Toybox REVIEW: Transformers Age of the Primes Swindle

Release Date: August 2026

RRP: $42.99/£34.99

It's been a short and exciting road to the completion of the latest rendition of the Combaticons and their combined form Bruticus, and Hasbro have saved what many might consider the best until last. Whilst Swindle might not be everyone's favourite member of the team, he's certainly the one that's had the most individual characterisation - his status as a weaselly con-man even stretching beyond being part of the Combaticons in other continuities. Regardless Age of the Primes Swindle caps of the year of Bruticus as the final component of the combiner to be released - joining his follow leg Brawl as a Voyager class release.

As a Voyager class figure Swindle comes in the mid-size variant of Age of the Primes packaging, although in terms of design all the boxes match regardless of size. The front of the box features new artwork of the opportunistic Combaticon in both modes alongside the window section showing off the figure inside, flanked by the Transformers logo, subline and character name. One side of the box features the same Bruticus artwork that was featured across all of the Combaticon releases, whilst the other sports Age of the Primes artwork seen across the entire line. On the back of the box you’ll find CGI renders showing the figure off in both modes, and then inside the figure and accessories are tied down to a cardboard tray.

Like the other Combaticons Swindle's robot mode is a pretty damn good representation of his G1 cartoon model, with a few changes made here and there either to add a little more detail or to make it work with a functional transformation. The latter being a particularly important point here, since Swindle's onscreen transformation involving quite a bit of cheating - and so as such the toy follows suit. The pelvis features faux jeep grille detailing, whilst the real grille parts are on the back of his forearms. It's functional, but does leave Swindle with some rather noticeable arm kibble. The figure doesn't look the greatest from the back either, with a rather large gap left between his tire shoulder blades. It is however certainly recognisable as Swindle, and the designers have done a good job of making the more some of the more impossible elements of the transformation work. Some collectors may also have some gripes about the colours as well, with the figure a brighter shade of yellow rather than the darker tan yellow both the G1 cartoon and toy versions were. But ultimately the problem here is that Swindle doesn't really feel like a Voyager class figure. We all know that this (as with other combiner limbs) is due to the extra tooling needed for Bruticus, but with other releases they do at least feel a bit more like more than a basic deluxe even if they still don't quite justify the Voyager price tag - Brawl for example was quite stocky in addition to having a noticeably more complex transformation. Swindle doesn't really have that, so can end up feeling a little bit lacking.

But whilst that Voyager class status largely stems from the additional tooling required for Bruticus but does serves him reasonably well when it comes to poseability. Altogether he features;

- Ball jointed head

- Swivel hinge shoulders and hips

- Double hinge elbows

- Single hinge knees and ankle tilt

- Bicep, waist and thigh swivel

At a push you could perhaps argue that Swindle has some butterfly movement in his shoulders as well given the way the parts fold outwards for the transformation, but doing so does spoil the silhouette so isn't really intended for robot mode movement. The leg-mode ankle tilt built into Swindle's torso also means it can slightly lift up on the right side as well, but again it's not really something intended to be used here. So all in all you get a pretty standard layout of articulation on Swindle, with the only notable thing missing being wrist movement. While it might have been nice to have it, at the same time nothing major is lost here either as the bicep joint provides adequate swivel movement in its place. And despite having quite stumpy looking feet, it's quite surprising how well the figure balances.

Swindle's accessories include his arm cannon, blaster pistol, a larger shoulder cannon and a small adapter piece so that the arm cannon can connect properly in alt mode. The adapter piece can be pegged onto the figure for easy storage, but otherwise doesn't serve any purpose in robot mode. The arm cannon is part of Swindle's overall design and can be pegged onto the front or side of either arm depending on how you want to position it. Pegging it to the front is a little more accurate to the cartoon model, but it also then blocks the elbow joint so putting it on the side is the more functional option. Meanwhile the blaster pistol is a perfect match to how it appears in the cartoon, giving Swindle some handheld firepower that can peg into either hand. Finally there's the shoulder cannon - a piece which has been included here mainly for Bruticus as it forms his weapon but has been tooled to be compatible with Swindle as well (and help justify that Voyager class price tag a little more). This large-barrelled cannon can clip onto either of Swindle's shoulders, and while it certainly gives him some very impressive artillery it does in turn make the arm below a little hard to pose. Moving the shoulder even slightly can make the cannon immediately pop out of its socket. The bicep and elbow joints are still perfectly fine however, so it's not like the arm is rendered completely useless. Altogether these weapons make a nice little accessory spread, helping him live up to his Combaticon role. Shame he couldn't have come with a gun for Onslaught though.

Initial renders of the figure showed the shoulder cannon being completely moulded in black plastic, whereas the finished version has yellow side panels instead. While this does match up with Swindle's colour scheme better, it unfortunately makes its intended purpose (Bruticus' gun) less screen accurate. Which is a shame, because most collectors would probably prefer it to look better for that given that it's not an essential part of Swindle's look.

In 21 relatively straightforward steps Swindle transforms in a vehicle that's somewhere between the cartoon's Willys Jeep mode and the original toy's FMC XR311, but still is very much recognisable as being Swindle. Despite being such a small toy the impossible nature of his cartoon design leads to some rather interesting steps in the transformation, particularly with the way the arm panels wrap around the robot head to form the front of the vehicle. Admittedly the completed vehicle doesn't hide the top of the head especially well, but it works well enough. One thing to take note however is that transformation requires rotating the shoulders 180° - these are surprisingly stiff so be careful when doing so to avoid breakage. The purple bonnet of the cartoon design adds a nice bit of colour to the vehicle, especially when combined with the Decepticon logo adorning the middle. In vehicle mode Bruticus' weapon/Swindle's shoulder cannon transforms into a little trailer that can be clipped onto the back of the main vehicle. The trailer isn't strictly part of Swindle's alt mode, but is slightly similar to the one that appears in the episode "B.O.T.". Both the main vehicle and trailer have some moulded detail to give the toy a little more texture than the original cartoon's completely smooth panelling, but doesn't go completely overboard to maintain that cartoon accuracy.

In alt mode Swindle has four free-rolling wheels that allow the vehicle to roll across surfaces, a 360° rotating cannon and a pull-out tow hitch for the trailer to attach to. The trailer itself then has two free-rolling wheels, and the tow hitch allows it to turn side to side separate from the vehicle. If you so desire, the cannon can also be detached from the main vehicle and clipped onto the trailer for a backwards-facing cannon instead (as illustrated on the packaging). All simple features that come standard with any vehicle Transformer and/or are simply making use of the pegs provided, but still give Swindle a lot of variation when it comes to display.

Age of the Primes Swindle may be one of the best official G1 Swindle figures out there, but compared to his fellow Age of the Primes Combaticons does perhaps stand out as the weakest of the team. Ultimately it boils down to him not really justifying that Voyager class price tag (especially at a time where Hasbro are raising prices across the board yet again), but the minor issues do stack up. The tight shoulders, the wrong coloured Bruticus gun, the slightly wonky jeep - maybe you don't agree with all of these, but odds are you do with at least one of them. Swindle might not be any worse than Vortex or Blast Off, but he also costs nearly twice the price. As an individual figure he may be slightly lacking, but as is the case with all of these Combiner teams that's only half the story, and when combined Bruticus may be worth more than the sum of his parts. That however is a question for another review...