Battle Charger Sideswipe, in fitting with the Battle Charger look, has a very "chubbified" vehicle mode to help him look (and be) more kid-friendly. I have to admit though that the chubbified proportions of the Chevy Centennial Corvette don't look as hot as a chubbified Bumblebee or summat. It's just already an incredibly dynamic, sleek car that it doesn't look that great all scrunched up like this. However, all the necessary mold details (and pretty much no more) are present to make him look like a kiddy version of the Centennial Corvette. Oddly, the tires are the most detailed, with some really nice bolt detailing om the rims, given the target audience. This version of Sideswipe is lacking the sweet metallic silver of the deluxe version, sadly, which makes him look rather boring in comparison. Light milky gray does not an attractive color scheme make, though at least the painted headlights, taillights, and windows help to breka it up a little bit. The blue used for the windows is a particularly nice shade-- I wish they'd use it more often on mainline toys.
    As with other Battle Chargers, Sideswipe's gimmick has to do with pulling the toy back and letting it go-- it'll travel forward for a while, and if it bumps into a wall (or if you just press in on the front bumper), the upper part of the car will rotate around, revealing the upper half of the robot in question. No electronics though. The robot "mode" (i.e., the robot sticking out of the top of the car mode) is detailed fairly well-- I'm surprised that even the little head Cyberglyph is on there. In the interest of kid-friendliness, though, the head and hands are bigger proportionally. The blades are large without being overly sharp, and his chest details look particularly good curved like they are. I don't like how his face is detailed, though-- the eyes and mouth just look "off" somehow even considering the bigger proportions. As far as articulation goes, like other Battle Chargers, due to the transformation Sideswipe can move his lower arms in a little and his head down a little, but they immediately spring back to their default position once you let go, sadly.
    Battle Charger Sideswipe is a fairly boring Battle Charger, having just light gray plastic making up the majority of his color scheme (though that's broken up adequately enough on his robot mode bits, along with some silver paint apps). The dynamic curves of the Centennial Corvette are also rather ruined by the chubby proportions of the vehicle. If you have a kid who's too young for even a Fast Action Battler he might be worth it, but otherwise it's an easy skip, even for completists.

Review by Beastbot

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