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Friday, 17 August 2012

Generations - Swerve

"Swerve is a genius, but you wouldn't know it to watch him drive. He's often so preoccupied by the analysis of whatever material he's been given that he completely loses track of where he is or where he's going. When he's working on a tough problem, it's not uncommon for him to wander aimlessly into the middle of a battle."
Name: Swerve
Continuity: Generation One
Toy Line: Generations - Asian Exclusive
Size Class: Deluxe
Faction: Autobot

Strength: 6
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 6
Endurance: 8
Rank: 6
Courage: 7
Fireblast: 2
Skill: 7
Robot Mode
Swerve's robot mode is red and white, with some black and silver pieces spliced in to save it from being too bright throughout.
His torso is made from most of the front of his vehicle mode and features a grill design on his abdominal area, a raised chest (kept over from the Kup version of this mold who used a similar design in his War Within designs), and features some shoulder-pad pieces on the sides, which are topped by his vehicle mode headlights, and are also connected to his front wheels which are connected by a pair of connector pieces to add more decoration. His back-pack is made from his cab-area, including windscreen, hood and the clips to hold his rifle on.
His head is connected to the top of his torso by a small connector that allows it to rotate side-to-side as needed, and also nod a bit as well (plus he can fold his head back fully, but that's just for his transformation really). The head is formed from a round-ish red helmet with a silver face (sculpted with nose, chin, mouth and other small pieces). His eyes are sculpted and fitted with a light piping effect (activated from the back of his head), but it's been negated by painting the back piece black, and the actual eyes blue.

Swerve's arms are connected to his upper torso by a double-hinge-pivot connector that allows them to bend pretty much in any way desired. His upper arms are split in half by a pivot joint (where the black and white pieces meet) that allows them to rotate fully. His elbows are created by a double hinge again, allowing them to bend inwards at two near-locations. His lower arms are "guarded" by some panels of his vehicle mode (parts of his doors) and can be rotated as some shield weapons if needed. His hands are connected by a pivoting joint that allows them to rotate fully once again. The hands are also sculpted with fingers and a thumb, and are positioned to form a "hidden" peg hole for his weapons.

Swerve's legs are connected to his groin area by a set of ball joints, giving them a lot of kicking action, the upper legs feature a half-way pivot (like the upper arms do too). His knees are formed with a hinge point that allows them to bend either way by about 90 degrees each, he also features some knee-pads (just UNDER the knees however). The lower legs are formed from his holding area at the rear of the vehicle mode, with the feet formed by folding them out, giving him giant feet and some sprawled out heels at the back, allowing him to stand stable on most surfaces.
Vehicle Mode
Swerve's vehicle mode is a mostly red pick up truck with a silver bumper and grill, black headlights, engine hood, side mirrors, wheels and semi-translucent windows. The floor of the holding area at the back is white with a grilled effect as well.
Swerve features a large black Autobot insignia on his roof (sort of makes it obvious he's a robot in disguise of course). He is sculpted with a lot of decorative details (licence late area, door handles, doors etc) and also features a set of fully rotating wheels, and despite his gun being found on his undercarriage, isn't obstructed when rolling out. He also has an opening door at the back of the holding area so you can pretend you're loading it up for holiday or something.
Accessories
Swerve's gun is dark grey, with a white clip connected by a ball joint. The clip can be used to attach the gun to Swerve's back by a pair of clips (or in the same place in vehicle mode). The gun can also be clipped in the undercarriage to become a second exhaust pipe (albeit a different colour to the other one). The gun can also be inserted into Swerve's hands by the peg hole's by the handle, seen above.
My Final Thoughts
This figure is great.

I really enjoyed this mold when it was used for Kup originally, but with his new head and colour scheme, I'd say it's been improved greatly, and works very well for G1 Swerve. I think a major point why I like this figure is because of Swerve's new role in the More Than Meets The Eye comic series (of course it's not the same character model or anything, but he's still lovely). The only way to make this figure better would have been to have him come with a drinks tray accessory and maybe a back-drop of his bar from the series too.

If you can find this figure (IF) then I really do suggest you pick him up, he's so worth it. I got mine for £20 (which is cheaper than if I imported him from a website or something btw) so I'd say that'd be a reasonable maximum price for him (and his wave-mates).
A little side story though, I find it quite off that I got this figure, and his mold mate Kup both at different Auto Assembly conventions...strange....

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