Binaltech Prowl (Vivid Blue)

Review by Laserwave13:

Prelude: The toy we have here was to be the last shot for Binaltech. It was for a time, but there were new ones later on. Some exclusives and a few leftovers joined later on, but that is another Story. BT-15 was the last of the original toyline, first as police car and shortly after as this civilian version. Over in the US Alternators line, he instead got repainted in a pretty dull grey and named Camshaft.

Typical for the Japanese and wonderful to have is the package, which can tempt you to keep it sealed. Inside the box there is a kind of display made from cardboard and the car wrapped in a blister. The instructions are not folded and look more like a small booklet. A collectors’ card is also included. Note: The box and artworks on it are the same as the police version, no changes here. But a collector is required to keep it regardless.

Robot Mode: Well, he can stand there and you can admire him. He is Prowl, no doubt about it when you look at the beautifully designed head. Proportions are good and all parts and joints are tight. The arms even have a full range of movement with ball joints all over. The elbow joint is on a ball and hinge joint, even.

But... yeah, that’s about it. Sadly he is far from perfect. Articulation stops right there and there is nothing below the hips. Absolutely nothing. Why? Because Takara made a bad design mistake by not finishing it right. The back part of the car, which forms his lower robot half, is located at the rear side of the legs. Ruins the standard Prowl legs. Design-wise I could live with that. But what almost ruins the figure completely is that it makes his knees totally superfluous. He cannot move them at all. He does have knee joints, but if you move them just a tiny bit you´ll get in danger of breaking either the tail lights or the rear spoiler of the car parts. Even ball-jointed feet do not help here anymore. Bad mistake. On the good side, he comes with two weapons, one gun made from the engine block and the other a kind of „light saber“, which hides beneath the rear section on the car or in this case, his legs.

Transformation: Getting him from one mode to the other either way is not very complex but satisfying. You may note that the arms when folded under the hood sit at an angle, which is normal. The only thing that can be a little tricky is moving the hood, arms and door all at once to assemble the chest. So take your time and use the instructions for the first time. You want to do this right, otherwise you risk paint-chipping or scratches. Watch out for the side mirrors of the car, which are known to break more easily than on other Binaltechs. If you want to open the doors, never pull on the mirrors. Just lower the side skirt section below the doors and you will have more than enough room to open them.

Alternate Mode: This is where Prowl really shines. The car, a beautiful Honda Integra Type-R, is just stunning. The hearts of collectors of Transformers and model cars both will be captured by this beauty. I cannot tell you enough how beautiful this car looks and the details are fabulous. Everything is there, from the little Honda emblem in red (typical Type-R design) to the little company logos. You got rubber tires and behind the rims you can even see the break discs. The front and tail lights look realistic and even the cockpit section has paint on it. For Japan the cockpit is located on the right side of course.

Also very, very good, there is little to no robot kibble visible except if you look through the back window. But you will barely notice that, just like the seams for transformations, which you can only see a little in the back section of the car. Not to forget, Binaltechs get their special points right here in Altmode with having almost the complete outer shell made of die-cast. And that shines a hell of a lot with this one. The blue color is just amazing. Even the engine block is painted, red for Type-R, of course. The wheels move freely and can steer a little from left to right. They are locked with magnets to the drive axel. Hood, doors and trunk can open. The „light saber“ finds its place under the back section. Well, if you’re not sold yet, than it’s you own fault. The alternate mode does not leave you wanting.

Modifications: Not my cup of tea, but in this case necessary and luckily it can be done easily. Takara’s bad mistake can be corrected. You unscrew the parts on his legs that connect to the hip. Then you rotate the legs around 180 degrees and switch them. Meaning you turn them around and put the left leg on the right hip and the other way around with the second leg. That brings the car parts up front and saves you turning the hip around for transformation. But most importantly, and you will not believe this, he now has knees again. Knees you use to pose him. And that is easily done, works fine and is even completely reversible. Only note you should take: after this, the panels on the bottom of the car which cover the legs will not close completely anymore. But the gap is very, very minor and does not affect anything. You can see this on the pics compared to Alternators Prowl, which has the mod. No matter what, I do not modify any of my Japanese figures. And besides that, the blue version looks different than Police Prowl that way.

Conclusion: Those who love the Binaltechs as much as I do and are satisfied with a figure used just for display purposes, go get him. If you buy him for the car mode, get him, too. If you like the Binaltechs no more than others and buy them just occasionally, then you may skip him. If you want an articulated figure, skip him completely. Even for Binaltech collectors it’s not exactly a mistake, but there are better ones. Great car mode but too much left to be desired in robot mode and I want to buy a finished figure, not one that I have to modify or repair before I can have at least a little fun with it.

Rating: C (after modification: B-)

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