If I'm not beaten to it I should be able to get down there next weekend and camp out for a video. Seeing through the trees like this reminds me of the closed season 08/09 shots of Saw from Monk's Walk, but it looks nicer peeking through at a B&M than a Eurofighter!

It also helps that The Swarm actually looks substantial even from a distance, whereas Saw's messy tri-track often resembled the twigs itself.

As nice as it is that it's testing now, I'm not really overly excited at seeing a couple of pictures of it at a couple of points on the track if I'm honest. Heck, even seeing a video from Monk's Walk won't get that much more excited than I already am for this - nothing really beats hearing the lift hill, the sound of the wheels and such. Sorry if it seems like I'm party-pooping, but seeing a couple of pictures showing trains round a circuit isn't really something 'exciting' for me..But anyways... WOO TESTING!!

YES! Finally, the coaster is in action! The end is practically breathing down our necks now.

As nice as it is that it's testing now, I'm not really overly excited at seeing a couple of pictures of it at a couple of points on the track if I'm honest. Heck, even seeing a video from Monk's Walk won't get that much more excited than I already am for this - nothing really beats hearing the lift hill, the sound of the wheels and such. Sorry if it seems like I'm party-pooping, but seeing a couple of pictures showing trains round a circuit isn't really something 'exciting' for me..But anyways... WOO TESTING!!

Haha yeah, I'll be so excited walking over the bridge into the dome and hearing that

Now thinking of it. Was The Swarm's noise level compared to another coaster in the planning application?

They did. Nemesis Inferno.

I'm baby sitting right now looking at these pictures have made my night better cant wait till march. My bro has had a dream where he falls off the swarm better not come true I'll be sat next to him.

As nice as it is that it's testing now, I'm not really overly excited at seeing a couple of pictures of it at a couple of points on the track if I'm honest. Heck, even seeing a video from Monk's Walk won't get that much more excited than I already am for this - nothing really beats hearing the lift hill, the sound of the wheels and such. Sorry if it seems like I'm party-pooping, but seeing a couple of pictures showing trains round a circuit isn't really something 'exciting' for me..But anyways... WOO TESTING!!

The fact that it works and makes it round with no problems should be enough Joshy.

I can only think of one negative about this ride (not sure if it's much of a negative though), we know everything that Is going to happen. Unlike with Saw where we had the mystery indoor section. I'm still very excited about this whole project and I'm sure Thorpe have plenty more surprises up their sleeve in the marketing department, but it's just missing that tiny element of surprise for me.

I can only think of one negative about this ride (not sure if it's much of a negative though), we know everything that Is going to happen. Unlike with Saw where we had the mystery indoor section. I'm still very excited about this whole project and I'm sure Thorpe have plenty more surprises up their sleeve in the marketing department, but it's just missing that tiny element of surprise for me.

There's a difference between Saw and The Swarm. In the world of Saw, you wake up in a near death situation crapping your pants not knowing what's supposed to happen. But in the Swarm, you don't expect much surprises, unless the plane's exposed engines generate fire effects, and the helicopter comes with a wind effect that makes it look like the rotors are spinning, thereby kicking up water and soaking riders in the helix. Anything else would be a bonus, namely the overturned truck themed retail stalls containing spark effects. Anything Thorpe hasn't mentioned about the Swarm's scenery could be a surprise, and that particular element might just make an appearance.

Let's not forget, people do withold the power to not follow the project if they want to remain surprised- it's your own fault Ryan!

If anything, I am just looking forward to the small elements of this ride now. I can't wait to see the overturned truck and queue entrance. That is going to be themed as well by the looks of things (bottom right): Have Thorpe actually acted on our hatred for Shipping containers, and adjusted them to look even cooler, or is it just part of the theme?

There's a difference between Saw and The Swarm. In the world of Saw, you wake up in a near death situation crapping your pants not knowing what's supposed to happen. But in the Swarm, you don't expect much surprises.

I disagree - I'd say the threat of an alien invasion that government propaganda has kept quiet would be quite a surprise to most of the country. So I would stick my neck out and say that The Swarm is quite the surprise really, but as a coaster it might appear less so. And the comment made about Saw is just silly Everyone knows what happens in Saw!

Let's not forget, people do withold the power to not follow the project if they want to remain surprised- it's your own fault Ryan!

I thought this after I made the post, my bad!

I disagree - I'd say the threat of an alien invasion that government propaganda has kept quiet would be quite a surprise to most of the country. So I would stick my neck out and say that The Swarm is quite the surprise really, but as a coaster it might appear less so. And the comment made about Saw is just silly Everyone knows what happens in Saw!

Everyone? Not when you're the poor chap stuck in a trap. It's only after Billy appears on screen that you know what's gonna happen. Coming back to the Swarm, yeah, the government wouldn't say much, but during the ride I meant. Fire effects from the plane engines, wind effects from the helicopter rotors kicking up water in the helix? Surely you didn't miss the outlined possible ride events in my comment.

I would imagine you'd be travelling at such a speed that any wind effects would be completely useless to the riders, who will already be feeling a lot of wind! :PAlthough that's not to say that one of the water effects won't be placed here. You could be right Irishman!

Everyone? Not when you're the poor chap stuck in a trap. It's only after Billy appears on screen that you know what's gonna happen. Coming back to the Swarm, yeah, the government wouldn't say much, but during the ride I meant. Fire effects from the plane engines, wind effects from the helicopter rotors kicking up water in the helix? Surely you didn't miss the outlined possible ride events in my comment.

No, no, no, you're getting it all wrong. There's no mystery to Saw at all. Sure, there may be different methods but since Saw's inception there has been absolutely no variant in the Endgame: you die. With The Swarm, they're mysterious aliens arriving on Earth to without unknown plans and a propensity for destruction, and no-one really knows what they are, why they're here, where they are, or where they're going to strike next. Stop thinking so literally about the ride itself and think about what informs the ride - you'll find theme parks much more exciting that way. No-one goes up to Nemesis and thinks "This is a B&M rollercoaster built in 1994 with 4 inversions and G-Force in excess of 5Gs", they think "Wow! Look at that monster! I wonder how it got there and where it came from?".**Please forgive the crude examples.

No-one goes up to Nemesis and thinks "This is a B&M rollercoaster built in 1994 with 4 inversions and G-Force in excess of 5Gs"

Saw's inception

so, basicly, its a saw within a saw within a saw?got it!

Cheers Marc for the great pictures; we'll hopefully see it in a video soon but for those that saw it, what did it look speed wise? Was it quicker than you imagined, slow and graceful or about on par with what you thought?

^ With that question in mind, remember, it's not going to be the next Nemesis. From previous B&M coasters and Raptor, it will certainly be graceful but pack a punch at the same time. I'm thinking a mix between Air and Manta type thrills.

Agreed with Sheepie. Take the Zero-G roll for example - notice how long and drawn out the rotation is? You might say that makes it look slow and forceless, but that's because of the force exerted on the wider trains. To cram a 6.5m wide train through a Zero-G like this... ... would mean the seats would rotate so fast around their locus that the transition would become painful and it'd damage the trains after extensive use. On B&M's narrower trains (never thought I'd call a B&M train 'narrow') for their Sit-Downs like Dragon Khan, Kumba, etc., the inversion can be taken far more quickly as the riders are situated closer to the locus of rotation. But because, on Wing-Riders, the riders are positioned further away from the locus, they cannot do this. This doesn't compromise much force - we will feel it, most certainly, as the acceleration (in terms of velocity and directional change) will be greater the further from the locus you get (the locus being the very centre of the rotation).*So there'll be elegant, graceful movement and fast-paced moments as well - that corkscrew still looks absolutely awesome! I just know it'll ride like nothing else (except Raptor of course!).*Waiting for Engineer Benin to come and pick apart my Physics...

What the DICKENS is a locus?EDIT - As another thing stress and strain on the outer seating assembley will be VERY different as well and needs to be taken into consideration, what with directional and speed changes interfaced with air resistance and other forces acting upon it, can't make these things too intense...

What the DICKENS is a locus?

A locus? I thought you'd know! It's the centre-point that a body of mass rotates around.And Iron Irishman, I'm confused by your post too. Please revisit it and clarify what exactly you mean.