Rocksolid Light

Welcome to novaBBS (click a section below)

mail  files  register  newsreader  groups  login

Message-ID:  

"What the scientists have in their briefcases is terrifying." -- Nikita Khrushchev


interests / alt.toys.transformers / Re: Retro Review: Cybertron Swerve

SubjectAuthor
* Retro Review: Cybertron SwerveGustavo Wombat
`- Re: Retro Review: Cybertron SwerveZobovor

1
Retro Review: Cybertron Swerve

<t040gu$1cnj$1@gioia.aioe.org>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=5640&group=alt.toys.transformers#5640

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!aioe.org!WP4AAP+3cYf64G5aHYyvLw.user.46.165.242.91.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: gustavow...@yahoo.com (Gustavo Wombat)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: Retro Review: Cybertron Swerve
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2022 04:09:02 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID: <t040gu$1cnj$1@gioia.aioe.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Info: gioia.aioe.org; logging-data="45811"; posting-host="WP4AAP+3cYf64G5aHYyvLw.user.gioia.aioe.org"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@aioe.org";
User-Agent: NewsTap/5.5 (iPad)
X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.9.2
Cancel-Lock: sha1:fWIR7f9qU2DxZHMGePRyhrwDFPs=
 by: Gustavo Wombat - Mon, 7 Mar 2022 04:09 UTC

I was surprised to discover that this toy was a Cybertron toy, and not one
of the 2007 Movie Target Exclusive Scouts that were redecos of Unicron
Trilogy Scouts. Apparently, Movieverse Clocker is blue, while Cybertron
Swerve is red. Go figure.

Cybertron had a bunch of really nice toys, and I’ve always had a fondness
for the Target redecos, and, I guess toys that I mistakenly believed were
Target redecos. They had generally more muted color schemes that didn’t
look quite as much like childish toys.

In vehicle mode, Clocker —er— Swerve is a maroon sports car with generally
a wedge shape and exhaust pipes down the side.

It’s the type of design that immediately makes you think there should be a
Hot Rod redeco, but it would probably suck, so it’s just as good that there
wasn’t. Although there were other Hot Rod redecos over the years that were
worse… anyway, we’re at a point now where we expect a bit more from homages
than a half-fitting alt-mode and a few inappropriately applied colors. It
was a simpler time.

This Swerve doesn’t homage G1 Swerve in any meaningful way other than by
being primarily red. There was no character on the cartoon being all
Metallurgistic saying “well, that’s a platinum idea, Spike, and a mostly
aluminum idea, Cliffjumper!” or getting stepped on by larger robots, as
this redeco wasn’t used in the cartoon. He probably didn’t escape Cybertron
and fell into the black hole.

In fact, he seems to be a loose homage to Universe Swerve, a red redeco of
Armada Blurr. Or perhaps Swerve’s minicon Roadhandler. Honestly, Swerve
apparently just means red, so it’s a little surprising that Classics
Cliffjumper wasn’t called Swerve. You know how about a quarter of all
calico cats are named “Patches”? It’s like that but for red vehicles.

So, we’ve established that he’s red. What else?

He’s a Cybertronian car (Velocitronian, really), and his tires are exposed
on the top — imagine if your car had three foot wide tires, and was low to
the ground, so the fenders and quarter panels just didn’t go up that high.
So, he looks like a cross between a Lamborghini and an F1 racer (and yet,
was not named Sideswipe, which also means red).

It’s not just red, it’s three different reds, all very close. And a very
slight sparkle to the reds, which add a bit of character and richness. A
darker, blood red.

Wheels, widsheid and headlights are a dark, translucent gray that reads as
basically black. The seats are a dark gray. Giant exhausts on the sides are
silver.

Across the back of the car mode there is a thing. It might be an engine?
It’s largely gray, with white pods on either side with little red fins.
There’s some red and silver detailing. Inserting a Cyberkey causes the pods
to pop up, and you can unfold some barrels and now Swerve has guns!

Folding the pods down with the barrels out would allow Swerve to shoot the
edges of his windshield.

There’s a huge silver Autobot logo across his hood, despite the hood having
complicated molded vent patterns. One things I liked about the first year
BM Vehicon toys was that there would be a pattern molded into the plastic,
and an entirely different pattern painted onto it. It adds a complexity and
richness to the toy decos, and it’s nice to see it again here.

Overall, it’s a really nice little car mode. Rolls nice. Has guns. Looks
futuristic and fun but still very recognizable. Wheels spin nicely on
little metal pins.

Transformation is good, with a few fun bits. The rear becomes legs in a
common manner, seats become the upper arms, with the doors becoming the
forearms. The chest was on the bottom of the car, and the windshield and
nose are on the back. One other hide bit is that the top of the gorse is
made from flaps that slide out from under the car’s nose, and add some
apparent bulk.

The thing on the back of the car detaches and becomes a weapon.

Robot mode is straightforward, class looting robot of transformers design —
narrow thighs, big boots, etc. Biceps and forearms are the same size, as
neither needs to fold into the other.

The exhaust pipes are on the undersides of his forearms, held with the
bottom of the fist. They can be swung out, but look more like salad
implements than swords. The gun is oversized as it contains the entire
Cyberkey gimmick.

While the original Clocker deco was overly colorful, this is subdued,
adding in white across the chest, and gold buttons.

Articulation is not up to modern standards. No thigh swivels, no bicep
swivels, nothing in the feet. Shoulders are restricted ball joints that are
allow full range of motion spinning up, but only a few stable spots lifting
out to the sides. There is a waist though, and it isn’t used for
transformation.

The pegs and holes for the exhaust pipes and fists appear to be slightly
larger than 5mm, which is a shame since it means you cannot do silly things
like give Titans Return Breakaway fancy side exhausts, or put null rays on
Swerve — not very well, at least.

In robot mode, Swerve can hold most weapons, but they are slightly loose.
In vehicle mode, those weapons will sag under their own gravity and rotate
to touch the ground after light play.

Overall, good play value, everything pegs together solidly, ok articulation
and he looks great.

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Cyb-toy_Swerve.jpg

This mold was also used for Cheetor, Tigatron and whatever else in some
Botcon set.

This one is definitely a keeper. I love the car mode.

(Found a Marvel Crossovers War Machine to Fighter toy in a bin… not a
keeper. Nothing terribly wrong, just… nope. I need to start moving the
definitely not a keepers to a separate bin.)

Re: Retro Review: Cybertron Swerve

<5d5b96f7-1742-4615-8290-bc6126e9dce5n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=5648&group=alt.toys.transformers#5648

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:a05:620a:150e:b0:67d:3243:12dd with SMTP id i14-20020a05620a150e00b0067d324312ddmr1093086qkk.229.1646779504101;
Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:45:04 -0800 (PST)
X-Received: by 2002:a81:f89:0:b0:2db:20a9:553b with SMTP id
131-20020a810f89000000b002db20a9553bmr15220937ywp.291.1646779503774; Tue, 08
Mar 2022 14:45:03 -0800 (PST)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2022 14:45:03 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <t040gu$1cnj$1@gioia.aioe.org>
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=73.98.173.84; posting-account=VatO8goAAADkHr1F3eCw5I8LKv1LHntN
NNTP-Posting-Host: 73.98.173.84
References: <t040gu$1cnj$1@gioia.aioe.org>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <5d5b96f7-1742-4615-8290-bc6126e9dce5n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Retro Review: Cybertron Swerve
From: zmf...@aol.com (Zobovor)
Injection-Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:45:04 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Lines: 9
 by: Zobovor - Tue, 8 Mar 2022 22:45 UTC

On Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 9:09:04 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> This one is definitely a keeper. I love the car mode.

I never owned any iteration of this mold. By the time Cybertron rolled around, I was still trying to get the taste of Armada and Energon out of my mouth, and I was buying almost none of the toys.

However, looking at pictures, Swerve looks better than Clocker to me strictly from an aesthetic standpoint. He's cute.

Zob (likes Cybertron Crosswise a lot)

1
server_pubkey.txt

rocksolid light 0.9.7
clearnet tor