Cliffbee.com SpyChanger Side Burn Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Side Burn
Series: Robots in Disguise
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



CAR MODE
Height: 2cm Length: 7.5cm Width: cm

   Perhaps not surprisingly, this guy turns into a blue sports car with flames on the hood and doors - just like the other Side Burn released about a month earlier. It has gold windows, gold hubcaps & a little Autobot symbol on the roof.

   They've taken the time to paint the grills silver, headlights gold and the rear tail lights red - more detail than many similar toys. Being a Spychanger, he rolls freely in this mode, and can go a fair distance if set in motion.

   My only gripe with this mode is that it's pretty much a copy of the Deluxe Side Burn released at almost the same time. It's not that I don't like the colour scheme - I do - but it takes away from this toy, which is a shame because this is a sweet car mode. Apart from the fact it has gold windows it really looks like a Hot Wheels toy, and it's a kickass paintjob. All overshadowed by the bigger and flashier Deluxe. What really bugs me about this is that this is a previously unreleased mould (that was held back for five years or so), but gets relegated to being a cheap version of another toy. Had they painted it black or something, and called it something else, it would have made it stand out more in it's own right.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Pretty simple. Pull down the rear to form the legs, fold down the hood to form the chest, pull out the arms, and remove the gun from between his shins. This is a feature the original six moulds of this type didn't have, and it's a nice feature.

   Mine has a problem with the gun staying stowed in car mode, but I discovered that if you put it in sideways (pointing back instead of forward), with a little force, it's just the right size to slot in this way.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 6.5cm Width: 4cm

   The blue car gives way to yellow and white in the mode. Basically he has a blue chest & blue arms. The chest has blue flames on it, and it looks really good. The head is yellow with a black visor-like eyeslit. The thighs are yellow and the shins white, he has a white gun.

   The first thing that struck me about this mode is the face - he looks like a yellow Robocop. It's not bad, it's just very distinct. The other thing I noticed is that he's short for a Spychanger - his legs don't extend very far for some reason. Oh, and the gun is a little loose on mine in his hands, but it does stay there, unlike car mode. Otherwise he's a fairly standard Spychanger, although one of the better ones, with both a good mould and a nice colour scheme.

VARIATIONS

   As mentioned, this was an unreleased G2 Gobot mould, so there's probably some prototypes floating around that are different - since both the US and Japan had ideas for this toy that were never put into production. AFAIK, there are no released variations, although the mould has since been used for SpyChanger Jazz.

OVERALL

   A good mould and a good colour scheme make this guy a great little figure. I just wish he wasn't painted the same as the Deluxe released at the same time - this toy's great and deserves to have it's own identity. Still, if it was released in late G2 it'd probably be lime, transparent pink and purple (there was a G2 toy of this colour scheme, BTW). Of course, taking this guy without his namesake, it's a great toy, and if you're a GoBot/Spychanger fan (all one of me), I'd really recommend it - 9/10 as Spychangers go, and it only loses that point because it's so short

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