Transformers Legacy: Swindle by CyRaptor on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

SWINDLE Function: Munitions Dealer
Alternate Mode: Cougar H 4x4 MRAP

Strength: 3
Intelligence: 4
Speed: 5
Endurance: 4
Rank: 5
Courage: 3
Firepower: 9
Skill: 4

During the Great War, Swindle operated under General Onslaught in the Decepticon Experimental Weapons Research and Development division. Whereas Onslaught was obsessed with devising the most horrific bioweapons and torture devices imaginable, Swindle was content in developing ordnance that merely broke the laws of physics or possessed an especially potent explosive yield. Following Galvatron’s disappearance, the Decepticon army lay in disarray, giving the Autobots opportunity to raze Onslaught’s lab and capture the madman (who would later be judged as one of history’s greatest monsters). Swindle, fearing similar reprisal, collected his research and deserted the Decepticons, taking to the stars.

Today, Swindle is the captain and de facto leader of the Darksyde, a ship crewed by former Decepticon con-men and thieves who frequent the Outer Colonies, taking advantage of their residents. Motivated not by vengeance or justice, but pure greed, Swindle has styled himself a weapons dealer, peddling his specialized designs to mercenaries, bounty hunters, and anyone else willing to pay his steep prices. Though unscrupulous in his business dealings, Swindle has become a persuasive salesman and quite the smooth-talker; even Autobots admit that it’s hard not to like him. Though he’s never been a Decepticon loyalist, he has decided to align himself with Megatron’s group in hopes of igniting another war he can cash out on.

True to his nature, Swindle has a vast array of weaponry at his disposal, both on his person and off. His personal favorite - which he is never seen without - is his massive R-Infinity Accelerator cannon, which creates a short-lived singularity at the point of impact, sucking in an crushing anything near enough to it. The remainder of his immediately visible weaponry includes his relatively mundane shoulder-mounted scatter blaster and a bank of stinger missiles in either shoulderpad. It is believed he may hide even more ordnance in hidden compartments throughout his body, but the full extent of his loadout is unknown.

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So Swindle is the first of the “Darksyders” (yes, it’s a Beast Wars reference), a pretty eclectic mix of five (yes, you read that right) characters that will make up the remainder of the Series 2 Decepticons. And Swindle’s among the earliest to be nailed down for the Series 2/3 roster (as Engineer) - the remainder are relatively recent additions. And as of this writing I’m still not entirely sure who’s going to show up, Decepticon-wise, in Series 3.

I came up with Swindle’s design back in August, where it was a bit more G1-influenced, with a slightly boxier head and more G1-y chest detailing and color layout. Since then, a bit more Animated influence has crept in, to the point where he’s essentially a G1-ified version of Animated Swindle. Windscreen chest, huge cannon, combat boots, big shoulderpads (okay, the last of those is actually just happy coincidence). I made more attempts to get his head “right” than any other character with the possible exception of Frostbite, and, well, that ends up being pretty Animated-y too. But I’ve gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of the outcome of one of my characters. I absolutely love how he turned out.

His personality was always based primarily on Animated Swindle, however. Of all the classic combiner team bots, I feel like he and MAYBE Silverbolt and First Aid (and the latter only because of MTMTE) stand out as individual characters, at least in my mind. I know they all technically have characterizations, but they’re all more famous for being combiner bits than for being characters. Except for Swindle. The idea to make him leader of the Darksyders (as opposed to the following Decepticon, who was in the running for a while) comes from the early issues of the IDW ongoing. And as long as we’re referencing IDW, his cannon is a repurposed version of the gun he used in Spotlight: Ultra Magnus, and also takes some cues from Megatron’s weapon in Angry Birds Transformers. Whew.

The choice of alt mode was out of a desire to stick with a jeep-ish military vehicle in lieu of the obvious choice of the Hummer, who Ironhide’s already using a variant of. The Cougar is a close relative of the Buffalo (movie Bonecrusher), and is modular enough that I was able to take a few liberties for ease of transformation (and drawing) without it becoming too inaccurate. The huge fuckoff cannon definitely isn’t stardard issue though, and the gunner’s shield surrounding it doesn’t even really make sense considering there’s no room for anyone to fit but I thought it looked nice to leave it, OKAY??? Anyway the color’s a bit off in order to keep Swindle his signature yellow (should be a sandy beige), but it’s close enough that it still looks feasible.

Transformation is fairly simple except for the exact sequence of getting his shoulderpads into place. I kinda just gave up on trying to figure it out. Actually, I just came up with something, never mind. Oh and also the knees are formed from the rear fenders and toolboxes via a fair complex system of hinges.

Next Up: Bulkhead, since that cat’s out of the bag.