Swerve was released in 1986 at the height of Transformers-mania, but it wouldn’t be until 2012 that he would be a character of any consequence. He was featured very little in the G1 cartoon — his main claim to fame was being squished by Trypticon — and he seems to have been completely overlooked by the Marvel team; he isn’t even featured in Marvel’s Transformers Universe, the mini-series that profiled each individual G1 Transformers character released/created up to the animated movie’s release. Maybe this was because the comic creators didn’t know what to do with him? Likely it’s because so many characters were being released as toys in such a short period of time back then that one or two were likely to fall through the cracks, and it seems as though Swerve was one of the unfortunate few to be all but ignored by those who were giving life to the franchise.
Thankfully, James Roberts saw potential in the character and transformed (heh) this overlooked character into one of the stars of IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye, and that’s pretty much why we’re looking at this figure today. I never had a G1 Swerve, even back in ’86 when I ate/breathed/slept Transformers. But because I’ve become so enamored with the character in Roberts’ comic, I finally felt I had to own an authentic G1 Swerve. Fortunately for me, loose ones are not expensive to come by on eBay, so I scored this guy for a whopping $7 shipped. It was totally worth it, and it’s filling me with nostalgia for something I’ve never owned before — how the heck does that work?
Swerve’s card art depicts the squat, red-faced robot that was released in ’86. The cartoon team took a few liberties with the character’s design and gave him proportions that were distinctly more humanoid. They also broke up the solid red of his face by giving him a blue visor and a gray face — something the actual figure would have benefited from immensely.
Swerve was a retool of Gears, one of the original minibots from 1984, and this could be what turned a lot of people off to the figure and the character. Even though there’s quite a bit here that’s new, his basic design and alt mode suggest little more than a red-and-white Gears, which would make him an easy pass for many fans, even frenzied collectors like myself. Looking back now, it’s easy to say he didn’t get a fair shake because his head, torso, and legs are all new, which should have been enough to make him a must-have figure, but since the cartoon and (especially) the comic weren’t too concerned with fleshing him out, he just felt rather “extraneous.”
My only gripe with this figure is the monotone red covering his entire head. It looks so boring and careless, as though everything about the figure was an afterthought and it was just cranked out to get another Transformer toy out on the market. And let’s be honest — that was probably it.
His alt mode really does look like a red Gears. The only difference here is the white portions of his legs that form the back end of the truck look different than what we see in Gears’ alt mode. Otherwise, there is nothing new about this vehicle mode.
The thing is, it’s a great mold as far as the minibots were concerned, even if it is just a recolor for the most part.
In 2008 there was an Encore reissue of Swerve as part of a minibot box set. This time the details on his face were painted so as to match his brief appearances on the cartoon — this helps the figure immensely.
I mean, look at that. It’s night and day. Everything else is the same, so the only difference in the two figures is the little bit of paint added to the figure’s face — it adds so much personality and character, and, most importantly, it actually resembles Swerve as I’ve come to know him from the comics.
When you look at him side by side withe Gears, it’s plainly evident just how much the two figures don’t have in common. For a line that placed a high premium on repaints, a lot of effort went into making Swerve a unique figure and not “just” a repaint of Gears, which is pretty cool, really.
It may have taken nearly 30 years, but Swerve is finally a character worth noticing and discussing. If you’ve never owned a G1 Swerve, either version is very affordable on the secondary market — I was able to get both of these from two different sellers for less than $20 shipped. I’m very happy to have both versions on my shelf displayed with the new MakeToys version of the character. It’s just plain cool to see the evolution of the character in my collection.