Deep Cover

tfwiki.net

Over a decade ago, I saw a preorder on BigBadToyStore.com for a black version of Sideswipe.  I don't remember what the preorder price was, but I remember remarking to myself about how foolish it was for Takara to release it.  It wasn't a real Transformer, I told myself.  It wasn't official, I reasoned.  I even went so far as to mention this on the Allspark's message board.  I had no idea about the significance of the reasoning behind the release.  I also didn't realize that eHobby wasn't a division of Takara.

I had a passing knowledge of Diaclone that I had picked up over the last few years.  By that I mean that I knew that Diaclone was a thing and that the Transformers came form this line.  But I knew more than my friends, so there was that.  After I decided to start this blog two years ago, my knowledge of Diaclones expanded greatly.  Thanks to Heroic Decepticon's blog, Maz at the TFSource blog, and the TFWiki, my knowledge both increased and felt pitiful at the same time.  I had no idea that there were so many variations of early Transformer releases that I had loved as a kid.  A police car version of Sunstreaker?  A red Hoist?

Then Heroic Decepticon had to run across a figure that still floats into my head from time to time:  the heretofore unknown Black Diaclone Sideswipe.  After reading about it and seeing the glorious pictures of black Sideswipe, my mind wouldn't let it go.  Will I ever own such a rare figure?  No, not ever.  I could, however, own the eHobby version.  I've been thinking about a owning Deep Cover ever since I learned about HD's find.  The price; the price just always seemed too steep for some reason.  Finally, I just couldn't stand the thought anymore and decided to pull the trigger.

Deep Cover is the source of a...discussion between my wife and myself over whether or not I should open him, but since he's mine, I opened him.  He is stupendous.  First, the box is pretty.  The G1 grid coupled with the nice big window just looks gorgeous.  The tech spec card being so prominent is a first for me.  I'm used to seeing those bagged with the instructions.

Once Deep Cover was out of the box, I was struck by just how powerful a simple switch from red to black can make a figure.  I've always been fond of the Sideswipe mold, but it just looks much more impressive in black.  The addition of the gold police shield is a nice touch as well.

Here we have my Takara Collection Sideswipe with Deep Cover.  The black just looks so much more imposing.  I know that the red Lamborghini was all the rage back in the 1980's, but I still like the black better.

Here are Sideswipe and Deep Cover in robot mode.  I thought that I had taken pictures of Deep Cover by himself, but who knows what I shoot at 2am?  As you can see, all of the blacks on Sideswipe were swapped with blues for Deep Cover.  Even the missile launcher was cast in a blue plastic.  The impression that I get from this assortment of colors is that Deep Cover can blend into the shadows if needed. 

Deep Cover is a figure that I didn't necessarily need; if I had skipped him, I would have been fine.  My collection wouldn't feel incomplete with the omission of a Japanese exclusive figure that is a homage to a Japanese precursor to the Transformers.  Especially since the focus of my collection is the US run.  Still, having him makes my collection feel more robust.  Certainly I'm happier for having him.