Long, long ago, we covered Masterpiece Bluestreak, then a Toys R Us exclusive in the US. That
figure was a repaint of Masterpiece Prowl,
who recently received the Takara Cartoon Accurate repaint itself, and is here
rereleased as MP-17+, another in a growing sequence of Masterpiece figures getting a touch up, conceivably so as to allow
them to mesh with the new direction of the line being more cartoon accurate
without needing to be redesigned.
To start at the absolutely beginning here, Prowl comes in a
box that itself comes in a box, more of a slip cover with end flaps really,
indicating that this is an official Takara product.
Little more than a black
and white sleeve, it seems that the real purpose of this box for the box is to
indicate that, yes, this is a different version of MP Prowl, despite the figure
coming in the same box that the original release of the figure came in. I guess
to inform people that they are not getting the exact same thing that was
released the first time, because I know that when I pulled the inner box out of
this cover, I thought for a brief second that I’d just gotten the original
version myself, as Prowls’ actual box does not indicate that this is at all a
different edition.
Prowl is a really nice looking figure, the base mold being a
strong entry in the MP line to start with. A great transformation that
incorporates elements of the original G1 toy while still being new and line
appropriate, not holding many surprises but being an absolutely satisfying
in-hand experience. Lacking that “wow” moment that the really great Masterpiece figures have, this mold is
still very strongly executed and is enjoyable to manipulate. The paint is real
bright white, and the Autobot insignia is super crisp on the chest. Prowl
offers a lot more to look at than mold mate Bluestreak does, as that figure is
far more matte in color, while the strong white and glossy black that comprise
Prowls’ main paint are such attention grabbers.
Accessory wise, Prowl comes with a long blaster and a pair
of rocket launchers that slip over the tiny, built in shoulder cannons. The
blaster is painted white, and the launchers are grey with chromed barrels, and
are substantial upgrades over the paltry flip out versions. These pieces do fit
over the flip out launchers on Bluestreak as well, and they look good on that
figure as they fit the general color palette. the augmented launchers are very
large though, and are something of a shift in extremes as far as the shoulder
mounted weapons are concerned, going from tiny and dumb to huge and menacing.
They remind of the shoulder weapons Prowl sported during the “War Within”
period of Dreamwave comics, where a lot of Prowl promotional art at the time
depicted him with these real big cannons, as that was the general style of
Dreamwave. The largeness of the launchers conflicts with the smallness of the
door wings, but the door wings are on the small side even without the extra
weaponry attached.
Vehicle mode is the Datsun Fairlady Z, a police car version
this time, with a lightbar on the roof and starred shield insignias on the
doors. In alt mode the top half of the car is white while the lower half is
black, and the colors are pleasingly kept in unbroken halves all around the
vehicle. Things like this always amaze me a little, as the planning that is
required in the design and layout process to ensure that this separation occurs
seems like it must be pretty intense. Keeping in mind that the colors on the
vehicle must line up, but must also wind up in the proper places when the
vehicle is unfolded into a robot, I know that my attention to detail skills are
not anywhere near sharp enough to be able to plot this out. The windows are
translucent blue.
The car is, as will always be the case for this specific
vehicle, endearing in its ancientness, but if G1 accuracy is a goal of the
line, then there is little that can be done about this. The 70’s, man. The
origins of G1 Transformers is found in an era that made figures from vehicles
that existed then, so cars like this were apparently common at that time. A few
years ago, a Datsun Fairlady Z was parked outside of our apartment building for
a summer, apparently owned by one of the tenants, and every time we went
outside, my wife and I would gawk at it. It was in excellent condition, not a
rusted out junkheap, but it was just a car out of time, and so an oddity.
Whether or not the car was every actually common I don’t know, nor do I know if
it ever really was used as a police vehicle in Japan, but it has been one third
of an Autobot trio for my entire life, so it must have been an important car at
some point in time.
All of the weapons can be attached to the vehicle mode,
creating a kind of attack police car, albeit a strange looking one. The blaster
plugs in to a square hole on the back of the light bar, and the launchers plug
in to holes on the sides of the back bumper. The effect is kind of like what
would happen with old M.A.S.K. vehicles,
where car doors would open and reveal a laser or something like that, and not
really resulting in some new mode, but just a slightly different, augmented
version of the base vehicle. While not everything can be the iconic Switchblade, battle car mode here is endearing, although
not a whole lot more than a novelty, really.
These “anime colors” rereleases of Masterpiece figures are pretty nice deals, as they give another
opportunity to grab figures that may have been missed in the 2012 reboot of the
line. At some point post 2012, Masterpiece
figures began leaning towards this in their first releases, and it seems
that the dividing line is generally thought to be Tracks, with the figures
before him aiming more for that model car accuracy condition that the original
Prowl was birthed under. Prowl was originally released in 2013, and that was a
long time ago for the line, which ultimately means that original copies were
getting harder and harder to find anyway, so a reissue would have been
generally appreciated by those of us who missed him the first time around. Why
not get that reissue with a nicer paintjob? 
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