TRANSFORMERS: THE BASICS on SIDEWAYS 

Y'know, if you took Sideways and partnered him with a reimagined Punch/Counterpunch, you could build a whole third faction in the Transformers War that's all about keeping the Autobots and Decepticons at war, all to further Unicron's goals.

Sideways the only transformers character to travel to different dimensions and experience different versions of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.

3:45 Hey Chris McFeely, i should note That in the Galaxy Force version of Cybertron, Noisemaze was Seperate from Sideways

YAY! I'd been waiting so long for this episode! Thanks Chris! Also, I hope you eventually do the Stunticons, and Hot Rod(aka: Rodimus Prime) in future episodes?

He should've appeared in Transformers Cyberverse due to the cast encountering other dimensions

with his origins and switching, I'm wondering if Sideways was inspired by Punch/Counterpunch or Doubledealer.

With Sideways appearing in all these different universes, who knows where he'll pop up next?

Could you do the basics on the Cone Heads

Pretty please do a Basics of Ratchet Chris :)

I feel like Sideways has been more or less replaced with Lockdown as the go-to "neutral-faction" antagonist in the franchise. Would still be cool if he reappeared though.

The traitor who is clever enough to trick both faction of the cybertronian wars even though his name gives it away.

If the Unicron Trilogy version of this character was in the G1 continuity, I'm curious what interactions he would have with Punch/Counter Punch.

I like the idea that he’s a dimension hopper and that he’s been going from cartoon to cartoon and maybe to movie

"the robots in disguise toyline" "no not that one" "or that one" "yeah that one, that the robots in disguise toyline"

Given the whole "multiverse" gimmick of Legacy, I am really shocked that there hasn't been any announcement of a toy of Sideways in the line. It'd be absolutely perfect

Sideways: "Decepticons? Ha, those amateurs don't know the meaning of the word 'deception'."

Sideways was so wasted in ROTF. One of the coolest characters in the Unicron trilogy was reduced to just being a one off enemy.

Question: "Just what direction is Sideways going towards?" Answer: "Who cares, he's Sideways."

He should be in more stories as personally I find a lot of potential in him being a universe hoping Herald of Unicron and possible equal to the Fallen.

That awkward moment when a character has more involvement in the *VIDEO GAME ADAPTATION* of a film than in the film itself!

Sideways is pretty much like the Joker, in that his origin story is multiple choice.

I remember being extremely confused by the opening scene of Revenge Of The Fallen when i first saw it. My six year old mind genuinely did not understand that the silver Autobot car Sideswipe and the silver Decepticon car Sideways that appeared in the same scene were two different characters. Don't ask why.

To quote the Joker: "if I'm going to have an origin, I'd rather it be multiple choice"

Sideways was a cool character in armada he deserves a remake in generations and a studio series figure in my opinion

He REALLY needs an evergreen-IDWy design in the Generations toyline. Great character.

No mention of how Sideways ended his Ask Vector Prime tenure with a question that made his head explode?

I'm more familiar with Cybertron Sideways, and I really liked the character. I think someone that transforms between factions is a fun addition to a series that is so often good guys versus bad guys. They can transform their bodies, why not their (supposed) loyalties?

Definitely Armada Sideways was his best role. I always found him an interesting character to watch. Wondering what he would do next.

I just tend to view Sideways as the Loki character of transformers.

Loved Sideways in the unicorn trilogy he is criminally underused in the animated series and most media

....it never registered in my head that Sideways’ gimmick was basically just trolling people...

I loved Sideways in both Armada and Cybertron and I think he's a really neat concept that we don't see enough of wildcard swapping between Autobot and Decepticon so I hope he's back one day

Sideways was one of my favorite parts of Armada. I rewatch his debut episode every now and then when I feel like watching an Armada episode. And I always thought his head under his minicon helmet was neat, I wish we could've seen more of him like that.

It was too bad that in Revenge of the fallen, He did the SPLITS.

I wish the Geewunners would stop throwing a fit every time a non G1 character gets a new figure. I've been wanting the Generations line to update the Unicron trilogy characters for years. Instead we keep getting the same G1 characters over and over and over again.

I think it’s cool that he’s a herald of Unicron and I like that his head becomes the rider is very cool

Hmm interesting I never knew that sideways was a spy,”headmaster”and a bit more. I though he was a new character to just appear in rotf movie.But this is cool that he was a dimensions hopper to other transformers universe. But thanks for the history of sideways and don’t be a side way.

I wonder if Sideways is an extradimensional being… Whenever he "teleports" or travels to another dimension, he's just moving… sideways. c:

Speaking of characters tied to Unicron: the BASICS on Tarantulas. Needs to happen. Long overdue.

So wait is Sideways just stuck in a Transformers version of Quantum Leap?

Sideways was one of my favorite toys from the Armada line. His Headmaster-Minicon gimmick was just the best to me. Sadly, in the process of moving house one day when I was younger, the toy got run over by a car. Makes me sad even now. Also, I loved his voice in the dub of the anime. It makes me sad knowing that due to people constantly crapping on the Armada anime (despite it not being any worse than the mess that was G1) we'll likely never get another Transformers anime. And even if we did it wouldn't be traditionally animated like RID2001 or Armada.

He's one of my faves from the Unicron trilogy. I like the Idea of him being a Ninja with teleportation and being like Punch/Counterpunch being a Decepticon who poses as an Autobot.

So Sideways is basically invincible, and every time he dies, he wakes up in a new dimension?

Interesting character, I'm surprised that he didn't come out in the original g1 transformers series?

Could you do a Basics for the following: (don't worry, I learned my lesson, I won't post this on every video) Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime- The Prime who succeeded Optimus Action Masters- Transformers without the transformation Space Bridges- Travel between galaxies in instants The War- What sparked this galactic civil war.

It´s a shame Hasbros is not using double agents characters in their currents stories

Sideways appears to be the same kind of Universal Singularity as Unicron used to be before the IDW retcon...

At the moment, the Unicron theory makes the most sense for his origin, because it might mean that he's an offshoot of the entire Unicron as a multiversal entity thing

Goomba's can only go SIDEWAYS in 2D Mario Games.

I friggin LOVED Sideways when I first saw him in Armada! Until I saw him, I'd never even seen a motorcycle transformer. And he was absolutely my favorite toy in the Armada toyline.

Armada Sideways has always reminded me of Naraku. Both can shape shift, both are manipulative, both are really hard to kill and ironically enough both characters share the same voice actor.

The first video you've ever done where I had literally no prior knowledge of the subject! Seems like an interesting character. Maybe I should dive into Armada, finally.

"Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If I'm gonna have a past. I prefer it to be multiple choice." - Joker

Sideways is one of the best things to come out of the Unicron Trilogy. An insane, manipulative Herald of Unicron who stokes the flames of war and hatred between Autobot and Decepitcon for his own ends.

Sideways was my favorite Armada character and I’m always hoping that he’ll get a generations figure

Me: he's a dimension hoping double sided traitor? Sideways behind me with a gun: Always have.

It is very impressive to surpass Starscream on the untrustworthy scale.

I'm surprised Sideways didn't show up in the IDW comics (freaking SKYBYTE and WASPINATOR made it into that series). He could have been perfect in a Lost Light adventure.

I just realized something... Multiple Choice origin story.... Mysterious and Duplicitous in nature.. Enjoys causing chaos and confusion because he can... Oh my god, he's the Transformers incarnation of the Joker!

When he said that Sideways (and Soundwave) made the mistake of getting between Megatron and Starscream while they were fighting, I initially thought he was going to be offlined by a cosmically powered Starscream.

Wow, I didn't know there was a whole backstory in the multiverse about Sideways dimension hopping. I honestly prefer solely the Armada origin story, where he was created by Unicron and was a cold and serious bot. Particularly, the Japanese version left it ambiguous as to whether hew was a servant of Unicron, or an extension of Unicron's own consciousness. Fun Fact: Sideways voice actor in the English version was Paul Dobson, who was the brother of two of Armada's other voice actors-Michael Dobson (Starscream) and Brian Dobson (Red Alert)!

I've seen Lockdown as a modern update on Sideways.

Maybe the head has always been Micronus Prime and the body is a shape shifting, dimensional hoping-capable body Solus Prime created for him. Micronus may be able to use the Microspace to reach all the other universes.

Sideways fact: Sideways pretends he's under Unicron's control. He could destroy all Unicrons if he wanted to, he just has better things to do with his time.

Sideways was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite in Armada because his deceptions were so frustrating and yet he was so good at it that I just had to see what he'd pull next. That and anything associated with Unicron gets me hyped.

It’s be awesome to see Sideways again in a new TF series, playing both sides of the war to further his own agenda. It’s a really cool concept that I think could be utilized more in future TF shows.

Cybertron (series) Sideways was my first ever Transformers Figure! This Episode brought back a ton of great memories. Thanks Chris!

Can you do hotshot please, I've been suggested it many times.

Sideways definitely deserves a new toy soon, most likely in the third part of WFC, since the box art for Earthrise is building up Unicron.

It would be funny to see if an appearence of him in the OG 80's cartoon can be fabricated and then forcefully trigger a mandela effect just to sow more chaos about sideways story as a character, would probably be something he would delight on doing himself tbh.

Thanks for one of my favorite transformers 1 Optimus prime any incarceration 2 hot rod cyberverse 3 side ways armada 4 lug nut animated 5 iron hide movie 6 sound wave any incarceration 7 thunder cracker Cybertron 8 land mine Cybertron 9 star scream any incarceration 10 cliff jumper G1

It's like what you said on the basics for Bulkhead: "The first bot to hold the name isn't always destined to be the most famous". Wise words.

My personal headcannon is that all of the versions of sideways met up and decided to mess with everyone

I thought Armada and Cybertron Sideways were different characters with a similar name. It's hard to tell given how often names were reused, flat out mixed up in the dub, or the change in studios between Energon and Cybertron.

@4:48 TF Prime’s Soundwave Design got a lot of inspiration here.

my headcanon is that he was created by Unicron and since Unicron was a trans-dimensional singular being at the time he got a side effect in his spark that when killed he wakes up in his next universe incarnation

Sideways was one of my favorite characters in Cybertron when I was a kid. And as an adult? Yup, still definitely a favorite. Just a fun character all around.

WARNING: This video brought about "something" in my brain so i made a giant semi-humorous anecdote about armada sideways from a nostalgic 20-something for you all. I hope whomever reads this enjoys it lol and there is a tl;dr version at the bottom. Thanks chris, for real. I personally owned the Armada Sideways figure and i cannot tell you how upset as a kid i was for the decision i made getting him lol. As a kid i was really more into toys that had articulation and such, and couldnt care less about play features more often than not. If it could move its elbows and knees and all that, things like Action figures, *most* transformers etc. I was all about it. That and legos/bionicle and model kits like zoids but I digress. So i get the chance, that lucky chance you love as a kid, most if not all of us know it. to pick up a new toy at the store, not for some holiday or special occasion. JUST BECAUSE. THAT AMAZING FEELING OF A TRIP TO THE TOY STORE JUST CUZ! Thanks to my late mom of course (i love you mom lol R.I.P. and make no mistake not only now but then i know how much she worked to raise me and wouldnt have had it any other way, good, bad, or ugly.) I scouted that transformers aisle, it was what I was feeling for that particular trip, forever looking at the potential picks, this was serious business after all! You dont just bring the toy back cuz you didnt end up liking it! Unless it was actually defective or broken for some reason that hassle was not happening and I was a good boy as a kid LOL. In hindsight, its Caveat Emptor, baby. My mom didnt raise a spoiled brat who made scenes about a plastic toy and even as a kid I knew that. There would be another chance, another holiday, another reward for a good report card one day and it was up to me to make that happen, and be thankful it even did in the first place. Then i saw him. There he was. I will never forget it. It was like every other transformer didnt exist anymore. Optimus who? Megawhat? Jetfire? who cares! ARMADA SIDEWAYS!? THIS IS MY CHANCE! OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN. I loved the show and the character, loved his role as a third faction and the changing head gimmick with his minicons(in another life/era i guess i would have loved the headmaster years of transformers or the machinima-made shows' titanmasters gimmick lol.) And his minicons basically became another figure to boot! It had to be. Not only a lucky pick but economical; basically two figures in one! There could be no other. No, not this time. I made my decision, we checked out from the store, that box glued to my hands from the moment the receipt printed out. I was eyeing that toy on the way home like kids do, reading the box and all of that like it was a damn holy scripture, looking at it as i could and comparing. Imaging it with the other figures and minicons i had a chance to have and the fun scenarios i would get to make up with it and my other toys. We get home. open it up, my kid self just a ball of excitement. It was like nothing else but me and that toy in this, one of those sacred childhood moments. Then i finally got a good chance with him Words cannot describe the moment the realization and disappointment hit me. I think this is why i have trust issues as an adult now LOL. What i now personally refer to as "the armada years phenomena" where the toys, despite better engineering and whatever were a lot of barely moving bricks, i got this...motorcycle that happened to stand and move its arms out a bit. That couldnt move its knees or elbows, hell it barely could move at all beyond basic arm and leg movements and it couldnt even stand well without the right stance! And his head loooked dumb no wonder he neeeded the other two! And i was so disappointed, crushed even! It wasnt a crying type thing, like i said even as a kid i knew there would be other chances and things like christmas to get other toys and i knew even as a kid that my mom worked hard and loved me enough to get this chance even. It would be wrong and rude of me to even think of crying over it, i was about 8 or so and my mom instilled into me early on the understanding of things like this. once again, caveat emptor. (so i guess i would have also hated the early headmasters transformers probably too lol). I couldn't even take solace in the minicons combining rider form for the motorcycle mode because the connection was flimsy for the two due to that not being the most important feature for the toy, obviously. It struck me as so weird the minicons so often had more articulation and whatnot than the actual figures. I would hide my initial feeelings of being upset and take the toy to my room, eventually just would sometimes use the figure and minicons but otherwise just grew and learned a lesson on that day. from then on I would scan the pictures of toys in the future trips to the toy store like a damn detective for that all important articulation moving forward, and i would make sure i could see the important (to a kid like me back then) things no matter the toy. Life would move on and i would lose that toy and others or give them to friends, gain and lose interests, friends, things, and unfortunately my mother too. But it was overall, if i had to put a lesson to this weird ted talk anecdote thing, the importance of your purchase and rolling with the punches when you made ones you regret. Even to this day as an adult thanks to this silly dramatized-in-retrospect account of my personal experience with the Armada Sideways i have grown and i think do better with what i buy with what is now my own worked-for money and things and look back understanding, and i know it sounds cliche and trite and sappy, that overall it was a gift and really is thanks to the mom who gave me the chance to even buy the toy and learn the lesson and at least the Armada Sideways figure gave me that. But it sure as shit didnt give me actual knees and we all know they could have done it even my kid self acted like i was a college level engineer looking at this thing going over it like "YOU GAVE ME THIS CONVULUTED CHEST PLATE MECHANIC BUT COULDNT SPARE ME A COUPLE OF BALL JOINTS HOW DO THE MINICONS HAVE BETTER ARTICULARTION JUST ALONE NOT EVEN COMBINED FOR WHAT WOULD BE THE HORNS ON SIDEWAYS' HEAD BUT THIS THING CANT EVEN KNEEL, *CANT EVEN STAND WHAT WERE THOSE ANKLE JOINTS/MOTORCYCLE SEAT PARTS EVEN I SHOULD HAVE JUST GOTTEN RED ALERT INSTEAD BUT NOOOO. Just my attempt to humor up the ending of this weird combination of rememberence and a ted talk seminar and anecdote about this particular toy. It stuck with me over the years enough to even remember so i wanted to share it since this kind of thing is rare to do. Thanks for reading my dumb, long, comment, and thank you chris for the video. And dont worry i got you covered TL;DR - i got the actual armada sideways and i regretted it as a kid but i even then went on with life and was thankfully not a spoiled brat about the whole thing. my mom was great r.i.p. mom.

Really liked Sideways as a kid. Really loved the concept that one could simply change sides in the war. Also loved that the minicons could ride him.

8:28 they got inspired by the Doctor who logo from season 7 with Matt Smith who's playing The Doctor

Fun Fact: Sideway's name in Japan is Double-Face.

Maybe his personality is everything in between that those rewrites list him as Maybe sideways knows he's not real.

Ironic, I ordered a Cybertron Sideways and it turned up today haha

Finally, a Unicron Trilogy era character. This was a great episode

Armada sideways has always been my favourite version of the character

Sideways was such a cool character. That's cool that he was in the Allspark Almanac, I should probably but it sometime.

Yes THANK YOU!!. I've been waiting on this episode. Armada was the 1st Transformers series that got me hooked on the deep lore of Transformers and Sideways was always my favorite from the series. And while he hasn't gotten much screen time since Cybertron and the Bayformers movies there is still so much they could do with him I'm surprised he's not in more Transformers Media. As for why their seems to be 2 of the same Sideways existing simultaneously of each other (End of Cybertron and Universe Hopper) I actually have a theory on that.

Do the basics on the crossover transformers Ectotron, Maverick and Gigawatt

The Armada version was really something and was part of what got me hooked despite the questionable animation. And despite the whining of a certain Wiki’s editors, I LOVE the idea that among all the negated singularities following the Shrouding, he was the only one that survived.

In the Dreamwave Armada comics, Sideways was a Decepticon, and when Unicron was about to devour Cybertron, he was among the Cybertronians defending their planet. ROTF sideways did more in USS Transformers the ride where he fought Bumblebee.

To be fair like so many Transformers in Bay's movies RotF Sideways was basically just in-name only. They took name that sounded cool and gave it to some generic Decepticon.

This is who I think Sideways is, I think of him as a bot who has an indestructible spark, just like Starscream, and is able to regenerate his body meaning no matter how many times he dies he still comes back, since he travels around the multiverse he would change his form (and part of his personality) to confuse people. (his favorite form would be a purple & yellow motorcycle) just like the trickster he is, Sideways is a bot waiting in the shadows for his next trick.

RID Sideways could be a repaint of Legacy Velocitron Road Rocket, but Armada Sideways would require a new toy altogether. Maybe a voyager with two Titan Masters, each with an individual helmet part. Add in a non-transforming Core figure of Mirror and an extra head, then he would be complete.

Was hoping titans return would of made a ver of him with the grove cw figure maybe in selects they will do it side ways was my favrite from armada

What if they never killed Sideways in ROTF and he turned out to be connected to Unicron, leading to him being introduced much sooner?

Didn't realize I had the cyberton mold, was redecod as ratbat, was a 2 pack with springer.

If it were up to me I’d bring back his Armada incarnation. Make him a traitor that serves Megatron. But give him a false split personality so he can switch sides sometimes. Then when Unicron is introduced he reveals his true colors as his herald, having secretly sown chaos to feed his dormant master. That’s when he switches his Autobot/Decepticon insignia for one of Unicron’s.

I keep laughing at the fact Sideways is so cool but got killed so easily by Sideswipe in his live action version.

I love cybertron sideways, sideway's goofy when he sang once I was afraid so funny

Personally, I'd love to see an MP version of Armada Sideways. The bike which transforms into a neutral Cybertronian, then the rider of the bike splits into two Minicons, which become the head of either the Autobot or Decepticon version. And not only that, the spare one either becomes a shield or weapon for the robot. If they could pull all that off, in full MP glory,.... that wound be most impressive indeed.