Sweep (G1)

This article is about the 1986 Decepticon. For the 2003 Mini-con known as "Sweep" in Japan, see Run-Over.

Sweeps are Decepticons from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Noticeably not involved in a heart-warming musical number with Dick van Dyke and Julie Andrews.

Sweeps are the minions of Scourge created by Unicron. Sweeps are visually indistinguishable from Scourge himself, although Sweeps do not necessarily have identical voices. Although only a few are seen initially during Unicron's threat, there appears to be an inexhaustible supply of them later on. That's actually a good thing, as Galvatron tends to shoot them.

Like, all the time.

Only three Sweeps have been graced with defined personalities and identifiers, namely Sweeps Two, Six and Seven.

Dumb Sweep.Sludge calling the kettle black, "Webworld"

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Jack Angel, Dick Gautier, Jerry Houser, Aron Kincaid, Chris Latta, Hal Rayle, Frank Welker (English), Yoku Shioya (Japanese), Holger Schwiers, Reinhard Brock, Imo Heite, Hans-Rainer Müller, Ulrich Bernsdorff, Gerhard Acktun, Bernd Simon, Gernot Duda, Thomas Rau, Gerd Wiedenhofen (German)

Two Sweeps were created by Unicron from the fallen Decepticons Shrapnel and Kickback, though seconds later there were suddenly more of them. They soon followed Galvatron to Autobot City, where one Sweep was destroyed by the Dinobots' fire-breath. The Autobots fled the city, but Galvatron's troops followed suit, and the Sweeps killed Ultra Magnus on the planet of Junk. The Transformers: The Movie

One of the great continuity problems within the G1 animated series concerns the minions of Unicron. Namely, Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps. The issue stems from the original script never specifying which Decepticons were thrown off Astrotrain and remade into Galvatron’s followers essentially rendering them generics. As the third season episodes were most likely made using the script and not the as-yet-unfinished film, the Insecticons regularly reappeared in later episodes as well as later on in the movie itself. Much scuttlebutt has been made about who has been turned into whom, but ultimately, it falls on the viewer to decide who were the genuine article and who were Decepticons that simply looked like these characters.

A rare moment of not being shot by Galvatron.

After Galvatron's defeat at the hands of Rodimus Prime, the Sweeps followed Scourge and Cyclonus in their search for him. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 They eventually discovered him on the planet of Thrull, only to be attacked by their crazed leader. Galvatron sent every single Sweep crashing into the planet's plasma pits, and the only one that fought back did no damage whatsoever to his leader. They all survived, though, and followed Galvatron's commands after he regained his senses (kind of). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2

One of them got shot in the face by Wheelie, and promptly crashed into a storm on the surface of Jupiter, screaming all the way down. As this Sweep died an agonizing death, the last thing he likely heard was his own commander calling him a big baby. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 Next, Galvatron led the Sweeps to the planet Goo and ordered them to fire on all Decepticons who were following the Quintessons instead of him. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 After Galvatron joined forces with the Quintessons, the Sweeps participated in an all-out attack on Cybertron. Slingshot sent one of them spinning out of control, causing a bunch of them to crash into each other (and Cyclonus). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5

"They're mongrels. No spots! No spots at all!"

Some Sweeps were part of the Decepticon armada that pursued an Autobot ship. They pursued the ship to an Autobot Mausoleum, where they were fought off by the resurrected Optimus Prime. Dark Awakening Much later, three Sweeps hunted the Decepticon exile Octane alongside Scourge and Cyclonus, and cornered him in a crypt on Cybertron. When Scourge ordered the Sweeps to enter the crypt, all three cowardly refused to be the first one in, until Cyclonus got fed up with it and offered to fight whoever was the last one in. The Sweeps were suddenly very quick on their feet after that. Starscream's Ghost

Cyclonus and Scourge were accompanied by some Sweeps when they followed Daniel Witwicky and Wheelie to a storage asteroid. Ultra Magnus turned up to rescue Daniel, and made short work of the Sweeps. Surprise Party Scourge was later possessed by the ghost of Starscream, and the Sweeps briefly fell under the command of Cyclonus. Ghost in the Machine

Don't be fooled by the dynamic camera shot, they get beaten up shortly.

More Sweeps were unfortunately enough to be with Galvatron during a battle over isidrite, and were bashed around by their leader nearly as much as by the Autobots. Webworld Cyclonus was accompanied by a number of Sweeps as he investigated strange activity on Junk. Once the Junkions had been fried from the influence of the Quintessons, they sent Cyclonus and hsi men packing. The Big Broadcast of 2006 They later helped Galvatron temporarily take possession of a Quintesson Journal, at least until the Quintessons themselves arrived and took it back. The Quintesson Journal

A number of Sweeps later followed Galvatron when he was tricked by the Quintessons into releasing the dangerous Trans-Organics sealed beneath Cybertron's surface. They didn't fare too well against the monsters, and even worse against the one known as the "Dweller". As Galvatron fled from the beast, he threw the remaining Sweeps at its horde of energy vampires in order to slow them down. The Sweeps all became energy vampires themselves, but were later cured by a massive power surge. The Dweller in the Depths

During a battle with the Autobots on the moon, "Sweeps Six and Seven" made an attack run on the enemy position. This is the only known occasion when the Sweeps received any form of individual identification. Call of the Primitives The Sweeps took part in a couple of attacks on Japan, but were beaten back by the Autobots both times. The Burden Hardest to Bear When the madness-inducing Hate Plague spread throughout the universe, the Sweeps were among its numerous victims. At least one of them was shot down by Galvatron as they chased him across Chaar. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2

After the great war, Perceptor noted that the Sweeps possess a limited form of the Insecticon cloning ability, thus accounting for the seemingly limitless number observed. The Transformers Menagerie

The Headmasters cartoon

The one on the right is actually Scourge.

Peeking their heads out to see if Galvatron was still kill-crazy, two Sweeps joined Scourge in sabotaging Autobot rescue operations after Metamorphose twisted the Aerialbots into a mess. Approach of the Demon Meteorite Several Sweeps were also seen on the moon during Scorponok's grand declaration of leadership. Return of the Immortal Emperor

Wings Universe

Cyclonus, Scourge, and his Sweeps surrounded an Autobot shuttle during a surprise attack. They temporarily lost track of the shuttle when it disappeared into a nebula, but eventually found it again and blasted their way into it. Unfortunately, what they found inside was five very angry Dinobots, who promptly tore the Sweeps apart. Wings of Honor

Marvel Comics continuity

The Sweeps were created by Unicron to be a pack of hunters for the sole purpose of hunting Autobots and their human allies. Their leader is Scourge. Scourge's Universe profile

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

In a dystopian future where the Decepticons had conquered Earth, Sweeps patrolled the ruins of New York City. They discovered a group of time-displaced G.I. Joes and Cobra members, but were taken out by the Dreadnoks. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #3 Some time after that timeline was averted via time travel, the Sweeps were seen among Serpent O.R.'s forces on Cybertron, fighting back against a combined Autobot/G.I. Joe strike force. The Art of War #5

IDW Generation 1 continuity

On Gorlam Prime, Galvatron tossed the dying Scourge into a solar pool and using the power of the Heart of Darkness, brought him back to full strength. The pool, which also contained the remains of denizens from the Dead Universe, reformatted the bodies into clones of Scourge, who would be their master. Galvatron was incensed that the Sweeps were not created in his image. Scourge, his Sweeps and Cyclonus then began to aid Galvatron on his new quest. All Hail Megatron #14 Their first mission was to scour Gorlam Prime for its inhabitants, who had disappeared without a trace. While Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus went underground and found Jhiaxus, the Sweeps were apparently all busy searching other parts of the planet. Heart of Darkness #1

The Sweeps accompanied Galvatron as he traveled the galaxy raising the dead to form an army with which to oppose D-Void. Among the many planets they visited was Spindrift. Heart of Darkness #3 They were present when Galvatron fought Nemesis Prime on the planet Dykayra, and several of them were killed when Scourge ordered them to attack the D-Void-powered menace. Heart of Darkness #4 Over time, members of Galvatron's undead army were gradually turned into additional Sweeps until the army consisted of nothing but identical soldiers, a change likely brought about by the Heart of Darkness. A Better Tomorrow

In a universe where a zombie virus collectively called Undermind was attempting to spread to other universes, four portals opened that depicted scenes from four separate universes. In one of these portals, an infected Sweep or two was seen amongst zombified robots and humans. Infestation #1 The infection had occurred when Galvatron's ship encountered a space-time anomaly on its way to Earth. He ordered three Sweeps to retrieve a frozen chunk of wreckage that had been flung from the anomaly, but when it was brought on board, zombie humans and robots erupted from it, infecting the three Sweeps. Eventually, the ship crash-landed on Earth, where the infected Sweeps scattered through Las Vegas. The Transformers: Infestation #1

After the zombie threat had been dealt with, Galvatron took his army with him to Cybertron, their first line of defense against D-Void. As the Sweeps were sent out to scout the planet, one of them discovered Rodimus and Wheelie. Noting that they were armed, he broke Galvatron's orders by engaging the Autobots, and was subsequently shot down by Wheelie. Galvatron used the Darkness to heal the Sweep's injuries and scolded him, telling him that all Transformers needed to work together. The other Sweeps then tried and failed to stop Rodimus's starship from leaving Cybertron. Heart of Darkness #4 Space Opera Act 2: Out of the Silent Planet

Under the command of Cyclonus, a large number of Sweeps invaded Kimia Facility in order to take control of it for Galvatron's use. Their numbers easily overwhelmed the Autobot defenders, and some of them were even seen eating their enemies. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime arrived on Cybertron but refused to join Galvatron's army, and several Sweeps were sent to destroy him and his landing party. They were all killed, and Ironhide used one of the corpses to clobber Galvatron. Chaos Part One: Lamentations While a number of Sweeps defended Kimia from aerial Autobot forces, most stayed behind with Galvatron until Wheelie tried to snipe him only to kill a Sweep instead. An enraged Galvatron sent his entire Sweep army at him and Cliffjumper, who in turn called for reinforcements, leading to a large-scale battle between the Sweeps and Optimus Prime's troops. Wheelie and Cliffjumper were almost overrun, but were suddenly saved by Megatron. Chaos Part Two: Numbers

Megatron, heavily upgraded and very unhappy, took on hundreds and hundreds of Sweeps on his own with little trouble. Together with Megatron's Decepticon forces, the entire Sweep army then came under the influence of D-Void, causing them to combine into an enormous monster. Chaos Part Three: Kings Megatron challenged this "Deceptigod", blowing huge chunks of Sweeps off its body with his blasts and ultimately defeating it. When Galvatron gave up the Heart of Darkness and D-Void began to enter the universe, the Sweeps began disintegrating and returned to being dead. Chaos Part Four: Genesis

After Galvatron was defeated and Cybertron was "reset" into a primordial state, Sweep corpses could be found littering the planet. The Death of Optimus Prime The less-than-balanced Whirl used some of them as stress relief, mutilating the dead bodies and stringing them up on walls. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It Later, Sky-Byte found some of them and was reminded of someone he once knew. A Better Tomorrow Megatron was carrying several Sweep heads when he reemerged months after his battle with them. City on Fire

Games

Transformers: Legends

The Sweeps were loyal troops under Megatron. After their leader's demise, they opposed Starscream's bid to grab leadership. The Coronation of Starscream

Toys

Timelines

Why are all the armybuilding versions of this mold rare exclusives?

• Sweeps (multipack, 2009)
  • Accessories: Six wings/blades (left and right), three yellow Planet X-style Cyber Keys

Sweeps Two, Six and Seven came in an exclusive three-pack at BotCon 2009, all three being identical redecos of the Timelines Scourge toy available at the same convention. The mold is a retool of Cybertron Sideways with a new head, transforming into a teal and white alien spacefighter with yellow detailing. The Sweeps are armed with "battle shields" with Cyber Key-activated pop-out blades. Their wings can also detach from their ankles and also be used as blades, with both pegging into their hands, either with one blade in each hand, or with both blades pegging into the top and bottom of a single hand, forming a double-bladed weapon. They come with three yellow Planet X-style Cyber Keys with teal deco.

The Sweeps were later repurposed as Shattered Glass Scourge. The original version of this mold was also used for the Japanese DVD-exclusive Noisemaze Mass Production Type Version and Universe Ratbat.

• More information on Sweeps at TFU.info

Notes

Imaginaaaaation-land!

• While there have been no official toys of the Sweeps that were mass-released, and no official toys at all prior to 2009, anyone interested in building a Sweep army is not without options! As the Sweeps are physically identical to Scourge, an enterprising fan, like the one who created the scene pictured at right, can purchase multiples of Scourge's original 1986 toy, his Titanium Series figure or his 2011 Generations toy, and make pretend.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Sweeps (スウィープス Suīpusu)
• Italian: Incrociatori