Board member Red leader has recently picked up Dark of the Moon Mech-Tech Sideswipe. He shares a gallery and his thoughts of the figure with us:
Dark of the Moon Sideswipe – nice toy but sadly not an improvement on Sidearm but he is equally good in different ways!.Simplified transformation with no paint apps just molded plastic on most of the toy. Upper body is very nice with great articulation and swing out blades, he is more streamlined all over with the proportions being more movie-verse. The backpack folds up nicely and the wings are still there.
Legs are the problem, they have been made thinner but the rear bend in the knee is not there again it can however bend all the way forward which seems like a bit of a fail, the feet are also a little flimsy and with the heels make him hard to stand sometimes.
Car mode is awesome if a little delicate, if you look at the pictures you can see the gaps through the car where the seats should be.
Click above to view the gallery and keep on reading the feedback.
seekerblackout
Classic Camaro 'Bee's guns make good pistols for this guy.
hthrun
I recommend it. He was the first TF I painted a new color…
justamaze
This is my favorite of the deluxes so far. The corvette mode is so cool and the the grey plastic is perfect. Wouldn't be surprised if they repaint/retool into Dino. Cool pictures OP.
Dinobot747
After getting Darksteel, I really like this mold. I may look past the paint apps (or lack thereof) and get this guy. Heck, maybe I'll end up doing my first customizing job. All he needs is a good coat of paint!
hthrun
I'll have to give it a look over!
Snake_eyes1975
Thank you SO much for going so far to explain.
You were right on. The car holds together fine. The swords now line up, and the car now sits how it should be from the beginning. EXCELLENT job finding this one. Seriously, EVERYTHING lines up better now. Its suprising how much those tabs tweaked the entire car, to where nothing really lined up.
I would recommend EVERYONE with this mold, do what Yuyuyami did. It fixxes the car mode. Period.
Thank you again, for going so far with the pics.
Now…to the paint!!
Dave
MisterFanwank
Oh, sorry, I didn't see this. I'll go take a picture. It'll be posted in a minute.
EDIT: The pictures:
This tab and this slot are what will be keeping the car together:
This picture shows where the tabs that need to be cut used to be:
These two pictures show the flashing left over from the cuts:
And here is the car with the swords sitting flush with the backpack:
Snake_eyes1975
been waiting on painting this one because im not sure which tabs your talking about. I agree, something is kinda pushing mine apart too, but there is two different tabs on each sword, One tabs in on the dark blue mount for the body side, and one tabs into the body side. Which one did you cut, did it work good, and is the car floppy?
Thanks man
Snake_eyes1975
Hey bud, Im just about to start painting mine, and I wanted to see if you can either post a pic, or describe in detail what it is you did for the arms, to make the car go together better.
Does it still hold together good after the cut?
Thanks in advance
Dave
MisterFanwank
I got this guy a while back. Not too bad, actually. Just lacking paint.
The big thing I recommend doing is cutting off the tabs on the swords that go into the sides of the car, those things do nothing to help the figure stay together and on mine actually pushed it apart.
vamspapi
The Mechtech gun/sword on mine is on the fritz, it either kinks up and won't reset, or shifts to the point where the blade is halfway deployed at all times, and about 60 degrees too far when the lever is pressed. Is the gear part of the blade slipping, or is it two separate pieces that were weakly glued…?
dark_rampage
Thank you. It really helps. I've been doing that for my other transformers like roadbuster.
hthrun
Thanks for the tip! I'm going to have to try this, too, when mine pops off again…
SAF7
Pop it off and put a dab of clear nail polish on the bumps that the hood pegs onto. Worked wonders for mine.
dark_rampage
I just bought him today. I like the figure, except the hood won't hold in the pegs. It keeps popping in and out. Is there a way to keep the hood from falling off? Thanks.
hthrun
Thanks for sharing, I just did the same to mine! This guy has a lot going for him. With the combination of his doors, swords, and feet, he can pull off a lot of cool poses the earlier two molds couldn't.
My main complaint with him isn't the color. Maybe it's just mine, but whenever I try adjusting the shoulders, the arms will move down as they do in the transformation. When he's posed he's sturdy as can be, but his shoulders are much tighter than those other parts…
I'm thinking I'll get the deluxe movie Sideswipe Reporlabel set for him. Then I'll try painting him silver to match the stickers. He might be my first full-figure paint job…
hthrun
I just got this guy yesterday, can't wait to try out the Booker back and the knee mods…
QuQu, have you got it working yet?
QuQu
Sorry. I'm not really sure how to attach pics yet cause Im new here, but to describe it to you. They look exactly the same, if you've noticed they read small letters (or atleast mine do…). My Sideswipe's right arm reads A2, and his left arm reads A3. on the front side for both of them. I think thats crucial to determining whether or not my sideswipe has it on backwards haha. Anyways, I got it to bend, but the arms only bend stiffly with sharp snaps. Kinda like a click joint… Sorry. I'll work on the pics, but I hope that helps you so you can help me : )
Oh yeah! and I bought this very recently, it must be different in some way because unlike other people's i've seen in reviews, (84ironhide, peaugh, etc) my toy's right arm blade has black letters written on it "#29707"… so what the heck. Is mine a cheap re-release or something?
Ace Convoy
I bought one for my friend seeing as I couldn't find the Sidearm
I thought it was sucky but he likes it… oh well
I don't want or need another SS not even a repaint.
hthrun
I don't have one, but maybe some pics would be helpful…