(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 the original RID2015 1-step Sideswipe toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original RID2015 1-step Sideswipe here.)

    "Ninja" Sideswipe follows Night Ops Bumblebee's lead in essentially "reversing" his original colors. To keep things from being TOO similar to Night Ops 'Bee, though, instead of the main color being black it's a fairly light gray. Honestly black would've worked better for a "Ninja", but the red does actually work as a decent accent color against the gray. Of course, if you've been following my reviews for long at all, you'll know that I'm not a fan of light milky gray plastic, and this redeco certainly has quite a lot of it, particularly in car mode. In car mode the wheels are a fairly dark, dull red, while the red paint on his Japanese symbols near the rear and on the front hood are painted, along with a bit of black paint on the front window. It looks a bit plain, but honestly? Compared to the original version of this mold, it's not bad, given how lean Hasbro's paint budget was on the previous version. The red wheels also may not work on a realistic toy, but on a RID2015 toy I actually like it. In robot mode the gray is broken up considerably more, with light red paint on the arms, waist, and upper legs. The dull red plastic is on the spikes behind his head and some small connector pieces, while the blades coming out of his wrists are still a nice metallic bronze shade. In general where there's a good amount of red it makes for an okay scheme-- as long as the gray doesn't get too prevalent, as it is on the lower legs and chest. Then things get a bit too dull. The final paint apps for "Ninja" Sideswipe are light blue on the faux car headlights and eyes, and white on his face. (Oddly there is no blue on the ACTUAL car headlights.) I quite like how these accent colors work with the gray, and honestly I wish the blue had been used a bit more as it really would've looked good against the red and/or bronze.
    No mold changes have been made to Ninja Sideswipe.
    Despite Ninja Sideswipe having noticeably more paint apps than the original version of this mold, I think it's the worst color scheme this mold is in because of all that boring light milky gray plastic. Granted, if you like/don't mind light milky gray plastic, you may like this version more, as it IS a rather unique scheme, and particularly in robot mode the addition of all the red paint and some of the accent colors is well-done. But with all that gray, I just can't like it that much.
 

Review by Beastbot

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