Swerve (G1)
| 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 Generation 1 continuity family. He is sometimes known as "Shut the Hell Up".
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 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 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 Prime could get him to not get easily distracted when receiving his orders too...
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers manga
Swerve appeared on Earth as a member of the Four-Wheel Drive Corps. Led by Hound, the Corps confronted the 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. Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers #3
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Minoru Inaba (Japanese)
Swerve participated in the defense of the Ark in 2006, but was trod upon by Trypticon. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5 Later, after the Quintesson scientist Inquirata attempted to change history by removing the Autobot resistance leader known as A-3 from the past, a race Swerve was participating in repeated itself in an endless loop due to the ripples in the timestream. Forever Is a Long Time Coming
Transformers Legends comic
In 2015, Tailgate and Swerve fought 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 of 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 and Groundshaker, explaining that even though they were tiny, they were still valuable allies. Bonus Edition Vol. 8
Rattrap then asked Swerve about why he barely appeared in the original cartoon and why his name 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. 2015's Swerve Eventually, Swerve and Tailgate successfully defeated Trypticon LG-43 Trypticon Project Chapter by exploiting a weak spot they discovered on the sole of his foot. Bonus Edition Vol. 43
Given Swerve's achievement, 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 to defeat him. He survived the explosion unscathed by again ending up stomped into the ground. Bonus Edition Vol. 43
Wars manga
Swerve was present on Cybertron after the various Trainbots and inter-dimensional warriors defeated The Fallen. Train Wars 2
Ladybird Books continuity
Swerve helped with the assembly of a special radio transmitter to interfere with Decepticon surveillance space stations. Galvatron's Air Attack
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
Swerve was on Cybertron observing the anti-Prime propaganda that Shockwave pumped through the data-net after retrieving the Ark's crew from Earth. Cold War Later, he was among the group of new recruits seen failing to take on the auto-combatant training drones on Cybertron after Shockwave's rule was toppled. Black Sunshine
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Swerve was forged. This Calamitous Life For at least four million years, Swerve had wanted to swap his metallurgy career for bartending. Before the war, he was a huge fan of 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. Cybertronian Homesick Blues Forever after, Swerve would tell people that he and Blurr had a plan to run a bar after the war. The Chaos of Warm Things During an early battle of the war, Swerve remained within Iacon's walls guarding the civilian population. Primacy #4
During the war, before Cybertron had to be abandoned, Swerve's metallurgical skills prompted 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. Stormbringer #1 With a fondness for adventure, Swerve took part in at least ten quests over the course of the war, including a Moon Quest, a Titan Quest, a Matrix Quest, a Prime Quest and the legendarily bad Thumb Quest. 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 was a bit of a hagiographer Bullets (He was unknowingly on friendly terms with the 'bot behind Fisitron). 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 and Vos slicing a Genericon open and force-feeding him his own parts. The Not Knowing The shock rendered him speechless for six months, which was quite a feat for him. 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 The Sound of Breaking Glass Words Hang in the Air and which he was unaware was actually a data slug fired into him by undercover spy Agent 113. The slug remained in his shoulder because he didn't get it properly treated. The One Where They Go to Earth
Swerve was present when Cyclonus and the Sweeps invaded Kimia. Lamentations He survived the massacre and got away aboard an escape pod piloted by Chromedome and Brainstorm. 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. Kings
Aboard Arcee's shuttle, Swerve listened with the others to Hardhead and Arcee's explanation of the situation with Galvatron, the 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. Genesis
Swerve was one of the Autobots who chose to accompany Rodimus on his quest to find the Knights of Cybertron. Red Alert reluctantly allowed Swerve to board the Lost Light if he'd stop talking. Swerve doesn't know. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It He was in the medibay when 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 and Rewind, encountered Skids and watched him fight the Legislators. Skids wasn't keen on Swerve's suggestion they should team up. Hangers On
During the incident with the Sparkeater, Swerve and Skids stumbled on a bar, reminding Swerve of his earlier plans to run such an establishment. 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, prompting the latter's trip to Delphi. 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. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
Swerve attended a celebration following the Lost Light'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." The Reluctant Specialist
Swerve accompanied Hoist and Perceptor on a mission to scrounge energon from a deserted Decepticon outpost but their pilot, 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, 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, Overlord, Sixshot, Shockwave, and 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 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. The Waiting Game Swerve was presumably repaired upon their rescue by the Lost Light, as he was back tending his bar soon afterwards.
Unfortunately 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's hull and replacing rivets. The pair were pressed into service when Fortress Maximus flipped and took Rung and 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. 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. 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. Signal to Noise
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 jump the whole ship. Swerve began a conversation with Ore, not telling Ore what had happened to him, under the false identity of 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. You, Me, and Other Revelations
A few days later, Swerve joined a few other Autobots for movie night in Rewind's hab-suite, watching "Proteus's Promise". 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. An Intimate Beheading They made little progress and eventually had a third session with Chromedome, Drift, Ratchet, Whirl, and others. Post Hoc Swerve was unable to stop himself occasionally interjecting into the story. Patternism Unable to get into his own quarters to fetch refreshments, Swerve raided 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. An Intimate Beheading
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. Before & After
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 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. 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 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 Ammonites 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. Little Victories
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 "meta bomb", and it had the effect of making Swerve unwittingly act as if he were a character in a 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. 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. 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 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 huge, heavily armed robot saying nothing but 'seventeen twenty-one' over and over. The Fecund Moon
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 large, sword-wielding warrior teleported in behind him and ran Skids through. Swerve frantically opened fire, but missed every shot and was knocked unconscious. House of Ambus The two Autobots were teleported into a cell on Luna 1 where they found the captured members of the Lost Light's landing party and Getaway, The Divided Self who explained that the insane Chief Justice 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. 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's medbay, where he used his metallurgy skills to discover a cure for cybercrosis that would help save Tailgate's 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. 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 one No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases, which Swerve rebuilt, hacking its "bruised brain" and putting it to work as a doorman in his bar. 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. 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. 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. Black Metal
The Lost Light later quantum jumped to the planet Hydrophena in search of 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. Into the Abyss During the battle, Swerve saved famous crew-member 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". 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. No Exit Swerve warned them that admium basically meant "death plague", and they had a horde of Ammonites rushed towards them at the moment. 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 Necrotitan. 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". The Becoming As the Ammonites returned to invade Cybertron by the billions, Swerve held the ground with the other Cybertronians. Black Planet They kept the planet from falling until the leadership of the Autobots and Decepticons succeeded in stopping Shockwave's mad schemes. ...And the Damage Done
"Hey folks, did you know if you act all whacky 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, and Riptide hosted a series of "crewditions", during which he rejected Groove, Bluestreak, and Nautica for spurious reasons before Nightbeat revealed the whole exercise to be a sham Swerve had concocted purely for his own amusement. 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. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
Once the mission was once again underway, Swerve chafed under its new co-commander. 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. 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. 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. 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. slaughterhouse When the duplicate ship's quantum engines were shut down, it disappeared and the other ship and crew reappeared, Swerve included. The Road Not Taken
Swerve was serving drinks at his bar during a movie screening and joined in a singalong of "The Power of Love". Predestination: An Expert's Guide The "bad batch of engex" hurt Swerve's reputation as a bartender, as such most people frequented 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. 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. 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. The One Where They Go to Earth He publicly confided in Ravage that he learned three great things from Earth TV but was cut off by Rodimus's gong. The Sensuous Frame
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 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 peaked 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.
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 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 was able to identify & fix his shoulder wound. The One Where They Go to Earth
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 Necrobot's home. As a memory of the experience, he took a photo of himself with the 'bot. 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". The Lopsided Triangle
At some point, Swerve compiled a range of music for Ultra Magnus, which contained a large amount of crooning.
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 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. 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". No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
During a movie night, Swerve and the guys watched a documentary of 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. 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 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.
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. 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. The Sun in Flight
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. 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. At Close of Day Swerve and Rewind fought alongside Ultra Magnus, using the turrets built into his new "Maximum Ambus" upgrade. 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. Do Not Go Gentle
In the immediate aftermath, Swerve (with a black Autobrand to mark Skids' death) was taking 'hits' of something 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. Minutes later, when checking the pods for any others waking up, he warned Velocity he was "starting to feel it again". Some Other CybertronAnomie
Games
Transformers Legends
Swerve was assigned to Pipes's team, guarding some researchers at a coastal town when they were attacked by Overbite and Nautilator. The B-Team Part Deux
Transformers: Battle Tactics
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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.
Toys
Generation 1
- Swerve (Mini-Vehicle, 1986)
- Japanese ID number: C-58
- Swerve is a retool of the Microchange toy originally used to make Gears, and therefore has a similar pickup truck vehicle mode, a 4WD off-road of indeterminable model. He is largely maroon and white, with squarer legs and a more elaborate face than Gears.
Alternators
- Swerve (Alternator, 2004)
- Alternator ID number: 15
- Accessories: Engine/blaster
- Alternators Swerve is a retool of Tracks, and transforms into a red Corvette Z06 featuring opening doors and hood, as well as a realistic interior. Amusingly enough, his rocket launchers are stored next to the passenger and driver seats. Swerve is armed with his double-barreled 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 in vehicle mode.
| Alternators mold: Tracks | ||
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Encore
- Bumble & Minibots (Multi-pack, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: 10
- In 2008, Swerve was reissued in the Encore line, bundled with Bumblebee, Pipes, Tailgate, and Outback. As with his pack-mates, his face paint was given more detailing to resemble his cartoon model better.
Generations
GDO
- Swerve (Deluxe, 2012)
- Accessories: Blaster
- Generations Swerve is a pretool and redeco of Sergeant Kup, using the planned-in alternate head for the mold.[1] He transforms into a pseudo-retro-styled pickup truck of indeterminate, probably-made-up model, and is covered in 3mm 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 via 5mm post, 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 exclusively for release in China and other Hasbro Asia markets. However, ToysЯUs 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 Timelines Hoist and Autobot Electrons.
| Generations mold: Kup | ||
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Thrilling 30
- Swerve & Flanker (Legends, 2013)
- Series / number: 2 / 005
- Part of the fifth wave of 2012-onwards Generations Legends Class toys, Thrilling 30 Swerve is a new mold that is roughly the size of a 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
a tray of drinksa My First Blaster™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 and redecoed and given a shell as BotCon 2015 Oilmaster. This toy also served as the basis of the non-toy Shattered Glass incarnation of Swerve.
Legends
- Swerve & Tailgate (Multi-pack, 2015-01-24)
- Japanese ID number: LG08
- 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, a redeco of Flanker who is colored to resemble Swerve's My First Blaster in gun mode.
Notes
- Swerve and Hubcap are curiously absent from 1986's Transformers Universe profile book. The only other missing characters were the two Deluxe Vehicles and the four Deluxe Insecticons, whose absence might be explained by their toys' origins with companies in competition with 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 ended up on Disciples of Boltax.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Werve (ウェーブ Wēbu; sometimes ウエーブ Uēbu), Swerve (スワーブ Suwābu)
- French: Embardo (Canada)
- Mandarin: Bèi Lí (背离, "Swerve")
