Action Master Sideswipe

I will always believe that one of the great tragedies of the Generation One line was that Hasbro discontinued it in the United States. I understand the line was failing in the U.S. by 1990, but they sure did release some awesome figures in 1991 and 1992 over seas in Europe. Some of those figures included the fantastic former Japanese exclusive Overlord, the Autobot Brain Masters, re-releases of the original toys as the first "Classics", and all new Action Masters. One such Action Master was Sideswipe.

Like all of the previous Action Masters, Sideswipe was designed to be similar in his look to his original animated counterpart. Hasbro did a great job of blending the classic toy version of him with the animated version for a great looking figure. He is painted in primarily red and white with his black helmet. His Action Master partner (like most of them) was just ridiculous. He came with a tank which transformed into a helmet and battle armor. Call it what you want, I think Sideswipe would have gotten decimated by the Decepticons if he went into battle with that thing. Excellent figure, but a really dumb accessory.