Prowl

Some people are team players, and some... well, aren't. Prowl falls into the latter category. A loner at heart, he has little interest in teamwork, something Optimus Prime finds extremely frustrating. Prowl feels cooperation with the loud and unsubtle Autobots around him would cramp his style: a keen Cyber-Ninja prowess with elements of Circuit-Su and Metallikato.

Seemingly bound up in his martial-arts philosophy is his deep, deep fascination with Earth's natural environment. His quarters on Earth is missing most of its ceiling, allowing him a permanent window into nature. In fact, he seems to have a deeper appreciation of his new surroundings than the humans who grew up with them. The phrase "stop and smell the roses" is a life truth for Prowl, and he can spend hours motionless, watching the organic world play out around him.

When called to battle, Prowl uses an array of throwing weapons, such as cutting discs, that he can hurl with high accuracy. While useful as projectiles, these weapons tend to be far more damaging at close range and will occasionally bounce off their target with little damage if thrown from too great a distance. He can project holograms of himself, using them to misdirect his enemies. He is also the only member of his team with a jetpack, granting him limited flight.

Prowl is probably the most skilled fighter of his comrades, but this might not be saying much, as they were a mere space bridge repair crew before finding themselves suddenly defending the AllSpark against the resurgent Decepticons. In fact, Jazz, witnessing him in action, remarked that Prowl must not have finished his cyber ninja training. The true story is more complex: having failed to protect the infant protoforms, Prowl ended his studies in disgrace, seeking to commune with the Allspark. His quest for redemption and inner peace has ended in failure...so far.

Fiction
A young Prowl tried to avoid being drafted into fighting in the Great War but was apprehended by Warpath and taken to Yoketron. Seeing potential in the young bot, Yoketron offered to teach Prowl in exchange for having the charges against him dropped. Under Yoketron's guidance, Prowl's fighting skills vastly improved over time, until Yoketron deemed him worthy to be a Cyber-Ninja and rewarded him with two shurikens. Yoketron showed Prowl a hidden room in the dojo, accessed via a secret door opened by processor-over-matter. Entering the hidden chamber, Prowl learned from Yoketron that the mission of the Cyber-Ninja Corps was to protect the protoforms in the room, lest they be needed to fight against the Decepticons if Project Omega failed. Exiting the room, Prowl was unable to complete the Yoketron's request to close the door with his mind. Prowl was thus sent on an optics quest to master the skill and be a true Cyber-Ninja. Some time later, having not yet succeeded, Prowl returned to Yoketron's dojo, only to find it in ruin and his master beaten to near-death. Panicked, Prowl managed to find one protoform and transferred Yoketron's spark into it. However, all he had done was make his master unhappy by sacrificing a little of the future to save the past. Assured by Yoketron that he would understand some day Prowl watched his sensei's spark expire and mourned his loss. Following this, Prowl secluded himself in meditation to try and commune with the AllSpark. One million stellar cycles later, he was discovered by space bridge technicians Bumblebee and Bulkhead. Seeing if the ninja-bot was in stasis lock, Prowl angrily told them he was trying to meditate, and all he had to show for his million long efforts was a massive processor ache. Bumblebee and Bulkhead promised to work around him, but an energon cube Ratchet was setting up fell into the cavern the three were in. All though they managed to get out unharmed, Prowl's ship was destroyed in the explosion. Optimus Prime offered to take him back to Cybertron after they were finished in this sector. Unfortunately, it would be some fifty to sixty stellar cycles before they were done, though Optimus mentioned that Prowl's help would make it go faster. Striking a rock in anger, Prowl ranted about how his path had taken so many twists and turns that he didn't even know where he was. Optimus said that he could relate to that. Prowl showed a lack of interest in both teamwork (as a loner type) and in the motivational (kinda long-winded) speeches of Optimus Prime. He did not obey orders at first and learned of the consequences firsthand as he was nearly killed by a nanite-enhanced cockroach. After his revival at the hands of Sari and the AllSpark-empowered Key, he showed that he had become a valuable team player when he headed out with Bumblebee and Sari to save Professor Sumdac and Captain Fanzone from Starscream. Later, Prowl was watching a cat stalk a bird. He found it fascinating, but was aggravated when he was interrupted by human fans. Returning to base, he hid out in his Japanese-themed room, only to be interrupted by Prime and Bumblebee. Even worse, Sari threw a slumber party, pushing Prowl to the edge with the commotion. Ironically, when Megatron took over the factory, Prowl was able to show Bumblebee the value of stillness in battle, something the pair would work on later in a game of Twister™. In an attempt to get Bulkhead to be less bumbling and destructive, he tried to teach his comrade how to move with ninja-like grace as he did. It...did not go well. Bulkhead's effectiveness in battle was undermined until Prowl realized Bulkhead's approach had its place and encouraged him to "do what you do." He also sensed sparks within the Dinobots and, unwilling to let them be destroyed, secretly hid them on a small island before they were melted down. As he explained to Bulkhead, "Just because something's big and lumbering and destructive, doesn't mean you give up on it." Reasoning correctly that the Decepticons would target Sari to get at the AllSpark Key, Prowl took to instructing her in the art of "ninja nerve blows." It was shortly after one of these sessions that his decision to save the Dinobots seemingly came back to haunt him when the gargantuan robots kidnapped the girl. He headed to their island home with Bulkhead in tow, the suspicious Captain Fanzone shadowing them somewhat clumsily the whole way. However, the police captain was not prepared for the environmental hazards of the secluded island and had to be rescued by the pair of Autobots. Together, the three of them discovered that the Dinobots had been coerced into kidnapping Sari by Prometheus Black, whose corrosive touch they had come to fear. Forced along with Fanzone to fight the mad geneticist's creations in a gladiatorial arena, Prowl began to develop a bond with the captain, who in turn came to trust Prowl.

When Decepticon energy signals were detected, the Autobots quickly realized that they were outnumbered. Bulkhead mentioned that the Dinobots might be able to help, not aware that Prowl hadn't told Optimus they had moved them to Dinobot Island. Prime was furious and ordered the two to take him there at once. After searching the island, the Autobots found the Dinobots. Prime's introduction was less than friendly, and Prowl was forced to smooth things over with Grimlock. They were unwilling to help, so the Autobots left, unsure of their next move. When Bumblebee contacted Prime, saying that Starscream was at Sumdac Tower, he ordered him to stand down. When they arrived at the tower, they saw Bumblebee fighting Starscream. Prime dryly noted that disobeying orders was becoming a habit, but Prowl wasn't too insulted.

He was too busy being shocked by Megatron bursting through Sumdac Tower. Quickly regaining their composure, the Autobots attacked, only for Megatron to defeat all three of them himself. After the battle, Sumdac revealed that he had helped rebuild Megatron. Prowl was furious, but Prime said that it was unimportant. Using residual AllSpark Key energy in Sumdac's lab, the Autobots repaired themselves, and Prime apologized for his harsh words. Ratchet and Sari came in the ship, but it was shot down over Dinobot Island. During the subsequent battle, Prowl noticed that Blitzwing's multiple personalities were connected to his alternate modes. To cause his hotheaded side to emerge and transform into a tank, Prowl suggested that Bumblebee use his greatest strength—his obnoxious personality. While responding to a report of rampages on Dinobot Island, Prowl and Bulkhead were given Ratchet's EMP generator and stasis cuffs to detain the Dinobots. Discovering that Grimlock had a metal shard wedged in his foot, Prowl used the generator to dull Grimlock's sensors and remove the shard. However, they then received a call from Ultra Magnus that Starscream had escaped. Heading to the Autobots' crashed ship, Prowl used Teletran-1 to scan for Starscream, discovering him on the Moon. Prowl suggested that they go after Starscream, but Bulkhead thought it was suicide. So Prowl stole a shuttle and went off by himself. Locating Starscream on the Moon, he managed to place stasis cuffs on the Decepticon, but Lockdown appeared to take Starscream off Prowl's hands. During their fight, Starscream escaped and destroyed Prowl's shuttle. Stowing away on Lockdown's ship, Prowl suggested an alliance to capture him. Lockdown gave him a set of armor that would assist him in the hunt. Discovering a purple (and frightened) Starscream, they captured him, but Lockdown revealed that he was working for Megatron. Prowl would not allow Starscream to be taken, but Lockdown tied Prowl up and left. The other Autobots arrived and chewed out Prowl for his actions, but Prowl insisted that they retrieve Starscream first. During their pursuit, Starscream somehow showed up and offered an alliance against Megatron. Prowl took down Starscream, but in his actions, he destroyed a bird's nest. Realizing that the modifications he had were going to his head, he resolved to abandon them... once they got Starscream. Prowl initially flubbed an attempt to spy on the meet between Megatron and Lockdown and quickly found himself outgunned until the other Autobots arrived with the second Starscream. During the standoff that followed, the two Starscreams revealed that they had bombs inside them. Prowl used the armor he had been given to send them into the sky, saving Detroit from destruction. Lockdown then contacted Prowl, offering him a partnership, but Prowl declined and returned Ratchet's EMP generator. When Bulkhead was kidnapped, Bumblebee brought the Autobot intelligence agent Blurr to the plant, who revealed that Megatron was building a space bridge to conquer Cybertron from within. As Sari and Ratchet went to repair the ship, Prowl went with the others to rescue Bulkhead and shut down the space bridge. However, they were incapacitated by the Constructicons... just in time for Starscream and his clones to attack.

Escaping the Constructicons, Prowl was able to lock stasis cuffs on a lying clone, but was soon occupied with Mixmaster. When Prowl managed to disengage long enough to check on an injured Prime, a fawning clone managed to place stasis cuffs on him. Once he came back online, Prowl began using the processor-over-matter technique to disable his stasis cuffs, which would theoretically work if he had completed his training. Fortunately, it did work, and Prowl was able to throw a shuriken at Prime's stasis cuffs as he was being thrown through the space bridge. Unfortunately, power problems with the bridge arose, causing Megatron to add Starscream's AllSpark infused head to the mix. This caused a power overload which sucked up Megatron and Starscream, and nearly sucked up the Autobots as well. Fortunately, Omega Supreme arrived and sacrificed himself to save the Autobots by allowing himself to be sucked into the portal. After escaping from the self-destructing bridge, Optimus Prime asked if everyone was okay, and Prowl gave an affirmative nod.

Unfortunately, Sari was not okay, for the skin of her right arm had been torn, revealing robotic circuitry underneath!

Hearing of Professor Sumdac's sketchy explanation of Sari's origins, Prowl infiltrated Sumdac's lab, scanned the professor and accessed his computer data. He later revealed his conclusions: Sari had begun her existence as a Cybertronian protoform. How or why that protoform had shown up in Sumdac's lab was still a mystery, however. When a Rock Lord was TransWarped to Earth with Bumblebee inside, Prowl was surprised that Ratchet was taking his EMP generator into battle again. They barely got a chance to face the thing when Sari upgraded herself with her key and smashed the Rock Lord into bits. Unfortunately her upgrades went out of control and she wounded Bumblebee. While Ratchet tended to Bumblebee, Prime, Bulkhead and Prowl attempted to remove Sari's key from her. Prowl's ninja moves allowed him to extract the key and he rushed it back to Ratchet, only to find its charge had been expended.

After all that excitement was done, the Autobots were surprised when Omega Supreme, now under Megatron's control, TransWarped into view and attacked them. Optimus and Prowl infiltrated the giant's leg, and Prowl headed for Omega's spark chamber while Optimus went to keep Megatron distracted. Prowl jacked in to Omega's memory, and was able to successfully encourage Omega Supreme to reject Megatron's control and reassert his own. The victory was short-lived, as Starscream took the opportunity to take over and eject both Prowl and Optimus from Omega Supreme. The problem was later solved via the application of a plasma dynamic thruster. With Professor Sumdac back on their side, the Autobots set about tracking down the dispersed Decepticons. The first one they ran into was Lugnut. Optimus and Prowl managed to get stasis cuff onto him while the others kept him distracted. Of course, then they had the problem of getting him out of the crater, but while they were doing that, Bulkhead got into some trouble with the Constructicons and they were forced to go help. Prowl warned Bumblebee not to make any sparks because there was oil everywhere, but otherwise stood around watching everyone else win the fight. Three's a Crowd Prowl's keen ninja senses somehow failed to detect when Wasp switched identities with Bumblebee. He and Bulkhead hunted the city for the now fugitive "Wasp" and found him attacking a Hot Dog Bot. He managed to convince the pair he was Bumblebee, but they were attacked by Jetfire and Jetstorm. Prowl eventually clarified Bulkhead's garbled explanation to Optimus and Sentinel, after which they returned to the plant to unsuccessfully try to catch the real Wasp. Assisting Optimus and the Elite Guard in hunting down a Decepticon, Prowl was as stunned as anyone else when Sentinel Prime apparently caught their quarry all by himself—and it was only the most recent of several solo captures Sentinel had made. He then learned that Optimus had spotted a silhouette wearing a unique helmet that evening. Going over the helmets in the data banks with Optimus, Prowl was amazed when his commander identified Yoketron's old helmet as the one he'd seen. He went to share his thoughts with Jazz, a fellow student of Yoketron's, but Sentinel dismissed any notion that Yoketron was even online, much less on Earth. An attempt to shadow Sentinel failed, and Prowl returned to the Elite Guard ship, only to find Sentinel had captured Lugnut too! Realizing that all the captured Decepticons were missing their unique weapons and modifications, Prowl began to voice his suspicions, but Sentinel shut him up by revealing Lugnut's power-punch mods in storage. Prowl still suspected something was up, however, and his theories were supported when he overheard Sentinel talking via communicator to an unknown party before leaving again. Alerting Jazz, Prowl set out after Sentinel and discovered he'd been working with none other than Lockdown, who was wearing Yoketron's helmet. However, even as Prowl watched, Lockdown and the Starscream clone he'd just captured double-crossed Sentinel, and Lockdown revealed he'd been a student of Yoketron's too. Realizing who'd killed his sensei and destroyed the protoforms, Prowl attacked Lockdown and demanded the helmet. Lockdown complied, but the helmet had been rigged to spring a trap, and Prowl found himself bound tight and hauled aboard Lockdown's ship, there to have his mods removed and added to a duplicate of the power armor sidecar Lockdown had once lent him. However, Prowl was able to master the processor-over-matter technique to free himself, don the armor and battle Lockdown back outside. They landed by the Starscream clone just in time to have a scoreboard fall on them, but Prowl's processor-over-matter saved them from injury. The clone was captured, though Lockdown got away, and with a line to Cybertron finally open, Prime reported to Cliffjumper that Prowl was responsible for capturing all the Decepticons they had on the ship. Back in his quarters, Prowl graciously accepted Jazz's compliment that Yoketron would approve of the helmet's new owner, vowing to do all he could to be worthy of it. Prowl turned out with the other Autobots to see off Sentinel and his team as they left Earth for Cybertron.

At Christmas, Prowl theorized that Santa Claus could use holograms to deliver billions of presents in one night. He joined the other Autobots in drinking oilnog, and they soon turned in for the night for a stasis nap, however the next morning, they found they'd somehow been turned into humans. Prowl seemed most at ease, taking the opportunity to experience snow from a human perspective. When they stopped off at a Burger Bot on the way to Sumdac Tower, Prowl stuck with the vegetarian menu, and set about amusing the baby of one of the other patrons. The peace was interrupted by a Decepticon attack, and the Autobots helped rescue people from a damaged building. Prowl dashed inside to rescue Gary, exiting the building with a spectacular leap that should have been impossible. After an abortive attempt to fight the Decepticons in their new human forms, Prowl suggested they proceed to Sumdac Tower by bus.

They reached the tower, only to see the planet Cybertron hove into view and blast it. As Megatron and a host of Decepticons landed, Prowl and Optimus began to come to the realization that none of what they were experiencing was real. When Megatron picked up Prowl, the Autobot was able to slice Megatron's arm off with one blow and resist being stepped on by Blitzwing. Prowl proceeded to float in the air, menacing Starscream before phasing through his foe's head. After the Decepticons evaporated, the Autobots found they were able to return to their robot forms just by willing it. At that point, a giant Soundwave scooped them up. In the real world, Soundwave had jacked the five Autobots into a virtual reality, and planned to reprogram them as Decepticons. After Soundwave's reprogramming was interrupted, Prowl used processor over matter to escape the virtual world. Soundwave promptly caught him trying to free Optimus and put him back under. What's worse, the Autobots were returned to their human forms, and had to chase a virtual Soundwave in vehicles identical to their alternate modes. They had great difficulty adapting to driving and Prowl inadvertently did wheelies on his police cycle. The five Autobots were cornered by Soundwave, who began reprogramming them. Prowl was successful in using Processor over Matter to resist Soundwave's control, and when Soundwave used the Autobots in the real world to attack Sari and the group of "Substitute Autobots" she'd gathered, he carefully made sure no one was harmed. As Soundwave focused on getting Optimus to offline Sari, Prowl took the opportunity to knock Ratbat out of the Decepticon's hands, breaking his control. Soundwave responded by having Ratbat grab Prowl, lift him into the air and drop him into a building. After Optimus managed to defeat Soundwave, the Autobots reassembled, and Prowl reflected on how much they'd learned about what it meant to be organic. When Omega Supreme's energy signature was detected on the Moon, Optimus decided that he needed an upgrade to keep up with Megatron. Prowl offered his boosters for Ratchet to study, and also offered to go to the Moon to check things out. Jazz insisted he stay on Earth and try to complete his cyber-ninja training. The pair retired to some woods, where Prowl was able to reconstitute an AllSpark fragment through meditation. After returning to base, they watch Ratchet repair Optimus after the testing of Prime's boosters, and Prowl encouraged his leader to take up the Magnus Hammer. As the Autobots discovered when they rushed outside, Megatron had created three clones of Omega Supreme, and they were on their way to Detroit.

With the three Lugnut Supremes bearing in on the city, Optimus had serious doubts over whether he could take them. Prowl reassured him, saying that he'd be behind Optimus every step of the way. The two took to the sky, but despite their best efforts, the Lugnut Supremes couldn't be taken individually. When Prowl suggested looking for a way to remove them all at the same time, Prime used his Magnus Hammer to carry them away to Dinobot Island with a whirlwind. This destroyed one and disabled flight capabilities for the remaining two, but still they advanced.

Prime ordered Prowl and Jazz to help evacuate the city's humans towards Sumdac Tower, since its force shields should make it a safe place. After this was accomplished, Prowl and Jazz tried to stop the Lugnut Supremes with their melee weapons, but they were ineffectual. Prime radioed Prowl, telling him that the only way to stop them from destroying the city was to gather the power of the AllSpark. Prowl took Jazz back with him to the tower, which had just lost its force shield. As the two cyber-ninjas meditated, fragments of the AllSpark were telekinetically gathered from all corners of the city, thanks to their mastery of Processor-over-matter. Starscream was an unwitting casualty of this, as the Decepticon had flown too close, and the AllSpark fragment that kept him alive was yanked from his skull.

But Prowl and Jazz couldn't muster enough AllSpark fragments to serve their needs. Some of it was missing! With the Lugnut Supremes now threatening to blow up the city and everything else in a 100-mile radius, Prowl made a tough choice. He levitated himself up towards their growing AllSpark fragment collection and relinquished his own spark, despite Jazz's protests. With one last serene smile, Prowl was lost momentarily in a flash of light. His uncolored body fell into Jazz's arms as the light dimmed.

This last, desperate act enveloped the final Lugnut Supreme in an AllSpark-powered shell, capturing both Optimus Prime and Megatron inside. Prowl appeared once more, as an AllSpark ghost, to carry Prime away to safety.

With Megatron seemingly destroyed, Jazz carried the dead body of Prowl to the others. But before the Autobots could begin to mourn, Megatron reappeared, though heavily damaged. Prime fought the Decepticon leader with renewed vigor in the knowledge that this battle cost the life of his friend, but he stopped just short of killing the villain. Megatron and the other Decepticons were taken in captivity back to Cybertron, along with Prowl's body. Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet, and Bulkhead were Prowl's pallbearers, and the crowds of Cybertron cheered their victory.