Being in the toy business, I sometimes go places I am not invited. Last year I was in El Segundo and saw a few toy companies rented out suites, and I saw robots so I waved hello to the people and asked to see the Blokees as my pals wer talking about them. I saw SG-Sideswipe and thought they were tiny and cute - kind of like old-school Battle Beasts - and I asked about the pricing. I thought they were pulling my leg - you can't get anything for under $3 unless it's Mattel making a toy care or a can of Hasbro Play-Doh! But here we are, a little figure model kit (emphasis on little) for a pretty low price. This is the kind of thing that I think could drastically alter who collects toys, making them affordable, provided they get in front of more people.
SG-Sideswipe is a 2-inch tall robot figure. It's a little shorter than Beast Saga, it's a little taller than a Battle Beasts figure. It's almost exactly like the larger figures in terms of build - other than the head and chest, mot of the parts are shared with other characters. G1 and G2 Sideswipe figures are inevitable, and much of the basic figure parts could be repurposed for any of several other characters. It's not generic enough to be anybody like a LEGO man, but I imagine Blokees could do a lot of business on these molds alone.
For $3, it's pretty amazing. But it's not accurate. I would go as far as to say this doesn't really matter, due to what you get, what you're paying for it, and that the bulk of the audience who will likely randomly get this has no preconceived notion of a BotCon exclusive from 15 years ago or its recent web-only exclusive redux. The Hasbro Shattered Glass Sideswipe toys have different color layouts, and tend to be grayer instead of black. The helmet tends to be gray. Teh shoulders have at least some teal on them - the Blokees toy doesn't. Does it matter? To some fans I assume it very much will, but to the rest it's just a cool robot. It also leaves the door open for Blokees to go back and redo the figure, and it also provides us with some insight as to Hasbro's approval process for its licensed partners. Apparently, you get a lot of leeway if there's no style guide for a sub-brand like Shattered Glass. While it would be impossible to represent at this size, I miss the tiny crossed-out Autobot logo and the tiny Decepticon logo.
His blaster is the same as Prowl/Ironhide/Scavenger, with a backpack we will no doubt see reused for other characters in coming months. You can swap all of these around, and odds are someone on their team were familiar enough with Glyos to say "let's try that." Customizers have a lot to play with here - for example, Sideswipe's eyes aren't painted. They're actually a red piece you insert in the head. It's very clever, and gives you a chance to change out the eye color if you really want.
The figure is jointed very well. There's a ball joint at every point of assembly, giving you surprisingly good motion everywhere. The cannon is on a ball joint. So are the shoulders, wrists, knees, hips, ankles, elbows, waist, and neck. There are 14 points of articulation, but the range of movement is good enough that you're probably going to be pretty happy without double-elbows.
Given what a toy typically costs in 2025, it is downright rare to see anything below $5. Below $3 is even less likely. If they can get these in stores where kids shop, and with more brands, I could see this taking off in ways Stikfas only dreamed. I'd recommend getting one of these guys - if not this one in particular. Any of the bots are built similarly and the construction is the kind of thing that may make you ask how come we didn't have something like this much earlier.
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