Side Burn

Side Burn is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers series. The first Side Burn was one of the main character in the animated series Transformers: Robots in Disguise, voiced by Wally Wingert. He turns into a Dodge Viper. He was based on the Japanese anime character Speedbreaker, from Car Robots series. Since then other characters in Transformers have shared the name Side Burn. In 2011 a new Side Burn toy was the exclusive given for membership in the Transformers Collectors Club.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise
Side Burn (Speedbreaker in Japan) is the youngest and fastest of the Autobot Brothers, Side Burn rockets down highways in his Dodge Viper mode for fun, in pursuit of an enemy - or chasing after his latest flame. Because that's Side Burn's greatest weakness: the ladies. Every time he sees a little red sports car, he falls in love all over again, but can't seem to comprehend that Earth cars aren't alive. His older brothers are Prowl and X-Brawn. His Japanese name, Speedbreaker, is also used on a variant of his tech spec bio (although his picture and tech spec data retain the Side Burn name on the same package).

Animated series
Side Burn debuted in the series opener "Battle Protocol", battling Darkscream and driving him off when he scratched Side Burn's paint job. Side Burn appeared regularly after this. Although a brave and loyal soldier, his lack of maturity often brought him into conflict with Optimus Prime, TAI (the Autobots' sentient computer) and especially his law-abiding brother Prowl. This rebounded when the Predacons used his love of red sports cars to capture him (using Megatron's car mode repainted red) to lure Prime into a trap. On another, he and the Autobots' human ally Koji explored some ruins - only to end up dodging Sky-Byte's missiles after it was revealed that one of the O-parts lay within.

When Prime's brother, Ultra Magnus, came to Earth and forced Prime into a combination that allowed him to share the power of the Matrix, Magnus's link to the Matrix resulted in him inadvertently channelling its energy in the midst of a battle. That energy involved Prowl, Side Burn and X-Brawn, "supercharging" them into newly-colored, more powerful bodies. After a brief amount of training, Prowl and the others were soon able to control this new ability, shifting to "Supercharge Mode" when an extra power boost was needed in battle. Their supercharged modes afforded them no advantage in their final battle with Galvatron, however, as they were strung up and had their energy drained by the villain, until Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus challenged him to a final battle at the Earth's core, and defeated the villain.

Dreamwave Productions
The character also put in a brief appearance in one comic book story in the Dreamwave Summer Special, but no more stories were published. The RiD lost a contest Dreamwave between itself and Beast Wars to gain a mini-series. Before either storyline could get the series Dreamwave went out of business.

3H Enterprises
RiD deluxe Side Burn himself was recolored dark grey with a carbon fiber hood and released in the Universe line. This version of Side Burn appeared in the 2004 Botcon voice actor play.

This Side Burn character made an appearance in the Botcon 2004 vocal play, where he was a member of two groups of Transformers from the RiD universe by Unicron for use in the gladitorial battles repowering him. However, a device built by Rhinox to stop this deflected them instead to a frozen asteroid. Both sides then dispatched teams to locate them. Alongside the future era Transformers Silverbolt, Rattrap and Waspinator, as well as the timelost G1 Autobots Bumblebee, Tracks and Cosmos, they battled and defeated Unicron's Decepticon servants.

Fun Publications
Although 3H Enterprises losing the licence would forestall the conclusion to the Universe storyline, an explanation of sorts would be found in issue 8 of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine Cybertron/Robots in Disguise, where Prime told the tale of how Unicron's forces were defeated in one last battle by Optimus Primal's forces, as Unicron disappeared due to the black hole opened in Transformers: Energon. Side Burn was among those seen escaping.

Toys

 * Car Robots Speedbreaker (C-003) (2000)
 * The original Japanese release of the Deluxe-sized toy. Transforms from a blue (with blue flames) Dodge Viper GTS to robot.


 * Car Robots Super Speedbreaker (C-025) (2000)
 * A repaint of Speedbreaker to depict his "supercharged" mode. Colored red with yellow/orange flames which make him look like Rodimus Prime.


 * Car Robots Kabaya Gum Speedbreaker (2000)
 * The Kabaya Car Robots gum toy series consists of a stick of gum and an easy-to-assemble kit. The completed robot is non-transformable, but is fairly poseable and has translucent plastic parts.


 * Robots in Disguise Side Burn (2001)
 * The U.S. release of Speedbreaker, only with the addition of an Autobot emblem on the roof.


 * Robots in Disguise Super Side Burn (2001)
 * The U.S. release of Super Speedbreaker. Oddly enough, while X-Brawn needed to be modified to avoid a lawsuit from Mercedes-Benz, Super Side Burn had the Viper emblem added to the front end, and the packaging had him labeled as a Viper replica under license from DaimlerChrysler.
 * The Side Burn figure is 12.5 cm long, and a Dodge Viper is 445 cm long. This is a scale of about 1:36. Since he stands 13 cm tall in robot mode, his robot mode would stand 15.4 feet tall
 * This figure was also remolded as Transformers: Universe Roulette and Shadow Striker.


 * Robots in Disguise Spy Changer Side Burn (2001)
 * A smaller figure of Side Burn, based on an unreleased Generation 2 Go-Bots car mold. Bundled with Daytonus.
 * This figure was repainted as Transformers: Universe Spy Changer Autobot Jazz.


 * Universe Deluxe Side Burn (2004)
 * A gray/red redeco of the Deluxe figure.

Transformers: Armada
Another character named Side Burn appeared in the Transformers: Armada toy line, this time as a Mini-Con.

This Side Burn was a spy for the Autobots, infiltrating the cult of the charismatic Decepticon Predacon to discover more about his philosophy of blending organic flesh to Cybertronain bodies. Despite his coolness under pressure, he wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of fanaticism within the cult, or the trust that Predacon actually bestows upon him (much to his rival Skid-Z's anger). However, he is constantly worrying that Predacon will find him out.

He can reach speeds of up to 140 mph for a distance of 300 miles before requiring refueling.

Toys

 * Armada Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (2003)

Transformers: Timelines (Shattered Glass)
Side Burn is one of the evil Autobots under the command of the tyrant Optimus Prime. He is very patient, and believes females are a distraction that should be ignored. In addition, he has a rivalry with Blurr.

Note: There is some indication that this Side Burn may be the same character from Robots in Disguise who somehow ended up on the Shattered Glass Cybertron after the events of the Universe storyline, but this is so far unproven.

Fun Publications
Side Burn appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story from Fun Publications. It is his idea to have Wheeljack punished for building the uncontrollable Dinobots by having him work on the Ark and join its crew.

Although not depicted directly, Side Burn is one of the many Autobots aboard the Ark in Do Over. The Ark launches from Cybertron for Earth under the command of Rodimus and is followed by the Decepticon ship Nemesis, under the command of Starscream. While battling over Earth, the Ark is shot down by human defense systems.

Side Burn is among the Autobots brought back online. He participates in the attack on Burpleson Air Force Base. Once the base is taken, Side Burn and Big Daddy are put on guard duty.

In Blitzwing Bop Goldbug, Wheeljack and Side Burn build a functioning Stellar Spanner on Earth. Although Goldbug wants to test the bridge on Side Burn, the latter Autobot suggests they use a Scrounge. As they are waiting for a Scrounge to arrive, they are attacked by the Decepticon Heatwave. Despite taking Heatwave's missiles to the midsection, Side Burn seems to recover. Heatwave is captured and forced into the Spanner. Blitzwing attempts to save Heatwave by downloading information from the Spanner's computer, but is unsuccessful. An accident ends up making Blitzwing a transmitter who keeps broadcasting loud music on the Autobot emergency communications frequency, forcing the Autobots to flee.

Toys
Although no toy was released for this version of Side Burn, his appearance is inspired by the Universe Side Burn figure.

Transformers: Timelines (Generation 1)
Side Burn likes the company of fembots who turn into red sports cars, like Road Rage.

Fun Publications
Side Burn impersonated a member of the Autobot Elite Guard in order to impress Road Rage. Prowl later took him to meet the new Autobot Leader Optimus Prime.

Side Burn is among the Autobots present when Megatron attacks Iacon with his new weapon, Devastator.

After coming out of stasis on Cybertron with no memories, Side Burn was taken by Runabout and Runamuck to see Jhaixus.

Toys

 * Timelines Deluxe Side Burn (2011)
 * A blue recolor of Classics Deluxe Rodimus, to be offered to members of the Transformers Collectors Club from March 2010 to March 2011. This toy was displayed in issue 39 of the Transformers Collectors Club Magazine