BEAST MACHINES: TOY REVIEW

Name: DINOTRON
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Ground Infantry
Sub-Group: Dinobot
Beast Mode: Pachycephalosaurus
Price: 10 USD
Note: This toy is a recolour of Hardhead.

BEAST MODE

Height: 10cm
Length: 21cm
Width: 7cm
Dinotron is a recolour of the Beast Wars Neo toy Hardhead, as part of Hasbro's new "Deluxe Dinobots" line. This sub-line complements the Beast Machines line. So, how did they change Dinotron? Well, where Hardhead is purple, Dinotron is dark green, the bluish-silver plastic and painted spots are now black, and the bulb on his head and the robotic bits on his neck are now yellow. The inside of the mouth is now black as well. Definitely more colourful than Hardhead, though at least some green on the black pieces would have helped. Still, despite the colour and the mould changes from Dinobot, the base toy still exists. He has a total of 10 joints, 4 per leg, and the shoudlers for the tiny arms. Still, I guess for a Pachycephalosaurus, he's closer to the real thing than Dinobot, who was a bit too fat for a raptor. The neck pieces are also redone as well, with flesh on the outside, and robot bits
inside, which look a bit better than Dinobot's "ribs". His neck still forms the robot legs, so no matter what they do, his neck will still be too big. The robot bits are also yellow, and are quite visible.

Gimmick: Open his jaw, and the bulb on his head rises. Not very entertaining, but it's a neat mechanism, at least.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

The same as Dinobot/Hardhead.

ROBOT MODE

Height: 13cm
Width: 7cm from shoulder to shoulder
Well, the robot is still more colourful than Hardhead, including a red face, but still is just a resculpted Dinobot, with a new chest, robot legs, and robot head. Though thankfully, the mutant head is gone. He has a total of 17 joints, 6 per arm (the claws move as fingers now), 2 per leg, and the neck. Add 2 more for a bit of ankle poseability. One thing you will notice is the beast head sticks out further on his chest than Dinobot's raptor head. It's also interesting to note that the robot eyes are the only part of the entire toy to retain Hardhead's colours, as both have yellow eyes. The inside of the spinning blade is also now yellow, with a black sword.

Gimmicks: Open the tail to turn it into a spinning blade, and remove the inner tail bone to give him his sword. The blade spins when you press the bottom button. Each weapon can fit in his hands by the holes in his palms, though you can further distinguish him from Dinobot by leaving the sword in the blade. The head-butt feature still works, as the jaw has enough room to open. And while it doesn't fully count, if you leave the head rotated backwards, the beast head can be posed up as sort of an advanced mutant head.

RUB STICKER LOCATION

None, despite the fact he has an indent for one (a vestigial mould feature inherited from Hardhead- Goktimus). He is also the only one of the 4 new Dinobots to lack a Triceratops spark crystal (though T-Wrecks will also most likely lack one as he's just a recolour of ultra Megatron from BW).

OVERALL

Personally, I like his colours over Hardhead's colour scheme, mostly because it's a bit more varied and a bit brighter. He's also different enough from Dinobot to warrant the extra money. Though if you have Hardhead, or are sick of Dinobot retools, you can probably skip him, but still, the robot mode is real nice. The fact that he's a recoloured BW Neo toy is an additional plus for Western collectors who can't afford import prices. At least an "A".

This review was written by Kasady Voorhees.

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