Sideways (Armada)

This article is about faction-swapper from several continuities. For the live-action Decepticon, see Sideways (ROTF).

Sideways is an Autobot, a Decepticon, and an agent of Unicron in the Robots in Disguise continuity, the Unicron Trilogy continuity family, and the Robot Masters portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. Phew.

Goofy ominous nutball hardass.

Sideways is the consummate con-artist. He is misleading and deceitful in everything he does, portraying himself as the ninja-like warrior or the aloof drifter, and he lives for the look of shock and betrayal on his victims' faces when they realize he's played them for fools. When the displaced population of Planet X allied themselves with Unicron to avenge themselves on Gigantion, this treacherous nature made him the perfect robot to pull off the ultimate act of treason — an attempt to sow confusion between Autobot and Decepticon to prevent them from uniting to oppose his dark master.

Though Sideways appears to be a robot of average size and strength, he is nigh-invincible when he calls upon the powers of his master, Unicron. Using the mysterious trans-phase mode, he can take any form he chooses, and "heal" even the most grievous damage at will. Often, he'll eschew a body entirely, choosing to speak through monitors or as a vision in the sky. When it comes to physical forms, there is one constant, however. Whether Sideways appears as one of several Transformer-like bodies, a jungle of tentacles, or a cloud of weird particles, he always chooses to shroud his face behind a mask or visor or Mini-Con, preferring to keep himself mysterious and anonymous.

If Sideways has a weakness, it's that no one's sure where he ends and Unicron begins. Is he more than a puppet, or has the consummate con-artist been conned by the Dark God he serves?

Japanese name: Doubleface (Armada and Robot Masters), Noisemaze (Cybertron)

Polish name: Krętacz (Armada)

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

Voice Actors: Paul Dobson (English); Takahiro Yamada, Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Ekkehardt Belle (German)

Hey kids, want some candy?

Sideways first appeared as a beam of light from the sky striking a large Earth city near the Autobot base. An enigmatic warrior, he appeared to side with the Autobots, helping Hot Shot by watching his back during a confrontation with Scavenger. When asked to reveal himself, he transformed, his rider quickly splitting and becoming a helmet that covered his entire head. He claimed to be Sideways, a drifter who just wandered into the conflict. While he gave the human kids Billy and Fred rides in cycle mode to keep them entertained, Hot Shot and Red Alert as well as Rad and Alexis were suspicious of the motorcycle's motives, especially his close attention to the Mini-Cons. Gale

Surprise, the mysterious ninja is evil!

In the following battle, Megatron faced Sideways and Hot Shot alone, and managed to force the Mini-Con panel Sideways had (apparently) found out of his grasp. As the Decepticon leader began to warp away, both Autobots grabbed onto Megatron and all three were teleported to the Moon. To Hot Shot and Megatron's surprise, the Mini-Con panel was a fake, made to convince Megatron to retreat so that Hot Shot, spurred on by Sideways' encouragement, could defeat the Decepticons once and for all. Though both robots fought well alongside each other, with Sideways' expressing concern over Hot Shot's well-being, he eventually betrayed the young Autobot, by striking a deal with Megatron. He would pretend to be Megatron's hostage and in exchange, no matter what, Hot Shot would turn over the Star Saber sword. At first, Hot Shot did follow through, but reneged at the last moment by calling the Mini-Cons back to him. Sideways suddenly attacked Hot Shot, knocking the Star Saber out of his hands and kicking it to Starscream. He switched Mini-Con heads, revealing his allegiance to the Decepticons. Hot Shot was savagely beaten by the Decepticons, who stopped short of destroying him on the advice of Scavenger, who teleported the young 'bot back to the Autobot base. Once Sideways' loyalty to the Decepticons seemed to be confirmed, he began manipulating them and playing them against each other to suit his mysterious goals. Credulous

My Autobot counterpart is nearby...

One of these goals was the replacement of Megatron as Decepticon leader after a series of significant losses. Sideways sowed the seeds of rebellion within the Decepticon ranks, subtly turning Starscream against Megatron and convincing Megatron of Starscream's imminent treachery. The situation came to a head when the two Decepticons fought outside their base, but Sideways then realized Megatron would never execute Starscream for his insubordination, exposing an ever-constant weakness within the Decepticon command structure. After the battle, Sideways mused that this weakness would come back to haunt Megatron one day, and would be his ruin. Fortunately though, this incident somehow served to solidify the Decepticons as a unit, giving them much greater morale and cohesiveness, and achieving Sideways' aims of giving neither faction in the conflict a clear advantage. Rebellion

You don't want to taste Sideways' rainbow.

Shortly thereafter, Sideways tried to hack the Autobot base computer, only to encounter the children attempting to destroy the equipment to stop Sideways. He transported them to a digital universe, where they saw the coming of two new combatants. He tried to threaten them into handing over the Street Action Mini-Con Team, before the kids realized that as this wasn't real, he could not harm them. Sideways then apologized to an unseen master, shortly before the children escaped the digital universe, chased by an unknown entity. Chase

The Decepticons began to distrust Sideways, suspecting he was not what he seemed, and realized he was manipulating everybody in the unit. Caught out by Thrust and the other Decepticons while communicating with his unseen master, Sideways panicked and attempted to escape, but not before he was confronted by Megatron and sliced in half with the Star Saber sword. Sideways simply reformed each time, reconnecting his parts and absorbing laser blasts from the other Decepticons. Megatron, in fury and disgust, hacked Sideways to pieces and he was seemingly destroyed... or so they thought. Sideways had entered trans-phase mode, rising in the form of a twisted nanite creature before the Decepticons' eyes, declaring that the Star Saber sword and Skyboom shield were merely toys to him, as he was near-invincible. He said there were millions of Mini-Cons left to be found, and challenged Megatron to see who would find them first, before flying off to parts unknown. Detection

Sideways may be dead, but he lives on in reruns.

While most of the Autobots were on Earth fighting the monstrous new Decepticon recruit, Tidal Wave, Sideways made an appearance inside the Autobots' base... on a monitor! He told Red Alert and Alexis about the Requiem Blaster, and how the Autobots must find the three Mini-Cons that form it before the Decepticons do. Neither of them trusted Sideways, but the knew Sideways was right. If the Decepticons did find the Requiem Blaster first, it could spell doom for the Autobots and the galaxy. Awakening Once the Autobots had acquired the Requiem Blaster, Sideways appeared once again on the Autobots' monitors, laughing. He showed them that he'd disabled their defenses. Sure enough, the Decepticons infiltrated the Autobot base, took the Requiem Blaster, and nearly killed Smokescreen in the process. Sacrifice

Later, Sideways appeared to the Decepticon tactician, Thrust, and told him that the Requiem Blaster would be even more powerful if used in conjunction with the other two Mini-Con weapons, the sword and the shield. Mars Thrust talked with Sideways again in a secret, ominous meeting. They planned to get the Mini-Con weapons away from the Autobots. Crack Thanks to Starscream's confusion on where his loyalties lay, he was able to steal the other two weapons from the Autobots, giving the Decepticons all three weapons. Thrust was hard at work on a secret project for Megatron, one that would harness the energy of all three weapons, and Sideways congratulated the tactician on his growing duplicity. When the three weapons were combined to power the starship Hydra Cannon, Megatron used it to blow up a nearby comet while Sideways laughed from afar, on Earth's moon. Threaten

Both the Autobots and Decepticons were en route to Cybertron when a few of each faction were warped to a strange planet where they fought a dark copy of Optimus Prime called Nemesis Prime. When Optimus Prime and Megatron combined their firepower against it, Nemesis Prime was destroyed, and as the copy dissipated, Sideways appeared momentarily. Nemesis Prime had merely been Sideways' puppet. Puppet

He controls the horizontal, but not the vertical. The vertical is for saps.

When both sides had arrived on Cybertron, a black hole opened up over the planet. It started becoming apparent to some that Unicron was arriving. An apparition of Sideways appeared over the Autobots, and the Mini-Cons attacked it. After telling the Mini-Cons to get lost, Sideways again disappeared. Sideways returned to swear vengeance against the Mini-Cons when they tried to stop the black hole's effects. Uprising Eventually, Thrust became suspicious that his partnership with Sideways and Unicron might be found out, so he panicked and stole the Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield. Thrust ran deep underground where he met up with Sideways, but he was tailed by Starscream. Starscream declined Sideways' obligatory offer to join Unicron, and the two fought.

Armada basically lines up the cast one by one so Sideways can call them an idiot.

Sideways assaulted Starscream with strange tendrils and amoeba-like organisms, and he and Thrust were able to leave with the two weapons. Now inside the moon in Cybertron's orbit, Sideways placed the Mini-Con weapons into its core, revealing that the moon was Unicron lying dormant all along. Portent The last of the three Mini-Con weapons was dropped by Starscream when he sacrificed himself to Unicron to prove to Galvatron (a transformed Megatron) that Autobot and Decepticon must join forces to destroy Unicron. Sideways formed over what was left of Starscream and grabbed the sword, making an easy getaway. Cramp

With all three weapons in place within Unicron's core, Sideways' master was able to shed the rest of his moon disguise and show his real form. Sideways and his patsy Thrust celebrated their inevitable victory over time and space. Alliance Thrust was told by Sideways to leave, as his work for now Unicron was now done. Thrust was confused, thinking he would be Unicron's right-hand man, but Sideways got angry, and ordered him to leave immediately. Thrust, dejected, left for the surface, where he later was crushed to death within Unicron's creases during the battle. Union

"I'm going to start elongating all my 's' sounds, Optimusssss."

Optimus and Megatron managed to reach the glowing core deep within Unicron's body. Before their eyes, the core budded, recreating the body of Sideways. Unicron spoke through this Sideways body, announcing that Sideways had always been an extension of Unicron himself, and that Sideways had intentionally stoked the flames of the Autobot/Decepticon war so that Unicron could be fueled by their mutual hatred. He took special delight in mocking Optimus Prime for claiming to fight a war for peace, a seeming contradiction. The truth, according to Unicron/Sideways, was that Optimus Prime loved to battle; Prime refused to admit this. Unicron/Sideways wrapped Prime and Megatron in tendrils, drained Megatron of his energy, and offered Prime the opportunity to merge with him.

Ouchies.

Then the children and their Mini-Cons arrived, and they pleaded with him to stop, but Unicron/Sideways was able to claim them as their own; the Mini-Cons were Unicron's creation, after all. But inside a dreamworld created by Unicron, the children were able to call out to the Mini-Cons. They reactivated and told Unicron/Sideways that they believed in peace, and would fight for it if necessary. Their combined might was able to help Prime break free of his tendrils, and he fired a shot right through Sideways using the Requiem Blaster. As what was left of Sideways faded, he claimed he'd have his revenge... Origin

It is slightly unclear whether Unicron was somehow possessing his body for that period of time, or if Sideways had been an extension of Unicron all along instead of a separate individual. In "Credulous", before Sideways's Mini-Con head connects with his body after colliding with Megatron, an odd voice spoke, sounding like it came from a being of lesser intelligence emanated from the motorcycle body's own head, before the Mini-Con head took over. The mysterious line not being in the Japanese version of the episode and the shaky nature of the Armada dub in general only further obscures the issue.

Cybertron cartoon

Voice Actors: Ted Cole (English), Susumu Chiba (Japanese)

File:Deep-Sideways.jpg

He's been up there waiting the whole time!

Sideways was preserved by Unicron's dark power after his defeat by the Requiem Blaster. Ask Vector Prime Twenty years later, he appeared again during the Transformers' search for the Cyber Planet Keys. After the disappearance of Atlantis, he observed from the top of a rocky cliff and wondered how he could best manipulate both factions to his own advantage. It wouldn't be long until they were all his puppets! Deep He offered his services to the Autobots, but as soon as he'd helped them corner Starscream, Sideways switched to a Decepticon symbol, fired on the Autobots, and promptly left. Starscream and the others were left wondering exactly what that was all about. Ship

Honestly guys, I'm an Autobot! You don't remember me at all!

Later, Sideways spoke to Megatron through a portal window, telling him that Optimus Prime could be found on Jungle Planet. Savage Sideways stood back and observed as Megatron fumed after his defeat at the hands of Optimus Prime on Jungle planet. Noting that the locals were itching for another fight with Prime, Sideways sought out Leobreaker in the woods, pleading for help to save a friend who was buried under a rockslide. Leobreaker rallied the other Autobots on Jungle Planet and marched them into a canyon to save this imaginary friend, while Sideways laughed from above. He had also sent a fake message from Optimus Prime to Scourge, and so the Decepticons were also converging on that point. Megatron suspected the message was fake, but kept quiet. The two factions met in battle as Sideways planned, while he mused from above that no matter who loses, he wins! But he was spotted, and Leobreaker angrily threw him to the ground for lying to him. Sideways desperately explained that he was a "secret agent" for the Autobots, digging for "inside information." Optimus Prime wasn't convinced, but when their interrogation was interrupted by a communication from Landmine, Sideways transformed and escaped. Sand

Sideways traveled with Megatron and the other Decepticons to Velocitron to apprehend the Speed Planet Cyber Planet Key. Here, Leobreaker and Sideways clashed again. When Megatron lost the Cyber Planet Key to Override, he, Sideways, and the other Decepticons fled. Champion Meanwhile, as Optimus Prime prepared to battle Scourge for the Jungle Planet Cyber Planet Key, Sideways and Starscream plotted. Honor As Scourge trained for the coming battle, Sideways and Starscream bet on the winner. At Sideways's suggestion, Starscream interfered with the Autobots' ability to get to the battle, thus causing Scourge's faith in Prime as an honorable opponent to waver. Honor

That's right, the undercarriage of Sideways's altmode shows you the inside of his split-open ass.

Starscream was growing tired of Megatron's attitude towards him, and Sideways wondered if Starscream was going to doublecross his leader. When Megatron and his troops headed out from his dimension to find another Cyber Planet Key, Starscream instead chose to head to Earth. Sideways, curious, followed Starscream there, to the Arctic, where the wayward Decepticon demanded the Autobot Crosswise give him Earth's Cyber Planet Key. When Sideways realized that Starscream had sent Megatron the wrong direction and intended to take Earth's Key for himself, he decided to stay back and watch Starscream's fight with Crosswise, out of harm's way. ...at least, until Crosswise looked like he was going to lose, when Sideways happily lept into action to kick him while he was down. Crosswise drove away, and Sideways shadowed him. Trap Sideways followed Crosswise all the way to his hidden hideout, where his leader Evac was waiting. When Sideways was discovered, he once again fled. Invasion

Starscream, meanwhile, had recruited countless emprisoned Decepticons he had freed at Earth's arctic region, and so Sideways stood at his side while Starscream marched his army across the face of the Earth. They converged on the location of the Autobot base, where they found the Autobots retreating via a Space Bridge. Starscream and Sideways engaged them in battle, but Sideways was quickly knocked away by the Autobots' firepower. Retreat Starscream succeeded in grabbing the Autobots' collected Cyber Planet Keys and the Omega Lock, and returned to his underground volcanic lair, where Sideways and Thunderblast were waiting. Critical The Autobots weren't far behind, and a clash between them and Starscream's army was inevitable. Sideways called them forth, ordering them to rise up and destroy their enemies, while he and Starscream watched the battlefield through a portal; Starscream was slowly absorbing the power of his stolen goods, and wasn't quite ready yet. The Autobots and Megatron managed to break into

the volcano base, but Sideways had prepared a series of explosive boobytraps. Assault

Hey, Sideways, your shield has huge gaps in it.

Despite this, the Autobots were able to get through them, where they came face to face with Sideways. Asking him what side he was on today, Sideways

replied that he was on his own, but today he was betting on Starscream. The Autobots fought him, but he able to warp around them at will, and none were able to land a punch. Ultimately, Vector Prime placed his Mini-Con, Safeguard on Sideways's back, and Optimus Prime was able to use that to detect where Sideways would appear next. After several blasts, Sideways was once again able to flee, this time because of the arrival of Scourge. He returned to Starscream's side, where the wayward Decepticon was nearly finished absorbing the Omega Lock's power. When Starscream said he wouldn't run to face Megatron, but wait for Megatron to come and be picked off at his leisure, Sideways realized there was nothing more he could do there and left, teleporting away. Starscream Once the tremendous battle was over, and Starscream (despite having grown to a large size) had fallen over defeated, Sideways reappeared. Noting that Starscream could still be useful to him, he warped Starscream's humongous body away. United Starscream woke up inside the Atlantis, with Sideways standing over him. Sideways explained that during the time Starscream had been out, Megatron had been defeated and Primus had awoken. The two traveled to Cybertron and found it transformed into Primus, but lying dormant; Sideways snarked that some clever guy had stolen all his power. He and Starscream tried to fight their way through the Autobots to the Omega Lock, but failed. Later, Sideways warped behind the Autobots' human friends, nabbed their three Mini-Con pals, and warped away. Angry, the children jumped into the portal window he left behind. Balance

WOULD YOU LIKE TO? WOULD YOU LIKE TO?

Sideways attached Jolt to some equipment in order to search his memories for data pertaining to location of Gigantion, where the last Cyber Planet Key would be found. But all Sideways could extract was useless data that would take forever to examine, so he tried to watch some television to pass the time. No luck - they were jamming their own communications, so he couldn't watch Galactic Guardians or anything, so he turned on his stereo and began moving to the music. Starscream yelled at him for goofing off. Embarrassed, Sideways ran off to do repairs. Indeed, the memory download was taking too long, so Sideways decided it would be much quicker if they just hacked open Jolt's head, took what they wanted, and deleted the rest. The operation was interrupted by the children, and so Sideways left to deal with them. After a few slapstick adventures, including a faked hologram of Megatron telling Sideways to jump on one foot and call himself a "pretty lady," the children were able to escape with Sideways's key to the cell he was keeping the other two Mini-Cons in. Though those two were rescued, Sideways finally caught up with them, laughing maniacally and with evil intent. Memory

Dreamwave comics continuity

I'm such a secret shill for Unicron that you only ever see me once! Well, twice.

Always evasive about where his true loyalties lie, Sideways has been seen on battlefields the galaxy over, but not always on the same side. He has manipulated both factions like a game of cosmic chess, and choosing his words carefully. Neither Autobot nor Decepticon, he has always served just one master: Unicron. To these purposes, he assigned his Mini-Con companion, Crosswise to infiltrate the Mini-Cons' Moonbase operations and send things awry. Crosswise was more of a wildcard than a full-on partner, unlike Sideways's other Mini-Con, Rook. Rook was assigned to sow the real seeds of discontent amongst the Mini-Cons on the moon. More Than Meets The Eye: Armada

Sideways himself was first seen working on a secret desert rocket site, guarded by Skywarp and Wheeljack, which was designed to launch Megatron's Solar Scalpel laser system in orbit. Fire & Ice After the rocket was launched, he returned to Cybertron, and was present for the battle against Unicron... though what exact role he played in it is unknown. The End

Robot Masters online comic

Master manipulator teamed up with master manipulator? That's WAY more interesting than Lio Convoy teaming up with Optimus Prime... so of course it only happens ONCE.

A mysterious motorcycle participated in the confusing war over Solitarium. This Transformer had a special communications system called "Shadow and Bright".

Must Defend the Solitarium!

Toys

Robots in Disguise

File:Sidewaysrid.jpg

Hello, my treacherous friend.

• Sideways vs. Axer(Mega multi-pack, 2002)

The first Sideways toy is a yellow and black redeco (and minor retooling, from changes made to the mold for a Japanese Microman version) of Road Rocket, transforming into a Yamaha GTS1000A racing motorcycle with a light-up rear wheel suspension/buzzsaw weapon. He came packaged with Axer in a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack.

Despite being a character placed in a different continuity, he has been established to be the same Sideways as the character from Armada. Both on-package bios describe him as a "conscientious, ninja-like warrior" who is "mysterious and silent." Years later, Takara publicity materials for their Robot Masters line confirmed that Robots in Disguise Sideways is the same character as their Robot Masters Doubleface toy.

• More information on RiD Sideways at TFU.info

Armada

My hats are the grandest of all... except that they're putting me on the wrong sides!

• Sideways w/ Rook and Crosswise (Super-Con, 2002)
  • Japanese ID number: MX-01
  • Accessories: 2 tailpipe-missiles

The second toy of Sideways was released in 2002 in Armada, transforming into a Cybertronic motorcycle, and was the first larger Armada toy to come with two Mini-Cons; Rook and Crosswise. Each Mini-Con could form a new head for Sideways, as well as reveal a faction sigil behind his clear-plastic chestplate in that mode. Their individual and combined robot modes were designed to act as riders when Sideways is in vehicle mode. His tailpipes become arm-mounted Powerlinx-activated pressure-launch missile launchers.

Two variations of the Hasbro version of the toy exist. The first variation features the opposite Mini-Con heads revealing their intended faction logo. This was due to an error in the television series' animation which depicted Crosswise as the Decepticon head and Rook as the Autobot head. Hasbro made a running change so the toy reflected the series' faction alignments. The second variation changed the salmon on Crosswise to a more Decepticon-like purple. This toy was also released in the Japanese Micron Legend toyline as "Doubleface" shortly afterwards, featuring a color scheme on the cockpit of the bike that was closer to the anime appearance.

In November of 2003, US Toys "R" Us stores had special bonus pack Max-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Max-Con during Toys "R" Us' post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Like Blurr, Sideways could come with one of the Destruction Mini-Con Team members: Buzzsaw, Drill Bit, or Dualor.

This mold was also used for Energon Rapid Run.

• More information on Armada Sideways at TFU.info

Robot Masters

We've come full circle or something.

• Doubleface (Robot Master, 2004)
  • Japanese ID number: RM-19

Doubleface, a purple, gray, and yellow redeco (and minor retooling, from changes made to the mold for a Japanese Microman version) of Road Pig, was released in Japan in 2005, transforming into a Harley-Davidson Electra Glide touring motorcycle with electronic light-up tailpipe/"blaster" weapon. It featured a fixed Decepticon logo, and was the second and last appearance of this character in Japan as of 2006.

There is a minor variation to this toy; though both versions feature an "electronics warning" on the robot mode's butt, some versions use a clear-plastic sticker, while others have the text tampographed there.

This mold was also used for Robots in Disguise Axer. It was planned for use in Generation 2 as Soundwave, but that toy never saw release.

• More information on Robot Masters Doubleface at TFU.info

Cybertron

On second thought, screw the whole motorcycle thing.

• Sideways (Deluxe-Class, 2005)
  • Japanese ID number: GX-01
  • Accessories: Left & right wing-blades, Planet X Cyber Key

The third toy of Sideways released in the US was in the Cybertron toyline. Sideways in this line is a black and orange alien spacefighter with Cyber Planet Key-activated faction-switching ability and pop-out blades built into his battle shield. The toy features a translucent face with his signature horns. He comes with a Planet X style Cyber Planet Key; the US version has the Cyber Key Code "dj51" tampographed on the back.

This toy was released in Japan as Galaxy Force Noisemaze, and no mention was made of a relationship to Doubleface / Sideways.

This mold was also used for the Japanese DVD-exclusive Noisemaze Mass-Production Version, Universe Ratbat, and was retooled into BotCon 2009 Timelines Scourge.

• More information on Cybertron Sideways at TFU.info

Merchandise

Super Collection Figure

File:ACT10-Doubleface.jpg

STRIKE POSE!

• Doubleface (2002)

Available in "Act 10" of Takara's Super Collection Figure PVC line, Doubleface was available in both color and pewter. He came with an extra head so that his appearance could be switched between Doubleface's "normal" head and the "Decepticon" head. His appearance could not be switched out of its sort of weird-looking pose, however.

Notes

He's back. From outer space.

• In Armada, outside of the stock footage sequences showing Sideways putting his Mini-Con helmets on, his "bare" head was often colored in shades of gray similar to the Crosswise head, rather than the appropriate purple and yellow.
• While the positioning of Armada Sideways' head-handlebars in toy form is up to the owner, the cartoon consistently portrayed them as angled downwards.
• In "Memory," Sideways seemed to be a fan of the Galactic Guardians, a superhero team who star in their own cartoon show. He also seemed to be a fan of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," as he sang the first few lyrics to himself before being interrupted by Starscream.