Transformers Siege Sideswipe review

While not one of the more prominent characters, I do like the G1 take on Sideswipe thanks to the recent incarnations adding a bit of history to the character. Neither the cartoon or the Marvel Comics (outside of the G2 issues) really had him do much, but he was fairly prominent in Dreamwave, had a few standout moments in the original IDW run, and is a playable character in the Devastation game. Also, this guy has had a good streak (no pun intended) of well-done action figures. Let's see if Siege Sideswipe will continue the streak!

Here we have Sideswipe in his vehicle mode. It's a Lamborghini Countach that's modified to avoid licensing issues and resemble a Cybertronian take on his altmode. For the most part, it does the job of looking less like an alien car and more like a futuristic version of the car (that is if Lamborghini wanted to make a car that looked fairly nostalgic in the year of 2030). The red's not as shiny as I thought it'd be, though it makes sense for the war aspect of the line. There is some nice silver paint for the rims, and other details like the vents are nicely picked out. The hinges of the shoulders do ruin the look of the sides, especially when they're black and don't match either the red of the body or the gunmetal gray of the doors.

You can attach the rocket launcher on the top of the altmode. The red missile (aside from looking phallic) doesn't really look as practical when attached to the cannon thanks to the 5mm peg looking weird. It's even touching the windshield no-less. 

Sideswipe's transformation is the traditional 'car front becomes the flat chest, legs are extended parts of the rear' procedure that Sideswipes are known for. The only attribute that I've never seen on this Sideswipe is the waist swiveling to make his legs look like they were extended without making them look off like the G1 toy did. The feet being hidden from the shins (which open up to reveal the soles) is a nice touch.

In robot mode, Sideswipe almost looks like a shrunken down version of his Masterpiece version! That said, there are a few things about this Sideswipe that I don't particularly like. The feet look kind of flat and long compared to what they normally should look like. In some angles, you can't see Sideswipe's lower face because of how the chest of the robot obscures the mouth. And while there is some nice silver paint on the feet and midriff, the forearms and thighs have this weird beige tint that makes him look like he slightly yellowed. Those parts are generally white, which wouldn't look too bad, though Hasbro chose to make them look less like they would yellow by using a plastic color that already made them look like they would be yellowed.

Face sculpt is accurate to Sideswipe. The eyes may not look like it, but they're painted blue underneath the helmet. Also, the helmet looks nice in the matte black.

Articulation's pretty much universal for this figure and the rest of the Siege line. Head is on a ball-joint, arms swivel front and back, hinge in and out, swivel at the bicep, bend at the elbow, and the hands slightly curl inward. Waist swivels, hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and the ankles pivot. Word of note, the hinges used for transformation may cause the figure to lean forward a bit, depending on how he's standing.

His accessories can be split into two individual weapons. Individually, the weapons are lacking. While there are pegs for blast effects or explosions, the gun looks more like the tip of a penis while the shoulder cannon looks like it's incomplete. Combined, it does look a bit better, though the 5mm handle remaining exposed on the cannon doesn't make it look entirely perfect, and the missile should be white.

This mold has been reused a few times during the Siege line. First off in the form of the Covert Clone Sideswipe repaint from the Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce boxset. In other words, it's G2 Sideswipe without the right insignia. This one's actually a separate character, who is a protoform named after the original Sideswipe, who died in the first IDW run. While it may seem like an inverted color version of Sideswipe at first glance, the brighter white and silver weapon with black highlights makes this version of the character look nicer than the original Siege version in some regard. Included with this version of the toy is Slamdance (a redeco of Skytread with a new head) and Trenchfoot, a repaint of Caliburst.

For a more damaged version of the character, here is the Walmart Netflix repaint of the character. This guy's on-par with the regular version, only a lot more damaged in deco. I think the deco would have worked if it was meant to be used for what Siege had in mind for the war theme, but this guy feels like a needless repaint now that Siegeswipe's already out. I bet some Walmarts have this and the regular version on pegs at the same time (bonus points if Red Alert is included).

The second reuse is a slight retool of the mold, this time being Red Alert. The head has Red Alert's altered helmet (and in red), and his fire department deco now has Cybertronic text instead of English (though it's only on the front). A lightbar and new blaster are included to combine as an ax of sorts, though how effective it can be is beyond me. The rims being red is neat to further differentiate him from Sideswipe. Red Alert's not a character I'm particularly interested in unless there's an Inferno to put him with, which is what he'll have when Hasbro retools Earthrise Grapple into Inferno.

Red Alert later received a repaint that basically gives him added battle damage and shart that he stepped on. He also has red biceps but should not come with a red version of Sideswipe's head (which is an error on the CGI images).

This is Tigertrack, another separate character that's instead a yellow Sideswipe that could easily be mistaken for some normies as Sunstreaker. If we ever get a Spin-Out, I would certainly recommend getting him to further add to the Diaclone color swap twins...even though this was the original color scheme Sideswipe's pre-Transformer predecessor had.

And now we have two versions of Deep Cover: this one is the Selects version, looking very nice with the black even in spite of the small blue patches. I love the police badges, and the blue kind of makes him feel more like if G2 Sideswipe had blue instead of red. Kind of makes him look like he's on his break during the weekends.

And this is the Walmart Netflix version... which is an inverted-colors version and now looks more like a Blue Sideswipe. Surprisingly, he doesn't have the exact same deco that Sideswipe had. He is missing the gun this time.

As far as an in-between retool set in the middle of the general tooling and the next retool on the list, here is Kingdom Sideswipe! At first, he may look like a cleaner version of the Siege toy, but he's been retooled in a few areas here and there to make himself look closer to an Earth mode as well as match up with Sunstreaker from the Earthrise line. He comes included with a retooled version of the Airazor mold as Skywarp from Beast Wars II (Japan's version of the non-Fuzor/G1-turned-Beastie Silverbolt). The changes are appreciative, though it does feel kind of lacking as the figure has been done to death at this point.

And a Red Alert was not far behind, as the figure received a repaint for that character with a color scheme that deviates itself from the Siege version somewhat. At the very least, he should be easy to obtain at a Walgreens, though it's funny how he went from regular retail to having two kinds of store exclusives.

Even the Legacy line wanted to take advantage of the Siegeswipe mold with the Kingdom tooling with Clampdown being in the Velocitron Speedia 500 line. This guy is Kingdom Red Alert but with a police deco instead of a fire department deco, and he interestingly lacks the red biceps and thighs that Red Alert had, probably for the sake of making them easier to identify.

Another Walmart-exclusive repaint, this time for the Toxitron collection! This guy is based on yet another G2 repaint of the old toy, but now with the colors being based on a canceled repaint that gives him a sunset tampograph closer to resembling a vaporwave aesthetic in the form of a plastic toy. Sadly, no slowed-down version of Africa from Toto in sight...

And while not being based on a pre-existing Transformer, this mold was extensively retooled to become Gigawatt. This guy has been given all of the fan-wank you would need from the Back to the Future film series, from lightning rod to the opening doors, and from the generator to the wheels folding down. This guy, along with the likes of Ectotron and Maverick, comes from the Collaborative series. This guy looks a little fatter than Siege Sideswipe, but it works well for the most part.

For a robot mode incarnation, here is Siege Sideswipe next to his and Universe Deluxe, Masterpiece, and G1 forms! While Universe Sideswipe was a neat mold for his time, there were some aspects that made him feel dated in some ways. His chest goes down a lot more than it should, the arms look really skinny, the legs look like they're facing the wrong way, but the articulation was pretty good. Siege Sideswipe has a lot more in common with the MP and G1 versions, especially with the proportions of the MP figure and the more curved top of the roof.

For a Sideswipe comparison, here is Siegeswipe next to the Studio Series DOTM version of Sideswipe and Armada Side Swipe. It's almost like the height increases from left to right! Then again, Movie Sideswipe is supposed to be shorter than Siege Sideswipe due to him scaling with other Movie Transformers in robot mode properly while Side Swipe was bigger due to the budget for toy sizes being there back then.

It's interesting to see how much Sideswipe has changed from different iterations, but that's what I like about Transformers; seeing how different universes portray a specific character is up my alley when it comes to the massive world of robots in disguise! Even if there are some that are strange or don't feel like what they normally are, I'm super appreciative of the time when Transformers was not afraid of changing characters in other universes (despite purists saying that they were "bastardized") And it's great to have a Sideswipe that captures the more alien look of the Transformers while he shakes hands with a more classic Sideswipe. Though Armada Side Swipe can only hold L's.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐