Transformers Studio Series 86 Swoop review

Finally, the Studio Series 86 Dinobots are complete! After we had a surprisingly good start with Grimlock around 2020/2021, we then had the two decent Slag and Sludge figures in 2021 and 2022 that completed the original trio. Of course, we would eventually get the complete roster 2 years after Sludge popped up, Snarl was released in the same year his Legacy Evolution Core Class counterpart, and he turned out to be better than both Slag and Sludge in terms of engineering (though he is missing gold paint on some of his parts). Swoop would eventually take the mantle this year, and about time, too. Let's see if the lean flyboy of the team is worth getting after four land-based teammates already popped up.

Here we have Swoop in his robotic Pteranodon mode, being just as comparable to his original design yet with a respectable level of sculpted details that I always appreciate in the Dinobots. While most of the figures have strayed away from the heavy detailing that was prominent since Siege, I enjoy the love and appreciation put into the appearance of the Dinobots, from the panel-lines to the rivets and the pistons that would normally be skipped out on a Super7 or modern Masterpiece toy. HasTak definitely don't disappoint on that department. The rest of the figure looks no different from how Swoop normally looks in the cartoon, with the folded up legs on the back, the blocky undercarriage, the shiny gold head to contrast the shiny silver wings, and the signature swept-back head crest in red as well as the missile launchers. Some parts of the gold and silver don't exactly match up in terms of pieces being either brighter or darker than on others for both colors, but it depends on the lighting; it's somewhat noticeable but not as bad as on, say, Earthrise Sunstreaker. 

The toy can stand on its little feet  and you can have the head face forward as well as close its beak. It looks funny this way, almost like you can blatantly tell this will turn into a robot with how the arms are not tucked away beyond the hands, and there's also the waist doing nothing to be concealed. At least the torso is collapsed somewhat thanks to the lack of a dino head, but I don't really know if this is Silverbolt levels of lazy as it is or if it'd be preferrable that he isn't over-engineered to hide the robot junk.

While the weapon storage is nothing to write home about, Swoop does come with two swords. One is longer than the other, and they also have unique designs from each other. We'll get into that in a moment.

For a group shot with the other Dinobots, he looks great with them! The blockiness from earlier could be explained that he was a Diaclone toy like the others were, so it wouldn't be an issue, though he still looks blockier than the other Dinobots are, even with the way many see G1 designs as blocky as hell. Still, even with that issue, he fits perfectly with the other teammates, and I like the cartoon blue to make him unique from the others, though I bet we'll get toy-accurate repaints that give them clear head pieces, chrome, and an entirely different redeco for Swoop given he didn't have a blue torso in the toy.

Transforming Swoop is fairly simple, as you simply broaden the torso, flip out the hands, fold the wings (as well as the tips onto the top of the middle pieces), and flips the legs down. It speaks for itself, and at 21 steps, it's about as comparable to engineering as the average Deluxe or Voyager, not to mention Combiner Wars Megatron from a decade ago. I guess it fits for him to be the least involved, but eh. As for the robot mode, it is also accurate to the cartoon model, so no surprise there. It's a pretty spitting image to it, but once again, I appreciate the fact that he has a great level of sculpted details that are undoubtedly going to make him a whole lot more interesting when observing him up close versus the usually flat Sunbow models. Swoop's proportions are also well done, capturing his sleeker character design to distinguish himself further from the bulkier teammates of the Dinobots. Honestly, those combined with the blue torso, the wings tucked on his back, and the robot mode head make him feel like a weird take on Peter Pan (and in my G1 universe, he'd be the friendliest of the team to contrast someone like Grimlock or Slag).

Speaking of which, his head sculpt is a lot softer than the other figures, likely due to the materials part of it is made of. His facial expression looks pretty meh, so that might explain why he looks like that. As for the articulation, his head is on a ball joint while the shoulders move front and back as in and out, the biceps rotate, elbows bend, and the wrists rotate. The waist slightly swivels due to the beak, the hips move front and back, in and out, thigh rotation, the knees bend 90 degrees, and the ankles pivot. He can use the two swords for dual-wielding...

...or utilize the rockets not to launch any missiles but to simulate them being fired with blast effects, sold separetely.

Now why would he have two swords instead of one? That's because the longer one was for none other than Grimlock, who did not come with a sword for reasons nobody could understand!

For years, I had a 3D printed one purchased around the same time I got my copy of Grimmy himself, and now he can join Swoop and Snarl for some blade-slashing action! But what about Slag and Sludge, you may ask???

To answer that question, let's quickly go over Comic Edition Grimlock. Now to quickly go over the deco styles of this guy, the colors are a lot simpler compared to the SS86 version, notably with the solid yellow rather than the gold from the regular version. The blue replaces most of the black, and the primary color combo combined with the gray and bits of black here and there (the latter color being used for the comic style lines and dot-tone areas as well as the inner wings) results in a huge contrast in deco to what we usually see on Grimlock. It's not as blinging as the Masterpiece King Grimlock repaint, but it is a lot better than I expected the execution to be. After all, those cel-shaded repaints of Siege Optimus and Megatron look so cheap compared to the richer shades of color on this guy. He comes with three swords as well as the gold crown and the silver gun; one is similar to, but not exactly, like the longer sword Swoop came with for the regular Grimlock, while the other two are meant for Slag (on the middle of the pic) and Sludge (shown on the right side of the pic to mimic the stock photo' dual-wielding them.

With Slag and Sludge now wielding swords and guns, we finally have the Dinobots together in robot mode! There are some inconsistencies to bring up, notably the way Snarl has a silver sword and no gun while the others are able to use melee and range weapons. I should also mention that the swords that are meant for Slag and Sludge are a little more rubbery than the ones Swoop came with, meaning they'll be different in durability and having a slightly different shade and texture from each other given their materials. Still, it feels great to have a complete team of Dinobots since we'd never get any complete ones beyond Animated and Age of Extinction (and only the original AOE toyline run rather than Studio Series); meanwhile, Classics and the Fall of Cybertron subline for Generations didn't have any other Dinobot rep beyond Grimlock. I know there will be people bringing up Power of the Primes as the first G1 Dinobot team in a CHUG line to be complete, but with Studio Series 86 involved, you won't be needing them anytime soon. Swoop's pretty good, and so are the other Dinobots. 'Nuff said.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐