Deluxe G2 Universe Sideswipe Wearing Your Favorite Bootleg OP T-Shirt
Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe Walmart Exclusive
Item No.: Asst. F7145 No. F7514 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:Blaster, launcher, rocket Action Feature:Transforms from car to robot Retail:$24.99 Availability: July 2023 Other: Based on an unreleased mid-1990s Generation 2 concept
I can sometimes tell how good a figure is by how much effort I'm willing to put in to get it - and I put in a lot of work to get Speedia Cosmos [FOTD #2,451], Netflix Bumblebee, and G2 Universe Sideswipe. (There's another one I haven't got around to reviewing yet somehow, but I'll work on that.) This one was packed one-per-box along with a G2 Dead End, and I spent a couple of weeks going to one (or four) Walmarts every night before closing trying to track them down before stumbling on this one on the pegs. The power of new old nostalgia is high - if you can make something I have known about and wanted for years, I will show up, wallet open, and put forth genuine effort to get it. If you put out a new version of a toy I bought recently, it's just not going to do it for me.
As of my writing this I have no idea if the Sideswipe/G2-themed exclusive wave is going to be a massive hit or a flop - but it's a pretty safe bet Sideswipe will do just fine, in part due to his bright yellow coloring really standing out from the green and purple splattered box. The figure is just a repaint - it's Red Alert's head on Kingdom Sideswipe's body, with a removable rocket that lacks a 5mm peg. I'd recommend this one because it looks awesome.
This figure is a delight. Nevermind the fact you may have as many as 15 figures that use this tooling, it's a good one. The robot figure looks like Sideswipe, and they nailed the "Ocean Pacific t-shirt" pattern on the chest and doors. It has a bright red G2 Autobot symbol on his arms, but lacks the garish "AUTOBOT" verbiage some of the real G2 toys got. Can't win 'em all. He's mostly molded in color - the fists, head, shoulders, shins, and a little bit more are a bright blue plastic that reacts nicely to black light. The thighs and forearms are a familiar-looking and hopefully not prone to photodegradation plastic. The rocket is painted, the blaster and launcher are molded in a different dark blue - and that is spectacular. Unlike some other toys, that means there's a lot less paint to scrape off.
I've heard concerns about the gradient paint on Laser Cycle scraping off but haven't experienced it myself. I'd advise you to be careful with him, as you don't want any paint to chip or rub off. Sideswipe stands, sits, and looks just like the original, unused 1990s concept down to the blue face and light eyes. It's worth noting that the box art shows Sideswipe with a gray face - I'm glad Hasbro opted to keep it true to the original concept.
If you have any flavor of the Siege Sideswipe mold, you know what to expect - but having the slightly-retooled rocket and the blaster were nice flourishes. I'd say grab it if you can. Even if you already have Tigertrack.
You've probably transformed a lot of figures like this one, and he's exactly the same. Chest folds up, arms fold in, waist rotates and legs open to collapse upon themselves. Easy stuff, it works well, and Hasbro should keep giving themselves a pat on the back for it.
The car is great - and nothing outside of expectations. The blisteringly bright yellow looks amazing, and there's a nice painted fade in the back. The doors have the awesome sunset on it, which looks wonderful - but it has the weird blue blocks of unpaintable plastic on there still, which is pretty rotten given how many times they've done this mold. At least it's mostly true to the original design, plus you get nice places to plug in the accessories. The most important thing is that it stands out from the stripes or solid colors we usually get on our car paint. One might ask why Hasbro would want a custom-painted image on the side of the car, but at this point, why not? Custom vans were a whole trend in the 1970s, and incorporating that on toys makes for a more exciting design than just doing plain colors over and over again. Maybe there's more to be done here. Until then, at least we got this one.
This feels like a figure made especially for me - and I hope it sells well. It's bright and cheery, gleefully retro, and ticks the "we had a good idea we never followed through on" box easily. Thanks to there being years of pent-up interest in this one, I hope it sells - but it's still relatively obscure. Most people will probably know the design from this toy, rather than his appearances in an artbook as a prototype, but we'll take what we can get. If I were you I'd buy it on sight simply because it seems unlikely we'll see something like this again. They never did it for Masterpiece Edition, after all. Sure, it's not the first modern G2 Sideswipe. Or first yellow Sideswipe. But at least it's distinctive.
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