Swerve (Chevy)
From MediaWiki
| 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 perhaps 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 be made available again in other venues —specifically, US-based ones— is unknown.
Miscellaneous trivia
- 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... but to what?
- 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 (as opposed to things like Happy Meal toys which are obviously distinct from standard product and cost far less to design and produce) was created as an exclusive. The prevailing theory for the toy's existence was that it may have been comissioned as part of an advertising budget tax writeoff. "We spent X amount of money so we don't have to pay Y amount of taxes on our profits; thanks, Byzantine corporate tax laws!"
- It was actually unknown for quite a while if the toy would even be released at all. When the first samples turned up, rumors started circulating claiming that Swerve would be given away as a promotional item for the purchase of a real Chevrolet Aveo. Later, Ben Yee's calls to Chevrolet centers in the USA seemingly verified those rumors; however, he was apparently told that the promotional campaign had already occurred. Considering the lack not only of any sort of advertising for the campaign, but also of a single person who would confirm having acquired the toy in the aforementioned fashion in North America, this statement on behalf of Chevy appears more than dubious.
- Alternatively, some sources claimed the figure would only be made available upon test-driving a Chevy Aveo, while others even suggested that this campaign was exclusive to Chinese Chevrolet dealerships. Those rumors would never be verified either.
- We knew Chevy/General Motors had gotten close with Hasbro, but, damn.
See also
