Tag Archives: Prowler

#2678: Prowler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

PROWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Equipped with an armored suit and gadget-filled wrist gauntlets, Marvel’s Prowler pursues his enemies under the cover of darkness.”

The Prowler is a relatively early Spider-Man villain, appearing in 1969, and also an early entry in two of Marvel’s favorite things to do with villains: reforming and replacing.  Hobie Brown was the original Prowler, and was ultimately not so bad a guy, eventually becoming one of Spidey’s allies after retiring from his villainous past.  However, the Prowler identity didn’t end with Hobie, and he wound with a few successors as the years went on.  The one that stuck the best wasn’t even truly a successor, but a full-on reboot, when the Ultimate universe’s version of the Prowler was revealed to be Miles Morales’ Uncle Aaron.  This development served as the basis for the character’s appearance in Into the Spider-Verse, which boosted the identity into more of the public consciousness, and has helped to further cement Aaron as the Prowler.  And now he’s got a Legends release to help with that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prowler is figure four in the Stilt-Man Series of Marvel Legends, and is the final Spider-Verse themed figure this time around.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Prowler’s construction follows in Gwen’s footsteps, re-using some of the older base body parts, albeit with a twist.  He’s officially Bucky Cap adjacent, using the pelvis and hips from that body, as well as the related, but altered torso from Dr. Strange, as well as the similarly related but altered upper arms from Shatterstar.  As we saw on Gwen’s legs, the Shatterstar arms have been tweaked to remove the visible pins around the elbows.  The pattern of the wrinkles on the sleeves is the same, however, so they’re using at the very least the same CAD files.  In addition to the re-used and tweaked parts, Prowler gets a healthy amount of new pieces as well, including the head, forearms, hands, legs, and add-ons for the cape and belt.  The end result is a little bulkier in terms of build than Prowler was in the film.  However, he was still definitely bulkier than Peter or Miles in the movie, so it’s not terribly far off.  He does also inherit some of the issues of the re-used parts, most notably the iffy shoulder and elbow movement from the Shatterstar arms.  The new cape piece also doesn’t *quite* peg in correctly, causing it to pop free a lot, and making it a little bit of a pain when posing.  That said, the posability on the new parts, especially the legs, is really smooth, and there’s a very nice range.  The paint work on this guy is pretty decent.  Fairly straight forward in terms of the color work and such, but it looks pretty slick, and matches well with his movie appearance.  The biggest let-down for me on this guy is definitely the accessories, or more accurately the lack of them.  He’s got the right arm and an extra hand for Stilt-Man, and a briefcase with money in it, also for Stilt-Man, since Prowler’s hands are too big for the handle.  There are no extra parts for Prowler himself, which is a bummer, because I was at least hoping for an extra unmasked Uncle Aaron head, if not also some extra hands.  As it stands, he definitely feels the lightest of this assortment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Prowler’s always been one of those characters that I don’t mind owning as a toy, but I also don’t feel an undying need to own.  While I liked him well enough in the movie, he was undoubtedly lower on my list than the various Spiders.  So, I wasn’t quite as pumped for this particular release.  Of course, that ended working to his benefit, I think, because I didn’t have much in the way of expectations.  He’s not the star of the assortment, and I do wish he’d gotten a few more accessories, but he does manage to get the look down pretty well, and I do quite like the new parts.  Overall, not a bad release.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1718: Prowler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

PROWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Plagued by memories of his youth and desperate to prove his worth, Prowler turns to a life of crime.”

Hey look!  It’s Spawn!  Okay, so Prowler actually predates Spawn.  In fact, Prowler showed up during Todd McFarlane’s run on Spider-Man, just before he left Marvel…to create Spawn.  Guess the guy liked Prowler.  Unlike his McFarlane-owned reskin, Prowler hasn’t been particularly privy to action figures.  He got one in the ’90s, likely due to his resemblance to Spawn.  Then nothing for 25 years, and now he’s finally gotten his second action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prowler is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  Interestingly enough, this is the *second* Hobie Brown figure in this particular assortment, since that’s who’s under the Spider-Punk mask as well.  Who would have thought we’d get a Spider-Man assortment with twice as many Hobie Browns as Peter Parkers.  Certainly not I.  Prowler is seen here in his classic attire, which is what he’s worn for most of his career (barring a quick change-up for his solo series a few years back).  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Prowler is built on the Spider-UK body, making him the second non-Spider-Man to make use of it.  It works well enough, though Prowler’s build has fluctuated a fair bit over the years.  He gets a new head and hands, as well as new add-on pieces for the cartridges around his wrists and ankles.  The new pieces are all pretty fun, and pretty good matches for the character’s design as well.  To complete is look, he borrows the cape from Moon Knight.  While it’s a nice cape, and not a bad match for what Prowler usually wears, the piece doesn’t quite sit right on the body.  As a result, the collar ends up being rather floaty.  Not the end of the world, but a minor annoyance.  Prowler’s paintwork is pretty decent stuff.  His usual colorscheme is done well, and manages to not look too silly.  The photos make it look like his purples don’t match very well, but this isn’t the case in person.  There *are* two different purples in play, but the difference is matte vs. metallic, rather than two actually different shades.  Prowler has no character-specific accessories, which is a shame, since an unmasked head would have been cool.  Oh well.  He does at the very least include a piece for Lizard, specifically his leg.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Spider-Woman, I wasn’t certain I needed a Prowler figure, but I wanted a Lizard, so I got him.  It was an easier purchase, since he’s at least a new character.  Ultimately, he’s a serviceable figure, if not without his flaws.  Still, even if you don’t know anything about the character, I think this figure is rather fun.

Prowler was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’d like one of your own, he’s currently still in-stock through their website, or you’re looking for something else, check out the great items available through their eBay Store.