Dinosaur (dinosaur)

The name or term "Dinosaur" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Dinosaur (disambiguation).

There's a party in my mouth, and only really depressing people are invited.

Dinosaurs are prehistoric reptiles that dominated the Earth during their existence. Scientific consensus holds that they became extinct 65 million years ago. In the various Transformers continuities, this belief is often reassessed.

Dinosaurs' most prominent influence in Transformers culture is serving as the altmodes for some of the most dangerous (and occasionally ludicrous) Transformers of all time.

Fiction

Earl Norem dinosaurs: AWESOME! Chronology: not so great.

Marvel Storybook continuity

When the Autobots' spacecraft crashed into the Earth four million years ago, the mighty dinosaurs fled in terror. Battle for Cybertron

Marvel Generation 1 comics

Dinosaurs survived in a part of the Antarctic known as the Savage Land.

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

The Land Before Time XXIII: The Great Robot Adventure

Dinosaurs were understood to have been sluggish and stupid. They dragged their tails on the ground, and theropods walked fully upright. S.O.S. Dinobots

Dinosaurs survived the mass extinction of 65 million years ago and lived on into the present on the time-displaced, and energy-rich, Dinobot Island.

The most prominent saurians were the Dinobots, five rebellious (yet extremely powerful) Autobots, who proved time and again a match for an army of Decepticons. Other dinosaur Transformers are Trypticon, Sky Lynx, and the cassette warriors, Slugfest and Overkill.

Transformers who have Dinosaur altmodes have something known as "dinosaur electrons" within their systems. Transformation causes these electrons to release dinosaur transform static. Thief in the Night

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Victory cartoon

The Dinoforce consisted of six Decepticons with sentient dinosaurian Pretender shells and the ability to combine into Dinoking.

Beast Wars II cartoon

Brother, I think my horn has a rash.

Gigastorm, Galvatron's younger brother, took the form of a theropod dinosaur. He then made several Predacons into Cyborg Beasts including Thrust, rechristened Thrustor, a cyborg Velociraptor.

Beast Wars Neo cartoon

The Predacon lineup consisted primarily of a number of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

Beast Wars cartoon

It's not the size, it's how you use it.

By now dinosaurs were understood to have been quick and agile, with T. rex holding its body parallel to the ground. After crash-landing on a primitive world that was later revealed to be Earth, the Predacon renegades Megatron and Dinobot assumed the forms of extinct dinosaurs, a dwarf Tyrannosaurus rex and a giant Velociraptor respectively, as their beast modes to survive on this energon-soaked planet.Beast Wars (Part 1)

One...two...three...RED LIGHT.

After Dinobot's betrayal, Megatron cloned him. This clone was completely biological. Double Dinobot

When the alien Vok Planet Buster superweapon that threatened Earth was destroyed, the resulting quantum surge hit the planet, altering Megatron's structure, giving him a new, more powerful Transmetal body that allowed him to transform into entirely mechanical Tyrannosaurus with flight capabilities. Aftermath Later, Megatron used the alien Transmetal driver to create a drone army of Velociraptors with Cybertronian enhancements. Cutting Edge Refining his experiments, Megatron subsequently created Dinobot II, a Transmetal 2 clone of Dinobot. Feral Scream Part 1

Beast Machines Comics

So how did the Oracle get a Triceratops from Velociraptor DNA?

The Dinobots were created by the Oracle using dinosaur DNA information from Dinobot's spark. Most of the members had true dinosaur alternate modes of a Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, and a mechanical Velociraptor. Magmatron also joined the team although only one of his multiple beast modes is actually a dinosaur. Whether or not Airraptor's Archaeopteryx mode counts is debatable.

Armada cartoon continuity

Energon cartoon and comic

Americans will never find me here...

The Terrorcon Cruellock is a theropod dinosaur, but with a distinct Japanese giant monster influence.

Dinobot Toyline

Walmart released an exclusive mini wave of figures in 2003. It is unclear what continuity these figures belong to but they were released along with Armada figures. There is really no story behind these figures other than the fact that they are the Dinobots. The members with true dinosaur alternate modes are Grimlock, Snarl, Triceradon, and Slapper.

Cybertron

He acts tough but keeps disappearing when Grimlock walks in the room.

One of Scourge's underlings, Undermine and his brother Repugnus transform into a Spinosaurus.

IDW Generation 1 comics

Six hundred thousand meta-cycles ago, Shockwave foresaw Cybertron's eventual exhaustion of natural resources. To ensure their survival, he seeded many worlds with Ultra-Energon and waited. He arrived on the world later to be known as Earth to regulate the growth of the valuable resource. Unfortunately, the Autobot Dynobots, lusting for revenge after Shockwave had defeated them in a skirmish, followed him to this world. To endure the intense energon radiation on this world, the Dynobots assumed the form of the long-extinct dinosaur species. Spotlight: Shockwave

Hearts of Steel

Both the Autobots and Decepticons assumed the forms of these doomed reptiles upon arriving on Earth, which was in the grip of one of its ice ages. Hearts of Steel issue 1

Animated continuity

Animated cartoon

Open the door / Get on the floor / Everybody walk the dinosaur

Grimlock and Snarl are dinosaurs (a T. rex and a Triceratops) while Swoop is a Pteranodon. They form the Dinobots, based on animatronic robots that had entertained the public. Blast from the Past

A robot sauropod with guns on its sides. Awesome.

Zaur lives on Cybertron and is frightened of organics. He is an Apatobot, a species which bears a remarkable resemblance to sauropod dinosaurs. This Is Why I Hate Machines

Time-Quake

While conducting time experiments, Professor Simion Hawkins time-displaced a number of dinosaurs, including a T. rex which Bulkhead fought. When the Autobots tracked the professor down, he held them off by transporting more dinosaurs forward in time, leading them to fight a Triceratops. Time-Quake

Movie continuity

After being awoken by an All Spark fragment, Jetfire, confused and disoriented, had trouble remembering what his mission profile was. In his confusion, he briefly believed that the Seekers were there to destroy the dinosaurs, but Mikaela Banes informed that they were long since dead. Revenge of the Fallen (novel)

Power Core Combiners

File:PCC-toy GrimstoneDinobots.jpg

More like "Dino-and-one-Synapsid-bots", am I right?

The Autobot Grimstone, who transforms into a mechanical Styracosaurus, can combine with three dinosaur drones, a Parasaurolophus, a Pachycephalosaurus and an Ankylosaurus, and one Dimetrodon.

The toy box mistakenly identifies Grimstone as a Triceratops and the Dimetrodon drone as a Spinosaurus.

Shattered Glass

Grimlock, who transforms into a Tyrannosaurus, was created by the heroic Decepticons. He was deactivated by Megatron for being too violent. Optimus Prime reactivated him and he joined the Autobots. Wheeljack created the Dinobots based off of Grimlock's design. Some of these Dinobots were kept by the Decepticons and renamed Dinocons. Dungeons & Dinobots

In search for Soundwave, Heatwave went to Wyatt's Roadsideaganza, where he mistook two of the displays for real dinosaurs that tried to attack him. He destroyed both displays and some more. The Desert Heat!

Notes

• A number of of Transformers, such as Terrorsaur, Brimstone, Sling, Swoop and two thirds of Magmatron, are treated as if they have dinosaur alternate modes. However, in all cases, these are animals which are either only closely related, very distantly related, or so distantly related it's like saying you're a fish. But that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to the casual portrayal of dinosaurs in popular culture, so we're not judging.

External links

• Dinosaur at Wikipedia