I had a black MK2 soul with straight steerer, loved it, it did everything I needed, and had decent(ish) spec. I rode everything on it, XC, bimbling, trail centres, techy trails and well (for me), it was much better than me.
I liked my soul so much I bought a MK3, in green, to future proof myself as I thought I’d keep it forever, so got a 31.6mm dropper in there and the ability to run tapered forks. But, my riding got a bit techier, I started riding with more people on full sussers, and the full suss itch got bad. I have a Scandal 29er for an XC machine. I never really clicked with the second one as much as the first anyway, so I sold it, and got a cheap Zesty frame to swap the bits on to.
The Zesty is good, the Scandal is good, but they’re both quite focused and I do miss having the soul as it could just do anything, jack of all trades – master of most.
I’ve still got my forks hung up in the shed, 120mm straight (uncut) steerer dual air 120mm reba’s. I should sell them, I bet there’s more than a few people in this thread that want them. But, before I saw this thread this morning I put up a wanted ad for a straight steerer 26″ soul, as I still have my 26″ wheels in the zesty, and really want another.