Toy review - Studio Series 71 Dino
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 12
Released here - May 2021
Approximate Retail Price - $29
Approximate Size - 12.5cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Sports coupe
Main Features/Gimmicks - Screen accuracy
Main Colours - Red
Main Accessories - Arm blades
Vehicle mode
https://i.imgur.com/n0xbyMB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JEUZBtX.jpg
A red sports coupe. The vehicle shell is made up of two types of red plastic as well as transparent plastic painted well, so there is a visible colour mismatch. How severely the different colours contrast will depend on the lighting.
Sadly, Dino will stick out amongst a line-up of licensed Autobot cars, as Hasbro were evidently unable to secure a licence from Ferrari to reproduce the Ferrari 458 Italia. This may be due to the fact that the May Cheong Group have exclusive rights to Ferrari toys - TakaraTOMY's Tomica line has Ferraris, but they are sub-licensed from the May Cheong Group. As a result, Hasbro/TakaraTOMY designed a car that has some design elements from the 458 Italia, but on the whole doesn't bear a particularly strong resemblance to it.
If transformed correctly, Dino should have a millimetre or so of ground clearance to allow him to roll, although my copy seems to have a wheel or two prone to catching against the wheel arch, meaning it doesn't always roll as smoothly as I'd like.
https://i.imgur.com/ADUPbll.jpg
With Studio Series Sideswipe and the Wreckers.
Transformation
Quite involved for a deluxe. The way the roof, bonnet, and rear deck fold up is quite impressive, so while Dino has a backpack, it's not huge.
Transformation back to vehicle mode does require a bit of pressing and massaging to make sure you have all four wheels contacting the ground, as well as the ground clearance.
Robot mode
https://i.imgur.com/LR2tOcd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ogGcQoU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HLL7gIK.jpg
Dino stands just over 11.5cm at the top of the head, with the large collar taking him to around 12.5cm.
The robot mode is pretty screen-accurate, although the bulk of some car parts detracts from the silhouette, as Dino's CGI model was a very lean figure. Still, it's a good job considering the price point.
Dino does end up with a chest consisting of faux headlights, with the car's actual headlights on his shoulders, but I suspect that transforming correctly by putting the car's headlights on the chest would have not only bulked out the torso and possibly made the backpack bigger, but it would have resulted in an inaccurate chest as the headlights on the car were changed.
Dino can be back-heavy, so his large feet are a boon to stability.
Articulation is good. Dino's head is mounted on a ball joint, but his large collar impedes rotation. He has ball-jointed shoulders, an upper arm rotator, and the hinge at his elbow gives a wide range of movement. His wrists rotate. He has ball-jointed hips, a thigh rotator, and hinged knees and ankles, although the ankles can only move the feet up. I can understand the lack of a waist rotator given the figure's transformation, but I wish Dino had ball-jointed ankles to give some better ankle articulation, particularly inversion to tilt the foot to support wide stances.
https://i.imgur.com/Gk3GrhT.jpg
Again, with Sideswipe and the Wreckers.
https://i.imgur.com/qW8pUWa.jpg
Dino is armed with two curved blades, which attach to his arms. The mounting posts are 5mm posts, and although Dino was never shown to have handheld weapons, his hands are sculpted to hold 5mm accessories. The blades are a bit smaller than I'd like, but the size may have been dictated by the fact that they store by attaching to the car's ceiling during transformation.
https://i.imgur.com/rUKYDhX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BeHSNb8.jpg
The included backdrop shows part of the highway leading to Washington DC, as seen during the Dreads' attempt to catch up to Sentinel Prime.
Verdict
https://i.imgur.com/UWzzY1h.jpg
The lack of an accurate Ferrari 458 Italia vehicle mode is Dino's biggest weakness, and although this was beyond Hasbro's control, I can understand if this could be a turn-off or even a deal-breaker for some. Vehicle mode aside, Dino is a solid figure, and I'm glad that it exists.
