Sideways (ROTF)
| This article is about the live-action Decepticon. For the Unicron-serving backstabber from every other continuity, see Sideways (RID). |
- Sideways is a Decepticon from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.
Before the war, Sideways was a simple courier, not exactly a career demanding massive levels of courage. This means that in the battle against the Autobots, Sideways prefers to team up with larger Decepticons. This way, his target-friendly companion takes all the heat! In fact, he generally shuns combat entirely. He's not a courageous fellow. But when he absolutely must face the enemy, he eagerly deploys the spinning saw blades on his arms.
Since he's arrived on Earth, Sideways has started hanging out with the mountainous Demolishor. There's few larger Decepticons to lurk in the shadow of!
| “ | I'm on it. No one outruns me. | ” |
—Sideways to Starscream, "Revenge of the Fallen PSP." | ||
Fiction
Revenge of the Fallen (film)
 Spoiler warning: Plot details for Revenge of the Fallen follow. |
Sideways was hiding out in Shanghai when NEST came to investigate a possible Decepticon insurgence. While the soldiers and their Autobot allies were busy fighting off Demolishor, Sideways attempted to make his getaway. He was not entirely undetected, however, as Lennox sent out Arcee and the twins in pursuit. The twins quickly fell out of the chase and Sideways was also able to fight off Arcee after crashing directly through a building. Sideways didn't get far, and eventually met his end when Sideswipe engaged in pursuit, transformed, and bisected Sideways as he attempted to flee. Revenge of the Fallen
Games
Revenge of the Fallen: The Game
- Voice Actor: John DiMaggio
Toys
Revenge of the Fallen
Legends Class toys
- Sideways (Legends, 2009)
- Japanese ID number:
Deluxe Class toys
- Sideways (Deluxe, 2009)
- Japanese ID number: RD-05
- Deluxe-Class Sideways features Automorph action during the conversion from car to robot mode. When the front bumper is pressed, his front pair of wheels automatically flip underneath the hood. There is also some Mech Alive: you can see internal gears moving in his fore-arms when moving his arms, as well as a turning disk on each of his elbow. On his right arm is a spinning "saw" blade. He is probably the least film-accurate toy to date (that doesn't fall in a lesser size-class or different toy-line), but that doesn't make him any less awesome.
- Unlike the other on-screen characters in Revenge of the Fallen who turn into consumer vehicles, Sideways' vehicle mode is merely an approximation of an Audi R8 and is not an accurate replica. This is because the toy vehicle, lacking Audi signage, is unlicensed. This doesn't explain why all versions of Deluxe class Sideways (hand-painted prototypes, test shots and production toys) are missing the black front lid, roof and rear hood seen on Sideways toys of other price points, and the real car. However, all of the toys are missing the unique silver stripes on top of the black areas seen on the APR-tuned Audi R8, which was the car used in the movie.
- Yet another victim of late mold changes rampant among the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Sideways appears to have had a hinged thumb on his left hand in Hasbro stock photos whereas this is a solid section molded on to the arm on the final toy. Also, Sideways' windshield underside has two notches added that are not in any early photos nor the instructions. These notches are there ostensibly to more securely connect to Sideways' hood.
- This mold was retooled into the Deluxe class version of Revenge of the Fallen Dead End.
Fast Action Battlers
- Magna Missile Sideways (Fast Action Battlers, 2009)
- Accessories:
- Magna Missile Sideways' robot mode has the entire sides of the car becoming his arms, making this toy even more similar to Barricade than Sideway's movie CG and Deluxe class toy robot design. Like most of the Sideways toys and merchandise (bar the Deluxe class figure), he features screen-accurate black paint on his vehicle front lid, roof and rear hood.
Merchandise
R.P.M.s - Robot Powered Machines
Speed Series
- Sideways (R.P.M. Mini-Vehicle, 2009)
- Number: 01 of 04
- Number one in a series of four Robot Powered Machines Mini-Vehicle single packs, Sideways is an untransformable Hot Wheels-like car, unless you count his robot mode being sculpted and painted onto the underside of him.
Robot Heroes
- Sideswipe and Sideways (2009)
- Sideways is part of the first wave of Revenge of the Fallen Robot Heroes figures and is packaged versus Sideswipe. He has rotational articulation at both shoulders and extremely limited neck articulation. Curiously, he holds a chainsaw-like blade in his hand, rather than it being integrated into wheel-kibble on his wrist. However, this is pretty close to how his weapon actually works in the official video game; when Sideways fights in melee, his wheel-blades spread out to form razor-edged ovals, presumably for added reach.
Notes
- Sideways's fate doesn't shine the most favorable light on the Autobots. He was never shown engaging in any hostilities, he was simply RUNNING FOR HIS FRIGGIN' LIFE from Autobots who don't think twice about CUTTING HIM IN HALF FOR SIMPLY BEING THERE. Sideways's toy bio only makes the situation worse, revealing him to be a courier who avoids combat (though his role in the game seems to refute this, as he destroys many Autobots in the early missions and is shown to be a competent fighter).
