When it comes to early G1 Transformers, Sideswipe has always been the jock of the bunch. He benefits from a highly desirable alt-mode, those Lamborghini lines bleeding into his alt mode and making him handsome even in his 1984 toy incarnation.
I initially decided to pass on the DX9's attempt at a Masterpiece Sideswipe, principally because I spent a fortune acquiring Takara's cartoon coloured official release. There's no doubt that the promotional shots made DX9's effort looked more svelte and cartoon accurate, but I have limited exposure to the company's prior releases and wasn't sure the quality would live up to my expectations.
After all, there are times in this hobby when you feel genuinely spoiled - the Fanstoys Margh (Ultra Magnus) is a prime example - build, paint and tolerances are nigh on perfect, it's a genuine work of art and far surpasses any of its rivals for shelf presence and engineering in my estimation. So much so that even Takara's MPG Ginrai (Powermaster Optimus Prime) felt cheap by comparison, and that's a great toy in its own right (as I state in my UK Anime Network review). I fully expect Fanstoys to get around to Sideswipe one day, but for £64.99 I felt it was probably worth a punt. And boy, does DX9 exceed expectations for the price point!
Aside from the mismatched red around the roof/windscreen, Lambo mode is nigh on perfect.
In car mode, the windows are a translucent blue to ape the cartoon colours, which extends to the lights on the hood. Pop-up lights are available and you have rubber tyres, which is an appreciated rarity in modern figures. It sits well on the ground, rolls well and has only a few panel lines that betray the transformative nature of the figure. Compared to Takara's Sideswipe, it looks far better from the side, though the bonnet isn't as smooth since it has to compact for robot mode. Overall it's an excellent rendition of a Lamborghini Countach and holds up against it's official rival.
Transformation is relatively straightforward, with everything moving into place with minimum clearance issues. There are no instructions in the box (there's a QR code for a video) but I found the review by FC Finch to be an excellent tutorial and the best video to take you through the figure. There were a couple of fiddly areas, namely plugging in the backpack, which can be fiddly, and slotting the chest into place, which is a pain in the ass frankly and much easier if you use a tool to apply the correct pressure, as fingers just weren't cutting it. I found the pegs on the leg covers to be a little loose for my tastes too, a far cry from the very firm snap-in you get elsewhere. Overall though, not bad at all.
Thanks to Fanstoys it's easy to forget that official MP figures are light and plastic-y, which is why so much of my MP collection is third party. DX9 adds a touch of die-cast in the toes to add a little of that weight we fans enjoy so much, but otherwise it's mostly plastic, spare a few elements of the skeleton. The compressed chest makes all the difference here, it's a far more pleasing look to the ultra-wide (but traditional) Sideswipe figures of other lines, and makes the bot look very athletic. Compared to the Takara effort he's a slam dunk. The torso is far more solid overall, with the shoulders locking the arms in at the shoulders. In contrast Takara opted for hanging them off some folded panels a little too far back to look natural and not really connected to the body. The trunks are much bigger, which suits the character model, with the legs looking far slimmer as they integrate the car kibble more elegantly than the Masterpiece. In fairness MP12 was released in 2012 and engineering has moved on a great deal in 13 years.
The paint is fantastic, a luscious cherry-apple red with piano gloss black on the body, and a nice flat matte black on the head. You'll note that the arms are a different white to the legs, which at first seems like a mistake since most Sideswipe toys are crisply white in the forearms and thighs, but a bit of googling tells me that this was a stylistic choice to match the animation. The things you learn eh? Interestingly, the official MP also has the off-white biceps, but goes white on the forearms which looks a bit sloppy to my eye.
Yes, the arms are in fact meant to be off-white on the animation model.
In terms of the other details, the head-sculpt is a nice change from the squinty eyes of MP12, the cuts in the legs and arms give it a slightly modernised look and the red square in the centre of the chest is just begging for an Autobot symbol to complete the classic aesthetic. Leaving the die-cast toes unpainted is a bold choice, and I think I would have preferred them with a lick of paint, but they don't look bad by any means - your own aesthetic tastes may vary however.
For accessories DX9 has added all the character hallmarks - you have his painted shoulder cannon, which slides on to a peg on the left shoulder and has lots of greebly details, though I have to be honest, I think the Takara one is better simply due to the larger barrel opening which has grooves running down the inside. It's very subtle but it looks fantastic. The rifle has lots of detail, but perhaps more than needed since it doesn't match the toon or toy guns very accurately - again, Takara did a better job of modernising the firearm.
If I have one complaint regarding DX9, it's the hands. Don't get me wrong, the hands on most Transformers are crap, but these spade-like digits are really poor. For a start, the thumb is useless. It's on a ball joint and can move to sit alongside the palm flat, or down to sort of grip things, but you can barely wrap it around the gun handle so just looks really odd if you can't wrangle it. All the fingers have two joints, but all four are connected (so no pointing) and the fingers are the same length, making them look like aforementioned spades. I mean KFC were selling articulated hand upgrades for MP's over 10 years ago with more motion than this, they're just such a letdown for posing that it's really frustrating - you have an athletic looking bot but he can't express himself properly. Ugh.
There's no doubt DX9 have created a sleeker, more cartoon accurate Sideswipe. But with KFC hands attached, the MP can point.
This brings us on to pose-ability, and he has all the basics covered - arms have a ball jointed shoulder, bicep swivel and double-jointed elbows. You have a wrist swivel for the hands. The head is on a ball joint with limited up/down movement, you get a waist swivel, 90-degree ab-crunch, full leg movement at the front, back and sides with a thigh swivel, knee bend and ankle rocker. Basically he'll do most of what you want and look good doing it.
Overall there's no doubt that this looks and moves far batter than its MP counterpart. Sure, it doesn't have some of the nice touches the MP does, like the details around the abs, lines cut into the forearms or the more pleasing weapons, but it has the same price-tag as a 2012 Sideswipe while beating it at almost every level. This is a phenomenal achievement by DX9, bringing quality and value to customers while modernising a toy we all know is probably off Takara's remake list for good. Maybe Fanstoys will beat it, but the price will be at least double and I doubt it will improve much on what DX9 are offering.
They do look good together - Red Storm with MP Sunstreaker
Taking all of this into account, I can certainly recommend Red Storm. It's a cartoon accurate figure at a very generous price, with terrific proportions, loads of character and superb attention to detail. He's usurped even the expensive toon-colour Takara figure on my shelf, and if you were in any doubt, I suggest you check it out as soon as you can.
I purchased this figure from Kapow Toys - at time of writing he's still available.
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