Prowl (Transformers)

Character
Name:	Prowl
Occupation:
Relationships:
Fandom:	Transformers
Other:
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Prowl is a popular and recurring character in the Transformers franchise.

Canon Overview

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 American Marvel comics, where he played a mostly background role. These comics established him as a rude, deeply troubled cop, where the cartoon only had him be a (relatively lukewarm) cop.

The obscurity of the UK comics made it so Prowl's personality in Transformers Animated, which took a different spin on the legacy character, differed greatly from the IDW comics, the latter of which was penned by several former UK Marvel writers/UK fans of the Marvel comics. This isn't seen with most other G1-based Animated characters. 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.

His Generation One counterpart appears in:

• The Transformers TV series
• The Transformers Generation One Marvel Comics
• The Transformers Generation One IDW Comics

His other counterparts appear in:

• 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.

Most fanworks focus on his Animated or G1 appearances as of 2024.

Popular Tropes & Fanon

TBA

Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta

Jazz/Prowl 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 the IDW comics and Animated, 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.

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...	Full Label	Type	Ship Name(s)	Information
Animated and G1/IDW	Jazz	Jazz/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	Prowl's most popular pairing as of 2024.
Animated and G1/IDW	Jazz	Jazz & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	(n/a)
Animated and G1/IDW	Optimus Prime	Optimus Prime/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
Animated and G1/IDW	Optimus Prime	Optimus Prime & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	(n/a)
IDW	The Constructicons	The Constructicons/Prowl | Bonecrusher/Hook/Long Haul/Mixmaster/Prowl/Scavenger	Poly	(n/a)	Prowl canonically joined their gestalt bond for several issues of Robots in Disguise (2012).
IDW	Tarantulas | Mesothulas	Prowl/Tarantulas | Mesothulas/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	Prowl and Tarantulas were former work partners. Ostaros/Springer, an artificial mech created by Tarantulas, was created partially with Prowl's help. A major part of Sins of the Wreckers was Tarantulas trying to win Prowl over and be his work partner again.
Animated	Bumblebee	Bumblebee/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
Animated	Bumblebee	Bumblebee & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	(n/a)
IDW	Fortress Maximus	Fortress Maximus/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
IDW	Chromedome	Chromedome/Prowl | Prowl/Tumbler	M/M	(n/a)	James Robert, the main writer of More Than Meets the Eye, has said he originally intended on Chromedome and Prowl having a "stronger bond" than just being partners in canon. Chromedome is also in a relationship with Rewind in canon; if this went through, they'd be exes by the beginning of MTMTE (most likely.)
Animated	Lockdown	Lockdown/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
G1/IDW	Bluestreak	Bluestreak & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	They share the same "mold" and character design in G1, similar to the Seekers. Smokescreen also shares the character design.
IDW	Impactor	Impactor/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
Animated and G1/IDW	Starscream	Prowl/Starscream	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
Animated and G1/IDW	Jazz, Optimus Prime	Jazz/Optimus Prime/Prowl	Poly	(n/a)	(n/a)
IDW	Megatron	Megatron/Prowl	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)
G1	Bluestreak, Jazz	Bluestreak & Jazz & Prowl	Gen	(n/a)	(n/a)
IDW	Soundwave	Prowl/Soundwave	M/M	(n/a)	(n/a)

Example/Notable Fanac

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

General Fanworks

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

Meta

• 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)