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Series: Generations Thrilling 30
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Legends
Year: 2014
Riding with Swerve is a terrifying experience. The Autobot technician lives up to his name. His attention span is so short that he finds even exit ramps boring, which more often than not results in him drifting, uncaring, into oncoming traffic. So it's good he's partnered up with Flanker. The little jet is almost compulsive about scanning everything around him for Deception activity. And when his shouted warnings don't make an impression on Swerve, his impenetrable force field does a good job of protecting the other vehicles on the road.
Robot Mode: Swerve here is mostly modeled after his appearance in the current IDW Transformers comics (more on that below) but also nicely resembles the original G1 Swerve toy. He’s a bit more streamlined, though, bigger, and definitely a whole lot better articulated thanks to being ball-jointed all the way. No complaints in those terms.
A few complaints do exist, though, in terms of paint application. Swerve’s visor is a bit messed up, so is the Autobot symbol on his chest and the white color of the front bumper sitting over his head isn’t the greatest, either. Not sure whether that’s a general problem or not, but whoever painted this figure didn’t really do a good job. That’s about my only complaint, though. Otherwise, a very nice robot that is totally Swerve. Nicely done.
Alternate Mode: Swerve transforms into a small red pickup truck with some white highlights and black tires and windows. The red paint isn’t exactly superbly applied in some places, but that’s about the only bad thing. The transformation is rather similar to how the original G1 toy transformed, just a tad more complex. Flanker in weapon mode can be mounted on the roof. So all in all a good car mode, nothing special, but nothing bad, either.
Partner: Swerve comes with what is to me the best Minicon I’ve seen in the Thrilling 30 Legends line so far: Flanker. A blue jet that transforms into a small robot with minimal articulation, but also becomes a very cool-looking weapon that, while still a bit big for Swerve, nicely fits into his partner’s hand and doesn’t look completely out of scale or place. So thumbs up for Flanker.
Remarks: For the longest time Swerve was known simply as the obligatory red repaint, the go-to name whenever Hasbro wanted to repaint an existing car robot and couldn’t think of anything better. Looking at the list of Transformers named Swerve, one finds but two that aren’t repaints of some other, more established character. The first is the ultra-rare Universe Aveo Swerve, and the other is this guy here.
Swerve has come into his own thanks to his starring role in IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye series, where he is one of the regulars. Annoying, always talking trash, watering the drinks in his on-board bar, secretly very insecure, and just plain likeable, a great character for a bot that never really had one before. Hope James Roberts doesn’t kill him off too quickly and we’ll see lots more of Swerve. As for the toy, it’s nothing too special and suffers a bit from lackluster paint application, but it nicely conveys the extremely likeable character and as such does its job well. And it’s got the best Minicon I’ve seen among the Generations Legends so far. So thumbs up, clear recommendation for everyone who likes Swerve in MtMtE. And if you aren’t reading it yet, what the slag is wrong with you?
Rating: B
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