Swerve's

Swerve's is a low-down drinking establishment from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"An Autobot walks into a bar..."

On board the Lost Light there is always a crisis at hand, whether it's an unscheduled quantum jump, a Sparkeater loose amongst the crew or something horrible in the basement. With all this going on, Swerve's, named after its proprietor, is a place for the crew to get away from it all and unwind with a glass of engex.

No guns, no swords, no briefcasesSign at Swerve's, House of Ambus

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

Skids and Swerve found themselves assigned the bar as their quarters after the Lost Light went into lockdown because of the Sparkeater loose aboard the ship. While Skids concerned himself with escaping, Swerve was delighted to find an engex distillery and decided to live out his and Blurr's pre-war dream of opening a bar. The Chaos of Warm Things

"I'm as jober as a sudge."

Sometime before its official opening, Ratchet visited the bar, which was doing a brisk trade. He asked if Ultra Magnus or Rodimus knew about the bar, but Swerve assured him that it would be fine. Life After the Big Bang Swerve was still insisting it would be fine later, as Chromedome, Skids, Pipes, Trailbreaker, Hound and Tailgate drank and played "guess the transformation noise". However when Ultra Magnus stormed into the bar and dragged him away in restraints, Swerve discovered that it was apparently not fine. As if that wasn't enough drama for one day, Fortress Maximus walked in and shot Pipes at point blank range. Interiors

When Rewind devised a plan to repair the damaged neural connections in Rung's brain by telling him a story, he gathered together Perceptor, Blaster, Sunstreaker (and Bob), Siren and Gears in the bar but Siren's voice proved too loud for storytelling. He tried again with Atomizer, Slapdash, Sprocket, Xaaron and Dipstick but not even a bottle of "Old Corroder" could help them bring the psychiatrist out of his coma. An Intimate Beheading Shortly after Rodimus officially re-opened the bar Rewind tried yet again with Drift, Ratchet, Chromedome, Skids and Whirl and so, with Tailgate and Swerve listening, they told a tale of intrigue and adventure on pre-war Cybertron. Post Hoc After a bottle of "Nightmare Fuel" and the shocking revelation that Orion Pax became Optimus Prime the ship's alarm began to sound and the crew were called to battle stations, but not before Skids managed to provoke a response from Rung by mispronouncing his name. An Intimate Beheading

Rodimus attended a "people you'd like to punch" theme night at Swerve's dressed as Megatron. When Thunderclash and his crew came aboard the Lost Light, Ratchet organised a welcoming party at Swerve's. Little Victories At some point, Cyclonus had a flashback to his time in the Dead Universe in the bar, and Whirl also went on a bit of a rampage some night after drinking one too many Berzerker Buttons. House of Ambus

Following Rodimus's refusal to take Swerve to the recently rediscovered Luna 1, pointing out that he spent all his time on board the Lost Light being a bartender rather than a metallurgist, Swerve decided to close the bar and was in the process of packing it up when he was surprised by the sudden appearance of a Legislator. The Fecund Moon Despite Swerve pointing out the bar's policy on dangerous weapons, the giant golden robot merely quoted "seventeen twenty-one" at him and proceeded to shoot up the place with his enormous multi-revolving-barrelled machine gun. In response, Swerve dived behind the bar and activated the security systems that Brainstorm had installed for him.

The Legislator was stunned by the resulting volley of fire and Swerve did not hesitate to follow up his advantage by whipping out his My First Blaster™, another gift from Brainstorm, announcing that he was excluding someone from his premises for the first time in his career and blasting the "Guardian copycat" out of the bar. House of Ambus

Upon returning from Luna 1 where he discovered a cure for cybercrosis and saved Tailgate's life, Swerve was able to reconcile being both a metallurgist and a bartender and decided to re-open the bar. The Sound of Breaking Glass The grand reopening was well attended, though Rodimus was not present. This Calamitous Life Swerve was later delighted when Rodimus held an informal meeting with Orion Pax and Ultra Magnus in his bar, going so far as to take a picture for posterity. Black Metal

Back on the returned Lost Lightafter an unfortunate run-in with quantum mechanics came to an end, Brainstorm squeezed his way through the crowd of revellers at Swerve's, sitting down to next to Atomizer. Over Atomizer's protests, Brainstorm broke the rules of the bar by undoing the clasps on his briefcase and opening it... and everyone in the bar except him suddenly collapsed. slaughterhouse Part 2: The Road Not Taken

Notes

• In "The Chaos of Warm Things" Swerve mentions that he and Blurr used to talk about opening a bar. Though this later proves to be something of an exaggeration on his part, in IDW's concurrent title Robots in Disguise Blurr has reopened Maccadam's Old Oil House.
• James Roberts compares the bar to bars and "the kitchen" in soap operas, where most of the drama will stereotypically happen. Alex Milne designed the bar with a large table (requested in script) that could retract and be replaced with smaller tables, and added in a serving plate with energon goodies as well as drinks: "nice, relaxed, casual atmosphere... kind of like what they were used to in the olden days".