Dave's Alternator Rant:

     2: Side Swipe - Dodge Viper SRT-10

     Yes, Side Swipe, not Sideswipe.  Trouble at the Trademark office again,
I presume.  
     WARNING: there has been at least one report of someone buying Side
Swipe, then putting a red 1:24 Viper convertible in and returning it.  So
check for the Autobot logo on the roof cover before buying.

CAPSULE

     Side Swipe: The vehicle mode is very nice, an accurate depiction of a
cool car.  Transformation is clever but generally not frustrating, which is
good.  The robot mode looks okay at first (despite shellformeryness), but has
several annoying flaws.  Recommended.  $19.76 at Wal-Mart.

RANT

     This won't be quite as detailed as Smokescreen, two three reasons: I
just finished an insanely detailed review of 20th Anniversary Prime, Side
Swipe lacks all those rally stickers to mess with, and I can piggyback some
stuff off the Smokescreen review where things are about the same
(http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Alt/Smokescreen). 

     Packaging: Essentially the same design as Smokescreen's, only with Side
Swipe portrayed instead of Smokescreen.  The art shows one robot mode, the
pictures show a slightly different one, always an...interesting sign (the art
looks more dynamic, the photo looks more G1-Sideswipe-y).  The Dodge Viper
logo is prominently displayed on several faces.  Smokescreen is the co-sell
on the bottom, rather than giving us a preview of the next one.  A "2" is in
the yellow corner tab on the front of the box.
     Interestingly, the back of the box repeats Smokescreen's claim of
adjustable seats...this is untrue.  Side Swipe's seats are not adjustable.
     Here's something I missed on Smokescreen, but it's there too.  The inner
tray isn't just random color swirls.  There's a faint reflection of the front
of the car at one end, of the back of the car at the other end, and a faint
image of the robot mode art behind the car.  After I removed the car, I also
noted a reflection of the right side of the car on the back panel.
     The instructions (single-sided, 11" (28cm) wide and 12" (31cm) tall) use
the photo version of the robot mode and have 18 steps.  I shall look at them
more closely after trying to transform the toy.  }->  (Turns out I only
needed 'em to get the shoulders right.)
     The toy is secured in the same manner as Smokescreen, between two
bubbles that are taped down, no twist-ties.  And unlike Smokescreen, no
plastic straps.

VEHICLE MODE

     This is a Dodge Viper SRT-10, which can be seen in good detail at
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/frame.mv?file=car.mv&num=114 (the semi-
seethrough diagram is nice).  The toy is almost completely "reality-
accurate", with the underside being the main difference, of course.  The
bucket seats rise up higher in reality than on the toy as well, but that
looks to be a modification made for the sake of making the transformation
work.  
     Side Swipe is bright red with black interior and little black patches
around the exhaust pipes (those swatches just ahead of each rear wheel are
the exhausts).  It's 7" (18cm) long, 3.4" (8.5cm) across at the wheels, and
the wheels themselves are 1.2" (2.9cm) in diameter.  At 1:24 scale, these
numbers scale up to 14 feet long, 6.8 feet wide, 27.4" in diameter.  The
official numbers for length and width are 14.6 feet and 6.5 feet (body only),
close enough.  
     Once again, despite theoretically being 1:24 scale, I can't fit figures
of that scale or even smaller into the seats.  Marvel's Mini-Mates can sit in
the passenger seat, but have to remove their feet to get into the driver's
seat.  I have an old, accessoryless 70s vintage Jawa figure that fits in the
driver's seat, although the steering wheel is mangled.

     Front: The headlights are clear colorless plastic over chrome, with "P"
lights below them made of frosted very pale ice blue clear plastic.  A white
Viper logo is at the center front, split by a transformation joint.  The hood
can be opened to reveal the engine, although opening OR closing it tends to
knock the engine out of place.  The underside of the hood is mostly black,
with the Viper logo molded into it.  The engine is all chromed, with red
chrome along the sides just as on the real thing.  The front wheels are
connected together internally so that they turn in unison, but the connection
is magnetic and won't break or snap off.  The tires are black rubber with the
logo "CYBERTRONIAN RADIAL" stamped in them.  As with Prime, the hubs have
stubby "paddles" that make the tires seem more solid.

     Sides: Behind the front wheels is a chromed "VIPER SRT-10" logo.  The
side view mirrors are chromed on the mirror surface this time (unlike
Smokescreen, who seems to have simply been missing a piece on the mirrors),
and they can be raised and lowered (part of transformation).  The doors open
about 35 degrees, and have black panels with silver paint on the inside.  As
mentioned earlier, the exhaust pipes come out just ahead of the rear wheels.
The rear wheels are independent of each other.

     Rear: The trunk does not open, nor does the cover for the convertible
top.  The cover is black with a 1cm high Autobot symbol at the center.  This
symbol is the sure way to quickly tell if your Side Swipe has been swapped
out with a regular scale Viper.  The rear lights are a combination of red
clear plastic on top and a sliver of ice blue clear plastic below.  The
driver's side of the bumper has "DODGE" in silver powder paint, and the right
side of the bumper has "VIPER".  There's a slim black oval (outline only)
over the license plate.  The license plate is white with a 2.5mm high Autobot
symbol in the middle and black latters "SIDE" and "SWP" flanking the symbol.

     Interior: Twin bucket seats that do not, contrary to the box's back,
adjust.  The interior is well-detailed and correctly colored, I'm
particularly impressed by the fact that the emergency brake is a separate
small rod and not just a raised ridge.  Silver paint picks out many details,
like the stick shift or speakers.  The steering wheel is rubber on an
adjustable shaft.  I think they made it rubber because they knew it was
probably gonna get smashed in transformation.  (Side note: I'm informed that
Binaltech Lambor has a more rigid plastic wheel.)

     Overall: Very sleek, holds together well, looks right and isn't garish.
I'm tempted to display it in this mode.

TRANSFORMATION

     Fairly simple, all things considered.  I really only had to look at the
instructions to be sure it was possible to rotate the doors from next to the
arms to behind the arms.  Putting the chest together is tricky, however,
involving a lot of panels that need to get just right...and you'd better fold
that steering wheel out of the way first!  The way the legs fold up like
boxes is particularly clever.  I'm told the instructions are inaccurate, but
I really haven't had to look at them much.  }->  Also, as mentioned earlier,
the box art shows an alternate and simpler way of positioning the doors,
although it's less appropriate for Side Swipe-as-Sideswipe.
     Warning for your first transform: carefully examine how the arms are
positioned under the trunk piece, since there's a LOT of folding involved in
getting them back in that position for vehicle mode.

ROBOT MODE

     About 7.25" (18.5cm) tall, although due to how his front grille pieces
hang off his feet, he has to stand with legs at least somewhat apart.  More
black is visible in this mode, notably the helmet, fists and boot-ftonts.
His arms are mostly gray, and his feet are gray with blue and black paint
bits.  The boots have silver and blue paint, and there's a sort of black wash
on techy bits on his upper chest.  The face is silver with medium blue eyes.
The engine unfolds into a G2-ish engineblock gun 2.1" (5.3cm) long and all
chrome.  Unlike Smokescreen's gun, there's no peg in the handle to giev a
tighter fit, everything relies on the finger joints being tight.
     
     Head: On a limited ball joint, the back and interior of the head is
actually red plastic, possibly because the red plastic is smoother or
otherwise better suited for joints than the black plastic (which might be
painted black in this case).

     Shoulders: Joined to the torso with a stiff swivel, and then there's
another swivel at 90 degrees to that to make for a universal joint.  In
proper transformation, the rear wheels are at the back of the shoulders.  In
art version, the wheels are on the outsides of the shoulders (which is more
G1-style).  It's possible to split the difference and get doors on the sides
of the arms like in the G1 version.  The doors are hung on a separate black
ring on the upper arm.

     Arms: Below the door connectors is an upper-arm swivel.  The black
elbows are double joints...one regular elbow direction, and then a
transformation joint that lets the forearm fold in towards the body.

     Hands: Black, connected at the wrist by a ball joint which can only
swivel along its long axis or fold inward for transformation.  The thumb is
fixed in position, the index finger is hinged separately and the remaining
three move as a group.  The hinges are fairly stiff, which is good, since
they have to be in order to keep the gun in place.  Side Swipe can't really
hold 20th Prime's Megatron gun...the grip fits in place with the hand all the
way open, but it can't really be held.

     Chest: The windshield and roof cover link together to form most of the
front of the torso, leaving the Autobot symbol in the middle of his chest.
Looks okay from the side, despite the inevitable gaps.

     Backpack: the trunk makes a big backpack, reminiscent of Sideswipe's
rocketpack, with molded minimissiles on the bits at the back of the
doorframe.  It can be raised up over his shoulders to deploy the launchers,
but doesn't look particularly good.

     Waist: Swivels well (correction: within the limits placed on it by the
windshield...I only really tested it during transformation).  The entire hood
hangs off this as a skirt.  Between this and the backpack, Side Swipe has
serious Shellformer issues.

     Hips: Gah.  Here's where the robot mode starts to fall apart (not
literally, I mean in an aesthetic sense).  The pelvis skirt pieces are rigid,
so the legs can only move forward and back about 10-15 degrees either
direction.  They can move out to the sides pretty much all the way for Van
Damme Splits, and the feet will support such a pose, but the lack of front-
back motion irks me.

     Thighs: There's a mid-thigh swivel which helps a little in overcoming
the lack of front-back hip motion.

     Knees: The other really bad place.  Simple hinges, but because of fender
kibble on the backs of the boots, the legs can only bend a little more than
20 degrees in the correct direction.  They can "chicken leg" it about 45
degrees (yes, I know those are actually chicken ankles).  The fact that his
knees bend more in the wrong direction than in the correct direction is
pretty bad.

     Feet: On ball joints at the ankles, with hinged heels.  The grille
pieces on the heels resemble winged boots, but also get in the way a little.

     Overall: Has kibble issues and the legs are disappointing in how the
joints are restricted by stuff that could probably have been gotten out of
the way a little better.

OVERALL TOY

     Great vehicle, good transformation, okay robot.  A bit of a let-down in
many small ways.

     Dave Van Domelen, just got a load of second wave Energon today, so the
review queue stretches on....