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.

Guess what? I'm not Barricade! Had you all fooled, didn't I?

Before the war, Sideways was a simple courier so he's not a physical powerhouse like the other Decepticons. As he's pretty smart, Sideways prefers to team up with larger Decepticons in the battle against the Autobots. This way, his target-friendly companion takes all the heat! When he absolutely must face the enemy, he eagerly deploys the spinning saw blades on his arms.

Many would call him a coward, but Arcee and her sisters know differently. A world-class spy doesn't do anyone any good if he's compromised. He surrounds himself with dangerous traps, yet always leaves an escape route, and has thus far never been captured.

Since he's arrived on Earth, Sideways has started hanging out with the mountainous Demolishor. There are few larger Decepticons to lurk in the shadow of!

“	Just 'cause I'd always rather flee than fight, don't mean I can't!	”
—Sideways to Arcee, Transformers Comic issue 2.5

Fiction

Convergence

Sideways was a crew member aboard the Nemesis during its mission to scour the galaxy for a star harvester. He was apparently wounded when the Ark warped into their ship and damaged it, as he was heard calling out for the ship medic in the aftermath. Alongside the rest of the crew, Sideways then boarded the Longshot and pursued the Ark to Earth. Convergence chapter 1

Titan Magazines

Sideways HATES purple motorbikes!

Sideways made an early landing in Australia, with Optimus Prime and Arcee pursuing him through its northern territories. With his souped-up sports car alt mode, Sideways had them outclassed on the roads and was able to both outpace the Autobots and batter them about. Eventually, Optimus decided to change the terrain by blasting the Decepticon off the road. While willing to fight, the Decepticon gave up when human reinforcements arrived.

However, it became clear (to us, anyway) that he was meant to get captured as part of a plan to frame Skids and Mudflap: as soon as he was taken to Diego Garcia, Scorponok arrived to free him. Knocking Arcee aside and using debris as a weapon against humans, Sideways made good his escape. Reversal of Fortune

There is nowhere to run THIS time...

Unfortunately for Sideways, the other part of Soundwave's plan was to get Skids and Mudflap into the Decepticons, and there was no escape from the twins talking all the time and dissing him as an "average, creativity-stifled grunt". When the twins were sent to bring in Ransack, he protested that they were halfwits, and was relieved to find out they were just bait and he'd get to kill 'em afterwards.

Trailing the twins with Grindor, he discovered to his disgust that the twins had talked to Ransack instead of fighting. That was "the sort of example that so needs nipping in the bud", so he and Grindor attacked! Unfortunately for Sideways, the twins were only pretending to defect so they could capture a Decepticon; Mudflap engaged Sideways in a game of chicken, forcing the 'con off the road and straight into a tree. Turnabout

Revenge of the Fallen film

Sideways desperately tries to flee from a rabid fangirl.

Sideways was hiding out in Shanghai with Demolishor when NEST came to investigate a possible Decepticon insurgence. At first, the two Decepticons remained concealed, but Demolishor soon transformed and attacked. While the soldiers and their Autobot allies were busy fighting off Demolishor, Sideways took advantage of the chaos and attempted to make his getaway. He was not entirely undetected, however, as Major Lennox sent out Arcee and the twins in pursuit.

"Well, at least I had more screen time than Jolt..."

With Arcee and the Twins on his tail, Sideways turned a corner to an apartment complex in his way. Rather than turn and lose momentum, Sideways chucked caution to the wind and transformed, jumping through the apartment building and out the other side. The Twins were unable to keep up with the chase, and Sideways was soon able to fight off Arcee. 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

Dark of the Moon film

See Audi R8 Decepticon

Revenge of the Fallen toy bios

Sideways and Rampage burst from their cover when they found Breakaway and Longarm hunting them. While Rampage confronted Breakaway, Sideways battled Longarm through the streets. The final result of this battle is unknown. Autobot Strike Mission toy bio

Long reliant on his high speed to make his getaways, Sideways found himself in shock when the body-modifying Blowpipe was easily able to keep up with him. Super Tuner Throwdown toy bio

Besides his speed, Sideways enjoys using deception to get himself out of trouble. This doesn't work very well on Rollbar, who plans to make the lying Sideways an acquaintance of his fists. Why Sideways decided to change his paintjob for this meeting is anyone's guess. Rollbar VS Sideways

Transformers (2010) toy bios

After his defeat (read: bisection) by Sideswipe, Sideways "was rebuilt and sent deep undercover to infiltrate the Autobots". During Sideways' sojourn into the Autobot camp, however, Mudflap and Skids became suspicious of him, and reverted to their old ice cream truck form to keep track of him. Having discovered Sideways' treachery, they plan to prove their worth by defeating him on their own! High-Speed Spy Battle

Arcee and her sisters Chromia and Elita-1 had hunted Sideways in the past, but he always got away. After begging Optimus Prime, the three of them got another shot at bringing him down. Ultimately, they tracked him down in a munitions factory in the middle of a war zone. Could they slip through his dangerous traps, or would he escape again? Sideways Sneak Attack

Games

Revenge of the Fallen - The Game

Voice actor: John DiMaggio

Revenge of the Fallen- The Game (Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC)

Decepticon campaign

The Human race can bite my shiny metal ass!

Sideways operated as a high-speed reconnaissance operative with the ability to snipe at Autobot opponents from afar with his plasma sniper rifle, engage them up-close with his rapid-firing slag repeater, and slow enemies to a crawl with his graviton mine when he needed to get away. He uses a pair of saws in melee combat.

Sideways was deployed to Shanghai after the Autobots and their NEST allies were detected interfering with an important operation in the area. Upon arrival, various Protectobot drones were sent to stop him, but failed. Later, Sideways was sent to the Shanghai waterfront to retrieve Grindor, who had been damaged and captured by the Autobots. The nimble Decepticon sports car used a combination of speed and guile to fight his way through the numerically superior Autobot forces, freed Grindor and escorted his bigger buddy back to the extraction point. He was sent back to the waterfront again find a cloaked Autobot probe that threatened the Decepticon operations in China. Following the probe's wake, Sideways raced through the waterfront past startled human dockworkers and the Protectobot units assigned to the area, destroying the probe as it revealed itself. Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Autobot campaign

The Autobots were deployed to China when NEST forces detected the presence of Decepticons in Shanghai. Sideways secreted himself within the urban jungle and sent waves of Stunticon drones against Ironhide. After the last batch of Stunticons had been defeated, Sideways revealed himself, taking pot shots at the powerful Autobot with his slag repeater, after which he would cheese it flee through the narrow alleyways where Ironhide had difficulty following. While the Autobot struggled to pass the cramped causeways, Sideways set himself up on the roof of the tallest residential block and fired his plasma sniper rifle. Ironhide shrugged off the blasts, clambered up the building, and with a mighty punch, sent Sideways plummeting to the ground, reducing him to scrap. Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Transformers Autobots/Decepticons

Revenge of the Fallen: Autobots/Decepticons

Revenge of the Fallen Game (Wii/PS2)

In Shanghai, Sideways and Demolishor ransacked a NEST truck, holding an ancient Cybertronian artifact. Sideways took the artifact and escaped. He was chased by Bumblebee through the city and eventually up on the skyline. Bumblebee cornered Sideways on a building, but the Decepticon lept off the building, thus continuing the chase. Trying to retreat, Sideways still had numerous Autobots to deal with on the Shanghai highway. Bumblebee eventually tackled Sideways, but the Decepticon jumped in the air, where he was rescued by Starscream, and mocked the small Autobot as he made his escape.

Later, Sideways and Starscream were ordered by The Fallen to raid the US Navy in order to retrieve Megatron's corpse. After Starscream crippled the Navy, Sideways was deployed to go aboard the base. After tearing through the defenses, he activated the crane to pull Megatron out of the Laurentian Abyss. Megatron was then delivered to the Fallen's lair where he was rebuilt and resurrected. Revenge of the Fallen (Wii/PS2)

Transformers: The Ride

Sideways, along with Ravage , simultaneously infiltrated NEST HQ in an attempt to retrieve the Allspark shard from the humans. While Ravage retreived the shard, Sideways came to intercept him in the main hangar, with the Autobot warrior, Bumblebee , in hot pursuit. Bumblebee sideswiped Sideways as they swerved into the hangar, causing him to lose control and lose a tire. Sideways, temporarily incompacitated by the blow, failed to stop Bumblebee from dispatching Ravage and passing the shard to Evac, the newly recruited NEST soldier transport, who had pursued Ravage to the site. After gaining his wits, he quietly approached from behind and kicked Bumblebee, knocking him down. While the Autobot was briefly stunned, Sideways quickly tried to retrieve the shard from Evac's hand. Recovering faster than Sideways had counted on, Bumblebee got up, and swiftly knocked Sideways' left arm right out of the socket. He was finally killed when Bumblebee came upon him, snapped his neck, and threw his body across the room, granting Evac time to escape with the humans and shard. Transformers: The Ride

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class toys

Bite my tiny metal ass!

• Sideways (Legends, 2009)

A smaller-scale Sideways with a simplified transformation reminiscent of Barricade's, such as making the sides of the car into his arms. He features ball joint hips, backwards knee things, and ball joint arms for articulation. Like with the Deluxe toy, the car lacks the wide black stripe from the movie.

This mold was redecoed to make 2010 Transformers Override and retooled to make Cyberverse Series 2 Mirage.

Deluxe Class toys

"Seriously, how could you mistake me for Barricade?"

• 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, and his robot abs flip down. 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 elbows. 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. Deluxe class Sideways is 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. Although not indicated on any early photos nor instructions, Sideways' windshield underside has two notches that connect to Sideways' hood on small square pegs immediately behind the front wheels. This requires folding up the two small triangular pieces on top of the hood. Also it seems as if the spinning saw blade was originally powered by gears, the gearbox and shaft for the lever can still be seen on his right forearm but are molded just like his thumb onto the arm.

"I mean, he's black, and I'm dark silver. Those are two completely different colors."

Along with Breakaway, Sideways was initially released in two color schemes, a light silver version and a less common very dark silver version. If you move the headlights, doors and legs of the lighter Sideways to the darker one, allowing for a dark hood and roof, and silver everywhere else, it helps to make for a slightly more movie-accurate Sideways. However, the stripes will still be missing.

This mold was retooled into the Deluxe class version of Revenge of the Fallen Dead End.

• More information on Sideways at TFU.info

"Well, at least it ain't the crazy guy with the stabby hands..."

• Autobot Wheelie vs. Decepticon Sideways (Deluxe Class two-pack, 2009)

An unchanged version of the dark silver variant of Sideways (now called "Decepticon Sideways" for symmetry with "Autobot Wheelie") was released in a two-pack, alongside an unchanged version of Wheelie. This two-pack has been confirmed to have been released as a Toys"R"Us exclusive in the United Kingdom and Germany, and as a Target exclusive in Australia.

• Autobot Strike Mission (Deluxe class figure multipack, 2009)
  • Accessories: Missile

Available as a Sam's Club-exclusive, this "battle damaged" version of Sideways was packed with Movie Longarm, Rampage and Breakaway.

"Just face the facts. You're not leaving this toyline without at least one of me."

• Super Tuner Throwdown (Deluxe class figure two-pack, 2009)
  • Accessories: Missile

Another release of Sideways was available with Blowpipe as a Walmart exclusive. It is identical to the single-packed darker version of Sideways.

Fast Action Battlers

"Do your arms hang low...?"

• Magna Missile Sideways (Fast Action Battlers, 2009)
  • Accessories: Missile

Fast Action Battlers Magna Missile Sideways is a simplified toy that transforms into a somewhat cutesified car mode. Its right arm features a firing missile sculpted to resemble Sideways's buzzsaw weapon. The toy's robot mode has the entire sides of the car becoming his arms, making this toy even more similar to Barricade than Sideways's movie CG and Deluxe class toy robot design. Like most of the Sideways toys and merchandise (bar the Deluxe & Legends class figures), he features screen-accurate black paint on his vehicle front lid, roof and rear hood.

Transformers (2010)

Deluxe Class toys

Now you can recreate your favorite 10 second scene from the film.

• High-Speed Spy Battle (Multi-pack, 2010)

This Target-exclusive multi-pack contains a redeco of Sideways that features a reversal of the red plastic parts with some of the black ones and uses clear red on the front headlights instead of the original's plain transluscent ones packaged with a ridiculously mud-caked version of the deluxe Mudflap/Skids ice cream truck.

• Sideways Sneak Attack (Multi-pack)

Hopefully when you open this it won't split into two pieces.

This Target-exclusive multi-pack is based on Sideways's scene in Revenge of the Fallen, and contains a redeco of his Deluxe-class toy in movie-accurate colors. He's even adorned with a "cut" paint operation straight across his vehicle mode, replicating the lethal wound given to him by Sideswipe. The set contains Legends-class toys of Arcee, Chromia and Elita-1.

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Merchandise

RPMs - Robot Powered Machines

Sideways? More like UNDERside! OH!

• Sideways (R.P.M. Mini-Vehicle, 2009)
  • Series: Speed Series
  • Number: 01 of 04

Number one in a series of four Robot Powered Machines Mini-Vehicle single packs, Sideways is an non-transformable Hot Wheels-like car, unless you count his robot mode being sculpted and painted onto his underside. The toy features through-axle construction that allows it to zip along at fast speeds on flat surfaces.

This mold was retooled to make Revenge of the Fallen Wreckloose, and later straight-up redecoed to make the Speed Stars version of Wreckloose.

Hey, do I preach to you while you're lying stoned in the gutter? No, so beat it!

• Rollbar vs Sideways (R.P.M. Mini-Vehicle, 2009)
  • Series: Battle Series
  • Number: 08

The second release of Sideways comes packaged with Rollbar. Sideways' new colours resemble the Deluxe class version of Dead End.

Robot Heroes

My shiny metal saw will bite you!

• 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.

The Twins aren't the only vehicle that splits in two in this scene.

• Shanghai Shootout (Multi-pack, 2009)

Shanghai Shootout replicates the opening action scene from Revenge of the Fallen, featuring figurines of Mudflap/Skids (ice cream truck), Sideways (vehicle mode), Optimus Prime, Demolishor, and Sideswipe (vehicle mode). Demolishor is a slightly-oversized figure and the centerpiece of the box set.

Notes

Spreads chaos like nothing else.

• The AllSpark Almanac Volume 2 revealed that the other Sideways—the devious dimension-hopping minion of Unicron—had made contact with the Animated universe, and that, while inhabiting that universe, he adopted a body form with minor similarities to Revenge of the Fallen Sideways and shows an interest in visiting Shanghai. If that character were to make that transit in keeping with his past established behavior then it would mean that Revenge of the Fallen Sideways is, after all, Robots in Disguise/Unicron Trilogy/Robot Masters/Animated Sideways. However, the book only asserts his intention to visit Shanghai, not that he actually traveled there, nor does it specify which dimension's Shanghai he even meant—there is no unambiguous proof that such a jaunt was made and that the two Sidewayses must be the same character. Author Jim Sorenson characterized the book as being meant to match the Animated series' penchant for "in-jokes and Easter Eggs", suggesting that he might not have meant it to be taken seriously. It is left to individual fans to judge matters for themselves.

• When Audi was looking to win screen time for one of its cars in the summer films during 2009, Ruben Igielko-Herrlich, a marketing consultant from Propaganda Global Entertainment Marketing, helped the company to find an opportunity in Revenge of the Fallen. Ruben talked the movie's staff into finding a role for the Audi R8. Ultimately, an Audi R8 appears in the film as Sideways. Thus, Sideways became the only car Transformer in the movie whose alternate mode is not manufactured by General Motors.

• According to the pre-visualization animation from the movie DVD's bonus material, Sideways was originally supposed to have a Lamborghini alternate mode as compared to the Audi R8 seen in the film.

• Sideways's toys and merchandise are not licensed by Audi, and are thus merely approximations of the R8. However, Sideways' appearance in the Revenge of the Fallen video games is fully licensed, so he is accurate to the car used in the film and has Audi's logos and signage.

• According to designer Hisashi Yuki, the wheels on the hands were a rushed late addition due to a design change in the movie character model. This is why the hand tires are not integrated more properly into the toy.

• Sideways' license plate in Revenge of the Fallen reads "269 FPJT". It can be briefly seen twice; however, the only time it's seen in its entirety, just before Sideswipe splices Sideways in half, the letters and numbers are mirrored, implying that the shot was mirrored in editing.

• Sideways almost was Barricade! Chris Mowry had planned for Barricade to appear and be turned into Sideways in Transformers: Alliance, but Hasbro rejected the idea.

• His 2011 Hasbro bio gave him a new quote (one based on what he'd said in the Titan issue quoted up top!) along with a revamped bio that factored in his sniping ability from the console version of the Revenge of the Fallen video game.

• Sideways has the honor of being the only on-screen movie character to have his toys redecoed/retooled into four different characters thus far: His Deluxe Class toy was retooled into Dead End, his R.P.M. toy was slightly retooled into Wreckloose (and later straight-up redecoed into a slightly different version of Wreckloose), and his Legends Class toy was not only redecoed into Override, but later also slightly retooled into Mirage, an on-screen character from Dark of the Moon!

Foreign names

• Japanese: Sideways (サイドウェイズ Saidoweizu)
• Hungarian: Mellékút ("Detour")