Prowl 2: The Most Confusing Transformer Of All

[@Undrave]

Saw a Tweet today that said "Transformers is funny because it seems to be a simple niche interest but in reality it's like if your hot wheels came with greek mythology"

[@NightmareZerogbs]

I like how in MTMTE, Lion Prowl appears and the explanation was just "oh yeah, there's like literal millions of us, sometimes the best names are already taken" XD

[@Rabbitlord108]

For the love of Vector Prime.

[@PrincessMatrix]

I love how the story of Prowl 2 actually ends with 3 Prowls

[@Sacrefiied]

Yes. Binaltech is crazy.

[@p0laris74yt8]

God, I think I’m gonna use this as my primary example of confusing plot lines rather than *insert anime here* and Kingdom Hearts. Lol

[@spinyjustspiny3289]

All throughout this summary, I could hear a warning klaxon going off in my head getting louder and louder with every single step of the story. And the part that broke me was the fact that the story of "Prowl 2" ended with a completely unprompted "Prowl 3" that is never talked about.

[@Sacrefiied]

Prowl 3 was the Fallen all along guys

[@oliverhendrix8176]

@@Sacrefiied Prowl 3 is Sideways.

[@ninjaconsultantsixshot]

God I love how complicated JG1 is.

[@NovaSaber]

The BW part is actually from the American-published BW sourcebook, isn't it?

[@Sacrefiied]

When you have an Autobot leader who miraculously coincidentally looks exactly like Optimus Prime.

[@tchristensen81]

They should make him some kind of accidental clone who goes off and does his own thing. Like Riker’s clone in TNG.

[@domtaylor1887]

Or like Mirror Tulip/Lake in Infinity Train.

[@otaking3582]

I think the only reason Prowl 2 is dumb is because they _didn't_ name him "Prowl 2: Electric Boogaloo"

[@elrick44]

I'm still waiting for Prowl 3: Tokyo Drift

[@deltaywater9669]

@@elrick44 And finally Prowl 4ever After: The Final Chapter

[@otaking3582]

@@elrick44 No, obviously the third one will be "Prowl 3 & Knuckles: featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series"

[@outpost206]

@@elrick44 And the evitable sequels and their Japan-only titles: Wild Prowl MAX Wild Prowl MEGA MAX Wild Prowl X6 Euro Mission Wild Prowl X7 Sky Mission Wild Prowl X8 Ice Break Wild Prowl SUPER COMBO Wild Prowl JET BREAK

[@elrick44]

@@deltaywater9669 I was hoping for a team-up with Seaspray in Prowl 4: On Stranger Tides... oh well

[@esaunothing6336]

You cant fully explain Prowl 2 without a whiteboard, red string and a tinfoil hat, but you somehow did it

[@TomMSTie1138]

Prowl 2: the Quickening Prowl 2: Prowl Harder 2 Prowl 2 Furious

[@medicodyssey]

2 Prowl 2 Furious is perfect for him

[@elpizo1789]

Now I wanna see Prowl hang out with Spider-Man, both bonding over complaining about all the clones they have.

[@Sacrefiied]

Prowl 2 is like the Rekrap of Transformers.

[@tonyjackson4078]

I learned about this due to a pretty EXHAUSTING rabbit hole on TFWiki.

[@Deceptiwolf]

"...and now the story gets crazy" NOW the story gets crazy?

[@draydenhotel9051]

who knew that prowl was one of the most confusing characters

[@Arro3]

"So why are there two Prowls sometimes?" *Fresh Prince theme starts* Great Video TJ, I was able to keep up. It helps to make a flowchart, there's not that many phsyical pieces to this, just a lot of context needed.

[@Wolfie1262]

That’s even crazier than the time loop aneurism inducing tale of Mirage GT from RiD2001

[@SixshotRevan]

I can't say Prowl 2 was my favorite spy changer, but I wanted the Sideswipe that Prowl 2 was in a 2-pack with, so here we are.

[@WaveSineReverse]

Good old Ravage 3 Bodies Evolution causing the continuity snarls of Binaltech and Alternity

[@kevsil616]

Im amazed you were able to explain that mess lol. Going back to Ravage. I actually liked that Binaltech story for him. The fact that his future body was eventually recovered and rebuilt making him the cause of a splinter timeline

[@buttonssardonicus8998]

Im glad you brought up Prowl 2. I recently got the transmetal figure. I’m currently trying to build a lego/bionicle version of the character/Clockwerk. Very timely

[@DJMouthwash]

I've always had a headcanon/fanfiction that the Beast Wars Prowl 2 was the result of an IDW-like relationship between Prowl and the entity that would become Turantulus, the later eventually making a clone of the original- kind of like Dinobot 2.

[@christopherpara6183]

Sad thing is... it was probably just a placeholder name that was never changed before it hit the packaging.

[@mattr75]

Prowl 2's storyline makes Twin Peaks story telling feel like they're as easy to follow as Dr. Seuss books by comparison

[@samsscaledmodels1872]

I love the dedication and passion the Japanese writers have to explain stuff like this. Great job explaining it TJ

[@samurexatlas7373]

So you're telling me there's not 2, BUT 3 UNIQUE PROWLS?

[@robrice7246]

Has there ever been a madman (like myself) that tries to connect every single story of the G1 cartoon together (Hasbro & Takara, official & unofficial sources)? There are two major differences: 1. How to explain the different head and targetmaster concepts (mostly via retconning). 2. In my headcannon, R.I.D. (2001) is its own universe and connects to G1 through dimension travel.

[@mxes5938]

and I thought Bluestreak/Silverstreak were the complicated ones

[@MrFedoraFilm]

Prowl 2, what a wild roller coaster of a ride.

[@ReluctantWarrior]

This guy was one of my first Transformers ever, along with RiD Sideswipe (who would eventually become my favourite of the G1 bots.) So he'll always have that honour.

[@nobodyimportant5140]

I love this kind of complicated fanwanky explanations.

[@zegop5736]

Imagine if a writer just for kicks makes a prowl 3

[@masterfarr8265]

there are 2 prowl 2s

[@trilobitose]

No. Jump a few numbers, Prowl 6

[@NotMyRealName6]

Wait, you mean I have one of the few official mainline toys of a G1 human character? I have the black one.

[@iodaspark]

This is absolutely MENTAL! ;-) Kudos to trying to make sense! PS. Thank goodness you did not include the SuperLink & Energon (Armada Voyager Red Alert redeco) versions too!

[@screamingchild.1352]

my head hurt

[@mockery_man]

I really love these kinds of videos due to me being a very curious fan and having someone explain to me the confusion lore of Prowl 2: Electric Boogaloo is really really funny.

[@LeeONardo]

I reckon it was because some staff member when they saw the toys said "Hey all those names Jimmy suggested are good but we could call him Prowl too since he looks like him!" They mistook it as Prowl 2 and here we are ...

[@kirkkerman]

If Prowl is so good, why isn't there a...

[@DragonxFlutter]

I would have halfassed it and just said it was Prowl’s son. Instead of “Jr”, they use “2”.

[@shadowmarauder6033]

“This is the craziest backstory of all time!” Fnaf theorist: first time?

[@ShadowPrime69]

har har hahar har har harhar har har

[@wsc0tt]

Now we just need a similar explanation for Magic The Gathering Slicer, the G1 counterpart to Shattered Glass Slicer, neither of which are the same as Original G1 Action Master Slicer.

[@jaredhebert942]

I have to imagine the Slicer on the "G1" Magic card is the real SG Slicer, but he changes his paint job (not unlike what G1 Hauler supposedly does) as well as his insignia to try covering his tracks. Not only does this continue the ties of [Armada Wheeljack being G1 Sideswipe in a loud paint job with a face-heel turn to SG Sideswipe having a heel-face turn), this works Hasbro & WOTC's gaffe into something not stupid - plus I actually like that color scheme on the G1 Wheeljack body, hope we get that as a figure some day

[@alpbuyukkalkan8308]

IDW ratchet talking about how cool names are always taken :(

[@andrewshaffer1833]

Oh no, I think I've gone cross eyed.

[@masterben9592]

My brain is toast trying to process this

[@woogha]

He just said "Hey my name is Prowl Too!" At the big meet-up and someone took it literally. Poor guy.

[@pinkstinger]

I guess Prowl 2 is the TF equivalent to Spider-Man's Clone Saga then

[@marlonrvlogs]

8:37 Wheeljack is now doc Brown from back to the future. Wheeljack: what happens in the year 2005 futureboy Ravage Mcfly: you will die in a battle Wheeljack: that can't happen I'm going to make a time machine to stop that event from happening.😁

[@LeeONardo]

Funnily enough it happens in Devastation too, there's a level where an AI computer core speaks to the player character, if you're Wheeljack he finds out he dies and the poor guy kinda whimpers and hopes that it isn't what he thinks it means.

[@brentsimard977]

Well there's another one I didn't know about. That was really interesting stuff. thank you

[@likeits1985]

Will the real Prowl please stand up? All you other Prowls are just imitating...

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Notorious prowl 2

[@half-faust]

I think they should have just made him an entirely unrelated character who resembles original Prowl by sheer coincidence

[@jeffreystein9871]

Thanks for the explanation! KZbin algorithm, consider me engaged.

[@WLH7]

Thanks for the video TJ.

[@RialVestro]

There is a much more simplified version of this. G1 Prowl did actually become the lion who forms Magnaboss. TM2 Prowl, the owl from Beast Wars has damaged memory circuits causing him to believe he is the original Prowl but is in fact a Maximal descendant. This also follows the same rules as the 2 Silverbolts, the eagle who forms Magnaboss being G1 Silverbolt while the Fuzor is an entirely new character who just shares the same name. As for RID, that's just an entirely different universe with a different Prowl who has nothing to do with G1 or Beast Wars and the Spy Changer doesn't really exist, it's a toy only version of Prowl that never actually appeared in the fiction.

[@pieterebelties4420]

Its mach alert in car robots and lio junior in beast wars 2

[@TJOmega]

That's not relevant to the video, Mach Alert doesn't play a factor in the Prowls just because that was his name in RID 2001, and Lio Junior and Beast Wars Prowl are treated as different characters.

[@terrysyvertson9205]

what they should have done is once they got access to the transformers movie and saw that prowl was killed in the movie they should have gone back to the headmasters and everything else they made with prowl and said it's not the original prowl, it's actually just an autobot who looked up to and admired prowl that when he heard that prowl was killed he went and got rebuilt to look like prowl and renamed himself prowl, or they could have said a headmaster found prowl's body and fixed then took it as his body but as soon as he connected to prowl's body something went wrong and he ended up getting stuck like that then prowl's memories and mind which were somehow stored in prowl's body took over the headmaster mind and memories by erasing the headmaster's existence and prowl was resurrected, either one of those would have been a lot less convoluted and confusing

[@chuckdawg1999]

I just assumed the 2 in Prowl 2 was to mark the figure as the second version of the mold. It's Prowl, just in a different color.

[@JonathanChaotic]

Time to re-watch this two more times😄

[@bobbob-dj4lh]

this was my first ever transformer! love this loser

[@edaniels240]

I always thought RID Prowl 2 should've been called Hans Cuff after the Guardian Gobot who also turned into a police car since Hasbro owns Tonka who released the original Gobots

[@edaniels240]

The Magnaboss lion Prowl is the reincarnated G1 Prowl and Transmetal 2 Prowl is actually Chip Chase who had his mind in a robotic body

[@oliverhendrix8176]

Galvatron II: Finally a worthy opponent! Our battle shall be legendary!

[@sandstorm-2508]

Janey!Stop that frenzy!

[@Changy0886]

I I need to listen again Man you need to pay attention to this one😂

[@rafaelalejandrogutierrezro9224]

As diamond bolt said once "OH GOD NOO" althought the prOWL design is pretty cool

[@jaythemonsterhunter2705]

this is my best guess with prowl 2 in rid is that it was so late in production to were they were a little to late and lazy to change it for later releases

[@Xarxes81]

I hate when there's multiple timelines. I mean couldn't they just say they had clones of their sparks back on Cybertron and call it a day. Me Grimlock say this is a complicated story.

[@TAAAKYON]

Someone is going to make a drinking game with this video...

[@queen_sectonia]

Couldn't they have just said "whoops we made a mistake"

[@darrenbent7601]

Nope, Prowl II wasn't the most confusing Transformer for me, Cyclonus II in the 86 movie, that's confusing.

[@angelpowers7413]

Wait chip chase is that owl from beast wars, check please

[@francobonazzola5012]

.-. all this for a number.....WTF

[@christiantaylor3446]

By the end of all this, my head still hurts from trying to understand everything.

[@foreverdiceroll]

Can we get core class spy changers

[@symbiote1982pk]

You think that's confusing? never touch an X-Men comic if that's the case 😅

[@AlphaAsylum93]

If they ever do this...thing again, they need to give it a new name like...Protocowl (Prowl+Protocol) And to any who think this is dumb? The whole Prowl 2 thing is dumb, just roll with it.

[@angelpowers7413]

Welcome to the nightmare of prowl

[@thenuclearsandwich]

Sounds like some heavy drug use was done in order to come up with that crazy backstory. That's almost aneurysm inducing to follow. They should have just said Prowl had an offspring and 2 is like Jr. to robots and call it day. 😂

[@KasumiKenshirou]

There are many people who have the same name. I just assumed it also happened with Transformers.

[@Rabbitlord108]

I would've preferred Chaser. Like just Chase (An already existing Transformer name) with the letter R on the end.

[@EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

Prowl 2: Continuity Boogaloo... or if we're talking BW Prowl II, then he's the horrifying Duolingo parody from the Owl House. Headcanon time: Chip Chase became binary-bonded to a drone made in Prowl's image, adopting the nickname of "Checkpoint" (ER Prowl in Vivid Blue Pearl Prowl colors). After Prowl's death, Chip/Checkpoint created several backup bodies/soldiers using a database powered by "Binal Tech", creating his universe's version of the Autotroopers (Prowl's G1 toy w/ new head based on the _Animated_ Autotrooper). Historians erroneously remembered Checkpoint as "Prowl II", a supposed clone of Prowl made after Prowl's death.

[@chriscarpenter3370]

sup

[@Sacrefiied]

I love how Binaltech just BS's the crap out of the continuity instead of just leaving a continuity error as is. There is so much made up paradox shit, it is so damn complicated.

[@moltenamber85]

Well, Prowl 2 isn’t as bad as Elita-Infin1te in terms of names.

[@rainydayman2k]

It's so convoluted, that I just have this response from BW Megatron: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3uvm3Zso9h8g9E Because it's easier for me to ignore sections of the franchise that I have little to no tie to than to try to keep track of that.

[@TheLastBabyMan]

Still a better sequel than Revenge of the Fallen.

[@whitewing2]

That Blue Prowl should be named Blue Streak (Not Silver Streak)

[@LeeONardo]

When it comes to Bluestreak me and my friend set it as this - Streak (his JP name) - the original grey with black hood cartoon version of him Silverstreak - the silver/chrome variant Bluestreak - the legendary blue Bluestreak All three are separate characters. Bluestreak also is NOT the buzzworthy bumblebee "Sliverstreak", Hasbro screwed up. Takara had already christened a Blue version of him as Bluestreak in the Masterpiece line, with his own bio and "unknown" techspecs.

[@zannusx]

Should have just said it was a clone

[@Billssock]

what the hell did i just watch lol

[@harrisonwhaley7872]

America adapting Magnaboss incorrectly is half the problem. If we just had Lio Junior instead of Prowl, poof all the problems go away. Not to mention the issues created by Hasbro naming Tripledacus wrong. They called him Tripredacus like some idiots and it has created this decades long issue where people think those silly Japanese insect characters should also be the tripredacus council. This stuff really annoys me since it makes so much more sense to just call them Tripledacus like they were supposed to be called. Same for Lio Junior, Santon, and Sky Warp. It’s too bad Hasbro basically ruined the adaptation of two combiner teams

[@8bitPikachu]

im just gonna say he is prowl's son, it's much easier

[@LeeONardo]

An excellent son for Prowl?

[@RKStrikerJK5]

3:44 And that's why I ignore pretty much all Japanese continuity.

[@Catterjee]

I love this hobby, but sometimes... Transformers is stupid.

[@UltraxMaximus]

Why you cant just call him Prowl II (The Second) I’ll never know. Under 3 is still the worse name

[@sebastianthomsen2225]