Prowl Watch

[Shockprowl]

Been searching for info on my most wanted Transformers toy, 6" Titanium War Within Prowl. Doesn't look as though he's going to be released now. A Classics2 Prowl has, apparently been confirmed, but you know me and my love affair with 6" Titaniums. Really wanted that Prowl. Boo-hoo.

[Shockprowl]

uh, I'm on my own when it comes to 6" Titaniums, ain't I?

[legios]

shockprowl said:

uh, I'm on my own when it comes to 6" Titaniums, ain't I?

I'm not sure that you are completely on your own in general terms. But it would appear that they aren't really floating folks boat on the Hub. For my part none of the various Titaniums, whether TF or other franchises have really done anything for me. But to each their own.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

Shout out other lovers of 6 inchers!

[kayevcee]

I'm fine, thanks.

-Nick

[Shockprowl]

I wish I could grab more 6 inchers, myself.

[The Doctor]

I bet you could.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Thanks for the support Doc'. You're a mate!


6 INCHERS RULE!

[The Doctor]

Does it have to be six inches or is any size good for you?

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

You mean there are larger ones?

[The Doctor]

(....)

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

The fact 6 inch Titanium Prowl wont be released is still the open wound in my Transformers collection. Just didn't want you all to forget my pain.

[kayevcee]

Chin up. We're now getting a Classics one that will be about the same size and a damn sight better made.

-Nick

[Shockprowl]

Yeah true, thanks for the encouragement matey, Classics Prowl looks fantastic and will help fill the void. I just love the metal. I'm a Titanium junkie, I'm afraid.

Ian.

[Deleted]

I've got Titanium Ultra Magnus (don't know how big he is though because I can't be arsed to get out a ruler) and something struck me the other day when he fell off my desk and onto the floor. He fell apart. I thought he was broken but upon closer examination it turns out he is mainly fixed together with just plastic pegs and can be easily fixed back together without having to call out a screwdriver-wielding TF doctor. Maybe this is a toy that is ripe for customisation.

[Shockprowl]

Hmm, an interesting idea, old chap. I'm going to put my thinking cap on. Thanks!

[grahamthomson]

I am becoming increasingly concerned over Shockprowl's obsession over Prowl.

First the despair over the cancellation of Titanium Prowl and then the elation over the unveiling of Classics Prowl.

Where will this end? What if Prowl features in Transformers 2? What if they reissue the original Prowl toy again? What if they make a Masterpiece Prowl with working battery powered siren and [glow=red,2,300]flashing lights[/glow]??

Won't someone please think of the children?

[The Doctor]

I stand ready, in my new role as Soundwave, to counsel him.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Moi? Obsessed? What ever gives you that idea? I'm as right as the mail! Cool as a sausage. Level headed as a Judge.

What's that you say? Movie Prowl? I would calmly look forward to seeing Prowl in a Movie design. Yes, it would be very interesting.

And did someone mention the upcomming Classics Prowl? I agree, he is a very exciting figuroon within the glorious world of Transformers and I look forward to owning this toy.

Hmm? MP Prowl with flashing lights? What an interesting imaginment. Yes indeedy, very interesting. Oh now wouldn't that be... be...

THE SINGLE GREATEST TRANSFORMER IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF ALL TRANSFORMER KIND!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




(and it's still early in the day...)

[The Doctor]

The Doctor is in.

-Ralph

[Nigel]

"Level headed as a judge," eh? A Quintesson judge, presumably.

Do you think that this is a good time to mention that Mr Wildman drew me a Prowl at Bristol Comics Expo last year?

[The Doctor]

Yep.

Might also be good idea to mention that I have the original Barry Kitson art page for the 'Prowl' sequence from Dinobot Hunt part 4.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Ooh, lovely.

I've been saying Prowl's the greatest for many a year. I even went so far as to do a list of reasons he RULES and another one why Rodimus Prime doesn't, based on the old Marvel comics.

Let's see if I can find it in the TMUK Yahoo archive. Ah, yes...

20 Reasons why Prowl rules:

According to his Universe entry he is calm, competent
and very loyal, has almost endless patience, is the
most stable of all the Autobots, has the most
sophisticated logic centre, and can observe 800 moving
objects, compute their probable paths of movement, and
determine the proper counter-move in 0.05 seconds. His
tech-specs include 9/10 for Intelligence, Endurance,
Rank, Courage and Skill.

He was the first Autobot addressed by Optimus Prime by
name in US #1 and the last one in US #80.

He led the first mission out of the Ark in 1984,
during which he defeated Soundwave in battle while
simultaneously having a conversation with Cliffjumper
and recognising that humans were the dominant
intelligent life-forms on Earth, then led the Autobots
away so that the humans would not be killed by the
Decepticons.

When Mirage suggested taking energy from the humans,
Prowl stood up for their rights as sentient
life-forms. (In fact he also stops Optimus Prime
knocking down a forest for the sake of the animals,
the only time in a TF comic that an Autobot has
expressed concern for non-human Earthlings.)

When Guardian was loose on the Ark, Prowl, as usual,
identified the optimum strategy for dealing with him,
namely having Ratchet concentrate on reviving
Windcharger. In the end, Swoop found another way, but
had he not flown Guardian out of the Ark, this act
would have been what saved them.

Prowl took command of the Autobots while Optimus
Prime's head was Shockwave's captive, and (just as he
later attempted a reconciliation with Bludgeon's
Decepticons and entertained Irwin Spoon at Earthforce
H.Q.) acted as diplomat and host when forging the
long-term alliance with G.B. Blackrock that would
provide for the Autobots' fuel needs in the coming
years.

Prowl made a mistake in hastily connecting a fake head
to Optimus Prime's body, but at least he made the
attempt to save his leader from execution, which is
more than Grimlock would have done.

Prowl came up with a strategy for defeating the
Decepticons in Crisis of Command which would minimise
overall human losses in the Transformers war and
ensure swift victory. He was refused, and as a result
a human town was wiped out during the Dinobot Hunt a
few months later, and the war dragged on.

Prowl supervised operations in the Dinobot Hunt and
took Grimlock down with a cool shuttle strike.

Without either Optimus Prime or Prowl present in
Target: 2006, the Autobots completely fell apart and
had to turn to Megatron to lead them. Meanwhile in
Limbo, Prowl recognised the diversionary attack by
Shockwave and Thundercracker, and the threat of a
sonic attack by Frenzy, and wisely recommended audio
shutdown. He then swiftly despatched Thundercracker
without effort or fuss.

In the mission with Jetfire and Trailbreaker to stop
Soundwave communicating with Cybertron (The Gift),
Prowl directed Jetfire to follow the strategy that
would lead to success, but Jetfire disobeyed orders,
and then lied to Prowl, claiming he had not heard the
instructions. Prowl, though angry, refrained from
challenging him on this obvious untruth.

During the mission to the jungle with Bumblebee and
the Jumpstarters in Hunted, Dirge's drone made the
others freeze up in fear. Only Prowl's logic circuits
were strong enough to overcome this, and he shot down
the enemy, destroying the Decepticon operation.

Prowl was part of Optimus Prime's delegation to the
White House. During the subsequent battle with the
Insecticons, and before his tragic encounter with a
splinter grenade, he and Warpath made a heroic stand
which included a rather impressive missile strike by
Prowl on Kickback.

When partially repaired, Prowl was reactivated by
Ratchet and managed to scare the Mechanic out of the
Ark before returning to surgery.

After the 1991 war against Unicron, Prowl chose not to
fight Grimlock for leadership but tried nonetheless to
make him follow the Autobot Code, and did all the hard
work in keeping the ceasefire intact and supervising
the investigation into Cybertron's apparent
instabilities and the subsequent planetary evacuation.
Bludgeon and Grimlock together managed to wreck any
hopes for peace, however, and while Prowl did miss the
Decepticon treachery while striving for
reconciliation, he advocated caution when approaching
Klo - advice which, when ignored by Grimlock, led to a
massacre.

In Another Time and Place Optimus Prime buried his
head in the sand while Grimlock stupidly led the
Decepticons to the source of Nucleon on Hydrus Four.
Only Prowl saw the dangers from the start, and it was
his words which brought Prime around and led to the
day being won.

When revived in Perchance to Dream, Prowl led a small
group of Autobots who managed to defeat Galvatron in a
childishly simple manner, making all those who had
fought him in the past and lost look rather silly.

On Earth, Prowl single-handedly saved the human race
by being willing to sacrifice himself to bring down
Megatron's greenhouse gas missile. The way he and
Wheeljack took out a pair of Constructicons in that
same story was also rather cool.

Prowl practically ran the Earthforce for Grimlock,
regularly making him see sense with a quiet word in
his ear. Among other things, he convinced Grimlock to
go to the aid of the Survivors, engineered the
two-pronged strategy that defeated the Decepticons in
Divide and Conquer and kept reminding Grimlock why
they had to save Starscream for the sake of Snarl.

But he wasn't afraid to put himself in the front line
either, as he defeated Megatron/Snap Trap in battle
during the Flashback Portal affair, and fought his way
past Earthbase's defences when Wheeljack forgot to
build a remote shutdown switch.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


10 Reasons why Rodimus Prime is useless as leader:

He was in the right place at the right time when the
Creation Matrix was ready to open, but even then
Optimus Prime had to give him moral support.

Despite Optimus naming Ultra Magnus leader, and having
no knowledge whatsoever of whether or not he had any
strategic or leadership skills, the Autobots followed
the choice of a ball of light and made Rodimus Prime
their new commander.

Rodimus spent many months and all the Autobots'
resources searching for Galvatron, enabling Shockwave
to rebuild his forces, re-start the war and conquer
half of Cybertron.

Rodimus put a bounty on Galvatron's head, and, as a
result, Death's Head (who, while the Autobots searched
in vain, got Galvatron's location on his first
attempt) travelled back in time and destroyed
Bumblebee.

Rodimus then followed Death's Head back, but rather
than join forces with him and pay him his money so as
to ensure Galvatron's downfall, he worked against the
bounty-hunter and forcibly returned him to the future,
without Galvatron. He then made no immediate attempt
to return to the past in force and finish the job, but
left it to Ultra Magnus and Goldbug to clean up his
mess.

Having failed to learn any lessons, Rodimus Prime then
made up with Death's Head and paid him to go after
Cyclonus and Scourge.

When Unicron commandeered Junk, Rodimus travelled
there, set the Dinobots on the enslaved Junkions and
failed completely to do any good on the Astral Plane.
When Wreck-Gar finally destroyed Unicron's head,
Rodimus cleverly let him take refuge in the Creation
Matrix, something that led later on to his being
possessed and massacring fellow Autobots on Earth and
Cybertron. Contrast this with the way Optimus Prime
was able to purge the evil from the Creation Matrix in
1991 and use it without any help to destroy the
Chaos-Bringer.

When the Quintessons invaded Autobot City: Earth,
Rodimus Prime walked right into their simple trap and
let them have the Creation Matrix. When Hot Rod
reclaimed it, Rodimus then executed a helpless
prisoner (Ghyrik), just as he did in Wanted: Galvatron
Dead or Alive with the Decepticon Squadron Leader.
Space Pirates showed Hot Rod as a competent,
clear-thinking warrior in sharp contrast with Rodimus'
poor sense of judgement.

In the Time Wars Rodimus Prime was worse than useless,
displacing Optimus Prime - a far superior leader, who
was actually skillful enough to battle Galvatron and
keep him off-balance - to Limbo, and contributing
nothing by his own presence on the battlefield.

In Peace, Rodimus Prime presided over the start of a
new war between the Autobots and had a nervous
breakdown. He was `tired' after being leader for five
hundred years, despite Optimus Prime fighting Megatron
for a thousand years before the Ark launched, and
Emirate Xaaron keeping the flame burning for four
million. Rodimus is a brave, loyal Autobot, but does
not have what it takes to make the big decisions. He
should never have been placed in a role for which he
possesses no relevant skills.

Martin

[Nigel]

"Can't recall any other Autobots worrying about any of Earth's citizens besides humans."

In The Gift, Optimus gave the Matrix fragment to the Earth to heal it after the damage caused by the war; however, this could be said to be an effect of Prowl's counsel.


Rodimus Prime's ineffectualites as leader would appear due to being promoted beyond his ability.

[Shockprowl]

Martin, I love you. That was fantastic. I'm wheeping with joy!




He's just very cool. I think why I like him so much predictably dates back to my childhood and the way Transformers just grabbed me. As a child, I was obsessed with the police, so that's one reason right there. But more than that, I loved Prowl's profile and function. He was the brains, he had the smarts, and I was aken in by his calm, logical approach to problems. It's that cognative clarity that most attracts me to him as a character. In the little fights I had as a child, I also enjoyed Prowl and Jazz interacting and fighting side by side. I considered them a bit of a Kirk/Spock relationship which I've always found an interesting concept.

Prowl's also kick-ass and freakin' RULES!!!!

[Bogatan]

martinm said:

In Peace, Rodimus Prime presided over the start of a
new war between the Autobots and had a nervous
breakdown. He was `tired' after being leader for five
hundred years, despite Optimus Prime fighting Megatron
for a thousand years before the Ark launched, and
Emirate Xaaron keeping the flame burning for four
million. Rodimus is a brave, loyal Autobot, but does
not have what it takes to make the big decisions. He
should never have been placed in a role for which he
possesses no relevant skills.

Martin

Those 4 million years are the thing that most annoys me about the G1 concept. The idea that the war raged on for four millions, but nobody seemed to die, etc etc. A 9000000 year war was daft it made a mess of timescales. Animated's 50 years makes much more sense.

Andy

[Nigel]

There also major logistical and resourcing issues. (Wasn't it so much better when you were six and could just accept it?)

That's one thing that Dreamwave did right: all on Cybertron were deactivated for most of the interim.

[Andy Turnbull]

I don't think they did that right at all.

I like the idea of the planet's energon dwindling but the great missed opportunity there would be if they continued the conflict. How much more desperate would it become? Scrabbling for energon, volunteers for stasis. Certain Transformers preying on friend and foe alike for fuel just to stay alive. Just think how good a storyline that could have generated.

Ratbat reprising his role from the comic, becoming more important. The larger battle-bases being decommissioned and then picked apart for spares and dregs of fuel.

Battles becoming desperate hit and run affairs and being micro-managed to make sure the least amount of fuel is expended.

Andy

[legios]

I'd actually agree with that - I can't see the war ending, for the simple reason that you would never get both sides feeling secure enough for them all to go into shutdown. They would want to have some folk still active to watch the enemy and wake them up if needed. And both sides would want to be sure to have numerical superiority.....

I'd second the motion that it should boil down to a brush-fire war over time - it doesn't actually end, it just looks like it does from a distance. Up close it is full of small-scale actions and rapid strikes at particular targets, followed by long periods of retrenchment and stockpiling scarce resources to direct at points of maximum vulnerability. No more large scale battles, just fifty (or whatever) Autobots making a lightning raid to secure a fuel cache from the Decepticons. Triaging the damaged on the battlefield to see who is repairable and who gets stripped down to the chassis for their parts to be used to remember the less damaged, their fuel siphoned off to benefit those who can still contribute to the war (You don't want to get red-tagged in any situation, but arguably that would an nasty than usual version).

On a global scale it would probably drop closer to the same intensity as the proxy war between the US and USSR was on our planet. Not an entire globe girdling conflict, but one made up of small wars dotted here and there at different times.

That kind of thing.

Karl

[Nigel]

Okay, let me rephrase that: one thing that Dreamwave did right was to tackle in some way the extreme duration of the war.

The shutdown was one possible way of tackling the issue and I am certainly not suggesting it was the best or most interesting way.

Just before Dreamwave revealed their shutdown explanation, I had been giving some thought to the sustainability of such a long war and the logistics involved. Somewhere on Cybertron there must be munitions factories. Where are the fuel processing plants? Most, if not all resources will have been depleted and there would likely be a thriving interplanetary trade; but what commodities would Cybertron have to trade with other planets? (The shutdown simplified all that!)