Swindle's alternate mode is a futuristic military-esque SUV-- similar to, but exactly the same as, his G1 form of a jeep. The color scheme is pretty G1-accurate, though, with a greenish tan being the primary color while purple and black serve as secondary colors. All in all it works quite well. I particularly like the shade of transparent purple chosen, it's really eye-catching-- whoda thought greenish tan and purple would go together so well? Comparative to his robot mode, this mode is rather plain, but it gets the job done-- the proportions are fairly accurate and there are no robot extras, though the roof could be raised a bit more in proportion to the front. Given Animated's exaggerated aesthetic, though, this is more easily overlooked than it would be in most other Transformers lines. The mold detailing is adequate where needed, though the paint applications are almost all clustered around the front-- his headlights and front bumper are all painted nicely, as are his side windows, but there's no paint apps whatsoever on his back end, even though there's plenty of mold detailing there, which is a bummer. I'm also not fond of the "mixture of painted windows and transparent windows" thing Swindle's got going on, though at least his front windows have some cool circuitry detailing on them. Also of note regarding the paint apps is that the painted greenish tan on his front end is noticeably darker than his actual greenish tan plastic. Swindle's weapon in this mode is a ludicrously oversized (though in a good way) cannon mounted on his roof, which can turn 360 degrees but can't rotate up or down. It's your standard trigger-activated missile launcher, but when you launch the missle, the bright orange grills on the barrel change to transparent purple! A pretty awesome gimmick, there.
    Swindle's robot mode, like most Animated toys, is loaded with personality. He certainly fits his name, that's for sure, and his head detailing is fantastic, being reminscient of his G1 self but with larger optics and a smirk that's allll Swindle. Speaking of the transparent optics, somehow they made it so that the "pupils" light up more than the rest of the optics. Plus they follow you as you turn his head relative to your own eyes. Awesome, yet a little creepy at the same time. I also looove his fake "tie" detailing on his neck, it's very car salesman-ish. Swindle's vehicle mode extras pack into his robot mode parts very well, though as a result of so much folding into his lower arms they're rather big, particularly the hands which are large almost to the point of absurdity, given that his show model doesn't have hand-claws like that. His upper arms are also rather stiff-- both his upper and lower legs are made up of the transparent purple plastic, for some odd reason-- and so the upper arms tend to pop off their ball joints rather easily, given how short they are. It also rather limits Swindle's arm articulation. Overall, his articulation is pretty decent-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points-- though it's more limited here than that would make it seem due to the aforementioned proportions), elbows, hips, knees, and at the base of each thumb and four fingers on each hand (with all four of the fingers on each hand being one piece). He could use some lateral knee movement or a waist joint, it doesn't seem overly restrictive. Getting on to the rest of Swindle's short form, I love how much design went into "faking" vehicle parts-- the front grille on his chest (even though the actual front grille makes up his lower arms), the fake wheels on his waist, and the like. As for weapons, Swindle's got quite a lot for a deluxe toy, given that he's an arms dealer-- three, in fact. His first is the his vehicle mode cannon, which can be mounted on his right arm (though not his left, oddly). A cool little (non-firing) machine gun can also be folded out of a little compartment in his chest, and what little kibble he has on his back-- made from his vehicle mode roof-- can convert into his "shield generators", though to be honest they look like little feet hanging over his shoulders.
    Animated Swindle is a cool little toy, with a solid vehicle mode and a very inventive robot mode full of cool weaponry and with little kibble. A few minor issues-- such as a complete lack of paint on the back of his vehicle mode, big hands, and some overly stiff, crowded shoulders-- keep him from being among the absolute best of the best, but he's still an awesome Transformer and highly recommended to those who like or even have a passing interest in the Animated aesthetic.

Review by Beastbot

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