The Energon Pub

I am considering purchasing the figures for the movie Dinobots. Looking through the list, I was thinking there are too many of them, as I am used to having 5. But, the movies being official continuity, it means there are more than 5 Dinobots now. So, my question is, do we simply substitute characters, such as Slog for Sludge, or do those 2 (as well as Slag and Slug, Strafe and Swoop) count as 2 separate Dinobots? And what's the total count, taking into account all continuities? I know some didn't use 5 Dinobots, only 3, or even 2. I just want to make sure I have a correct line-up.

For the overall fiction, we have:

Generation 1
Grimlock
Swoop
Slag
Snarl
Sludge

Additional members:
Grimmaster (aka Kakuryu from Victory)
Paddles
Skar

Beast Machines/Universe
T-Wrecks
Striker
Triceradon
Dinotron
Airraptor
Rapticon
Terranotron

Animated
Grimlock
Snarl
Swoop

Age of Extinction
Grimlock
Slug
Strafe
Scorn

Toy-only:
Slog
Slash
Snarl

My next Dinobot question: which Dinobots origin do you prefer? Cartoon, comics or movie?

i've always liked the shockwave, earth, volcano, entombment origin.

it explained where they appeared from, and why they were damaged...

Fall of Cybertron / War for Cybertron Lore is pretty awesome... Concept of Shockwave nabbing them and "upgrading" them...
G1 is a bit meh...

I liked all their origin stories.

I like all their origin stories too. The movie one os pretty great and I find it really too bad more time wasnt spent on it since it seemed so interesting (knights of Cybertron).

Also,Rodimus, if you want a nice set of Movie Dinobot figures, this is what I recomend:

Snarl, Slag, Slug, Strafe, Scorn and Voyager Grimlock.

william-james88 wrote:Also,Rodimus, if you want a nice set of Movie Dinobot figures, this is what I recomend:

Snarl, Slag, Slug, Strafe, Scorn and Voyager Grimlock.

Isn't Slag and Slug the same?

Rodimus Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Also,Rodimus, if you want a nice set of Movie Dinobot figures, this is what I recomend:

Snarl, Slag, Slug, Strafe, Scorn and Voyager Grimlock.

Isn't Slag and Slug the same?

Darn, I meant Slog. Slog is one of the best to have been made for the films due to how rare that altmode is and it was done surprisingly well.

I agree. Slog looks badass

To answer a question from the first post:
Slug is Slag. It's his new designation, not a new character. He goes by it in FOC and IDW. "Slag" is an offensive word in British English and Hasbro is trying to be more conscious of their international markets.
Slog is Sludge. I'm not sure why they changed his name.
Strafe is Swoop. Dunno why they gave him a completely different guy's name but he fills the role of "pterasaur dinobot".

As for what toys to get, I bought all 7 movie dinobots in deluxe and voyager scale. Here are my recommendations.
Skip Grimlock. He doesn't look good in either mode, especially because the moving mouth gimmick gives him a large backpack in robot mode that can't peg in anywhere.
Slug and Scorn are fantastic. Easily the best of the deluxe Dinobots (especially if you ignore Scorn's hand and just let him use the dino head as a hand like Beast Wars Megatron). Incidentally these are the only Dinobots without gorilla arms.
Strafe is okay, but he's nothing to write home about. You aren't missing anything by skipping him.
Slash is a tough call. He's got a cool transformation but a lot of his kibble hinders his articulation and his legs are kinda unstable. Raptor mode doesn't look great either.
Snarl is a mess. He looks good in stego mode but he has minimal articulation, and things don't get much better in robot mode. His robot mode looks good if you don't pose him. The second you try to move him around, his back and shoulder kibble gets in the way, and his wrist swivel is at an extremely awkward angle due to transformation, which means his arm only looks good if you keep his palms towards his elbows (gorilla arms).
And then there's Voyager Slog. He's awesome.

That Bot wrote:To answer a question from the first post:
Slug is Slag. It's his new designation, not a new character. He goes by it in FOC and IDW. "Slag" is an offensive word in British English and Hasbro is trying to be more conscious of their international markets.
Slog is Sludge. I'm not sure why they changed his name.
Strafe is Swoop. Dunno why they gave him a completely different guy's name but he fills the role of "pterasaur dinobot".

The Pterosaur in the movie wasn't called "Swoop" because he was considered too much of a departure from the classic G1 character with his two heads, if we are to believe the interviews. He wasn't a classic Pteranodon either, as the extensions on the heads aren't as long and are on the face as well. Then again, all of the Movie Dinobots took liberties with the designs (Grimlock looked more like a Carnotaurus for instance), but the general families are still intact.
With that in mind, the sauropod from the movie line was akin to a Brachiosaurus, not an Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus like Slugde was, so that could have warranted a new name. Trademarks may have played a role, who knows?

I essentially view them by family. Grimlock is a large theropod. Usually a t-rex, but sometimes liberties are taken. Swoop is a pterasaur of some kind. Sludge is a sauropod. Until we get more than one dinobot in a single continuity that meets these specifications, I think it's safe to say they're essentially the same thing.

That Bot wrote:I essentially view them by family. Grimlock is a large theropod. Usually a t-rex, but sometimes liberties are taken. Swoop is a pterasaur of some kind. Sludge is a sauropod. Until we get more than one dinobot in a single continuity that meets these specifications, I think it's safe to say they're essentially the same thing.

I give you the two Beast Wars Neo Ceratopsia:

Guiledart: Triceratops


Killer Punch: Styracosaurus


I do see where you're coming from, as it would be kind of redundant to have two "lookalike" Dinosaurs in the same line (like a Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, or Ankylosaurus with a Euhoplocephalus).

You have a point. But it seems that Slog is meant to be the Bayverse incarnation of Sludge, and Strafe of Swoop, rather than being, respectively, a completely new character and a dinobot-ized version of an obscure G1 dude. But I don't know honestly. Strafe does nothing to make him stand out personality-wise in the film and Slog, of course, doesn't exist, so who can really say?

That Bot wrote:You have a point. But it seems that Slog is meant to be the Bayverse incarnation of Sludge, and Strafe of Swoop, rather than being, respectively, a completely new character and a dinobot-ized version of an obscure G1 dude. But I don't know honestly. Strafe does nothing to make him stand out personality-wise in the film and Slog, of course, doesn't exist, so who can really say?

I find the SDCC G1 deco set to be very telling that these are a version of those G1 characters.

Another excellent point.

william-james88 wrote:

That Bot wrote:You have a point. But it seems that Slog is meant to be the Bayverse incarnation of Sludge, and Strafe of Swoop, rather than being, respectively, a completely new character and a dinobot-ized version of an obscure G1 dude. But I don't know honestly. Strafe does nothing to make him stand out personality-wise in the film and Slog, of course, doesn't exist, so who can really say?

I find the SDCC G1 deco set to be very telling that these are a version of those G1 characters.

I'm glad I own all the Comic Con repaints