Sideswipe/Cartoon continuity

Of all the characters in your favorite cartoon growing up, Sideswipe was certainly one of them!

The Transformers cartoon
Sideswipe was part of the initial crew of Autobots aboard the Autobot ship when it crash-landed on Earth four million years ago. He awoke along with his fellow Transformers in 1984, with both he and his brother being reformatted into Lamborghini sports cars. He volunteered for an unsuccessful mission to foil a Decepticon attack on an oil rig. After Soundwave and Ravage were discovered snooping around headquarters, he was one of the Autobots who attempted to shoot Ravage before he could escape. He also took part in the rescue mission to Sherman Dam when the Decepticons attacked it.

He and Sunstreaker came to Trailbreaker's aid when the Autobot was attacked by Seekers, and he had to console Sunstreaker after his brother's paint job was damaged. Sideswipe was part of the Autobot team which went to the ruby crystal mines of Burma to foil yet another Decepticon attack, and he watched in horror as Optimus Prime was caught in an explosion. He took part in the last-ditch effort to stop the Decepticons blasting off in their space cruiser. The Decepticons managed to blast off anyway, and Sideswipe loaned Optimus Prime the use of his rocket pack so that the Autobot leader could go after them. Though Prime failed, Mirage disabled the cruiser, causing it to plunge into the sea, and the Autobots celebrated.

Sideswipe was among the Autobots who were trapped in a cave after Megatron used Bumblebee to lead them there. When antimatter-fueled Decepticons attacked the Autobots' headquarters on one occasion, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker took to the air to battle with the incoming Seeker jets in a rambunctious, if ultimately ineffective, display of "jet judo". He also defended Autobot Headquarters against the Decepticons while Optimus Prime was out of action.

When investigating tremors that were shaking the Autobot base, Ironhide's scanner found some interesting objects inside a rock wall. Sideswipe, using his piston-like arms, helped Brawn remove the rock wall and found a cave full of dinosaur bones, the discovery of which would lead to the development of the Dinobots. Unfortunately, at their unveiling, the Dinobots ran wild, and the Autobots had to subdue them. During a subsequent battle at the Great Falls, Sideswipe and the other Autobots were taken prisoner by the Decepticons, and they were only saved from destruction by the reactivated Dinobots.

Sideswipe helped Wheeljack by recovering their frozen comrade Skyfire and came with the rest of the group to Peru, where he assisted in shooting a rockslide into rubble. After Wheeljack capped the energy stream from a local temple with one of his new inventions, Sideswipe flashed his lights on with the other Autobots to celebrate. Sideswipe was chosen by Wheeljack to test two new Dinobots. Though he smashed Swoop out of the air, Snarl was able to get in a counterattack and shoot Sideswipe down.

When Soundwave's cassettes infiltrated Autobot Headquarters, Sideswipe went to take a shot at Rumble, only to be attacked by Ravage. The presence of Cybertron in Earth's orbit caused the volcano in which Headquarters was located to become active, forcing Sideswipe and the rest of the Autobots to evacuate. After Cybertron was blasted out of orbit, the Autobots tracked the Decepticons to Doctor Arkeville's secret laboratory, where they fought to prevent the Exponential Generator from destroying Earth.

Heading to Bali to investigate reports of giant robotic insects, the Autobots found their way blocked by some sort of parade. Sideswipe led the other Autobots down a "short cut" which turned out to be a dead end. He totally meant to do that. He put his pistons and drills to work, and in no time at all, he and Sunstreaker were charging recklessly into battle against the Decepticons. Megatron picked him up and threw him at the rest of the Autobots. As they pursued the Decepticons across the island, Shrapnel used his override waves on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, forcing them to try and ram their fellows. Trailbreaker disrupted the control signal, and the brothers were able to take part in the battle against the Decepticons and Insecticons at the oil refinery.

Sideswipe turned out to cheer on Optimus Prime during the Autobot leader's one-on-one fight against Megatron. To the shock of all of the Autobots, Prime lost, and they were legally obligated to vacate the planet. Once they returned to base, they discovered that Megatron had cheated, and they were legally allowed to blast the Decepticons into a crevasse filled with lava.

When the Autobots' human friend Spike was badly injured in a Decepticon attack and his mind was transferred into Autobot X, the stress affected his psyche and he ran rampant. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker attempted unsuccessfully to subdue him and were knocked aside. Though Spike was restrained by Optimus, he later fell in with the Decepticons, and a group of Autobots including Sideswipe went to try and talk some sense into him. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Bumblebee faced battle taxis and Constructicons in New York City during a Decepticon plan to recreate Cybertron on Earth. As the Seekers attacked Optimus, who was scaling the Decepticon tower, Sideswipe launched himself into the air, grabbed Starscream, and managed to wrestle the Decepticon air commander into crashing into the Hudson. Sideswipe was later one of the Autobots affected by Megatron's personality destabilizer device, turning him evil. He got better.

When Optimus Prime took the Autobots to test Wheeljack's latest invention, the Immobilizer, Sideswipe came with them. Decepticons attacked soon after, with Sideswipe leaping at Starscream in midflight and forcing the Decepticon to fire on his own comrades. When the Decepticons retreated, Sideswipe returned to Autobot headquarters with his comrades while Wheeljack recovered from his immobilization. Once Wheeljack was back to normal, Sideswipe was part of Optimus Prime's team to recover the Immobilizer. Rumble began immobilizing various Autobots, and Sideswipe decided that he was going to defeat Rumble shortly before being immobilized himself. When Spike's friend Carly was able to reroute the Immobilizer, Sideswipe and the other Autobots were freed.

Sideswipe took part in a charity Autobot race which was hijacked by the Decepticons when they used a Transfixatron on the racers. The Autobots were taken to a ghost town to be destroyed, but were rescued by a small group who had escaped the ray's effects. Sideswipe joined the others in lining up to be fixed by Ratchet. He rolled out to Quantum Laboratories to investigate a Decepticon incursion and found himself battling TORQ III-controlled machinery, at one point getting his gun shot out of his hand and being caught in a machine's robot arms. Having overcome that, Sideswipe took part in the attack on the oil refinery which the Decepticons had set up to steal the world's oil supplies.

Sideswipe helped install detection panels for Wheeljack, but he did not come with the other Autobots to help Doctor Fujiyama, nor did he chase after Fujiyama's robot when it was reprogrammed by Bombshell. Sideswipe was present when the Autobots were confronted by the fact that they had two Optimus Primes, but didn't offer any suggestions or solutions. He took part in a mission to place dominator disks on the Constructicons. Though he didn't place any disks himself, he ended up battling Devastator until Chip Chase could activate the disks and bring the giant under control. He also took part in an attempt to destroy the drill which the Decepticons were using to reach Earth's core, and he was one of the first Autobots to be zapped by Devastator after Megatron counteracted the dominator disks.

During yet another Dinobot rampage at Headquarters, Sideswipe was ready to fight them to the end, but Optimus persuaded Grimlock to get things under control, and the Dinobots were sent to Dinobot Island for more training. Sideswipe took part in repair efforts, but was part of the team of Autobots who responded to strange time warp readings near the city library. After using his pistons to dig out Bumblebee and Spike, Sideswipe and the other Autobots found themselves tangling with barbarians on woolly mammoths. They took some rounding up, but soon the anachronisms were sent back through the time warp to their own time.

As a result of another of Megatron's plots, the Autobots were framed and forced to leave Earth in a rocket provided by Shawn Berger. Trickery on Megatron's part further put the ship on a collision course with the Sun. Utilising the abilities of Trailbreaker and Cosmos, and with the unwitting help of Thrust, the Autobots were able to make it back to Earth, where the Decepticons had already shown their true colors, and free the humans.

Disabled by Cybertonium depletion, Sideswipe was as helpless as the other Autobots until Spike, Carly and the Dinobots managed to procure some more from Cybertron. Sideswipe was part of the team that transformed to respond to a distress call when the Decepticons stole the Voltronic Galaxer, but didn't actually roll out, so it's a mystery where he actually went. He also coated himself with Electrum, along with most of the other Autobots, in order to fight the Decepticons.

When Tracks and Raoul were discovered spying on a Decepticon operation, Sideswipe came to their aid, grabbing Ravage mid-leap and slamming the cassette to the ground. He also took part in the battle against Decepticon drones in downtown New York and attacked the Decepticon base in the Pine Barrens. After the disappearance of a group of Autobots through the space bridge, Sideswipe watched Chip Chase unsuccessfully attempt to track them down using Teletraan I.

Sideswipe was one of Kremzeek's casualties when the energy critter invaded Autobot Headquarters. He and Sunstreaker took part in the Europa 2000 in order to protect Auggie Cahnay's car from possible Decepticon abduction. Sideswipe forced Sunstreaker to take a detour in Italy, and a short time later, they were ambushed by Stunticons, who boxed them in so Dead End could shoot them. Both brothers were knocked out of the race.

Like every other Autobot, Sideswipe turned out to rescue Perceptor from the Decepticons and was subsequently infected by Cosmic Rust. After being cured, he and the others attempted to stop Megatron and the Insecticon army. When the Combaticons attempted to send Earth into the Sun, Sideswipe joined in the search for the Insecticons, who had stolen the space bridge control panel. They were eventually located, allowing a combined Autobot/Decepticon force, including Sideswipe, to travel to Cybertron and defeat the Combaticons. Sideswipe was able to reverse the damage done by the Combaticons and return Earth to its proper orbit.

"We're wastin' good ammo on these creeps! I'd like to just squash a few of 'em!"

- Sideswipe

When the Stunticons stole a collection of components and were captured by the Autobots, Optimus Prime hatched a scheme to disguise some of the Autobots as the Stunticons in order to learn Megatron's latest plan. Sideswipe was sprayed with camouflage paint to make him look like Breakdown, though he sincerely hoped the paint would come off. He and the other four Autobots drove to the Stunticons' destination to discover that Megatron was building yet another cannon. Menasor arrived at the construction site, having escaped Autobot containment, and Optimus and the others were forced to improvise their own version of the combiner. Luckily, the rest of their comrades arrived before things could get too out of hand.