with all that said, let's take a look at Prowl's newest toy!
Here is Evolution Animated Prowl in vehicle mode. It's a slick, black and gold motorcycle with police elements added since this was a futuristic police cycle in the show. It doesn't look too different from his old Deluxe counterpart, though I would be lying if I said this one was an improvement since the original one looked much cleaner in bike mode; this guy's hips, waist, and shoulder joints are more exposed and don't really blend in with the rest of the bike. In addition, because of how chunkier the throwing starts are this time, they kind of don't blend in with the rest of the bike too well unless they were painted gold like the rest of the toy. I also like that you get each siren light colored differently from one another.
Here he is with his fellow wavemate and Cycleformer, Crashbar. I gotta say how cool it is to have more of an increase on bikeformers that aren't just fembots or Arcee, especially since Prowl was a main Autobot in Animated while Crashbar is a Junkion (and he'll be focused on later on).
Transformation is faithful to the original toy, sith the front being the chest, both wheels serving as the legs, the sides of the bike being the winglets, and the backseat becoming the arms. It's something I like that they carried over, especially since it keeps the legs symmetrical. The robot mode shares the same Geewunification that affected the TFP characters, with everyone in the last line being compromised except for Skyquake. While Prowl isn't as lean and mean as his old self, he at least looks like Animated Prowl without being Sunbowified. He doesn't feel boring or compromised. While I'd love a leaner, meaner version of him, this is still a good take on the character if you ask me. Plus it's not like G1 Prowl wanted to compromise the look...now saying that, I fear for Optimus Prime, Bee, Megatron, and any character who looked G1 enough in Animated to have a worse treatment.
Head sculpt ditches the chin sadly, but he still has that Animated flare that makes him iconic among his teammates, and he has a bit of that chin present, as small as it is. His visor isn't sharp and lacks that dynamic Gurren Laggan aesthetic, but it still pops with the bright blue that contrasts his mostly dark head. His articulation consists of a ball-jointed neck, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, slight hand curls, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ball-jointed ankles. The hubcaps on the outer sides of the wheels can deploy three blades and serve as ninja stars, albeit chunkier than they should be. His right hand can't really hold them as well as his left hand, but the weight that they possess makes them harder to stay in their hands.
Here he is with last line's main bikeformer in the line, albeit represented as Road Rockett. I feel that while this figure was meant to be TFP Arcee, the Legacy style did not benefit it as well as it should, making it easier to repurpose for any other character with how simplified the design looks. By contrast, Animated Prowl makes it harder to repurpose into a different character, with the only possibility being an upgrade that gives him his samurai armor...now that I mentioned it, he should have come with his Samurai armor to make the bulk easier to stomach for fans that feel annoyed it's bulkier.
No comments:
Post a Comment