There are a few good reasons why Prowl is my favorite toy in the RID line. For a start he's a homage to one of the best characters in the original series, and one who - next to Unicron, Optimus prime and Ironhide - had the most dramatic death in the movie. Secondly, His alternate mode is a Lamborghini Diablo, which happens to be my dream car. And thirdly, he's a damn fine figure.

VEHICLE MODE:
Prowl's vehicle mode is a white-and-black Lamborghini Diablo police cruiser almost exactly akin to the white police colour scheme of the diaclone release of Sunstreaker - which you can see here - even down to the Kanji on his side. Now perhaps it's just me, but I'm yet to see a Lamborghini of any sort used for a police cruiser anywhere - especially Italy where they're made - least of all Japan where Robots in Disguise is set. Realism aside, Prowl is by no means the first Lamborghini with a siren on his back, G1 Red Alert's alternate mode was a Lamborghini rescue vehicle.

In this mode Prowl has no meaningful articulation; his rubber wheels turn and he rolls well on most surfaces except varnished wood - on which he just slides along. The hood has an annoying tendency to fold too far down and impede one of the front wheels but that's a small concern and easily fixed by being careful when transforming him. His major color scheme is white with a black strip on the lower half of the vehicle, meeting at the center of the hood at a point just like the original Prowl, an Autobot symbol is emblazoned just above. His wheels are rubber and have "Transformers" molded into them while the rims are vacuum metal silver. The translucent grey/black windows are meant to give the impression that they have been tinted and gives a nice effect, as does the transparent red siren on the roof. Running along his side are some Japanese characters which I've yet to translate.

I like this mode a lot, there's a striking amount of detail etched into the toy that you can find on the actual car itself, the mould is remarkably faithful to the original - more so than a lot of non-transforming versions I can think of. On the white parts of the vehicle the plastic looks a little cheap ("Die cast metal. It's a lost art" - Optimus Primal, Beast Wars: The Agenda pt. 3), however overall the car is as sleek and sexy as its inspiration; G1 Prowl would be pleased.

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
Begin the transformation by opening his doors - it was a nerdy thrill for me to see that they actually open vertically like the real deal - next raise the roof and windscreen and then the hood so that the two are standing straight up. Now fold out the legs, extend the feet and either rotate the shins and then feet 180º or just rotate the shins if you can manage it. Fold the hood section down, making sure the 'arm' that holds it on folds snugly into the provided crevice, fold the roof down and push Prowl's pelvis up. Turn the figure over and fold the section with the two exhaust pipes down all the way and push into the chest to reveal the head. grasp the sides of the vehicle (preferably by the tires) and pull out to separate the shoulders. fold the arms down and the shield around. attach the flame throwers to the other arm or to the sides of the shield depending on preference, I always put them on the other arm to balance his proportions, but that's me.

ROBOT MODE:
Prowl is my favorite of the car brothers, and not just for the reasons above. I think he is the best proportioned of the three, and while he suffers tremendously of vehicle mode 'kibble' (the doors on his thighs, the engine mount on his forearm) it doesn't detract from the figure, the doors serve as shin guards and help to give Prowl a bit of 'bulk' on his lower half while the shield is balanced by the flame throwers on his other arm. He stands/kneels/sits/lies well in a variety of poses, he's light and well balanced despite the bloody great monstrosity on his right arm, and his doors are long enough to act as third and fourth legs in some situations.

The color scheme changes a bit in this mode, introducing a lot of grey and some blue; his feet and thighs are grey with deep blue shins and pelvis. His chest and shoulders are made of the same translucent grey/black as his windows. His shoulders have some nice painted car-anatomy-type detail while his chest has a nice big red vac-metal Autobot symbol on it. His arms are grey at the top with white forearms and hands, a white shield with black along the bottom graces his right side, he has pegs for his two flame throwers on his other arm, on the shield, or they can be placed on either side of the sirens on his back as a jetpack.

In this mode Prowl has articulation at his ankles (2 joints each, just for fun), knees, hips, shoulders (one ball joint each and one vertical pivot joint), elbows and neck. His exhaust pipes/lasers can be moved up and down as you please, as can his doors/thigh guards.

OVERALL:
For the $25 you'll be paying for him in Australia (or $10 in America) the only decision you really have to make is if you want this version, the 'super' version - which has a different color scheme more akin to Bluestreak than Prowl - or both. Prowl is fun in either mode, with an accurate and sexy vehicle mode and a well balanced, articulated and detailed robot mode he's definitely up there as one of the best toys released in a long time, perhaps all time. As an aside it might help you to judge my bias in this review if you know that seeing this toy in my local K-Mart is what got me back into Transformers, I liked it that much I bought it on the spot and never looked back, get your Prowl today and see what I mean.