Have they been more of an asset or a liability to the Autobots? AFAIK, most of the time, they tend to act as lackeys for whichever villain is able to manipulate them and they usually need a little convincing from the Autobots to show them what they're doing wrong.

No.

Care to elaborate?

Someone refresh my memory: Did Animated Prime want the Dinobots destroyed? He didn't realize they were "alive" at the time, so there was talk of disassembling them, maybe, but since he was informed about their sparks, he hasn't asked for their destruction, has he? Meaning he probably would not have wanted them destroyed the first time, if he had known.

He was wrong.

No.

Shut up, Hornet.

Look, Prime said that he wanted the Dinobots destroyed because they were dangerous. Ever since their first appearance, they've done little more than act as thugs for whoever manipulates them. To me, it sounds like Prime was justified. Now can we please try to discuss this like reasonable people?

I tried. I think you ignored my post. Prime's position on destroying them changed when he realized they were living beings and not just automatons.

Seriously, living beings = no kill

done

The autobots don't like to kill or destroy stuff especially life. Prime did not know the dinobots were alive till later,destroying non sentiant things to protect lives is a good thing.

Prime would've saved himself a major headache if he had destroyed them though. The dinobots haven't really had much of a "cool" or "wow" factor for me. They're very forgettable characters for me.

http://lukefailssaysyoda.ytmnd.com/

Aquarion: seriously dude... watch this video. It has some good advice in it if you'd like people to stop telling you to STFU.



Have a nice day.

That doesn't really say whether or not it was a good idea to spare the Dinobots, that just says Prime couldn't destroy them even if he wanted to. Has keeping the Dinobots around been beneficial to the Autobots in any way? Or have the Dinobots become a liability?

The answer to that question depends upon whether you value pragmatism above life. I mean, you don't really need it to be spelled out this much, do you?

I do value life, that's why if some one posed a serious enough threat to many many people and I had no other options, I wouldn't hesitate to stop them using whatever means nessecary. The Dinobots are basically living weapons. They're too dumb to think for themselves so they get manipulated into working for whichever villain comes along. First it was Megatron, then it was Meltdown, and most recently, it was Black Arachia. So the way I see it, Prime has two options: Either train the Dinobots to become proper Autobots so they'll use their immense power for good, or dispose of them to keep them from falling into the wrong hands of people who will use them to cause death and destruction.

So you're destroying actual life in order to protect potential life? lol

Potential life? What the hell is that suppose to mean? The Dinobots have proven that they pose a very serious threat to the citizens of New Detroit because they'll obey anyone who's smart enough to manipulate them, and the Dinobots are so dumb that the manipulator doesn't even have to be all that smart.

I dunno when grimlock was in Detroit he only wanted to scare the **** out of the locals and prime just asked him to cut it out and he did (he wasn't happy about it but he saw prime's point). the dinobots fallow a simple code the the strong lead the weak follow and so far that's what they have been doing I don't think they really get violent unless something poses a threat to them and from the perspective of a new life form that could be anything.

now as to prime not killing them well he knew they were alive and primes motto is... "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

They live because they can kick anyones ass... and everyone knows it... Prime didnt make a mistake,, keeping them alive was a smart thing.

But if it wasn't for the Dinobots Kup and Hotrod would've been Sharkticon bait and they couldn't have saved the other Autobots from the Junkions and... oh wait, wrong show.

Have the Dinobots actually helped the Autobots fight the Decepticons? It seems that at most, they're turn on whoever's manipulating them with a little convincing from the Autobots.

The Dinobots currently don't seem smart enough to formally ally with the Autobots - they're savage and commander effects would be ineffectual on them.

But that doesn't mean that they don't have the right to live in freedom. It's not immoral to be stupid. So allowing them to live by themselves in an isolated uninhabited island was the next best thing. The idea of disguising the island with a hologram was good, but that was eventually breeched. Perhaps they should consider moving the Dinobots to another deserted island to protect them from further exploitation.

Either way destroying them is definitely not an option, and it's a thought that Optimus Prime wouldn't entertain after learning that they're living sentient beings, entitled to liberty.

They should really consider doing a story where Sentinel Prime and the Elite Guard show up to claim the Dinobots and take them back to Cybertron for training.

Kindof a "My Fair Grimlock".

yeah, and Grimlock would stuff Sentinel Primes head up his own ass to lol

Yes.

And the Dinobots haven't actually killed anyone. They haven't even come close to almost killing anyone. That's what Madhammer meant by "potential life". You're trying to protect a life that might potentially, maybe, someday be in danger, but currently is not.

The Dinobots are like wild animals. They're too dangerous to be allowed in contact with civilisation, but they're entitled to live in peace. Dinobot island is like a wildlife sanctuary for the Dinobots.


Sentinel Prime is a jacka55 who clearly doesn't suffer fools - whom he classifies Optimus Prime and his "misfit" crew to be a part of. I don't see how he could possibly even entertain the thought of recruiting the Dinobots as part of the Elite Guard... there's a reason why they're called "Elite." The Dinobots don't even seem suitable to be basic grunts, let alone possess the mental faculty to become special ops.

Uhhh...

DINOBOT ISLAND'D!

If anything, Prime just needs to find a new place to put them because it seems that everyone knows where they live, now.

Either that, or simply tell the Dinobots that if anyone shows up on their island wearing this symbol...
Click to view attachment
...eat them.

Who said anything about elite guard recruiting?
Sentinel trains them (Or takes them back and unloads them on someone else).
Although I imagine said "Training" would amount to "Anyone wearing this symbol -Bash"

I don't think they're even suitable as recruitment for janitors, let alone as soldiers. Although the military machine requires soldiers to be "drones" to some degree (i.e.: following orders w/o question - which is important in a fight because having arguments can get you killed. You just have to have faith in your commanding officer), a good soldier does need to have some level of creative intelligence. That's why Clones were presented as being superior soldiers over Battle Droids in Star Wars - i.e.: possessing creative intelligence. Droids just had superiority in numbers.

But I don't know if the Dinobots could even operate as soldiers even in the capacity of Battle Droids due to their savage and difficult to control natures (which droids don't have - they're absolutely controllable - they're helpless without a control ship). They're more like using savage animals in battle like the Acklay or Reek on Geonosis - or if you want a real life example, African elephants. Unlike Asian elephants which were trained as steads, African elephants were just thrown at enemy ranks to break them. They just kept on charging - and they would be the initial charge because there's no way that they could fight alongside allied humans. The movie 300 showed the Persians using Rhinoceroses in a similar fashion, but I have no idea if that's historically accurate. But African elephants were used in that manner.

That's probably all you could use the Dinobots for - an initial assault charge. And they would have to be considered quite expendable.

Goki, you got it all wrong.

The Dinobots are going to serve a purpose.

Eventually, there will be more Constructicons.

They will form Devastator.

Optimus will say, "Dinobots, destroy Devastator!"

And it will be awesome.

IMO, they appear to be more than capable of taking care of themselves in skirmishes. I'm not saying they'd be great on a battlefield coordinating with other units, but hell, when you consider that a single Decepticon can take on an entire unit of Autobots and I'm pretty sure a single Dinobot (at least Grimlock and Slag) can go toe-to-toe with a Decepticon, I'd say they're pretty useful to have around.

That's pretty much what I said. The Dinobots wouldn't be much good as soldiers but they could be deployed in battle as savage beasts of war (e.g.: war elephants)


African War Elephants in the Battle of Zama (Oct 19, 202BCE)