Side Swipe (Armada)

The name or term "Sideswipe" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sideswipe (disambiguation).

Side Swipe is an Autobot from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

File:SideSwipeARMADA.jpg

Side Swipe is a green Autobot. He's willing and eager, and also kinda dumb. He doesn't think before he leaps, gets really emotionally attached to commanders right away, and basically just messes things up. Optimus thinks that somewhere in there is the makings of a fine future soldier. Where?!

Despite his childish nature, Side Swipe is apparently a capable codebreaker and does manage to make himself useful on a few occasions by deciphering Decepticon data.

His Mini-Con partner is Nightbeat, who actually encourages his behavior.

Japanese name: Stepper

Fiction

Armada cartoon continuity

Voice actor: Sam Vincent (US), Nobuyuki Kobushi (Japan), Andreas Borcherding (German)

One of Optimus Prime's elite!

My butt is on fire!

Having once been saved from a hanging rope trap by Blurr's marksmanship on Cybertron, he immediately traveled to Earth to join him upon finding out where he had gone. Blurr managed to pawn him off on Hot Shot, and the two went out for a little training.

Unfortunately, at the same time, Hot Shot's former protege Wheeljack arrived on Earth, intent on doing horrible things to Hot Shot. Side Swipe crossed paths with Wheeljack, immediately leapt to his new awesome commander's defense, and failed. He later tried this again, only this time Wheeljack captured him and chained him up somewhere in an abandoned oil refinery. The battle between Hot Shot and Wheeljack set the place ablaze, re-setting the scene where Wheeljack thought Hot Shot left him to die back on Cybertron centuries ago. Side Swipe blubbered a lot, thinking he was gonna die, but Hot Shot saved him. Back at the base, Side Swipe tried to give his commander a great big hug for saving his life. From then on, he called Hot Shot "Bro". Past, Part 1 Past, Part 2

Dreamwave Comics continuity

Sideswipe was part of Jetfire's Autobot unit, stationed at the Autobase on Cybertron. He was present when Hot Shot contacted Jetfire to ask for assistance in locating the missing Optimus Prime. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 Seeking to discover the cause of the multiple space bridge events opening at the Decepticon Command HQ, Jetfire led a team that included Side Swipe, Blurr, Rhinox, Overload and Dropshot into the heart of the enemy stronghold, only to find dead bodies and a ruined base. They soon discovered the perpetrator when a mysterious, sword-wielding creature attacked them. Sideswipe was almost cut down when he sought cover amongst the dead Decepticon bodies, but survived to participate in Jetfire's plan to blind the creature and destroy its outer shell. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4

3D Battle-Card Game

Sideswipe was one of Optimus Primal's many allies in a fight against Megatron's own army, in what might possibly have been an inter-universe battle. Energon Wars Expansion Set

Toys

Armada

I come back every year with a different name and a different shade of blue. The fandom hates me and I hate 'em right back!

• Side Swipe (also parsed Sideswipe) (Super-Con, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MC-10
  • Accessories: Pistol, knife

Side Swipe transforms into a Nissan Skyline R32 Coupe. He is packaged with Mini-Con Nightbeat, who can store in a flip-out section of the back end of Side Swipe's vehicle mode. Pressing down on the sigil plate in vehicle mode swings his car hood halves forward in a spring-loaded attack (or "dragster mode"). These hood parts end up on his arms in robot mode, giving him a spring-loaded attack in that mode. Attaching Nightbeat (or any other Mini-Con mold) to the Powerlinx plug on his back activates a "punching" action gimmick in his left arm.

Early releases of Side Swipe parsed his name as "Sideswipe" on the packaging and instructions; this was changed to Side Swipe on successive versions.

A slightly retooled version of this mold was used to make Universe Oil Slick and Treadshot, and a more heavily retooled version was used for Cybertron Runamuck.

Merchandise

3D Battle-Card Game

• Side Swipe (2007)

A 24-point "common" character in the 3D Battle-Card Game's "Energon Wars" expansion, Side Swipe "transforms" into a blue sports car of indeterminate make. He uses the same parts layout as "Classic" Bumblebee and Blackjack.

Trivia

• Aaron Archer, posting as "Orson", once gave signs that "Nightbeat" was actually meant to be Side Swipe's name and somehow had gotten swapped to his Mini-Con. He mentioned trying to get this corrected, but it never surfaced.

As if anyone wants another one of these.

• Even though the toy's name was originally spelled "Sideswipe" on the packaging and in the instructions, Hasbro had been parsing the name as "Side Swipe" on toys from previous lines after they had successfully reclaimed it from another company that had been holding the name in the "toys" field during the 1990s. A packaging variant for the toy released as part of the "Unicron Battles" refresh of the Armada line later saw the name changed to "Side Swipe".

• Pre-release copies of Side Swipe had a lightning deco on the sides of the vehicle mode which was not included on the final version sold in stores.

External links

• Side Swipe at TFU.info