(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Generations Sergeant Kup. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Sergeant Kup here.)

    Swerve's been a somewhat constant character to turn up as a repaint of someone else, though up until now his various redecos (except the original G1 toy) have all been of cars. This redeco changes that, finally returning Swerve to his original alt mode of a truck. Red and black works very well for a truck (and just in general), and although he doesn't have any fancy decals on the doors or anything like that, the silver on his bumpers and front grill-- as well as the large Autobot symbol on his roof and having his front hood painted black-- help break up his color scheme enough where his truck mode doesn't look too bland. A little bit of white shows up in his truck bed, but the vast majority of the color makes itself known in robot mode, thus making the robot "reveal" of a new color a nice change, too. The white obviously contrasts well with the black, but also the red as well; Swerve is a character with mostly primary, Autobot-y colors, and they all work quite well on this redeco. He does have a bit of a slightly ugly shade of light milky brownish gray used on a few minor parts like his lower arms and upper legs, however, and this isn't just a very appetizing color to me. Making all of his gray the same mid-range, slightly metallic-looking hue of plastic that his rifle and a few other minor connector parts are made of would have been the better choice here, methinks.
    The only mold change made to Swerve is that he has a new head-- a head that calls back some of his G1 self, like the red helmet and white face. However, this toy was released just as Swerve finally became a semi-main character in the popular comic More Than Meets The Eye, where a short, stumpy, visor-faced comedian became the persona most associated with him. Thus-- through no fault of Hasbro's own, at this point-- this head mold doesn't really evoke Swerve as he's come to be known, given that he has two clearly separate eyes on his face and a pretty serious expression (in addition to not being a squat little guy). It's a good head sculpt, though.
    Swerve is an excellent, interesting redeco of the Kup mold, hitting all the right notes in terms of his primary color scheme and having different colors dominate his different modes. However, his head sculpt and taller, serious-looking demeanor in robot mode don't really fit what his personality has become, which is unfortunate as it's a pretty nice redeco. I'd still recommend this toy, just... repurposing it as someone else is probably better if you're at all familiar with his comic personality.

Review by Beastbot

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