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Cartoon Viewing Club: Zob's Thoughts on "War of the Dinobots"

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Zobovor

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Apr 15, 2018, 12:43:55 AM4/15/18
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"War of the Dinobots" is episode 10 of the original Transformers cartoon, and first aired on November 24, 1984.  Written by Donald F. Glut, it was the second in a series of many Dinobot episodes written by him.  This episode is significant in that it introduces Snarl and Swoop, finally completing the Dinobot character roster.

As our story opens, Chip Chase is apparently working at a planetarium, and has been there long enough that he's on a first-name basis with the other scientists there.  Chip was previously introduced in "Roll for It" as a computer genius, but I guess he's brilliant enough that he could excel at multiple scientific pursuits.  Either that, or the writers just liked to draft him when they needed an all-around "smart guy."  Anyway, he's detected a scary-looking meteor heading towards the Earth, describing it with highly technical science terms like "big" and "weird."  It's teeming with energy and it's difficult to scan with their instruments, so they wisely get the Autobots involved.

Optimus Prime (with Spike in tow) arrives with Hound, Wheeljack, Ironhide, and Ratchet.  It's a fairly small response team and it makes you wonder what the other Autobots are all busy doing.  Chip has made all sorts of mathematical calculations to determine that the meteor will strike the Earth at precisely "some time tonight," so the Autobots resolve to reach it before the Decepticons do.  They realize this is the perfect time to bring along the three Dinobots, because when the planet is threatened by a mysterious glowing rock from outer space, what the situation really calls for is some super-powerful prehistoric idiots stomping all over the place.

At the Decepticons base, Megatron is reviewing recorded footage of the previous Dinobot encounter.  Other Decepticons present for the home movies include Starscream, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Reflector, and Rumble.  Megatron is disgusted by the Decepticons' performance against the Dinobots; Starscream tries to reassure him that the Decepticons had performed adequately, but that the Dinobots had unexpectedly overpowered them.  Megatron angrily counters the argument, and there's a moment where Starscream cringes, like he's expecting to be physically struck.  (Starscream also has teeth in this scene.)  Megatron is already concocting a new strategy, however.  He knows the Dinobots must have vulnerabilities, so he elects to send Soundwave to spy on them and learn their greatest weaknesses.  

This is a Toei installment, and it's got some really great scenes, but you can tell it was a bit of a rush job, and there are some sloppy moments.  When Soundwave acknowledges his mission orders, his mouth plate shifts down too low on his face, and his eyes shift from a single visor to two separate, triangle-shaped eyes.  He's also missing all the cassette deck buttons on his pelvis in this scene.  Even the cel painters seem to be paying more attention to detail than the people drawing the actual animation—there are several Decepticons in this scene who have painted-on Decepticon symbols that weren't actually drawn.  This means the animators failed to draw the symbols, but when it came time for the cel painters to color the cels, they included these missing details anyway.

Conveniently enough, the meteor is poised to hit an abandoned city, so the Autobots and Dinobots are gathered in anticipation of its arrival.  (Found a new background character in this scene, as there's a robot who shares a design with Hound but is colored like Mirage.)  Soundwave arrives, sneaks towards them, and transforms into his tape recorder mode to dispatch a snake-like spy device and begin his covert reconnaissance.  Anybody who has ever owned the Soundwave toy knows that his on-screen transformation doesn't match the way the Hasbro toy functions.  Somehow, his lower legs are facing forwards the entire time, with the vents on his knees forming the vented microphones on either side of his cassette deck mode.  (There is also a mistake with the way the animation model for his tape deck mode is designed.  His robot arms supposedly fold up and end up directly behind his robot legs, even though there's a second, vestigial pair of folded-up robot arms in evidence.  There's really no way to reconcile this.)

Chip expresses gratitude towards Optimus Prime for allowing him to watch the meteorite landing.  Spike suggests that they name the meteor after Chip, embarrasses himself horribly by suggesting the name "Meteorini Chiparoni."  Because, as we all know, all space meteors are filled with delicious Chef Boyardee pasta.  (The Sci-Fi Channel cut out this line in syndication, and I am forever grateful to them.)  There's a comical moment that's easy to miss:  When Autobots and Dinobots alike take cover in preparation for the meteorite landing, Spike grabs Chip's wheelchair and pushes it with such speed that Chip's legs fly up.  

Prime sees nothing wrong with shooting at the meteorite with his energy weapon, knocking off a piece and allowing Wheeljack to analyze it in the comfort of his laboratory.  Prime elects to leave the Dinobots behind to guard the meteorite, and the Autobots transform back to vehicle mode to return home.  "No matter how many times I see it, it's always outrageous!" Chip remarks, referring to their ability to transform.  "It's show time, Synergy!" he adds.  Okay, not really.  (I doubt they would have used the word "outrageous" if Jem was already in production by the time this episode was written.)  Does it seem odd that he's still expressing amazement at the Autobots' transformation powers?  Chip met the Autobots a little later than Spike did, and this is only the tenth episode, so I guess we can forgive him this conceit.  (This is another line cut by the Sci-Fi Channel, who perhaps recognized that the Transformers cartoon was decades old at this point and transforming robots was not a novelty.)  

Out of the blue, Prime announces that he's happy with the Dinobots' performance (I guess he's forgiven that whole business when they tried to demolish Teletraan I), and he even wants to add a couple of new ones to the roster.  Naturally, Spike and Chip want to help out, because the Autobots are kind of dumb when they don't have humans at the forefront of all their affairs.  Before you know it, though, Chip is not only heading up the operation himself, but he's even choosing what types of dinosaurs will be used as the basis for their designs. Teletraan somehow produces footage of a live stegosaurus, which Chip decides will be used for the first new Dinobot.  He suggests giving the Autobots "a little extra flying power" and proposes a pteranodon as the second new addition to the team (technically, pterosaurs were not dinosaurs).  Ratchet and Wheeljack are only too happy to let Chip do the thinking for them, like good little consumer slave robots, and agree to start construction immediately.

Back at the meteorite landing site, Soundwave is still spying on the original three Dinobots.  Soundwave conducts a brain scan of the Dinobots, who are either compelled by Soundwave to vocally offer up their current thoughts, or are just doing so of their own volition for the sake of moving the plot along.  Slag mutters something about wanting to get in a fight.  So what?  He's still a rock star.  He's got his rock moves.  Grimlock is talking about how he's stronger than Optimus Prime.  Sludge is just content to follow the strongest leader, whomever that may be.  Soundwave, satisfied that he's found what he was looking for, flies off and returns to base.

"Slag is hostile; Grimlock, arrogant; and Sludge, stupid," Megatron realizes.  It's time to make his move.  The Decepticons arrive at the abandoned city.  "Uh, planes?" Sludge ventures with uncertainty when he spots them in the sky.  "Not planes——Decepticons!" corrects Grimlock, who proceeds to open fire.  The jets fly circles around them for a while until they change to dinosaur mode and get down to business.  When Megatron arrives, however, he starts spouting platitudes about how strong the Dinobots are, and how they should be the ones in charge.  The Dinobots are suitably intrigued, and allow themselves a moment of reflection.  Grimlock agrees that since he's the most powerful, he should be the one calling the shots.  Slag points out there's going to be a smackdown if Grimlock challenges Prime's seniority.  They confer with Sludge, who doesn't really seem to care and is content to just go along with whoever wins.  

I generally dislike the Dinobots.  Their painfully slow, stilted vocal deliveries are a chore to sit through.  Surely there must have been a more effective way to convey them as being not-particularly-smart.  The Dreadnoks from G.I. Joe weren't rocket scientists, but they didn't all have to talk like Cookie Monster.  (I think they must have emphasized this aspect of the Dinobots less heavily in later episodes, because they certainly don't take forever to belt out a sentence by the time of, say, "Dark Awakening" or "Call of the Primitives.")

Megatron demands their answer, and as act one draws to a close, the Dinobots have happily concluded that it's time to kill Optimus Prime.  This in itself is kind of interesting.  There have been countless plots of Megatron's that required brainwashing or reprogramming on some level—he did it to Bumblebee ("Transport to Oblivion"), most of the Autobots ("Attack of the Autobots"), Omega Supreme ("The Secret of Omega Supreme"), etc.  This is the first time, and I think the only time, that Megatron's just using psychology to get what he wants.  He's manipulating the Dinobots without tampering with their circuitry at all.  What's worse, it works like gangbusters.  This says something really scary about the way the Dinobots have been programmed.  They really do just do whatever somebody tells them to.  They're computers, like Teletraan I or Vector Sigma.  They have no morals and no sense of right or wrong.  They're a little stubborn, to be sure, but all Megatron had to do to circumvent that was appeal to their primitive nature.  

As we begin act two, Megatron revels in his victory while the Decepticon jets collect the meteorite and carry it away.  The Dinobots, who were previously assigned to guard it, watch with alarming disinterest as they fly off with their prize.  Megatron pretends to kowtow to them, offering a meager suggestion as to how they might make their move against Prime.  Back at the Autobot volcano base, the construction on the new Dinobots has begun.  Comically, the readout of the Dinobot blueprints on Teletraan's display screen is accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a dot matrix printer——something you'd certainly expect to hear in a room full of computers in the 1980's, but not from a space-age alien computer that's supposedly millions of years ahead of Earth technology.  The methods with which the Autobots are creating their raw materials seems decidedly low-tech.  Ironhide sprays liquefied metal all over the ground, Prowl cuts the metal into pieces with his laser, and the Mini Autobots carry off pieces slung over their shoulders.  Sparkplug puzzles over blueprints that are labeled "OUTLINE PLAN DESGE" until Chip explains to him that all the plans are written in horribly mangled Engrish.

Ironhide is operating a crane, clumsily trying to stack an unpainted Dinobot upper torso on top of the completed lower torso.  We know Grapple isn't around yet, but where's Hauler?  Did they have to build this crane just so they could build the Dinobots?  (There's another background character in this episode, because at one point there's a robot working on Swoop who is built like Brawn but colored like Bumblebee.)  The Dinobots are still being portrayed as humongous.  The G1 toys would have to be, like, ten inches tall for them to be to scale with the Autobots as seen in the show.  (And it really makes me wish the Power of the Primes toys had been bigger.)

Wheeljack realizes his meteor fragment is unstable, and summons Prime and Chip and Trailbreaker.  Right as it's about to explode, Trailbreaker starts spinning around like a ballerina, which somehow generates a forcefield to encapsulate the meteor fragment and contain the explosion.  Now the Autobots know the entire meteor will eventually do the same thing.  
 
Wheeljack's animation model was based directly upon the painting that adored his Hasbro toy packaging, incorporating the straddle-legged manner in which he's standing.  This leads to ridiculous moments like the one in this episode where he's standing there like a cowboy, and turns to Optimus Prime while his legs remain awkwardly bow-legged.

Prime goes to take care of the meteorite situation while the rest of the Autobots are on hand for the new Dinobot unveiling.  "I am Snarl!" proclaims the first.  "Call me Swoop!" announces the other.  Snarl is voiced by Hal Rayle, who will later go on to perform Shrapnel the Insecticon.  Swoop is Michael Bell, who is already playing Sideswipe and Prowl by this point and will later pick up Scrapper, Bombshell, and a number of others.  Oddly, Swoop is based on his original Diaclone toy, not the Hasbro toy, so there are lots of color differences.  He's got a blue chest instead of red, and he has a gold pteranodon beak, talons, and missiles instead of red.  

Wheeljack and Ratchet invite Bluestreak, Prowl, Sideswipe, and Ironhide to the forefront, and Ratchet beckons them in a sinister voice, "Stop the Dinobots... IF YOU CAN!  DUN DUN DUNNNN!"  The Autobots are remarkably ineffective.  The moment kind of feels like filler, since it's a fight just for the sake of having a fight, with no stakes and the winner largely irrelevant.  "In a real fight, we'd have creamed 'em... maybe," says Bluestreak when it's all over.

Prime arrives at the meteor landing site to find the meteorite and the Dinobots both missing.  Slag emerges from behind a broken building and attacks.  "Me, Slag, no like questions from ENEMY!" he spouts.  This is great pathos.  During a time when so much of the other children's programming was predictable and formulaic (Voltron: Defender of the Universe; Inspector Gadget; etc.) Transformers was pulling no punches.  You never got an episode where Inspector Gadget loses his marbles and tries to assassinate Chief Quimby, and you never got an episode where the Voltron lions all fought each other.  It's good guy versus good guy, and you know it's going to be a close match because the show has already established how powerful the Dinobots are.  

Once Prime realizes the Dinobots aren't backing down, he defends himself valiantly.  The scene of Slag knocking Prime through a brick wall is one of the most memorable parts of this fight.  Sludge stomps with such force that he opens up a rift in the ground.  Prime is eventually overpowered and falls into the chasm as act two comes to a close.

As a point of interest, the Dinobot toys were equipped with more weapons than they ever used on the show.  Each of them came with a missile launcher, a sword, and a handheld gun (except for Swoop, who didn't have a gun but had two launchers).  Sludge is the only of the three originals ever shown with his launcher, and it's the only weapon he tended to carry.

Prime is barely functional.  Slag wants to finish the job and tries to fire a shot, but Grimlock deflects it.  He's not even sure why.  Prime's theory is that "traces of Autobot training remain in [their] circuitry," which is as good a theory as any.  The Dinobots have to equip rocket packs in order to fly back to the Decepticons at the new meteorite location.  They're the same design as the jet packs that the Autobots will later be required to use in "Dinobot Island," but the one Slag is wearing (the one one that's visible) is colored white with red boosters and a blue forward section, evidently inspired by the color model for Skyfire.

The Decepticons are converting the power of the meteor into energon cubes.  Starscream observes the instability of the energy from the meteor, and points it out to Megatron, but Megatron basically says,  "Oh, does that frighten you, you big baby?  I guess you don't want your share, then!"  When the Dinobots show up, having failed to destroy Prime, Grimlock plays it off as something he just hasn't gotten around to doing just yet.  Starscream can see through his ruse, though, and says so pointedly.  Grimlock gets angry and guns down Starscream with Prime's rifle.

Back at the volcano, Wheeljack detects the meteor at its new location and realizes it's about to explode.  Without a word, Swoop and Snarl launch into action.  It's not obvious unless you watch the scene in slo-mo, but Swoop actually picks up Snarl as they rocket away.  

The collected energon cubes explode; Starscream gets to say I-told-you-so.  The two new Dinobots show up, with Swoop, weirdly, in pteranodon mode but carrying Snarl with his robot hands.   He likewise has his robot arms poised to strike after Megatron orders the original three Dinobots into action against them.  He is drawn with his robot arms plainly visible (on the toy, the arms were designed to retract into the robot body, but somebody must have mistransformed the toy when his animation model was designed).  A moment later when he grasps Slag by the tail, though, he's using his talons.

It's a full-on Dinobot rampage until Prime observes the meteor has reached a critical point, and bravely makes a run for Grimlock, who is standing right next to it.  He knocks Grimlock out of its path only an instant before it detonates.  In the aftermath of the explosion, Grimlock is positively incensed.  "You, Megatron, trick us.  Make us fight good leader, Optimus Prime!  Prime risk own life to save us!  BAD MEGATRON!"  You can tell that Megatron is a little scared.  "Decepticons, retreat—now!  Quick!  At once!"  

Grimlock returns Prime's rifle as the Autobot cavalry finally shows up, too late to do anything.  Grimlock is, in a rare introspective moment, humbled.  "Optimus Prime, can you forgive?  Me, Grimlock, was jealous of you."  Prime offers Grimlock a handshake and all is forgiven.  At least, until the next time the Dinobots go berserk and trash everything.

Not surprisingly, this was one of the episodes aired as part of Transformers: Generation 2, the first episode to air during the second season during 1994-95.  Of course, only three of the five Dinobots were sold as part of the G2 toy line (Sludge and Swoop were absent) and the weird colors of the G2 toys were not reflected in the 1980's animation (shortly after their initial grey release, they sold a teal Grimlock, a red Slag, and a green Snarl; the colors were changed yet again so that Grimlock was blue and Slag and Snarl swapped their green and red colors).  It would have been really cool if they'd digitally recolored the animated characters to match the G2 toy, but I know such things are terribly cost-prohibitive.

The original Rhino DVD release of this episode, as with all the first-season installments, was made from an early, incomplete print of the episode before it was sent back to Toei for corrections.  Some of the more egregious mistakes include Slag's dialogue coming out of Sludge's mouth, a scene where the Dinobots change to dinosaur mode instead of reverting to robot mode, Swoop carrying a robot colored like Swoop, and numerous instances of Starscream being colored like Thundercracker.  There's even a bizarre moment where Starscream is wearing finger gloves.  As incomplete episodes go, it's not the worst, but every  mistake that isn't present in the broadcast version is positively jarring.  (It's bad enough watching the show with all the extra added sound effects that Rhino dubbed in.)

As early installments go, this isn't a bad episode. I like that an attempt was made to work the Dinobots into the show gradually instead of just throwing them all into the show at once and going, "Look, kids! New toys!" I also like that the episode had not one, but two hero-versus-hero battles. When the Autobots fight the Decepticons, it's a given that we're supposed to root for the good guys, who will inevitably win. It's less obvious who we're supposed to want to emerge victorious when Prime is forced to fight the Dinobots, or when the new Dinobots attack the old ones. After all, the original three were never reprogrammed, so they were never truly evil; just misguided and confused. It's nice when an episode manages to shake up your expectations a little.


Zob (Snarl is still my favorite because stegosauruseses are cool)

Optim_1

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Apr 15, 2018, 10:24:26 AM4/15/18
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On Sunday, 15 April 2018 00:43:55 UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:

>
> Prime goes to take care of the meteorite situation while the rest of the Autobots are on hand for the new Dinobot unveiling.  "I am Snarl!" proclaims the first.  "Call me Swoop!" announces the other.  Snarl is voiced by Hal Rayle, who will later go on to perform Shrapnel the Insecticon.  Swoop is Michael Bell, who is already playing Sideswipe and Prowl by this point and will later pick up Scrapper, Bombshell, and a number of others.  Oddly, Swoop is based on his original Diaclone toy, not the Hasbro toy, so there are lots of color differences.  He's got a blue chest instead of red, and he has a gold pteranodon beak, talons, and missiles instead of red.  

Prototype pictures of Swoop show that Hasbro intended to release him with a red shest but also gold beaks, talons, and missiles. Considering the mold, that would also have meant gold wings. My reissue Swoop has gold wings along with gold talons, missiles, and beak. He looks much better. Hasbro should have stuck with the protoype colours.

If you had the original Swoop toy or the reissue, did you have trouble fitting the missile launchers to his wings? I cannot at all fit the launchers to the wings of my reissue. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with the reissue.



>
> As a point of interest, the Dinobot toys were equipped with more weapons than they ever used on the show.  Each of them came with a missile launcher, a sword, and a handheld gun (except for Swoop, who didn't have a gun but had two launchers).  Sludge is the only of the three originals ever shown with his launcher, and it's the only weapon he tended to carry.

I didn't notice that. I thought it was an animator whim. It doesn't really match the toy missile launcher exactly, however. The cartoon launcher has a longer barrel with a gold tipped end.

It is interesting that each Dinobot toy was equipped with the three weapons but in the cartoon Snarl was depicted with only his sword, Slag with his rifle, Swoop with nothing in robot mode, Sludge with his missile launcher. Grimlock has used both his rifle and missile launcher, I think.

>

>
> The Decepticons are converting the power of the meteor into energon cubes.  Starscream observes the instability of the energy from the meteor, and points it out to Megatron, but Megatron basically says,  "Oh, does that frighten you, you big baby?  I guess you don't want your share, then!"  When the Dinobots show up, having failed to destroy Prime, Grimlock plays it off as something he just hasn't gotten around to doing just yet.  Starscream can see through his ruse, though, and says so pointedly.  Grimlock gets angry and guns down Starscream with Prime's rifle.

He actually hit him, a rarity for the cartoon. Maybe Grimlock should run a targeting practice school for Transformers. He would make a tidy profit on energon cubes.


>

>
> The collected energon cubes explode; Starscream gets to say I-told-you-so.  The two new Dinobots show up, with Swoop, weirdly, in pteranodon mode but carrying Snarl with his robot hands.   He likewise has his robot arms poised to strike after Megatron orders the original three Dinobots into action against them.  He is drawn with his robot arms plainly visible (on the toy, the arms were designed to retract into the robot body, but somebody must have mistransformed the toy when his animation model was designed).  A moment later when he grasps Slag by the tail, though, he's using his talons.

I hated that scene as a kid. I wondered what happened to his talons when he knocked Grimlock down with his hands instead, as well as carrying Snarl. It is supposed to be a beast fight! They should look like beasts. Talons are very beast-looking.

>
>
> As early installments go, this isn't a bad episode. I like that an attempt was made to work the Dinobots into the show gradually instead of just throwing them all into the show at once and going, "Look, kids! New toys!"

I think that is due to Hasbro originally releasing the Dinobots minus Swoop. Swoop was apparently released later. He was not in the original Dinobot assortment. Swoop was given a separate commercial, battling the Insecticons.

It doesn't explain why Snarl was not in S.O.S. Dinobots or the Dinobot commercial.


I also like that the episode had not one, but two hero-versus-hero battles. When the Autobots fight the Decepticons, it's a given that we're supposed to root for the good guys, who will inevitably win. It's less obvious who we're supposed to want to emerge victorious when Prime is forced to fight the Dinobots, or when the new Dinobots attack the old ones. After all, the original three were never reprogrammed, so they were never truly evil; just misguided and confused. It's nice when an episode manages to shake up your expectations a little.
>

It is one of my favourite episodes. To me, the Dinobots were the bad guys in this episode. They turned on the Autobots for no other reason than petty ego. If it wasn't for Grimlock, Optimus Prime would have been murdered by Slag. It showed that the Autobots were foolish to trust the Dinobots after S.O.S. and nearly paid the price. It provides a good explanation on why they kept the Dinobots in the closet after the episode until they allowed the Dinbots free reign on Dinobot Island. It could also explain why they didn't construct even more Dinobots considering how powerful they were and how easy it was to build them.

The three big fights in this episode is another reason why this episode was one of my favourites as a kid and still is.


> Zob (Snarl is still my favorite because stegosauruseses are cool)

He was the most impressive in the fight knocking down Sludge and Grimlock with his tail. Slag only managed to hit him while he was occupied.

Grimlock, conversely, was the least impressive in the fight. He shouldn't have been since he is supposed to be the most powerful Dinobot, and arguably, the most powerful Transformer at that point. The writer didn't use Grimlock well in this episode. He should have been menacing and awesome but he wasn't.

Zobovor

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Apr 15, 2018, 7:32:56 PM4/15/18
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On Sunday, April 15, 2018 at 8:24:26 AM UTC-6, Optim_1 wrote:

> Prototype pictures of Swoop show that Hasbro intended to release him with a
> red chest but also gold beaks, talons, and missiles. Considering the mold,
> that would also have meant gold wings.

I'm not sure that follows. Every one of the Dinobots from the Diaclone line originally had both silver and gold parts. I think Hasbro changed all of Swoop's gold parts because of a perceived fragility issue. I imagine they were most concerned about his beak, but since the talons and missiles were part of that same mold, they all went along for the ride as well.

> If you had the original Swoop toy or the reissue, did you have trouble
> fitting the missile launchers to his wings? I cannot at all fit the launchers
> to the wings of my reissue.

I have an unlicensed reissue Swoop and my son has one as well. They're slightly different from each other. At some point between the time I got mine and the time I bought his, they fiddled with the mold for the pegs on the launchers. The launchers from his toy won't fit on my toy, and vice versa.

> Grimlock has used both his rifle and missile launcher, I think.

They usually draw him carrying just the double-barreled rifle, but there's a scene in "Heavy Metal War" that calls for him to use his missile launcher, so he actually launches the barrels of the guns as if they were missiles.

> I think that is due to Hasbro originally releasing the Dinobots minus Swoop.
> Swoop was apparently released later. He was not in the original Dinobot
> assortment. Swoop was given a separate commercial, battling the Insecticons.

The kids making the buzzing sound in that commercial drive me nuts. And it's not just one random kid making buzzing sounds... they all collectively decided that this is what the Insecticons do ALL THE DAMN TIME.

> It provides a good explanation on why they kept the Dinobots in the closet
> after the episode until they allowed the Dinbots free reign on Dinobot Island.

I feel like it's a crutch that the writers gave the Dinobots. They're super-powerful, so why not just break them out at the start of every episode? Because they're notoriously unreliable, is why.

> Grimlock, conversely, was the least impressive in the fight. He shouldn't
> have been since he is supposed to be the most powerful Dinobot, and arguably,
> the most powerful Transformer at that point. The writer didn't use Grimlock
> well in this episode. He should have been menacing and awesome but he wasn't.

Grimlock's potential is constantly wasted. His role in The Transformers: the Movie is a total joke. He and the other Dinobots fly towards Devastator, and Devastator kicks him out of frame. That's literally all he does in the entire fight.


Zob ("Me, Grimlock, love challeng—OOF!")

Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats

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Apr 16, 2018, 3:35:39 AM4/16/18
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On Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 9:43:55 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> "War of the Dinobots" is episode 10 of the original Transformers cartoon, and first aired on November 24, 1984.  Written by Donald F. Glut, it was the second in a series of many Dinobot episodes written by him.  This episode is significant in that it introduces Snarl and Swoop, finally completing the Dinobot character roster.

Slash would disagree with you. I like Slash, and can happily accept her into the Dinobots. Sometime after "The Search for Alpha Trion," Wheeljack must have thought "I have an idea, what about a female Dinobot..."

> As our story opens, Chip Chase is apparently working at a planetarium, and has been there long enough that he's on a first-name basis with the other scientists there.

Astronomical observatories, like football teams, are last-name only places. It was Mr. Jeff.

> Optimus Prime (with Spike in tow) arrives with Hound, Wheeljack, Ironhide, and Ratchet.  It's a fairly small response team and it makes you wonder what the other Autobots are all busy doing.  Chip has made all sorts of mathematical calculations to determine that the meteor will strike the Earth at precisely "some time tonight,"

Chip does get the location right. I'm thinking the Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle is involved. Chip is able to calculate the exact position and direction of the meteor, but not the speed.

Also, in the Transformers universe, the Earth is in a constant position and does not rotate.

> Conveniently enough, the meteor is poised to hit an abandoned city,

Is the city abandoned, or is this just the slums? How many American cities have been abandoned? Even Detroit is not abandoned.

> Chip expresses gratitude towards Optimus Prime for allowing him to watch the meteorite landing.  Spike suggests that they name the meteor after Chip, embarrasses himself horribly by suggesting the name "Meteorini Chiparoni."  Because, as we all know, all space meteors are filled with delicious Chef Boyardee pasta.

Spike is such an idiot. I have no idea why Chip then starts dressing up in women's clothing and trying to seduce him...

> Out of the blue, Prime announces that he's happy with the Dinobots' performance (I guess he's forgiven that whole business when they tried to demolish Teletraan I), and he even wants to add a couple of new ones to the roster.  Naturally, Spike and Chip want to help out, because the Autobots are kind of dumb when they don't have humans at the forefront of all their affairs.

It's true. That should have been the theme of the Michael Bay movies -- two warring factions, amazingly well armed, arrive on Earth and bring their war. Also, they are really, really stupid. Humanity is at risk because of stupid robots.

> Before you know it, though, Chip is not only heading up the operation himself, but he's even choosing what types of dinosaurs will be used as the basis for their designs. Teletraan somehow produces footage of a live stegosaurus, which Chip decides will be used for the first new Dinobot.  

I don't know if it is a live stegosaurus, or a cartoon stegosaurus. I kind of like the idea that Teletraan-1 found a kid's show about dinosaurs. It explains Grimlock's posture, and Sludge being a mythical animal.

> He suggests giving the Autobots "a little extra flying power" and proposes a pteranodon as the second new addition to the team (technically, pterosaurs were not dinosaurs).  Ratchet and Wheeljack are only too happy to let Chip do the thinking for them, like good little consumer slave robots, and agree to start construction immediately.

Yeah, I think the Autobots are kind of dumb too.

> I generally dislike the Dinobots.  Their painfully slow, stilted vocal deliveries are a chore to sit through.  Surely there must have been a more effective way to convey them as being not-particularly-smart.  The Dreadnoks from G.I. Joe weren't rocket scientists, but they didn't all have to talk like Cookie Monster.  (I think they must have emphasized this aspect of the Dinobots less heavily in later episodes, because they certainly don't take forever to belt out a sentence by the time of, say, "Dark Awakening" or "Call of the Primitives.")

I like them. But I do wish they were dumb in a different way. Too literal, rather than just talking slowly with poor grammar.

> Megatron demands their answer, and as act one draws to a close, the Dinobots have happily concluded that it's time to kill Optimus Prime.  This in itself is kind of interesting.  There have been countless plots of Megatron's that required brainwashing or reprogramming on some level—he did it to Bumblebee ("Transport to Oblivion"), most of the Autobots ("Attack of the Autobots"), Omega Supreme ("The Secret of Omega Supreme"), etc.  This is the first time, and I think the only time, that Megatron's just using psychology to get what he wants.  He's manipulating the Dinobots without tampering with their circuitry at all.  What's worse, it works like gangbusters.  This says something really scary about the way the Dinobots have been programmed.  They really do just do whatever somebody tells them to.  They're computers, like Teletraan I or Vector Sigma.  They have no morals and no sense of right or wrong.  They're a little stubborn, to be sure, but all Megatron had to do to circumvent that was appeal to their primitive nature.  

Maybe the meteorite affects them? Or maybe they just want to kill Optimus.

>  Sparkplug puzzles over blueprints that are labeled "OUTLINE PLAN DESGE" until Chip explains to him that all the plans are written in horribly mangled Engrish.

Well, that's one explanation.

> Ironhide is operating a crane, clumsily trying to stack an unpainted Dinobot upper torso on top of the completed lower torso.  We know Grapple isn't around yet, but where's Hauler?  Did they have to build this crane just so they could build the Dinobots?

The crane is probably sentient, and unable to transform, stuck in life as a crane.

> Wheeljack realizes his meteor fragment is unstable, and summons Prime and Chip and Trailbreaker.  Right as it's about to explode, Trailbreaker starts spinning around like a ballerina, which somehow generates a forcefield to encapsulate the meteor fragment and contain the explosion.  Now the Autobots know the entire meteor will eventually do the same thing.  

Such a weird scene.
 
> Wheeljack and Ratchet invite Bluestreak, Prowl, Sideswipe, and Ironhide to the forefront, and Ratchet beckons them in a sinister voice, "Stop the Dinobots... IF YOU CAN!  DUN DUN DUNNNN!"  The Autobots are remarkably ineffective.  The moment kind of feels like filler, since it's a fight just for the sake of having a fight, with no stakes and the winner largely irrelevant.  "In a real fight, we'd have creamed 'em... maybe," says Bluestreak when it's all over.

I think it shows how poorly the Dinobots are treated, and that they might be right to rebel.

> Back at the volcano, Wheeljack detects the meteor at its new location and realizes it's about to explode.  Without a word, Swoop and Snarl launch into action.  It's not obvious unless you watch the scene in slo-mo, but Swoop actually picks up Snarl as they rocket away.  

There were words. Wheeljack didn't think they could get any Autobots there in time, and Spike suggests sending the Dinobots. Presumably because they were knew and he didn't feel attached to them yet.

> It's a full-on Dinobot rampage until Prime observes the meteor has reached a critical point, and bravely makes a run for Grimlock, who is standing right next to it.  He knocks Grimlock out of its path only an instant before it detonates.  In the aftermath of the explosion, Grimlock is positively incensed.  "You, Megatron, trick us.  Make us fight good leader, Optimus Prime!  Prime risk own life to save us!  BAD MEGATRON!"  You can tell that Megatron is a little scared.  "Decepticons, retreat—now!  Quick!  At once!"  

This meteorite really wasn't all that powerful. Optimus was basically fine.

> The original Rhino DVD release of this episode, as with all the first-season installments, was made from an early, incomplete print of the episode before it was sent back to Toei for corrections.  Some of the more egregious mistakes include Slag's dialogue coming out of Sludge's mouth, a scene where the Dinobots change to dinosaur mode instead of reverting to robot mode, Swoop carrying a robot colored like Swoop, and numerous instances of Starscream being colored like Thundercracker.  There's even a bizarre moment where Starscream is wearing finger gloves.  As incomplete episodes go, it's not the worst, but every  mistake that isn't present in the broadcast version is positively jarring.  (It's bad enough watching the show with all the extra added sound effects that Rhino dubbed in.)

The finger gloves were awesome.

> As early installments go, this isn't a bad episode. I like that an attempt was made to work the Dinobots into the show gradually instead of just throwing them all into the show at once and going, "Look, kids! New toys!" I also like that the episode had not one, but two hero-versus-hero battles. When the Autobots fight the Decepticons, it's a given that we're supposed to root for the good guys, who will inevitably win. It's less obvious who we're supposed to want to emerge victorious when Prime is forced to fight the Dinobots, or when the new Dinobots attack the old ones. After all, the original three were never reprogrammed, so they were never truly evil; just misguided and confused. It's nice when an episode manages to shake up your expectations a little.

Yeah, I'm still wondering if Spike could talk them into a rampage. I think the answer is clearly yes.

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