LOST Cybertronian wrote:I saw this figure at Wal-Mart the other day and I passed in favor of Hailstorm. I figured they had just given him the Cannon Bumblebee treatment, then I saw a video review and realized it was closer to the Battle Blades Bumblebee treatment with a whole new mold. I decided to go back to Wal-Mart and luckily he was still hanging on the pegs. He stands up so much better and is more easy to pose. He doesn't have the arm blades but they gave him sweet pistols for him to duel wield. He also has an epic head reveal. I don't mind the red paint and if you don't either than I suggest you get this figure. He is the best sideswipe.
I second this recommendation. The weird thing about this paint job is that it looks so much better in hand than in photos or reviews. I was bothered by the silver grill at first, thinking it would have looked better in red with the flames, but in person it works and I cannot explain why. It simply just works.
I also was not a fan of the red windows at first. I did not like them on Nest Sideswipe, thinking they make him look evil. I like my first release Sideswipe a lot more than I thought I would (though I waited until deluxe Dead End came out to get him thinking I wanted Swerve instead), especially when I started fiddling with it. But red does not work with that mold (as a bot, con is fine to me). It does with this one.
I really love the transformation of the torso on Sidearm. I think the way his red window ends up on top of his chest looks amazing. My only major gripe with the new transformation is that I cannot lift his doors up like wings for an areal movie-type shot.
My other gripes are: 1) the tail lights are not painted; 2) the hood pieces that folds around his forearms are a bit loose and can move the wrong way too easily because his arms are so short; 3) his feet spurs are not clear plastic.
I was bothered by his unpainted rims, but in person I'm glad they are straight black because I think there is already enough silver on him. In pictures and video the rims looked like they needed to be painted and the flames looked terrible. I'm amazed how much different he looks in hand. I might take a silver sharpie to his rims, but more than likely I'll wait to see if Reprolabels makes a sticker sheet to correct some of the paint issues.
To me, I now call sword Swipe Metalhawk, and Sidearm Phoenix. I came up with this because of the shape of the head, the metallic finish on the first along with the blades, and the red flame on the second.
On a side note, looking at the feet there is no question in my mind that the proper transformation is to rotate the feet 180 so the wheels are on the inside. The only problem is he does not stand as well this way, but he looks great!
Edit: I need to be smarter with my phrasing and look up names more often so I don't keep misspelling them. 
Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 3:09 pm
