Beast Wars Dinobot review

While most fans think of the term "Dinobot" as exclusive to the team of dinosaur Transformers from G1, I feel that the Beast Wars Predacon turned Maximal deserves the spotlight even more. He's a warrior who believes in honor, he slowly respects the Maximals he once didn't see optic to optic with, and he even saved mankind with the last of his energy. This doesn't translate as well on the toy, which looks a lot bulkier and doesn't even have a mouth. Of course, the toys came out long before the cartoon did, and while Mainframe Entertainment did initially have models based off the toys, they were later streamlined to look a lot less clunky. Of course, Season 2 and 3's Beast Wars characters were generally closer to the toys, with minor differences. Does this mean the original Beast Wars figures are awful because they're not accurate?

Here is Dinobot's Velociraptor mode. While many now realize that velociraptors have feathers, this beast mode came from around a time when velociraptors were more recognized by how they looked in Jurassic Park. The color scheme, while inaccurate, doesn't look too bad, what with the pinkish skin and the black stripes to make it more visually interesting. I also love how the eyes are painted as well as how the skin's textured to look a lot less smooth. However, like most early Beast Wars figures, it suffers from exposed robot parts ruining the look of the organic beast mode. It's a trend most figures go through when they're based on real animals instead of the more robotic designs. Here, Dinobot's legs mess up the appearance, as does the gap where the dinosaur neck is. I guess the legs could git in better with this mode if they were colored or even textured to somewhat fit in, but having them in clear plastic is not so hot. This is a bit of a nitpick, but I wish the claws are painted better.

Articulation's alright for what it is, though the bulk of the beast mode kind of makes it hard to pose right. The jaw opens, the little dino arms move around slightly on ball joints, and the legs move front and back as well as in and out. Even the knees bend while the toes can open and close. The tail doesn't do anything, but check out that button sticking out! Also, because of how the tail becomes a spinning blade, it's easy to mess up the alignment of the deco.

The transformation may be somewhat basic at first glance, but it does have a bit more going on compared to other velociraptor-based Transformers. The tail does come off, making this somewhat of a partformer. The leg transformation is nothing new and is part of similar Transformers like Grimlock. What makes up the sides of the torso is pretty interesting, as they swivel up to complete the look, even if they have a bit of a gap on either side.

Dinobot's robot mode looks different from the cartoon design because the toys came first while the cartoons came second, as previously mentioned. It's nowhere near as sleek as the character looked in the show, and the design, while not awful, isn't correct to how Dinobot normally looks. The show has him as a more refined robot that was also one of the tallest characters in the show, while he looks pretty chunky here. It's especially noticeable on the sides, which have the dino head stick out as well as having quite a bit off kibble on the back. I guess it wasn't too bad before anyone ever saw the show, though it's one of those cases where you can tell how disconnected the toy designers and the showrunners were in this instance in terms of keeping robots fairly consistent at least during Season 1.

The head sculpt is one of the signs of inaccuracy that Dinobot has, what with its color scheme and its design not matching up to how he looks in the show. For example, he has a mouthplate! The thing I find weird is that the back of the head has some grange exposed, which would kind of evoke how light piping is seen from the back of a Transformer's head, but it's painted like the eyes. Yeah, I don't get it either.

The image next to the head shows Dinobot with the mutant head halves that the earlier Beast Wars toys had. These were never in the show, and they got in the way when they weren't put together. Fans actually removed these on purpose since they looked bad.

Articulation is not too bad, especially since the later G2 and early Beast Wars figures began to use ball joints. Head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back on swivels as well as in and out on hinges. The biceps swivel and the elbows bend. The fingers can open if you want for added movement. Hips move front and back as well as in and out on ball joints while the knees also bend on ball joints.

One of his weapons uses the tail, splitting in half to become a Cyber Slash tail weapon. There's also a button below to have it spin.

The one accessory that I'm sadly missing is the Energo-Drill sword, which could honestly go for some silver paint if I ever find one. It could peg into the hole of the rotary blade. This weapon also completed the look of the tail because without it, the tail looks like it's got the tip cut off.

This figure went unchanged for a Japanese two-pack with Tarantulas. For a while, Takara didn't alter the Beast Wars toys until their next version came out.

The later-released Japanese Dinobot gives the figure a darker tan, a bronze helmet, and red eyes, but is otherwise similar to the American version. This is one that fans may not really have to go out for in my opinion.

Next up is the Fox Kids version of Dinobot, giving him a lighter gray with red markings. It doesn't look too appealing, but the silver interior of the blades is nice. The deco itself just looks like he's got skin burns, and parts of the dino mode don't match the rest of the beast mode, mainly the hips/shoulders and the dino arms.

This is the 10th-anniversary version of Beast Wars Dinobot. It's better painted than the original version, but the colors aren't quite right. I guess it's alright in robot mode, but the beast mode doesn't look correct. A Maximal symbol was added onto the figure, even though it's not show-accurate; Dinobot never saw himself as a true Maximal. This figure has an awful fate of Gold Plastic Syndrome in 2013, so don't buy this one unless you're super lucky or know how to prevent GPS.

Finally, this is the Telemocha Dinobot, from TakaraTomy's Beast Wars own 10th-anniversary line. It's not too shabby, though it is known for having a mouth as a paint app. By this point, it's safe to assume that the toy has been retired because the design of this toy and the colors from the show can't quite be as accurate as they could be when combined. The mutant head halves now have deco added on them.

In terms of other characters, this is Grimlock, a dalmatian-colored repaint of the mold. This version now has ratcheting shoulders, which is what most repaints of the mold use. He's also a sufferer of GPS, but he kind of brought back rub signs with the not-seen Energon chip)

The next figure is a heavy retool of the old Dinobot mold, and is first reused as Thrustor, who has nothing to do with the G1 Conehead Seeker. While it's odd to see a more prominent character's figure be retooled into someone else, at least the differences make this figure look a lot more unique. The weapons he owns are awesome!

Next up, it's Hardhead, who has less extensive retooling but does have a nice color scheme. Its feature is that the silver head moves up when the jaw's opened. Somewhat reminded of the Cephlazord from Power Rangers: Dino Thunder.

Hardhead was repainted for the Beast Machines line as Dinotron (creative name), this time with green, black spots, and a bright yellow forehead.

Another Grimlock was made from this mold, this time for the Dinobots subline and with a deco similar to the Fox Kids version, but the colors somewhat resemble the G1 incarnation. This figure has an Autobot insignia on the forehead, and came in a two-pack with Terranotron, a repaint of Terrorsaur.

This figure may not scream "legendary warrior", but it's still fine to own if you're into collecting toys that are inaccurate but do represent a version of a character. I'm sure fans will be more interested in buying the Henkei or Masterpiece Dinobots, but this is at least a better toy despite its inaccuracies than, say, most of the older G1 figures. Looking at you, Ratchet and Ironhide (this is setting aside the fact that they're Diaclone carryovers).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐