Prowl 2

Prowl 2 is an Autobot from the Car Robots portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I am no one. And everyone.

Prowl 2 was born out of the Binaltech Project as a backup attempt to save Prowl from death, and eventually given life to prepare the Dimensional Patrol for life in the distant past.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Prowl 2's origin traces back to the temporal nexus that was the Binaltech Project. Circa 2010, the Prowl and Wheeljack of the BT World traveled to the OG World to collect some medical supplies, but became stranded there when the Quintessons placed a quadrant lock on their home dimension's Earth. Having been somewhat wary after the death of their OG World doppelgängers, Wheeljack had brought along Prowl's Beta BT unit, an unused electric blue-colored BT backup, which, as with the primary unit, was programmed with Prowl's memory engrams and personality. When the duo transferred their sparks to OG World bodies, both of Prowl's BT units went into storage.

Hundreds of centuries later, the Beta BT unit was rediscovered in the era of the Convoy Council when Fire Convoy was preparing to pursue the Destrongers to the year 2000. Since the memories contained within the Beta BT unit were of crucial importance to the Autobots, the body was rebuilt using Spychanger technology and infused with life by Vector Sigma; thus was Prowl 2 born. He taught the Dimensional Patrol much about life on late 20th century Earth, and although he volunteered to join Fire Convoy's team, Heinrad considered the danger of temporal paradoxes too acute. Prowl 2 remained in the future, apprehensively awaiting word from his comrades about their mission to Earth. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/10

Toys

Robots in Disguise (2001)

• Prowl 2 / Side Swipe (Basic Class 2-pack, 2001)
  • Accessories: Rifle

• Known designers: Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Originally an unreleased Generation 2 Go-Bots mold, Robots in Disguise "Prowl 2" transforms into a police car. He has through-axle construction to allow for super-fast rolling in car mode. Like his fellow "new"-mold teammates, his rifle stores under his car mode. He was available in a two-pack with Side Swipe.

This mold was used to make the 2003 Universe version of Generation 1 Prowl as well as the 2003 Universe version of Robots in Disguise Prowl.

• More information on Prowl 2 at TFU.info

Metal coffin included!

• Prowl 2 (Tiny Tins, 2001)
  • Accessories: Rifle, storage tin

Prowl 2 was one of several Robots in Disguise toys to be sold as an individual in a Tiny Tins release, with a pocket-sized carrying case. The actual toy is unchanged from the two-pack version.

• More information on Prowl 2 (Tiny Tins) at Transformers-Universe.com

Binaltech

• Prowl Vivid Blue Pearl Edition (Binaltech, 2005)
  • Japanese ID number: BT-15
  • Accessories: Engine/gun, traffic direction baton

Prowl got two different Binaltech decoes released in equal numbers. The second version, known as "Vivid Blue Pearl", is a civilian version with no police lights, a mostly blue interior, a Honda logo (instead of the cherry blossom emblem) on the grill, and a solid blue car-shell. His robot mode parts remained mostly the same color, however.

This mold (the Japanese blue Prowl variant, combined with parts from American police Prowl) was used to make Alternators Camshaft.

• More information on Binaltech Prowl Vivid Blue Pearl Edition at TFU.info

Notes

• For years, Prowl 2 only existed as a toy in the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline with no bio or story appearances to explain who he was, an enigma for the fandom. Among the contradictory facts and evidence:
  • Other characters received similar Basic class Spychanger-styled toys that didn't have the anomalous "2" suffix.
  • Further complicating things, the "Super" redecoes of the Deluxe RID Car Brothers were listed in store computers with the numeral "2" following their names for a time. The "Prowl 2" Spychanger's deco is not dissimilar to the redeco of Deluxe Prowl, and one interpretation was that it was intended as a Spychanger version of that toy.
  • This might have remained simply an odd footnote in Transformers lore, but then the Binaltech fiction used the name "Prowl 2" for its own incarnation of Prowl (who would, in a later retcon, be rolled into a Beast Wars character as "Prowl II").
  • Some fans passed the Binaltech reference off as merely a nod, since Binaltech takes place in a branch of the original The Transformers cartoon timeline. However, the Generation 1 cartoon and Car Robots (the original Japanese version of Robots in Disguise) are actually in the same universe according to Japanese continuity. On the other hand, Prowl 2 wasn't in Car Robots; he was a U.S. addition. On the other other hand, Binaltech's writer, Hirofumi Ichikawa, is famously knowledgeable of non-Japanese Transformers, and he even worked another anomalous Robots in Disguise suffix into Binaltech terminology. Moreover, even if the series are viewed as separate, Robots in Disguise is no stranger to dimension hoppers.
  • The upshot of it all was that, for years, no one could say who Prowl 2 really was with certainty.
    • That is, of course, until the Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime rectified things in a post written with input by Ichikawa in 2015.
      • Whew!