[Transformers] ‘G2 Swindle’ looks like Targetmaster Scoop’s brother

July 21, 2016 marcus goh ., toys, transformers 0

G2 Swindle is a recolour of Swindle from the Combaticons. He transforms into a military jeep and becomes one of Bruticus’ legs, although he can form any limb if you really want him to. He’s a retool of Rook, who is an armoured SWAT vehicle. He has a dark orange deco which is a lighter shade than his original G2 self, and has the odd end result of making him look like Scoop, the Double Targetmaster. Really. Here’s a picture of Scoop.

And here is G2 Swindle. Really quite uncanny. They aren’t twins, but they’re definitely related.

He’s available as part of the G2 Bruticus box set that retails for SGD$199.90, and he was launched on 15 June. G2 Bruticus is the last of the G2 combiner recolours, unless a G2 Defensor one appears! Thanks Hasbro for G2 Bruticus!

Alternate Mode

The camouflage colours on this (all purple) (are Cybertron’s forests purple?) seem very perfunctory, like they’re there for the sake of being there. No way will G2 Swindle ever be able to camouflage himself in a purple cyber-forest, simply because his orange contrasts so greatly against his purple. So the camo prints end up being decorative, rather than looking like they’re functional parts of his colouring.

Maybe if there were more patches, but smaller patches, it would have worked. But then that would have interfered with the aesthetics of his robot mode, which is arguably the more important mode. I mean, are you going to leave him as a vehicle or a robot? (Trick question, you’re going to leave him as part of G2 Bruticus, I know it.)

Robot Mode

His camo deco looks a little bit better here, but his chest and pecs look inspired by Scoop. Since they’re from different factions it’ll never be possible, but I can’t help gawking at how similar they look to each other.

For some reason he also has weird googly eyes, which don’t seem so obvious on the original Swindle. Then again, I’m still staring at his similarities with Scoop.

He’s also a pretty pleasing shade of orange – nothing too bright and loud that screams neon, but not so muted that you can’t tell where his G2 inspirations come from.

Swindle’s weapon is normal.

Comparisons

When put side by side, there really isn’t a huge preference for one colour scheme or the other. His original brown/khaki colours may seem more realistic, but they’re not as fun as the G2 orange that’s used. The detailing is still there, but G2 Swindle sort of glosses over it with the purple camouflage prints.