Magna Missile Sideways' vehicle mode has no robot mode extra whatsoever, but its proportions are one of the most "squished" out of any of the Fast Action Battlers. It's more than half as wide as it is long! For a REALLY small-kiddy line like, say, Gravity Bots, I wouldn't have a problem with, but most of the FABs have fairly realistic proportions, and it seems kinda pointless to make Sideways look so "Playskool-ish" in vehicle mode given the look of most of the rest of line... as well as his own face design, for one! The mold detailing is a tad on the sparse side, given both the fact that he's a sleek sportscar and that he's in a line aimed at younger children-- though the rear engine detailing is quite nice. The color scheme isn't exactly the most exciting-- being mostly dull gray and black-- but he looks a lot more dynamic here than on the mainline toy, due to the sleeker, more movie-accurate paint job where the black stripe comes back from his front grill to sweep over his roof. (It also helps to break up the gray more, as well.) The dark blue really works well with the dark color scheme as well, and all the necessary paint apps-- such as the headlights and taillights-- are here, too.
    Sideways' robot mode certainly suffers a little from "simplification syndrome" due to the line's nature, but all things considered it's still quite alright. His legs are overly stiff-looking due to them being made out of just the sides of the car mode with no elbow movement, and the legs are a bit short, making his stature a bit gorilla-ish. At least his feet are actually large enough to keep him stable though, unlike the other Sideways molds, and I do like that despite the transformation simpliciation they still gave him the movie-accurate ability to put up those pieces of his windshield over his shoulders like insect wings. There's a few minor vehicle mode "kibble" parts like the roof panel behind his back and the rear bumper shells on his lower legs, but generally stay out of the way so I don't mind them too much. The mold detailing on his robot parts is GREAT, with tons of great, evil-looking detailing on his arms and head, in particular (which is why it clashes so much with his chunky vehicle mode). Like most Fast Action Battlers, Sideways doesn't exactly have great articulation-- he can move at the shoulders, waist, hips, and his knees, though his knees are quite restricted and can't move backwards much. As for his gimmick, he can fire a rotating "sawblade" wheel out of his right arm if you slide back a lever, which is pretty cool.
    Magna Missile Sideways is one of the better Fast Action Battlers from Revenge of the Fallen, and is actually BETTER than his mainline deluxe toy in some ways, such as having larger feet, a cool gimmick, and a movie-accurate paint job in car mode. Overly stiff arms, bad articulation and a chunky vehicle mode are his only problems that I would consider not "necessary" given the FAB line's nature.

Review by Beastbot

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