The Transformers Thunderous Thirty #29 - Swerve

For whatever reason, Transformers characters represented by toys that came out later than the first couple of years of the franchise tend to be ignored. This is in part due to the sheer size of the ever-growing cast of characters. It would be impossible to give such attention to every one of them that every one of them would be well-known and popular. Still, there are those that rise to the surface. Spurred on by a distinctive characterization in some form of media or another (but, in my experience, usually a comic book), characters connected to otherwise-forgotten toys suddenly become incredibly popular. So it is with Swerve, the second (and final) "honorable mention" of the Thunderous Thirty.

Granted, the "Idol of Millions" bit is intentionally over-the-top. In fact, Swerve is actually very un-popular within the fiction itself (most prominently in IDW's current More than Meets the Eye ongoing comic). He's an over-talkative pest who seems to have a knack for butting in wherever he's not wanted, and if he happens to have a weapon in his hands, he becomes a threat to everyone around him, including himself. But if we're talking about fans in the real world? "Idol of Millions" may not be so out of place. Far from being irritating, fans have found Swerve's foibles to be extremely endearing.

Swerve's original toy isn't terribly notable, being a remold of Gears. Although it has been reissued in Japan in the past few years, it was just one of a set of five figures, and can't really be said to stand out among even that comparatively small number. The name has been reused a number of times, usually on remolds, but most of those toys either aren't of the Generation One character, or are at best questionably so, bearing little resemblance (except perhaps for the head) to the character that IDW has since propelled to "favorite" status.

Back at BotCon 2013, Hasbro announced that a new version of Swerve would be released (and there was great rejoicing!), but the promised "Oct '13" release date has long-since come and gone, and Swerve is not yet available. Fans have been promised at this past week's Toy Fair that Swerve has not been cancelled, but only time will tell when the toy will finally come out, and just how easy (or difficult) it will be to get. I'm certainly hoping not to have a repeat of what happened a few years ago.