Prowl (Transformers)

Character
Name:	English: Prowl Japanese: プロール (Prowl) (more on TFWiki.net)
Occupation:	Autobot (sometimes Second-in-Command)
Relationships:
Fandom:	Transformers
Other:
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Prowl is a popular and recurring character in the Transformers franchise.

Canon Background

Unlike other notable legacy 1980s Transformer characters, much of Prowl's personality in the early days of the canon came from the UK Marvel Comics, not the cartoon or the American Marvel Comics, where he played a mostly background role. These comics established him as prickish and very rule-abiding. This characterization later got expanded in the 2005 IDW Continuity, which was penned by several former UK Marvel writers/UK fans of the Marvel comics, where he became very pragmatic to the point that he'd do anything for the Autobot cause, considering everyone else as pawns he could move around freely in order to keep himself in power.

Prowl's personality in Transformers Animated took on a different spin on the legacy character and differed greatly from the IDW comics. This makes the shipping dynamics between canons very different, even if the same two characters are involved, such as the popular Jazz/Prowl in both canons, which pairs him with Jazz. This isn't seen with most other G1-based Animated characters.

Major Appearances

• The Transformers TV series
• The Transformers Generation One Marvel Comics
• The Transformers Generation One IDW Comics
• Transformers Robots in Disguise (2001)
• The Transformers Unicron Trilogy
• Transformers Animated
• Transformers Cyberverse
• Transformers Earthspark

See Prowl (disambiguation) on TFWiki.net for more of his appearances.

Popular Tropes & Fanon

TBA

Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta

Jazz/Prowl and Fanon Prowl

Jazz/Prowl, Prowl's most popular ship, originated in early 90s as a crack ship in the G1 canon, later becoming one of the most popular pairings in the fandom overall. It predated following continuities, so when they released, many shippers adapted their new personalities to fix the ship rather than the other way around. Prowl in particular was heavily influenced by this fanon in fanworks, as he was originally the least developed personality-wise between him and Jazz. He can be considered one of the first fandom ghosts.

The ship's appeal largely comes from the opposites attract angle. Jazz is seen as laid back, fun-loving, sociable and adaptive while Prowl is stricter, more uptight, as seen as someone who takes everything literally. The black/white angle plays into this, with Jazz representing black and Prowl representing white -- coming from Jazz being black-coded, (Scatman Crothers as his VA in the G1 cartoon, his love of a black-made music genre, his way of talking, etc, has made him be consistently black-coded since the 80s,) and to a lesser extent Prowl being colored white and having a white VA in the G1 cartoon.

Relationships

This is purposefully an incomplete list, as Prowl is shipped with many of the other Transformers. He's also popular for self-insert shipping.

Please add any notable relationships in fanworks if they are missing.

Primary Canon	With...	Who is a(n)...	Full Label	Type	Ship Name(s)	Information
various	Jazz	Autobot	Jazz/Prowl	M/M	Jazzprowl | マイプロ | プロマイ	Juggernaut ship for both Jazz and Prowl; crack-ish w/ little canon backing
various	Jazz	Autobot	Jazz & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	(n/a)
Earthspark	Megatron	Decepticon	Megatron/Prowl	M/M	Megaprowl	Enemies, but share touchy-feely scenes
various	Optimus Prime	Autobot	Optimus Prime/Prowl	M/M	Prowlop | オププロ | プロオプ	Close allies
IDW Comics	The Constructicons	Decepticons x6	The Constructicons/Prowl	Poly	Prowlstator | Constructiprowl	Prowl temporarily joined their gestalt bond
IDW Comics	Tarantulas	Unaligned	Prowl/Tarantulas	M/M	Taraprowl	Prowl and Tarantulas were former work partners
Animated	Lockdown	Unaligned	Lockdown/Prowl	M/M	Lockprowl	Enemyslash
various	Ratchet	Autobot	Prowl/Ratchet	M/M	(n/a)	Close allies
G1 Cartoon	Sideswipe	Autobot	Prowl/Sideswipe	M/M	(n/a)	Opposites Attract
IDW Comics	Fortress Maximus	Autobot	Fortress Maximus/Prowl	M/M	Prowlmax	(n/a)
IDW Comics	Chromedome	Autobot	Chromedome/Prowl	M/M	Prowldome	Originally had a "stronger bond" than just being partners in canon.
various	Starscream	Decepticon	Prowl/Starscream	M/M	Prowlscream	Rarepair, but possible in multiple continuities
various	Jazz, Optimus Prime	Autobot x2	Jazz/Optimus Prime/Prowl	Poly	Jazzprowlop	All three non-poly versions of this ship are popular
G1 Cartoon	Bluestreak, Jazz	Autobot x2	Bluestreak & Jazz & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	Bluestreak is sometimes their child in Jazz/Prowl works
G1 Cartoon	Bluestreak; Smokescreen	Autobot x2	Bluestreak & Prowl & Smokescreen	Gen	Doorwing | Datsun | Fairlady Trio	All three share a mold/body type and are considered a trio

See List of Transformers Relationship Names for more.

Example/Notable Fanac

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan Communities/Fan Events

• ProwlerLovers, ^{Archived version}, a club on Deviantart
• Prowl-Fans-Unite, ^{Archived version}, a club on Deviantart
• lockdown-x-prowl, ^{Archived version}, a club on Deviantart for Lockdown/Prowl
• RATCHETXPROWL, ^{Archived version}, a club on Deviantart for Prowl/Ratchet
• ProwlxSides, ^{Archived version}, a club on Deviantart for Prowl/Sideswipe
• Prowl Week, a fanweek held in 2020
• Prowl Exes Week, a fanweek held in 2021

Collections

• Prowl Stories, ^{Archived version}, a community on FanFiction.Net
• ProwlxLockdown, ^{Archived version}, a community on FanFiction.Net for Lockdown/Prowl

Wikis

• プロール on PixivEncyclopedia
• Prowl on the TFWiki

General Fanworks

Stimboards

• prowl stimboard 🤍🖤❤️ by deceptigoon, ^{Archived version} (2023)

Fan Mixes

• (IDW) Bad Reputation by moyaofthemist, ^{Archived version} (2015)
• (TFA) Determined Down the Line by talianora, ^{Archived version} (2014)
• (TFA) Ring The Bells by tricotron, ^{Archived version} (2014)
• (IDW) one track heart by windamp, ^{Archived version} (2017)
• (IDW) lying in wait by 4qhks, ^{Archived version} (2016)

Meta

IDW

• An Abundance of Prowls by libermachinae, ^{Archived version} (2020), on how various IDW writers handled his character.
• Prowl, Original Fandom Ghost by ckret2, ferenofnopewood (2019), discussing how Prowl qualifies as a fandom ghost, a term created by wildehack to describe popular character fanon.
• A thought about Getaway and Prowl by ckret2, ^{Archived version} (2018), comparing Prowl to Getaway.
• The thing about Prowl is I don't really think canon was ever trying to frame him as a "necessary evil"(...) by lord-squiggletits, ^{Archived version} (2023)
• man i forgot how much i love the devastator stuff with prowl... by decepti-thots, ^{Archived version} (2021), on why Prowl joined with Devestator.
• my main criticism about a lot of takes on prowl is that a lot of these people have NOT read the entirety of IDW and it shows by grimxark, ^{Archived version} (2024)
• it’s maybe not my most popular take, but ideologically functionist prowl is important to me by libermachinae, petrichornial and hotcopboyfriend, ^{Archived version} (2021)
• (...)Mtmte treats Prowl doing nefarious machiavellian stuff as some sort of open secret(...) by quetzalpapalotl, ^{Archived version} (2024)

Animated

• I feel like the only person who has TFA Prowl as their favorite character from that show but thinks Yoketron and the Cyber-Ninja Dojo were awful by arceespinkgun, ^{Archived version} (2022)