It took me years to realize, Dinobot knew damn well he wasn't coming out of that alive, and didn't give a shit. He had, quite possibly, the biggest set of balls of any transformer
He was the best written character in the entire show: Second in command predacon, a villain who became a hero, powerfull enough to knock Megatron on his ass multiple times, so dramatic that even Shakespeare would've shed tears. And not only did he accept his end (which he saw comming) he confronted and took it like a champ. This guy is the textbook definition of having balls.
The crazier thing is that while the version in the War for Cybertron Trilogy - Kingdom cartoon doesn't nearly hit as hard (the dialogue sucks), the overall *concept* is still the same: Dinobot rushes into a battle he knows he'd never survive, and retrieved the Matrix of Leadership from the Megatrons (and gave them perhaps an even more brutal beatdown than what an already dying Dinobot did to Transmetal Megs in the original's "Code of Hero"). Matrix basically puts up the Bat-Signal, Optimus Prime finds him, then the Autobots & Maximals, ad nauseam.
"The question that once haunted my being's been answered. The future is NOT fixed, and my choices are my own. And yet... how ironic. For I now find... I have no choice at all..." *takes a deep breath* "I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined."
Turned 38 last month. I remember watching this episode when it first premiered in the 90s. It was the first "kids" show that legit made me tear up as a kid.
Optimus Primal: He lived a Warrior.......& died a Hero. Let his Spark join the Matrix....the greatest of Cybertron. Well said Optimus.......very well said......Rest In Peace Dinobot
In life legends are never born their made from their legacy and the effect their life and efforts made to people and knows who needed hope or someone to give back their heroes
This scene always makes me cry. Dinobot had a strong code of honor, was the toughest of them all, handled the entire Predacons, and gave his spark for the humans.....and his speech before he goes offline always hits me. 😭
Whenever I lose someone, I always remember these words "Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence."
I think no other piece of Transformers media could top Code Of Hero, never has a single episode of a cartoon impacted me so heavily. Dinobot’s sacrifice to prevent the destruction of a future species, taking on the Predacon army, and confronting his former master to honour his strict moral code is profound, especially for a kids show. The moment when his spark rises out of his chest reminded me a lot of the scene where Optimus lifts the matrix from his dying self and hands it to Ultra Magnus, both moments of beauty that make me tear up a little.
Not only that. Dinobot suffered an existential and identity crisis throughout whole show. The fact that he realized at the end that his choices were completely his own and not dictated by fate, yet was chained by his own duty as a honorable warrior, it's really tragic. He never got to go back home, and never could, something he knew once he became a maximal. It was either come back a traitor, or die a hero in this unknown planet. They really outdid themselves with Dinobot's story.
We have one single ep that can hitted me in a similar affect. And its next ep after this. Transmutate ep. Which is sad and gut punch for exactly opposite reasons.
I was a bike messenger when this aired. Mid(?) 20’s, super stoked on a Saturday when Beast Wars came on. My buddies and I had some breakfast, rode back to my place, got super stoned and turned on BW. I pumped my fist when the opening scene was Dinobot’s spinning sword. “HELL YEAH!! A Dinobot episode!!” Absolutely, hands down favorite character. By the end of the episode there I was, a college graduate, baked outta my head, and was sitting there, mouth open, tears rolling down my cheeks whispering “no no no no no no…..” Was glad I had my friends there who (surprisingly) didn’t make fun of me for being heartbroken by a cartoon, but put their hands on my shoulders and just sat there with me for a few. He truly lived a warrior and died a hero. Damn scene still gets me. RIP Dinobot. Badass Bushido bot.
Poetic how Dinobot fought like a human would in their last stand, to save humans. Bleeding, injured beyond recovery, no chance of survival, but still pushed forward and fought. Lost his weapons and improvised to win.
That's part of the problem with Transformers: The Movie. They tried to cynically kill off everyone's favorite characters to make way for new model toys and it created a massive backlash.
@@Pfisiar22agreed and the only one who died and had anything when he died was prime and the crew on the shuttle and at best they were lackluster deaths .
Never noticed this until now but in the shot where Dinobot is on the funeral pyre, you can see that Rattrap is no longer a transmetal. He's in his default form.
He beat every predacon, he beat megatron's ass critically injured, still managed to destroy the golden disc, saved humanity and he is still okay with Rattrap trash talking him. I love you Dinobot
That was Rattrap saying fare thee well to a friend in the only way he knew how that would not come off as fake. I would expect the same from my friends.
"The question which once haunted my being has been answered. The future is not fixed, and my choices are my own... and yet, how ironic! For I now find, I have no choice at all! I am warrior... let the battle be joined."
If you didn't cry at Dinobot's final moments, you have no soul. Even to this day, his last stand to protect the future of humanity makes me tear up. Leave it to Megatron to dishonor Dinobot's noble sacrifice and bring him back as a Transmetal 2 Predacon. Only someone as heartless and as vile as Megatron would do it.
Let’s not even talk about at the very beginning of this episode, Dinobot was actually thinking about committing suicide. He believed he lost his honor and as a consequence, believed he didn’t deserve to live, until he decided he should.
This whole sequence of scenes - the episode - I follow very specific rules. I do not pause; I do not skip; I do not look away; and I remain thankful I saw this on its original air date, and again as platforms allow. This is peak storytelling.
Dinobot was more than just a villain turned hero: He was Megatron's right hand and was therefor second only to him. The most badass warrior, the best written character in the entire show (Shakespeare would've been proud despite Beastwars beeing a kids show) and not only did he accept his fate in the end, he faced his end like a champ. I can't remember a single maximal who defeated the entire predacon force all by himself (including Rampage) and this episode proved that Dinobot was, is and allways will be the greatest hero in the entire show.
Well Rhinox did twice... Once when megs turned him evil, and once thanks to a some bean vines and an energon discharging virus. Megatron doesn't like talking about that one.
Even when he was a predacon he was a maximal at heart. It’s a shame that starscream from the g1 transformers didn’t learn from his mistakes which gives me more respect to the armada starscream
This is my BEST tv memory from childhood. Him ravaging every oredacon singlehandedly, what a big difference it made, the singular goal of the disk, his honor. The hypest thing ever.
Dinobot was one of the most controversial souls you could imagine in reality, but his actions proved that despite being an imperfect individual, you can prove you're perfect at heart.
Fun fact. The infamous Ocean Dub voice cast lent their voices for this absolute gem of a show for the ages. Dinobot is voiced by non other than Canadian voice actor Scott McNeil aka Piccolo. Especially that scream/roar he did. Which is exactly the same pitch for the opening scene of Piccolo screaming to destroy a rock formation in Pioneer's DBZ Movie 1 The Dead Zone/Return My Gohan. Piccolo (Scott McNeil) also voiced The Vulture in Spiderman Unlimited and he also voiced Logan in X-Men Evolution and Dr. Wiley from Mega Man TAS. Megatron is voiced by Captain Ginyu. Black Aracnid is voiced by Frieza. Cheetor is voiced by Canadian voice actor Kirby Morrow who voiced Goku in DBZ, who funny enough also voiced Mega Man The Animated Series and Scott Summers in X-Men Evolution. Another fun fact at 2:10 you can hear the ambiance background soundtrack which is a slightly modified version of the one between King Willie vs The City Predator in 1990's The Predator 2.
It just shows Dinobot represents the positve traits of being a Predacon while later embracing the noble values of a Maximal, whereass Beast Megatron was a Predacon, but was even more a Decepticon in nature than even the orginal Megatron ever was, who in many ways had more in common with Dinobot (minus the Honor, whereass Megatron valued victory at every cost), while Beast Megatron had more in common with Starscream (minus the cowardice as well being more successful at his plans than the Air Commander). This is more of the Predacon honor combating the Decepticon's past and nature.
Yo I cried my eyes out as a kid when I watched this. Especially seeing him and Rat Trap show that they actually did respect each other. I couldn't talk about it the next day at school because I was scared I'd cry again 🤣 this was such a good episode.
Megatron: "One lonely turncoat, battling all against impossible odds. I'm almost touched. Fortunately such moments pass quickly". That's exactly what i've always liked about Beast Wars: even at its most serious moments, it never takes itself too seriously :)
Great character development Dinobot started out as a predacon who wanted on revenge on megatron and frankly who can blame him (even rattrap couldn’t blame him) and then he had compassion for his new maximal friends especially optimus and the humans. In the series finale he never lost sight of who he was even as a transmittal predacon.
Dinobot shaped me. My concept of honor and the code of a warrior were defined by him. I've rewatched this so many times that I've lost counts. My code of honor will be forever defined by this show
I really can’t believe the voice actor for Megatron didn’t do much more stuff. He is always so spectacular with his performance. Reboot learned the key with Megabyte in Reboot that casting a great voice actor for your villain is a sure path to creating a truly memorable villain.
This is why he will always be my favorite. His commitment to honor- to doing the right thing no matter what and trying to find what is correct regardless of the two sides. I cry every time.
"Tell my tale to those that ask... tell it truly. The evil deeds along with the good, and may be judged accordingly... the rest... is silence" Best last words of a character ever.
I saw this episode as a kid, but missed its original air date, but saw all the others after it, so I didn't realize that he even died. I remember wondering where he was and everything. Until that season ended and the entire season started over, and i actually saw what happened. Boy! Had me crying!!
It's a cartoon, yet there aren't many shows of any kind that have an episode in their catalog that's as well written and emotionally powerful as this. Job well done
Dinobot’s fight against the Predacons in Protohuman valley ended in a dramatic success with him taking too much damage, unable to transform (because he lost most parts of his Velociraptor form), his downfall, and worst of all… his carcass was taken away to somewhere.
This will forever be in my memory... I can still remember the dialogue of this scene from the first time I watched it on television when it first aired yearrrssssss ago. Legendary is all that is.
The parallels of Dinobot and Starscream from transformers armada are great as both of them knew they would parish in their final moments but still pushed forward
"Negative! The question that once answered my being has been answered. The future is not fixed. My choices are my own, and yet... *realises his own code of honour will not allow him to do anything other than fight for the defenceless* how ironic... for I now find I have no choice, no choice at all... *sighs accepting his 'fate'* I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined."
The saddest part about this scene is it’s so well written and animated (for the time) you can see Rattrap is genuinely grieving. Despite their constant bickering you just know deep down Rattrap saw Dinobot as a brother. Gets me every time.
Dinobot's story started with helping Megatron obtain the golden disk and ended with him destroying it. Dinobot had already fought hard to undo the damage he'd helped inflict but here his redemption was truly complete.
Dinobot and optimus prime have one thing in common they both went down fight till the end. Plus this was the best episode of the whole series this episode should have won a emmy award big time. Actually two things honor till the end as well.
Dinobot literally overrode Stasis Lock, which is what always allows them to sustain immense damage and still make it out alive. Have you even watched this series?