Classics Series Sideswipe

Height: 14.6cm (robot mode);

Articulation: 20 total points - Ball joint neck; 5 points each arm: ball joint shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, double hinge elbow, swivel wrist; swivel waist; 4 points each leg: ball joint hip, pre-knee swivel, hinge knee, ball joint ankle.

Colors: Molded red, white, black, smoky clear, clear blue; Painted black, red, silver, white.

Accessories: Flare Launcher, Engine Supercharger

Release Data: Released late third quarter of 2008 at a suggested retail price of US$9.99.

Gallery: 20 images.

Author: ExVee



Sideswipe is a natural-born fighter. He's had little formal training in the arts of war, yet he has an instinctive nature that makes him one of the most dangerous warriors among the Autobots. He is not as self-centered or cold blooded as his brother Sunstreaker, but the two are nonetheless close. When they fight side by side, they are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Sideswipe is the somewhat-less sociopathic brother. It's interesting that in some ways Bob Budiansky's earliest work with Transformers is still being drawn upon in official materials. Things might change a bit over the years, but in many cases uses of the original G1 cast base their personalities upon the character information written while the toyline and comic were being originally put together.

One of the more interesting elements from that origin is the portrayal of the Autobots as being anything other than professional soldiers. Read a bit about the American Revolution, just for one, and see how it talks about some of the elements that filled out the ranks of the country's fledgling military forces. It's more obvious with some characters, but the Autobots are a pretty good analogue to some of the take-whoever-you-can attitude needed when building up troops for an otherwise outnumbered army. Kind of explains why the G1 cartoon was practically an alien robot buddy show, doesn't it?

Meanwhile the fanfic-writing sector of the fandom has somehow seen fit to make Sideswipe and Sunstreaker a pair of goofy practical jokers. While potentially entertaining in the right hands, it's still kind of a bizarre leap.


Vehicle Mode


In the act of not being any particular identifiable (or infringeable) model, Sideswipe ends up just looking like any old Lamborghini. Like any good insanely expensive sportscar, Sideswipe looks 100% impractical. Also unremarkable in many ways. All the different panels line up very well, there's only a few panel lines over the surface of the car - in fact, take out the split down the back end and the remaining panel separations would actually contribute to the realism of the vehicle mode. Perhaps true to form, Sideswipe seems to not have any concern for what might be behind him. Besides the obvious lack of a rear window, there's not even the illusion of rearview mirrors. But then, what need would Sideswipe have for going backwards anyway?

Color match is fairly impressive between the painted roof and the bare plastic the rest of the body is composed of. The lack of contrast is quite a contrast from Sunstreaker. (Someone's going to kill me for that one, I'm sure.) Even the black line running along either side of the vehicle mode matches perfectly between the separate panels it crosses. The only place the paint comes out at all poorly is on the very rear, where the paint is interrupted by the split between panels and the red plastic is visible. That, and the edges of the "SWIPE" license plate are a bit sloppy.

The big issue I have with this vehicle mode typically comes following transformation back from robot mode. The way things are engineered, more often than not you'll end up with the front wheels misaligned, leaving you to either frustratingly try to massage them back to just the right position, or to untransform the toy to such a state that you can more easily move things around and hope blindly that you've got it all lined up right this time.


Transformation

The thing I dislike the most about this mold regardless of who it represents is how it transforms. Or to be more accurate, I have issues with starting the transformation. All the panels fit together very tightly, making for a pretty stable vehicle mode. But they're fairly resistant to letting go when they're actually supposed to. It's mostly a matter of having to pop loose tabs that hold the canopy to the front end at the same time as the tabs holding the "doors" to the rear half. I find that it always feels as if you're on the edge of snapping something off, although once you're beyond this hurdle things become much less troubling. At least until it comes time to lock the hood down into the torso, which seems to require a sickening cracking sound each and every time. One bit of pure awesome in the transformation, however, is the "dramatic head reveal", where rotating the car's roof slowly raises the head out of the torso.



Robot Mode

Although strictly speaking the only difference between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's robot modes is different head molds and which side of the torso you use, there are other simple ways to modify the transformation and make them more distinct.

Some early examples of Sideswipe had a variation in the shape of the lower legs which made it possible to turn the waist around and have the roof panel sides of the legs face forward. While any Sideswipe or Sunstreaker can do that only the earliest have room for the feet to correctly deploy in this configuration. In seemingly the majority, the feet will be at such an angle as the whole robot mode will pitch back until it falls over. Short of brandishing a hobby knife or other sharp instrument at Sideswipe, you can turn the feet backwards as heels and leave the robot mode with large, toeless boot legs. Additionally, the door panels can be positioned on the back side of the arms instead of the sides. For me, that one is a bit of necessity, since the parts fit isn't the greatest and they slide around if I try to leave them to the sides. Of course, if you feel like getting a little more involved, you can start swapping parts and switch robot modes between toys. Add some new paint and you can even start in on Diaclone color variations.


The head is the only entirely different part from Sunstreaker. It's a blend of previous toy heads along with influences from some media interpretations. Basically it ends up being a fairly recognizable Sideswipe while not looking quite like any particular previous version. Apparently muttonchops are in style on Cybertron right now. The clear blue plastic used for the light piping eyes transmits the light quite well, although for some reason the color seems to start to wash out under stronger light. The neck is a ball joint, but it's restricted and beyond swivel range is mostly only good for looking down.

The same elements that allow the toy to transform into two fairly different robot modes also make for really free poseability. The shoulders are a little restricted on their ball joints, but transformation jointing adds extra range that helps compensate. The double elbows have roughly the same as normal human range of motion. Taking that, good swivels in the upper arms and at the wrists, as well as the extra bit of range afforded by transformation elements, the toy can assume quite a range of poses with the arms. If the chest wasn't so wide, you'd even be close to crossing the arms.

Because of how the transformation runs, there's a good number of joints in the legs. One of the transformation hinges can even make a functional, albeit slightly low knee if you use the alternate leg configuration. Sadly since the legs aren't meant to be involved in the variable robot modes they don't fare quite as well, but with a little cheating you can pull off a good kneel. Still, even being slightly less awesome than the poseability of the arms, the legs come across still a bit ahead of average for Transformer articulation. The one potential weak link I'd look out for is the ankles. I don't think it's a stretch to figure that some of these will come out with weak ankles at one point or another. But it should be easy to correct, either by tightening the screw at the first joint or by adding thickness to the ball joint. One major low point is that from the back and inward sides the legs are very obviously hollow. Maybe not a new development, but it does stand out a bit to me in this case.

Waist articulation is smooth, but if you don't have the windshield piece turned all the way it can catch on the edge of the waist and drag the head back down into the torso. Once the roof is positioned right, it's actually designed to fit the waist joint. In the spirit of parts being made to separate under excessive force, the roof attaches to the figure by way of a(n extremely) short range hinge that will pop off pretty easily. However, for its intended purpose it lets the roof push just a centimeter or so and makes room for the pelvis block to slide past as it turns.



Accessories


-Flare Launcher

The same thing that was a handgun for Sunstreaker is repurposed as Sideswipe's shoulder cannon. Cast in white plastic, the back half is painted black to keep the color pattern of the original cannon. Thing is, it's kind of small for a cannon. Especially a mounted cannon. Anyway, the slightly narrower extension on the bottom of the grips fits one of two holes atop the torso, though it can take a little work. Once it's in it holds very snugly and can be turned easily without coming loose.

Or you can skip the shoulder cannon and keep using it as a handgun. Otherwise Sideswipe is stuck beating folks for lack of a handheld weapon.

In vehicle mode, the weapon stores effectively in the underbody, roughly taking the place of the catalytic converter and the dual exhaust pipes.

-Supercharger

Given paint apps were redistributed relative to Sunstreaker, Sideswipe features silver painted intakes on the supremely superfluous supercharger to cover its white plastic.

In addition to its vehicle mode role, it has two functions in robot mode. First is mounting it to Sideswipe's back, somewhat resembling the jetpack Sideswipe is credited as having. The other use is not necessarily intended for this version of the mold, but like Sunstreaker the supercharger can wrap around the gun to make a slightly bigger gun. Where Sunstreaker's gun and supercharger don't like to play well together, neither does Sideswipe's set. The interesting part is when you trade components. Sunstreaker's gun and Sideswipe's supercharger work great together, and vice-versa. If you get both toys, it's just as well to trade superchargers between them and have full, proper function of the accessories. Not corrected, however, is the seeming inability of the intake pieces to fully snap onto the black main piece, forcing them to pitch slightly forward or backward.


Closing Remarks

From a preplanning stance, Sideswipe represents one of the most impressive accomplishments in the current Universe line. Not only has the toy already benefitted from being designed for two uses, but the same provisions that made Sideswipe possible will also allow for easy modification later if more uses of the mold are desired. A Punch/Counterpunch are all but guaranteed as a Botcon exclusive, and that just scratches the surface of potential redecos and remolds this body can support.

While not free of some minor issues, this stands as a model for how multiple-use molds can be excellently plotted out and almost make you forget you've got a near physical duplicate of another toy. It may not be practical to design figures like this in every case, I do hope we can see an example of this kind of engineering again in the near future. Maybe without the irritating aspects in the transformation, though?

If the mold had been a little more slim across the torso, it might even give the Blurr mold some competition for flexibility. In any case, Sideswipe rates an easy Very Good.

Punch, G2 Sideswipe, Red Alert, Breakdown, Firecracker, RiD Prowl, REV, Optimus Prime... (And that doesn't begin to touch on really obscure characters!)

-ExVee, 12/19/2008