Swoop (Transformers)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swoop is the name of several characters in the Transformers fictional series and toy line.
Contents |
[edit] Transformers: Generation 1 (1985)
| Transformers Character | |
 |
|
| Swoop | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Autobot |
| Sub-Group | Dinobots , Lightning Strike Coalition |
| Function | Dinobot Bombardier |
| Motto | "Fear can hit targets unreachable to bullets." |
| Alternate mode(s) | Mechanical Pteradactyl (was a Cybertronian Bomber in the War Within series). |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Dinobots |
| Voiced by | Michael Bell (English) Yoku Shioya (Japanese) |
Swoop (Swarp in Japan, Assaillo in Canada, Reptilo in Italy) is the Pteradactyl Dinobot. Like all the original Dinobots, Swoop was based on one of the Diaclone toy line toys.
His tech spec indicated that Swoop loved seeing his enemies break and run as he lauched his aerial attack. However, his vicious exterior hid a gentle, good-natured Autobot. He has the ability to fly at 250 mph and is armed with air-to-air missile launchers under each wing. His greatest weakness prehaps are his fragile wings which are vulnerable to enemy firepower.
He joined the Autobots in the cartoon and comics in their first year, but didn't have a toy until 1985.Like many of the Transformers characters, he was portrayed very differently in the cartoon and the Marvel comic books.
In some continuities Swoop is depicted as formerly being known as Divebomb, but changed the name when it was taken by the Decepticon now known as Divebomb.
[edit] Animated series
Swoop first appeared in episode 10, called War of The Dinobots. Swoop was created by Wheeljack and Ratchet on Earth in 1984. He was created along with Snarl to be the two new Dinobots to go along with the already-created Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge. It has not been explained why he or the other dinobots were able to be fitted with personalities which can only be found on Cybertron from Vector Sigma. Apearantly there is a difference between the brain and personalities in Transformers. Their brains are simple, yet still it is the personalities that make them sentient. It is evident that addition of personalities or "sparks" and its origin was after the fact, and was hoped that this inconsistancy would be overlooked.
Swoop is the only Dinobot who can fly in his dinosaur mode (although Grimlock was once depicted flying in dinosaur mode one in season three of the television series, asumed animation error). Swoop is also believed to be one of the smartest Dinobots, yet appears to lack the brute strength of his comrades. While Snarl and Swoop were being created, Megatron convinced Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge that Optimus and the Autobots were their enemies and the three original Dinobots kidnapped Optimus Prime. After Wheeljack and Ratchet, with the help of Chip Chase, created Swoop and Snarl, the two new Dinobots were used to rescue Prime from Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge. During that battle, Optimus saved the original Dinobots' lives before the meteorite near them exploded and they then realized that the Autobots were really their friends. In 1985, an island with real dinosaurs was found by Powerglide and Bumblebee. Optimus decided that Dinobot Island would be a good place for the Dinobots to train and practice their fighting skills, because the Ark was too small for the giant Dinobots. Megatron and the Decepticons found out about the island and wanted to harvest it for all the energy it produced. The Dinobots were thrown in a tarpit, but were later rescued and enlisted a group of real dinosaurs to help them attack Megatron. Some time later, the Cybertronian Autobots and Decepticons began to malfunction because they ran out of Cybertronium, a crystalline substance only found on Cybertron. The Dinobots were made on Earth, so they were the only Transformers not affected and were sent to Cybertron to get some. When they got to Cybertron, they disappeared. Spike and Carly went to Cybertron to find them and found Swoop, who led them to the other Dinobots that were captured and working for Shockwave. Eventually they were freed and brought the Cybertronium back so that the Autobot's bodies could be restored.
In Transformers: The Movie, the Dinobots travelled in the shuttle with Optimus Prime towards the end of the attack on Autobot City. their orders were to destroy Devastator, who had been a long-running enemy of theirs. Though Devastator appeared to have the upper hand at first, the Dinobots did manage to finally knock him down and halt his movements; taking him out of the fight. Swoop himself was knocked down by falling debris from Autobot City. When Galvatron attacked, they went in the shuttle with Kup and Hot Rod. This took no small amount of effort due to their innate stubbornness and desire to fight. The shuttle was shot down on Quintessa and Kup and Hot Rod were captured by the Quintessons. On Quintessa, the Dinobots met Wheelie, who led them to Kup and Hot Rod and they were able to rescue the two Autobots from the Quintessons. They took a Quintesson ship to the planet of Junk and were with the Autobots when they attacked Unicron. They helped with the attack on Unicron, inflicting more damage than most of the other combatants, striking at the Chaos-bringers flanks, attempting to break inside and rescue their friends. None of the Dinobots but Grimlock played large roles in the episodes following the movie.
[edit] Marvel Comics
Swoop was among the Autobots who came to Earth onboard the Ark under the leadership of Optimus Prime. When the Ark crash landed on Earth it reformatted Swoop in the form of one of the Savage Land's native creatures, a pterodactyl. He and the other Dinobots battled Shockwave, but all the combatants were buried in a tar pit. Millions of years later, they were awakened and battled Megatron, before defecting from Prime's command.
In the Marvel UK comic book, Swoop was given a detailed back story, as well as a markedly different personality. Although all of the Dinobots were more intelligent and articulate than their cartoon counterparts, Swoop was notably more intelligent than the others, on occasion showing resentment to his teammates at being part of a group at all. In the "Wrath of Guardian/Wrath of Grimlock" story Swoop and the other Dinobots battled a malfunctioning Guardian robot, eventually defeating it - only for Swoop to be seemingly killed. Swoop soon returned, attacking the Autobots under the mind-control of Professor Morris. Swoop's resentment for his former commander - Optimus Prime - allowed him to break free, although he refrained from killing Morris. Swoop was a major character in one of Furman's later stories, In the National Interest, where he battled Megatron (and lost badly) only to be saved by a mysterious mechanoid named Centurion - a robot controlled by Swoop's old foe Morris. Swoop later discovered this, but allowed Morris to control him once again to stop the other Dinobots from being killed by the insane future Decepticon Galvatron.
His most important storyline concerned his relationship with the Predacon, Divebomb. It was revealed in the 1987 UK annual and the follow up story, Grudge Match in the regular comic, that Divebomb was originally Swoop's name. The Predacon known as Divebomb, whose previous name was never revealed, bested Swoop in combat on more than one occasion and then added to the Dinobot's humiliation by claiming Divebomb as his name. Swoop was saved by Optimus Prime, a fact he kept from his Dinobot companions until the Predacons arrived on Earth and the rivalry resurfaced. The Dinobot leader, Grimlock, became aware of the incident when he became leader of the Autobots and gained access to Optimus Prime's files. However, he never told anyone, not even Swoop, to save him from embarrassment and because "Dinobots stick together".
Swoop was later killed by the Underbase powered Starscream but was resurrected by Grimlock and Nucleon. Swoop went on to fight against Unicron, and later accompanied the Autobots to Klo. Disregarding Prowl's warnings the Dinobots charged in - and were caught in Bludgeon's ambush. Swoop was killed, but later resurrected at the coming of Optimus Prime and the Last Autobot. He continued to reappear throughhout the Transformers: Generation 2 comic.
[edit] BotCon Comics
In the tales leading up to the 1999 BotCon tale "Reaching the Omega Point", it was revealed that, in a dark future where Shokaract, a Predacon fused with the essence of Unicron, ruled Cybertron, his herald Catacysm was sent to kill an ancient veteran Autobot. This Autobot was hinted to be Swoop.
[edit] Dreamwave Productions
Swoop appears in the second War Within story arc, The Dark Ages. He is a member of Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition, which would later become the Dinobots. Grimlock once accidentally starts to call him "Dive-" before correcting himself and calling him Swoop, meaning his defeat to Divebomb and his loss of his name happened in this continuity, and happened shortly before this story arc.
When civil war broke out on the planet Cybertron 8.7 million years ago between the Autobots and Deceptions, Swoop joined the Autobot cause.
When Autobot leader Optimus Prime and Decepticon leader Megatron disappeared in an accident with the space bridge 7.4 million years ago, the Autobot and Decepticon forces broke up into factions. Swoop joined up with the Lightning Strike Coalition under the command of Grimlock.
Grimlock lead L.S.C. members Ironhide, Kup, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop and Wheeljack in stealing a shipment of energon from Starscream and the Predacons at the Moon Alpha Space Port (Transformers: The War Within - The Dark Ages #1).
Ultra Magnus reunited the Autobot factions, with Grimlock working as one of his advisors. Swoop became a member of the Dynobots, a special Autobot unit directly under Grimlock's command.
The Dynobots were assigned to security at the peace talks between the Autobots, Decepticons and Ultracons 6 million years ago. It was their actions which saved the participants from being blown up in a sneak attack by Starscream and his Predacons (Transformers: Age of Wrath #1).
After Optimus Prime and the crew of the Autobot ship the Ark were lost in space 4 million years ago, the Dynobots formed a search party to recover them. They tracked the Autobot ship to the planet Earth, where the Dynobots were reformatted into mechanical dinosaurs, and Swoop gained his current form. The Dynobots were ambushed by Decepticons Kickback, Shrapnel and Bombshell, and left in stasis lock until they were discovered by Prime and his crew in the 1980's. Because of their new alternate forms they were renamed the Dinobots.
[edit] Devil's Due Comics
In 2004 Swoop was among the Autobots under the leadership Optimus Prime who attempted to take back the planet Cybertron from the Decepticon tyrant Shockwave. After an accident with the teleportational systems of the supercomputer Teletran-3, Swoop found himself sent back in time and on the planet Earth. He was reformatted in the form of an Earth dinosaur with several other Autobots. A group of humans were able to bring the new Dinobots back to Cybertron and they helped overcome Shockwave (G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers II #4).
[edit] IDW Publishing
In the Transformers Spotlight issue on Shockwave, Grimlock and the 'Dynobots' (sporting Cybertronian designs much like their War Within designs) appear in a story that partially homages their Marvel origin. Seeking payback for a humiliating defeat by Shockwave, Grimlock pursued him to prehistoric Earth (which Shockwave was seeding with Energon). In order to protect themselves against Energon surges, the Dynobots required alternate modes covered by a layer of synthetic flesh; Grimlock refused to transform into Ice Age mammals and made the decision to go with dinosaurian forms instead as he thought them more impressive. The Dynobots got the initial jump on Shockwave, as their attack was too illogical for him to understand, but he quickly recovered and blasted the entire team into stasis lock with their synthetic skins destroyed. Grimlock got the final laugh, as the Dynobot ship fired a pre-programmed blast into the surrounding volcanoes to unleash a flow of lava that engulfs all six Transformers until they were uncovered by human paleontologists in 2006.
[edit] Transformers: Generation 2
Although no Swoop toy was made for Transformers: Generation Two, Swoop did appear in the Marvel Generation Two comic series. Hasbro concept art of a Generation Two Swoop recolor has appeared on the internet as well. This toy was never produced.
[edit] Transformers: Dinobots
In 2003 a set of Walmart exclusive toys sold simply as Transformers: Dinobots featured repaints of Beast Wars molds as 6 Dinobots. One of the Dinobots sets included Grimlock (a repaint of Beast Wars Dinobot) and Swoop (a repaint of Beast Wars Terrorsaur). Some versions of Swoop were named Terranotron on the box because of trademark issues with the name Swoop.
How the Transformers: Dinobots toy line fits in with the other Transformers lines is still a bit of a mystery. The previous Robots in Disguise and Armada lines contained many non-show repaint toys, but the toys don't mention either line on the boxes. The Dinobots toys came out just before the Transformers: Universe series, which was almost entirely repaints of old toys - so some fans consider it a precursor to that series.
[edit] Beast Machines
Although the Dinobots as a dub-group appeared in the Beast Machines toy line, there was no character named Swoop among them - possibly because of issues with trademarking the name. A Dinobot called Terranotron was in this line though, a red repaint of transmetal Terrorsaur. The name Terranotron would later appear in the Transformers: Dinobots toy line on some boxes with Swoop in it, so many fans consider Terranotron to be replacement name for Swoop.
[edit] Transformers: Armada
Although there was no Swoop toy in the Armada series, the original Swoop did make an appearance in the Japanese comic series Linkage, as an Autobot who became the Mini-Con addicted Ravenus. Ravenus is an Autobot driven mad by his addiction to powerlinking with Mini-Cons and Unicron's influence. Possessing a twisted form that transformed into a pteradactyl (a recolor of Beast Wars TransMetal Terrorsaur), he carried the Doomstone, which was meant to destroy the Linkage. However, the Mini-Cons purified him, and he took on a form based on the original Swoop.
[edit] Transformers: Energon (2005)
The Energon Swoop toy – packaged with the similarly-redesigned Grimlock – was a modern updating of his original figure. He still transformed into a petradacyl, but had one major change: Grimlock and Swoop could now combine to form a larger robot named "Mega-Dinobot". The characters' joint biography clearly draws on the cartoon incarnation of the original characters, presenting them as Autobots who are simple in speech and thought, but who make up for it in raw strength. Decepticons have been known to flee in fear when faced with the two Dinobots, as Swoop uses his aerial abilities to confuse and distract them, while Grimlock attacks from behind and stomps them flat before they know what hit them. Though heavily armed, the duo's preferred weaponry is their teeth and talons.
His motto is "We love to munch Decepticon metal!"
His tech spec reads: Primitive in thought and simple in speech, what Grimlock and Swoop lack in intelligence they make up for in strength. They have given the Autobots the tactical upper-hand in battle time and again sending Decepticon legions retreating in fear. Swoop will often use his impressive aerial maneuvers to confuse and distract an enemy while Grimlock sneaks from behind and stomps that enemy before they even know what hit them. They then use their combined strength to ensure that there is little left of their unfortunate prey. Although they are armed to the nines with powerful weaponry, Grimlock and Swoop prefer to take down their enemies with razor sharp teeth and talons.
It comes as no surprise that longtime Dinobot fan Simon Furman intended to feature the characters in Dreamwave's Energon comic book, but the company's closure prevented this.
[edit] Transformers: Classics (2006)
Swoop appeared in the Transformers: Classics line as a Mini-Con, part of the Dinobots Mini-Con Team.
This toy was originally supposed to be part of the end of the Transformers: Cybertron line as part of a 2 pack with the Mini-Con Overbite, but with delays in release and the low sales of the vs. packs, they instead made it part of the Classics line and put it in a 3 pack with Knockdown and Terrorsaur.
