The Intergalactic Highway

I think I've found a possible dinosaur for Dinobot's beastmode, although this book is from 1988 and isn't very accurate on certain things, I haven't seen this dinosaur anywhere else...



In case it's too small, the description says :
Deinonychus [dyne-ON-ik-us] was the most violent dinosaur of all time. It was very fast and had a new method of killing--with its feet! It stood about 5 feet tall (1.5 m), was 12 feet long (3.6 m) and ran on two toes of its strong, birdlike legs. The weapon on its middle toe was a 5-inch-long (12.7 cm), razor sharp claw used to slash its prey.

Indeed, that looks quite a bit like him.

I've seen discussions on whether he was actually a Utahraptor, but that drawing does look a lot like our dear Dinobot.

I just found it in a book my uncle showed me, and I was like, "DINOBOT!!!" and ran away to scan it.

Since the day Beast Wars began...okay just kidding.

There has been a lot of debate on Dinobot's Beast mode.He can either categorize as an Utahraptor,a Velociraptor,or a Deinonchus.The writers and animators mostly pointed out Dinobot a a Velociraptor,since his Second Clone,TMII,had the 'thumb-claw' the animators keep fogetting to put since Day I.

There were problems with most of the Predacons' Beast Modes apparently.

I've actually never seen a picture of a Utahraptor...

It looks something like this:



Now thinking about it,this one has the right size,but not accurate foot structure as Dinobot has.

Cool!

Well, considering that the animation for most of the beast modes were notorious for being simplistic and inaccurate, I'd instantly lean away from the Deinonychus as being the correct version of a beast mode. The "Velociraptors" of Jurassic Park no doubt inspired the animators for Dinobot. (And they weren't real 'Raptors, either. The skeletal structure of their cranium was inaccurate, and actually was a rather good match to Deinonychus.) The images to compare really aren't that great of angles, but I didn't have that much time to really find the shots I was looking for.

Here's Dinobot. Look more towards his snout, and remember that the angle sucks, because then you can't see a true profile. Use a touch of imagination:


Here's the original Jurassic Park "Velociraptor." Note the head shape. The second JP movie came out after Season One of Beast Wars was out, therefore trying to make amends with the inaccurate skull shape. But this would have been what the animators at Mainframe would have seen at the time.


This is an excavated Velociraptor mongoliensis skull:


And V. mongoliensis reconstructed:


To compare with the Deinonychus skull:



And I know all this crap because I'm a geek. Utter and complete geek. Who had been obsessed with 'Raptors since I was in middle school and had been watching BW every morning before school when it was on the reruns. Yeah. THAT kinda geek. I even did my eighth grade science report upon the inaccuracies and theories about the blasted creatures.

... *hugs Dinobot* poor, poor mech with such confusing species (read: identity) problems ......

I can't see the picture of Dinobot. It won't show.

Try reloading the page...And now I see the reasoning...(Don't worry, I'm a geek, too. I play video games so much my fingers twitch randomly.)

I realize this is only tangentially related, but we may yet see a considerably more "accurate" beast mode on a Dinobot toy.

From Wal-Mart's computers, for the TF 25th anniversary/Universe line next year (which will celebrate ALL generations of Transformers, and with new molds):

Transformers Universe Deluxe Dinobot


I mean, that's what we're getting with Universe Cheetor (a considerably more accurate beast mode, even if the robot mode isn't quite as accurate-- and yes, he's slightly mistransformed in the pic):

http://www.tformers.com/ig.php?mode=vie ... 0&start=40

Going even further off topic - have there been any images released of Dinobot yet?

No, the listing for it just showed up in Wal-Mart computers, like, 2 days ago. I'd say a Spring 2009 release at the very earliest.

Well, we all know that I'll be getting the Dinobot. Muchly pleased that they're going to try for a better anatomical correctness this time around!

Even if that made no sense.

The beast mode for dinobot is hard to pin down. They say on the show that he is a Velociraptor, but the two arguments most people bring up against it are the size and the lack of the thumb-claw. Size is a moot point because lots of beast modes were not to scale with the animals they are based on. The lack of the thumb-claw is a bigger issue that can't be ignored. The Deinonychus is a better fit except for the feet. That leaves the utah raptor which fits dinobots beast mode better then the other two.