Swoop (Animated)

The name or term "Swoop" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Swoop (disambiguation).

Swoop is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Gatchaman!

Swoop is a Dinobot. He prefers his nice, quiet island to the mainland, but doesn't say no to crossing over for the odd battle. Not only is it fun to see humans scatter at the sight of him, bashing Decepticons with his flaming flail is more fun than bashing trees.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: N/A (English), Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)

Swoop made his appearance along with the other Dinobots, but neither he nor Snarl spoke. He battled the Autobots but like the others ended up trapped in tar, before being relocated to Dinobot Island by Prowl and Bulkhead. He also did not transform, as he didn't know it was possible until Grimlock discovered he could. Blast from the Past

"Me Swoop give you head start..."

He was later forced by the villain Meltdown to kidnap Sari Sumdac and attack her would-be rescuers, Prowl and Bulkhead. Once Meltdown was trapped and unable to hurt him, he demonstrated he'd learned to transform and joined his fellow Dinobots in threatening the acid-thrower. However, before Meltdown could be hurt, Swoop's attention was diverted to Colossus Rhodes and two of Meltdown's mutants, and he and the other Dinobots beat up on them instead. Survival of the Fittest

He would later be found along with his fellow Dinobots by Optimus Prime, Prowl and Bulkhead to see if they would help fight against the Decepticons. However, Grimlock refused to fight with the Autobots, saying that they would destroy robots. Optimus then replied to Grimlock that the Dinobots were robots themselves. Swoop promptly began following to the letter Grimlock's order to destroy all robots, starting with Grimlock. Megatron Rising - Part 1

He swoops to conquer!

When Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime, and Autobot Commander Ultra Magnus went to find the Ark, they intruded on Swoop's territory, resulting in Sentinel getting a big ass-kicking, which a slightly big jerk like him deserves. However, he was scared off by Ultra Magnus and his electrical powers. The Elite Guard

When his friend Grimlock had a large spike in his toe, he went on a rampage, which Swoop tried to prevent, but to no avail. Prowl managed to reluctantly use Ratchet´s EMP Blaster (which he was borrowing) before anything was damaged. When Prowl told him he would be okay and Bulkhead took the spike out of his toes, he was very relieved. A Fistful of Energon

"Me Swoop thought boxed chocolates too cliché, but contents still have gooey centre."

He returned once again with his fellow Dinobots, working for Blackarachnia. He, Grimlock and Snarl were ordered to fetch Meltdown from prison for her, so that she could be rid of her organic half. It was revealed that the Dinobots worked for her due to her feminine ways. Grimlock fought and beat both Swoop and Snarl to prove that he loved Blackarachnia most. Blackarachnia then used her mimic ability to steal Grimlock's fire-breathing power and proceeded to incinerate Swoop and Snarl. Despite this, they still worked for her later, as they helped both Optimus and Grimlock by defeating Meltdown's mutants once again. Unlike Grimlock, Swoop seemed indifferent to the fact that Blackarachnia then left them all. Black Friday

When an oil rig was teleported out to Lake Erie, Swoop and the other Dinobots watched it explode violently from the shores of Dinobot Island. Three's a Crowd

Swoop later found the female spider, who asked him to deliver the fugitive Wasp for her. He agreed and took the fugitive to the island, with the Elite Guard soldiers Jetfire, Jetstorm, and Sentinel Prime still on his tail. However, he managed to evade their pursuit and brought Wasp back to Meltdown's lab. Later, he and the others were guarding the way to the lab when they encountered the Jet twins. Swoop faced them, but was ultimately defeated. Predacons Rising

Swoop and Grimlock later kicked out Snarl when he decided to be the pet of a Constructicon castaway that arrived on the island. Human Error, Part II

Titan Animated comic

He's not speaking to you either.

Swoop could talk! Dino-MIGHT!

Later on, a Rage virus infection stopped him from showing this power of speech. He instead turned violent and attacked Grimlock, hovered around for Afterburn to stand on, and threw Bumblebee into mud. Not that big a rage then. Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?

Later still, a huge row between him and Grimlock over a TV program saw Swoop booted out of the Dinobots. On his way to join the Autobots, he buzzed past a USAF plane and so got a bollocking from Prime when he landed, causing him to leave in a huff. However, soon the Autobots needed aerial assistance to stop a rogue stealth bomber, and Bumblebee convinced Swoop to help by reminding him that he owed them for the Rage virus thing appealing to his sense of team spirit ego. He successfully stopped the bomber, saving Detroit and proving to the Autobots that he was awesome.

And all that while only talking once (and off-panel at that) due to being in a huff! Divebomb

The Cool comic

When Soundwave and Lugnut attacked Dinobot Island, the Dinobots responded immediately to the threat. Swoop pitted himself against Lugnut one-on-one, beating the bruiser both in the air and on the land. The Decepticons quickly retreated. After a brief misunderstanding, the Dinobots and the Autobots parted as friends; the Dinobots vowing to help in time of battle. The Cool Episode 3

Toys

Animated

Now HIS legs go for miles!

• Swoop (Deluxe, 2008 / 2010)

• Takara ID number: TA-19
• Takara release date: May 22, 2010
• Accessories: Flail
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Hideaki Yoke (TakaraTomy)

Part of the fourth wave of Hasbro's Animated Deluxes, Swoop transforms into a robotic Pteranodon. His arms and wings are jointed so he can "walk" on all fours in beast mode, using the wingtips as forelegs, giving him more than just the standard "mid-flight/T-pose" positioning in beast mode. He comes with a large mace-flail weapon; though not shown in the instructions, his feet have pegs on their undersides that perfectly fit the screw-holes on the mace-ball, allowing him to "carry" it in beast mode. Swoop's eyes are engineered for piping, but are painted blue, negating the gimmick.

The flail weapon seems to have an abandoned gimmick where pushing in the bottom of the ball would activate pop-out flames, akin to the pop-out flame gimmicks found on the other two Dinobots. Apparently, it was abandoned after the realization that if a child swallowed the weapon, the flames popping out would make the kid's esophagus worse for wear. However, this gimmick can somewhat be reactivated with a small modification [1], allowing the flames to be partially revealed. A slightly more complex modification can be done to allow the flames to raise to full height when they pop out [2], resulting in the inner curve of the flames matching the curve of the ball—a look which indicates this is much closer to the original intention.

Swoop was released in the third wave of TakaraTomy's Animated toyline years later, with some minor deco alterations. His blue plastic is now a darker shade that better matches the paint on his torso, the end-pieces of his wings have a metallic silver overspray, and his Autobot symbol is now red with a white outline instead of the Hasbro version's plain silver.

This mold was redecoed (without the flail) into Adventure Swoop.

• More information on Swoop at TFU.info

Notes

• Swoop and Snarl do not have any lines in the cartoon, reportedly due to limitations on the number of voice actors that can be used, and the number of characters they can voice, in an episode. Derrick J. Wyatt remarked at BotCon 2008 that his ideal voices for Swoop and Snarl would be comedians Gilbert Gottfried and Louie Anderson respectively, but given that both those performers are specifically known for having squawky, nasal voices ill-suited to Dinobots, there's a good chance he was just making a joke. Both Dinobots speak in the Japanese dub, but only their names.
• In addition to their lack of dialogue, Swoop and Snarl also lack names for most of the cartoon's run. Snarl is eventually named in-universe by Scrapper, leaving Swoop the odd 'bot out. The AllSpark Almanac fills in the hole, noting that Swoop was given his name by Blackarachnia.
• Swoop's flail's design served as the basis for the flail belonging to Thunderpig in fellow Derrick J. Wyatt-produced show Ben 10: Omniverse.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Swoop (スワープ Suwāpu)