Most of the Decepticons from the Transformers (2007) film took the forms of military vehicles. They were all blunt instruments exhibiting nothing more than mean expressions and brute force. Sideways, a new addition to the Decepticon ranks for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, brings a little sophistication to the proceedings.

In both modes, Sideswipe is built for speed. Sideswipe is an official licensed product of General Motors, and thus its vehicle mode is a genuine scale model of the real Corvette “Stingray”. The Stingray is a concept car, and not likely now to ever make it into production. The vehicle is cast in two shades of metallic grey plastic, and the outer shell has an additional coating of metallic silver paint.

As to be guessed from its very name, Nissan GT-R Convoy assumes a vehicle mode of, wait for it, a Nissan GT-R sports car. As with the Binaltech Transformers, this is a fully licensed scale model version of the real thing. Unlike Binaltech, the scale here is significantly smaller, 1/32 instead of 1/24. Actually more in keeping with the scales of the original Autobot cars from the original Transformers line. This new, more compact scale works much better.

In the Transformers (2007) film, Jazz sports an incredibly sleek, agile and elegant form; both as a robot and as a Pontiac Solstice. Sadly, though, this hasn’t translated well at all to toy form. Sure, it’s only a £10 action figure, but compared to the likes of Bumblebee and Barricade, it’s a disappointment nonetheless.

Bumblebee has become a bona fide film star. As the lead character in the “Transformers (2007)” feature film, Bumblebee is the one that the next generation of Transformers fans are likely to pick up first. The saying goes that: “the driver don’t pick the car, the car picks the driver”. Apt in this case, that’s for sure.

Barricade represents a first in the Transformers universe. In a moment of sheer why hasn’t it been done before? inspiration, the Decepticon forces have at last allowed one of their own to transform into a police car.

Firecracker’s mould was reissued again in the year 2000 for the Japanese “Car Robots” range as “Eagle Killer”.

A second issue of Firecracker’s mould was released in the same year: as Sideswipe.

Firecracker, released in 1995 amongst the first wave of “Go-Bots” under the Transformers: Generation 2 brand*, is a 1:64 scale Lamborghini Diablo sports car that can transform into a robot that’s prone to falling over.

1993 sees a re-release of the Hubcap mould. What was cast in yellow plastic is now cast in chrome red.