Flip Sides (Transformers Generation 1 Profiles)

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Name: Flip Sides
Allegiance: Double Agents
Function: Sleeper agent
Sub-group: Cassette
Timeline: Generation 1

Know yourself, and you will open the door to improvement.

Profile:

Like a good number of Autobots, Flip Sides was not forged a warrior; circumstances made her one. By her own admission, she used to be a teacher in one of the more remote frontier regions, helping newly forged Cybertronians learn about the basics of life on Cybertron, such as etiquette, basic numeracy, and social history. Flip Sides says she was a popular teacher among her students, which is evident in her enthusiasm, good will, and warm, friendly attitude. Flip Sides' skills made her a logical and dependable data analyst for the Autobot side; she was one of a number of analysts selected to work on programming an operating system for a series of prototype vehicular combat drones. The only problem is that everything about Flip Sides is a lie. In reality, Flip Sides is a committed Decepticon hacker and codebreaker; but nobody in the Autobot ranks - not even Flip Sides herself - is aware of this fact. Nearly 4,000 years ago the Decepticons used a complex mixture of shell programming and Shadowplay to completely overwrite Flip Sides' true persona, turning her into a sleeper agent. An ingeniously concealed series of triggers and a timer programme will enable Flip Sides' handlers to wake her up when the time is right. It is unknown what personality Flip Sides will adopt when she reverts to her true persona, or what lingering effects of her Autobot persona might remain when this happens.

Cassette mode:

Author notes:

Flip Sides is a cool character within the Transformers mythos. She's a rare case of a sleeper agent who is programmed to wake up at a predetermined time - and in one of the other E-Hobby stories, she's put in charge of a squadron of 21 Autobot battledroids based on Optimus Prime's specifications. If there was ever a bad time for a sleeper agent to wake up, that would be it.

I stuck quite closely to that fun bio for my version of Flip Sides' profile - it's such a good story that I didn't want to stray too far from it. One thing I decided to add was a bit more on the way Flip Sides was reprogrammed, to work in the idea of Shadowplay - a reprogramming technique introduced in IDW's Transformers comics - as well as the shell programme concept mostly seen in the Beast Wars era. I also expanded a little on what Flip Sides might be like as a Decepticon - I figured certain aspects would be consistent across both personas, so I made her a hacker (which plays into that E-Hobby story setting up what a bad thing it is to have a sleeper agent with access to that much secure data). I also worked in a bit of the E-Hobby story, but instead of it being Optimus Prime clones, I went with drone soldiers. That's a bit of a call forward to Beast Machines - she's working on the prototypes of the Vehicons, which were hinted as being Autobots when Strika and Obsidian appeared, and this was then established in the Botcon Machine Wars comic.

I love sneaking call forwards to future events into the profiles of these characters - it helps to establish them as characters in the wider world of the Transformers.

Toys of Transformers Generation 1 Flip Sides

Transformers Generation 1 Flip Sides

Flip Sides is a nice little toy. She uses the same mold as the Generation 1 cassettes Rewind and Eject, and has a very similar colourscheme to Kiss Players Rosanna - while still feminine in appearance, Flip Sides looks a lot less girly by comparison, even though she's got the pinkish guns. I'm undecided on which of the duo I prefer - Rosanna does have this nice metallic blue to offset all the pink on her, but Flip Sides feels more cohesive due to her deco. I guess it's a win either way, because I have both to choose from?

Articulation on this mold is good for its era - you can raise the arms, rotate them a little, and bend at the knees, which allows for a few nice poses. The artwork shows a way to mount the guns on Flip Side's back, but because of the way she transforms this isn't possible on the actual toy, which is a bit of a shame. Even so, I like her - she's a nice looking redeco and a nice complement to the E-Hobby version of Twincast.

More information on Transformers Generation 1 Flip Sides at TFW2005

See more Transformers Generation 1 toys in my collection.