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Every depiction of a dragon I've ever seen had normal legs like that of a reptile or mammal.

Hasbro has a history of making figures - dragons, mammals, dinosars, whatever - sometimes with backwards knees, sometimes with correct knees.

But you want me to believe that THIS figure's backwards knees were meant to reflect something in the fiction about how dragons knees are backwards, rather the way more obvious explanation that the toy designers didn't really care about anatomical accuracy?

Look, it's not a big deal; I'll buy the toys regardless. But don't pee down my back and tell me it's raining. It's just a poor design decision.

Classics Beast Machines Megatron anyone?

Seriously... Google "dragon legs" if you want to see a full page of ONLY dog-leg dragons. I did it for curiosity, but it's seriously the accepted norm.

Lots of them even add the dew-claw, which is a big red flag how the bone structure and "foot" are constructed. You basically have the animals walking on their back leg toes, and the long part of the foot has become part of the leg.

gothsaurus gets it!

Of course, that's how back legs work on quadrupeds! Hasbro's toy designers have simply taken a shortcut (probably to reduce costs) by removing a joint from the legs. But they have the entire foot flat on the ground instead of just the toes, so the whole anatomy of the leg is messed up as a result. Let's not pretend this is anything other than a move to cut production costs or make the toy easier to design. The suggestion that this somehow ties into the fiction is ridiculous.

And to drive the point home, look at Beast Hunters Lazerback: he has anatomically correct legs, with knees that bend properly.

I googled Dragons to look for legs similar to these and found nothing. Googled Dragon Legs, and found little to nothing. Hotlink a pic of one closest to Ripclaw's, Gothasaurus?

If designers stepped away from either dog legs or the backwards knee, I think they'd find a lot more leeway with design.

Hell, I'd like to see a design one with six legs all mimicking human arms. The front legs can become the arms (love the way the claws turn into fists on Ripclaw here, btw). The next two legs transform flip two into a chest cavity and cover the cavity with a flip down plate. The last two sets of legs can combine together to ease the concern of hollow legs. Do eet, Hasbro.

when you google it, click "images." You'll get a whole page of them. Pasting these below because I found this all quite interesting to dig into. No other reason. Enjoy!

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Here's one from a site about Dragon Anatomy. (ROTFL)

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en ... ,s:0,i:169

Welsh Dragon is always awesome:
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en ... ,s:0,i:386

Even the Chinese Dragon gets into the action:
http://www.google.com/imgres?start=304& ... s:300,i:31

and here, wormy dragon again:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/imag ... sGQ-GsH2Q_

Even silly kiddy cartoon dragons have the heel showing up. Quite interesting:
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/imag ... RT8SJPgUew

GuyIncognito wrote:But you want me to believe that THIS figure's backwards knees were meant to reflect something in the fiction about how dragons knees are backwards, rather the way more obvious explanation that the toy designers didn't really care about anatomical accuracy?

Take the focus off of beast modes and look at robot modes. Robot modes are generically humanoids, yet we've seen Hasbro freely turn robot modes into semi-humanoids, or not a humanoid at all. They're aiming for freedom to design as they please; we don't need to hound them down because they didn't make the dragon mode's legs like they "should" be.

gothsaurus wrote:*snip*

Thanks. This one's got "backwards knees" like Ripclaw, albeit a different kind of dragon (serpent).

There's probably no point in hounding them. But mind you, if the quality of the toys and designs keeps dropping (like FOC Jazz or this kind of missing joint/articulation), I can see myself switching to buying more 3rd party high-end figures.

On that purple dragon, that's still the heel. If you look above that, there is another joint that's the knee. I can see how you could view this as a "backwards knee" in the way it looks. The flame coming off is like the dew claws seen in other illustrations.

Either way, no sense arguing about any of this. If we like it, we can buy it! If not, skip it.

Looking at the toy, there COULD actually be another joint in there... Might be able to stand those back legs on the toes and get a better, more accurate pose after all. I'll be curious to have one in hand.

Reverse articulated legs normally have the same joint articulation as a human leg walking on it's toes (albeit with different proportions). So such backwards knees are the heel anatomically.

But I'm sure someone will point out these are preschooler toys of make believe characters employing make believe transformation modes and thus have no bearing on reality.

Your signature is fantastic.

gothsaurus wrote:Your signature is fantastic.

Seconded.

Breakdown 2099 wrote:The colours are terrible, the alt mode is atrocious and the head sculpt reminds me of that little toaster misfit, Ejector. I'm sold!

Amen to that. Amen to that.

Yweggo wrote:Am I the only one who thinks her head looks kinda like BW Inferno's?

I see no front antenas nor crazed smile, so yes, you're probably the only one, sorry...

kirbenvost wrote:Christmas SCORPION dragon, no less.

Looks alright, better than Lazerback. Still not sold on this line at all. The spiky vehicles are growing on me but I'm not picking them up if they're just new versions of the same figures I already have. So far it's just seeming like a good time for me to bow out of the collecting game for awhile and recoup my finances.

I actually like Lazerback. This one will have to wait depending on reviews / possible recolors. The head looks too low.

My boy picked up Beast Hunters Wheeljack and I was quite surprised at the amount of remolding. It wasn't just spiky bits added to the existing body. I might actually pick that one up. I am also tempted by the Soundwave, if only to go with the Walmart exclusive Sideswipe. Those two color schemes look like they would be good for a group shot.

ebeforei wrote:I would not write off these figures by photos alone. The BH Figures so far have been great. The autobot remolds are more interesting than the originals they copy, and Lazerback is way better in hand than his photos come across. True, not all figures are for all collectors, but I am still so amazed at how much better 'bee turned out than the original pic indicated. The automatic write offs might just be missing out. But, to each their own

Haven't played with Bee, but I agree with you. Lazerback is a fun mold. And I have said before, Wheeljack is a damned good retool.

I just hate it that some of these toys are growing on me because they're just so outlandish. They're like neanderthal cars with teeth and spikes.

Reminds me of getting the Takara BWII/Neo giraffe and penguin... just so I could say, "hey, get a load of this CAAARAAAZZZY transforming giraffe and penguin!!!"

Not sure how this will motivate my wallet as I have aged.