Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 28, 2009 21:59:05 GMT
Dinobot
Like Cheetor Dinobot has also been completely redone for the Universe line. His beast mode is similar to the original Dinobot - but cast in a brown plastic with paler stripes - with longer legs - ball jointed but restricted at the hips, bending at the knees and ball jointed ankles. Like the original Dinobot his arms are ball jointed at the shoulders but on this toy they seem to have shrunk somewhat and feel quite rubbery. The jaw on the toy opens. One of the best features on the toy is on the top of the beast head. There's a rectangular panel that Normally it shows beast flesh coloured plastic. The panel moves though, rotating to show either a purple Predacon symbol (he's got a Decepticon logo on the package) or a red Maximal symbol.
TF: Pull the tail up and away from the hips. Rotate the feet round the ankle and then swing what's now on the front of the leg round on it's ball joint to form the robot feet. Straighten the legs. Fold down the panels on the sides of the upper legs so they're pointing out to the sides. Fold out the teeth within. Rotate the panel round to the back of the leg then fold down locking into the lower leg in the same manner as you do with Big Convoy. Fold the teeth round the lower leg. Fold the arms up and fold the sides of the body with the ribs on back & out to the sides. Fold the robot arms out to the sides from under the body. Fold the dino head down into the chest cavity - the flap underneath should pass under the neck piece - exposing the robot head and almost certainly popping the inadequately secured dino head off. Fold the legs back into the space where the tail was and bring the waist halves together - these slide under the body but there's nothing to stop them moving too far and not meeting in the centre. Fold the chest sides up beside the dino head. Fold the arms out to the sides and then swing down beside the body. Rotate at the bicep so the fist holes face front.
Weapons: Take the tail and fold each of the three parts out to the sides. The instructions reckon it can be held as a missile launcher but I can't get it to be held. The hook underneath fires the transparent orange missile which can also be held as a rather short sword. The tail can be folded up and hooked over the toy's back.
Robot mode looks somewhat like Dinobot - albeit in brown with yellow hands and upper legs. He's now got his Dino head in his chest (insinuated by TM Megatron and practiced by TM2 Dinobot) The other big departure - and major improvement - is that he does now have hands with a peg hole that can hold weapons like a sword upright - previous Dinobot could only point his sword straight down his arm. The hands can be rotated into the wrist and exchanged for an inner claw to oppose the one that always lies along the back of the fist (similar to Depth Charge's hand TF) He's also got orange light piped eyes which is a big plus point. The head - which turns at the neck - looks like Dinobot's at first glance but the gap between the cheek plates is far too narrow giving him a very scrunched up look to his face. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder and then have a far too stiff bicep swivel - every time you try to move the arm by either of these two joints the inadequately secured chest sides flop about. This is nowhere near as bad as Cheetor but it's a big minus point. His elbows bend - badly ! The joint is forward of the arm so you get a gap in the elbow when the arm is bent. Hips are ball jointed, knees bend and finally - beneath the lower leg which has been beefed up by locking the panel from the beast upper leg onto it - there's a ball joint for the ankle.
It's not the complete disaster Cheetor was. But it's not great either. The robot's too thin, the colours are wrong - especially the yellow in robot mode. Liberties have been taken with the design - like Cheetor has some elements of the Beast Machines toy (the long legs) Dinobot gets his dino face in his chest. Another case of trying to rework something that didn't need too much doing to it - there's nothing wrong with the original Dinobot that reinstating the light pipe and adding a peg on the side of the sword handle won't fix.
Like Cheetor Dinobot has also been completely redone for the Universe line. His beast mode is similar to the original Dinobot - but cast in a brown plastic with paler stripes - with longer legs - ball jointed but restricted at the hips, bending at the knees and ball jointed ankles. Like the original Dinobot his arms are ball jointed at the shoulders but on this toy they seem to have shrunk somewhat and feel quite rubbery. The jaw on the toy opens. One of the best features on the toy is on the top of the beast head. There's a rectangular panel that Normally it shows beast flesh coloured plastic. The panel moves though, rotating to show either a purple Predacon symbol (he's got a Decepticon logo on the package) or a red Maximal symbol.
TF: Pull the tail up and away from the hips. Rotate the feet round the ankle and then swing what's now on the front of the leg round on it's ball joint to form the robot feet. Straighten the legs. Fold down the panels on the sides of the upper legs so they're pointing out to the sides. Fold out the teeth within. Rotate the panel round to the back of the leg then fold down locking into the lower leg in the same manner as you do with Big Convoy. Fold the teeth round the lower leg. Fold the arms up and fold the sides of the body with the ribs on back & out to the sides. Fold the robot arms out to the sides from under the body. Fold the dino head down into the chest cavity - the flap underneath should pass under the neck piece - exposing the robot head and almost certainly popping the inadequately secured dino head off. Fold the legs back into the space where the tail was and bring the waist halves together - these slide under the body but there's nothing to stop them moving too far and not meeting in the centre. Fold the chest sides up beside the dino head. Fold the arms out to the sides and then swing down beside the body. Rotate at the bicep so the fist holes face front.
Weapons: Take the tail and fold each of the three parts out to the sides. The instructions reckon it can be held as a missile launcher but I can't get it to be held. The hook underneath fires the transparent orange missile which can also be held as a rather short sword. The tail can be folded up and hooked over the toy's back.
Robot mode looks somewhat like Dinobot - albeit in brown with yellow hands and upper legs. He's now got his Dino head in his chest (insinuated by TM Megatron and practiced by TM2 Dinobot) The other big departure - and major improvement - is that he does now have hands with a peg hole that can hold weapons like a sword upright - previous Dinobot could only point his sword straight down his arm. The hands can be rotated into the wrist and exchanged for an inner claw to oppose the one that always lies along the back of the fist (similar to Depth Charge's hand TF) He's also got orange light piped eyes which is a big plus point. The head - which turns at the neck - looks like Dinobot's at first glance but the gap between the cheek plates is far too narrow giving him a very scrunched up look to his face. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder and then have a far too stiff bicep swivel - every time you try to move the arm by either of these two joints the inadequately secured chest sides flop about. This is nowhere near as bad as Cheetor but it's a big minus point. His elbows bend - badly ! The joint is forward of the arm so you get a gap in the elbow when the arm is bent. Hips are ball jointed, knees bend and finally - beneath the lower leg which has been beefed up by locking the panel from the beast upper leg onto it - there's a ball joint for the ankle.
It's not the complete disaster Cheetor was. But it's not great either. The robot's too thin, the colours are wrong - especially the yellow in robot mode. Liberties have been taken with the design - like Cheetor has some elements of the Beast Machines toy (the long legs) Dinobot gets his dino face in his chest. Another case of trying to rework something that didn't need too much doing to it - there's nothing wrong with the original Dinobot that reinstating the light pipe and adding a peg on the side of the sword handle won't fix.
