(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Animated Rodimus Minor. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Animated Rodimus Minor here.)

    The Animated version of Sideswipe is a bit different than many people were probably expecting; as opposed to the young, overly eager soldier that he's usually portrayed as, this is like an "older" version of the same character. In addition, his color scheme is based heavily on G2 Sideswipe's, not the original's color scheme; this is likely to emphasize he's a different guy than your "typical" Sideswipe, and to keep him looking more unique from the mold's original use as the already-red Rodimus Minor. I have to say, G2 homage or not, I like the "new" color scheme applied to this particular mold; the amounts of black and white already go together nicely, but light pale green and (especially) the red really help to bring some nice color variety and uniqueness to the mold, while keeping it from looking too loud, either. All of the colors are just the right shade to achieve the maximum effect, and there's no large area that's bereft of paint apps. There's a nice "police badge" paint app on Sideswipe's chest, which fits with his police investigator role (and thw black/white color scheme also helps him in this respect, as well). The funky symbols on his car doors are Cybertronian for "S.S."-- the initials of his name on the original G2 toy-- but to make it look more visually appealing, the second "S" was flipped. All-in-all, it looks really nice, and emphasizes the "alien-ness" of Sideswipe's alt mode, considering in this continuity he's never been to Earth. About the only color choice I'm not fond of on Sideswipe is the clear plastic used for his windows, as it makes his robot head fairly obvious underneath said windows in vehicle mode.
    Sideswipe has the same head sculpt as Breakdown from the core box set-- it's a very nicely-done, crisply sculpted head that fits in well with the Animated aesthetic. More importantly, it fits Sideswipe's head design (in a rather broad sense) better than it did on Breakdown's, and the expression fits Sideswipe's personality better, as well.
    Animated Sideswipe is a great spin on a classic character that gives something new to his bio without straying too far from being an homage to the character in the first place. Great mold, great paint apps, a fantastic color scheme-- this guy's got it all. Not just my personal favorite of all the Botcon 2011 exclusives, but one of my favorite Botcon exclusives, period.

Review by Beastbot

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