I was looking at the test shot images of the new classics line from another thread and noticed that alongside of these test shots and a S6 Destro test shot the seller (spx_toys, who mainly sells this type of merch.) was also selling a loose Swerve. I continued and looked through Ebay and saw that he has sold 3+ loose/test shot Swerve in the last couple weeks.

Does this confirm that he being rereleased? No, but since this is for News and RUMORS I thought I'd throw it out there for more connected collectors (Nevermore), or those in the Chinese market could find out more on. It would make sense since Hasbro rereleased several other HTF Alts recently.

I initially doubted it since it wasn't on the Wal-Mart listing from earlier in the week, but neither was Rumble and we've seen pics of him.

 

Looking through his completed listings it looks like he specializes in selling pre-release/test shot/etc Hasbro product that has yet to hit the stores. It doesn't look like he sits on the product, which further leads me to believe that he is in fact being reissued.

I'd love for someone to prove me right or wrong. I just think it's weird, and maybe it could save someone from paying $70-100 for it.

 

Perhaps.

That said, Takara and Hasbro have certainly gotten plenty of use out of the 'Vette mold by now.

My *guess* is that whilst he did get them recently, they were leftover toys that were never packaged. ... with Tracks now warming a lot of shelves, it may not be the best thing to issue Swerve again.

Usually, by the time a TF gets to a test shot or preproduction sample, we've heard about it's release.

Time may proove me wrong however....

 

I think it's a solid theory and well researched. And it's a good candidate for re-release.

*Hugs his Swerve*

 

I know as a general retailer I would be all over stocking a red Vette. Also it would still be a few waves down the pipe, especially since several of the new case pack outs are already known.

 

*Has horrible premonition of Nemesis Prime clogging Wal-Mart shelves, on clearance, a year from now*

 

Oh I sure hope so...thats the only one I have missed.

Well that and Dead End for some reason I never found him, but he isnt as bad on the secondary market as Swerve.

 

I was thinking the same thing when I saw spx's listing. Generally, he sells test shots, not older toys. I have a testshot LOC Megatron from the guy (It's mostly black, with some white on the limbs- very Batmobile-like). But, if Swerve is getting re-released, that's good for everyone but the scalpers. Well, scalpers and folks like me, who already have one and got it for near retail.

-Tony!

 

SPX has been selling Sweve for *at least* two months. His stock likely comes from a cache of unpackaged Swerves or "Midnight run" Swerves done on the downtime during recent Tracks production.

Usually pre-release toys that show up in the gray market wind up as packaged samples eventually. The exception are those that are not marked for release (either midnight runs, oddities or cancelled items) which usually wind up selling on eBay for months.

If SPX gets a packaged sample of Swerve (bubble packaging), then maybe we'll see a reissue. Until then, I'd say the chances for a domestic release are pretty slim.

The mold was just used for Tracks and a corvette hasn't been listed in the Wal-Mart database (which has release info through the Cadillac and Jaguar molds). While this database isn't entirely watertight, we would have heard SOMETHING about Swerve by now if, in fact, it was an intended future release.

 

I'm hoping for a re-release. I never saw Grimlock, Wheeljack or Swerve on store shelves. I picked up a Grimlock, but have yet to get Wheeljack or Swerve, and neither are cheap. Swerve is going for absurd amounts of money right now, so here's hoping!

 

I see no reason why Hasbro would need to make testshots again to re-release Swerve. Particularly when the mold is still relatively new. Now if the mold is 20 years old (like the G1 molds), then doing test runs to see if the mold still holds up is reasonable. But not for the alt vette mold. So, these testshots are most likely old testshots from the original run of Swerves. Could also be lunchtime specials like someone else mentioned.

 

Swerve? Re-release Mr. Mismatched Plastic? Gah. Please, there are better molds and characters that could be rereleased. I took the only Swerve I had and used his head in a custom. Man, Swerve in my opinion was one of THE WORST Alternators releases so far. The only "decent" thing about him was he had Tracks' hood decal.

 

that has nothing to do with it. there's a LOT of people who WANTED Swerve and never found him cause he was so shortpacked.

 

You should be able to tell if they were unpackaged production toys or samples based on the Autobot logo on the chest. If the logo was more purple than red, it's a sample. If it was red, chances are it's just an out-of-package production piece.

All the best
Maz

 

I saw one on e-bay just this morning with a purple autobot logo.

 

Doesn't mean we can't point out his faults, though. For an Alternator that's become very sought-after, it might be a useful "caveat emptor" to anyone prowling the boards, looking for a Swerve. Why pay $200 for something that turns out to ultimately be a bad idea afterall?

 

Given that tracks is still shipping with Mirage/Prime/Meister, and this is the what, 3rd? 4th? wave tracks has been in, I can't see them putting out the same mold again anytime soon. I'm talking like not before next April at the soonest, and that puts in movie-mania time, where I doubt they'd toss some random-assed guy like Swerve back into the mix. Possible, I suppose. But I very strongly doubt it.

Dude he's better than Rollbar, at least Swerve got a new head.

 

I hope they rerelease Swerve, Wheeljack and Decepticharge. Never saw these guys anywhere.

 

Hey now, Swerve's a corvette; as far as I'm concerned that car make & model should always be re-released no matter how many times we've seen Tracks or Ravage so far...

Get rid of the crappy Mazda's, etc...

 

HIGHLY DOUBT IT!!

we did not see "test shots" on ebay for the re-release of either prowl, tracks, or jazz. why would there be test shots of a toy that has been previously "tested", produced, & mass released.

like someone said earlier, swerve protos/test shots have been on ebay for months.