Post by zephon on Feb 1, 2008 14:11:38 GMT 8
A couple or so years ago when I was just starting out with TF's, Binaltechs were very common on the shelves of specialty stores. Though most of them were priced within striking range, a couple of them were priced higher than the others -- these were BT-16 Skids and BT-15 Prowl Police ver. The blue BT-15 wasn't that hard to get but the Police version eludes me up to this writing.
In my frustration of not being able to get the BT-15 Police ver, I settled for the next practical thing -- Alternators Prowl. I've been keeping him MISB for some time now. Recently I missed out on a couple of good deals with BT-15 Police ver and in frustration, I decided to open up my Alternators Prowl.
The version of Prowl that I have came packaged in the "fish-bowl" packaging seen during the tail end of the Alternators line:
Just like all other Alternators, out of the box it comes just with the car itself and the instruction sheet:
Prowl's alternate mode is a Honda Acura. His police car set-up is not for a typical patrol car but rather as an interceptor. The 2-door vehicle is meant to get to the scene fast or to pursue and not to contain the suspect.
Since we are talking about the Alternators line here, the Acura comes complete with a detailed interior. Being a US release, the controls are on the left side (BT's have right-hand-drives).
The 2 doors open and even the "hatch-back" rear windshield opens. Though this only reveals the robot's feet...
The front hood also open to reveal the engine. As with other car-type Alternators, the front wheels can turn at the same time.
This is the engine that can be removed from under the hood:
The engine unfolds and transforms into his handgun. I'll call it a handgun since it's shorter than the other Alternator weapons like those of the Subarus, Mazdas and Mustangs.
While in mid-transformation, Prowl's 2nd accessory also shows up -- his night-stick.
As opposed to the BT version, the Alternators version of the night-stick is simply one piece of unpainted translucent red plastic. No detailing whatsoever. Just like the Mustangs, Prowl has 2 accessories -- the gun and nightstick.
Most of the effort that would go to transforming Prowl would go to transforming his upper body. The front wheels and doors get in the way of each other and in lowering the hood to form his body. Aside from that, transformation is very straight-forward: No fancy arm twisting nor any fancy leg twisting.
Prowls robot mode comes across as lean and slick. Yes, I'll admit that the arms do make him look skinny but the legs, wheels at the shoulders and car door wings do make up for that.
The night-stick has a smaller peg that loosely inserts itself in a groove in Prowl's hand. In my opinion, it's scaled properly in proportion to Prowl's robot mode:
Just like the night-stick, the gun also has a small peg which aids Prowl in holding the accessory. I frankly find the gun a little underwhelming due to its size.
Both the gun and night-stick can go to either hand. Arm articulation is quite impressive due to 3 ball joints from the shoulder to the wrist. But yeah, with the arm sticking out of the body, it does look very very skinny.
As a unique feature for Prowl, his weapons can be stowed away even while he's in robot mode. The car exhaust becomes a slot where to peg the night-stick:
And due to his transformation scheme where the car hood is simply lowered to form the chest, the handgun can be returned to where it was removed from:
Off course having his hands free of his original weapons allow Prowl to pick up some other weapon to pack more punch!
Prowl is an example of a flat-chested Alternator/BT design. Though his arms are quite short, Prowl can still pull off what the Subaru's, Mazda's and Mustangs can't do with a weapon -- cradle a rifle across their chest.
To sum things up, Prowl is a must have in an Alternator line-up. As of this writing, there still isn't a Prowl in the classics line who's a prowl car. In my opinion, the Alternators Prowl is the best classic take on the G1 character of Prowl!
:thumbsupup:
Kitbash time! :beer:
It has been mentioned in several TF forums that the hatchback part of Prowl's car mode get in the way of his knee articulation.
Prowl's robot mode is supposed to have knees (double-jointed at that!) but something just gets in the way of it.
A common solution to this problem is a simple mod to the legs -- the lower legs are basically rotated to get the car parts out of the way of the knee joint. But it's more than just a hip and ankle rotation -- the knee joint has a specific groove so that the knees won't bend the "wrong way" (forward). Hence, it's necessary to have the legs swapped.
Disassembly is simple -- only 2 screws on each leg have to be touched. They're the black dots on the picture. Heck, you don't even need to change screwdriver size.
Only 2 screws need to be undone. The leg halves come off cleanly. No springs or any lock pegs get in the way.
No need to swap the feet. Just swap the legs. Once that's done and everything is screwed back in, this is the result. Prowl's knees are more defined and free to move. He even has double-jointed knees!
Yeah, the thighs are still very short....
The overall effect is that Prowl's legs become something similar to the legs of the Mustang 'bots. It gives him more heft and a bigger silhouette. One can even consider it as a homage of sorts to the G1 Prowl who also had rear windshields down his feet.
Now how about transformation? Would the mod get in the way of transformation or alt mode? As far as transformation is concerned, one step is now skipped -- the waist rotation. As far as the overall alt mode is concerned, there's no difference! Everything is still where it's supposed to be:
Here's Prowl now on his "new" legs. The short thighs prevent dynamic posses from being totally seen but Prowl has no problem doing a crouch now:
In picking up a longer rifle:
I've decided to keep my Prowl this way -- with the modified legs. Should I ever get a BT-15 Police ver, I'll keep his legs unmodified and leave the Alternator Prowl with the modified legs just to give it a little more identity.
:thumbsupup:
In my frustration of not being able to get the BT-15 Police ver, I settled for the next practical thing -- Alternators Prowl. I've been keeping him MISB for some time now. Recently I missed out on a couple of good deals with BT-15 Police ver and in frustration, I decided to open up my Alternators Prowl.
The version of Prowl that I have came packaged in the "fish-bowl" packaging seen during the tail end of the Alternators line:
Just like all other Alternators, out of the box it comes just with the car itself and the instruction sheet:
Prowl's alternate mode is a Honda Acura. His police car set-up is not for a typical patrol car but rather as an interceptor. The 2-door vehicle is meant to get to the scene fast or to pursue and not to contain the suspect.
Since we are talking about the Alternators line here, the Acura comes complete with a detailed interior. Being a US release, the controls are on the left side (BT's have right-hand-drives).
The 2 doors open and even the "hatch-back" rear windshield opens. Though this only reveals the robot's feet...
The front hood also open to reveal the engine. As with other car-type Alternators, the front wheels can turn at the same time.
This is the engine that can be removed from under the hood:
The engine unfolds and transforms into his handgun. I'll call it a handgun since it's shorter than the other Alternator weapons like those of the Subarus, Mazdas and Mustangs.
While in mid-transformation, Prowl's 2nd accessory also shows up -- his night-stick.
As opposed to the BT version, the Alternators version of the night-stick is simply one piece of unpainted translucent red plastic. No detailing whatsoever. Just like the Mustangs, Prowl has 2 accessories -- the gun and nightstick.
Most of the effort that would go to transforming Prowl would go to transforming his upper body. The front wheels and doors get in the way of each other and in lowering the hood to form his body. Aside from that, transformation is very straight-forward: No fancy arm twisting nor any fancy leg twisting.
Prowls robot mode comes across as lean and slick. Yes, I'll admit that the arms do make him look skinny but the legs, wheels at the shoulders and car door wings do make up for that.
The night-stick has a smaller peg that loosely inserts itself in a groove in Prowl's hand. In my opinion, it's scaled properly in proportion to Prowl's robot mode:
Just like the night-stick, the gun also has a small peg which aids Prowl in holding the accessory. I frankly find the gun a little underwhelming due to its size.
Both the gun and night-stick can go to either hand. Arm articulation is quite impressive due to 3 ball joints from the shoulder to the wrist. But yeah, with the arm sticking out of the body, it does look very very skinny.
As a unique feature for Prowl, his weapons can be stowed away even while he's in robot mode. The car exhaust becomes a slot where to peg the night-stick:
And due to his transformation scheme where the car hood is simply lowered to form the chest, the handgun can be returned to where it was removed from:
Off course having his hands free of his original weapons allow Prowl to pick up some other weapon to pack more punch!
Prowl is an example of a flat-chested Alternator/BT design. Though his arms are quite short, Prowl can still pull off what the Subaru's, Mazda's and Mustangs can't do with a weapon -- cradle a rifle across their chest.
To sum things up, Prowl is a must have in an Alternator line-up. As of this writing, there still isn't a Prowl in the classics line who's a prowl car. In my opinion, the Alternators Prowl is the best classic take on the G1 character of Prowl!
:thumbsupup:
Kitbash time! :beer:
It has been mentioned in several TF forums that the hatchback part of Prowl's car mode get in the way of his knee articulation.
Prowl's robot mode is supposed to have knees (double-jointed at that!) but something just gets in the way of it.
A common solution to this problem is a simple mod to the legs -- the lower legs are basically rotated to get the car parts out of the way of the knee joint. But it's more than just a hip and ankle rotation -- the knee joint has a specific groove so that the knees won't bend the "wrong way" (forward). Hence, it's necessary to have the legs swapped.
Disassembly is simple -- only 2 screws on each leg have to be touched. They're the black dots on the picture. Heck, you don't even need to change screwdriver size.
Only 2 screws need to be undone. The leg halves come off cleanly. No springs or any lock pegs get in the way.
No need to swap the feet. Just swap the legs. Once that's done and everything is screwed back in, this is the result. Prowl's knees are more defined and free to move. He even has double-jointed knees!
Yeah, the thighs are still very short....
The overall effect is that Prowl's legs become something similar to the legs of the Mustang 'bots. It gives him more heft and a bigger silhouette. One can even consider it as a homage of sorts to the G1 Prowl who also had rear windshields down his feet.
Now how about transformation? Would the mod get in the way of transformation or alt mode? As far as transformation is concerned, one step is now skipped -- the waist rotation. As far as the overall alt mode is concerned, there's no difference! Everything is still where it's supposed to be:
Here's Prowl now on his "new" legs. The short thighs prevent dynamic posses from being totally seen but Prowl has no problem doing a crouch now:
In picking up a longer rifle:
I've decided to keep my Prowl this way -- with the modified legs. Should I ever get a BT-15 Police ver, I'll keep his legs unmodified and leave the Alternator Prowl with the modified legs just to give it a little more identity.
:thumbsupup:
keeping the site active as a place to dump info for easier backtracking. 