Continuity:
Technically soup, but very IDW heavy.
Story Concept:
Prowl was created to hold the TacNet and it didn't seem to make much sense to waste a *whole average frame* on that, especially since they wouldn't be really sending him out by himself into the field.
So instead of his alt mode being a police car he turns into one of those laptops that go inside them.
Instead of having a carrier constructed, because again we are trying to save metal, we have Barricade reformatted to hold a "cassette".
These two do not really get along lmao and Prowl takes every option to be apart.
Prowl at this point is working more for Sentinel, and to give both a nod to [Deets Sentinel Situation] / [Sentinel's weird allowance of Prowl's situation] as well as to give him the teeniest depth, it's Sentinel who facilitates Prowl's introduction to Mesothulas, who ends up making him his armor/bigger body.
Mesothulas' work is as always, absolutely incredible, and Prowl is able to fool everyone about his state.
The Reason Prowl does this is because of the issues with Cassettes not really being seen as their own mechs as much as extensions of their Carrier, which is Especially bad, given Barricade has, at this point, become a Decepticon.
War continues and now Prowl is the Tactical lead of Autobot High Command. Both mechs who knew his secret are now dead (assumed at least <3) and he intends on keeping this secret until his armor takes enough damage/damage in a specific place that his secret is revealed.
There are different ways it can go from here, but I think it's easier to note character relations in this au instead of list all the possible paths/go too deep into the source material for the concept:
Character Relations:
Barricade:
Complicated both ways. They do not like each other, most likely due to stark character differences. Barricade also is jealous of Prowl's "importance" and uses his larger size to essentially try and bully him. He doesn't realize Autobot Prowl is "HIS" Prowl and has had his own weird grief at losing him.
Prowl thinks he's a slack off loser and worse someone with not sense of justice past what suites his own fancy. His opinion does NOT improve when Barricade becomes a Decepticon.
Soundwave:
Prowl is VERY worried about being nabbed and reformatted by Soundwave into one of his own Cassettes. It makes him "overly wary" around the possiblity of Soundwave Telepathy Outlier Ability would make interactions difficult. [Both for Prowl's tactican role and his Cassette Situation.]
Soundwave doesn't have much thoughts of him at all past his plans/tactical skills.
NOTE:
Soundwave and Barricade do NOT get along in this lmao. Soundwave thinks he's a shit Carrier and ergo not really trustworthy and Barricade thinks he's a fucking stuck up.
Rewind:
Rewind doesn't understand what Prowl's fucking deal is and dislikes him on that note/how he treats people he cares about.
Prowl is not a Fan. The only thing they agree on is that Soundwave's cassettes are the fucking WORST.
Chromedome:
So this is really funny. They were together/had history when Prowl was known as a Cassette. (He is NOT a Cassette Chaser it was complete coincidence Rewind is a Carrier.)
However he has no idea Prowl = Prowl and Prowl isn't going to tell him that, but now he can't work off of their past history to convince Chromedome to help him.
[Prowl's thoughts to him and vice versa are ALSO very complicated, but CD isn't aware of the situation <3 He never needles Prowl either, which would have revealed the truth of who Prowl was / was to him.]
Blaster:
Prowl is prickly around him due to his experience as both Barricade's Cassette and as a "lone Cassette". [Based off of assumptions made on Cassettes in this AU.]
Blaster has no idea why Prowl is like that with him and just tries to ignore it, but is kind of annoyed. He didn't do anything to him, what gives?
Design Concept:
He has a vague similarity to "regular" Praxians as he was still made in Petrex (I HC/play it as Petrex is a place in Praxus ["Country"] with Praxus [City] inside to better blend continuities.) However I wanted this body to be really simple in design and coloration to distinct it from his "Regular" Design and show.
1. How little his frame really mattered to the people who constructed it given its just to hold the TacNet.
2. Showing Prowl's own preferences of style <3
Fun Facts/Other Details:
I chose Barricade Based off of the fact that Barricade in the Michael Bay Transformers Movie works with Frenzy instead of Soundwave/had replaced Soundwave's plot moments in the movie.
This concept was actually based off of an private RP I made with a friend!
In that RP we had Scavenger Find Cassette Prowl and be so Excited to show off the weirdo find he had made to his Gestalt, while accidentally making it seem like he had eaten Prowl. (Ergo giving plenty of silly times with the Constructicons lmaoo -> this is part of my agenda to make Constructiprowl where Prowl is not part of the Gestalt.)
[Rough Design and Concept Below]
