I admit I haven't seen that many episodes of the cartoon.  I don't get a chance to schedule my life around television so I usually wait for DVD but what I have seen of the cartoon has been entertaining and refreshing.

Swindle is the newest addition to my collection and I admit I wasn't extremely excited to get him.  Not that he looked bad, he just looked a little simple.

The vehicle mode is more or less a jeep or off road vehicle which is a clear homage to his G1 counterpart.  It is well designed and looks like it should.  Most of the windows are done in a transparent purple plastic which is rather fun for this character.

Just like the majority of the Animated action figures, the transformations aren't as obvious as one thinks.  Swindle took two to three times to get him to transform as second nature.  He has a fun and unique transformation.

The robot looks like his cartoon counterpart from what I've seen of him which is exactly what (as a collector) I want.  He also looks quite a bit like his G1 counterpart.  His robot design is rather cool accept I'm not a big fan of his flat head but that is what the character was designed to look like.  Therefore, it is no fault of Hasbro.

I love the colors and the durable plastic used.  It has a nice flat look but the transparent purple plastic parts make him shine. 

Swindle comes with a Megatron like arm blaster with shooting missile.  It fits the character quite well.  It's also worth noting that a gun can be flipped over to come out of his chest.  It adds some nice artillery to the figure.

I wouldn't say Swindle is my favorite Animated character but Hasbro has executed the figure quite well continuing the consistency and awesomeness of the Transformers Animated series.

-RH

4 out of 5

Transformers: Armada is easily my least liked series of Transformers as a whole (Beast Machines is a close second).  However, if anything good came out of Armada it was the awesome Supercon Optimus Prime.  Many Transfans call this figure "Bendy Prime" and to be honest, I have no idea why.  Nevertheless, I love this figure.  It was great fun and was fairly well articulated and did not look as childlike as the rest of the Armada toys.

When I heard Sam's Club was going to do a five pack exclusive of repaints, it did not interest me until I heard there was to be a more G1 accurate version of the Supercon Prime.  As a person who owns almost every use of this mold (including the Japanese transparent version) I really wanted it.  However, I am nor a member of Sam's Club nor could rationalize spending so much money to get one repaint.  Thankfully, I found him reasonably priced on an online auction.

There is no reason to go into the transformation as this is an older mold and transforms exactly the same as the original.  What is different is the paint applications and sadly the quality of plastic.

The reds and blues are a lighter tone which actually look quite nice and does look a little more G1 accurate.  Also some of the gold parts are now a more sensible silver.  I also like the added red paint on the chest.  It is probably the best new aspect to this figure.  However, the worst is the lack of paint on the crotch area that was once blue is now a cheap grey plastic.  It makes no sense for Hasbro to not have kept it blue accept for their current trend of cutting corners. 

Other than that the silver toned plastic from the original figure is now a cheaper plastic.  It is now a dull grey.  This aspect also is very distracting.

Prime comes with a Cyber Key.  Why?  I have no idea.  It serves absolutely no purpose.  Period.

It is very unfortunate that Hasbro doesn't take their Transformers brand (other than Animated) seriously.  If they would have just put pennies more into the quality.  This could have been a wonderful improvement on an already great figure.

-RH

2.5 out of 5