Mirror

Mirror is a combined Mini-Con being from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I never knew how ugly I look from here

Mirror is the combined form of the Mini-Cons Rook and Crosswise, the partners of the enigmatic Sideways. Little is known about this tiny combiner's personality or abilities, as he is generally seen only as a passenger for the treacherous bulk's vehicle mode, generally separating when his master transforms so that one of his halves can form Sideways's head.

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Armada cartoon

When Sideways arrived on Earth, his rider was riding him wearing a disguise to make him look like a human wearing biker gear. When Sideways transformed, his rider retracted the disguise and split in half. His top half became Sideways's head. His bottom half vanished. Gale From then on, the rider usually transformed from Sideways's head to ride him in motorcycle mode, though he once vanished from the scene to allow Hot Shot to ride Sideways in battle. Later, as Sideways was speaking privately with Megatron without either Mini-Con head present, he spoke in two different voices, though it is unclear if one of the voices was the rider's. Soon after, Sideways revealed his allegiance to the Decepticons by switching heads. Credulous

In another battle, Hot Shot caused Sideways to crash, sending his rider tumbling. Hot Shot taunted the rider for not having a seat belt. Conspiracy

Ia, ia! Cthulhu ftagn!

On the Moon, Sideways initiated a plan intended to turn the Decepticons against each other, then snuck off by himself into an underground cave. His rider separated from his robot mode, and the two began to make a report to an unseen somebody. They were interrupted, and his rider quickly transformed back into Sideway's head. Sideways fled to the surface, where he was confronted by Thrust. They fought, but when Sideways started to lose, he turned into a cloud of static. This angered Megatron, who proceeded to chop up the cloud of static with the Star Saber. The cloud reformed itself into an image of Sideways's rider's head, taunted Megatron, and floated up into the sky. Detection

Later, the ghostly head of the rider briefly re-appeared on the Moon. He began a conversation with Thrust while fully manifesting into Sideways. Mars

Later, inside Unicron, the Mini-Cons broke the spell Unicron had over them. This enraged Sideways, and he transformed and attacked the Mini-Cons. Optimus Prime blasted Sideways and his rider with the Requiem Blaster. The heavily damaged rider vowed revenge before the life blinked out of his eyes. Origin

Linkage mini-comics

Sideways and Mirror provided the Speed Chaser Mini-Con Team with Ravenus and the Doomstone in order to stop a group of rogue Mini-Cons from unlocking the Master Key. Mirror personally handed the Doomstone over to Top Gear. Linkage Part 8

Dreamwave Armada comic

While Rook and Crosswise were capable of controlling their combined mode on their own, it was just as common for Sideways to somehow manifest his personality through it and control his Mini-Con partners directly. Using this method, Sideways performed spying and sabotage missions on the Mini-Con Moonbase without ever having to visit it in person. More Than Meets The Eye

Toys

Armada

File:MirrorArmada.jpg

So if Rook is good, and Crosswise is evil, then what the heck am I?

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

The combined form of Rook and Crosswise, Mirror is a humanoid robot that can act as a rider for Sideways' vehicle form.

This mold-set was also used to make Nightcreeper.

Notes

• "Mirror" is the combined form's Japanese name. He has no official English-language name, the closest he has being the descriptor "Rider", from the toy's instructions.
• The cartoon version tends to present Mirror as a Triple Changer of sorts, transforming from the Crosswise head to the Mirror robot mode, and from there to the Rook head. In his first appearance only, he is seen separating to form Sideways' head—don't blink, you'll miss it!—but the extra Minicon that should have been left over is nowhere to be found. Neither Rook's nor Crosswise's individual robot mode is ever shown.
• One scene in "Credulous" briefly shows Sideways not wearing either Mini-Con as a helmet. He speaks in two distinct voices—one is his normal voice and one appears low-intelligence. Immediately after, Crosswise appears from off-screen and becomes his helmet. Any significance this may have between Sideways and his Mini-Cons is unclear. The line was not present in the Japanese version of the episode. In another scene, Sideways in vehicle mode speaks normally even though his rider is absent.
• When Sideways is in motorcycle mode, it appears that it is his rider that delivers his lines, although it isn't easy to say for sure since he doesn't have a moving mouth. In Sideways's death scene, however, it is pretty clear that it is the rider that is speaking.