The Energon Pub

Was there any particular reason why Dinobot was killed off during the second season of Beast Wars? I was thinking about it, and it just doesn't make sense.

So, was he killed off because his figure wasn't on the shelves at the time, and that he had no Transmetal 1 counterpart like Rhinox, Waspinator, Inferno(technicly)? And if that's the case, then why did Terrorsaur and Airazor(well, practicly) die? They had TM1's on the shelf at the time.

Dinobot is one of the most popular Beast Wars characters, and it just doesn't make sense why he was killed off.

I think it does. Mainframe probably had the heads up that a Dinobot 2 mold was on its way, and the show was enjoying more success with the fans due to Mainframe revealing that the Beast Wars planet was, indeed, Earth. I also believe that the show had taken a Daytime Emmy at this point.

So what better way to spur interest in the show--and the toy line, most specifically the upcoming Dinobot mold--by killing him?

Plus, one of the reasons that Dinobot is so fondly remembered is that he did die - if he hadn't chosen to override his stasis lock and literally go out fighting to save the humans in the valley, he wouldn't be remembered as a hero. In Dinobot's case, he really did go out in a blaze of glory.

Not saying that's why the writers killed him off, just referring to the retroactive portion of his fan-favourite status.

I'm not sure Dinobot's death was purely toy motivated. Keep in mind that Rhinox nor Waspinator didn't change or were killed off, and their toys weren't on the shelves anymore either. I believe that Dinobot's death was a strong storyline point, and wasn't just a random kill, and it made perfect sense. Just look at the character, he came full circle from a crisis of faith (so to speak) to realizing that he's been making his own choices from the beginning and his fate wasn't predetermined.
It gave the story a tack of seriousness that you usually just don't find in cartoons anymore, and I believe elevated the series to just beyond just a kids show.

Terrorsaur and Scorponok's deaths however, I believe were toy motivated in order to bring in new characters. Though originally, it was Waspinator who was set to bite the big one, he proved quite popular and they decided to off Terrorsaur instead. The same holds true when they got rid of Airazor and Tigatron.

Often times writers, in order to make a death more dramatic, kill off loved characters. Killing off lesser characters is less memorable. Everyone remembers DINOBOT's death, but he died after Scorponok and Terrorsaur - who less people cared about.

i wondered that as well
but he was very loved and they had to keep a character balance and with more characters on the way someone had to die

I heard during a convention sometime, Scott Mcneil said that when he was reading through teh episode script, he never realised Dinobot was DEAD DEAD until the next episode began and he realised Dinobot wasn't in it.

Insurgent wrote:I heard during a convention sometime, Scott Mcneil said that when he was reading through teh episode script, he never realised Dinobot was DEAD DEAD until the next episode began and he realised Dinobot wasn't in it.

Even I noticed that he died as I saw it first! And I'm the one who belived Prime fell asleep in the movie!

Dead Metal wrote:

Insurgent wrote:I heard during a convention sometime, Scott Mcneil said that when he was reading through teh episode script, he never realised Dinobot was DEAD DEAD until the next episode began and he realised Dinobot wasn't in it.

Even I noticed that he died as I saw it first! And I'm the one who belived Prime fell asleep in the movie!

It may have been the cremation scene when he realised, but he certainly didn't realise straight away. He knew he was dead, but thought Dinobot would be ressurected somehow.

Well, he was ressurected. Though not techically as the same character.

Truthfully would the character have been as great and well remembered as he is had he not sacrificed everything? It was part of who he was and nothing less would have been nearly as satisfieing. He came into the series with a bang and he went out on the same note. Even his evil clone retained a small portion of the honor Dinobot lived by as a warrior.

There is something to remember about Beast Wars though. Unlike the other series whose primary focus is to sell toys BW took a different turn. It told a really great story with out the need to market every toy in the line. Many of the characters had transmetal versions that were never featured in the show. Other toys never even had a character featured in the show. Dinobot's death had very little to do with selling toys. I think it had everything to do with creating more drama in the series. And Code of Hero will forever be one of the greatest episodes in the history of Transformers. It would have lost something had Dinobot simply stood back up and started insulting Rattrap again in the next episode.

Everything I have read thus far about him being killed off for story and character reasons are all on the money.

I also seem to recall it being mentioned that Mainframe had a limited budget, and could thus only keep a certain number of characters per episode/series, that was the main reason there were only crews of 5-6 members a side.

Just as Scorponok and Terrorsaur were killed off to be replaced by Silverbolt and Quickstrike, Dinobots death left space for Depth Charge to be added in the 3rd season.

3 birds, 1 stone;
- Great character driven Story
- Way to get rid of a character that would be receiving a new toy (set up for story later on)
- Clear room on the roster for an entirely new character/toy.

Koloth wrote:Well, he was ressurected. Though not techically as the same character.

Truthfully would the character have been as great and well remembered as he is had he not sacrificed everything? It was part of who he was and nothing less would have been nearly as satisfieing. He came into the series with a bang and he went out on the same note. Even his evil clone retained a small portion of the honor Dinobot lived by as a warrior.

There is something to remember about Beast Wars though. Unlike the other series whose primary focus is to sell toys BW took a different turn. It told a really great story with out the need to market every toy in the line. Many of the characters had transmetal versions that were never featured in the show. Other toys never even had a character featured in the show. Dinobot's death had very little to do with selling toys. I think it had everything to do with creating more drama in the series. And Code of Hero will forever be one of the greatest episodes in the history of Transformers. It would have lost something had Dinobot simply stood back up and started insulting Rattrap again in the next episode.

Game, set, and match to Koloth. Well said.

I forgot just how crucial a character's death could be when it comes to how he's remembered. I like Dinobot from the get go cause he was a dinosaur(I was like 10 when Beast Wars first came out), and never thought how others might look at him. So now it makes sense, and thanks for the responses.

Armada Starscream is in a similar boat, cause I think he's actually the most interesting Starscream character out there, and yeah, part of it is cause of his death.

On a similar note, was Tigerhawk killed cause the writers(or Furman I guess, since he wrote the last episode) thought the Maximals needed another casualty to make the battle more dramatic? Tigerhawk barely had a character anyway, and I'm sure if they wanted to they could have found a spot for him in Beast Machines, somewhere.

Duke of Luns wrote:On a similar note, was Tigerhawk killed cause the writers(or Furman I guess, since he wrote the last episode) thought the Maximals needed another casualty to make the battle more dramatic? Tigerhawk barely had a character anyway, and I'm sure if they wanted to they could have found a spot for him in Beast Machines, somewhere.

My feelings is that it's two fold. Tigerhawk was little more than product placement, but it gave the writers a chance to wrap up the plot thread of what happened to Tigatron and Airazor.

oh man i cried when dinobot died. i remember that day. for some reason CN had beastwar for a while and i watched it on there thinking "wtf why isnt this on fox?" anyways when he dies i was like this in that order lol

-