Man, Sideswipe's spoiler doesn't like to be photographed.
I kid, mostly. We got our G2 Breakdown last year, so it’s nice to have the first BotCon exclusive of Breakdown which isn’t in his G2 colors, as much as I love my cyan and magenta. It’s just… his regular colors are kinda boring. I never dug the off-white. And the BotCon exclusives are basically the only reason I know Breakdown exists, so I have no nostalgia for it. Honestly, out of all five of the Animated Stunticons in the box set, Animated Breakdown is probably my least favorite.
…which is made up by Animated Sideswipe being so awesome. Sideswipe was one of the at-show souvenir add-ons, bundled with Toxitron. Unlike Breakdown, Sideswipe IS in his G2 colors, which are his G1 colors (red and black) reversed. The original G2 Sideswipe toy had a green launcher and a few green stickers, and the Animated version ramps up the green to beautiful effect. It’s really a great combination, the bright green and the black and the red and the white. It’s not a color combination we get much.
I'm serious. I basically had to repaint it brighter green in Photoshop.
Why is Animated Sideswipe in G2 colors? I imagine it’s ‘cuz that mold’s already been in red as Rodimus. (It’s already been in black as Black Rodimus, but not a lot of people have that, and it’s pretty different anyway.) Plus, well, G2 Sideswipe colors are just objectively better than G1 Sideswipe colors anyway. There, I said it! I’ve never owned a G1 Sideswipe, since I picked up a G2 Sideswipe in my late teens and never saw a reason to pick up any of the G1 reissues as they’ve been paraded out in the past decade, ‘cuz, well, why? I already had the better version! Sideswipe didn’t really do anything until the Marvel G2 comic anyway.
Another nice thing about this pair is the head. It strikes a great compromise between both of their head designs. Breakdown’s head looks like Breakdown’s (animation model) and Sideswipe’s head looks like Sideswipe’s. It’s amazing what a little hedging and color differences can do. And they both kind of deserve the dour expression on their face, what with Breakdown being an unhappy nervous wreck and Sideswipe being a bitter ol’ cop.
My camera keeps wanting to make the green into this olive drab color.
(Neil Ross did a great voice for him at BotCon 2011′s script reading.)
Plus, you know me and mold reuse. Reuse a mold once, and I shrug. Reuse it a dozen times and suddenly I’m compelled to own all of them. That collector mentality kicks in. It’s why I own 30 Dinobots. And if you think I’m happy with my four Animated Rodimus reuses, wait ’til we get to my Animated Cybertronian Ratchet reuses.
They really did a fantastic job making the same heads seem different with a little paint. Particularly Ironfist and the Autotroopers.
Next year: Animated Rodimus in blue as Animated Side Burn. (Though they might wait longer for that…)
I’ve always wondered from the photos – does Animated Sideswipe have a mustache, or is that his open mouth painted black as opposed to the gritted teeth on the Breakdown mold? Somehow, it seems more like a mustache fits the character better…
It’s an open mouth, but it does look incredibly mustache.
Have to agree that Sideswipe looks better in G2 colors.
Makes me upset that he was the custom class figure last year when a LOT of people wanted one.
Can’t wait to get my TFA Sideswipe though
Yep, also had the G2 sideswipe. He was *sniffle* my very first transforming transformer, and I loved him dearly. Man, I wish Hasbro could put out a sideswipe in the G2 colors again as a mass market figure. (some of us be po’)
I guess if Hasbro really wanted to give me a toy boner they could put out movie side swipe (dotm mold) in those colors. imagine his mechtech weapon being bright green!
Ya know I’ve noticed a lot of hard lighting in your photos. That’s usually caused by not enough diffusion between your lights and the side of your light cube. Try moving the lights further away. If it’s too dark leave them there and tweak your camera’s ISO from auto to 100, 200, 400, and see if that works.