 Essentially, Sideswipe with sirens. However, you could also think of him as Red Alert. :-) If only the molding would cooperate... An interesting thing to note about the sirens on this unit. I had a close look at the Japanese Diaclone and compared it to the Red Alert. Not only does it share the variation with Red Alert, but also with the GiG version of the Diaclone Police Countach. In the scans below you can see the sirens for the Japanese Diaclone Police Sideswipe. On the central silver chrome section between the red lights, there are four indented vertical slits in a row. Red Alert and the GiG Police Swipe have those slits too, but on the Italian Diaclone and the later TFs, those slits are shorter and don't stretch up to the top of the chrome section, they are much more vertically central (Japanese Diaclone left, Italian Diaclone right).
And speaking of differences, if you haven't read the Autobot section on the diecast molding variants, you should check it out, because it applies to variants here as well (the 1, 2, and 3-line foot info is a must, as is the weapons-changes). - Japanese Diaclone Sideswipe: 1 verical line for each foot. - Italian Diaclone Sideswipe (Red): 1 vertical line for each foot. - Italian Diaclone Police Sideswipe: 3 vertical lines for each foot. - USA Sideswipe: 1, 2, or 3 vertical lines for each foot. - USA Red Alert: 2, and 3 vertical lines for each foot. - Reissue Clampdown and Deepcover: 3 vertical lines for each foot. - All Reissues have 3 vertical lines for each foot.
All the best- Maz |