What exactly is...Dinobots Master-Thread

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by GWolfv2, Jun 2, 2014.

  1. Livingdeaddan

    Livingdeaddan DEFIANTLILHORDE

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    Hey guys, come on, don't hi-jack this thread.

    I respectfully request that any comments or baiting on Creationism Vs Evolutionism be treated as spam and deleted from this thread. Its not what what we're here for!
     
  2. Beastwarsfan95

    Beastwarsfan95 Putting the ‘Bi’ in Bionicle.

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    fine
     
  3. Rhinox007

    Rhinox007 Liquid Fire

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    Interesting post yet again Gwolf Dino-sensei.
    And that sig! Things get serious when a T-Rex turns super saiyan:) 
    I do like this representation of the T-Rex far more than the classic JP representation, it even looks more menacing with those feathers
     
  4. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    I can see now why chicks dig paleontologists like you. ;) 
     
  5. Wheeljack_Prime

    Wheeljack_Prime Searching for the Infin-Honey Stones

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    I still say Snarl's definitely Stegosaurus proper and not ambiguously Hesperosaurus as you assert.
     
  6. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    Excellent work on Slug mr Wolf. I find the whole subject of quills in ceretopsians fascinating. My personal theory is that the early Ceretopsians like Protoceratops or Psittacosaurus were mostly covered in them like porcupines, and probably for exactly the same reasons, but as the family grew larger and developed larger crests and horns they became redundant and the larger members all but lost them except maybe a smattering on their exposed hindquarters.
     
  7. nobleboivin

    nobleboivin Well-Known Member

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    Awesome work
     
  8. EnergonWaffles

    EnergonWaffles Autobot's Head Chef Veteran

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    After getting the other thread locked, it only took ya'll 2 pages to start it back up? Please don't.


    Anyways, personal theories are:

    The Dinobots scanned a jumble of bones, or multiple skeletons, (like fuzors), which is how a thagomizer ended up on a triceratops, Grimlock with horns, and a 2 headed Strafe.

    Whoever made the Dinobots didn't use complete skeletons to get the shape of the alt mode, and mix and matched.
     
  9. GWolfv2

    GWolfv2 Deathsaurus - A name you can trust for peace

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    Hmm. Assuming that the musculature is functional and not hampered by real world physics (like a hundreds of tonnes digitigrade theropod) and we assume allometric scaling, Grimlock in a straight run could easily hold 50 miles as a relatively easy gait as a conservative estimate. If we go a bit wilder he'd be topping 120. Strafe would be moving at hundreds of miles an hour. As for strength, almost impossible to judge overall but again using scaling on Grimlock, he'd have to have a bite force of at LEAST...what, 600-1000 tonnes per square inch.Which means he could pretty much pulverise, shear or shatter any substance on the planet, including diamonds.

    EDIT: Saw the offical wallpaper. 4329 alligators translates into 865 tonnes per square inch.

    how so?
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2014
  10. GWolfv2

    GWolfv2 Deathsaurus - A name you can trust for peace

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    So, peeps have been asking for me to get to this one. Let's have a look at new boy, and recent trailer star Scorn.

    =============================

    [​IMG]

    Scorn's position in the Spinosauridae is as easy to classify as Grimlock's in Tyrannosauridae. He's got the elongate jaws, long, robust forelimbs, quite a lengthy tail and of course the elongate vertebrae forming a spine. But does he easily fall into Spinosaurus?

    Honestly no.

    Here is a fairly up to date reconstruction of a Spinosaurus

    [​IMG]

    Now, if we exclude the lateral spines (more on those later), we see quite a few differences between Scorn and Spinosaurus. Scorn's mid-sail (or sagittal sail) is not as extensive as we now know Spinosaurus' to be nor is it as tall. It's less obvious in these images but using this

    [​IMG]

    we see that's Scorn's mouth is much broader,, more squared off and lacks the slight hump behind the nostrils (less obvious in this picture). One of the most telling differences is that Scorn lacks the medial crest you can see on the head of Spinosaurus. This is one of the crucial factors in identifying Spinosaurus, and the lack of it is indicative of a true taxonomic split.

    So, can we narroe Scorn's identification down? Probably not.

    Spinosauridae is divided into two famililes, Baryonichinae and Spinosaurinae. The latter group is Spinosaurus, Oxalia (possible a second species of Spinosaurus) and Irritator. The former is all other spinosaurs. Unfortunately, the basic body is such that without some better images, it's difficult to tell which family Scorn belongs to. That being said, he does have a characteristic unique to himself. He is the only non-Spinosaurus spinosaur no have a spine THAT elevated. While others have erect sails, they are lower down, more like those you see on a bison. Therefor, this simple character is enough to provide a probable generic split, with some healthy cautionary warnings of course.

    Now lets consider the other sails. The sail of spinosaurs is formed from the top spines of the vertebrae extending upwards above the line of the back. This raises the question of what the lateral sails are made of. The material is similar so we can surmise they are made of the same material. I suggest they are formed of processes of either the lateral vertebrae or the ribs, growing sideways than at an angle, forming complimentary sails

    The sail characters alone are enough to separate Scorn, but it's good to have some other clues in the head. So, I'm suggesting a new genus for Scorn, Trilugumus ornamentus, which means triple ornamental ridge.

    Think we'll leave the last classic Dinobot till last. So Slash next time people.

    =====================================

    PS I DESPARATELY want a Scorn toy. Like yesterday.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2014
    • Like Like x 1
  11. sawwheeler

    sawwheeler Gundam Meister

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    you too? I really want one too.
     
  12. kjeevahh

    kjeevahh n/a

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    I suggest they are the result of an artist thinking that they would look cool, with zero regard to either lateral verebrae or the ribs!
     
  13. Scorpio

    Scorpio Well-Known Member

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    They are really good with their bone... err, not entirely sure :p 
     
  14. Wheeljack_Prime

    Wheeljack_Prime Searching for the Infin-Honey Stones

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    Hesperosaurus' plates are very squared off, almost like they're perfect squares that have one corner stabbed in Hesperosaurus' back. Snarl and Stegosaurus have plates that are much more angular and convey an actual diamond shape rather than a square rotated 45 degrees.
     
  15. Beastwarsfan95

    Beastwarsfan95 Putting the ‘Bi’ in Bionicle.

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    you gotta get him! hes so cool and posable!
     
  16. Driller

    Driller Cybertronian wildlife

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    you are all thinking too hard about this. the dinobots are just stylised, robotic versions of basic dinosaurs. gridlock is a tyrannosaurus, but they added horns to make him look more imposing. its the same on slug, who is just a triceratops with extra horns. strafe is a pteranodon, just happens to have two heads because fuck it, why not?
     
  17. Ring3r

    Ring3r Knows what else it can do.

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    Agreed, they're all just basic dinosaurs. Strafe isn't a pteranodon though, the head shape directly matches up with a much larger more recently discovered pterasaur, as the OP pointed out.

    The fun of threads like this is looking in detail to see what the artistic modifications actually come the closest to in terms of real dinosaurs. The modifications play hell with making easy identification, because of course, none of them are real dinosaurs.

    Then again, the original Dinobots weren't particularly close to how any of the dinosaurs looked in real life either....even going by the current scientific thinking of the day. In the 80's, dinosaurs were already being portrayed as fast, agile, lithe creatures. See some of the illustrations of Gregory S. Paul from that time period...

    In the 80's, we already knew that T. Rex held it's body horizontal and did NOT have pillar-like legs. "Brontosaurus" wasn't even a real dinosaur, but the Apatosaurus was already known to hold it's head and tail horizontally. Stegosaurus was known not to have a double row of plates. Only Slag and Swoop were relatively accurate protrayals of real dinosaurs.

    The biggest "win" in terms of how the Dinobots look is, in my opinion, the inclusion of FEATHERS on Slash. We know the raptors had feathers now...and not just downy feathers but feathers of modern aspect. Not even Jurassic Park 3 included this (they just used silly quills), and scuttlebutt is that the raptors in Jurassic World also will not have feathers....
     
  18. kaiserlisk

    kaiserlisk Squid Kid

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    I agree, it's very nice of Bay and co. to include feathered raptors since they could have easily gone the JP route (though maniraptorans likely had proper wings attached to the second digit, but I'm not complaining.) As for Jurassic World, I'd say it would just be odd for them to suddenly feather their raptors for no reason, barring sudden freak mutations in the raptor population.
     
  19. agent j 15

    agent j 15 Banned

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    This might make me finally confirm a major in Paleontology, it's that well written :D 
     
  20. GWolfv2

    GWolfv2 Deathsaurus - A name you can trust for peace

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    Counting that a as a win :D 

    Update coming. I will finish this before the movie comes out.