 Deep Cover
Blue at Walmart, Black os a Shared Online Exclusive
Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Trilogy Walmart Exclusive Netflix Deluxe
Item No.: Asst. E9489 No. F0985
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Includes: Missile launcher, missile
Action Feature: Transforms from Robot to Car
Retail: $19.99
Availability: March 2021
Other: So much blue paint!
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I've never seen someone put so much work into something that should have a phoned-in color swap. Deep Cover just showed up at Walmart without fanfare (but with some rumors) in March, shortly after a black Deep Cover showed up online for pre-order with minimal fanfare. Why two? I have no idea - the black one is inspired by an e-Hobby toy which was inspired by a Diaclone deco, while the blue one is inspired by a generic Autobot on the Netflix Siege show. I think. It's not an exact match.
Deep Cover is a redeco of Sideswipe - also Netflix Sideswipe, G2 Sideswipe, the other Deep Cover, and Tigertrack. He also shares tooling and/or engineering with Gigawatt, Red Alert, and the Netflix Red Alert. For those counting, this blue car is the 9th colorway of this mold, which puts its reuse up there with the Siege Starscream mold as well as the Earthrise mold and its retools. And it's really cool - and a colorway we've never had of a normal-sized Sideswipe. (Although there is a tiny G2 GoBots toy that's close.)
It's rare we get two toys from the same mold with the same name that are the inverse of one another's color layouts - especially at the same time. Blue Deep Cover is doubly weird in that the blue parts of the figure are grey plastic completely covered in a rich blue that just looks fantastic. It costs more to do it this way - so why did Hasbro spend the money on so much paint? The back of the box may have a clue - you can see exposed grey elements under the blue coat of paint. The final toy has none of these, so in the long run it would've been cheaper just to put the toy out in blue plastic. I assume the wezpons are unpainted because the body took up the budget - but curiously, the wheels' caps are painted silver.
Given that nearly every Siege Starscream redeco had the exact same "damage" pattern, I'm amazed Hasbro did a new one here - the shins are printed on with tiny silver dots, giving a distinctive weathering pattern. When the toy history books are written, I assume people will take Walmart's War for Cybertron line as a case study in how Hasbro tried nearly every one of the many kinds of painted battle damage - most of which are on this figure. You've got dots, silver scuffs, even black mildewy splotches - it's a greatest hits of... greatest hits.
There's no backstory on the package and no characterization for the toy, so you can use him as a generic, or as your Deep Cover, or as some alternate universe Deep Cover... you've got a lot of choices here. I just like having a blue Autobot car, so I don't need a lot of excuses to enjoy this.
The car still looks great - Hasbro did some wonderful work giving it a wholly original paint job when just plain blue would do! There are unique, odd silver scrapes in the windshield that continue on the hood. The front bumper also has unique silver "chipping" as well as some black spots. What really surprised me was the Autobot symbol - if viewed at certain angles, you can see silver chipping on top of it. It's not obvious, since some of the silver chipping is on silver parts of the face - but oh, it's there.
Every blue element is covered in paint, which I assume cost Hasbro a few extra pennies per figure. It looks good - primer-colored plastic with paint on it could be an excellent direction to go in the future, particularly for customizers that may want to wipe, scrape, or otherwise remove the paint to do their very own customized "damaged" figure. Hasbro didn't stop there, they even painted the headlights silver and the tail lights red. For a redeco that could have swapped red (or yellow) to blue and walked away, the deco artist at Hasbro behind this should be commended for actually putting significant effort into making this a unique colorway with its very own specific intricacies.
"Blue Sideswipe" is interesting enough for me to want it. Sure, you've got another Deep Cover. Yeah, you're drowning in Sideswipes. But I like it - and you may want to get it in a store while you still can.
--Adam Pawlus
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