Thanks go to Autobase Aichi for these pictures of the soon-to-be-released Prowl and Chromia, part of the highly anticipated second wave of War For Cybertron: Siege toys.

While there are some stunners in Wave 2, we can’t help but feel that Prowl and Chromia are together the low point of the series so far. Chromia has some nice detailing, but that can’t hide the fact she’s a greebled-up retool of an overused mold. We really didn’t ask for five of these things in different colours. Hasbro is getting a running start on it’s approach to Power Rangers, perhaps.

Prowl looks a bit poorly. Like a Victorian child who was kept indoors his whole life to avoid the smallpox, but just ended up getting rickets instead. Even the stock renders of this toy looked pale, so it’s no surprise that the finished article looks more like the ghost of Prowl, sent to spook Ebeneezer Scrooge into buying more toys… Once the Muppets were done with him, anyway.

At least he looks good from the back and in close-ups. The same can’t be said of Chromia, who looks like she put on way too much foundation this morning. It’s not all bad, though – you could just transform her and tell your friends it’s a new Blurr toy! We’re joking, of course. You don’t have any friends.

So, the question is: are these toys better than what has come before? It’s a toss-up for Chromia. For Prowl, we just can’t help but remember the time when we got the Masterpiece version for £20 on eBay. The Siege version will cost almost as much, is a fair bit smaller, and is a lot less complex and detailed. But the most unforgivable thing? He got demoted! Check out his stripes. Prowl must’ve done something really naughty, as Optimus busted him right down to corporal!

“Approach to power”