Review – SXS Divergence (Unofficial Transformers Swerve)

As the market fills with more and more unofficial Transformers toys we find new companies entering the arena, and today I’m sharing the SXS company’s Divergence, an unofficial Transformers Swerve that’s a repaint of their earlier unofficial Gears . . . with a new head. SXS does a decent job with this design, but there are enough small problems that I’m not suggesting anyone rush out and buy one.

Weird Head

The first thing that stands out about Divergence — at least to me — is that head. The face sculpt leaves me scratching my head in confusion as I try to figure out why someone thought a human-like face would be appropriate for the robot. It’s more the flesh-tone coloring on the face that causes me headaches, but even the sculpt itself feels more organic than robotic. Why would anyone ever do this?

Loose Torso

The next strike against the toy is the way in which the torso is made when the toy is transformed. The front of the torso is little more than a shell that the back falls into, but there’s nothing snapping the two parts together so every time I pick up the toy the back separates from the front and things unfold in a less-than-enjoyable way. It’s not a problem once you get the toy posed and in place, but the slightest adjustments to the pose leave you moving the two parts back into their proper position. This is a problem with the basic design so both the company’s Gears and Swerve share this annoying flaw.

And That Ends Complaint Theater

Other than the head and torso issue, though, Divergence is a fairly-well crafted toy. The plastic feels just fine — durable and professional — and all of the parts move freely without any excessive looseness or tightness. And the paint is clean . . . but the head and torso problems are frustrating enough for me that I wanted to get them out of the way before I really started talking about the toy.

Vehicle Mode

Above you can see Divergence in vehicle mode beside iGear’s Veer toy. iGear’s design more closely follows the toy-like nature of the 1986 official Swerve where Divergence aims for a more “realistic” truck design. I like how the legs form the “cargo” in the truck’s bed and everything locks tightly enough together that the truck can be played with as a truck. It’s a very nice vehicle design.

Robot Mode

At 5.5-inches tall Divergence stands taller than iGear’s Veer and towers over the 1986 Swerve, meaning that it fits in fairly well with most “Deluxe” Transformers toys from Hasbro or Takara. The photos here should give you plenty of info about the toy, but jumping into a few specifics will no doubt be appreciated so . . .

Articulation

As with many Transformers toys — both official and unofficial — a significant number of the joints on Divergence are part of the toy’s transformation process. What we get with this toy breaks down to:

• Head – Swivel neck.
  
• Torso – Swivel waist . . . and that back section that swung open again right as I was typing this.
  
• Arms – Swivel posts that swing up and down at the shoulders, arms connected at the shoulder by ball joints, swivel/hinge elbows, and a hinged wrist that folds the hand down into the arm.
  
• Legs – Ball-jointed hips, swivel cut thighs, hinged knees, and ball-jointed ankles.

Now that should be plenty of articulation for anyone. Again, the only really frustrating thing that happens when posing the toy is that the front and back sections of the torso separate. Constantly. But I promise I’ll shut up about that complaint and not mention it again.

Paint

Clean, with most of the colors coming from the plastic and not paint apps. I may dislike the toy’s head, but I cannot argue that the paintwork is neat and tidy. And the colors, as you can tell in the pics, is a lot closer to the Hasbro Swerve design than they are iGear’s muted and dull Veer coloring. The silver highlights on the chest, knees, and shoulders are a nice splash of color on an otherwise near-two-tone design.

Closing Thoughts

The toy works. Everything swings cleanly, the transformation is fairly smooth, and if it wasn’t for the head I’d say this is a nice Swerve-inspired toy. I cannot recommend this — for reasons I swore not to mention again — but if you’re a completist and focused on grabbing as many of the unofficial Transformers toys as possible I cannot stop you. I can, however, suggest that you gamble and wait: I fully expect this to be on clearance at a later date because there are many better toys to spend your money on today.