Name: TT HongLi Model HF-01 Patrol Prowl & HF-02 Speed Smokescreen Set of 2

Material: ABS Plastic, no die-cast, thankfully.
Height: 5.51"
Price: between $25-$40 for both bots.

Capsule review: CHUG-scaled Prowl and Smokescreen with great sculpts in both robot and alt mode, satisfying transformation, and solid plastic quality. Poseability in robot mode is unfortunately somewhat limited. Highly recommended as substitutes for, or adjuncts to, the official ER versions.

Review:

For several years now, it seems that 3P has been all in on Legends scale or Masterpiece scale, while ceding the CHUG space entirely to Hastak. Presumably, they’d find it difficult to match Hasbro’s economies of scale and produce similar quality pieces at competitive prices.

However, Covid-related impacts on shipping and distribution have meant that the window of opportunity for purchasing an official figure is often very limited. I missed out on the ER Ironhide and Prowl two-pack, and have been looking for a good CHUG Prowl. I picked up the 2008 Universe model with the weird turtleneck, but he’s clearly from a different era of design and scale.

Enter TT Hongli, a 3P producer I’ve never heard of before, who’ve recently released a two-pack of an anime-styled Prowl and Smokescreen in CHUG scale. Officially it’s $40 for the pair, roughly on par with Hasbro MSRP, but I was able to pick up the set for around $25 total on AliExpress.

Vehicle mode: superb styling, all weapons attach, and miracle of miracles - the cars roll smoothly, with plenty of clearance. Considering this is more than most official products manage, it’s mind boggling. Fits nicely in ER Optimus’s trailer. A home run.

Robot mode: anime-influenced, with some IDW styling in there, but mostly recognizable as full-on G1. I have ER Smokescreen, and I’m not a fan. TT Hongli outdoes him in aesthetics, color, and proportion. He holds together better too (my ER has some issues with floppiness). On the minus side, there’s precious little poseability to be found. Despite having tremendous articulation afforded by the ball joints, the enormous shoulder pads formed from the front bumpers end up inhibiting his range of movement. The price to be paid for looking cool.

Ultimately, a worthy addition to any collection. If I had the skills, I’d pick up another set to repaint as Bluestreak.

Purchased from: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804091397873.html

Pretty thorough review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ1roItUT7U

On Sunday, August 7, 2022 at 5:55:42 PM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
> Vehicle mode: superb styling, all weapons attach, and miracle of miracles - the cars roll smoothly, with plenty of clearance. Considering this is more than most official products manage, it’s mind boggling. Fits nicely in ER Optimus’s trailer. A home run.

The robot styling is a bit weird for my tastes. The way the front fenders hang off the shoulders, and the lack of window-legs, is a bit of a turn-off.. They almost look like they were designed to be another character, and turned into Smokescreen/Prowl after the fact.

But, I'll admit that they look super cool. All those wings and guns and things poking every which way. It's like an Autobot fed through a Gundamization filter.

I wish more third party companies would look at the current official offering and try to complement it, and add to it, rather than trying to supplant it. Like, for me personally, I already have a good Prowl and Smokescreen, so I wouldn't need something like this. But, I do tend to buy third-party things when there's no official equivalent, like the Impossible Toys action figure versions of Alpha Trion or Nightbird or the Quintesson Scientist. If a third party company came up with some massive $300 version of the Dweller I would probably buy it. I mean, I'm all about adding to my existing collection. The more, the merrier. Where's my third-party Keeper of Primus action figure? Where are B.O.T. and Beta and Bosch? Why are there no Acolytes of Unicron army-builder figures? But they don't seem to want my money badly enough to do these things.

Zob (if there is a limit to the G1 characters I would buy, I haven't found it yet)