Swoop (G1)/toys
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Of the Dinobots, Swoop has the most toys after Grimlock.
Toys
Generation 1
- Swoop (Dinobot, 1985/1986/1991/1992)
- Japanese ID number: 30
- Accessories: "Thermal Sword", 2 missile launchers, 3 missiles
- Swoop's toy transforms into a robotic Pteranodon. Swoop can stand on his beast feet or lie on his stomach in this mode, but additionally has fold-out wheels located in his feet and chest (though one has to split his chest open to access the latter wheel). His beak and tail were rounded for safety reasons compared to the original Diaclone release. However, the remolding of the tail kept the tail sticker from fitting correctly. Interestingly, despite being a former Diaclone toy, Swoop is the only Dinobot not to have an obvious cockpit for a Diaclone driver figure.
- Swoop's die-cast metal chest is painted red, which is his Transformers color, as opposed to his cartoon color scheme which was based on the Diaclone toy. Along with his sword, he also comes with two spring-loaded missile launchers, the only Dinobot to have two projectile-launchers (and no non-firing gun to boot.)
- Swoop is notable for being one of the most fragile Generation 1 toys, and as such commands a respectable amount of money on the secondary market due to the difficulty in finding one intact.
- In Japan, Swoop and the other Dinobots were offered as mail-away items during Operation Combination. Swoop cost 1800 yen (his original retail price, less than the other four) and two Robot Points.
Beast Wars
- Swoop (1997)
- Men in Black, who had previously created the Onyx Primal exclusive for BotCon 1996, wanted to make two exclusives for their non-licensed Transcon2 convention in 1997. Albitron and Swoop, redecoes of the original Beast Wars Megatron and Terrorsaur respectively, would have been available singly as well as in a two-pack.
- However, Men in Black solicited the toys before they had gotten approval for them from Hasbro, which reportedly led Hasbro to turn down the proposal. Nonetheless, the basic Terrorsaur mold was to eventually be recolored in "Dinobot" colors as Terranotron (and Swoop!) several years later.
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Classics
- Dinobots (Mini-Con Team, 2006)
- Swoop transforms into a robotic Pteranodon. His jointing allows him to stand on his hind-feet as well as assume a normal "flying" position. He was only available in the Dinobot Mini-Con Team set with Knockdown and Terrorsaur.
- Swoop's beast mode feet are misassembled; they are flipped upside-down. This was corrected on Windrazor.
- This mold was also used to make Reptix, Universe Windrazor, Dark of the Moon Rav, and Age of Extinction Paulie.
- There are numerous paint operation differences between the hand-painted prototype of Swoop depicted in the stock photos on the back of the Dinobot Team's packaging and the final product. One possibility is that since the Classics Mini-Cons were originally intended to be released in two-packs (as part of the Cybertron line) rather than three-packs, the number of available paint operations (which are carefully monitored) per piece was larger in the two-pack arrangement, necessitating some omissions for the three-pack release.
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Age of Extinction
- Strafe (Evolution 2-Pack, 2014)
- 26 OF 30
- Available only at ToysЯUs stores in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia, this Age of Extinction two-pack features the Generations Deluxe Strafe toy, with no known differences from the normal retail release, packed with a maybe slightly redecoed iteration of Dark of the Moon Mini-Con Rav with possibly darker blue or other negligible changes.
- The packaging for this two-pack mistakenly[1] uses Technobot Strafe's original Generation 1 package art instead of Swoop's G1 art on the side of the card bubble and lists him as a "stealth fighter" (what our wiki describes 2010 Transformers Strafe as).
| Classics mold: Swoop | ||
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Transformers (2014)
- Dinobots Generation One 4-pack (Deluxe, 2014)
- Accessories: Crossbow/launcher, missile, 2 swords
- Available only as part of the Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive "Dinobots Generation One 4-pack" that was first made available at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, Strafe transforms into a twin-headed Pteranodon monster, and features heavy use of vacuum metalization, transparent plastic and paint applications to recreate the look of the Generation 1 Swoop toy. Twin swords peg onto his wings, and the swords can also be hand-held in robot mode. He also comes with a pressure-launch missile-firing "crossbow". Pegs on the crossbow allow the swords to attach and create a larger weapon. Strafe is packaged with Grimlock, Snarl, and Slug, and their box unfolds into a diorama of the crashed Ark in Mount St. Hilary.
- Strafe (Legion, 2014)
- Part of the Generation 1-inspired 2014 Legion Class assortment, Strafe is a redeco of Cyberverse Beast Hunters Windrazor, and transforms into a vaguely avian dragon, although his package art is recolored from the RIA cover of Rage of the Dinobots #2 and depicts a mechanical pterodactyl.
- In the United States, Strafe has thus far been found at Big Lots, Dollar General, and Family Dollar stores. In Australia and Europe, he is available at general retail again, just like the previous wave of Legion Class figures.
- The stock photo on the back of the packaging depicts him with Windrazor's crossbow weapon, which is also listed as an accessory in the Hasbro website product listing for this toy. The actual toy doesn't include a weapon. Furthermore, the instructions printed on the back of the packaging are completely inaccurate, as they are for an entirely different "Strafe" toy! Even if the instructions had been accurate, they probably wouldn't have mentioned that Strafe can also form the arm of Abominus (or a combiner of his redecoes). This sculpt was also redecoed into Beast Hunters Divebomb and Go! Barara.
Hero Mashers
- Bumblebee & Strafe Team Pack (Team Pack, 2014)
- Pieces: ?
- Strafe is a non-transforming pterosaur robot. He was released with an unchanged basic Bumblebee, that lacks the blaster from his individual release, but can be equipped with any of the pack's various accessories, including a wing-pack and a "dino claw missile" launcher.
Generations
Platinum Edition
- Dinobots (Platinum Edition 5-pack, 2015)
- Accessories: Crossbow/launcher, missile, 2 swords
- Part of the Platinum Edition Dinobots 5-pack, Strafe is a G1-inspired redeco/new-head retool of Age of Extinction Deluxe Class Strafe.
- Strafe was bundled with Grimlock, Slog, Snarl, and Slug.
- This set was initially released as a Toys"R"Us exclusive in Canada in October 2015, followed by Singapore a month later (although it's currently unknown whether it was exclusive to any particular store there or not). Much later, it became available via the Australian Toys"R"Us website (but never found in stores). In the United States, it was initally only available online via Amazon and BigBadToyStore before being found at discount chain Ross a year after its intial release in Canada.
Titans Return
- Autobot Ptero (Titan Master, 2016)
- Accessories: Gun/pteranodon/jet vehicle
- Part of the third wave of individually-packed Generations Titans Return Titan Masters, Ptero transforms from a robot based on the original Swoop toy to a head based on Swoop's animation model (in the original toy's colors). In this mode, Ptero can serve as the head of any Titans Return Deluxe, Voyager, or Leader Class figure. He also features ports in his feet that allow him to peg onto a wide variety of Titans Return figures.
- Ptero is packaged with a triple-changing accessory which can transform into a jet for Ptero to ride, a crossbow with a 5mm post for other figures to wield, or combine with Ptero to form a Pteranodon. Note that the stock photos at right mistransform both the Pteranodon (Titan Master upside-down) and jet (wings not folded up) modes.
- This toy also doubles as the separate Beast Wars: Uprising character Ptero and was retooled into Titans Return Rodimus Prime.
Power of the Primes
- Dinobot Swoop (Deluxe, 2018)
- Accessories: Sword, chest armor/combiner hand, Prime Master gap filler
- Power of the Primes "Dinobot Swoop" (he got his name back!) is a new mold which can transform into a robotic Pteranodon, as well as form a limb for Volcanicus or any other Combiner Wars-style combiner. Like the other Dinobots in this subline, Swoop is partially composed of translucent plastic with gold paint on the inside to give him a 'layered' look reminiscent of his original toy.
- Like all other Power of the Primes Deluxe Class figures, he comes with chest armor with a place for a Prime Master (and by extension, a Titan Master and Enigma of Combination) that can transform into a hand for a combiner. He also comes with a unnamed piece that can fill the gap in the chest armor.
- Confusingly, there seem to be two versions of Swoop: one has a toy-accurate red torso (seen in the image to right) and the other an animation-accurate blue one (as seen in display cases from HasCon 2017.) How those variants will see distribution, if at all, is unknown.
Kre-O
- Kreon Class of '85 (Kreon figure set, 2015)
- Set number: B5152
- Voted: Most Likely to Have His Identity Stolen
- Accessories: Sword
- Kre-O Strafe (thank you, trademark!) is a small brick-built Kreon figure, using the 2015-style construction with raised hands and the sturdier "peg-in-peg" torso/waist connection. His deco is heavily toy-based, including a red chest, and a visor instead of individual eyes.
- He was only available as part of the San Diego Comic-Con-exclusive "Kreon Class of '85" 30-Kreon set. This set was also sold online through Hasbro Toy Shop after the show.
Merchandise
Decoy
- Cybertron Hero Collection 22 (multi-pack, 1986)
- Note that the number on his back is a sum total of the 8 tech spec values (Strength, Speed, etc.) from his original file card.
- Swoop (1987)
- Decoy number: 3
- The figurine was later brought over to Hasbro markets as part of the Decoy promotion, largely identical to the Japanese release except for the fact that the number on his back was replaced with a simple "checklist" number. Like all Autobot Decoys, he was a randomly-chosen pack-in available with the carded Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Protectobots, and Technobots.
The Loyal Subjects
- The Loyal Subjects Swoop is a Wave 3 figure with standard articulation. He is based on his original toy, as illustrated by his red chest and visor. For every 16 figures, there is 1 Swoop.
- Like most of his wave, Swoop's bio card plagiarizes this wiki article's opening paragraphs, and even uses the ridiculous opening caption as his new motto, even though it makes no sense out of context.
Notes
- Swoop was originally a Diaclone Dinosaur Robo Pteranodon type piloted mech. Whoever made Swoop's animation model used this Diaclone toy as a reference, as the Dinobot sports the pre-Transformer's blue chest, and gold lower beak, missiles, and dino feet. Swoop's box art has the Transformer toy's red chest, but keeps the gold parts from the Diaclone toy.
- Swoop and Sludge's absence from the Generation 2 toyline has never been fully explained, though rumors of what might have been persist. Recently, packaging art of both in new colors was unearthed, indicating what he might have looked like in the line. This art surfaced alongside a screaming yellow and turquoise Grimlock, so it is possible that the three were at one time planned for a second wave of Dinobots.
- The Energon Swoop toy was originally intended to be the original Generation 1 character, and was to be released in Universe. However, it was ultimately shunted into Energon, reportedly for a combination of budgetary concerns and keeping the combination gimmick (since he combines with the packed-in Grimlock to form a super robot) only in the main-line, which had combination as a central theme.
References
Categories:
- Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Unreleased toys
- Pages with broken file links
- Upcoming toy releases
- Classics Autobots
- Classics Mini-Cons
- Convention exclusives
- Decoys
- Generation 1 Autobots
- Generation 1 Dinobots
- Hero Mashers Autobots
- Kre-O Autobots
- Kreons
- Mail order items
- Platinum Edition
- Power of the Primes
- SDCC exclusives
- Titans Return
- Titan Masters
