| 02.01.2019 – Before there was Transformers in the early 1980s they were known as two products by Takara. They are Diaclone and Microchange range of different characters and colors before they became what they are popularly known today. Hasbro and Marvel collaborate in making the fiction behind these toys that would become the Transformers.
It’s the year 2019, Hasbro and Takara Tomy continue to make innovation with the Transformers brand now that the Prime Trilogy is done they move forward with sort of reboot with installing a brand new trilogy with War For Cybertron. The first series reveals Siege as its initial installment and the first wave was released in Philippine retail in the late December 2018 that includes Autobot Warrior Sideswipe! |
Sideswipe in the original cartoon was one of the Autobots aboard the ill-fated Ark when they left their home planet Cybertron along with his twin brother Sunstreaker. The Autobots are not a breed of warriors to have the ability to fly and Sideswipe is one of the few who have the ability since he has a jetpack. The character was popular for being a reckless hero with ability to change his fists into jack hammers which was seen in the series.
There have been very few iterations of the character from various series. Hasbro kept the use of his name to avoid losing it from the trademark. Growing up I’ve owned the origina pre-Transformers Sideswipe, the original Diaclone version that has a small driver in yellow that had magnetic feet. Although I never had a Sunstreaker, but I have what I have is the Police version of the mold that was now named Clampdown. This was even before Transformers being aired in the Philippines and I didn’t have the knowledge that these were from the Diaclone toyline by Takara.
Transformers were first aired in the Philippines on City 2 (this was the time the Philippine government sequestered ABS-CBN and renamed it to a different TV station call sign) Tuesday nights 7:30 PM and it was one of the rare times that an animated series was being shown on a mid-week at night. I rarely get to see the episode in 1985 but it became my favorite TV show that bounced around other TV networks.
|
|
Enter the War in Siege
Hasbro and Takara Tomy has been in long time collaboration in making toys namely related to the Transformers brand, but this might be the first time they are producing the toys for Siege without variation. This is also one of the firsts in a long time to see Deluxe Class figures now packaged in a window type box along that used to be carded.
This was probably the first Sideswipe figure based from Generations One that had a new figure since Transformers Universe 2.0 in 2009. The first wave of Universe had Sunstreaker, but an appropriate version of Sideswipe was released a year later so it’s been a long time to see another version not including the high-end Masterpiece version.
The box shape has sort of a wedge that feature an exquisite art work of Sideswipe charging to action and in the box it include only two accessories namely "W-10 Photo-Pulser Proton Launcher" and "W-5 Gyro Blaster" (combines to form the "RR Gyrofuse Axleswitch Hyper-Blaster"). Besides that it includes an instruction and details of the power range of Sidewipe’s weapons. It also shows the Battle Masters that are compatible to all of the figures for the COMBAT system.
Autobot Warrior from Cybertron
The latest iteration of Sideswipe takes a lot of inspiration from the original Diaclone figure as well as aesthetics from the cartoon and comic books. Sideswipe has been known for his alternate for the Lamborghini LPS 400, but in his most recent version from 2008 to avoid licensing lawsuit Hasbro modified the appearance to a mix of car designs based from different car brands.
This time around the card mode is base Cybertronian in origin, but basically it’s a concept car with large windows that doesn’t look alien. But in some aspects the first thing came to my mind it was from that 1980s movie “Black Moon Rising,” but I was so wrong about the comparison when I checked to see that car was way far from what I thought. Let’s just say Sideswipe turns into a concept car of unknown brand and it doesn’t feel like it’s from his home planet.
If comparing Sideswipe to the 2008 Universe version this one is a bit short just close enough that both Hasbro and Takara Tomy have to make all the figures to scale. Although I don’t have the other figures for comparison during the product shoot it’s worth noting this figure certainly stands out.
Skillful Hero to Vehicle and Back
This must be one of the articulated figures released for the Siege range that were sold out when it became available on mass retail along with Hound in the first wave. But Hound must be the running favorite most of those who picked that character. Having Sideswipe was the first choice as the character has been my first pre-Transformer toy as a child along with the aforementioned Clampdown.
The transformation is just easy steps to vehicle conversion just like how the original Sideswipe figure was you’ll get easy familiarity in the instruction manual. Its action poses that certainly a win for this figure that had it sold out. But the only quirk I wasn’t too impressed is the accessories that came with it. Sideswipe never had his white rifle instead he came with his non-firing missile launcher as two parts weapon. What used to be a red missile aka "W-5 Gyro Blaster" and the launcher is named as "W-10 Photo-Pulser Proton Launcher."
It’s hilarious when you see that both pieces have these cool sounding names, but the gimmick here is the fire blast effect that you can only get from the **Battle Masters (formerly Targetmasters) that are small robots or mechanical animals that turn into weapons. I acquired Blowpipe who happens to be a Decepticon that comes with the fire blast effect that works with the "W-10 Photo-Pulser Proton Launcher" just for this product shoot to show how the figure’s action pose enhances his weapon.
Ready War for Cyberton in Action
Entirely, Sideswipe is both nostalgic in design basing from previous incarnation of the character more beefed up with Hasbro and Takara Tomy pooling their resources producing one great product comes full circle to have this figure. Besides the lack of weapon accessories the other minor detail that most fans are bothered about this toy is the weathering effects. But most of these comments are for the other figures like Voyager Class Optimus Prime although Sideswipe may have the same ‘battle damaged’ weathering it still a good figure. The placements of these paint effects do not hinder the character’s aesthetics due to the way they applied it compared to his wave mates.
But overall this figure clearly stands out and takes its place as one of the best Sideswipe incarnations in the mainline since Universe 2.0 first debut what should have been that character. But both toy manufacturers certainly dipped into the pool of nostalgia that they can do better having this one and it’s about time they brought back this character in toy form the last one with WFC based from the videogame was not nostalgic enough knowing it was just a retool of an existing character compared to the Siege version here that definitely did justice.
** Battlemasters Each Sold Separately
No comments:
Post a Comment