Fans Toys FT-05 Soar Swoop Iron Dibots

Fans Toys FT-05 Soar (Masterpiece Swoop) Review

Soar is love, Soar is life!

The feeling of getting Fans Toys’ second “Dibot” Soar is very similar to the feeling had when Shrek flies into your house and bangs you in the ass.  Soar joins Scoria in the Iron Dibot or as they are called in Japan the “Iron Dinobot” collection.  Scoria was my number one favorite figure of 2014, so Soar had a lot to live up to.  While I didn’t have any quality control issues with my Scoria, there were definitely some aspects of this figure that showed Fans Toys’ intent to make things right this time.  Some for the better and possibly some for the worse.  Let’s take a look at Soar.

The first thing I noticed when the Soar box came in is that the window flat was gone!  What?!  The second thing I noticed that since I ordered from a domestic US retailer that the box was stickered over.  Every part that said “Iron Dinobot” was replaced with “Iron Dibot.”  This was an interesting change that I was slightly curious about.  I’m going to assume that it has something to do with US retailers not wanting to sell trademark infringing items, or at least not have them so blatantly labeled.  I’m cool with the Dibots though.  Dibots are hip.  Dibots are fun.

Fans Toys FT-05 Soar Swoop Iron Dibots

Soar’s bio may not be quite as wonderful as Troll’s, but it’s still pretty fun.

Soar is a great warrior in flight and experiences pilot with outstanding motor ability.  He has the ability to fly over 250 mph and is armed with air-to-air missile launchers under each wing.  He loves seeing his enemies break and run when he launches an aerial attack.  Each missile explosion is the equivalent of 5000 pounds of TNT, and Soar can cast them with extremely high precision within an 8 mile range.  He can also use these missiles with great precision in robot mode.  Soar also has a flaming sword of 4000 degrees he uses to dismember many enemies.

Once you get that pesky box open you’ll find that the reason the window display has been abandoned is because he’s packed with far too much stuff.  He’s encased in three layers of styrofoam that hold the figure, instructions, a bio card, two wing cannons, an extra set of non-chromed wings, his sword, a flight stand, and an alternate clear beak.  What surprised me the most with this release was the inclusion of the optional parts.  If you aren’t a fan of chrome you have the option of removing almost 90% of it from the figure.

Fans Toys FT-05 Soar Swoop Iron Dibots

Soar comes packaged in his bot mode and his transformation is fairly straightforward and simple.  It does, however, have one slight catch with a VERY tight joint.  It isn’t the knee joint used when he is in robot mode, but instead a secondary joint slightly behind it used to fold over his legs into his Pterodactyl form.  It’s a ratchet joint and it’s extremely tight.  It also doesn’t help that there isn’t any large area to grip in order to break the joint in.  Basically I was forced to do what I hate: applying more pressure on a joint than I feel comfortable.  I did it though and everything turned out okay.  The joint finally moved and I had a Pterodactyl.

I’ve heard loosening the screws can help, but I tried it and I didn’t feel much of a difference.  Your mileage may vary in that respect.  He seems built strong enough to take the force needed to loosen that joint.  It’s still scary as hell though.

In the die-cast department Soar doesn’t disappoint.  He’s a heavy robot as most everything from the knees down as well as his shoulders and chest are metal.  While I’m on the subject of neat features he also includes an alternate face; he can either be serious or have an extremely happy look.  All it takes is to pull the head forward and spin it around.  That, of course, sounds a lot easier than it is because much like the rest of the figure the joint is a bit tight.

The wings on Soar are really well done.  Not only do they give you the option of chrome or not, but you also have three different points of articulation for posing.  Fully extended the wingspan is over a foot long.  He can also have his wings placed in any pose in either of his modes.  They are legitimately fun to mess around with.  Of course the wing-rockets can also be removed as to your taste.

Soar comes with a ton of accessories and options.  He is what a “Masterpiece” should be, official or not.  Even with the tight joints (which really don’t bother me anyway) I can’t see any Swoop based figure turning out much better than this.  Takara TOMY has blown me away with stuff like Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus, but I can’t even fathom how they could improve the formula here with a MP version of Swoop.  Will I be first in line if it happens?  Probably, I’m a sucker for the official stuff.  But for now I’m unbelievably satisfied with Fans Toys and the MP Dinobot effort they have put forth.  Them and Mastermind Creations are really the only two third-party companies that I would blindly place a preorder on any of their products.  They’ve certainly earned my trust.

Fans Toys FT-05 Soar Swoop Iron Dibots

If you want to get your hands on a Soar he’ll cost around $200 in total once shipping is factored in.  Obviously importing is cheaper, but you will pay more in shipping.  Domestic will just cost more with cheaper shipping, so pick your poison and find the best price out there.  While I’m unbelievably excited for Sever and the two non-Dinobots Fans Toys have coming later this year, I’m happy just sitting here messing with Soar in the now.  He’s fun to play around with and displays so well.  There are a lot of Dinobots out there these days, but only one series of Dibots.

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