Prowl is anAutobot from theAligned continuity family.

An experienced militia and police officer,Prowl joinedOptimus Prime's Autobots in the war against theDecepticons, contributing his knowledge of combat in urban areas. His weapon of choice is theInvestigator Special—a electroconductive gel that's quite adept at redirecting internal signals, paralyzing his targets long enough for him to bring them in.

Fiction

The Covenant of Primus

Along with his close friendBluestreak, Prowl played a vital role in overthrowing theQuintessons during their rule of Cybertron. As engineers, the pair were given blueprints by their Quintesson overseers and instructed to decipher them. Realising that the Quintessons themselves had no idea how to go through the plans themselves (which the duo discovered by deliberately inserting inaccurate calculations), both young Cybertronians brought the matter to the attention ofSentinel Prime and his Council.

After Sentinel went through the plans (thoughAlpha Trion privately suspected the Prime could not make head-or-tails of them and was simply trying to put the young bots at ease), he thanked Prowl and Bluestreak and asked them to continue trying to gain as much information as they could without jeopardising themselves. Their information led to the horrifying conclusion that the Quintessons were planning to sell Cybertronians off-world as slaves, using the plans to createSpace Bridges to make it possible.

When the Quintessons had been driven off-world, Cybertron entered aGolden Age, where the Cybertronians were able to use the Space Bridges to createcolonies for themselves. One of the first wasArchon, where Bluestreak decided to move to in order to become a Space Bridge operator. Meanwhile, Prowl himself remained on Cybertron as an operator as well.

Sadly, the Golden Age came to a sudden end with the advent of theRust Plague, a virulent, seemingly unstoppable disease that rusted all metal, even Cybertronians, to nothing. When the increasingly desperate measures to stem the Plague failed, Sentinel Prime came to the grim conclusion that for the sake of Cybertron's safety, the Space Bridges had to be destroyed. The order was given to all Space Bridge operators to self-destruct their Space Bridges immediately. Any attempt to bring anyone through would be considered treason and subject to summary execution.

Despite this, Prowl desperately pleaded with Bluestreak to come home, offering to open his Bridge long enough for his dear friend to make it through. Bluestreak replied that the Plague had already reached Archon and that he couldn't risk bringing the Plague back with him. He offered Prowl the hope that perhaps the efforts of the Archon authorities to stem the Plague might work and that they would someday meet again, but both Transformers were aware this would likely be the last time they'd ever speak to each other again.

Ironhide had arrived to ensure Sentinel's orders were carried out, and at one point had to urge Prowl (as gently as he could) to initiate self-destruct. The two Cybertronians watched the Space Bridge, once their symbol of hope and the future, go up in flames.

Several centuries later, when the Decepticon uprising began, Prowl had joined the Autobot ranks and would later play several roles during the coming war.The Covenant of Primus

Aligned novels

Prowl acted as go-between for the civilianHigh Council guards and various city-state militas. He allied with Optimus during Megatron's attack onPraxus. During the siege ofIacon, Prowl informed Optimus thatMegatron was aboardTrypticon Station. Optimus feared Megatron had found a new weapon. Alpha Trion asked the Autobots what they knew aboutenergon. Prowl tried to silenceJazz's jokes as he felt anything the Archivist had to say was significant, but even he laughed when Jazz felt Alpha Trion had not sufficiently explained what Energon was when he said it was the emanation ofPrimus. Alpha Trion then adequately explained Megatron had foundDark Energon, the emanation ofUnicron.

Optimus ordered Prowl to lead a guerilla team to draw out the Darkened Decepticons, to waste the resource in chases, when Prowl received a communication fromStarscream requesting a meeting. Prowl offered to go meet him in case it was a trap, but Optimus requested Starscream speak to him on a secure channel instead. When the Darkened Decepticons stole thePlasma Energy Chamber, Prowl helped fight them off and gotRatchet to repairOmega Supreme, whom Megatron almost killed. Afterwards, Prowl received a distress signal from Sentinel Prime. He traced it toKaon, as he recognized the signal blocking its source was used by gladiators to hide messages they didn't want on theCommunication Grid from his pre-war days working in theHydrax-Badlands circuit.

Prowl rescued Sentinel with Optimus and Jazz. While recovering, Optimus went to Cybertron'score to purge its Dark Energon corruption and returned declaringProject Generation One. Prowl became part of theEight Track crew, boarding Trypticon and sustaining heavy damage battling its drones and Minicons. He helped destroy its Dark Energon Facility, causing it to crash into the planet. He boarded theArk with the other Autobots, journeying through the lastspace bridge to aspiral galaxy. Then Prowl detected theAllSpark.Exodus

After passing through the unstableSpace Bridge, Prowl and the Autobots aboard theArk found themselves in the vicinity of a Cybertronian colony world calledVelocitron. They located it in part thanks to a mysterious starmap projected outwards from Optimus Prime's chest by the Matrix itself. Prowl was assigned to Hound's second response team, as Optimus Prime made planetfall with his initial squad. It was a time of great stress between Velocitron's rulers,Override andRansack, and the Autobots' arrival from mythical Cybertron only exacerbated the situation. Worse still, Prowl uncovered evidence of a Decepticon agent on Velocitron. He overheard a secret meeting between a mysterious robot called "777" and several Velocitronians, spreading Megatron's message of "Peace through tyranny". Prowl was unable to get a good fix on 777's face or voice, but after active sabotage temporarily disabled theArk, he came to the conclusion that one of their crew was actually a Decepticon agent.Jazz and Prowl conferred with Optimus about the situation, but ultimately concluded there was little they could do at the moment other than remain on guard. Although the Autobots secured an ally in Override, they left Velocitron on the brink of civil war during their departure, as Ransack's followers had been corrupted by the Decepticon rhetoric spread by theArk's traitor.

The next leg of their journey through the Space Bridge brought the Autobots to fabledJunkion, a world composed entirely of space junk. Prowl was on board theArk during the initial landing again, and was therefore present when the engines blew out in another act of deliberate sabotage. At Prime's request, he kept an optic on the shifty Junkion namedAxer, whom even Junkion LeaderWreck-Gar didn't trust. Prowl got some intel on Axer from another Junkion namedShearbolt, and learned that not all Junkions were natives—some came from Cybertron and other worlds, and Axer was among the most recent arrivals. Shearbolt seemed to be holding something back, and so Prowl resolved to keep both him and Axer under observation during their time on Junkion.

Unfortunately, Shearbolt disappeared soon afterwards. And when Prowl eventually located the Autobot—dead and stuffed inside a starship belonging to Axer—Ratchet confirmed via energon decay that Shearbolt had been dead before Prowl supposedly had a conversation with him. Shocking as it was, this confirmed the existence of a mythical "Shifter", one of the descendents of theThirteen's trickster,Amalgamous Prime. Tracking down Axer, he confirmed that the Autobot they thought was Hound was actually a Decepticon shifter named Makeshift. After securing Makeshift, Prowl and Ironhide oversaw the repair work on theArk while Optimus Prime finished up his Matrix-driven quest on the other side of Junkion's Space Bridge. Makeshift's Decepticon comrades found them, however, forcing Prowl and the others to square off against the Seekers while waiting for Prime to return. He eventually did, and the situation became a bit too esoteric for Prowl's taste...multiformed legendary figures andweapons out of myth threatening totear apart the planet.

The situation resolved itself once Prime got a heading for the AllSpark in a flash of insight. Unfortunately, Megatron shared that insight, and the two Cybertronian forces began a race to acquire the prize.Exiles

When the Matrix led the Autobots to a planet calledAquatron, Prowl led a recon unit down to the planet includingKup,Rodimus, and Bumblebee. They established a beach-head on the northern continent and made contact with the seemingly friendlyCurator, governor of the Aquatronians. Once Optimus Prime and the others landed, however, Optimus suffered a mysterious seizure requiring him to be treated by the Aquatronians, making many of the Autobots suspicious of their hosts. Soon after, the Aquatronians revealed their true nature as agents of the Quintessons when the Decepticons arrived. The Aquatronians disabled the Ark and the Nemesis in orbit before politely insisting that the Autobots and Decepticons engage in peace talks, with the Curator as moderator. Optimus skeptically agreed.

Indeed, the "peace talks" were a sham from the beginning, orchestrated by the Curator to fail and bring the Cybertronians before a kangaroo court of trumped up charges before executing them to harvest their energon for an invasion of Cybertron itself. When Optimus and Megatron were separated from the others during a single combat exercise, Jazz and Prowl led the Autobots in escaping from their cells to strike back against the Quintessons' Sharkticon guards. Alongside the Decepticons, they fought a holding action atHydratron while Optimus and Megatron dealt with their true foes. Afterwards, the Autobots and Decepticons coordinated a joint effort to locate their missing leaders among the wreckage, and found Optimus Prime and Megatron side-by-side atop a friendlyLeviacon.Retribution

Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

Pursuing the AllSpark after it had been launched into space, Prowl was one of the many Autobots that found their way to Earth. There, he participated in a great battle within a human settlement against the Decepticons. Prowl chronicled the ongoing developments of the Cybertronian civil war in his datatrax.The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

Tales of the Beast Hunters

Prowl was assigned to go out on patrol with the newly recoveredBumblebee. His attempts to make sure the patrol was nice and uneventful were almost stymied whenMegatron turned up out of the blue.Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 23 Fortunately the Decepticon leader was attacked a short time later by a horde ofPredacons, and Prowl stopped Bumblebee from getting involved on the grounds their enemies could conveniently destroy each other without any Autobots experiencing any danger or excitement.Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 24

2015Robots in Disguise cartoon

Following the restoration of Cybertron from theGreat War, Prowl was one of the many Autobots blacklisted by the newHigh Council for being a supporter ofOptimus Prime.Enemy of My Enemy

Precursor World

AWarrior of the Seven Lights resembling Prowl was a member of theWhite Order. He was nearby on theWhite Planet when his commanderWhite Gallant Convoy was warned of the fall of theBlue Order and the threat of theinterdimensional warlordUltra Megatron Omega by thePrimus Vanguard'seponymous supreme leader.God Neptune comic 1

Games

Transformers Universe

Voice actor:Alex Skuby (English)

Prowl is an Autobot commander and adviser for PvP modes (Elimination,Meteor Storm, and Challenge). He will constantly update players about the battlefield in Meteor Storm as well as give advice on which points to capture and which to defend, while also giving motivational quotes in other modes when the Decepticons are losing or winning.

Transformers Universe

Robots in Disguise mobile game

Prowl was one of the Autobots who fought against hordes of Decepticon clones in and aroundCrown City.Robots in Disguise

Toys

Prime

Cyberverse

It's the hammer of justice! It's the bell of freedom! It's the song about the love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land! ... wait, that can't be right...

• Prowl (Cyberverse Legion Class, 2013/2017)

• Series / Number:3 / 006
• Accessories: Justice Hammer, lightbar
• Known designers:Joe Kyde (Hasbro)

Part of the second wave ofBeast HuntersSeries 3Cyberverse Legion Class toys, Prowl is aredeco of Legion ClassSmokescreen, transforming into a police car loosely based on a McLaren MP4-12C with an additional police lightbar on top. He comes with the "Justice Hammer", which is adorned with two3mm posts and two holes, and can mount onto ports on Prowl's hands, and onto the sides of his vehicle rear/robot feet. The lightbar is pegged onto his roof/back and can be removed to reveal another 3mm mounting point.

Smokescreen's mold was also used to makePrimeBluestreak (sans lightbar) and Prowl's police version forThe Last KnightBarricade. The hammer, in various colors, was also used byTwinstrike,Blight, andRot Gut. in 2017, this Prowl also saw release as one of the 3 random free Legion Class gift for the Walmart exclusive Blu-Ray release of the four live-action movies.

• More information on Cyberverse Prowl at TFU.info

Beast Hunters

So wait, we got Smokescreen in the show instead of him? You're serious?

• Prowl (Deluxe Class, 2013)

• Series / Number:2 / 016
• Accessories: Launcher & "Firelance Missile" (combine to form Firelance Missile Launcher)
• Known designers:Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

Part of the fifth wave ofPrime: Beast Hunters Deluxe Class toys, Prowl is aretool/redeco of DeluxeSmokescreen, featuring a new light-bar, plus a new head and deco based on hisTransformers Universe design (featured at the top of the page), but omitting Smokescreen's Shadow Quill Armor. He transforms into a McLaren MP4-12C police car, and comes with theFirelance Missile Launcher, a redeco of Smokescreen's spring-loadedmissile-firingElectronet Launcher, but without the Electronet. The launcher can peg via5 mm post onto his hands, light-bar, and on either side of his spoiler.

Hispackaging call-outs mistakenly mention snap-on armor that he doesn't have. Additionally, hisinstructions reuse the line-art of the Electronet Launcher to depict his Firelance Missile Launcher, Electronet and all, and the instructions use mis-transformed line-art of Smokescreen to depict Prowl. His instructions also include thetwenty-fourth and final chapter of theTales of the Beast Hunters series.

Prowl was later redecoed into2014TransformersProtectobot Streetsmart andTimelinesBarricade.

• More information on Deluxe Prowl at TFU.info

Adventure

• Prowl (One-Step Changer,2015)

• Release date:March 21, 2015
• ID number:TED-04

Adventure Prowl is aredeco (repaint?) ofAge of Extinction One-Step ChangerProwl, being identical in coloring to the original toy but featuring additional paint details on his eyes, arms and groin. He has a scannable badge compatible with TakaraTomy'sAdventure app, which when scanned will unlock Prowl in the collection list.

Notes

"He's got no nose." "How does he smell?" "Horrible."

• Though Prowl is physically based onGeneration 1 Prowl, his weapons and tactics—using stars and knives to fight Sentinel's prison guards—bear some similarity toAnimated Prowl, as do some aspects of his facial design and hisCyber-Ninja background.
• Prowl did not appear in either of theHigh Moon Studios video games, but concept art for him was featured inThe Art of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Unusually for a WfC/FoC design, it uses aPrime-style noseless face.
• For some reason, Prowl appears inThe Covenant of Primus depicting the finale ofPredacons Rising (specifically Optimus Prime's speech to his troops before flying into the Core) in place of Smokescreen. His dialogue suggests he'd always been present, leading to the possibilities that (a) the chapter in question takes place in an alternate universe where Prowl was present instead of Smokescreen or (b) the author simply confused the two (the fact that Prowl's figure is a retool of Smokescreen's probably didn't help).
• InRobots in Disguise, Prowl is depicted as a recolor ofBluestreak.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Prowl (プロールPurōru)
• Hungarian:Portyázó ("Prowler")

References