Sideswipe, and his brother Sunstreaker, are both toys in the 1984 Transformers toyline that were taken from the Diaclone toy line. Diaclone contains two Countach toys a New Countach-LP500S and a Countach Super Tuning. So no room for confusion there, Henimore ? (to make matters worse both have colour variants and a police car version: The Countach Police Car and the Countach Super Tuning Police Type).
Sideswipe takes the New Countach and uses it's red paint scheme for the Transformers release: there's also a Yellow Diaclone Countach which was on general release and a Black Diaclone Countach found only in the Powered Convoy dlx giftset. The car is a reasonably accurate version of the Countach, something that would be lost in later years of the Transformers toyline. It's possible to lift the roof up to access the driver's compartment within where it was intended for the inch high Diaclone man to sit.
Transformation: pull the rear of the car back and stand with the underside facing you. Fold the feet down. Pull the doors out to the sides to form the arms. Fold the bonnet forward 90 degrees to form the chest. Fold the roof back, fold the head up and fold the roof forward again. Peg the gun into ome hand and the missile launcher onto one shoulder.
Sideswipe's robot mode introduces some different colours of plastic. The front of the lower legs, waist, hands, missile launcher and beautifully sculpted head and made from black plastic, while the upper legs, body (under the car's bonnet), missiles & gun are white. His feet, forearms and a ring on the missile launcher are chromed. He's got no articulation bellow the waist, but his head can look up & down, his arms turn at the shoulders and the elbows bend.
It's not often I talk about Tech specs but have a look at Sideswipe's:
"Sideswipe is nearly the equal of his twin brother, Sunstreaker, in the combat arts, but less cold blooded. Relishes a fight to the finish with an opponent. Uses underhanded tactics when absolutely necessary. Arms act as powerful pile drivers. Flies for up to 2 minutes with rocket backpack. Fires flares visible for 18 miles. Rash actions often lead to injuries to himself. Takes them all in stride."
Hmm, I can't really see the pile drivers in his arms. The missiles could be (or the gun could fire) the flares, and the roof of the car could be the rocket backpack. You do after all have to use your imagination playing with toys! But take a look at the expanded version in Marvel's Transformers Universe, which i believe was written first and then shrunk down to form the tech spec:
"Abilities: In Autobot mode, Sideswipe's two arms can be used as piledrivers. Each exerts 8000 pounds of force upon impact with up to five impacts per second, making him particularly useful in close combat and for breaking through fortifications. A rocket back-pack can sustain him in the air for two minute spurts before refueling is necessary. When launched, two shoulder-mounted magnesium phosphorous flares can each be seen from a distance of 18 miles on a clear night."
*TWO* shoulder mounted flares? I count three missiles but really he's only got one launcher. Something is a little up here.
I like Sideswipe. He's a red robot and a red Sportscar both of which are a good thing. He's got decent arm articulation for a 1984 Transformer robot and really his only let down - on the western version at least - is a somewhat neutered weapons launcher. Before the arrival of the Cartoon & Comic in the UK I would have said that Sideswipe was the most popular Autobot car, he featured in the Argos catalogue in the early days of the line so he was substantially easier to find here. And don't forget that the 1984 Autobot cars in the UK wasn't the 11 generally listed as 1984 vehicles. The launch wave in the UK was Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Hound, Jazz, Mirage and Ratchet as shown on the 1984 catalogues. Given this Sideswipe appears to have played a minimal role in both cartoon and comics, possibly due to the presence of many other red robots including Ironhide, Cliffjumper Inferno and Optimus Prime.
Sideswipe was released in Japan in 1985 where he was Transformers release 04 and renamed Lambor.
Sideswipe has led an active life as a re-issue returning first as 1991's European Classics Sideswipe then as part of the "Set A" of similar mould reissues with Red Alert at the Japanese World Character Convention 12 in 2001, followed by the E-Hobby New Year version I talk about bellow. He was 2003's Transformers Collection #07 where his eyes were painted blue and finally (for now) he was part of 2004's Commemorative series VII
Sideswipe has also been shown a fair ammount of love with new versions over the years having an Action Master in 1991, though you can argue that the Micromaster Lamboghinis Freewheeler and more especially his Japanese repaint Deadwheeler are meant to be Sideswipe. There's a GoBot Sideswipe which looks little like the original: why didn't they call GoBot Firecracker or his more solid repaint GoBot Optimus Prime Sideswipe and paint the head black ? Car Robots Mach Alert/Robots in Disguise Prowl gets repainted as both Sideswipe and his brother Sunstreaker for the Official Transformers Collectors Club Convention in 2003 - this is the first time Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are the same toy mould. There's an Alternator Sideswipe in 2004 which is eventually repainted into Alternators Sunstreaker in 2006. Botcon 2008 Sideswipe doesn't have the colours of the original Sideswipe but does have something very similar to both his car and robot modes. Why hasn't it's base toy Armada Wheeljack ever had a red & black repaint as Sideswipe ? Finally in 2008 Universe Sideswipe appeared shortly after Universe Sunstreaker which he's slightly remoulded from though the intention appears to have been for Sideswipe to be the original and to have Sunstreaker as a straight repaint until someone figured out how to get two robot modes from the same toy. And don't forget that Sideswipe's transformation forms the basis of the Transformation used by the Spychangers!
Time to look at Sideswipe's brother....
Sunstreaker is the western release of the Diaclone Countach Super Tuning toy and as benefits the name he appears in a bright yellow colourscheme. When I first met Sideswipe I was made aware he had a brother but could I find him in the UK? No. Sunstreaker shipped over here in a second subset of the 1984 Minibots including Ironhide, Prowl, Trailbreaker and Wheeljack.
The two Countach toys look, barring the obvious red & yellow colour differences, fairly similar. The main changes going to the Super Tuning version used for Sunstreaker is the addition of a pair of chromed air intakes on the back of the car plus a different chromed pivoting rear spoiler. As I've said before Sunstreaker is yellow but if you look on the rear of each side of the car you'll see there's a black plastic panel with a red sticker over the top of it - this stands out a mile from the toy. The roof on Sunstreaker lifts up allowing access for a Diaclone man to drive him.
The transformation really highlights the difference between these two toys: pull the front of the car forward and separate in two to form the legs. Fold the bonnet halves up 90 degrees to form feet and stand. Fold down the black panel under the car (now the robot's back), fold the the arms out from under the car and swing with the rear side panels out to the sides. Fold the back panel back up and straighten the arms alongside the car. Fold the air intakes and spoiler back 90 degrees and in the process open the car's roof on the robot's chest and swing the driver's seat into it. Close the chest then fold back the air intakes to reveal the head. Place each fist into the wrist and peg the stubby yellow missiles into the top of each shoulder.
Sunstreaker's robot mode reveals lots more black plastic on the arms, front of the legs and head the last of which has another fantastic sculpt with a silver face and yellow slatted panels on either side of the head. The fists and the small rockets on the shoulders are made from yellow plastic. Remember the panel with the red sticker I talked about? That's now the shoulder and looks just as out of place here making me wonder why they didn't make that piece from the same plastic as the small missiles and fists. The fists themselves are missiles with each forearm containing a missile launcher. You can fire either the fists, the small yellow missiles or some longer chromed missiles from each forearm. Articulation is minimal: bending elbows and shoulders that fold back.
As we did for Sideswipe, lets have a look at Sunstreaker Tech Spec:
"The complete egotist, Sunstreaker thinks he is the most beautiful thing on Earth. Loves his sleek styling, contemptuous of other Autobot race cars (particularly his twin Sideswipe). Fires laser-guided ground-to-air rockets and high energy electron pulses at 300 bursts/sec. Tough polymer-steel skin resists artillery. Not a team player. Can be baited into dangerous situations, but is a very calm, competent, and ruthless war machine."
The expanded abilities section from Transformers Universe makes things a little clearer:
"Abilities: In Autobot mode, Sunstreaker wears a right shoulder-mounted, laser-guided, ground-to-air missile launcher. Each missile is the equivalent of 450 lbs. of TNT and can down a Decepticon jet fighter at a maximum distance of 37.5 miles. He also carries an electron-pulse gun capable of emitting at 300 bursts per second a beam of highly energized electrons (the high rate of emission makes it effectively a continuous stream of electrons). A sustained burst of 1.5 seconds will burn a 3 inch hole in a .5 inch-thick plate of titanium-alloy steel. His upper torso construction incorporates a tough polymer-steel skin, making him particularly resistant to artillery fire."
Well a little yellow missiles sit on Sunstreaker's right shoulder but there's another on his left. And he doesn't carry a gun. Sideswipe on the other hand does have a single missile launcher that could be mounted on his right shoulder and does have a gun. Whereas Sideswipe's two shoulder mounted flares are a decent description of the small yellow missiles and the pile drivers sound quite like the chromed missiles that can replace the fists. Then there's the black panel that forms the shoulder on both the Diaclone Countach Super Tuning and Countach Super Tuning Police Type the sticker on it matches the colour of the car's body work.
Here's what I think happened. Hasbro looked at the two Diaclone Countach toys. They said "We'll take the red version of the Countach Super Tuning and the yellow version of the New Countach-LP500S from the existing Diaclone range". Denny O'Neil, Jim Shooter & Bob Budiansky create the profiles which are cut down to form the tech specs. Apropriate sticker sheets are ordered. Then at some point there was a muck-up at the factory and they confused the two Countach toys and put the wrong colour on each one resulting in a red New Countach-LP500S and a new yellow version of the Countach Super Tuning - the original Diaclone version only being available in red. When the toys came back to Hasbro they decided to swap the names round because, as I point out earlier, the name Sunstreaker implies a yellow vehicle. The tech specs moved with the names and we end up with the tech specs for each car describing a different toy mould.
I like Sunstreaker. The missile firing arms, a favorite feature of the Diaclone designers, appeal to me :-).
Sunstreaker was released in the US in 1984 and in the UK in late 84/early 85. He didn't have a single packed Japanese release but was instead released in VSZ with Skids and Buzzsaw two other toys that didn't get an individual Japanese release.
Sunstreaker's one re-release is in 1990's classics line and he hasn't been seen in his original toy form since though, as we saw above, he's started to make a comeback in recent years as a repaint of new versions of his brother Sideswipe. Swapping the red for black on Micromaster Freewheeler would give us a reasonable Sunstreaker.
Sunstreaker is yet to be reissued in Japan, and since it's been ten years since the first reissue I'd say he's long overdue his turn. Of the Diaclone toys only Sunstreaker, Mirage and Wheeljack are yet to have a reissue at time of writing (July 2010). If they were re-releasing Sunstreaker I'd include an additional sticker sheet to allow for the option of giving him yellow shoulders. There are two instant E-Hobby repaints available in the Original Red Countach Super Tuning and the Countach Super Tuning Police Type. Of all the Diaclone toys the Countach Super Tuning Police Type is the one I'd like to own the most. Two other possible versions of Sunstreaker spring to mind: a white one without the Police labels and lightbar and a black stealth version.
It's important to note that the head and hands on Red Alert remain black as per Sideswipe. The red head is an invention of the cartoon which featured Red Alert a lot more than the comic did - I always wanted to see Red Alert and the similarly neglected Inferno team up! Red Alert eventually appears in the future in the Marvel UK comic circa issue 195-200. Someone's going to tell me he's in Space Pirates now.... EDIT: Apparently he's in The Enemy Within! I never knew that.
Red Alert was sold in Japan in 1985 as Transfomer 05 Alert. He was reissued as part of the "Set A" of similar mould reissues with Sideswipe at the Japanese World Character Convention 12 in 2001. His New Year release in 2002 followed - see bellow for details - before being part of Hasbro's TRU Exclusive Commemorative Series IV in 2003. He's not been seen since but has had a new Henkei & Universe version remoulded from Universe Sideswipe & Universe Sunstreaker. Red Alert & Bluestreak are the only two Autobot cars to be reissued in US and not to have a general re-release in Japan: Bluestreak has E-Hobby anime & silver chromed versions while Red Alert was the aforementioned convention & E-Hobby Exclusive.
G2 Sideswipe comes with his original gun in white and a new pale green missile launcher with a pale blue missile, modified from GI Joe Snow Serpent version 2's missile launcher. An additional hole is added to the top of Sideswipe's car mode to allow the missile launcher to be mounted there. The same missile launcher is packed with G2 Jazz where the launcher is pale blue & the missile pale green and with G2 Onslaught where the launcher is purple and the missile is green.
The G2 colour scheme has recently made a comeback as Botcon G2 Sideswipe a repaint of Universe Sideswipe.
"Just got my Mega SCF (Super Collection Figures) Convoys in the mail - as well as my New Year Red Alert & Sideswipe.
Which I've finally cracked and opened. Sideswipe's sitting beside me now, Red Alert's sitting in my room watching Beast Machines Series 2 Episode 2 on Fox Kids waiting for me to find a file to shave the stuff off the top and tail of his missile.
There's 2 main differences I can see with these toys - one is obvious, the brand new file card artwork you can see through the box. The other is an Extra set of stickers in each box
Now I need a re-issue Sunstreaker to go with them...."
Still waiting......
A nice toy showing what might have been. When Sunstreaker gets re-released and E-Hobby do the red version then watch the value of this piece sky rocket.
I'm starting to think it's impossible to paint this toy badly!
This holds the edge for me over red alert, I like the simplicity of the white & black on the car mode, and wouldn't mind seeing an unadorned version with the red swapped for white but with the original white remaining.
