Prowl 2
| The name or term "Prowl" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Prowl (disambiguation). |
- Prowl 2 is an Autobot from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.
Not much is known about Prowl 2, besides that he's a Spy Changer. He might be Prowl, he might be another Prowl, or he might be his own damn Prowl. You don't know. NOBODY knows.
Identity
Prowl 2 only exists as a toy in the Robots in Disguise line with no bio or story appearances to explain who he is. A handful of other characters received Spy Changer toys, though most of them looked more like their larger versions and they lacked the anomalous "2" suffix. The "Super" redecoes of the Deluxe RID Car Brothers were listed in store computers with the numeral "2" following their names. The "Prowl 2" Spy Changer's deco is not dissimilar to the redeco of Deluxe Prowl, and it is entirely reasonable to assume that it was intended as a Spy Changer 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 pass 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 an American 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 no one can say who Prowl 2 "really" is. The evidence was simply too scant and inconclusive. That was until the 2015 entry of Ask Vector Prime cleared up any confusion (See below).
Fiction
Ask Vector Prime
Prowl II and Prowl 2 trace their origins to the Temporal Nexus that is the Binaltech Project. Following the death of Prowl in the OG World, Prowl and Wheeljack crossed back to their original timeline, before the Trial of Primacron. Wheeljack, still wary after the death of their OG World dopplegangers, had brought Prowl's Beta BT unit with them. They eventually transferred their sparks to OG World bodies, leaving their BT bodies in cold storage. The Prowl II in many Primax-reality iterations of the Beast Wars was created from Prowl's Alpha BT unit. Early in its history, it housed Chip Chase's life essence and Prowl's datatrax. Thus, when Professor Chase fell very ill, Wheeljack suggested another consciousness transfer. Very curious that our sparks and your... élan vital? Animus? ...are so compatible. It was an experimental procedure, and did not work perfectly. Some memories were lost, and consciousness could not be restored. The body was put into stasis, and eventually upgraded with Maximal technology in the hopes of saving the being--or is it beings?--within. It was a partial success. Prowl II was once again among the living.
Prowl 2, on the other hand, was created from the Beta BT unit, a striking electric blue body created as a BT backup for Prowl but never used. Like the primary unit, it was programmed with Prowl's memory engrams and personality. For hundreds of centuries it was locked away, forgotten. It was rediscovered when Fire Convoy was undertaking preparations to travel to the year 2000 in pursuit of the Destrongers, at the behest of the Convoy Council. The memories contained within the shell were invaluable, and so the body was rebuilt using Spychanger technology and infused with life by Vector Sigma. Prowl 2 taught the Dimensional Patrol much about life in late 20th century Earth, and volunteered to return with Fire Convoy's team... but Heinrad cautioned that the risk of a temporal paradox was too great. Thus was he fated to remain in the distant future, anxiously awaiting word from his new companions about the attempt to safeguard Earth's past. Ask Vector Prime
Toys
Robots in Disguise (2001)
- Side Swipe & Prowl 2 (Basic 2-pack, 2001)
- Originally an unreleased Generation 2 Go-Bots mold, Prowl 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.
- Prowl 2 (Tiny Tins, 2001)
- 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.
Notes
- Prowl 2 was the first official release of a mold originally intended to be released as part of the Generation 2 Go-Bots sub-line. Presently, the original identity of the mold is unknown.
