While most Transformers fans would think of Bumblebee, Cheetor, and Hot Shot as kid-appeal characters, Side Burn does technically count given how he's one of the younger Autobots in the Robots in Disguise 2001 series. Granted, he isn't yellow like the three examples I mentioned, and he wasn't as prominent as them in other fiction (Bumblebee obviously in the movies and many cartoons since Animated, Hot Shot in Rescue Bots Academy, Cheetor in Cyberverse) but the characteristics are still there. He does stalk red cars a little too much to the annoyance of his brothers. Oh, and after realizing how the mediocre retool from the Legacy Evolution Shadowstriker will turn out, I decided to buy the original version of the character. Was that a good choice for a notorious shellformer?
Here we have Side Burn in his Dodge Viper mode. Yes, this guy turns into an actual Dodge Viper. I say "actual" and not "officially licensed" because Takara originally didn't bother licensing the toys like in G1 with the Autobot Brothers. Side Burn caught the attention of the Dodge brand and pressured Hasbro into acquiring a license that would later be added in future versions starting with the Hasbro Super Side Burn repaint. This guy's alt mode looks pretty accurate to the actual sports car, though he has a hot-rod engine that has red and silver chrome. The blue paint on him is beautifully metallic, and it compliments the chrome rims (which have rubber tires) resulting in a resemblance to a die-cast car. However, the yellow-tinted windows may be accurate but do look a bit unusual, as they look like they got discolored over time (the yellow headlines do look fine). The spacing between the tires and the car shell, as well as the weird inward curve on the side of the car where the doors move out, are aesthetic oddities, but the car otherwise looks nice, beating the Movie and Alternators toys by being an official car that is not a rebranded Diaclone toy.
The doors can open, similar to the usual die-cast car, but you only see the robot kibble in the way of any proper interior details.
For a size comparison with a red sports car, here he is next to Legacy Evolutions' Toxitron Collection Dead End, a red sports car that Side Burn may or may not want to chase after given he's a Decepticon. But yes, Deluxe sizes have fluctuated between lines, though Side Burn doesn't make the modern toy feel undersized by comparison to, say, the original Armada cars like Hot Shot and Wheeljack. Quality is different between the two, with the Legacy Deluxe not being as detailed as the older toy, especially with the coat of metallic paint Side Burn received, the chrome engine and rims, and the rubber tires that thankfully haven't decayed yet.
And here he is with his Autobot Brothers in vehicle mode, which is important to showcase when it comes to how nice these three look as far as being comparable to die-cast cars that you might see in Walgreens with interiors and pull-back features. We'll get to reviewing Prowl and X-Brawn later down the line. These guys feel like the perfect kind of evolution from the Autobot Cars when it comes to being traditional vehicles that the average Autobot takes form of. In Side Burn's case, he's comparable to the likes of the Lambros in terms of being speedsters with the flame decals vaguely reminiscent of Tracks and Hot Rod (who we'll get to discussing more about in a moment), and the blue reminding fans of stuff like the aforementioned Tracks, Mirage, and Blurr I guess.
Transformation is very complex, what with how kibbly the design is a la the previous year Beast Wars Neo toys (at least in Japan). In addition to the partsforming of the gun, you have to deal with the shellformer traits this toy has, where very few vehicle parts beyond the hot rod engine and the rear wheels on the hips barely contribute to the robot mode. The front of the car, the two back pieces with the hood halves and doors, and the entire roof of the car are hanging off the robot, resulting in a bit of a mess that even Takara toy designer Hironori Kobayashi felt was not easy to work with. Despite that, the figure wasn't as annoying as I initially expected, especially since I have had a history of transforming complex toys at a younger age. Maybe it's me being more interested in the puzzle aspect that makes Transformers a favorite of mine to collect, on top of me preferring this guy over BWN Mach Kick, for example. The bot mode is a lot skinnier compared to the Autobot Cars, with the wheels on the hips making the thighs look much thicker than they really are. The new robot parts that he has on there are at least able to break up the blue of the car, with lighter blue for the crotch, feet, and shoulders while the white makes up the forearms, biceps, and thighs. We even have an Autobot insignia on the forearm in red chrome like on parts of the chest engine.
Head sculpt has a bit of asymmetry when it comes to the right side of the forehead having a patch of yellow exposed in contrast to the left side having solid blue like the rest of the design. Instead, he has a targeting reticle that is accompanied with a slightly different left antenna. His face also has a white cheek guard on the right side. The molded detailing look sharper in-person than how they look here, trust me. His articulation consists of ball joints for the neck, shoulders, hips, and lower knee joints, swivels for the biceps and waist, and hinges for the elbows as well as the upper knee joints. His rear bumper features a blaster that can utilize the missile previously used as an exhaust pipe. You also have a little gun in silver chrome like the rims and parts of the engine.
As far as repaints are concerned, this is Super Side Burn/Speedbreaker, with the red replacing the blues and the orange replacing the light blue a la Hot Rod. This was probably nothing new in Japan, but the idea of changing a Transformer's color in-fiction via a special power-up was undoubtedly a new concept in the West and other countries when RID 2001 was imported. Of note, Side Burn features a Dodge Viper emblem on the front of the car as Dodge/DaimlerChrysler pressured Hasbro into acquiring a license, indirectly leading to the Alternators toyline and the 2007 Michael Bay movie's use of real world vehicles. Some of the silver chrome is replaced with gold.
Up next, we have a clear version of Super Speedbreaker, where he is recolored to look like he's powering up yet he looks somewhat like his car shell is a ghost, making the opaque red and orange stand out.
And this is Universe Side Burn, who replaces a majority of the red on Super Side Burn with a matte black, a carbon pattero on the hood, and a non-outlined Autobot insignia. The gun (not pictured) is no longer chromed but it at least has silver paint.
We are no longer covering Side Burn repaints as we have a two-in-one offering! On the left is Autobot Roulette, and on the right is Decepticon Shadow Striker. They share the same paint masks, only Roulette has silver paint for the car while the Shadow Striker has black; all this makes them the true definition of a "repaint" in Transformers toy history since they retain the same base plastic colors between each other. The stripes and lower legs are also in different shades from one another, but they both possess retooled heads, also making them the first instances of convention-exclusives having newly tooled parts.
For a size comparison with more recent Generations figures, here he is next to Dead End. While one may look bulkier than the other, Side Burn likely might have denser plastic. I haven't measured it yet, but I could be mistaken given how older toys tended to feel thicker than recent ones.
And here he is next to Cyberverse Shadow Striker from the Legacy Evolution line, who not only has a Side Burn retool in the horizon, but it is clearly meant to homage the character since the original Shadow Striker was a reuse as we mentioned earlier. I wasn't a big fan of the newer toy if you remember my review, as the Side Burn hints made the Cyberverse homage feel half-baked, but it looks worse than the original toy by comparison, something I don't see often with the Generations line apart from some Legacy characters.
And finally, here we have a group shot featuring the other Autobot brothers in their bot modes this time around. I love seeing unique designs like these in Transformers history, especially when it comes to Hasbro's approach to giving most of these characters names from familiar Autobots to represent how RID 2001 is a brand reboot. Side Burn may not be a proper Autobot Car homage despite the similarities I mentioned, but he is pretty cool in spite of his kibbly appearance. His toy designer doesn't need to feel bad for the over-complicated engineering, because he at least managed to do a decent job for a first attempt as a Takara designer. This is a figure I recommend you get if you're not impressed with the Legacy United retool on the way, which I don't blame you one bit for!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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