(Other thread got moved for lacking first post content, so let's fix that  )

The legend arrives, and it does not disappoint.



Dinobot is something special. I genuinely, not until the moment it was announced, believed it would happen. I hoped, but even after Cheetor I had doubts. Dinobot's just impossible. Not a single shared element between his character models. Not even a similar one. Even the legs radically restructure as they become arms and he quite literally turns inside-out. But they did it.



Dinobot is obviously a raptor, as you do. Albeit a 90's post-Jurassic Park, somewhat toy-inspired featherless, limp-armed, overly wide raptor. Still, that's Dinobot, and it's pretty damn accurate. And in person especially, the headsculpt comes alive.






Dinobot's head is stuffed with features. Obviously the jaw opens, but he has retractable teeth for a properly closed mouth. His tongue can move, which is pretty rad, and his eyes change with a nifty little feature.




He's got some junk in the trunk, of course. Without the benefit of the underside of a car to stow all that 'bot away, Dinobot instead tucks it... elsewhere.


Dinobot includes a stand and stand-adapter. He doesn't need it to actually stand, though his ankles aren't ratcheted and can give way if they're too far back. The stand attaches brilliantly and securely between the beats mode plates and hinges around to the belly.


Did I mention Dinobot's fucking gargantuan? Because he barely fits into my lightbox with the stand, hence the iffy pic.



He also comes with a nice replica of the golden disk, with a clear adapter to hold it. In person it's nicely gold, though it looks cheesy in pics. (it's actually a very close match to the show colour) The details are sharp and accurate from what I can tell.


In robot mode, Dinobot towers. The transformation itself is insane, but more fun than MP Megs V2. Lots of clever touches like the chest folding over itself to add the eyes and the thigh pieces wrapping around the inside of the torso. His back protrudes a lot, but once you have it in hand you'll wonder how it's as contained as it is. It's pretty magical.


He's also stuffed with gimmicks in this mode. Four swappable faces, articulated fingers, ratchets everywhere, movable jaws, fucking ab crunch just because they could. On top of a wide range of posability. Everything feels good except the knees, which are too tight. Make sure to bend them by fulcruming the knee guard. Nothing'll break, but you'll probably de-transform the legs, first. I've yet to encounter the shoulder issue, and there's plenty of documentation on it. Basically though from what I've seen, the ratchets on mine are deep enough to be fine. Even if the ratchets fall out of alignment, Dinobot's robot mode isn't actually affected.


Here's a somewhat shitty size-comparison with his fellow Maximals. Again, he's massive, but they all look amazing together.




Here's his various faces. All incredibly accurate. You get a stern glare, typical for the character. A smirk for getting into trouble/fucking with Rattrap, a righteous rage face, and a duplicate rage face with recessed, unpainted eyes for the beam effect part. All look great, all have moving jaws. The light-up feature is simple and elegant. Press the button for red eyes, hold it momentarily afterwards for green. Lasts about eleven seconds and fades out, just like Primal.



I just... writing this review I still can't believe how much this toy does. It's so meticulous, so jam-packed with features and character. It's my childhood dream come true. That's no hyperbole, I literally dreamed as a little kid about having a show-accurate Dinobot, and here it is.


Once again, Dinobot can hold the disk just fine with the adapter. There's also a robot mode stand mount and a combination disk/sword mount, as well as a weapon mount on his back. Sadly, my batteries died before I could get photos of these but they're rather self-explanatory. (I will take pics of them later)


How far we come. Dinobot is a legendary Masterpiece. I'd never thought he'd be made, let alone so well. The engineering and care that went into this figure is beyond a labour of love. It's a labour of... honour.



If you have any reservations about this guy, I highly recommend you reconsider. He's, simply put, stunning.

 

since beast wars takes place in the past, isn't this technically one of your retrospective reviews?

i said it another thread but this figure really made me realize how much dinobot's arms fuckin freak me out. buff, fleshy, human-like biceps are great, but are way more intimidating with the inhuman clawed hands

also, is he supposed to look as flirty as he does? or am i just... dishonorable?

 

Wow. Outstanding write up and absolutely gorgeous pictures!

Thanks for sharing Split Lip.

 

As I said in the other thread, I hate you all and I am jealous because I will never have him T_T

 

Thanks a lot, guys!  

Well, you are taking a gander at his undercarriage from the rear. Perhaps he finds it scandalous?

 

Fantastic write-up, great photos. My figure was supposed to be here today, but because of delivery problems I'm picking it up tomorrow. This has made the wait that much more exciting, and excruciating. Like you, this has been the toy I've been waiting for. He is going to be the pride and joy of my collection. It looks glorious.

 

Great summary of the figure. In your opinion, how does Dinobot compare to other recently released MP's like Sunstreaker, Megatron, etc?

 

Thanks for the review! I just got mine today and I haven't gone beyond admiring the beast mode. I love this quote and it sums up my feelings perfectly:

 

Very well, IMO. I don't have Sunstreaker, but Dinobot feels like the same breed of animal as Megatron. Both take meticulous steps towards show accuracy, both have stunningly intricate transformations. I think Dinobot is better, personally, because he's more solid feeling and the transformation is more intuitive. Megatron, for example, does a lot to accomplish a lot. Dinobot does a little to accomplish a lot, so I find that ever so much more impressive. Both have that action figure quality once in robot mode but Dinobot goes a step further with just loads of features and character.

I still can't believe that all of the raptor mode besides the tail and the legs below the knee end up in the torso in robot mode.

 

This is a very well done review, Split Lip. Well written, and the pics are great.

 

How are the colours in person, it seems like they where going for the Madman look with the ribs etc being a gold/silver and a more orange bronze on the armor?

 

Excellent review, Split Lip, and it (together with the Japanese Youtube video) make me super excited to get this figure again, after being put off slightly by reading the shoulder-ratchet mishaps!
I'm more of a G1 guy than a Beast Wars fan, but Beast Wars most definitely got me back into Transformers and I used to hunt the beast Wars toys which weren't all easy to find here in the Netherlands (although distribution was far better back in the day than it is now). This Dinobot figure just looks like it literally stepped from the TV screen. What an incredible figure!

 

Damn. That is one good looking figure.
Awesome pictures @SPLIT LIP !!!
Thanks for taking the time to put this together and share your thoughts. I'm also pissed because I want it even more now.  

Precisely what I DIDN'T want to hear! It sounds just awesome.

 

The colours definitely hue towards the Madman image, thought the bronze-orange has a metallic shine to it (it's still unpainted plastic, though) that makes it less cheese-like than pics give off, it's still not just straight gold.

There's actually really good paint to plastic colour matching. It wasn't obvious until I really looked for it which gold parts are painted and which are plastic. Ditto the brown and flesh colour. The finishes are also matched as well.

Yeah, the raptor mode lacks any hip movement, because it doesn't actually have hips. You can disconnect the arms from the legs and use the transformation joint for some slight movement, but you'd have to use the stand and it's still not rally where the hips actually would be. Not that I can really think of a better way to keep the transformation and give it actual hips without seriously compromising things.

 

So how bad is the breakage issue?

 

The thing really holding me back isn't the breakage issue. With foreknowledge it seems avoidable. The elbow/triceps area is what bothers. I know myself and as stupid as it sounds that area is the deal breaker for me. Can anyone go into more descriptive detail about the joint? How much range of motion before I have to reset the triceps flap? How stiff is the triceps flap? Stuff like that.

 

Fantastic review. Admittedly, I've never been a fan of Beast Wars, however, I'll be damned if I didn't say ALL of their offerings are arguably among the greatest engineering marvels in the ENTIRE MP line.

 

So you do have to re-adjust the triceps flap when you bent the arm back. I don't find it much of an issue at all, especially since Dinobot still has a beyond 90-degree bend at the elbow, but it's not spring-loaded or a clicky joint, it's just a normal hinge that needs to be manually re-adjusted. That said, the shape of the foot and cut of the hole in the flap is really well done so it fold over the foot quite smoothly in any position. (though it's most hidden the less the arm is bent)

Mine has not broken and seems unlikely to. The breakage as it were is from the ratchet for the transformations shoulders not being designed with enough grip along the shaft the toothed sections rotate around, meaning the teeth are less likely to rotate apart and instead hold together, forcing the ratchet out of the slots on the shaft.

However, if you look at the ratchet and see that there's plenty of peg into the slot, you're unlikely to see it break, but on many copies the peg is too short for the slot, and so just pops right out, often rubbing or bending the plastic of the peg.

 

FINALLY. After more what felt like a crazy long delay (of two days), I finally have Dinobot in my hands. The first thing I have to say is, wow, he is big. I kept hearing people talk about it, i saw comparison photos. But seeing thaat raptor in hand, it still surprised me.

Edit 1: So I started playing with him. One of the first things I checked was his shoulder ratchets. They seem to be fine, but I put a little bit of dish soap on the ratchets anyway to be sure. I've been very carefully trying to complete the transformation without the instructions. It's going to take a few tries before I get the full hang of it, but so far everything seems to be finding it's place alright and clicking in. My second transformation will be with the instructions and trying to figure out the extra little details.

Edit 2: Finished transforming him. While I did it all myself, I can't say I fully understand it all yet. I mean, the end product doesn't really make sense based on where you begin, so it's hard to wrap your head around it. The only real tricky parts were getting the arms in the proper place and the beast mode arms where they should be, but after some fiddling I understand that part a lot better.

Robot mode just looks stunning. It honestly feels pretty surreal holding him. It has a quality to him that other transformers simply don't hold. When I hold Optimis Prime, or even Masterpiece Megatron, it feels like a transformer. Megatron has a lot of magic in him, but he still has this quality to him that feels like a transformer. Dinobot kinda feels like... a doll. Like, looking at him in robot mode, I don't feel like he should transform. He is for posing. And yet, somehow he actually does transform. It is really odd.

In hand, the details are really enjoyable. The grills on the side of his head are perfect. The face sculpt in general is actually just amazing. Way more so in person than from the pictures I saw. In hand, the backpack is visible, but it's really not bad, especially since when you look at him from the front he looks 100% perfect to a weird degree. I love this figure.