Hunt for the Decepticons Sidearm Sideswipe

Review by Caked-Up:

Robot Mode: Sidearm Sideswipe is a great example of how the Bayverse Transformers can look cool. He isn’t the best looking piece out there, but good enough to prove my point. Your primary colors silver and gunmetal gray, with some black thrown in there. His forearms have a bright red adorning them, but it isn’t overpowering. I wish he had just a little more painted detailing, but his guns look good at least. His sculpting is on par with the Movieverse line, so it’s fairly good in my opinion. They retained the cables at his hips and added some suspension springs down his legs. I only have one complaint about his appearance as a whole, his head is a little small when compared to his chest. Yet considering how his transformation works I don’t think it could have been avoided.

Posability is where this figure suffers. From his waist up, he does fairly well and can strike some great poses, but his legs are pretty much set in stone. They do bend at the right places, and he has real toes this time, but still there isn’t much going on. Otherwise, the bulky arms and torso really don’t interfere. His door and back kibble can all be repositioned as you see fit, but I choose to keep as shown above.

As the name suggests, Sidearm Sidewipe has two pistols instead of swords. There are several origins for them, but either way, they are nice and large and remind me of the guns used in animes like Outlaw Star. The pistols have a fold out magazine (Phil: which I forgot to fold out for the pics above, so see the extra pics below. Sorry!) and fit snugly is his hands. If you want him to be unarmed, slide them on the posts they use for vehicle mode. If you feel that pistols aren’t going to be enough, any of the clip weapons can be attached to the grey springs on his legs.

Sidearm Sideswipe’s robot mode looks really good despite the head, has actual feet this time, and has a great set of weapons, but his leg posability is what holds it back from an A.

Vehicle Mode: Let’s knock this out now. The original Sideswipe mold had several prominent transformation seams, yet it was nothing abnormal. This figure on the other hand looks like he collided with Prime himself head on. There are seams everywhere, especially the hood because his arms come out from under here. Despite all of the moving panels, the alt mode is solid once everything is tabbed in, just like Generations Drift/Blurr. Once you look past the seams, the sexy Corvette Stingray® is still just that, sexy. Silver paint is contrasted with red windows and a flame decal. Personally, the clear blue from the first mold looks better, but the red is a nod to his G1 counterpart. Sadly, the rims and taillights are not painted, but the four exhaust pipes and headlights are taken care of.

Aside from rolling around, when the clearance isn’t interrupted, this mode has a gimmick. By lifting the rear deck lid up, you can flip out his pistols. This setup looks cool to me and actually distracts viewers from seeing the jigsaw mess created by the seams. Be careful though because the plastic used for the attachment points are thin and the guns tab in very tightly.

The alt mode isn’t perfect, but it has its good points in a fun gimmick, exceptional choice of car, and the nod to his G1 self, but the excessive seams bring it down hard.

Conclusion: Sidearm Sideswipe is an interesting take on the Sideswipe from the Movieverse. His robot mode is good overall, but his car mode is kind of a letdown. If you do not have one of the Sideswipe figures that are available now, I would recommend this one over the others. But if you are satisfied with what you have then you aren’t missing out on anything that is spectacular.

Robot Grade: B+
Alt Mode Grade: B-
Overall Grade: B+