Toy Review - MP-17 Masterpiece Prowl

[GoktimusPrime]

Approximate Retail Price - $50-60AU

6090JPY = AU$67. It may be AU$50-60 for those of us who've preordered and gotten earlybird discounts, but TakTOM's standard asking price for this toy is almost seventy bucks. I've yet to be convinced that this toy is actually worth its full RRP (I'll obviously be able to judge this for myself once I get the toy in hand ).

Main Features/Gimmicks - none

The official web page is promoting the shoulder cannons as a feature/gimmick. <shrug>

I love this guy. If you were a fan of the Lambos then you will like this mould.

I gotta ask... is the robot mode solid? No issues like w/ the shoulders on Lambor?

And also the paint apps on mine are a bit dodgy. Nothing majorly major, but when you look close you can see a few things. Mine has a paint dot on the bonnet. And also one side of his helmet appears to be unpainted. It's a good thing they matched the paint and plastic colours so well that you really have to look to notice.

That's pretty ordinary for a $70 toy.

When he was announced I had zero interest as I've always found Prowl's character boring so I have never had an attachment to him, so this is all toy engineering love

I like Prowl's character. He's has the veneer of a cool headed pragmatist who can actually be quite charismatic and take charge (after all he did assume command of the Autobots when Shockwave captured Optimus Prime's head), but beneath it lies a petty and arrogant @$$hat; as wonderfully exposed when Grimlock rubbed it in Prowl's face that Powermaster Optimus Prime had named Grimlock as his successor with his dying breath, and not Prowl. That one panel where Prowl is gritting his teeth in angry frustration with both fists clenched behind Grimlock's back is one of the most visually powerful moments in G1; it spoke so much without using any words.

That was of course in the G1 comics. In the G1 cartoon Prowl wasn't quite as memorable; but then again most of the Transformers weren't as memorable in the G1 cartoon compared to the comics (caricatures vs characters). But Prowl did deliver one of the best lines of innuendo in the G1 cartoon;
Prowl: "I've got the plan, if you've got the cast-iron manifolds to carry it out."
Optimus Prime: "We do!"
This line totally flew over my head as a kid, but watching it again as an adult doth make me grin.