Sideswipe's Chevrolet
Corvette Stingray convertible mode is remarkably accurate for a Legion-class
figure all around. Granted, this is fairly typical for a toy with a licensed
vehicle alt mode, but the proportions are fairly spot-on in this mode.
There's an obvious hinge in between the two seats, and the middle section
of the rear end of the vehicle mode is "missing" due to the transformation,
but other than that I have no complaints in that respect. The color scheme,
unfortunately, is what really dooms this mode into being really boring--
as is often the case on these smaller toys of him, Sideswipe's plastic
is almost entirely a very blah light milky gray that's used on far too
many TFs these days. A silver paint-- or at least a semi-metallic-looking
kind of plastic-- would've looked much better. Nearly all of his paint
apps-- such as the gunmetal gray seats and the dark metallic silver windows--
are merely various shades of the color gray, and combined with his only
other major plastic color being black, makes Sideswipe very monochromatic
indeed. Even a few red or blue paint apps on his taillights and/or headlights
would've helped tremendously, but no such luck.
Sideswipe's robot mode
proportions aren't the best, with some sacrifices clearly made to get him
a decent convertible alt mode. His chest is far too wide in comparison
to his head, for one. Plus, the way the chest is angled-- and the way his
rear spoiler folds up behind his back-- makes it looks like he has a hunchback.
His arms are merely molded onto the interior of his car door pieces, but
admittedly this is expected at this small scale. I would've liked some
of the gunmetal gray paint apps on the blade details to help them stand
out more, though. His legs are generally the best part of this mode, being
roughly proportional and accurate to the movie while still keeping him
stable (due to small fold-out heels behind the wheel-feet). They have rather
obvious car seats on the back of the upper legs, but then again so does
the larger deluxe toy. As for articulation,
he can move at the shoulders (at two points), hips, and a bit forward (but
not backward) at the ankles-- roughly average for a Legion-class toy.
DotM Legion Sideswipe
is-- like his larger deluxe toy-- a step down from the similar-sized
mold released for him in the previous movie toyline. It seems that
in order to make him a convertible in alt mode, they had to sacrifice a
bit too much in robot mode for my liking. His color scheme is also extremely
boring. That said, his vehicle mode is very well-done for the scale, and
even in his substantially weaker robot mode his legs and head are well-sculpted.
Review by Beastbot