The Complete Ark looms large! I've got about three weeks to integrate the two volumes together, clean up any mistakes, and pick a few bonus pages to insert (we don't need two copyright pages, for instance, so I get a few extra pages). In that spirit, some more pages from The Ark Addendum. This week, S.O.S. Dinobots.As the episode that introduced 60% of the Dinobots, it naturally loomed large in my mind as a child. I used to VHS record the 'arc' episodes, so this was one of the few that I was able to review after the show went off the air. I thought it interesting that only three of the Dinobots were built here, with Swoop and Snarl saved for War of the Dinobots.
As far as the models themselves go, I rather like the dinosaur fossils. The memory upgrade unit never really excited me - I guess I would have figured it would be something subtle, something INSIDE the cranium perhaps. It also slightly bothered me that the Dinobots didn't have them going forward. Maybe Wheeljack later developed a smaller, internal model.
You seem to be mistaken about the external nature of the memory upgrades, this may have been their intent when designed, however in the actual episode it clearly shows wheeljack installing the upgrade internally to slag (and presumably off camera the others as well, i looks as though they removed the top of slags head and inserted it, it doesn't show them recovering the head but this can be assumed as in the next scene slags head is covered again.
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... reviewing the episode, it does look sort of like Slag's upgrades are internal, though there's no circuitry or anything visible. On the other hand, Slag's whole head is off-model in that scene. I wonder why they didn't use Grimlock or Sludge and not deal with his recessed head at all. Also, the design for the memory upgrade clearly has a chinstrap and buckle, so someone somewhere got their wires crossed.
ReplyDeleteAgreed it does look as though they were intended to be external, then the animator probably thought better of it (and I agree) and made them internal, unless the dinobots have SUCH small brains that these units fit 'around' them?, but now its just hypothesis.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying these addendum pages, as some what of an avid archivist of all things from the original show they shed light on many aspects till now unseen, thankyou for posting these, please leave none left unknown!.
"unless the dinobots have SUCH small brains"
ReplyDeleteWell in the comics, TF brains were very, very small.
If you've ever seen this one on the Rhino DVD set, you can clearly tell that this episode was rushed. My guess would be some of the model-sheets used for the show weren't the final finished versions. Looking at the Dinobots, Grimlock's head for example- it's waaay off model.
ReplyDeleteIt's early design of Grimlock so it IS on model (that early model).
ReplyDeleteAnd Rhino DVD contains test version of the episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS6DTYsvbaE&feature=PlayList&p=2289158C26BD2AB5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1