General Information:
Release Year: December 2005
Retailer: General US (Toys R Us, Target etc.)
Price: $5.99 (Depending on Retailer)
Accessories: Planet Key, Rifle

Images:

• Vehicle Mode
• Vehicle Mode (Side)
• Vehicle Mode (Back)
• Vehicle Mode (Cannon attached)
• Vehicle Mode (Planet Key attached)
• With Hardtop (Vehicle Modes)
• Robot Mode
• Robot Mode (Side)
• Robot Mode (Back)
• Robot Mode (Holding weapon)
• Robot Mode (Planet Key attached)
• With Hardtop (Robot Modes)

Tech Specs:
Though he is outfitted with a sensor package and weapons system nearly identical to his twin brother Hardtop, Swindle scorns long-range tactics.
He'd rather charge and Autobot and club him across the visual cluster with his laser rifle than actually use it to blast another robot. Swindle is
deceptively agile and tough for his size, traits developed over years of picking fights and winning. He's not as slavishly loyal to Megatron as his
brother; he'll work for anyone who lets him trash Autobots.

Since the dawn of Transformers, redecos have been part of the Transformers line, and Cybertron is no exception. One of the late 2005 redecos is Swindle, a redeco of Hardtop. This review will focus on the changes made to the toy for this release. Check out Hardtop's review for more details on the figure.

Most of the Transformers Cybertron figures come with a Planet Key that includes a code printed on the back. Entering this code on the official Transformers web site unlocked additional content. Swindle's code is s4mr and unlocks an image of his color chart along with the following text: Hardtop’s brother may look like someone who can keep his cool together, but put him in an arena, stick a blunt object in his hand and the guy turns into a berserker bot. After Megatron left the Jungle Planet he placed Hardtop, Swindle and Runamuck on sentry patrol there to watch over some of the locals. Swindle immediately headed for the hills and his brother couldn't find him for weeks. One day, while patrolling, Runamuck landed in an elaborate trap that strung him up in an electron-spider-web. Dangling 100 feet above the air near a tree limb, Runamuck looked around and was shocked to discover he was starting at a highly camouflaged and majorly feral Swindle. With an animalistic grin, Swindle cut Runamuck down and leapt from tree to tree cackling like a hyenabot. Swindle had heard the call of nature and answered the phone!

Vehicle Mode:
Like his fellow Scout Class redeco Swerve, Swindle is a redeco that pays homage to a recent release, Binaltech Swindle a.k.a. Alternators Swindle. The original G1 Swindle was a brown jeep with mostly black details in vehicle mode. To preserve accuracy to existing real life Jeep colors, yellow was chosen in place of the brown color. Cybertron Swindle is a homage to that version of Swindle, and hence his primary plastic color is yellow.

The other colors of plastic used are a greenish-brown. Other parts are cast in a red-brown color (such as the joints to the wheels in the back) and the wheels themselves are cast in dark grey. Paint applications are done in dark grey, metallic silver and red. The silver is used for most of the details such as the cage around the driver's area, the headlights and the front grille. Red is used on the row of lights above the driver's area. The green-brown color is used for the cannon mounted on the vehicle, the artillery magazine portion is dark grey.

Swindle's yellow color is a tiny bit bright for my tastes, I think it could have been a shade darker. However, the color scheme works well. It's not great, but it's not bad either, and I see what they were trying to do in homage to BT and Alternators Swindle.

Robot Mode:
The rather bright yellow is offset in robot mode by darker colors coming into play. The red-brown and green-brown mentioned in the vehicle mode are more prominant here. The chest is parimarily red-brown, with a dark grey panel over it. The waist and upper legs are green-brown. The robot head is cast in a red-brown color. Yellow is used for details on the robot head, and silver is used for the eyes. Dark grey fills in details on the arms and legs.

The chest plate is partly painted metallic silver, with a tampographed Decepticon symbol on the middle of the chest. Overall this evens out the color distribution a lot, with darker and brighter colors working together very well. While I have reservations about the vehicle mode, I really like the robot mode.

Final Thoughts:
Swindle is a good redeco. However, if you already have Hardtop, then you're not missing out on much. Recommended if you are a completist.