D-63 DINOSAURER

Toywise, D-63 Dinosaurer is identical to his U.S. counterpart, Trypticon. There's almost no difference between his instructions and those of Trypticon, and there are no bonus modes as with Metroflex. The Japanese did include pictures of Dinosaurer combined with Onslaught and Motormaster in base mode on the rear of the box, but for some odd reason Dinosaurer is the only Scramble City toy to get character art on the front of the box different from his American counterpart. Why his box art is so different from the established scheme is beyond me.

This is the picture on the lower right side of the rear of the box. It showcases Dinosaurer's ability to combine with the two Destron Scramble City leaders Onslaught and Motormaster. Interestingly enough, both of the Destron leaders shown are the Japanese versions with the spring-loaded launchers. Those toys didn't get pictures of their Japanese versions on their OWN boxes, why would they be shown on Dinosaurer's? I suspect the Dinosaurer packaging may have been concieved BEFORE all the other Scramble City toys' boxes were.

Here's a closeup of D-64 Onslaught from the city mode combination photo. It clearly shows the spring-loaded launcher version! This is also the only official Takara photograph ever to show Onslaught's double cannon mounted in this fashion. Onslaught's instructions indicate that while in ramp mode, the correct placement of the double cannon is over his head. It's interesting to note that putting the cannon on as shown in the photo actually renders the launcher inoperable, because the cannon won't allow any small vehicles to get close enough to be launched!

Here I've included scans of Dinosaurer's instructions. Interesting to note that they recommend Onslaught's missile launcher be removed completely when attaching him in city mode. Take a look at the bottom row of the instruction scan to the left. Steps #1 through #3 on the bottom row illustrate the official Dinosaurer/Onslaught/Motormater combination. So here we have the instructions saying to do one thing and the box photos showing something else. Incidentally, it is possible to attach Onslaught to Metroflex, put the double cannon on his head, and have the launcher work properly. So I wonder-who exactly Onslaught was meant to combine with after all?

And here's Scramble City Motormaster, combined with Dinosaurer and complete with his spring-loaded launcher! While it takes seperate connectors to combine the two Destron team leaders to Dinosaurer, no extra parts are needed to combine the two Cybertron team leaders to Metroflex. This has caused some to reach the conclusion that Dinosaurer was not meant to be included in the Scramble City line. With all of D-63 Dinosaurer's odd packaging quirks, I'm beginning to wonder about that myself.

Here's yet another difference between Takara's and Hasbro's methods of product presentation. I've noticed that in all of the promotional Takara materials where Dinosaurer appears, he's got his peg connectors attached to his back in Dino mode. This use of the pegs appears in his Japanese instructions, ALL Japanese catalogs he appears in, the photos on his box, and in certain portions of the Japanese Scramble City board game. But Americanized Trypticon's instructions and catalog appearances don't utilize this feature. Go figure.