Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Sideways (Deluxe)

Review:  #887

Name:  Sideways

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2025

Size Class:  Deluxe

Mold Status:  new

JET MODE:

Sideways, based upon his Cybertron incarnation, transforms into a Cybertronian jet that's very faithful to the original design.

He looks good from most angles, and very similar to the original toy, which isn't a surprise given the original toy was fairly decent already.

He is an okay size in this mode.  For a jet, he is smaller (since jets are usually bigger with their wingspans).

Thankfully with the newer Cybertron updates, he comes with a small Cyber Key, although they don't activate a gimmick, it's still a nice inclusion.  It pegs onto the back of the jet mode.

The only downside here is the empty / gappy back, it's a whole lot of empty space there and makes him feel hollow in this mode.

Otherwise, he has some nice details such as the orange highlights.

Black, silver and orange works surprisingly well, and it's a solid jet mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

The only disappointing part here is that you have to remove the wings for transformation, it would have been nice if they could have been left attached to the legs.  Anyway, you remove the wings and the top assembly.  Then fold out the legs from the side, fold down his torso, get him arms out and flip up the head.  It's a simple transformation that unfolds exactly how you'd expect him to when you look at the jet mode and robot mode.

ROBOT MODE:

Sideway's robot mode has the elements of looking good, although proportionally (and this plagued the original toy too), his legs are way too long and dominate the robot mode.

It doesn't help that he feels very insubstantial due to his slimless, and while backpack kibble is not welcome, he probably needs more as the torso is too small otherwise.  He needs some extra bulk.

The figure lacks transparent plastic, so he'll have to make due with orange paint.  Still doesn't detract from how cool his visor looks.

He is tall in robot mode, but slim.

Articulation is great, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

His main weapon is a shield, where you can unfold four pieces for a more aggressive look.  You can slot in the Cyber Key to complete the look (the original toy has the Cyber Key spring out the four pieces while you manually fold it out now).

The shield pegs onto his arms, either side should work, but he wore it on his left in the cartoon.

Giving him his shield gives him the bulk he needed.  Without it, there just seemed to be something missing as his arms look too small in comparison.

The wings can be detached from the sides of the legs and be held in his hand as a double bladed weapon.

While the shield is big, it never feel unwieldy and it helps that it is detachable so you can rotate and move it around to get it out of the way.

The double sword weapon looks cheesy, and you can have him just hold one piece, but even that, given the shame of those weapons, you can't avoid the look that he's holding it because he can hold it and not because it actually looks good.

Despite his flaws, this is still a great robot mode.

OVERALL:

The issue with updating more recent toys or toys that was already decent back in the day is that the updates feel more iterative than innovative.  That's not a bad thing but lacks some of the punch that you'd get when updating, say, G1 toys.  Nevertheless, Sideways is a fun figure with heaps of poseability, and including all his defining gimmicks (even if it is manually activated now) is appreciated.

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Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Sky-Byte (Voyager)

Review:  #886

Name:  Sky-Byte

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2025

Size Class:  Voyager (Wave 2)

Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE:

Sky-Byte is an updated figure from Robots in Disguise, and he transforms into a blue mechanical shark.

Unlike previous toys, the shark mode isn't in a permanent bend, but is straight.

He is quite big for a Voyager (which is usually the case for Transformers with a beast mode).

The shark is quite articulated to be fair.  His mouth can open and close, and you can peg in a missile pod to similar his attack in the cartoon.

The neck can look down, while the tail can move from left to right.  It's very articulated considering everything.

He has a lot of great sculpted mechanical details, and a lot of those are highlighted by silver paint that contrasts nicely with the dark blue plastic.

This is a definite update over his previous toys, and he looks great in this mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

While not overly complex, there are some trickier elements to it.  The shark mode not sculpted to be bending its body helps.  The arms are at the back, with the tail forming a claw, and the other arm needing to unfold from the beast mode's shell.  The two biggest pieces of the shark mode's shell form the shoulder pads.  The shark mode's head unceremoniously end up on his back, and the legs are formed from the lower jaw, it's nice that they kept this element.  The dorsal fin is the top of his head as well.

ROBOT MODE:

Unlike the previous Generations toy, this is a real update that aimed to be a lot more accurate to the original cartoon design.

He has kibble on his back, with the shark's head and some panels, they situate close to the torso but is still bulky.

The head sculpt is great, with a permanent snarl, and the huge fin at the top.

He's a good size in robot mode, average height and feels okay in hand.

His chest has a great amount of detail, too bad the spark crystal in his chest is not transparent.

By default, you can leave the fins on his body, but no matter how you angle them, they stick out at an awkward angle.  Although this is accurate to the original toy.

For articulation, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

The fins on his back can detach to become weapons, and he has the missile pod.

The missile pod can be held in his hands, but it looks a bit small and stumpy.

While he can hold the finds like a kind of small blade, they also look cheesy.

However, he does have that giant claw for his left hand, and that looks impressive.  Given the shoulder pads are more symmetrical this time around, he loses some asymmetry that had made his unique.

It's hard to know why since the previous toy was like this (and it does stem back to the original toy), but his legs feel very insubstantial.  They're thin and light with most of the bulk in the upper body and this feels weird.

On the whole though, this is still a solid robot mode and one that is what you can say is a definite upgrade over previous toys.

OVERALL:

Sky-Byte is a good effort.  He's not amazing, but he's solid and doesn't do much wrong.  Yes, there could be improvements, such as bulking up the back of his legs, but otherwise, it's the definitive toy version of the character, as there is no doubt that he's better than all his previous toys.

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