Sideswipe's vehicle mode is a Dodge Viper convertible. As you'd expect from an Alternator, his vehicle mode is flawless, and very well-detailed. The various headlights and rear lights are all very realistic-looking, and use clear plastic, of course. The tires are chrome on the inside, with quality rubber on the outside. The rear-view mirrors are adjustable. You can open up the hood. And the seats are very well-detailed, as is the dashboard- there's even a miniature gear shift between both of the seats! The only problem I have with this mode- and it's a very minor one- is the Autobot symbol behind the seats. I mean, the entire idea of Alternators is that you could easily mistake their vehicle modes for "actual" model cars- the Autobot symbol sort of ruins that and points out too obviously that Sideswipe's a Transformer.
    Like many of the other Alternators, Sideswipe has a rather difficult transformation, especially when it comes to his arms. However, UNLIKE many of the other Alternators, his robot mode isn't too much to look at. It's rather awkward in its look, especially around the legs, where, because of the odd movement points, he's always stuck with his legs spread out. He's also got a ton of vehicle mode extras hanging off him, and most of them don't integrate into his robot mode at all. For example, the shell of the back half of the vehicle just hangs off his back; his car doors look very unsightly hanging behind his arms; and his car hood just sticks out from under his butt. The car grills behind his feet look weird, too. Not only that, but all these extras get in the way of movement to some extent, making them very frustrating indeed. And, although his movement in the head and arms is pretty good, the articulation below that is very hindered. The waist can't rotate bcause of all the pieces behind it; the legs can't move backwards at all at the hips (only from side to side); and they can barely move back-and-forth at the knees. Yet another downside to this toy is that, unlike practically all of the other Alternators, it really doesn't resemble its G1 counterpart much at all. Alternator Sidewsipe's got G1 Sideswipe's face, and his color scheme, but that's really about it. His robot mode look is entirely different, his vehicle mode is different, and it just doesn't make him as immediately recognizable as most of the other Alternators. Sideswipe does have some positive aspects in his robot mode, though. For one, his proportions (if you ignore all the vehicle extras) are pretty good, and I do like how the entire middle part of the vehicle mode collapses into such a small space on his lower chest. His engine-gun also looks really cool. But alas, it isn't enough to give this mode anything more than an "ehh...".
    Like all Alternators, Sideswipe's vehicle mode is very, very nice, but his robot mode suffers entirely too much from it. There's extras everywhere, and he has some odd articulation at points. Although he's still not a bad toy, he's my least recommended of all the Alternators (or at least of those I've seen as of this writing, 7/04).

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Review by Beastbot

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