 Deep Cover
WFC-GS23 - Shared Online Exclusive
Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Trilogy Selects Deluxe
Item No.: No. F0482
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Includes: Missile launcher, missile, blaster rifle
Action Feature: Transforms from Car to Robot
Retail: $22.99
Availability: January 2021
Other: Diaclone Colorway of Sideswipe
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2021's Selects sub-line of Transformers had a Deep Cover that matched the old G1 e-Hobby release, while Walmart got an all-new deco in blue for some reason - released about a month and change apart. For a character that previously enjoyed a whopping zero releases in the USA, getting two different flavors the same year was something of a surprise.
Much like Tigertrack, this Deep Cover gets you Red Alert's blaster as well as all the Sideswipe gear. Why? I have no idea, but I'll take it. Deep Cover is colored rather similarly to the Amazon exclusive G2 Sideswipe, except the reds are now blues. And there are some police markings. Other than that? It's a very similar toy. It's excellent - but not essential.
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This is a very good mold - Hasbro must love it, as we've had 2 Red Sideswipes, 2 Red Alerts, Tigertrack, 2 Deep Covers, 1 black Sideswipe, and Gigawatt based on the same design all released in a short period. The robot is pretty sturdy and has a fun, simple transformation. The robot also sports 20 points of articulation and doesn't pop apart. It's kind of amazing to think that roughly 25 years ago fans were fawning over the then-excellent late-era Generation 2 and early Beast Wars toys as super-posable and amazing releases - which, honestly, they still are given they cost less and had a similar range of movement. But we've gone from 14 joints to over 20 as the new standard, but sadly lost all spring-loaded action features or squirting attacks or launching launchers in the process. Figures like Deep Cover can stand, sit, hold their guns, and generally look amazing at a perfectly reasonable retail price - but we've lost virtually every gimmick in the ongoing appeal to adult collectors, and that's a pity.
It's a perfect little collector figure with a police shield, painted lights, and marvelous blue, black, and white coloring. Despite being mostly black, it seems lively thanks to the white and blue plastic with a splash of red on the knees, which makes it different enough from Amazon's exclusive black Sideswipe that you ought to get this one too. Deep Cover has a unique silver stripe on the top of his blue head too, another fine detail that sets this figure apart from the eight (and counting) other toys to share the mold and engineering. Nearly everything is molded in color, which no doubt kept costs down and resulted in Hasbro tossing in an extra weapon. The weapons, I should add, are all painted - an unusual thing in this line.
Deep Cover also lacks any "battle damage" deco, which seems to be a running thing in Selects. Most of the toys are clean, while the retail line is a mixed selection of damaged and not, and Walmart's exclusive line features a significant quantity of some of the most ornate painted damage I've ever seen.
Transformation is a snap - you've done it before, you can do it again. I think this may well be my favorite conversion in the entire War for Cybertron line as everything is smooth - although folding the feet into the shins is a bit stiff on some of these guys. Everything else just plain works. I wish every toy were this smooth of a conversion.
The car is nice, but basically does what one expects - it's a black car with added police symbols. The windshield is clear so you can see the guts inside, giving you Earth-y police markings on a Cybertron mode sports car. I wish they would have waited to do this one with an Earth mode Sideswipe, but such is life. It's still a unique vehicle mode and given the endless treadmill of 1984 redesigns, it certainly breaks from tradition. It just leaves the door open for another Deep Cover when Hasbro decides to give someone else an exclusive, which they just don't do nearly enough these days.
I like this one a lot - the blue looks good, the red is great, the weapons are nice, and the added tampos set it apart from other releases. Is it amazing? Is it something you were missing in your life? No, but it's a nice car and a neat reuse of an existing mold that seems to be getting more repaints than any mold that isn't Starscream. I admire the Hasbro bean counters for exploiting it as much as possible, and I'd love to see what else they can give us from it - and I'm glad it's only $20-$25 rather than whatever a convention or club exclusive might have cost ten years ago.
--Adam Pawlus
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