Sideways · 4:39pm Oct 14th, 2022

Greetings, folks! This is Mr. J!

This morning, I would like to talk about one of the most underrated Decepticons in the Transformers franchise. As the title shows, this guy is Sideways. The first time I was introduced to the character was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen back when it came out in 2009 in theaters. I didn't think too highly of him back then, but over the years, I grew to like him a lot. Not only does he have a really impressive robot form (that has some features of Barricade's robot mode) but also a sick-looking car. He truly has a sense of style and fashion!

Looking back at his movie counterpart, it really makes me sad he only had 40 seconds of screen time right before he was killed instantly by Sideswipe during the first 10 minutes of the film. I mean, he literally did nothing wrong except run from the Autobots; he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time when he and Demolisher were spotted in their vehicle forms. I feel like they went overboard in just hunting him down and killing him without a hint of mercy. They could have just interrogated him as to the whereabouts of his fellow comrades or see what he was planning to do in Shanghai. But nope, they see a Decepticon on sight, and they go to instant kill mode while he was running away! Bloodthirsty. much?

It gets even worse when you read the toy bios of Sideways and Demolisher from the "Revenge of the Fallen" 2009 toyline. The latter served as a protector for the community of smaller Decepticons he was building, including Sideways who was deemed as a coward due to always fleeing from a fight. True, both of them caused significant collateral damage while escaping from their enemies, but what other option did they have? Honestly, I felt sorry for them both.

Sideways may not be a physical powerhouse like most of his comrades, but he's very smart and knows how to make dire situations work in his favor. if he has to fight, he uses his spinning blades from his fists for self-defense. Nonetheless, he is a simple courier who often avoids the heat of battle; furthermore, he often allows bigger Decepticons to do the bulk of the fighting in that way he can avoid the ire of the Autobots and sneak away.

Here's what's even more interesting about him. If the theory is true, this is the same Sideways from the Unicron trilogy--primary the same guy from Armada and Cybertron. The one from the former animated series was a herald of Unicron and a dimension traveler. It seems to me he went from one dimension to another so he could cause as much as chaos as possible. Here's what this says in the TFwiki:

Some Sideways are known to possess dimension-hopping capabilities, and tracking which Sideways is responsible for what in whatever universe can be a tad confusing. Some of them have claimed to travel to other universes to slaughter and impersonate their native counterpart, or that Sideways are cloned from one another to fulfill their roles in multiple parallel events.

Huh, looks like he didn't think things thoroughly when he transported himself to Shanghai before he...you know what. I really wish we could see more of this guy; he seems so cool!

Lastly, it is amazing to me that this dude has 40 seconds of screen time, yet he has dozens of toys! Seriously, he has exactly four toy packages in pairs with some other toy or more and about four non-Transforming figures from the same toyline. Did Hasbro make that many toys of him as a way for kids to pity him for being so mercilessly killed off when he did absolutely nothing to warrant that? If that's the case, they did a job well done.

So yeah, that's all got for him. Good thing I ordered the Studio Series Sideways on eBay yesterday, so he should arrive by Monday. He will no longer have to...split…if you know what I mean.

Justice for Sideways!

#sidewaysdidnothingwrong

Report TheClownPrinceofCrime · 98 views · #Sideways #Transformers #Hasbro #Decepticons #Toys

Comments ( 4 )