... Yes, his ninja-like self-replicating / holographic imagery.

I just re-watched the Premiere episode, "Transform And Roll Out!", and noticed that Prowl using such feat twice. First, when he tricked Megatron inside the Ark. And second, when he fought Starscream at the Detroit skyscrapers. Now, I wonder, where does this ability went to? O_o

He uses his holograms all the time. He hid the Dinobots with it, and routinely gives himself a human "driver" in vehicle mode...

I pointed to his usage of such feat during battle, aside of alt-mode holographic decoy and Dinobot Island pre-Meltdown discovery of the island.

Well, the point is he can make a hologram of anything whenever he wants. His ability didn't go anywhere, he just hasn't used it in that exact same way in a while.

A true ninja can use his abilities in more than one way.

if you use an abbillity all the time the enemy will expect it more.

Not to mention that he's a farging Ninja. That's enough of a super-ability on its own.

NINJA'S RULE

Gee, no kiddin', huh?

yeah but Jazz is the better ninja.

Which is why Jazz is in the Elite Guard.

What I do wonder, though, clearly Prowl has had combat training. He could hold his own against Lockdown. How did he get to become part of Prime's clean-up crew?

I gave this some thought, here's what I came up with: He didn't want it.

Although the result of his training is that Prowl is an expert combatant, he probably turned to martial arts for balance and inner peace and stuff, and he wasn't looking to make a career out of combat.

Because up until about halfway though the pilot movie for TFA Prowl was a dick who wouldn't obey orders. Prime was probably the only one who'd take him.

Ninja's rule is what?

kill quick, leave silently!!

Splinter'D

That's what she said.

The idea of creating decoys in ninja mythology is called "bunshin." Sixshot, who was a ninja in The Headmasters, also used this ability - and he used it often. Usually creating six replicas of himself where they would all transform into different modes and simultaneously attack.



The Spychangers in Car Robot were ninjas too. Although they didn't have the bunshin ability, they were able to become intangible and go through solid objects (often appearing as if they were disappearing).


Pretty much. Historically speaking, for the most part, ninja were trained peasantry who used guerilla warfare to attack samurai. It's what usually happens when you have non-warriors vs warriors, because a non-warrior has a far less chance of success in direct confrontation against a professionally trained combatant (warrior/soldier). Guerilla warfare operates by guile and stealth.

Examples include:
+ Anti-Coalition insurgent forces in Iraq
+ Viet Cong
+ Hobbits - in Return of the King where they used guerilla tactics to liberate the Shire from Saruman and Grima Wormtongue. This scene was never made in the movie but it's in the book; Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, being war veterans, free and train enslaved Hobbits. Being outnumbered and outclassed by Saruman's Uruk-hai occupying the Shire, they used guerilla tactics to defeat them and capture Saruman & Wormtongue.

Yeah, but Prowl just makes holograms.


Does that make the G1 Insecticons ninjas?

Or maybe he's the version of Ninja Rick.

Does that make the ewoks ninjas?

No, because they don't use guerilla tactics. Btw only the G1 cartoon Insecticons could create clones (and in the DW comics too). They never had this ability in any other medium and their original tech specs and Marvel Transformers Universe profile (remembering that Marvel did collaborate with writing G1 tech specs) never mentioned this ability.

In the G1 comics, the Insecticons - having mass shifting ability like Megatron and Soundwave - were able to shrink down to the size of actual insects, making them nearly indetectable, even by humans. They used this advantage for stealth, but not for stealth attacks - rather for espionage and infiltration. In Bombshell's case, it was very handy to go around and plant his cerebro shells on unsuspecting victims. But that was mostly when they were dealing with humans. They were kinda similar to Frenzy in the live action movie (only sneakier because insects are smaller and more mobile than a CD player/stereo). When taking on other Transformers, such as Autobots - they were very direct and open in their attack; like when Shrapnel tortured and executed an Autobot informant in the events leading up to Operation Volcano (a gruesome event which Roadbuster had to witness but was unable to intervene).

In the G1 cartoon, the Insecticons were able to create clones, but they never used stealth or guerilla tactics, rather prefering direct swarm assaults.


The Ewoks were most certainly guerilla fighters. That doesn't really make them ninjas though since ninjas are technically guerilla fighters from feudal Japan. Calling them ninjas would be like calling them Viet Cong. Ninjas and Viet Cong are types of guerilla fighters, but not all guerilla fighters are ninjas and Viet Cong. But I suppose you could see the Ewoks as like ninjas in Star Wars. The Jedi and Sith would be the equivalent to Samurai - in fact, they're essentially samurai in space with laser swords. Like post-Sengoku Japan (which is when a lot of Bushido romance flourished) where the samurai viewed guns as dishonourable weapons and swords as a true warrior's weapon, both the Jedi and the Sith traditionally view blasters as "uncivilised" and their light sabres as far more "elegant" weapons.

Sixshot and the Spychangers were specifically referred to as ninjas in their respective canons.

Bludgeon and Banzaitron were clearly modelled after Samurai. In the Beast Wars cartoon, Dinobot was also clearly modelled after Samurai with Silverbolt being modelled after the chivalrous image of European knights. Bludgeon and Dinobot were very clearly portrayed as living by a warrior's code like Bushido - both longed for an honourable warrior's death in battle. I really liked the way that Carnivac decided to take revenge on Bludgeon for killing Catilla. After defeating Bludgeon in battle, rather than killing him Carnivac decided to let him live - thus denying him his warrior's death and allowing him to live in shame, which for Bludgeon was worse than death.

But whereas canon does use the word "ninja" with Sixshot and the Spychangers, it's never specifically used the word "samurai" for the likes of Bludgeon, Banzaitron or Dinobot it's clear that these characters were based on samurai romance. There are other similar warrior cultures such as the Spartans, but there are some clues that make it seem that they were more likely influenced by Samurai. Both Bludgeon and Banzaitron have Samurai-armour like details on the toys and of course, Banzaitron's name draws from Japanese. Dinobot is more vague, but in the beginning of Code of Hero we see him attempting to commit hara-kiri (ritual suicide used by disgraced Samurai).

Beast Machines Silverbolt is visually similar to Samurai - the top of his head looks similar to a cho-mage (samurai top-knot), the chest has decos which kinda looks like the top of a samurai's gi with coat lapels and the feathers on the back kinda look similar to decoration worn by Daimyo (Japanese warlords). But that's where the similarity ends. BW Silverbolt = Lancelot; BM Silverbolt = Tickle Me Emo. ;p

They weren't being serious. So your answer not only makes you look foolish for not recognizing that, it also makes you appear as a know-it-all stuck-up Like-i'm-going-to-post-soemthing-bannable-here. Not that you are, ofcourse.