Cliffbee.com Swoop Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Swoop
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot (Dinobot)
Function: Bombardier
Alt Mode: Pteranadon



PTERANADON MODE
Height: 8cm Length: 7cm (most of that is beak) Width: 25cm

   A nice flying dinosaur, Swoop can stand on his feet or lie on his stomach. His feet fold back to reveal little wheel-like stands, and there's a wheel concealed in his chest (you have to split it apart to actually get the wheel apart, though it can close again once the wheel is out) - he can actually roll along so he can "fly" - so Swoop has good play value. His head can swing back to allow this pose to work - and that swinging isn't needed for the transform - nice touch. In fact, all the things you do to make this rolling action work are there just for the rolling action. Well done, Takara.

   Swoop is the only Dinobot without a Diaclone cockpit, although you may be able to seat one between the two halves of his backpack (robot lower legs) or inside his beak. I have no Diaclone pilots, so I can't test these out.

   His wings are chrome silver, his backpack basic Dinobot grey. His head is red (the crest and lower jaw) and the upper beak is transparent (you can see right through it), and he has yellow eyes. His missile launchers are grey with black collars, red missiles & triggers. This is one Dinobot where you'll want to add the launchers, to keep him show accurate. On the subject of show accuracy, he has a red chest, not a blue one - that's the Diaclone Swoop you can see on TV. His animal legs are also red. In fact Swoop is the reddest Dinobot in dino mode. And where Snarl has no silver chrome, Swoop has it in spades (and no gold). Lastly, he can kind of flap his wings, as the tips fold back for robot mode. Looks kind of stupid, but does add some play value.

   His mouth opens and closes, the head moves, as already noted and the wings can flap. His feet also allow for posing. Overall a poseable & playable, if somewhat fragile, Pteranadon.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Fold the backpack down to form the legs, and slide the lower legs over the black knee bits, so as to completely hide them. Swing out the feet and he's ready to stand. Fold back the wing tips and split the chest. Fold the beak right down into the chest - the head splits to reveal the robot head. Pull the arms out from the sides (in my case the right arm is stiff - I got it second hand so I'll blame some kid in Sacramento - this sucks since Swoop is a notoriously fragile toy), extend the forearms and you're done.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 12cm Width: 12.5m wings

   Apart from the fact he has a red chest as opposed to the blue Diaclone the animators used, he's quite show accurate. In this mode it becomes very apparent he's the smallest Dinobot - ironic considering what you're likely to pay for him. But he's a sweet robot - the beak in the middle of his chest looks good, and the wings look good. In fact so does his crest.

   As mentioned he has a red chest, even the clear beak looks red since the lower jaw is red. Black head (silver face), silver wings (launchers aside, though they can be removed and put in his hands). Black biceps, grey forearms, red thighs (by virtue of his dino legs becoming his thighs - he has claws on his knees), grey & black thighs, black feet.

   He's reasonably poseable - he can look up a tad and down quite a bit. His arms swing up and down, though they're somewhat limited by the wings. Can move his feet down and his knees can bend if you slide his legs apart a fraction.

   Overall this is a nice robot. Probably the coolest Dinobot in this mode (on par with Sludge in dino mode in my opinion, but Swoop has fewer minor flaws).

VARIATIONS

   None, although the Diaclone one had a blue chest like his cartoon alter ego.

OVERALL

   The rarest Dinobot, by virtue of his fragileness (the head assembly and the wings, but also the knees), and also the fact that he was never released in Europe for some unknown reason. Swoop isn't cheap these days, and he's physically the smallest Dinobot. But he's an awesome toy. If you can afford & get over the price tag, I'd strongly recommend him. 9/10, and even then he loses the last point for fragility. Subtract half a point if you can't get over the fact his chest isn't blue (even though that's not the fault of the toy designers as such)

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