We have a new post on Instagram from Evan, the Hasbro designer who presented the core class Dinos on friday. Firstly, it is funny how Hasbro clearly reads comments since they are all well aware that most of the excitement came from the reveals of Tarn and Lio Prime (even despite the lion face). There are 2 really cool pieces of info here that made me want to share this with you quickly. Firstly, Volcanicus will combine using 5 mm ports. That means that you can already combine him with other recent Generations toys, as shown in the images he shares.
Secondly, and most importantly, he states the following in terms of choosing 6 core class bots rather than 4 core limbs and 1 deluxe bot as the body:
Ultimately, we went with 6 core class bots and perhaps we’ll get some sort of future purposes out of these molds.
While Dinoking is not mentioned explicitly, this is undoubtedly what is being referred to since Dinoking is a small Dinosaur themed combiner from the G1 era which also had 6 equally sized bots combining together. And, while Volcanicus has Grimlock's T-rex as the centre piece, it is Slug's Triceratops head here, which more closely matches Dinoking's appearance in the Japanese show. Also, Hasbro is NOTORIOUS for "stay tuned" or "we'll see" nothing responses, so actually hinting at something on Social media, in an unpromted fashion, means there is something in play. Another big tell that Dinoking is coming is that the rumour for Skar's alt mode (we already know he's the 6th Dynobot) is it's an anklylosaurus. And that is the 6th dino shell used in the original toy (all other shells correspond to alt modes the other 5 Dinobots have, you can see an image below).
Now, here is the full statement from Instagram along with images of the post and extra images showing you Dinoking.
I hope you enjoyed our Pulse Con show and saw some things you can wait to get on your shelves. (Tarn and Lio Prime, right!?)
I wanted to show off the core class dinobots that we will be releasing throughout 2023.
I wanted to try and make a core class combiner since it’s been several years since we last did and thats a feature that I’ve always loved. I think that was the legends scale Abominus for Beast hunters!? Or the retooled version we did for Infernocus…feel free to correct me in the comments. Many robots merging to make a bigger robot is just the best and we have so many in our history that need updates. I guess this was something of an experiment?
When Shu san and I started to work on this, we also were having conversations with Hasui san on how best to implement it. We had talked about one of the bots being DLX class to be the main body while all the limbs are Core. Perhaps this is something we’ll look at doing in the future for other combiners at this scale if you all enjoy these bots. Ultimately, we went with 6 core class bots and perhaps we’ll get some sort of future purposes out of these molds.
Having 2 bots form the chest also gives it some nice dimension.
But anyway, here we have Slug and Sludge who form the torso of Volcanicus! They combine using 5mm ports so you can use all our other weaponizers, fossilizers, modulators and even the new Junkions to build with them!
From the pictures you’ll notice that we had to fuse their arms, removing their elbows for structural support for the combined mode but a few of the other dinobots will have elbows.
Obviously Sludge as well has a bit of Combiner kibble for his thighs but remember: “Thick bots do squats!” And he’s gonna deadlift this Gestalt with those thunderous thighs.
Thanks again for tuning in and we’ll try to post more to answer any questions you may have.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy,
-Evan
Transformers Victory Dinoking Gallery
