Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The Deluxe version of Sideswipe (Transformers Movie 2 Deluxe Sideswipe) is a good toy and pretty popular. The Human Alliance Version of Bumblebee (Transformers Movie 2 Human Alliance - Bumblebee with Sam) is awesome! So a Human Alliance version of Sideswipe should be pretty sweet. Let's check it out.
For Kids:
The car, a Corvette concept, is still one of the coolest and sportiest cars in this line so getting a bigger version is great. There's lots more detail and the interior looks good for the mini-figure to sit in. I can see a kid having a great time with the car. The transformation, while not overly difficult, is dicey and a bit confusing and involves a lot of swinging hinges and levers. I see breakage as a real possibility without some care. Robot mode is hard to stand and under articulated but he does have a missile. I feel playability is impaired in robot mode and may frustrate a kid.
For Adults:
Again, car mode is great. The Corvette emblem is painted and there are some neat details like the break calipers being painted red. The car has working gull wing doors that look really cool when open. He has nice looking seats and steering wheel inside. Much more of the body is actually molded in silver so paint chipping won't be a big issue.
Transforming him isn't too difficult but it involves several hinges and levers and a couple of actions that aren't too explicit in the directions (such as unhooking the pins of the levers under the doors before you flip his chest down). Nothing on him really moves smoothly or looks as cool as it may could. I'd describe his transformation as clunky.
And one word for robot mode is "disappointing". That's not to say that he doesn't look like Sideswipe, but he is a little off, too thin in the middle, too bulky in back. While the Deluxe version suffered from "robot stuffed in a car" syndrome a little it's really bad here. The entire hood and roof (seriously, from the front bumper all the way to the back one) as well as the doors are all housed on his back. The only part of the car that actually turns into the robot is the back fenders that become his chest. He doesn't transform as much as emerge and that entire car on his back makes him top and back heavy and hard to stand and he can't take any dynamic poses. Also, instead of the doors becoming the swords (which would take some of that weight off his back) he has flimsy rubbery swords instead that are permanently attached.
The hydraulics in his waist region severely limit his leg movement and in fact one popped out when I tried to tilt the leg down at an obvious hinge - a hinge you may not want to use since the hydraulics don't have any give. Even the deluxe had some slots so they could move a bit and on this much more expensive version I'd have expected that and more. His legs slide out to make him taller but tend to slide back in as you try to pose him and because of all that weight up top.
Some pros? He does have a shoulder gun and missile launcher and a place for Sgt. Epps to sit. And they fixed his feet from the deluxe version so that they are at least flat on the ground. He has an action feature where you can spin the tires on his arms and cause his swords to spin. Otherwise this robot form is very weak. I hate to compare to Bumblebee again but, well, there's really no comparison.
Nice car, bad robot. And if I'd just wanted a nice car I'd have just purchased a car.
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