The Dinobots have always been one of the most beloved corners of the Transformers universe, and that’s why many fans are a little wary of how they’re going to be handled in the new Michael Bay movie Transformers: Age of Extinction. In many cases, the movies have a history of not being very true to the characters as they were established in the comics and cartoon (like Sideswipe, Jetfire, and Skids, just to name a few), so when it was announced that the Dinobots would be part of this fourth movie, it was only natural for fans to assume the worst and to start speculating as to what creative liberties Bay would be taking with Grimlock and his crew — at this point, we’ve basically been conditioned to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Fortunately, based on what we’re seeing from the toys based on the movie’s Dinobots, it’s looking like they may be in good hands after all. While the movie line has just barely gotten started, the Dinobots have been the standout figures so far, with Scorn here leading the pack in terms of quality.
Scorn is not one of the classic Dinobots, and, unlike most of his fellow movie Dinobots, he doesn’t have a history in the Transformers universe at all; he’s a new character created for the movie. That being the case, all we really know about him at this point is whatever information we can pull from his packaging, which, unfortunately, isn’t much. After doing whatever digging I could, I found this extended bio on Teletran 1:
“Scorn has the jaws of a dino and the personality of a tank. He’s a rumbling, thundering war hammer on legs. Convert, arm and attack with all the Transformers action you can handle! This Scorn figure is a high-powered fighter whether he’s in robot mode or dino mode. With a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, he’s a double danger to any enemy in robot mode. When he converts to spinosaurus mode he has a terrible chomping jaw and armored tail! Keep converting him back and forth so he can handle whatever his foes dish out!”
It’s still not a lot to go on, so we’re going to have to wait and see how his character develops with however much screen time he gets.
The first thing you really notice about this guy is his colors. The combination of red, orange, and silver pops like crazy. Now, he’s not going to be this color in the movie. Hasbro made the decision to color the Dinobot toys in a wide array of eye-catching colors in an effort to avoid confusion in the toy aisles, so they’re not going to match their on-screen counterparts. In the movie, Scorn, Grimlock, and the rest will be the usual silver, gray, and black metal we’re used to seeing in many movie characters.
The next thing about Scorn that’s an easy takeaway when you first see him is just what a cool-looking figure he is. His ‘bot mode looks awesome — it’s that perfect mix of edgy and fun that would have made him a favorite back in the G1 days, but it’s a welcome sight here too. And he only has one hand! His left arm is just this cruel-looking whip-thing. I hope there’s a story behind that.
This figure was basically my gateway figure for this series of movie figures. I’ve managed to dodge the movie stuff since the Revenge of the Fallen line, but I had to get this guy based on his looks alone. His sculpt is so detailed, and the combination of colors used actually accentuates that sculpt. Whatever shortcomings the movie toys often fall victim to, Scorn here may have dodged them all to become not just “good for a movie figure,” but one of the better Transformers figures released in recent memory.
His head sculpt and the simple design of it do harken back to the G1 days. I love the silver faceplate, and the light blue visor stands out exceptionally well from the sea of reds and oranges. The design of his head is the one thing that really ties him into the whole knight motif we’re seeing with the movie Dinobots because there definitely is a classic knight helmet element in the design. And, truth be told, I’m very partial to the simplicity of the original G1 designs, so this is playing right up to my own personal biases. It makes him look like more of a classic robot rather than a lump of twisted metal we’re told is a sentient robot.
For accessories, he comes with just one: a large, red… dagger? Machete? Whatever it is, it’s a scary-looking blade. It can be stored in his tail in dino mode, which is cool because you don’t have to worry about losing it if you keep him transformed. A little silver paint on it would have been cool, like the Takara version has, but then it would have stood out when stored in the tail, so what we’re getting here is actually perfect.
His articulation is decent for a deluxe-class figure. He is missing some key articulation points, but that doesn’t hold him back much at all. His breakdown in ‘bot mode is as follows:
- Ball-jointed head
- Swivel and hinged shoulders
- Swivel and hinged elbows
- Ball hips
- Thigh swivel
- Double-jointed knees
It’s not a spectacular array of articulation, but I find I’m able to get him in most any pose I want without trouble.
His left arm (his tail) is made of a softer plastic, but it’s not soft enough to be posable and has no articulation itself. It’s basically stuck in that straight, fully extended position, which isn’t that big a deal because it looks really cool as-is.
Now, if you transform him according to the instructions, it suggests keeping his dino jaw fully extended like in the above pic. I guess it forms a shield or something? But if you do that, it leaves a large open gap in his arm just above his wrist, so I prefer to keep the jaw closed in order to close that gap and to make him look more fluid in design.
Scorn’s red works in contrast nicely with Grimlock’s gold/brown, so the Dinobots are shaping up to be quite a handsome group. I dig the bright colors these figures come saddled with, I’m not gonna lie. I thought I would hate it, but I don’t at all.
A lot of people have commented on Scorn’s design being similar to Beast Wars Megatron’s, and I totally agree. The similarities are clear in the ‘bot mode designs and in their transformations, and I am totally OK with that. Beast Wars Magatron is one of my favorite Transformers characters ever ever ever, so even though Scorn is relatively small in size, I’d love to see him repainted in Megatron’s colors with a new head, if for no other reason than just because.
Speaking of Scorn’s size, he is definitely a small deluxe figure, but that seems to be the trend these days with deluxe-class figures, isn’t it? Universe Hound used to be the gold standard for small figures, but now he’s the measuring stick for standard deluxe figures.
Scorn transforms into a red and orange spinosaurus, and, unlike the voyager Grimlock figure, his dino mode is just as effective as his ‘bot mode. Now, a spinosaurus should be huge, like, way bigger than a T-Rex, so we’re not exactly getting an in-scale group of dinosaurs with these Dinobots since Scorn is quite a bit smaller than Grimlock in both modes. That factor aside, Scorn’s dino mode is one of the more effective dino modes of the group (that we’ve seen thus far), and that makes him an awesome Dinobot toy.
He actually looks good from every angle! And I love that his dino head can move side to side as well as up and down. It adds so much personality to the character.
Even if the movie figures aren’t your cup of tea, and even if you’re already unhappy with the direction Michael Bay has taken the Dinobots, Scorn is a solid Transformers figure. He looks completely awesome in both modes and is definitely worth the deluxe-class price of $14.99-$16.99, depending on where he’s available. Even if you ignore everything else the movie line has to offer, Scorn here is worth picking up — give him a shot. I doubt you’ll regret it.
OMG, you are totally right. He looks a lot like Maximillian!
Scorn is pretty cool, as is Grimlock. But man, its really Slug that steals the show for me.
What a gorgeous Transformer. Scorn actually looks cooler than the Grimlock from this line. Am I the only one who thinks the face resembles Maximillian from The Black Hole a little?
Thousand pardons. I recently gave up on deluxe class and Never liked the movie styles. Why isn’t there a leader or voyager class scorn? That, I would buy that! I really do like the “Knight” dino design here. I don’t even mind the bright color,he’s just waaay too small.
Those toys looks better than their movies counterparts…