Swoop (G1)


 * Swoop is a Dinobot and Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family. He used to go by the name Divebomb and might someday call himself the Veteran.



Swoop is the friendliest and most outgoing of the Dinobots. He's surprisingly good natured, kind, and upbeat. Few of his comrades realize this however, as his team's reputation and his alt-form, considered (for some reason) particularly "horrifying" to Transformer aesthetics, makes others wary of getting close enough to learn about the bot himself. Swoop is an excellent aerial combatant and bombardier, and has become skilled at using the fear his alt-mode creates in battle. He considers it his greatest weapon. Like all the Dinobots, Swoop tends to be arrogant, disobedient, and generally disagree with Optimus Prime's leadership style. He's also a bit of a show-off.


 * Preliminary names: Wing, Divebomb
 * French-Canadian name: Assailo
 * Portuguese name (Brazil comic): Pairador
 * Italian name: Reptilo
 * Hungarian name: Roham ("Charge")

Generation 1
''On Cybertron, Swoop was once a member of the Autobots' Elite Flying Corps and named Divebomb. After disobeying orders from Optimus Prime he came into battle with the Predacon now called Divebomb, who defeated him and stole his name. This began a continuing rivalry between the two. Millions of years later on Earth they clashed again, intending to finish things between them once and for all, but their respective team mates interfered and the battle went unresolved. ''

Swoop was one of the original crew of the Ark. After it crashed, Shockwave came to Earth in pursuit and landed in the Savage Land. The Ark rebuilt Swoop along with Grimlock, Slag, Sludge and Snarl into the Dinobots and sent them to the Savage Land to defeat Shockwave. The battle ended with the Dinobots submerged in a tar pit where they remained until they were dug out by Ratchet millions of years later. Swoop, along with the other Dinobots, then helped Ratchet to defeat Megatron and reclaim the Ark and free the deactivated Autobots within.



''Upon their return to the Ark however Swoop was badly damaged and thought destroyed when he attempted to fly the booby trapped battle droid Guardian away from the Ark to prevent the explosion from destroying Mount St. Hilary. ''

''In reality he was blown clear and crashed into a nearby lake where he was later found by Professor Morris. The professor had developed a machine capable of transferring his consciousness to a robot allowing him to take control of it. He recovered Swoop’s body and used the machine to take control of him. He used Swoop to attack the Autobots who he had mistakenly assumed were under the control of his company’s competitor G.B. Blackrock. Swoop’s personality eventually broke free of the professor’s control, however. ''

''Not long after this he went mad due to the burning out of his cybodendrons after being submerged in the tar pit for millions of years. He was subdued and went into a coma like state. This alerted the Autobots to the danger that the other Dinobots were in and they set out to find them. ''

''Swoop later recovered from his coma along with the other Dinobots. He and the other Dinobots left the Ark shortly afterward to help Sludge save his friend Joy Meadows from both the Decepticons and Swoop's former tormentor Professor Morris and his new robot Centurion, funded by Triple-I. ''

''Swoop would later battle the future Decepticon Galvatron, being severely beaten in the process. '' After the death of Optimus Prime, Swoop helped to battle Trypticon who had been sent from Cybertron by Ratbat to attack the Ark. Having driven Trypticon away Swoop and the Dinobots returned to the Ark where Grimlock was declared Autobot leader.

Following the return of Optimus Prime as Autobot leader, Swoop and the other Dinobots were critically damaged by the Underbase-powered Starscream. After being repaired by Ratchet using Pretender technology, Grimlock took Swoop and the Dinobots to Hydrus 4 and restored them using Nucleon. Swoop and the Dinobots later returned to Cybertron and took part in the battle against Unicron.

Marvel UK future timelines
''In 2008, Swoop and the Dinobots were one of several special units unleashed on the Decepticon attack force when Scourge and Cyclonus led the 'Cons on a siege of the Autobots' main base on Cybertron. Autobot High Command soon learned this assault was only a distraction, however, engineered by Unicron himself who was reconstructing himself on the planet of Junk. When Smokescreen returned from Junk with this news, Rodimus Prime gathered Scattershot, Grimlock, and the rest of the Dinobots with him to make an assault on Junk. Much to Rodimus's dismay, Swoop and the Dinobots didn't hold back at all when attacking the Junkions Unicron had mind-controlled into doing his bidding, and tore through them as if they were any other enemy. ''

Earthforce
''Swoop and his fellow Dinobots were brought back after the Underbase Saga by Grimlock, who found a mysterious off-world method of restoring them to life. Shockwave and his auxiliary army of Decepticons wanted the secret, and so a fight broke out with the Dinobots. Swoop played with Runamuck for too long in the battle, and got shot in the wing as a result. Grimlock had to bail him out before the Battlecharger caused any further damage. Optimus Prime started to berate the Dinobots after the battle, for the brutality of their fighting style, and so an angry Grimlock threatened to take his Dinobots and leave the army entirely. Things became even more intense, and Prime and Grimlock actually started trading blows, to see who had the biggest chrome bearings. After a few minutes of sustaining combat, however, Swoop and Prime's lieutenant Getaway declared it a draw, as the combatants dropped to the floor, too tired to beat on one another anymore. Exhausted, Optimus Prime decided Grimlock could be put to better use than as a punching bag, and declared him Autobot Commander: Earth while Prime took the Ark and its crew into space to deal with Unicron. Swoop and the Dinobots joined several other long-time Autobots in forming Earthforce. ''

''On April Fools' Day, the Dinobots played a prank on Grimlock, sending him out into a Canadian snowstorm to face Shockwave in single combat, only to find a snowman replica of the Decepticon leader and an autographed sign saying "April Fools!" Him Grimlock said "It's clobberin' time!" after that. ''

''Shortly after Autobot Earthbase was completed, the Decepticons discovered its location and staged a major offensive on the Autobot position. Grimlock took his Dinobots out on the front lines to defend their territory, and Swoop was seen making a bombing run on Breakdown and Long Haul. ''

''Every four million years (give or take), Slag's emotional dampeners break down for awhile, turning him from moderately savage to mindlessly savage. It was a secret the Dinobots had kept since they first formed, but unfortunately, this attack occurred when Optimus Prime came back to Earth to inspect the new base. While Grimlock kept Prime occupied, Swoop and the other Dinobots had the unenviable task of keeping the berserker in check so Prime wouldn't find out. Swoop tried to take the triceratops by the horns, but was rammed through a wall instead. The Dinobots managed to wrangle Slag long enough for him to burn himself out, and their secret was safe for another four million years. ''

''In order to secure a compatible systems boost for Snarl (who was dying of Corrodia Gravis), Swoop and Earthforce had to seek out Starscream, Snarl's systems match, from the Louisiana Decepticon headquarters. Of course, the Mayhem Attack Squad were right in the middle of an assassination attempt on Starscream's life, forcing the Autobots to reluctantly come to his aid. Grimlock sent Swoop and Sludge to defend Starscream from his attackers. With Swoop acting as a distraction, Starscream was able to belt Bludgeon with a loose I-beam. With the help of the Dinobots, Starscream fended off his assailants and agreed to help Snarl, in exchange for a promise of aid in case the assassins ever came after him again. ''

''Snarl's health problems did not end there, however, and the corrodia gravis infection eventually returned. And this time, Snarl was too far gone to be repaired in his present body. The Dinobots attempted to locate the control crystal from the shuttle that originally brought them down to Earth, in the Savage Land, hoping to store Snarl's mind in the crystal until a new body could be manufactured for him. Unfortunately, when they got there they found the crystal had been co-opted by a human scientist named Embrey, who was using it as a power source to prevent a disease from spreading throughout the dinosaurs, killing them. Unable to remove the crystal and thereby condemn the beasts to death, Swoop came up with an alternate plan. With the control crystal as a conduit, Snarl's mind was transferred into that of a normal stegosaurus, leaving him to wait in the Savage Land until his mind could be retrieved and placed in a new body.''

Another Time and Place
Several months after the golden age of Cybertron was reintroduced, Swoop and most of his fellow Dinobots had succumbed to the transfiguring effects of Nucleon and lost their ability to transform. When Grimlock received information that the Hydrus Four facilities had reopened, and discovered a means of reversing Nucleonic changes, the Dinobots jumped at the idea. Despite Prime's half-hearted warnings, Swoop and his teammates followed Grimlock back to Hydrus Four in the hopes of becoming Transformers once again. They were followed by the "exiled" Decepticons, however, and a battle with a huge native creature delayed the Dinobots long enough for Bludgeon's crew to get ahead of them and take over the Nucleon facility. The Dinobots were laid low by a Holocaust Trigger, overloading their sensory circuits so that they were helpless before the Decepticons. Cruelly tortured, the Dinobots were still left alive so that they could witness the rebirth of Megatron, thanks to the Nucleon infusions Bludgeon was feeding him. For some reason, Swoop clearly got the worst of the treatment, with metal shredders taken to his wings, hooks gouged through his skin, and his leg torn almost completely out of joint.

Luckily, the Autobots had long since learned to become worried whenever the Dinobots were out of sight for too long, and had followed them to Hydrus Four. Roadhandler, Tote and several Micromasters managed to free the injured Dinobots, and an Autobot strike force brought down their Decepticon captors. Swoop managed to personally crawl over to the control console for some medical equipment, dropping a giant spidery set of waldoes on Bludgeon. In a matter of seconds, the machine tore apart the Decepticon leader, leaving nothing more than a few decentralized components. The Nucleon reversion process was a success, and Swoop and his comrades were restored to fully operational Transformers.

Generation 2
Swoop and the Dinobots were fighting alongside Grimlock and a small group of Autobot firestormers when they uncovered the Cybertronian Empire and their terraforming measures. After calling in Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots, they became part of a major offensive against not only Jhiaxus and his ilk, but everything they represented. Despite Prime serving as overall commander, however, Swoop and his buddies were still Dinobots first and foremost. So when Grimlock wanted to take first strike action against Prime's orders, there was no question who they'd follow. Swoop and the others were captured almost immediately, though, and only escaped thanks to the timely intervention of Optimus Prime and his more loyal group of soldiers.

Swoop continued to fight alongside the Autobots with his Dinobot comrades, on both Earth and Ethos. In the epic final conflict with the Swarm, Swoop was seen manning one of the shield generators the united Autobot/Decepticon alliance was using to defend themselves.

Classics
After the defeat of Bludgeon's forces, the already nucleon-infused Swoop was caught in a titanic explosion at a nucleon-processing plant and was drastically mutated. The quick reaction of the Autobot Mini-Cons saved him and boom; Mini-Con Swoop was born. One would think a Dinobot would dislike being given such a small form, but Swoop is just as powerful as he ever was (if not more) and is now much faster and more precise. These augmented abilities are enough to make him quite satisfied with this state of affairs.

Swoop joined Grimlock's crew on the Graviton. When his team followed Bug Bite's small group of Decepticons to Earth, Swoop was sent ahead to scout the crashed remains of the Decepticon-controlled Ark.

Cartoon continuity

 * Voice actor: Michael Bell (English), Yoku Shioya (Japanese)

While guarding a mysterious meteorite, the original Dinobots, Grimlock, Slag and Sludge, were fooled by Megatron into joining the side of the Decepticons. To counter the threat of their former comrades, the Autobots constructed two new Dinobots: Snarl and Swoop. Snarl and Swoop did battle with the original Dinobots but were only strong enough to force them into a stalemate. The original Dinobots chose to return to the Autobots after their leader, Grimlock, was saved from the exploding meteorite through a selfless act of heroism from Optimus Prime.

Swoop was rarely seen apart from the other Dinobots. Together, they fought the likes of Devastator and moved to a bizarre island (later dubbed Dinobot Island) to hone their skills.

Some time after that, the Dinobots chose to desert the Autobots during their time of need (the Autobots were dying from lack of Cybertonium) and go to Cybertron. Sparkplug, Spike, and Carly sought out the Dinobots to convince them to help, but Grimlock, angered that they had been followed, decided to crush them. Swoop, however, saved them, wanting to hear the "brilliant part" from the humans. Grimlock was convinced to go, but instead led the Dinobots to Cybertron itself. All the Dinobots were captured by Shockwave, reprogrammed and forced to work in the cybertonium mines at the planet's organic core. All, that is, except for Swoop. Swoop soon encountered Spike and Carly, the Autobots' human allies, deep within the bowels of the planet. The three teamed up and, after learning a brief history of the Transformer race, freed the Dinobots and returned to Earth with a shipment of Cybertonium.

In 2005, Swoop and the other Dinobots fought Devastator during the battle of Autobot City. They didn't fare too well. They later evacuated the city (reluctantly) when Galvatron attacked. Swoop and the Dinobots became briefly stranded on Quintessa along with Hot Rod and Kup when their ship was shot down. With help from Wheelie, the Dinobots found their friends, with Swoop using Sharkticons as bombs. The Autobots escaped Quintessa and rescued the remaining Autobots on the Planet of Junk from a horde of confused Junkions. Later, Swoop did one of his greatest life accomplishments when he bombed the butt of a god.

In the year 2006, Swoop and the other Dinobots spent much of their time on Cybertron fishing for robot fish (or organic fish, depending on which shot you're looking at). Swoop and the others briefly ostracized Grimlock when he attained super intelligence. Grimlock eventually returned to normal and was welcomed back among their ranks. Swoop and the Dinobots were also summoned by Primacron's Assistant to do battle with Tornadron, a creation of the villainous Primacron. Swoop failed to defeat the enrgy monster, but Grimlock managed to save the day just in the nick of time.

Big Looker storybooks
During an incomprehensibly heavy-handed Decepticon plot to steal a single fuel tanker, the Autobots - also oddly determined to protect this single tanker - found themselves outnumbered and outgunned. Swoop, still recovering from a previous battle, arrived to assist, and was fired on by Megatron. This so enraged the mild-mannered Autobot that he dropped an air-to-air missile launcher (?) with the power of 5000 pounds of TNT. Swoop comes across as uncharacteristically modest, and grateful just to be able to help Prime and pals. Also, Swoop has hair.

Dreamwave comics continuity
Swoop was an Autobot once named Divebomb, though the circumstances surrounding his name change are unspecified. When Optimus Prime and Megatron disappeared, Swoop joined Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition. When Grimlock took the future Dinobots to execute Jetfire and Shockwave, Swoop argued that they should instead focus on the new battle base the Decepticons had built. Once the base was called away to rescue Shockwave, Swoop told him to come back and fight, then called him a coward (once the base was already leaving). Heading to the Neutral Territories, they found no sign of Grimlock or Jetfire. Tracking Shockwave down, the LSC worked with the Decepticons to locate their missing members.

As with the other Dynobots, they departed for Earth after the Insecticons, most likely because they were running out of things to smash back home. They somehow ended up under Megatron's control and were used to blackmail Grimlock into serving the Decepticons again. Grimlock was able to eventually free them before they decided that all the fun was really back home where they basically crashed Shockwave's party. Their rampage was so destructive that it required the intervention of the Omega Sentinels to halt. He was last seen being briefed by Ultra Magnus.

3H comics continuity
In a distant future of the Beast Wars timeline, the dark warlord known as Shokaract had conquered Cybertron and much of the galaxy. Only a handful of Maximals and Predacons survived to oppose him, under the command of the Predacon Sandstorm. Among them was an ancient warrior known simply as the Veteran. Reflecting on his long history and all his many departed comrades, the Veteran began to wonder if he had survived so long as to become a figurative dinosaur.

The Veteran's finely honed skills and instincts allowed him to survive an assassination attempt by the Cub, one of Shokaract's servants. Returning in defeat, the Cub was severely wounded as punishment for his failure and left to die in the wilds of Cybertron. Before he could perish, however, Sandstorm's band of rebels recovered him. In an attempt to learn more about Shokaract's plans, the Veteran merged his Spark with that of the Cub, and thus was born the dual-Sparked Windrazor.

Though Windrazor was essentially a new being, within him the Sparks of the Veteran and the Cub continued to grapple for control and dominance of their joined form.

IDW comics continuity
Swoop and the other Dynobots followed Grimlock to revenge themselves against Shockwave, who blew up a cache of energon they had stolen. When Shockwave traveled to Earth, the Dynobots pursued him and reformatted themselves to transform into robotic dinosaurs with a synthetic skin as a defense against energon overload. Sadly, it did not protect the Dynobots from Shockwave's energy blasts, which melted the artificial skin and caused the Dynobots to go into stasis lock due to excessive energon radiation. Due to a deadman's switch, the Dynobots' ship (the Skyfire) blasted a volcano that buried everyone in molten lava.

Thousands of years later, the Dynobots were eventually excavated by Skywatch, and though Grimlock was the first to be brought back online, he was freed from Skywatch's control through a virus implanted by a Machination spy (under orders from Scorponok). Scorponok wanted Grimlock to join him, but Grimlock refused, fought Scorponok and escaped, vowing to find and rescue Swoop and the other Dynobots. Scorponok, however, planned to take control of the Dynobots himself and use them to assassinate Grimlock.

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 dinosaur 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.

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 a Mini-Con Team set with Knockdown and Terrorsaur.


 * This mold was also used to make Reptix.

Trivia

 * 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.


 * This Diaclone incarnation of Swoop was also used as the model for the "restored" version of the Autobot Ravenus in the Micron Legend "Linkage" mini-comics.


 * Thanks to the Robo-Capers strip in the UK Comic, Swoop became the first and possibly only Transformer to defecate in a licensed and approved presentation.




 * Swoop and Sludge's absence from Generation 2 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.


 * According to the letter page of Marvel UK issue #284, Assassins, Swoop is the smartest Dinobot.


 * 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.


 * Swoop is the only original Dinobot who is not technically a dinosaur. Following in his foot-steps are Terranotron, Wal*Mart Sludge, Paddles, and two-thirds of Magmatron.


 * There are numerous paint application differences between the Classics Swoop pictured on the card back and the final product. One possibility is that since the molds were originally intended to be in two-packs rather than three-packs, the number of available paint applications (which are carefully monitored) per piece was larger in the two-pack arrangement, necessitating some omissions for the three-pack release.