Swerve (Chevy): Difference between revisions
Interrobang (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Replaced a lot of speculation with facts |
||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
: Less than two days later, the order page was taken down without explanation. By the end of the month, purchasers reported that their Swerves were indeed arriving. | : Less than two days later, the order page was taken down without explanation. By the end of the month, purchasers reported that their Swerves were indeed arriving. | ||
: Whether Swerve will be made available again | : Whether Swerve will ever be made available again is unknown. | ||
{{-}} | {{-}} | ||
==Creation and release== | ==Creation and release== | ||
Swerve has had an... interesting past. The Swerve toy surfaced on Asian auction websites in August 2007. Samples were packaged in polybags that had English text printed on them, and came with English instruction manuals. All "final" samples were the same red color; one specimen appeared to be yellow, but in fact had been hand-painted. The instructions lacked an "assortment number", leading to the conclusion it was an [[exclusive]]. | Swerve has had an... interesting past. The Swerve toy surfaced on Asian auction websites in August 2007. Samples were packaged in polybags that had English text printed on them, and came with English instruction manuals. All "final" samples were the same red color; one specimen appeared to be yellow, but in fact had been hand-painted. The instructions lacked an "assortment number", leading to the conclusion it was an [[exclusive]], though the venue was unknown; for that matter, whether it would even be released at all seemed uncertain. | ||
Early reports throughout the fandom, tepidly verified by [[Hasbro]] sources, was that the [[mold]]'s creation had been commissioned by Chevrolet for that company's [[exclusive]] use; neither Hasbro or [[TakaraTomy]] can use it in their own lines. This amounts to the first time that a "mainstream" Transformer mold was created to be an exclusive (as opposed to things like Happy Meal toys which are obviously distinct from standard product and cost far less to design and produce). | Early reports throughout the fandom, tepidly verified by [[Hasbro]] sources, was that the [[mold]]'s creation had been commissioned by Chevrolet for that company's [[exclusive]] use; neither Hasbro or [[TakaraTomy]] can use it in their own lines. This amounts to the first time that a "mainstream" Transformer mold was created to be an exclusive (as opposed to things like Happy Meal toys which are obviously distinct from standard product and cost far less to design and produce). | ||
It was | Those rumors were proven true at [[BotCon 2008]]. Hasbro revealed that it had produced the toy at cost for Chevy as thanks for their successful partnership. It was designed for a promotional campaign in European markets, with the toys given away to people who took a test-drive of a real Chevy Aveo. The toys were never meant to be sold; a handful were left after the promotion had ended, and so they were shunted onto the website where these last few remainders very quickly sold out (so quickly that some fans who had placed acknowledged orders never got them). | ||
There is currently no indication that the Swerve toy will be reissued by Chevrolet. For Hasbro to issue the toy on their own, they would have to negotiate for the rights, and they currently have no plans to do so. | |||
We knew Chevy/General Motors had gotten close with Hasbro, but, ''damn''. | We knew Chevy/General Motors had gotten close with Hasbro, but, ''damn''. | ||
Revision as of 02:10, 29 April 2008
| The name or term "Swerve" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Swerve (disambiguation). |
- Swerve is an Autobot from the Universe continuity family
"A mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma, blindfolded" would be a charitable way to describe Swerve. He is the result of the most unusual toy release in the history of the franchise.
Toys
Universe
- Swerve (Deluxe, 2008)
- Swerve transforms into a licensed Chevy Aveo. Any relationship he may have to Aveo and Sphinx should be totally coincidental, since Swerve is not part of the live-action movie toyline and doesn't match the design of the Aveo robot from the "Transformers: Rise of the Chevy Autobots" game. He has no gimmicks whatsoever, not even a non-firing weapon.
- On March 25th 2008, the Chevrolet online store began to offer Swerve as a "special featured item"... but only from its branches in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. Depending on the order location and currency conversion rates, he cost approximately $20~$30 before shipping. However, orders from customers in the United States were subject to a "processing" fee of over $50 and a "trans-Atlantic shipping fee" of almost $100(!).
- Less than two days later, the order page was taken down without explanation. By the end of the month, purchasers reported that their Swerves were indeed arriving.
- Whether Swerve will ever be made available again is unknown.
Creation and release
Swerve has had an... interesting past. The Swerve toy surfaced on Asian auction websites in August 2007. Samples were packaged in polybags that had English text printed on them, and came with English instruction manuals. All "final" samples were the same red color; one specimen appeared to be yellow, but in fact had been hand-painted. The instructions lacked an "assortment number", leading to the conclusion it was an exclusive, though the venue was unknown; for that matter, whether it would even be released at all seemed uncertain.
Early reports throughout the fandom, tepidly verified by Hasbro sources, was that the mold's creation had been commissioned by Chevrolet for that company's exclusive use; neither Hasbro or TakaraTomy can use it in their own lines. This amounts to the first time that a "mainstream" Transformer mold was created to be an exclusive (as opposed to things like Happy Meal toys which are obviously distinct from standard product and cost far less to design and produce).
Those rumors were proven true at BotCon 2008. Hasbro revealed that it had produced the toy at cost for Chevy as thanks for their successful partnership. It was designed for a promotional campaign in European markets, with the toys given away to people who took a test-drive of a real Chevy Aveo. The toys were never meant to be sold; a handful were left after the promotion had ended, and so they were shunted onto the website where these last few remainders very quickly sold out (so quickly that some fans who had placed acknowledged orders never got them).
There is currently no indication that the Swerve toy will be reissued by Chevrolet. For Hasbro to issue the toy on their own, they would have to negotiate for the rights, and they currently have no plans to do so.
We knew Chevy/General Motors had gotten close with Hasbro, but, damn.
