Dave's DinoZaurs Rant:

     Drago Dactyl
     Dino Sabre
     Drago Stegus

     Picked these three up at eToys.com, although they're starting to pop up
around the country in stores.  Note that, at least when I bought mine, eToys
had the names switched on Drago Dactyl and Dino Ptera (I wanted Dino Ptera,
but her picture was under Drago Dactyl's name, I figured they'd switched
sides for the US release).

CAPSULES

     Drago Dactyl: Decent beast mode, almost no transformation at all, good
and poseable robot mode.  Colors pretty good, plastic a bit on the fragile
side.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99 at eToys and presumably in stores.
     Dino Sabre: Pretty good beast mode, another minimalist transformation
(or "Dinomorph" as they call it), good robot mode.  Dynamic colors, joints
stick a bit.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99
     Drago Stegus: Beast mode looks good but doesn't stay together well.
Transformation is reasonably complex.  Robot mode is pretty good, but suffers
a lot of backpack garbage and some fragility.  Mildly recommended.  $9.99

RANTS

     Before I talk about the individual toys, I'll make some comments on the
factors they share in common.
     First, each is packaged on a bubble card (dunno if the biggest ones will
do this, or go with boxes).  The cards are identical front and back, with
pictures of some of the line on back, but not all.  The pictures seem to all
be computer generated, rather than being photos of the toys, although the
pics of Dino Sabre and Drago Tigra may be the actual toys.
     There's an insert on front of the bubble tray that has the individual
picture and name, and there's a side part of it that unfolds to show the
transformation instructions and list a bunch of legal safety warnings that
belie a serious fear of lawsuits.  While small in print, the instructions are
quite complete.  In the case of Drago Stegus, they actually tell you things
to be careful of when transforming back to beast mode!  If only Hasbro'd do
that, eh?
     Also included in each package is an 8-page comic book and an offer for a
"free" promotional videotape ($3.50 for S&H).  The comic adapts the story in
the tape, and is a mostly forgettable mess of summaries.  The good guys are
all introduced, but only some of the bad guys get any detailing...anyone
hoping for a better treatment of antagonists here than in Beast Wars is going
to be disappointed.  About the only characterization we get is that
Giganodragon is a typical blustering tyrant, and Drago Dactyl is stupid.  The
art is by John and Jason Waltrip (presumably the Jason Waltrip who drew the
comic book version of Robotech II: The Sentinels in the 1980s along with
other manga-inspired books involving women with REALLY large breasts), and is
pretty much uninspired.  Based on this sample, I wouldn't hire the brothers
to do robot art.  The back cover of the comic is a repeat of the image from
the package card back.
     One note on the U.S. versions.  I've heard from some who own the
original DinoZone toys that the DinoZaurs have much less chrome.  To this I
say: GOOD.  Excessive chrome can often make a toy look like a cheap knockoff,
and it's better used with restraint.  In general, I think these toys could
have done with even less chrome, since there's some jarring effects from the
partial chroming.
     Finally, a comment on the recoloring situation.  Each mold comes in two
color schemes (except for the really big toys), one a DinoZaur, the other a
DragoZaur.  This is more than just color variation, however, as they made new
head molds for the DragoZaur recolors.


DRAGOZAUR: Drago Dactyl
Beast Form: Pterodactyl
Weapon: Barbed Backslasher

     There's no specific notes on the package to indicate anything about
Dactyl other than what I typed above.  The art in the comic implies that
Dactyl is female (while a recolor of a female DinoZaur, there was no
guarantee that this would be female).

     Beast Mode: 6" (15cm) wingspan.  If you don't include the anatomically
incorrect long legs, it's 5.5" (14cm) long from snout to tail, but the feet
extend an extra inch past that.  Primarily made from translucent blue-green
plastic and dark grey plastic (with the same dark grey painted over parts of
the translucent plastic).  Skull and crest are gunmetal chrome.  Basically,
the beast mode looks like a pterodactyl with a headless humanoid body stuck
underneath it.
     The neck consists of a hinged segment with a ball joint at either end,
giving a lot of poseability.  The mouth does not open as a mouth, being
hinged the other way for transformation.  The wings are fixed in place.

     Transformation: Stand it up and transform the head, basically.  It's a
tiny bit tricky getting the head on correctly the first time, and if you're
having trouble you can always remove the spine from the body, giving Drago
Dactyl a bony ponytail.  However, as the head only sits on a peg, it'll fall
off pretty easily if you go the bonytail route.

     Robot Mode: 5" (12cm) tall, despite being listed as a 4.5" figure (4" at
the head, add another inch for the crest, actually).  Shoulders, hips, knees
and ankles are ball joints, elbows are hinges, head is on a peg but can turn
a little bit despite the spinal connection.  All the joints start out very
stiff because of the plastic the toy is made of, but they loosen up pretty
quickly.  The ankle joints have enough freedom of movement that I was able to
keep the figure standing on its own even in dymanic poses on a 30 degree
incline.  Its "tail" becomes a boomerang-like weapon, but be careful putting
it in the toy's hand.  Out of four possible orientations, only one will get
the slot over the palm-peg firmly and without risking breakage (there's
already some pale stress lines on mine).  Regardless of which hand, have it
held so that the grey bone detail faces out (i.e. to the right if in the
right hand) and the tail tip points back.

     Overall: Has a lot of good points, but the simplistic transformation and
the somewhat lower production values hurt it.  If you're on a tight enough
budget that you'd have to choose between it and a Basic Transformer, I'd say
go with the Basic in most cases.


DINOZAUR: Dino Sabre
Beast Mode: Sabretooth Tiger
Weapon: Thrasher Whip

     This guy was secured to his bubble by six twist-ties, an impressive
number for such a small toy.  He was also not quite correctly transformed in
the package, his bubble being molded so that his tail had to be pulled back a
bit.  This seems to be a recurring problem, as I had to actually pop apart
bits on Drago Stegus to get him back in his package.

     Beast Mode: 5" (12cm) from snout to tail tip, 2" (5cm) high at the
shoulder.  Mostly done in clear red and yellow plastic, with some opaque red
plastic (spine, tail, feet) and a chromed red head.  Looks really good when
backlit.  Oddly, the tail and spine are slightly different colors, probably a
result of iffy production values.  All limbs are fully poseable, although his
hind legs' knees bend the wrong direction (you can fix this, but it requires
popping off the rear paws and realigning them).  Shoulder/hip joints are very
stiff, as a result of having clear plastic against clear plastic.  Jaw opens
and closes.  The neck piece rests on a peg that seems to be designed to keep
it from flopping down in beast mode, but the peg doesn't hold onto anything.

     Transformation: Stand it up, shorten the torso to reveal the head,
fiddle with limbs.  Basically that's it.  Unless you fixed the rear legs in
beast mode, in which case you need to unfix them.

     Beast Mode: 4.5" (11cm) tall, as advertised.  Looks really neat.
However, his head tends to pop back down at the tiniest force, as it's not
really locked into place.  His elbows do not straighten, as their ball joints
are rigged the same cruddy way as TMII Cheetor's.  His hands are jointed as
paws, so they don't work that well as hands, especially considering how his
tail whip plugs into a slot along his palm.  The whip doesn't really hold in
very well, and it feels like really cheesy plastic.

     Overall: Looks really good, but has a lot of little problems.  If you
only want to get one 4.5" DinoZaur, get one of the Pterodactyls.


DRAGOZAUR: Drago Stegus
Beast Mode: Stegosaur
Weapon: Bone Spiked Shield

     Bound into the bubble by 5 twist ties, and deliberately broken apart and
twisted in the package.  His back isn't fully connected in the package, and
his tail spikes are turned upside down, probably to squeeze him into a
standard bubble size.

     Beast Mode: 8" (20cm) from beak to tail tip, 4.5" (12cm) high at the
tallest back plate.  Molded of clear dark orange plastic and opaque dark grey
plastic (plus dark grey painted on the orange), his obligatory chrome bits
are a group of back plates that stand out like a chromed thumb.  Spinal pegs
tend to come out easily, making it hard to keep him together in beast mode.
Head moves about a bit on a ball joint, but mouth doesn't open.  Limbs fully
movable, but only certain positions allow him to stand.  Tail has one ball
joint segment halfway down, plus the tip with the spikes can be rotated.
Looks pretty good, with reasonably correct stance, although he only has one
row of plates most of the way along his back.

     Transformation: Pretty simple, if frustrating in places because there's
no well-defined "lock" for some of the final positions of pieces.  One clever
bit involves the hips.  Rather than use locking hinges to bring the hips
together (as seen on TMII Megatron, Fuzor Silverbolt, BW Neo Guiledart, etc),
there's an extra set of ball joints that let the legs swing down and
together.  It's tricky getting them back in the proper position for beast
mode, so the instructions actually tell you how to do it, woo!  
     Unfortunately, the transformation really doesn't try to do anything with
most of the beast kibble.  The whole tail, belly, neck and head of the dino
mode just hang off the back, loosely shoved together.

     Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall at the head, 6" if you include the beast
kibble backpack, he's shorter than the 6.5" he's labeled as on the box.  I'm
starting to suspect Bandai just gave up on trying to avoid a lawsuit over
some variation of Basic/Deluxe/Mega/Ultra and tossed in arbitrary sizes.
Shoulders, elbows, hips and ankles are ball joints.  Wrists swivel, and the
knees use a combination of a hinge and a swivel to get full range of motion.
In addition, the hips are connected by a shaft that has some freedom of
movement, so Stegus can shift his weight from one side to the other.  The
head can move a little, but can't turn much.
     His weapon is a spinning shield...attached to his chest.  TMII Prowl's
arch-rival!   Unfortunately, the mechanism for spinning the bone shield is
buried behind beast kibble on the back.  His fists are solid, so he can't
even hold borrowed weapons.

     Overall: Not a bad effort, and does have some interesting twists on
things, but it's seriously hurt by some of the production value issues.  If
you can find it for less than $10 it might be worth picking up, or if you
really want a stegosaurus and can't afford import prices for Sabreback.

     Overall impression of DinoZaurs: Cheap attempt by Bandai to get in on
the success of Beast Wars.  The designers did seem to care about their work,
but were hamstrung by the relatively cheap manufacturing of the toys.  And
the plotline is a thinly veiled ripoff of Beast Wars (and BWII and
Transformers, and most Japanese TF series, and...), with evil alien
transforming robots coming to Earth to steal its energy.  And considering the
support Bandai gave to a line that was actually fairly original and of very
high quality (Mystic Knights), I don't expect this to last beyond one year.

     Dave Van Domelen, wouldn't mind seeing the Ceratops Brothers brought
over before they close up shop, though....