Threezero Transformers Sideswipe MDLX Action Figure
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00From Countach to collectible, here's a look at the brand-new 3Zero Transformers
00:05MDL-X Sideswipe.
00:093Zero is proud to announce the release of MDL-X Sideswipe, a redesigned version of the
00:31brash young Autobot warrior.
00:32The Transformers MDL-X line of figures are based on the 1980s Transformers cartoon and
00:36toy line, as redesigned by 3Zero art director Kelvin Tso.
00:40The iconic designs have been remixed to incorporate 3Zero's hyper-detailed mechanical aesthetic,
00:45offering a familiar and exciting new presentation.
00:48While we can only hope if we're getting a Sideswipe, it won't be long before he
00:51gets his Lamborghini brother Sunstreaker.
00:54Just before we get a closer look at the new MDL-X Sideswipe, first I'd like to thank
00:58the folks over at 3Zero that did provide the sample we could have a look at.
01:01While I'm doing my thing of measuring off the figure, I did also want to tell you guys
01:04that this guy is slated to release the third quarter of 2024 for around $80 online.
01:09Sideswipe though is going to stand at about 5 and 3 quarters of an inch in height, or
01:13the figure is 14 centimeters tall.
01:15I have a couple of other MDL-X Autobots that I could bring in for comparisons.
01:19First the original, here's what the figure looks like with Optimus Prime.
01:21You know, the way that they keep continuing to improve the look of these MDL-X figures
01:25sadly unfortunately make Optimus Prime look even more outdated.
01:29I think it's prime time, I see what I did there, prime time that we get ourselves a
01:32brand new MDL-X Optimus Prime.
01:35And then speaking of other Autobots, here's what the figure also looks like with Bumblebee.
01:39Sideswipe obviously is a lot taller than Bumblebee, but he's not though as quite as tall as Optimus.
01:44Following the format of these MDL-X reviews, before we get down to the details and we look
01:47at the various accessories that come included with Sideswipe, first thing that we'll look
01:51at is the instruction sheet.
01:53You mean booklet?
01:54No, actually it is a sheet.
01:55It's only printed on, well it's technically printed on both sides, but I would still consider
01:58this a sheet.
01:59One side though shows you how to swap out his various arm attachments, does also give
02:03you a breakdown of all the things that come included with Sideswipe.
02:06And then on the backside, it just shows you as well, you can install the shoulder cannon.
02:10One thing you won't be installing, like the larger DLX variety, there's no batteries.
02:14You don't have to worry about buying batteries for these because they don't have any lights.
02:17Like I said though, the figure does come included with quite a lot of things.
02:20First he comes with some swappable hands.
02:22He already has close fists on the ends of his hands that aren't going to be doing much
02:25of anything.
02:26He does though have gripping hands for ideally holding the blaster.
02:29The figure also comes included with a pair of relaxed hands.
02:32Any one of these hands can easily be swapped out.
02:34Well, I shouldn't say easily swapped out.
02:36You can remove the hands, but popping the new hands in place always seems to be a problem.
02:41More so that just the fact that because it's a ball joint that we're dealing with, when
02:44you go to remove a hand, for example, I'm just going to take this one off, for example,
02:47we're going to pop that one off.
02:49When you go to put that in a new hand, the hand always seems to shift this joystick ball
02:54joint back and forth.
02:56You can kind of just twist it and I find sometimes that helps to pop it in place before the joints
03:01start to move.
03:02But you can see it moves very frequently.
03:05There we go.
03:06Popping the one hand in.
03:07And of course, now that we've done that, he can hold himself his blaster.
03:10The figure does come included with his blaster and it does look good.
03:12I like this metallic gun metal silver that they've given it.
03:16It is very nicely detailed as you can see there as well.
03:19There is a nozzle, a hole I should say, on the end of the nozzle that almost lends the
03:22idea that it could have come included with a blast effect, but we don't have any firing
03:25effects that tend to come include these MDLX figures.
03:28You can take the blaster and you can fit it into Sideswipe's hand.
03:31It's fairly easy, in fact.
03:32You just wiggle it back in place.
03:33There we go.
03:34And because the figure does have so much posability, there's a lot you can do with this figure
03:37when it comes to displaying him.
03:38Oh, but no, there's more.
03:41The figure also comes included with a couple of these arm attachments.
03:43I believe in the cartoon, he does use these at one point.
03:46They're cast in matching silvers here.
03:49One looks to be, they really say on the instructions though, that it's like a pistol one and a
03:54pistol two.
03:55I don't know if I would necessarily consider them pistols.
03:58They do serve a purpose and they're probably purposes that are displayed in the actual
04:02episodes of the cartoon.
04:03Again, if you want to change those out, seeing as we already have him holding a blaster on
04:07one side, let's deal with the other hand.
04:08We'll just pop that off and then, you know, again, if you want to use this one or again,
04:13if you want to use this one, they plug in place the exact same way.
04:16Just wiggle it in place.
04:17Yes, you're still going to have to worry about that ball joint moving around on you.
04:21Just kind of wiggle it back and forth until eventually it gets in place.
04:25I find honestly, like these ones are a little harder to do.
04:28I don't know why.
04:29Maybe it's just because you're a little more blind to see where you're actually putting
04:32it.
04:33You just kind of wiggle it back in place until eventually it plugs in place.
04:36Like I said, this joystick, I keep calling it a joystick, but it kind of really does
04:40look like that.
04:41It always moves around way too much.
04:43It isn't necessarily the fault of side swipes either.
04:46All the MDLX figures, because the joints are so small like this, they're always a pain
04:50to get them in place.
04:51I think I, no, I'll just leave them off for right now.
04:55Let's give him in fact actually a gestured hand.
04:57We'll just put that in place.
04:58Again, I don't know, I feel like the hands are the easiest things to put in place of
05:02at least the things he has and just wiggle it on there really between the two.
05:10This was the harder, this is the harder ball joint to attach the hands onto again.
05:16Just wiggle it.
05:17There we go.
05:18Finally on there.
05:19So it comes with the hands.
05:20The one other thing he has, which is also a nod to the original cartoon, is the shoulder
05:24cannon.
05:25Now, unlike, I want to show you guys the differences between the two.
05:28This is a little bit more like a brushed silver.
05:30You can see like this one is a little bit more of a shinier silver.
05:33Still there's the nozzle on the end or hole on the end that you would think that it could
05:36have something that could have attached onto the end of it.
05:39There's a little bit of a darker air brushing you can see on the top there.
05:42When you attach this, you can actually attach this two ways.
05:46You could have this held in his hands.
05:49He does kind of have almost the right gripping to hold this, although the, obviously the
05:54real reason why you're going to be getting this is it's going to attach onto the tops
05:57of his shoulders.
05:58You want to kind of move his shoulders out of the way.
06:00And Sideswipe actually has two places where the cannon could attach onto.
06:05Most cannon accurately, I probably would have it, oh, I see what I did there.
06:08You probably have it, I would guess, on this side here, but you could have it on the opposite
06:11too.
06:12See these little parts that stick up?
06:14What you'll do is just kind of wiggle one of them off and you just attach it easily.
06:19This would be the first thing you would lose of all of his accessories.
06:22So if you ever take this off, you want to probably make sure you put it into a little
06:25tiny bag because there's no place in the tray to store this.
06:29If you ever take that off, once that's removed, you can look at the bottom of this.
06:32There's a little clip, see that?
06:34And then that's going to fit.
06:36There's actually a little part of the plastic that sticks out and you just clip it in place.
06:43Now I would have liked if this could have had some posability, unfortunately there isn't.
06:47Once you plug it in place, there's nothing that you can actually move to it.
06:50Also too, you really have to plan things out as to how you want to have the figure displayed.
06:54As I did start the review with him kind of pointing his gun forward, you really wouldn't
06:58be able to have him seeing what he's doing because the cannon would just be blocking
07:01his view.
07:02Also to note as well, with his shoulders, with the cannon the way they designed it right
07:06now, you could bring the shoulder part, I guess you would consider the shoulder pad,
07:10this does swing down.
07:12So let me just show you here.
07:13It just swings forward and back, so you could drop it down just a little bit if you still
07:17want him to have the height, again if he's pointing his blaster that way.
07:21Still though, he wouldn't be able to see much of anything because the cannon is just blocking
07:25his view of things.
07:26Getting though a closer look at Sideswipe, Sideswipe was always one of my favorite Autobots
07:31growing up.
07:32Prowl and Sideswipe were my top two.
07:35I think I at one point did in fact have a Sideswipe growing up, although I did buy it
07:39from a garage sale, so it was in some pretty bad poor states.
07:43But from what we get here for $3.0, it definitely does trump the stuff we got from the original
07:46Generation 1 line.
07:48I will say though, one thing I was kind of hoping to see with this figure, and he unfortunately
07:52doesn't have it, is when we had a look at Optimus Prime, one of the included accessories
07:57that came with Prime was Sideswipe's jack pack.
08:00So I thought it would be ideal if they had had an Easter egg here where the back section,
08:04because again these don't transform, this would be the top part of the car.
08:08I was thinking, I was hoping, could this have been something that could have removed and
08:12then underneath that there would have been like a hole and a hole, so a hole and a hole,
08:17so that you could have taken the back jet pack and plugged it in place.
08:20From what I can see at least, it doesn't look like you can actually remove this.
08:24And I don't know, you wouldn't want to fight with it either because clearly it wasn't designed
08:28to be removed.
08:29But I just think that that would have been fun.
08:30The thing, unfortunately though, I mean like if you're comparing the two, there's definitely
08:33a difference of finish.
08:34It's a much more shinier kind of cherry red, whereas this was the original jet pack that
08:39came included with Prime.
08:40It's a little bit more, it's got a little more wear and tear.
08:43Just though I kind of wish that that could have attached some way onto Sideswipe's body.
08:48From the standpoint of the aesthetics of the figure, he's got a great design going for
08:51him.
08:52He definitely has one of the best MDLX head sculpts we've gotten so far.
08:56I should have really brought in Hot Rod, Hot Rod was one of the other ones, or was it Rodimus
09:00Prime?
09:01I think it was Hot Rod that we did get from the MDLX release from before.
09:03I didn't bring him in simply because he wasn't part of the original generation one cart.
09:08He was kind of post-movie, but at the time of certainly Sideswipe and Optimus Prime and
09:12all those characters, I didn't want to really bring in Hot Rod for those reasons.
09:16But I think Hot Rod and Sideswipe are my top two favorites right now for the MDLX.
09:21There's definitely a more finesse polishing that they've added to these newer figures.
09:24Even to some extent, really, like Bumblebee, I'm going to bring Bumblebee in right now.
09:29What they had done for a while, they were doing some panel lining here for Bumblebee.
09:32You don't see a whole lot of that, really, you don't see it at all for a new Sideswipe.
09:36And of course, when you're then comparing it to Optimus Prime, we just bring back in
09:39Optimus Prime here, there's definitely an elevation when it comes to the way they finish
09:43these figures.
09:44Not only does the paint look good, but again, like the way they've done kind of the coloring
09:48of the gray here, they've kind of gone away from the idea of making this look metallic,
09:52and they kind of want to do a hybrid between the designs of the character in the cartoons,
09:57and then again, something that looks like a metal figure.
10:00But I do like the way that they've actually given this guy more like a matte gray finish
10:04here on his arms.
10:05Obviously, his mid-abdomen area, and then his lower legs there as well.
10:09The red looks fantastic.
10:11Very nicely polished, as you can see, he's got the Autobot symbol there front and center
10:14on the front of his grill.
10:15Now, of course, if this was to transform, I mean, looking at this, it almost feels like
10:20you want to start to flip things around, but obviously, it's not designed to do that.
10:24But it does look good, though.
10:25I'm really happy with how this one turned out.
10:27Some of the little also things that I like on the back here is that the tops, so again,
10:32these would be the backs of the car here, and this would be like the spoiler.
10:35There's actually a little bit of a spring suspension on the back of the spoilers there,
10:39and I also really like that they added these tailpipes.
10:41I mean, not the most practical things.
10:43I would also be worried that I would be clipping these if I started to move the figure around,
10:46but I just kind of think it's neat that they added these.
10:49He also does have spinning tires, though they don't spin the easiest.
10:52It's nice to see that they do actually rotate.
10:55So here's where all the figure kind of breaks down when it comes to the articulation.
10:58Like he's got a fair bit of it.
11:00The only thing that kind of hinders some mobility for the figure is actually the skirting that
11:04he has on the front.
11:05Hot Rod also had this similar issue that when you start to move the legs around, these do
11:09move out of the way to be fair, but I found myself a couple of times kind of clipping
11:14these by accident.
11:15More so the ones on the back here, and these popped off.
11:18Luckily, they weren't broken.
11:20They're just attaching by ball joints, so if they happen to pop off, you just pop them
11:24back in place.
11:25But you just want to make sure that when you're moving the legs around that you get these
11:28first completely out of the way.
11:31Now for the figure's articulation, like I said, his head's going to be on a ball joint,
11:34so right away, normally the head would be able to rotate all the way around.
11:37It doesn't quite fully do the job just because like these things are kind of in the way of
11:40things.
11:41He does also have a ball joint at the top, so it allows the head to move up and down.
11:44But in addition to that, Sideswipe does have a ball joint at the base of his neck.
11:49One last time to show you guys what the head sculpt looks like.
11:52Definitely one of the best.
11:53Definitely one of the best.
11:54Now his upper torso is going to be also on not only a ball joint that swivels back and
11:59forth this way, but he also has a crunch.
12:01So the crunch allows the figure's torso to move forward about that far.
12:05You can also arch it back, but sometimes again, like when you're doing this, like this just
12:09was a good example of this, you can see how this skirting pops off.
12:13So if you're looking at it, see there's a hole right there, and there's the ball joint
12:16right there.
12:17So you're basically just going to want to plug this in place.
12:19But you know, again, like there's no real way around this.
12:22If it wasn't really for the fact that there was a ball joint there, the skirt would only
12:26just break.
12:27Because again, like you want to make sure that these be able to move out of the way
12:30to move the legs.
12:31Ah, the arms.
12:32Okay.
12:33So the arms rotate all the way around.
12:35And there's technically a hinge there as well.
12:37So you can bring the hinge of the arms a little bit closer.
12:39So you can either have the look of having the arms a little bit wider out.
12:42This also helps to aid with bringing the arms out this way too, when you drop the arm outward
12:46like this.
12:47Again, you can also bring it inward too.
12:49The shoulders also hinge back and forth there as well.
12:52If you're looking at them, they're actually pegged in place.
12:54So there's a swivel that allows these to move outward this way.
12:57And of course that does also help too, if he wants to bring his arms outward.
13:00There's a swivel there at his bicep.
13:02The figure does also have a double hinge on the elbows and the hands rotate back and forth.
13:07These do also rotate too.
13:08I mean, they don't serve really a purpose other than just being, I guess, if you wanted
13:11to kind of move them out of the way.
13:13The upper torso, like I said, does rock back and forth.
13:15I think I spent more time talking about the crunch forward and back, but yeah, it does
13:18rock back and forth a little bit there as well.
13:19But again, like here's the issue with really both this one, Prime also had this as well.
13:24I guess really all the Autobots, all the Transformers for that matter, and the MDLX
13:29kind of had the same issues with the skirting.
13:31So you really kind of want to make sure that these are outward, for example, and you want
13:35to make sure that these are back there as well.
13:37Of the two, it's always like the back ones that pop off the most frequently, probably
13:42because you have a harder time, honestly, to get access to these.
13:45Just kind of hinge them out a little bit just to clear the space.
13:48And again, like the legs can do almost a full splits.
13:51They would really if this skirt was completely out of the way.
13:53But this skirt is, so you can see that he does a full splits that way.
13:56The legs go forward and the legs go back.
13:59I just want to make sure I'm not hitting that skirt.
14:02You can see how that pushes it.
14:03You can probably also see how that would easily push that out.
14:06He has a swivel there at the top of the thigh, double hinge on the knee.
14:10And the neat thing about with the hinge is that when you hinge it, you can see like he's
14:13got a kneecap that goes for the ride.
14:17The only thing that the figure also is a little bit limited to is that he does have leg articulation,
14:21or I should say he has foot articulation.
14:23So this does rock back and forth.
14:25He does also have toe articulation, but just by the limitations and how confined these
14:29feet are, there's really no way that they've been able to incorporate a proper ankle pivot.
14:33I mean, there is one, but with so much stuff around it, even when you ankle pivot, you
14:38can't do it by much just because again, his legs kind of occupying over top of that.
14:42All in all though, a great looking figure.
14:44Right up there, I would say with Hot Rod, I might even say like this is so far my favorite
14:47of what we've gotten with the MDLX figures.
14:49Probably should have brought in Hot Rod, I probably should.
14:51But yeah, there he is.
14:53And again, he's got this shoulder cannon on the top there.
14:55Let's bring in the Bumblebee and let's bring in the Optimus Prime.
14:59So far, I think we've gotten ourselves four MDLX figures.
15:02And again, there's been paint varieties of those as well.
15:04We did get ourselves a red version of Bumblebee, obviously as Cliffjumper, I believe we did
15:08get ourselves a black or a Nemesis Prime version of Optimus Prime.
15:13I don't think they probably could do all that, but I guess they could tool some different
15:16elements, different aspects of the body parts for sideswipe, give ourselves a Sunstreaker.
15:21Diablo Sunstreaker, notably, I think is a taller character.
15:23Some few different designs, obviously you got Diablo and Countach.
15:27But yeah, really, really liking the look of this one.
15:29The only thing I would say like, and it only comes from the design of the characters and
15:33not necessarily the execution of how they're built, is again, like just the skirting.
15:36You got to be really careful with those because when you're moving the legs inadvertently
15:40and Prime had that also as well, but Prime also had a little bit more space there on
15:44the tops of the sides.
15:45I think you were much easier able to move the legs.
15:48Really do think that Prime needs to get an upgrade though.
15:52He's always kind of really bothered me with Optimus Prime.
15:53They obviously put those there just so he can move his feet around.
15:56I just feel like he really does need an update.
15:58For how good 3-0 have been landing it with these MDLX figures, Bumblebee was good and
16:03I don't think Bumblebee necessarily needs an update, but I think Prime, pardon me for
16:08saying this, it is a prime time for them to do a reissue, a brand new mold of Optimus
16:12Prime because where they set the bar and set the standards right now with your Hot Rods,
16:16with your Sunstreaker side swipes, I think again, like as a result of it, unfortunately,
16:21the leader of the Autobots kind of comes across now a little bit more outdated.
16:26Like the look of the MDLX side swipe?
16:28Yeah, me too.
16:29Like I said, this guy is slated to release the third quarter of 2024 with the asking
16:32price online of $79.99.
16:36I think on average, that tends to be what MDLX figures go for, including the most recently
16:40looked at here on this channel.
16:41I think it was either Starscream, maybe even before that, or Optimus Prime.
16:45I did say earlier it was Hot Rod, it was actually Rodimus Prime.
16:48The figures though, pack a lot of details.
16:50They pack a lot of posability as well.
16:52One little bit of posability that I forgot to mention in this review I found out earlier
16:55is that the shoulder cannon that plugs onto the top of his torso, yeah, that actually
17:00does have a hinge there as well.
17:01So you can actually angle it a little higher up, which I tried to kind of convey here in
17:05final looks, but the figure does have some super posability, which again comes with the
17:09territory of MDLX figures, whether you go with DLX, the larger scale robots, of course,
17:15do have the possession of light up eyes, or if your quarters are a little bit more cramped
17:18and you don't have as much storage space on your shelf, then of course the MDLX figures
17:22are right up your alley.
17:23They have just as much detail as their larger DLX counterparts, but again, just the attention
17:29to detail to what they've been able to do, they're a really nice hybrid of the Transformers,
17:33the original cartoon, and what now 3-0 doing.
17:35They sort of have taken the ideas and they've mushed it together and given us these great
17:39MDLX releases.
17:41Sideswipe, I'm not sure if we'll ever be retooled and repurposed to be a Sunstreaker, but considering
17:47what they've done with other molds before, I mean, that Starscream has been retooled
17:50a couple of times and given us like Thundercrackers and Skywarps, I'm sure probably we're going
17:55to be getting something very similar here for Sideswipe, or hey, why not?
17:59They could also recolor this guy and maybe give us Red Alert, a couple of ideas there
18:03as well.
18:04But like I said, though, a big thank you to the folks over at 3-0 that did provide the
18:07sample of the brand new Sideswipe.
18:09A little disappointed that he didn't actually have the means to attach his backpack from
18:12the Prime, but all things considered, I couldn't be any more happier with Sideswipe, one of
18:17my all-time favorite Autobots.
18:19Big thank you once again to the folks over at 3-0 that did provide this brand new sample
18:22of the MDLX Sideswipe.
18:24Is this a figure that you guys could see yourselves collecting?
18:26Have you been collecting the MDLX figures?
18:28If you have, let me know which ones you have down below in the comments section.
18:31In the meantime, if you guys did enjoy this video, throw it a like, you want to stick
18:34around for more, hit the subscribe, turn on the bell, and of course, as always, come back
18:39As always guys, thanks for watching.
18:41See you guys next time.