Dinobot Island

This has been a tough couple of weeks. I was going to get the three Dinobots that I didn't own, but wanted to wait until Isaac passed to order them, being worried about them getting lost in the mail. Well, I waited so long that the perfect Swoop I was watching got scooped out from me on eBay. Since I wanted to get Slag, Snarl and Swoop all at once, I was at a loss on what to do because I wanted more Transformers. All of the other Swoops I found were either potential K.O.s or had loose joints. Nothing but the best for Swoop. After two weeks, the seller who I was going to get Slag and Snarl from got a Swoop that was acceptable.

I kind of overpaid for all three of these guys, but I wanted to make sure that they all tight joints and were real. I do have a few questions, however. All three of them have just Takara 1980-1984 stamps on them. Slag's missile launcher shoots like a Takara version, but Snarl and Swoop seem to have the neutered launchers. Does this sound right? Did the Hasbro run have just the Takara stamp, or did I luck into Takara versions?

This is my second Slag. I still have the first one I got from that drunk kid lo those many years ago, but he wound up disintegrating. As soon as I picked him up ten years ago, the Triceratops head and tail just came off. Repair was not an option. Then again, all I had for that Slag was his gun, so I needed a complete one anyway.

The thing that I love most about Slag is that he's a Triceratops. Back when I entertained the idea of becoming a paleontologist, the Triceratops was always my favorite and that just translated to my love of Slag. Just look at that dinosaur mode. Lovely.

The second thing I like about Slag is the missile launcher. The thing I never really liked about the Dinobots were the handheld missile launchers. I'm more of a fan of shoulder mounted launchers, and while you can't mount Slag's to his shoulder, it does mount on his arm. And it rotates! Cool.

Swoop was one of my holy grails. I had never owned one, and all previous attempts had ended in either lost auctions, fear of K.O.s, or bad conditioned figures. He's just one of those fragile figures that are hard to find in decent condition. His wings are fragile and he has an insane amount of chrome. Add in the glut of K.O.s and you have a headache trying to find one.

"Swoop want good part!"

He's small, smaller than I would've imagined. I knew he was small, but damn. Thankfully, he's awesome, so that makes up for the petiteness of this figure. Maybe my excitement to finally have a Swoop in my hands after 27 years has something to do with it.

I'm actually afraid to handle Swoop because I'm worried that I'll break him. He's a beautiful figure. I can't believe that I waited 27 years to purchase this guy. There isn't any one thing that really stands out about him, but just looking at him, I'm impressed. He certainly has a simple transformation. A lot simpler than I would have imagined.

What can I say about Snarl? He's huge, for starters. His bulk is fitting for a Stegosaur. Snarl also comes with a rocket launcher that can be mounted on his leg while in Stegosaur mode. Transformation was a bit if a nice surprise - he's a waist twister! That makes Snarl a member of a great club that includes my beloved Datsuns like Bluestreak.

Snarl's spring loaded fists were another surprise. I pulled down his rear feet and out came the fists. I'm not complaining as I think that's neat. He's tall, taller than Grimlock. Just looking at him, Snarl is imposing, which suits his function as a desert warrior just fine.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with these purchases. Finally after a long wait I have what were at one point the most popular Transformers on the planet. Now I just need to build an island diorama to display them.  Sorry about the poor picture quality, I couldn't find my camera so I just used my iPhone.

Never thought I'd get to take this group shot