Swerve (G1)

2022-05-02T17:59:19Z

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{{factions|autobot}}
{{disambig3|Swerve}}
:''Swerve is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Generation 1 continuity family]]. He is sometimes known as "Shut the Hell Up".''
[[File:Swerve.toy.boxart.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Comes with ''[[My First Blaster]]''™ accessory!]]
Gregarious would be a good word to describe '''Swerve'''. So would outgoing, enthusiastic, upbeat, joyfully irreverent, flippant, sarcastic, wise ass, troll, or "total pain in the aft", depending on which side of his weapons-grade mouth you happen to fall on and how long you've been listening to him use it. Swerve has a sense of fun and even whimsy that stands out from your run of the mill Autobots fairly dramatically, but this constant running commentary stems at least partially from Swerve's low self-esteem, a coping mechanism that helps to cover up some of his own insecurities. The little fellow may get on their nerves... he'll ''probably'' get on their nerves... but it'll always be with a smile, a laugh, and an epic level quip, making him a good [[Swerve's|bartender]].

He is, however, also a menace to everyone within range of a gun in his hand - including himself - given his legendarily bad aim, as well as to anyone driving nearby because he's ''so'' easily distracted by just about anything that catches his attention. Despite this, he's quite intelligent and skilled as a metallurgist, analysing the properties of a material with unique sensors in his hands. When he gets caught up in a problem, he becomes almost laser-like in focus and intensity, going on quest after quest, both major and [[Thumb Quest|minor]]. Unfortunately, this generally leaves him just as distracted from any other tasks at hand and just as accident-prone as ever. He's almost always in need of some repairs, major or minor, because of it.

Now if only [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Prime]] could get him to not get easily distracted when receiving his orders too...

{{quote|People ''don't'' like me—they just laugh at my jokes. There's a difference.|"[[Cybertronian Homesick Blues]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
====''The Transformers'' cartoon====
{{voiceactor|[[Minoru Inaba]] (Japanese)}}

[[File:FFOD Part5 Swerve.jpg|left|upright=1.4|thumb|Now we know why he refuses to play in the sand.]]
Swerve participated in the defense of the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] in [[2006]], but was trod upon by [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]]. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5}} Later, after the [[Quintesson]] scientist [[Inquirata (G1)|Inquirata]] attempted to change history by removing the Autobot resistance leader known as [[Alpha Trion (G1)|A-3]] from the past, a race Swerve was participating in repeated itself in an endless loop due to the ripples in the timestream. {{storylink|Forever Is a Long Time Coming (episode)|Forever Is a Long Time Coming}}
{{--}}

====Japanese cartoon continuity====
=====''Legends'' comic=====
[[File:Transformers Legends LG08 Tailgate and Swerve.jpg|thumb|]]
In [[2015]], Tailgate and Swerve fought [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]] in a battle that went poorly, with Tailgate being easily kicked aside and Swerve stomped into the ground. As he was being dug up by Tailgate, the two Minibots were questioned by the [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] of [[Legends World|another universe]] as to why they'd even taken on such a huge enemy. Swerve responded that size had nothing to do with it, claiming that as long as you've got guts and smarts, you can win against anyone. He and Tailgate then introduced Rattrap to their Mini-Con allies, [[Phaser (G1)|Phaser]] and [[Groundshaker (Legends)|Groundshaker]], explaining that even though they were tiny, they were still valuable allies. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 8|Bonus Edition Vol. 8}}

Rattrap then asked Swerve about why he barely appeared in the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]] and why his name [[#Foreign names|wasn't Werve anymore]], to which he grinned and responded that stuff like attention and names weren't important to him: as long as he got his work done, he didn't care about being noticed or what people called him. Rattrap swooned at how cool his answers were. When Swerve shrugged aside a similar question about his marksmanship, however, claiming it wasn't important if he hit or not, Phaser protested. The Mini-Con then displayed the usefulness of his [[My First Blaster]] mode by having Swerve attack Trypticon with it, but unfortunately his helpful advice on where to aim only served to let the Decepticon dodge their blasts anyway. {{storylink|2015's Swerve}} Eventually, Swerve and Tailgate successfully defeated Trypticon {{storylink|LG-43 Trypticon Project Chapter}} by exploiting a weak spot they discovered on the sole of his foot. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 43|Bonus Edition Vol. 43}}

Given Swerve's achievement, [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]] brought him to the Legends World to help defeat a revived Trypticon. Swerve put on a bomb belt and let himself get trampled by Trypticon once more, at which point he detonated the explosives right on the weak spot, stunning Trypticon and allowing [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] to defeat him. He survived the explosion unscathed by again ending up stomped into the ground. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 43|Bonus Edition Vol. 43}}

=====Train Wars=====
Swerve was present on Cybertron after the various [[Trainbot]]s and inter-dimensional warriors defeated [[The Fallen]]. {{storylink|Train Wars 2}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' comic====
[[File:4WheeldriveBrigade1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
Swerve appeared on Earth as a member of the [[Four-Wheel Drive Corps]]. Led by [[Hound (G1)|Hound]], the Corps confronted the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] out in the desert, only to be caught in an explosive mine trap and fall into a pit. Working together, Swerve and the others combined their Scramble Power and worked their way free of the pit. A concentrated Scrumbuster attack drove off the Decepticons, and the Autobots won the day. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 3|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #3}}

===Ladybird Books continuity===
Swerve helped with the assembly of a special radio transmitter to interfere with Decepticon surveillance space stations. {{storylink|Galvatron's Air Attack}}
{{--}}

===Dreamwave ''Generation One'' continuity===
[[File:BlackSunshine Autobot training failures.jpg|left|thumb]]
Swerve was on Cybertron observing the anti-Prime propaganda that [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] pumped through the data-net after retrieving the Ark's crew from [[Earth]]. {{storylink|Cold War (issue)|Cold War}} Later, he was among the group of new recruits seen failing to take on the [[auto-combatant]] training drones on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] after Shockwave's rule was toppled. {{storylink|Black Sunshine}}
{{--}}

===2005 IDW continuity===
{{first|[[Stormbringer issue 1|''Stormbringer'' #1]]}}
[[File:Swerve blurr cybertronian homesick blues.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|It's actually [[Joe Kyde]]'s number.]]
'''Swerve of [[Helex (polity)|Helex]]''' <ref>[https://www.idwpublishing.com/product/transformers-more-than-meets-the-eye-42/ Transformers MTMTE #42 solicit]</ref> was [[Reproduction#2005 IDW continuity|forged]]. {{storylink|Remain in Light 5 of 5: This Calamitous Life|This Calamitous Life}} For at least four million years, Swerve had wanted to swap his metallurgy career for bartending. Before the [[Great War (G1)|war]], he was a huge fan of [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and when he was getting an autograph, Blurr mentioned he wanted to run a bar too after retiring from racing; Swerve thought Blurr might want to run it with ''him'' and the only way the racer could escape was to give Swerve a fake phone number. {{storylink|Cybertronian Homesick Blues}} Forever after, Swerve would tell people that he and Blurr had a plan to run a bar after the war. {{storylink|Liars, A to D Part 3: The Chaos of Warm Things|The Chaos of Warm Things}} During an early battle of the war, Swerve remained within [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]]'s walls guarding the civilian population. {{storylink|Primacy issue 4|Primacy #4}}

During the war, before Cybertron had to be abandoned, Swerve's metallurgical skills prompted [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] to contact him along with several other Transformer scientists with his discovery about Cybertron's dwindling energy reserves. Swerve, like the rest, disregarded Thunderwing's warnings. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 1|Stormbringer #1}} With a fondness for adventure, Swerve took part in at least ten quests over the course of the war, including a [[Moonbase One|Moon Quest]], a [[Titan (group)|Titan Quest]], a [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix Quest]], a [[Prime (rank)|Prime Quest]] and the legendarily bad [[Thumb Quest]]. {{storylink|Cybertronian Homesick Blues}}

In more modern times, Swerve was stationed at the [[Kimia Facility]]. He was a fan of the ''[[Wreckers: Declassified]]'' datalogs, although he thought [[Fisitron (G1)|Fisitron]] was a bit of a hagiographer {{storylink|Bullets}} (He was unknowingly on friendly terms with [[Ironfist (G1)|the 'bot behind Fisitron]]). {{storylink|The One Where They Go to Earth}}

At some point in the recent past, Swerve was on an "Away Day", where he had the bad luck to catch the [[Decepticon Justice Division]] doing its dirty work, in the form of [[Tarn (DJD)|Tarn]] and [[Dominus Ambus|Vos]] slicing a [[Genericon]] open and force-feeding him his own parts. {{storylink|The Not Knowing}} The shock rendered him speechless for six months, which was quite a feat for him. {{storylink|Life After the Big Bang}} Trying to get away, he suffered an injury in the shoulder, which would continue to trouble him into modern times {{storylink|The Sound of Breaking Glass}} {{storylink|World, Shut Your Mouth Part 2: Words Hang in the Air|Words Hang in the Air}} and which he was unaware was actually a data slug fired into him by undercover spy [[Dominus Ambus|Agent 113]]. The slug remained in his shoulder because he didn't get it properly treated. {{storylink|The One Where They Go to Earth}}

Swerve was present when [[Cyclonus (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Cyclonus]] and the [[Sweep (G1)|Sweep]]s invaded Kimia. {{storylink|Chaos Part One: Lamentations|Lamentations}} He survived the massacre and got away aboard an escape pod piloted by [[Chromedome (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Chromedome]] and [[Brainstorm (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Brainstorm]]. [[Arcee (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Arcee]] soon came to rescue them. Everyone seemed to feel the need to remind him in particular not to say something tactless that might set her off. {{storylink|Chaos Part Three: Kings|Kings}}

[[File:Swerve Chaos Part4.jpg|left|upright=1.4|thumb|"Step 1: Fight D-Void! Step 2: ???? Step 3: Profit!!"]]
Aboard Arcee's shuttle, Swerve listened with the others to [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] and Arcee's explanation of the situation with [[Galvatron (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Galvatron]], the [[Darkness (G1)|Heart of Darkness]] and [[D-Void]]. Swerve reiterated everything he had just heard to Hardhead, just to confirm he understood the complicated scenario (he got it all right, except for missing the hyphen in "D-Void"). He was quite naively optimistic at the prospect of putting a stop to Galvatron's plans and saving the universe. However, once they arrived in Cybertron's atmosphere and Arcee had ordered the shuttle to fly directly at the planet's surface, Swerve was among the first to bail out. {{storylink|Chaos Part Four: Genesis|Genesis}}

[[File:LiarsAtoD1-SwerveRedAlert.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Questquestquestquestquestquestquest.]]
Swerve was one of the Autobots who chose to accompany [[Hot Rod (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Rodimus]] on his quest to find the [[Knights of Cybertron]]. [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] reluctantly allowed Swerve to board the ''[[Lost Light]]'' if he'd stop talking. Swerve doesn't know. {{storylink|Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It|How to Say Goodbye and Mean It}} He was in the medibay when [[Tailgate (G1)|Tailgate]] recovered consciousness, and got to be the one who broke the news about how long Tailgate had been trapped underground. He and Tailgate went out for some fresh air and, along with [[Chromedome (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Chromedome]] and [[Rewind (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Rewind]], encountered [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] and watched him fight the [[Legislator]]s. Skids wasn't keen on Swerve's suggestion they should team up. {{storylink|Liars, A to D Part 2: Hangers On|Hangers On}}

[[File:Swerves bar life after the big bang.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Sometimes you've got to go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came.]]
During the incident with the [[Sparkeater (creature)|Sparkeater]], Swerve and Skids stumbled on [[Swerve's|a bar]], reminding Swerve of his earlier plans to run such an establishment. {{storylink|Liars, A to D Part 3: The Chaos of Warm Things|The Chaos of Warm Things}} Swerve opened the bar for a celebration of the Sparkeater's demise. As a subscriber to Fisitron's ''Wreckers: Declassified'', he received a strange new datalog and discussed it with [[Ratchet (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Ratchet]], prompting the latter's trip to [[Delphi]]. {{storylink|Life After the Big Bang}}

Shortly after that, Swerve saw [[Ambulon]] talking with First Aid, and curious about his alt-mode threw a ball at the back of his head, causing the guy to turn into his leg mode. Ever the understanding sort, Swerve proceeded to make bad puns about it. {{storylink|No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases}}

Swerve attended a celebration following the ''Lost Light''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s collision with a discarded thumb from Metroplex, and its subsequent repair. There, he cheered when Highbrow, Chromedome, and Brainstorm were awarded a [[Rodimus Star]] for their part in saving the ship. He was at some point put on "sponsored silence," being promised a coveted Rodimus Star of his own if he followed through with it. But Swerve found that remaining silent was exceedingly difficult for him, and so contacted Trailcutter, asking him to project a forcefield into his mouth to seal off his vocal synthesizer. Trailcutter refused. Swerve was then frozen in place, along with nearly everyone else aboard the ''Lost Light'', when one of Brainstorm's experimental weapons accidentally went off. When he eventually recovered, he was awarded a Rodimus Star after all, though it was "for exceptional endurance in the face of adversity." {{storylink|The Reluctant Specialist}}

Swerve accompanied [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] and [[Perceptor (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Perceptor]] on a mission to scrounge [[energon]] from a deserted Decepticon outpost but their pilot, [[Sunstreaker (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Sunstreaker]], was distracted by his own reflection in the radar screen and crashed their shuttle into a planet. With the ship upside down and Perceptor half-melted into the floor (now the ceiling) Swerve kept up his usual banter as they found themselves under attack by [[Tarn (DJD)|Tarn]], which happened to be one of his worst fears. With the shuttle cloaked, Swerve passed the time by teasing Sunstreaker and talking about his other worst fears—[[Megatron (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Megatron]], [[Overlord (G1)|Overlord]], [[Sixshot (G1)|Sixshot]], [[Shockwave (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Shockwave]], and [[Overmegasixwave|some nightmare combination of all four]]. However, it was soon revealed that this bluster was merely an attempt to disguise the fact that his spark casing had cracked during the crash and that without attention he would die. Hoist and Sunstreaker left him to take the fight to Tarn but the [[Decepticon Justice Division|D.J.D.]] leader quickly took down Sunstreaker and Hoist found himself under attack by Megatron, Overlord, Sixshot, and Shockwave—who then combined before disappearing at the same time Swerve fell unconscious. After Perceptor deduced that the planet was protected by a [[phobia shield]], Hoist managed to defeat it by rendering Perceptor and Bob unconscious and facing his own worst fear—being alone. {{storylink|The Waiting Game}} Swerve was presumably repaired upon their rescue by the ''Lost Light'', as he was back tending his bar soon afterwards.

[[File:Swerve Interiors arrested.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6]]
Unfortunately [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Ultra Magnus]] finally found out about the bar, stormed in, and led Swerve away in handcuffs. Swerve was soon on rivet duty with Rewind, clambering around on the ''Lost Light''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s hull and replacing rivets. The pair were pressed into service when [[Fortress Maximus (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Fortress Maximus]] flipped and took [[Rung (G1)|Rung]] and [[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] hostage, as the only way to get near the hostage situation was via an exterior window. While Rewind distracted Maximus with a recording of [[Garrus-9]], Swerve fired his rivet gun. Unfortunately his protests about his poor aim turned out to be true, and instead of wounding Maximus, he blew Rung's head off. {{storylink|Interiors}} Though Rung survived, Swerve was horrified to learn that his actions had left the psychiatrist in a coma. He visited Rung with Skids, and left one of Rung's model ships at his bedside. {{storylink|Rules of Disengagement (issue)|Rules of Disengagement}} Later, he would sit and talk to Rung for 147 hours straight, until the patient finally moved for the first time since the shooting... to make a "shush" gesture. {{storylink|Signal to Noise}}

[[File:MtMtEAnn2012-contemplative Swerve.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3]]
Swerve intended to attend Tailgate's [[Act of Affiliation]] ceremony but got sidetracked when he discovered [[Ore]] had been recently revived. He was assigned by Rodimus to distract Ore from realizing what had happened to him which would cause the engine block he was stuck on to activate and [[Quantum generator|quantum jump]] the whole ship. Swerve began a conversation with Ore, not telling Ore what had happened to him, under the false identity of [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]] since the [[Duobot]] had been chatting with Pipes before the accident. Swerve used the conversation as an excuse to (surreptitiously) discuss the guilt he was experiencing after shooting Rung, his inability to disobey Rodimus for fear of losing his bar as well as the confusion he was undergoing about the difference between peace and happiness. Ore allowed Swerve to realize that his ability to regret his actions made him a decent person, and Swerve considered whether or not he really wanted the reputation he'd earned. Moments late, Swerve was contacted by Rodimus to tell Ore the truth about what happened, as his death or mental breakdown would jump them away from the recently aggressive [[Galactic Council]]. Swerve responded by saying he would rather save Ore than hurt him, orders or no, something Rodimus kept to himself when asked. Fortunately, a recently revived Titan quantum-jumped the ship and Ore was teleported away as an extra convenience. {{storylink|Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations|You, Me, and Other Revelations}}

[[File:Mtmte10-p17-swerve-wholeotherstory.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Swerve vs. Swindle in a fingergun fight to the death!]]
A few days later, Swerve joined a few other Autobots for movie night in Rewind's hab-suite, watching "[[Proteus's Promise]]". {{storylink| Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?|Who's Afraid of the DJD?}} Swerve and Rewind arranged a series of storytelling sessions in the bar to try and help Rung's mental recovery. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}} They made little progress and eventually had a third session with Chromedome, [[Drift (G1)|Drift]], Ratchet, Whirl, and others. {{storylink|Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc|Post Hoc}} Swerve was unable to stop himself occasionally interjecting into the story. {{storylink|Shadowplay, Part 2: Patternism|Patternism}} Unable to get into his own quarters to fetch refreshments, Swerve raided [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]]'s stash of [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Following the story, the shipwide alarm sounded and Swerve speculated that someone had trodden dirt into Ultra Magnus's office. {{storylink|Shadowplay (Conclusion): An Intimate Beheading|An Intimate Beheading}}

[[File:Before&After Shoomer.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|"Swerve’s fun to write because he shoots his mouth off"—[[James Roberts]].]]
The alarm turned out to be a call to take part in a mission to [[Temptoria]] to find the [[Circle of Light]]. Swerve kept himself calm during the trip in the ''[[Leading Light]]'' by using Rungian re-experience therapy. He took part in the battle on Temptoria until his gun ran out, at which point he asked Whirl for another and was thrown the [[Shoomer]]. He struggled to lift the huge weapon and accidentally ended up shooting himself in the face with it and so his part in the fight ended. Despite the damage, he survived and was taken back to the ''Lost Light''. {{storylink|Before & After}}

[[File:CybertronianHomesickBlues-holomatterswerve.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|"So my holomatter avatar is the hobbit version of Quagmire? Is this right??"]]
When Swerve and his crew went to [[Hedonia]]'s bars, he was tasked by Rodimus to bring Ultra Magnus along and help him relax. That led to Magnus falling unconscious after drinking [[Nucleon (substance)|nucleon]] and Swerve was left to look after him, and provide a shoulder for a maudlin drunk Magnus to cry on. He tried to buck the enforcer up, reassuring him that people did like him; when Magnus fell unconscious again, Swerve quietly admitted that people didn't like ''him'' but just tolerate him because of his jokes. After an intense effort, Swerve and the gang got Ultra Drunkus back to the ''Lost Light'' (Swerve decided this quest was now in his top three) and he used a prototype broadcast system to tell the whole thing to Blurr's personal number... refusing to admit that it was a fake. After that, sensing a new relationship with Magnus, Swerve asked him (next in a long line) if he'd like to share his room: Magnus, like everyone else, turned it down. {{storylink|Cybertronian Homesick Blues}}

Swerve and Tailgate bet 100 [[shanix]] that each would be the first to discover what Rung's [[alternate mode]] was without asking him directly. Swerve's initial attempts involved striking the psychiatrist in the [[neural cluster]] to induce an involuntary transformation, but he was unsuccessful. He then tried to bribe Rung by getting him [[Thunder Clash|Thunderclash]]'s autograph, however they soon found themselves in the middle of a hostage situation as the Autobot [[Paddox]] revealed he was actually a deep-cover group of [[Ammonite]]s and demanded the ''Lost Light'', with its superior quantum engines, in exchange for Thunderclash's life. Swerve bemoaned the fact that they were unarmed and Rung responded that wasn't necessarily the case—he transformed into his alternate mode (officially classified as an "ornament") and Swerve used him to clobber Paddox into his component parts. {{storylink|Little Victories}}

[[File:MtMtE15-MetaBomb.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1]]
Some while later, Swerve accompanied Rewind to Brainstorm's laboratory, as the archivist was hoping to probe the inventor as to Chromedome's whereabouts. Whilst the two other Autobots talked, Swerve had a poke around, and decided to push a button on small device he picked up, something which he subsequently denied to Brainstorm. The invention, as it turned out, was a "[[metafictional bomb|meta bomb]]", and it had the effect of making Swerve unwittingly act as if he were a character in a [[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|comic book]]. Just then, a ship wide alarm sounded – the notorious [[Decepticon]] psychopath Overlord had appeared on the ship and begun a rampage! No doubt too small and inept to be of much use in the battle that followed, Swerve wound up sitting by an injured Drift and thanks to the continuing effects of the meta bomb began an oddly detached monologue about the situation the crew found themselves in. {{storylink|Under Cold Blue Stars}}

After the threat had passed, thanks to Rewind's self-sacrifice, Swerve and Tailgate visited the medibay, where Ratchet was working on the mortally wounded Ultra Magnus. To the medical officer's chagrin, Swerve played ''[[The Empyrean Suite]]'' for the comatose patient. Shortly afterwards, at the memorial service for those killed during Overlord's rampage, Swerve decided to begin a "quest" to learn the contents of Brainstorm's briefcase, as a way of distracting himself from the recent tragedies. {{storylink|The Gloaming}}

After the service, Ultra Magnus disappeared from the medibay and fled in a shuttlecraft, and in pursuing it the ''Lost Light'' arrived at a vast portal hanging in space. Swerve enthused wildly about this latest development to Tailgate, ignorant that the Autobot-in-training had just been diagnosed with a fatal case of [[cybercrosis]]. Through the portal, the ship found the long lost [[Moonbase One|Luna 1]], but despite the his enthusiasm, Rodimus forbade Swerve from joining the landing party, citing that he had done nothing useful with his metallurgical training for the past months and had instead been a barman. Forlorn, Swerve decided to shut down the bar for good, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a [[Legislator|huge, heavily armed robot]] saying nothing but 'seventeen twenty-one' over and over. {{storylink|Remain in Light 1 of 5: The Fecund Moon|The Fecund Moon}}

[[File:MyFirstBlaster DirectHit.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcNXq5DUZnk"Dun-dun-dun-dundundun. Dun-dun-dun-dundundun."]]]
The mechanoid promptly opened fire, shredding the room to pieces, but Swerve was able to get behind the bar and trigger the 'security' installed recently by Brainstorm: scores of automated turrets that emerge from the walls and blast the invader. Despite the heavy fire, the attacker remained standing, so the bartender went for another gift from Brainstorm, ''[[My First Blaster]]''™. Despite his infamous (lack of) marksmanship skills, this chunky weapon allowed Swerve to put a hole through his assailant, finally stopping it.

With more invaders all across the ship, Swerve ran to find his friend Skids at the oil reservoir. He arrived just as the amnesiac theoretician emerged victorious from an enormous battle, but a [[Star Saber (G1)|large, sword-wielding warrior]] teleported in behind him and ran Skids through. Swerve frantically opened fire, but missed every shot and was knocked unconscious. {{storylink|Remain in Light 2 of 5: House of Ambus|House of Ambus}} The two Autobots were teleported into a cell on Luna 1 where they found the captured members of the ''Lost Light''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s landing party and [[Getaway]], {{storylink|Remain in Light 3 of 5: The Divided Self|The Divided Self}} who explained that the insane [[Chief Justice]] [[Solomus|Tyrest]] was behind their imprisonment. He sprung them from the cell and they rushed to confront Tyrest but the mad lawman was ready for them and incapacitated the Autobots before activating his [[universal killswitch]]. {{storylink|Remain in Light 4 of 5: Arm the Lonely|Arm the Lonely}} Swerve was unaffected and after Tyrest was defeated by [[Minimus Ambus]] he heard the Chief Justice say something about winning. Later he was part of a team that raided [[Pharma (G1)|Pharma]]'s medbay, where he used his metallurgy skills to discover a cure for [[cybercrosis]] that would help save Tailgate's life. {{storylink|Remain in Light 5 of 5: This Calamitous Life|This Calamitous Life}} Swerve was still congratulating himself on this achievement when he was approached by Brainstorm, who suspected that someone had opened his briefcase and wanted Swerve to help him find out who would have done such a thing. {{storylink|The Sound of Breaking Glass}}

In the aftermath of the event, Swerve began cleaning up the mess in his bar, only to find several crewmembers promising to help clean up if he'd re-open it. As they got to work, he asked them to look out for a suitably intact Legislator, so he could use it as a doorman. Jackpot quickly found [[Ten|one]] {{storylink|No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases}}, which Swerve rebuilt, hacking its "bruised brain" and putting it to work as a doorman in his bar. {{storylink|World, Shut Your Mouth Part 2: Words Hang in the Air|Words Hang in the Air}} After the ''Lost Light'' left Luna 1, Swerve held a grand reopening of his bar that was attended by Ultra Magnus but not Rodimus. {{storylink|Remain in Light 5 of 5: This Calamitous Life|This Calamitous Life}}

On their way to make contact with Thunderclash, the ''Lost Light'' received a dire warning from Orion Pax about the destruction of [[Gorlam Prime]]. Demonstrating a keen awareness of the severity of the situation, Swerve turned the warning into the ringtone for his comm unit. {{storylink|Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1|Dark Dawn}} After they rescued Pax and his crew, a welcoming celebration was held for them at ''Swerve's''. Seeing Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, and "Optimus Prime" sharing a drink together at his bar, Swerve couldn't contain himself and started taking pictures for the wall until they shooed him away. {{storylink|Black Metal: Dark Cybertron Chapter 2|Black Metal}}

[[File:Darkk Cybertron Swerve Crosscut combat.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1]]
The ''Lost Light'' later quantum jumped to the planet [[Hydrophena]] in search of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], but were attacked by a few thousand Ammonites. Swerve joined the crew in taking the fight to the [[Stentarian]] army hand-to-hand while Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, and several others went for Metroplex himself. {{storylink|Into the Abyss: Dark Cybertron Chapter 4|Into the Abyss}} During the battle, Swerve saved famous crew-member [[Crosscut (Autobot)|Crosscut]] and was rattled when he learned the guy didn't know who he was, protesting that he was supposed to be one of the "main cast". {{storylink|The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|The Dead Are Not Enough}} Inside Metroplex, Swerve's comrades located traces of [[admium]] in the water running through the Titan, and contacted him for his metallurgic expertise. {{storylink|No Exit: Dark Cybertron Chapter 6|No Exit}} Swerve warned them that admium basically meant "death plague", and they had a horde of Ammonites rushed towards them at the moment. {{storylink|The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|The Dead Are Not Enough}} Swerve and the crew got back aboard the ''Lost Light'' before Metroplex linked with the ship and triggered his internal Space Bridge, bringing them back to Cybertron in time for Metroplex to defeat the [[Quintessa (IDW)|Necrotitan]]. {{storylink|Finis Temporis: Dark Cybertron Chapter 9|Finis Temporis}}

After the dark Titan fell, Swerve opened up Swerve's for Autobot and Decepticon alike to relax in. His innermost energon nearly boiled over, though, when a dream came true: Blurr. ''In his bar.'' Swerve played it as cool as he could, meaning he left Blurr feeling unnerved and very annoyed at "that three-fingered guy". {{storylink|The Becoming: Dark Cybertron Chapter 10|The Becoming}} As the Ammonites returned to invade Cybertron by the billions, Swerve held the ground with the other Cybertronians. {{storylink|Black Planet: Dark Cybertron Chapter 11|Black Planet}} They kept the planet from falling until the leadership of the Autobots and Decepticons succeeded in stopping Shockwave's mad schemes. {{storylink|...And the Damage Done: Dark Cybertron Finale|...And the Damage Done}}

[[File:PREVIOUSLY, ON SWERVE.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|'''PREVIOUSLY, ON THE PAGLIACCI SHOW:''' "Hey folks, did you know if you act all wacky and tell jokes, it doesn't make the pain inside go away but does mean everyone assumes you're happy? It's true!"]]
As the ''Lost Light'' prepared to leave Cybertron for the second time, Swerve, [[Crosscut (Autobot)|Crosscut]], and [[Riptide (G1)|Riptide]] hosted a series of "crewditions", during which he rejected [[Groove (G1)|Groove]], [[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]], and [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] for spurious reasons before [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] revealed the whole exercise to be a sham Swerve had concocted purely for his own amusement. {{storylink|World, Shut Your Mouth Part 1: Towards Peace|Towards Peace}} Before the ship could take off, the crew received the announcement that the supposedly reformed Megatron would be joining the crew, to which Swerve reacted with appropriate restraint and decorum. Or not, as the case was. In the meantime, he and Bluestreak had a chat about Earth culture. {{storylink|No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases}}

Once the mission was once again underway, Swerve chafed under its new co-commander. {{storylink|World, Shut Your Mouth Part 2: Words Hang in the Air|Words Hang in the Air}}

At some point during the second voyage, Swerve—feeling that he was out of place now that the 'cast' had changed—just stopped coming out of his room. His [[holomatter]] avatar (of ''himself'') was sent to run the bar and everyone on board assumed that good ol' happy Swerve was fine because he sure looked all happy and jokey, while the real Autobot put himself through months of severe neglect out of sight. His old bullet wound gave him a creeping, untreated rust infection which, unnoticed by anyone nor himself, gradually shut his systems down. {{storylink|The One Where They Go to Earth}}

When things aboard the ''Lost Light''—and ultimately the ship itself—started to disappear, Swerve abandoned the ship along with the rest of the crew. {{storylink|World, Shut Your Mouth Part 3: Predestination: A Beginner's Guide|Predestination: A Beginner's Guide}} While trying to make sense of the situation aboard the [[Rodpod]] along with Megatron and a collection of other Autobots, Swerve himself then vanished. {{storylink|Twenty Plus One}} The remaining Autobots discovered a quantum duplicate ''Lost Light'' on which all aboard had been slaughtered by the Decepticon Justice Division. The duplicate Swerve had his skull crushed by Tarn himself. {{storylink|slaughterhouse}} When the duplicate ship's quantum engines were shut down, it disappeared and the other ship and crew reappeared, Swerve included. {{storylink|slaughterhouse Part 2: The Road Not Taken|The Road Not Taken}}

[[File:OurStepsWillAlwaysRhyme-oi.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2]]
Swerve was serving drinks at his bar during a movie screening and joined in a singalong of "The Power of Love". {{storylink|Elegant Chaos Part 3: Predestination: An Expert's Guide|Predestination: An Expert's Guide}} The "bad batch of [[engex]]" hurt Swerve's reputation as a bartender, as such most people frequented [[Mirage (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Mirage]]'s new bar [["Visages"]] (quotation marks included). His only customers were Ratchet and Tailgate. Needing an outlet he took his anger out on [[Ten]]. Swerve later found himself called in for a bogus medical inspection regarding "Super Scraplets". The real reason was so that Ratchet could talk to him. The CMO suggested that Swerve invite Megatron to do a poetry reading, hoping it would revive the bar and help the former Decepticon out of his brooding. Swerve, however, invited Megatron to "Visages" putting the bar out of business before he even finished his second verse. [[Minimus Ambus]] later came into Swerve's with Ten as his guest and overruled Swerve's abuse of the Legislator. {{storylink|Our Steps Will Always Rhyme}} Upon Ratchet leaving Swerve spent the next four weeks watching every piece of Earth media, making Bluestreak regret ever installing intergalactic wi-fi. {{storylink|The Sensuous Frame}} His favourite things were sitcoms: whacky stories about messes and hijinks that always end well, and that often had a bunch of losers and screwups who are forced to be together and become friends. {{storylink|The One Where They Go to Earth}} He publicly confided in [[Ravage (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Ravage]] that he learned three great things from Earth TV but was cut off by Rodimus's gong. {{storylink|The Sensuous Frame}}

[[File:TheFrailGaze-ohboy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3]]
After the latest crisis had passed, Swerve held an "Indie Disco" featuring Earth music. According to Skids, everything was well, at which point Swerve stated "I guess my work here is done." At which point, to his dismay, his holomatter avatar cut out {{storylink|The Frail Gaze}} (which everyone else mistook as a teleport) as his body finally began to die. It was only ''then'' that Skids, to his shame, actually visited his friend's room and found him comatose. Swerve's mind took refuge in a giant holomatter replica of Earth as seen in its many sitcoms (dubbed "[[Swearth]]" by Rodimus who isn't very funny), beamed out of his body and that killed him faster. (A combination of meta-bomb side effects and having peeked in the infamous briefcase had given him the power to do this) Almost the entire ''Lost Light'' crew began searching the 'planet' for him, even at the risk to their own selves.

[[File:Father Ted's Big Bang Community.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|''Three little holomatters, one, two, three'' ''Without a home or a Spotlight story'' ''Once they were lost but now they're found'' ''And now we're all just'' ''Swerving Around'']]
After a bewildering trek through background laughter, impractical rooms, and Earth replicas, a team of Autobots found three whacky roommates who got into ''hi-lar-ious'' hijinks: actually Swerve's mind, fractured into its religious leanings (Ted the priest), his metallurgy (Sheldon the dermatologist), and his joking slacker side (Jerry the stand-up), with the latter dissing the other two for never achieving much in a literal manifestation of his self-loathing. The crew realised what was going on when Tailgate found the recap pages in a [[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|comic]] were Swerve talking to the reader, where he explained how "Swearth" had happened. This allowed everyone to realise the three 'humans' were Swerve; they made contact and were able to talk the depressed Swerve into coming back to 'reality', after Cyclonus revealed how everyone was searching for him and cared about him. Swerve went back and [[Velocity (G1)|Velocity]] was able to identify and fix his shoulder wound. {{storylink|The One Where They Go to Earth}}

[[File:TheOneWheretheyGoToEarth-whoa.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]|It's a downer when Father Ted, Anthony Edwards and Zack Galifianakis revert to Hobbit Quagmire.]]
Swerve quickly (so far as we can tell) got over the experience, for when he learned his wound had been a data slug by Autobot spy Agent 113 he created a 'Shot in the Shoulder' drink costing 1.13 [[shanix]]. After his recovery, he joined Team Rodimus in journeying to the [[Mortilus|Necrobot]]'s home. As a memory of the experience, he took a photo of himself with the 'bot. {{storylink|The Not Knowing}}

Several days later, a moodier-than-usual Cyclonus came into Swerve's, Swerve determining he was looking for Tailgate, and told him where he was, though not before giving Cyclonus a drink as repayment for what he did on "Swearth". {{storylink|The Lopsided Triangle}}

At some point, Swerve compiled a range of music for Ultra Magnus, which contained a large amount of crooning.

[[File:SilentLight-swerveholdsaprotoform.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9]]
In late December that year, the ship began to pass into [[Mauler]] territory, and in order to protect the crew from the vicious robophobes, the entire crew was told to enter Biometric Envelopment Devices, which would hide their spark signatures. Rather than do that, however, Swerve, Whirl, and Nautica decided to hang out and get plastered on subspace-filtered engex, utterly unafraid of any potential trouble this would get him into. Until it appeared Magnus was at the door. It turned out to be what looked like a protoform, which had apparently stowed away in the crates of engex.

Realizing they couldn't keep "her", the three went looking for the subspace hatch, which had been moved to Ultra Magnus's office. As Whirl and Nautica handled their stowaway, Swerve learnt the hatch had been very securely secured. And then Magnus turned up, a'crooning as he went. Ignoring Swerve's attempts at distraction, he entered his office, only to find his armor had come to life. Panicking, Nautica knocked Magnus out with her [[Nautica's wrench|wrench]], and the supposed protoform made off with the armor. Taking action, Swerve told Nautica and Whirl to find the armor, while he put Minimus in a B.E.D., before presumably putting himself in one too. {{storylink|Silent Light}}

A few days later, Swerve was one of several crew-members who took advantage of the "time fissures" present in his bar to look back on past events, before joining everyone else in a toast to "surprises". {{storylink|No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases}}

During a movie night, Swerve and the guys watched a documentary of [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]'s death. Swerve expositioned that Sentinel had faked Matrix affinity and was never a true Prime, before trying to placate an annoyed Megatron with energon nibbles. {{storylink|The Last Autobot}}

Swerve was one of several Autobots who took part in a battle against some Rust Giants on Millarium, and in the aftermath was swarmed by the grateful locals. Much later on that day, at thirty-one oh-seven hours, Swerve was one of several members of the crew who were subjected to a strange psychic attack, which left a bad enough effect on Swerve he was still recovering even when he joined the team going to find it.

The Rodpod wound up first inside, then on the [[Necroworld|Necrobot's planet]], but before they could wonder about that, they came under attack. Swerve helpfully made a list of who it was that could've wanted them dead ("everyone"). As they tried fleeing to the Necrobot's fortress, the ship was blown to pieces, with Swerve being shielded from the ensuing blast by Magnus. Once inside, they found the Necrobot, dead. And the bad news just kept coming, as getting in contact with the ship revealed Getaway had been set free by the rest of the crew, who were officially past fed up with Megatron and his entourage. Swerve was quick to call Getaway out on saying he supported Megatron, only for the 'bot to reveal he'd been going through the crew, determining who would support a mutiny and who wouldn't, then giving them a shot of the old Nudge Gun afterward to cover his tracks.

[[File:TheSunInFlight-swervefreaksout.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Swerve and Ultra Magnus, five seconds after being told they were going to be in [[Transformers: Combiner Wars (cartoon)|Combiner Wars.]]]]
And because the bad news just kept on coming, the D.J.D. was present, too. Swerve took the news about as well as could be expected. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light: (1) How Bright Their Frail Deeds|How Bright Their Frail Deeds}} Fortunately, the D.J.D. kept to their own script, retreating after their initial attack to give everyone time to sweat. As Rodimus told everyone to use the eight hour window to find an out, Velocity asked Swerve to check Censere's corpse, which had dissolved, leaving only a key behind. Looking around to search for what it was a key for, Velocity asked Swerve why he'd bothered bringing Ten along. He answered it had been because the psychic assault had shown Ten yelling at him for his poor treatment. Then Velocity discover what was behind the door that matched the key: a room filled with at least sixty bodies, inside strange pods.

Discussion arose whether to flee, or stay and defend the people inside the pods. It was Swerve who pointed out there was another option, that of stealing whatever ship the D.J.D. had shown up in, smuggling the pods on board and legging it. Despite Whirl pointing out the plan was fairly terrible, Ravage said he could probably track it down. Ten left to follow him, though not before leaving a general outline for his own plan, of using the residual spark energy in the flowers surrounding the fortress to power up some storm shields. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light Part 2: The Sun in Flight|The Sun in Flight}}

[[File:RageRage-roomyshoulders.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3]]
When Ten returned, much worse for wear, alongside Ratchet and Drift, Swerve tried talking to him, only for Magnus to tell him to give Ten some space. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light Part 3: Your Fierce Tears|Your Fierce Tears}} After that, the gravity of the situation caught up to Swerve, and he felt the need to take a time out, with Skids looking over him. Six hours later, just before the D.J.D. were about to strike, Swerve summed up the situation, with Megatron's pacifism making him take a powder, and declared it couldn't get worse. He was wrong, for Magnus had written some poetry. Swerve then took part in the group hug before going out to fight. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light Part 4: At Close of Day|At Close of Day}} Swerve and Rewind fought alongside Ultra Magnus, using the turrets built into his new "Maximum Ambus" upgrade. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light Part 5: Rage, Rage|Rage, Rage}} By the time that the Autobot's temporary spark surge had worn off, the three had retreated back to the Necrobot's fortress with the other stranded Autobots. There, Swerve came up with the idea of weaponizing the Necrobot's psychic beacon, forcing Deathsaurus and his Decepticons into a retreat, leaving Megatron to face the DJD alone. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light Part 6: Do Not Go Gentle|Do Not Go Gentle}}

In the immediate aftermath, Swerve (with a black Autobrand to mark Skids' death) was taking 'hits' of mood suppressant to keep pain away. When the 'organics' turned out to be shielded Transformers that the Necrobot had rescued from past deaths, Swerve got up to his old tricks fast and started "background checks" on them for a laugh. When new arrival [[Anode]] said Swerve didn't seem too upset about his friend's death, he snapped at her and stormed off. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 1: Some Other Cybertron|Some Other Cybertron}} Later, he volunteered to check the pods for any others waking up like Anode. Swerve also warned Velocity he was "starting to feel it again", meaning he wanted more mood suppressant. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 2: Anomie|Anomie}}

Down below, Swerve and Ten discovered a massive unopened pod. He wanted Cyclonus and Whirl around in case the occupant was dodgy, but Whirl popped the pod before Cyclonus arrived. Inside was his ultimate nemesis, the bio-locational weapons engineer and [[Warriors Elite]] member known as [[Killmaster]]. The nemeses locked into combat with each other, but Whirl's laser fire only seemed to make him stronger! Swerve was distraught when Ten was blasted by Killmaster's wand and seemingly atomized, only to follow closely on the heels of his bouncer and being dispersed as well. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 3: A World Misplaced|A World Misplaced}}

Fortunately, Cyclonus and Whirl defeated Killmaster and Brainstorm worked out how to use the wand to recover Swerve and Ten from their extra-dimensional displacement. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 5: Modes of Production|Modes of Production}} Having realized all of Necroworld had been displaced in space and time, Brainstorm used the wand-tech to restore them to their proper point. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 6: This Machine Kills Fascists|This Machine Kills Fascists}} Using a modified "[[skip]]", Swerve and the crew made ready to continue their quest. {{storylink|After Megatron (A Dissolution Epilogue)|After Megatron}}

Boredom and frustration from being in a confined space for an extended period of time led to a prank war breaking out between Swerve and Anode. When Anode painted up [[Lug (IDW)|Lug]] in Swerve's colors and had her proclaim to be his biggest fan, Swerve retaliated by having Velocity call Anode in for a medical exam and inform her that she had a "second head" in her rear armature. Anode got back at him by having Whirl plant a fake bomb in Swerve's head before waking him up to make it seem like she was using [[magnetizing spray]] to fuse him to his recharge slab. Unaware of the fake bomb, Swerve used Skip's sprinkler system to coat Anode with magnetizing spray before going to see Ratchet, where he discovered that the "bomb" was counting down each word he spoke. To make matters worse, Ratchet suddenly lost his colors, making him appear dead. Swerve then used what he believed to be his "last words" to trick Anode into getting fused to Ultra Magnus. When this resulted in chaos breaking out among the crew, Swerve uses his final words to warn Anode of a furious Cyclonus as he was about to slice her with his [[Great Sword]], only to wound Rewind instead. As chaos continued to unfold around them, Anode revealed to Swerve that the "bomb" in his head had been her doing and declared herself victor of the prank war. The pranksters' argument was then interrupted by Ten unexpectedly speaking to get their attention. {{storylink|Sardines}}

Acting on Ten's instructions, Swerve and the others modified Skip to travel through compressed space and make it to the nearest [[Mederi]] facility. However, when Skip began to shrink in on the crew, they were forced to abandon ship and were seemingly killed by the ravages of compressed space. Upon awakening, the crew converged on Rodimus's position, where he was standing over Ten's deactivated body. After mourning over his departed friend, Swerve professed that they had ended up in the [[Transformer afterlife|Afterspark]]. When Ratchet met this idea with skepticism, Swerve was seemingly proved correct when the deceased Trailcutter and Pipes suddenly appeared before them. {{storylink|The Everlasting Voices (1): Metastasis|Metastasis}}

Overjoyed by being reunited with their departed friends, {{storylink|The Everlasting Voices (2): The God War|The God War}} Swerve and the others eventually gathered under the giant Matrix that loomed over the Afterspark and prepared to ascend. However, when the Matrix—along with Trailcutter and Pipes—suddenly faded away, it was revealed to Swerve and the crew that the "Afterspark" had in fact been an illusion generated by the Mederi program intended to euthanize them. Moreover, Mederi was in fact "Cyberutopia" itself, therefore bringing the Knights Quest to a conclusion. Before Swerve and the others could enjoy their happy ending, they were attacked by the mutineers of the ''Lost Light'', whom had since been transformed into ravenous sparkeaters. {{storylink|The Everlasting Voices (3): You Are Here|You Are Here}}

After Tailgate's suggestion that they should shoot them and run away, Swerve would ask if they meant with their wits. Swerve would then scream as Brainstorm was hit with acid vomit coming from the sparkeater Perceptor. Getting to know Misfire by sharing a few puns together, specifically about how Misfire stated that they like their explanations 'hard, fast and confusing' and that it was like 'being beaten to death with a story so far' to which Swerve would respond by stating it was a "summary execution." Misfire would shake hands with Swerve and ask how they had never met, and Swerve would state that the universe hates winners. Swerve would shout out Bluestreak's name after they were shot. Inside Ward Zero, Swerve would say that they should put non-metallic equipment in their barricade stating that their acid vomit may find it trickier to dissolve. {{storylink|Crucible (Part 1): A Dance Before Dying|A Dance Before Dying}}

{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|The Plotters' Club (Part 2): Filling in the Blanks|Filling in the Blanks}} {{storylink|The Plotters' Club (Part 3): Journey's End|Journey's End}} {{storylink|Crucible (Part 3): Farsickness|Farsickness}} {{storylink|Crucible (Part 4): The Return of the King|The Return of the King}} {{storylink|Crucible (Part 5): The Unremembering|The Unremembering}} {{storylink|Crucible (Part 6): A Spark Among Embers|A Spark Among Embers}} {{storylink|How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2}}}}

==Games==
===''Transformers Legends''===
[[File:TFLegends-Swerve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1]]
Swerve was assigned to [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]]'s team, guarding some researchers at a coastal town when they were attacked by [[Overbite (G1)|Overbite]] and [[Nautilator]]. {{storylink|The B-Team Part Deux}}
{{--}}

===''Transformers: Battle Tactics''===
[[File:BattleTacticsSwerve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|If we can't equip him with a "My First Blaster", we can just move on.]]
[[File:Battle-Tactics-Swerve-(Gen).jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|He's smiling because...]]
Swerve participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He appeared in two different bodies:
*''Swerve''—This Common character could be recruited by collecting 20 units of Cybermetal.
*''Swerve (Gen)''—This Epic character first appeared in the "Transform and Roll Out!" event, and could be recruited by collecting 650 units of Cybermetal, 350 Units of Transmetal, 150 exclusive cores, and 50 cores of this character.
{{storylink|Transformers: Battle Tactics}}
{{--}}

==Toys==
===''The Transformers''===
{{anchor|Generation 1}}[[File:G1-toy Swerve.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|Elbows. I no has them!]]
*'''Swerve''' (Mini-Vehicle, [[1986]])
**''Takara ID number:'' '''C-58'''

: Part of the third year of [[Hasbro]]'s ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|The Transformers]]'' [[Mini Vehicle]] assortment, Swerve is a [[retool]] of the ''[[Micro Change|Microchange]]'' toy originally used to make [[Gears (G1)#Toys|Gears]], transforming into a pickup truck of indeterminable model with robot kludge in the cargo bed. He is largely maroon and white, with squarer legs and a more elaborate face than Gears.

: The initial releases of all Mini Vehicles and [[Special Teams]] in 1986 were part of a promotional campaign that featured reflective [[iron-on patch]]es as part of a contest. Later in the year, packages without bonus patches were released.

: In Japan, "Werve" was sold in the second year of [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]'s ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline)#1986 (Scramble City and 2010)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' line, packaged in a small box with a collector's card rather than the Hasbro version's bubble-card.

::*''[http://www.transformerland.com/wiki/toy-info/transformers-g1-mini-vehicles-swerve/1175/ Patent info, price guide, and further reading on Swerve at Transformerland.com]''
::*''[http://www.tfu.info/1986/Autobot/Swerve/swerve.htm More information on Swerve at TFU.info]''
{{G1GearsMold}}

{{-}}{{anchor|IGA}}
*'''Swerve''' (Mini Vehicle, [[1987]])

: In the Mexican ''Transformers'' line produced by [[IGA]], Swerve was released as a straight [[redeco]] of Gears, sold on Swerve cards. He was cast in metallic-maroon with white robot parts, which is pretty close to the Hasbro/Takara Swerve colors. Unlike most of the second-series IGA Mini Vehicles, he does not appear to have been sold in a second color scheme (at least, that we know of so far).

: IGA appears to have done this old-mold-new-colors move with the other third-year retools ([[Hubcap (G1)#IGA|Hubcap]], [[Outback (G1)#IGA|Outback]], [[Pipes (G1)#IGA|Pipes]], and [[Tailgate (G1)#IGA|Tailgate]]), though so far Tailgate and Swerve are the only ones that have been confirmed with carded samples.

: IGA Transformers also eventually made their way to a variety of European markets, slightly decreasing their rarity.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/1986/Autobot/MexicanSwerve/swerve.htm More information on IGA Swerve at TFU.info]''
{{--}}

===''Alternators''===
[[File:Alternator Swerve Toy.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|A new head. We were so spoiled...]]
*'''Swerve''' (Alternator, [[2004]])
**''ID number:'' '''15'''
**''Accessories:'' Engine/blaster

:''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' Swerve is a retool of [[Tracks (G1)#Alternators|Tracks]], and transforms into a red {{w|Chevrolet Corvette C5|Corvette Z06}} featuring opening doors and hood, as well as a realistic interior. Amusingly enough, his rocket launchers are safely stored next to the passenger and driver seats. Swerve is armed with his double-barrelled engine gun formed from his engine, two pairs of double-barreled slide-out wrist blasters, and two shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, making him one of the most heavily armed ''Alternators'' toys.

:Even though his head sculpt is directly based on his Generation 1 version, the deco designer apparently only knew about the original toy (which had sported an entirely red head and face) and wasn't aware of the more diverse colors for the head from Swerve's appearance in the cartoon episode "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5]]", so the ''Alternators'' toy was given a completely original color scheme for the head.

:He came with a flame hood decal reminiscent of the flames on Tracks's original toy (which was originally available with Tracks's ''Binaltech'' release), thus making him resemble [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] in vehicle mode.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2005/Autobot/AltSwerve/swerve.htm More information on Alternators Swerve at TFU.info]''
{{AlternatorsTracksMold}}

===''Encore''===
[[File:Encore Swerve toy.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|Weird—I crashed into a paint-sprayer, and for some reason, I can see better.]]
*'''Bumble & Minibots''' (Multi-pack, [[2008]])
**''ID number:'' '''10'''

:In 2008, "Werve" was reissued in the ''[[Transformers Encore|Encore]]'' line, bundled with [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys#Encore|Bumblebee]], [[Pipes (G1)#Encore|Pipes]], [[Tailgate (G1)#Encore|Tailgate]], and [[Outback (G1)#Encore|Outback]]. As with his pack-mates, his face paint was given more detailing to resemble his cartoon model better.
{{G1GearsMold}}
{{--}}

===''Generations''===
====GDO====
[[File:Generations china import deluxe swerve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|He's scowling because he still doesn't have his own mold.]]
*'''Swerve''' (Deluxe Class, [[2012]])
**''Accessories'': Blaster

:''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' Swerve is a [[Retool#Gang-molded alternate parts|pretool]] and [[redeco]] of [[Kup (G1)/toys#Generations|Sergeant Kup]], using the planned-in alternate head for the mold.<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-generations-classics-30-35/transformers-generations--movie-series-asia-exclusives-174569/ Transformers Generations & Movie Series Asia Exclusives]</ref> He transforms into a pseudo-retro-styled pickup truck of indeterminate, probably-made-up model, and is covered in 3 mm rungs that are compatible with [[C joint]] clip-on weapons. There are two rungs on his backpack, plus two rungs each on his forearm [[kibble]], and two on his lower back. The blaster can either be hand-held, plug into the underside of the truck to form a second exhaust pipe, or clip onto the roof of the truck via C joint. Interestingly, due to his transformation, Swerve's truck mode features a working tailgate.

:Swerve was originally only to be released as part of a big block of toys developed [[exclusive]]ly for release in China and other Hasbro Asia markets. However, [[Toys"R"Us]] picked up Swerve as part of a ''massive'' group of ''Transformers'' exclusives for US market release, just in time for the 2012 holiday shopping season.

:This mold was retooled into ''[[Transformers Timelines (toyline)|Timelines]]'' [[Hoist (G1)/toys#Timelines|Hoist]] and [[Electro#Timelines|Autobot Electrons]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2012/Autobot/GDOSwerve/swerve.htm More information on ''Generations'' Swerve at TFU.info]''
{{GenerationsKupMold}}
{{anchor|Thrilling30}}
{{--}}

====''Thrilling 30''====
[[File:Generationstoy-Swerve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|Sound chip not included. World breathes sigh of relief.]]
*'''Swerve & Flanker''' (Legends Class, [[2014]])
**''Series / number'': '''2 / 005'''

:Part of the fifth wave of [[2012]]-onwards ''Generations'' [[Legends Class (2005)|Legends Class]] toys, ''[[Thrilling 30]]'' Swerve is a new mold that is roughly the size of a ''[[Cyberverse (toyline)|Cyberverse]]'' Commander Class toy. His [[robot mode]] is styled after his appearance in ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye]]'', but transforms into a mostly red, modernized four-wheel drive pickup truck of made-up model. He comes with <s>a tray of drinks</s> <s>a ''My First Blaster''™</s> [[Sky High (Micromaster)#Generations|Flanker]], a small bot who transforms into either a blue jet or a weapon for Swerve to wield via its 5mm handle.

:The package art for Swerve mistakenly depicts him with ''five'' fingers on each hand instead of the usual four.

:Swerve was retooled into ''Generations'' [[Gears (G1)#Generations|Gears]] and redecoed and given a shell as [[BotCon 2015]] [[Oilmaster#Timelines|Oilmaster]]. In turn, that was retooled into [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generations toys#TFSS|Double Pretender Optimus Prime]].

:This tooling also served as the basis of the non-toy ''Shattered Glass'' incarnation of [[Swerve (SG)|Swerve]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2014/Autobot/GenSwerve/swerve.htm More information on ''Thrilling 30'' Swerve at TFU.info]''
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===''Legends''===
[[File:TF-Legends-LG-08-Swerve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|Why is the bartender packed with the ''baby'', again?]]
*'''Swerve & Tailgate''' (Multi-pack, [[January 24]], [[2015]])
**''ID number'': '''LG08'''

:''[[Transformers Legends (franchise)|Legends]]'' Swerve is a redeco of ''Generations'' Legends Class Swerve made to closer resemble his original toy, changes including a darker shade of red plastic, additional white paint on his legs/truck bed and a black square on his hood. He comes with [[Phaser (G1)#Legends|Phaser]], a redeco of Flanker who is colored to resemble Swerve's [[My First Blaster]] in gun mode.
{{--}}

===''Vintage G1''===
[[File:VG1-toy Serve.jpg|thumb|upright=1.67|Suave.]]
*'''Swerve''' ("Legion Class" reissue, [[2018]])

: Part of the first wave of the ''[[Vintage G1]]'' line, Swerve is very similar to his ''Encore'' "Werve" release, complete with a multicolored face, but there are a few small but significant differences. His chest sticker has been applied upside-down, his [[rubsign]] is an all-new type with a mirror-level reflective silver border and a symbol that only turns red rather than the mood-ring multicolor of older rubsigns, plus he has production information tampographed onto his inner right foot.

:Like all ''Vintage G1'' figures, Swerve was [[exclusive]] to [[Walmart]] in the United States and Canada, but has debuted on the Walmart website in the US months before hitting retail in December of 2018. He was also available at general retail in Hong Kong, and exclusive to the website of Australian fashion chain Cotton On. Oddly, the Australian release came in [[multilingual packaging]] intended for the European market, a rare but not entirely unheard of occurrence. Due to the limited space on the back, this, unfortunately, means the iconic [[Tech Spec]] card is omitted, replaced by parental warnings in 24 languages about the possibility of breakage due to excessive force, and that parts are not designed to reattach.

:Although originating from the 1986 range of Mini-Vehicles, ''Vintage G1'' Swerve's [[package art#Back of the box art|back-of-card artwork]] features the original 1984 mural, rather than the 1986 "Metroplex" mural present on ''Vintage G1'' [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys#Vintage G1|Hot Rod]]'s box.
{{G1GearsMold}}
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==Notes==
[[File:G1-Swerve-model-comparison.jpg|thumb|upright=2.2|'''Left:''' Unfinalized character model found in ''The Ark''. '''Right:''' Finalized model found among original cartoon production material.]]
*Much like [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]] and some of the [[Junkion (species)|Junkion]]s, Swerve's model used in [[The Ark series|''The Ark'' series]] books is actually his pre-final model. Unlike Pipes, however, Swerve's final model looks pretty different in comparison to the pre-final (see right). Unfortunately, the copy of Swerve's pre-final model that was used for ''The Ark'' appears to have been in pretty bad shape, leading [[Bill Forster]] to trace/redraw/clean up what he could to make it more presentable for the final publication.
*Swerve and [[Hubcap (G1)|Hubcap]] are curiously absent from 1986's ''[[The Transformers Universe|Transformers Universe]]'' profile book. The only other missing characters were the two [[Deluxe Vehicle]]s and the four [[Insecticon (G1)|Deluxe Insecticons]], whose absence might be explained by their toys' origins with companies in competition with [[TakaraTomy|Takara]]. Swerve and Hubcap's omissions, however, appear to be errors; all the other toys in their wave and subgroup were included. The extended, unused TFU entry was eventually revealed by [[Jim Sorenson]] on [http://boltax.blogspot.com/2010/12/extended-bios.html his blog "Disciples of Boltax".]

===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Werve''' (ウェーブ ''Wēbu'', ウエーブ ''Uēbu''), '''Swerve''' (スワーブ ''Suwābu'')
*''French:'' '''Embardo''' (Canada)
*''Mandarin:'' '''Bèi Lí''' (China, 背离, "Swerve")

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Alternators Autobots]]
[[Category:Bartenders]]
[[Category:Generation 1 Autobots]]
[[Category:Generations]]
[[Category:IDW (2005) Autobots]]
[[Category:Legends Autobots]]
[[Category:Lost Light crew]]
[[Category:Matrix bearers]]
[[Category:Mini Vehicles]]
[[Category:Scientists]]

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Swerve (G1)