8YS - Age of the Dinobots

Finally, me Blackvegetable did it! After so long, me finally pay tribute to glorious team of Autobots thirty years strong by art of origami and papercraft! For me now proudly introduce you all to... THE DINOBOTS! Now me introduce you to not only five original members but four new teammates too! Introducing them in style from IDW comic 'Rage of the Dinobots', from left to right...

Him Snarl: Engineer/Medic/Desert Warrior/Dinobot. Hates the last part.
Him Sludge: Logistics/Jungle Warrior. Less angry than Slug. Trust me.
Him Slug/Slag: Combat tactics/Flamethrower. Anger issues.
Him Grimlock: Dinobot Leader. Him king in his element.
Him Scorn: Demolitions. Making sure Decepticons stay at ground zero.
Him Paddles: Sea Assault. Just about as dense as Sludge.
Him Slash: Stealth Operations. Still uploading ways to cause a Decepticon oil leak.

As well as above...

Him Swoop: Scout/Bombardier. Having the best day of his life... again.
Him Strafe: Aerial Assault. Both heads need to lay off the ammunition.

As I was saying (time to speak normally so it would be easier to explain), it's not only my eighth year at Deviantart, but with Transformers in its thirtieth year and with the upcoming release of the new Age of Extinction film, I just had to make something special to show my childhood love for the franchise! Like with my Optimus Prime special in 2009 they may not transform, these nine are still glorious in their own right! Along with the five original members, I decided to add not only a comics-exclusive character, but also decorate the three AOE Dinobots into G1-styled decorations! Of course, due to real life matters like work and exercise it took me a few weeks to find some worthy folds, practice making them with printer paper, and then the final versions with slightly thicker craft paper, and sunset had already passed when I finally got the detailing up! So I'd best make this quick - unfortunately it's now the 7th, a day after the due date I'm afraid.

Snarl the Stegosaurus. Out of the nine Dinobots he was the only one I had to fold via a youtube video (fitting for the unhappy loner) since I couldn't find a worthy fold on print. He's also the only one folded out of gold paper due to his signature plates and the thagomizer spikes on his tail. Plus it would have been too late otherwise to order the book he came from, which was by John Montroll, in which the fold was created from. He would be of intermediate difficulty due to the old quality of the video. But thank you Sara Adams of happyfolding.com - enjoy origami online!

Sludge the Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus. This gentle giant's template was created by Hans Birkland, and he was the first one I finished folding before I got round to the others. He's also the first one I finished decorating too, so him Sludge pretty! Another intermediate fold, he was easier due to the printed instructions of course.

Slug/Slag the Triceratops. Of all the members, he came from a Carmel Morris book (the one I did blackvegetable.deviantart.com/… from), and he wasn't made from one piece of paper. In fact, the instructions involved a remaining square from a piece of A4 paper to form his head. He would be of roughly an intermediate level, border-lining toward easy (just a tiny bit).

Grimlock the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Much like his personality, Grimlock was quite difficult as it took a while to find a fold worthy of him. In fact, when I found an outdated tripod-posed fold that would have been useful for his G1 self, it instead would up shrinking him quite a lot plus some of the folds weren't suitable for printer paper due to the thickness of the folds being close to ripping point! As a result, I finally decided to go for a J. Harris fold. Of an intermediate/hard difficulty, he was last to be folded and decorated because hey, save the best for last, right?

Scorn the Spinosaurus. After testing out a complex 120-plus fold by S. Kato and a simpler one of intermediate level by Klaus-Dieter Ennen, I decided on the latter. Unfortunately there are moments I still have a little trouble with the arms due to timing matters and understanding so it would just have to do. Since there wasn't a spinosaurus in G1, I tried to detail him as much as I could to what he would look like in G1, hence his golden head in comparison to Grimlock's, and a silver sail with red markings for the touch of ferocity.

Paddles the Elasmosaurus. Unique that since he's a comic-exclusive Dinobot, I was unable to find a full-body description of him due to time constraints and lack of sources other than an artist's FoC depiction. The only look I was able to find was a golden throat. The rest... I just did it to my imagination. He's a basic-intermediate of an unknown origin.

Slash the Velociraptor. Again, he is unique. The reason? From an intermediate Rafal Sabat fold, a normal A4 piece of paper would render him almost as big as Grimlock, making him again another Jurassic Park size-inaccurate raptor, only bigger (if that's how Megaraptor and Utahraptor grow up to)! So I had to make him out of a smaller square of paper - hence he's the smallest of the lot. But nonetheless, that just adds to the stealth role! I also took the liberty of adding his signature sickle claws to his feet!

Swoop the Pteranodon. Like Snarl he's of a John Montroll fold, only from a printed set of instructions, mind you! Unique out of the Dinobots he's made of silver paper due to the wings. Like the others he's of intermediate difficulty. My apologies due to time constraints since I forgot to add the missiles. And last but not least...

Strafe the two-headed Pterodactyl. Yes, I know he's a Pteranodon in the upcoming Age of Extinction film, but since Swoop's a Pteranodon, I thought I'd make him a similar pterosaur, not straying too far from his design. Because there was yet to be a two-headed pterosaur fold, I had to utilise two Philip Schulz Pterodactyl folds of intermediate difficulty, snip the wings from the opposite side each, and glue them together by their bodies. As a result, his wingspan almost makes him as long as Sludge. Instead of golden heads like Swoop, I made his heads silver to differentiate.

As I was saying, after each fold was done, I took the liberty of detailing and decorations - some with scrap pieces of coloured and leftover shiny paper, some with detailing like the Autobot insignias (if you look carefully due to the size) and their blue G1 optics (yes, I noticed too late that Swoop dropped his left one, but he's still got his right optic and he probably blinked or snoozed when the photo was taking place)! With thirty glorious years in Transformers history along with my eighth year at Deviantart and the new AOE film coming up, this is the result! I love having dinosaurs in my bedroom, don't you?

If this team of nine ever returned in force to the cartoons, I reckon the following voice actors would suit them just fine, along with the reprising voices!

Grimlock - Gregg Berger
Slag/Slug - Neil Ross
Sludge - Frank Welker
Snarl - Hal Rayle
Swoop - Michael Bell
Paddles - Alan Oppenheimer (I reckon Beachcomber's voice, though modified sounds good)
Strafe - Mark Allan Stewart/Johnny Yong Bosch (for his second head)
Scorn - David Kaye (yeeeeeesss!)
Slash - Scott McNeil (BW Dinobot reborn!)

So, what do you guys and girls think of them? (hears the go off) Autobot Headquarters, Brisbane Division, speaking. What? The Autobots need a new army? I know just the one you guys need in your darkest hour! And with your grand permission, Grimlock sir?

DINOBOTS, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!