Transformers Movie 2 Deluxe Sideways
Transformers Movie 2 Deluxe Sideways Reviews
Sideways is a new face we will see in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) in a couple of days. According to the package he’s a wimpy decepticon courier who likes to befriend larger robots to protect him. I wonder how that will play out in the movie.
For kids:
Eh, I think you’d do better to pick up Sideswipe kid. But if you need someone for him to knock around….
For Adults:
As much as I liked Sideswipe I had high hopes for Sideways but he doesn’t quite live up. In car mode he is an Audi – well an approximation anyway- and while he looks nice he does have some flaws. One is that the panels of his vehicle mode don’t hang together as solidly as many other transformers making him feel a bit more fragile than I like. This lends itself to another issue in that there are many clunky cut lines – even more so than Sideswipe. In particular there is an “H” shaped hinge right in the roof that sticks out like a sore thumb. They sculpted the rear window to imitate the engine you can normally see in there on this type of car but they didn’t paint it so it adds noting to the vehicle and only makes the window look funky. Last and worst is that his robot body rather clumsily fits into the car and if you set him on a flat surface his wheels don’t actually touch the ground. That’s right – this is a car that doesn’t roll.
His transformation starts off strong. With the push of a button his front wheels snap up and his chest piece snaps down. After that it’s all the standard unhooking of panels and bending of legs and arms. I’ll say this – it’s not nearly as smooth as many other transformations and of all the ROTF toys I’ve tried seems the most rushed together. He seems much more like a robot stuffed into a car than a car that turns into a robot and therefore much of the car is left hanging on his back. I believe the term is “kibble” in the transformer community.
In robot mode he looks OK but not great. He has tiny feet and skinny legs but with a light touch he’ll stand fine. His arms are pretty poseable and have some moving bits inside when you bend them at the elbow which I assume is his “mech-alive” feature. If so it’s a bit weak. His hand blade is touted as a feature on the box but is just a spinning wheel. I was excited to see that he had wheels on his hands at first and was expecting some unique transformation where a wheel splits and becomes part of the hands but was disappointed. The wheel on the hands is a separate piece and the actual wheels fold away. I understand this type of thing sometimes but it still felt like a cheat. He has an odd color scheme with a bright red midsection. And his head kind of flips up and sits on his chest on a plate and so doesn’t feel as integrated a part of his body as normal. Overall he doesn’t look horrible but not the nicest looking robot in the line.
I think 2 ½ stars is fair and since I’m a nice guy I’ll round up to 3. Overall pretty average to slightly below.
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