Swindler

Swindler is an Autobot Micromaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
"My Cybertronian name translates to what?"

Swindler knows when to hold 'em, and more importantly, he knows when to fold 'em. The physically weakest of the Race Car Patrol, Swindler instead relies on his brains to get through tight spots. Extremely bright, he knows how to accomplish his goals using as little energon as possible, all while keeping a cool head and a straight face.<ref>More than Meets the Eye #6</ref>

Fiction

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Marvel Comics continuity

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Marvel The Transformers comics

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Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Swindler and the rest of the Race Car Patrol, along with the Rescue Patrol, were tasked with preventing the Decepticons from experimenting on their fellow Autobot Micromasters from the Battle Patrol, previously captured during a scouting mission. They were given explosive charges to destroy the facility where the Battle Patrol were being held, but chafed against Xaaron's orders that did not permit a rescue. Ultimately they disobeyed his orders and braved the installation. Entry to the facility proved a little too easy... Turns out the Decepticons had already successfully reverse-engineered Micromaster technology, and were now using the Autobots to test their new Air Strike Patrol. With a bit of trickery on Roadhandler's part, the Autobots nonetheless managed to liberate their comrades and fled from the installation. A Small War!

An average Tuesday in 1980s New York City.

The Race Car Patrol was brought from Cybertron to Earth via trans-dimensional portal in order to reinforce the Autobot forces on the planet. They were all pretty cynical about it, with Swindler complaining that the higher-ups had been looking for a good reason to get them off Cybertron. Along with the Off Road Patrol, Prime informed them on a pair of recent news reports involving giant creatures spotted in the New Jersey swamps and unusual storm activity consolidating over Manhattan. Believing there was a Decepticon link between the stories, the Race Car Patrol went to patrol the nearby roads. There, they ran into Cecilia Santiago, a reporter who was already investigating recent developments. With her help, they located Iguanus in New York City, as he was planting an energy-collecting device on top of the Empire State Building. A couple of police officers, mistaking them for humans in costumes, attempted to bar the Micromasters' way, forcing Swindler and his teammates to tie them to nearby lampposts to proceed. Eventually puzzling out how to work the building's elevators, the Race Car Patrol made it to the roof, and prevented Iguanus from collecting any of the storm's energies, sending him plummeting down to the street in the process. After the mission's completion, the Micromasters regrouped at the base of the Empire State Building, where Optimus offered to pick them up, so they could avoid any trouble from the local law enforcement agents. The Micromasters refused Optimus's help, preferring to instead act as an independent unit and deal with such matters their own way. They decided to stay in New York from then on. King Con!

"My client, Roadhandler, conquered Jake "The Jackhammer" Jackson's streak at Wrestlemania!"

When Roadhandler was challenged by professional wrestler Jake "The Jackhammer" Jackson to fight him in the ring, the former saw a new forum with which to demonstrate Autobot virtues to a larger human audience, and accepted. He had Swindler and Free Wheeler accompany him to his first meeting with Jackson, and when Casanova Brown introduced himself as Jackson's manager, Swindler decided to follow suit and introduced himself as Roadhandler's manager. He got into the swing of things quickly, and when Brown suggested that Roadhandler throw the match as part of his performance, Swindler insisted that an Autobot only loses to "a superior opponent." Despite Swindler throttling him to get his point across, Brown was more than happy to let the Autobots dictate the match's outcome. Roadhandler rose to fame after his first victory, with Swindler accompanying him to all subsequent matches. Eventually, Roadhandler's fame attracted the unwanted attentions of the Decepticons, who challenged him to take on Storm Cloud in the ring. Knowing that Lord Zarak and his troops wouldn't play fair, Cecilia approached Swindler and asked him to keep an eye out for Roadhandler's fanclub during the match. Cecilia's intuition turned out to be on the money, as several kidnapping attempts were made on Raodhandler's fans during the match, in a bid to force him to forfeit the match. Thanks to the other Micromasters' efforts, all abductions were thwarted, and Roadhandler claimed victory without fear of casualties. The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!

"My Swindler sense is tingling!"

Swindler and the Race Car Patrol were out with Optimus Prime on Earth when they saw Chainclaw being attacked and abducted by a mysterious Decepticon. Shortly afterwards, the Decepticon radioed Optimus, and offered to sell the plans back to him for 5000 energon units. Optimus agreed to "Dealer's" terms, and turned to the Race Car Patrol for volunteers on the exchange. The group was then approached by a a mysterious Autobot who offered to retrieve the sensitive information that Chainclaw had been carrying. Optimus allowed "Double" to go through with the mission, but grew antsy when there appeared to be a delay on his return. He did come back, badly damaged and carrying Chainclaw, claiming that the Decepticons had ambushed him and taken both the plans and the energon. Angered by the betrayal, the rest of the Autobots present vowed to deal with the Decepticons themselves, and charged into battle against Scorponok's troops, holed up in a nearby building. (Double) Deal of the Century!

Swindler attended the Transformers' Christmas party 1989, where for some reason he sat atop the tree. The Transformers #250 cover

Transformers Comic-Magazin

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Swindler and the Race Car Patrol were among the Autobots and Decepticons who arrived on Earth and began battling over its resources. New York — A City Sinking in Terror

The Race Car Patrol and Off Road Patrol were later involved in a mission to Alaska to protect an oil tanker. The Transformers' Grand Hour: Headmaster of the Dimensions

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

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Zone cartoon, manga, and story pages

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When Victory Saber initiated the "Zone Project", the Race Car Patrol helped rebuild Planet Micro into Planet Zone. To counter this threat, Violengiguar began conquering planets in order to create his own Decepticon Zone. The Race Car Patrol and all other Micromaster teams were then sent on patrol across the galaxy, specifically to planets where their unique skills could do the most good. Zone Part 1

When King Poseidon and Trypticon attacked the aquatic planet of Wall, the Race Car Patrol team were deployed to defend it. With the aid of Commanders Overload, Erector, Missile Bull, and Skywave, they emerged triumphant. Zone Part 3

The Race Car Patrol were one of the numerous Micromaster teams that helped defend Planet Zone from the Nine Great Demon Generals. Unfortunately, they were not able to prevent Overlord from stealing the planet's Zodiac energy capsule. Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas! Transformers: Zone

When the Powered Masters flew off to the Tenth Planet for their showdown with Violengiguar, all the Micromaster teams took command of Zone and vowed to keep it safe in their Commander's absence. Zone Part 10

Legends comic

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Swindler was stationed on Zone when Violengiguar attacked, using the possessed bodies of the Powered Masters. They staged a counterattack using Dai Atlas and the real Powered Masters as a rallying point. Having mastered the use of Schaeffer Energy, the Micromasters could now transform and combine into powerful weapons. Swindler and Roadhandler linked up into a particle exhaust cannon, wielded by their enlarged comrade, Jetmaster. LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part One

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

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Swindler was among the Micromasters in Little Iacon who watched Big Daddy challenge Roadhandler to a race. The Gray Race

2005 IDW continuity

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The DeLorean-shaped guy finds himself strangely drawn to the road's white lines.

Swindler was one of the denizens of Gorlam Prime who accosted Hardhead and Nightbeat when they arrived on the planet. Spotlight: Hardhead

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

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During the war for Cybertron, Swindler was a Ground Command Intelligence Private. Siege toy packaging

Commercial appearances

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Swindler was among the many Autobot Micromasters unleashed by Optimus Prime that managed to infiltrate the Decepticons' lair and muck up the place. Micromaster Patrols commercial

Toys

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The Transformers

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"The way I see it, if you're gonna scan a car for an alternate mode, why not one with some style?"
  • Race Car Patrol (Micromaster Patrol, 1988/1990)
  • Takara ID number: C-334
Released in the sixth year of Hasbro's US Transformers toyline (fifth year in European markets), Swindler transforms into a gray DeLorean DMC-12 sports car, albeit a debranded one with a blank rectangle in place of the iconic "DMC" grill logo. Swindler is gang-molded with Tailspin, sharing the same plastic colors.
He was sold only as part of a Micromaster Patrol four-pack with Free Wheeler, Roadhandler and Tailspin.
Together with the Air Strike Patrol and the Off Road Patrol, the Race Car Patrol was released by Hasbro in late 1988 (basically, a case of "next year product" being released at the end of the old year), in packaging that differed from the "proper" 1989 Micromasters' redesigned packaging (silver cards and boxes featuring an all-new "Transformers" logo) by retaining a variation of the faction-specific color-coded gradient background on the card and featuring a unique "Micro Transformers" title in a variation of the old, pre-1989 "Transformers" logo. This same basic packaging design was also used for Canada (albeit bilingual English/French) and parts of Europe (bilingual French/Dutch, and Italian-only packaging distributed by GiG). However, a running change variant of the French/Dutch version featuring the later 1989 packaging design also exists, and most likely a similar version (in English-only packaging) was also released in the United Kingdom alongside similar versions of the Air Strike Patrol and the Off Road Patrol.
The Race Car Patrol was sold in Japan as part of the Zone portion of Takara's Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers series. The toys are identical to the Hasbro versions.


War for Cybertron: Siege

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Roads? Where I'm going, I don't need roads.
  • Roadhandler & Swindler (Micromaster, 2019)
  • Hasbro ID number: WFC-S4
  • TakaraTomy ID Number: SG-03
  • TakaraTomy release date: February 23, 2019
Part of the first wave of Siege Micromasters, Swindler transforms into a grey retro sports car, featuring an overall wedge design much like the classic DeLorean of his original Generation 1 self. The front fascia in particular bears some semblance to the Lancia Montecarlo, a car which is also often compared to the DeLorean in terms of design.
Swindler's shoulder joints don't offer much clearance, which heavily hinders both articulation and transformation. A small amount of force is required to shift all the parts into place to properly tab in, as well as to pull the parts apart far enough to move them out of the way for robot mode.
He can also combine with his pack-in teammate Roadhandler to form a "Multi-Mech Particle Exhaust Cannon." As a part of the C.O.M.B.A.T. System, their weapon mode can be attached to any toy with a 5 mm post-hole. "Fire Blasts" can also be attached to their barrels. Alternatively he can be turned into a single blaster without the need of his teammate as a fan mode.
He was later retooled into Blackjack.


Notes

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  • Swindler's name may well have been a jab at carmaker [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}John DeLorean|{{#if:||John DeLorean}}]]'s... dubious business practices.
  • Swindler's vehicle mode as depicted in Spotlight: Hardhead interestingly includes the distinctive rear vents of the Back to the Future time machine rather than the stock DMC-12 louvered rear window.
  • A later crossover with Back to the Future would introduce a new DeLorean-based Autobot, Gigawatt, who was explicitly the time-machine version of the DeLorean.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Glorean (グロリアン Gurorian), Swindler (スウィンドラー Suwindorā)
  • French: Virage (Canada, "Turn")
  • Italian: Neutron

See also

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References

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<references />
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