Prowl returns in Beast Wars Transmetals II as an Owl. He's got a tec spec that makes it quite clear this is the original Prowl from Earth. The major colour of Prowl's body is white being used for the feet, upper legs, head, neck, back, tail and outer wings - though the front of this last part is heavily coloured blue. The lower legs plus the joints between the body and the wings & tail are a dark metallic grey. The chest panel, thrusters beside he tail and inner wings are blue chrome while the body sides, his larger right eye and the dome on the head are clear red plastic. So there's lots of colours going on here that resemble those used in the original Autobot version. I like the clear eye - it's covering moulded detail similar to his left eye and is like some sort of targeting display. Similarly you can imagine that the dome on the head is some forward facing laser cannon. Said dome rotates down into the head to reveal his green Maximal symbol spark. I like having Sparks in the head -it's like the Transformer's soul is sitting in the brain pan! Prowl has a small gimmick in this mode: There's a little lever to the side of the head. Press it and the head spins round ! The owl has some more articulation that's not related to the gimmick: ball jointed ankles & knees and wings that bend back at the base and fold out halfway along.
Transformation: Fold the tail back revealing the arms attached to the thruster. Fold the thrusters onto the sides of the bird in front of the wings. Straighten the legs under the bird. Unclip the wings and fold them and the chest & head forward 90 degrees. Fold down the tail and fold the panel on top of he toy onto the back. Flip the head up. Fold the wings back onto the neck. Fold the shoulders forward and pose the arms. Turn the owl head so it faces down on the chest.
Most of Prowl's robot mode has already been seen in the beast mode. The new additions are the metallic grey upper arms, clear red lower arms and white robot head with clear red lightpipe. Prowl's got a great asymmetric face with one round eye and one narrowed eye. There's also a crest above the eyes bringing to mind the horns on the original Autobot Prowl. The owl head has ended up on the chest with the dome pointing forward again making me think it's some form of cannon. The owl head can still be cranked here but it makes sense to be looking down as that means when you flip the dome over the Maximal symbol is the right way up. Articulation is good - as it is for most Beast Wars toys: restricted ball joints in the ankles and lower knee, bending upper knee, ball jointed hips, turning waist which also bends forward, ball jointed shoulders & elbows - eliminating the need for a bicep swivel - and a ball jointed head. The wings can either point up from the shoulders or out to the sides and maintain their joint in the middle which allows them to unfurl by swinging the wing tip out. The thrusters that previously framed the tail now stick out the back of the shoulders - these might have looked better pointed down as a jet pack or forwards as cannons. Similarly the wings might have been better positioned if they'd have ended up on the robots back. Small niggles really, just like the lack of a hand weapon but I recall that he can hold Beast Wars Scourge's sword in his open left hand.
Overall: Unique beast mode - not enough robot owls in the world, though there's a very nice one in the Zoids Blox range. Robot mode has some very small issues, but nothing huge. Well worth a look.
This version of Prowl was sold in the USA in early 1999. It wasn't sold in Japan - who didn't get any of the non-show Transmetal 2 toys. Similarly it didn't come to England in 2000 because.....
The second Prowl has the following colour swaps:
White becomes black
Metallic Grey becomes Dark Blue
Blue Chrome becomes Silver Chrome
Clear Red is still Clear Red but may now be a darker shade
So from a toy based on one of original Prowl's major colours we get a second based on the other. But where the white of the original had the metallic grey standing in for the black here we have no white to accompany the black used on lots of the toy resulting in a version that's less reminiscent of the original. However it's still a good colour scheme and probably my favourite of the two.
This version of Prowl appeared in US toy assortments in mid 1999 - around the time of Jawbreaker & Iguanus' release and was in the small quantity of later Transmetal 2 toys that escaped into the wild in the UK though if memory serves these were all on the French Ani-Mutants cards rather than the more familiar Beast Wars Biocombat ones seen in the UK and also sold in Italy.