Since Combiner teams started receiving modern updates in earnest (mostly in Combiner Wars), it’s become something of a tradition to add a new member or two to the classic teams, for one reason or another. Sometimes, it’s an extra classic character getting folded into the squad (like how Powerglide became an Aerialbot, or how Scrounge became a Technobot), other times it’s an entire new character (The Aerialbot Alpha Bravo, and the Stunticon Offroad both come to mind). In the case of Legacy’s updated Dinobots, it’s a new recruit, Scarr. The last time they did a full combining Volcanicus in Power of the Primes, it only used the original five Dinobots, and in this case, this sixth member seems to have been added to free up two Dinobots to form the big bot’s torso, fixing the issue with the original Volcanicus being kind of spindly.
You ever not wanted to work your torso out, so you absorbed a whole guy into it to bulk up?
And, apparently, Scarr (or Skar, as the fiction spells it) isn’t a completely original character either. He was in one of the few IDW comics I didn’t actually finish, Monstrosity (it was like, a really bad series. Crummy writing, muddy art), as a reserve member of the Dinobots, who wound up killed while on a mission to Cybertron’s underground many years before the present day.
One of the few clear panels of him.
Interestingly enough, his new Legacy bio paints him as the team’s quick-thinking, adaptable field medic, which makes him feel like the brains of the operation. Let’s see how he stacks up next to his more famous brethren.
Robot Mode
It’s a miracle I got him standing like this.
Scarr’s a broad guy, wider than the other Dinobots. He’s got thick arms, thick legs (with dino feet adding to them) and a dino head hanging down the back as his only real kibble. It’s kind of odd that this team of tough guys never had a Wide Bulky Bruiser, and he feels like he’s filling a niche.
As a medic, he’s also filling a narrative niche.
Checking the one screenshot of his comics appearances the Wiki has (at the top of this article), it actually looks like they went fairly accurate here with Scarr’s sculpting, imitating the specific torso detailing he had, and the little nub on top of his headsculpt, among other things.
Despite the name, he’s totally unblemished.
I guess this is a universe where he did live long enough scan an altmode, and it went all to his thick limbs.
Gonna sumo you for medicinal purposes.
Skarr’s got the same colors as the rest of these guys, mostly gray, a bit of gold, red and black, without much to really say about it.
With his fellow distinguished medics.
That bulk and width he’s got, though, that comes with a cost. I like his chunky torso and arms, but he’s really hollow from the back.
He seems big, but there’s not much to him.
Here’s his big issue, though: Skarr stumbles right into the pitfall the other hollow-legged Dinos avoided: He doesn’t have enough support at his ankles. Combine that with the fact that he’s backheavy, and you’ve got a robot that has genuine trouble standing up.
I may have posed him here, but the figure genuinely does this a lot.
I often have to lean him forward to get him to stand up.
This is not an exaggeration. It’s this, or pose him extremely delicately.
For articulation, Scarr is another elbowless Dinobot, though his thick arms means he wears that well. Meanwhile, he’s got balljointed knees and hips, a swivel waist and neck, and balljointed shoulders, while his transformation joints let his arms shrug inwards. But, on the other hand, his backneaviness makes me not want to pose him elaborately, lest he keel over.
Unless it’s doing this.
For accessories, while Swoop tried to pretend his combiner fist was two guns, Scarr has no such preconceptions, and comes with a weapon that’s just a solid fist with a spike on the end, painted black.
I say “I’m a healer, but” too many times in these captions, so I won’t this time.
It’s like a punch-gun, or a cudgel.
“For best results, apply fist to chest.”
I do find myself wishing he could wear it as a proper giant fist, but all he can do is hold it. At least you can fit an effect part on the end, though he’s got no weapons ports on him outside of the ones on the fist itself.
That effect part is from Rung, so I can call this a healing ray.
Transformation
Honestly, this is pretty much the same transformation as Sludge. Spin the waist, close the arms, flip up the head, adjust the legs and a couple other things, and you’re done, just snap the tail-fist on the end. That’s one consistent thing across the board: These transformations all rule.
Dino Mode
Squat boy.
Scarr changes into one of those spiny-backed guys, let me look it up…Ankylosaurus. I was premature calling Grimlock turtle-like in his altmode, with this guy’s huge shell, he’s super turtle-like.
He gets along surprisingly well with Skarr with a “K.”
Interestingly, this mode underlines how well they managed to make all those spikes on his back less obvious in the other mode. Also interesting: How very Snarl-like his headsculpt is. In fact, props to the designers, this whole altmode really fits in with the other G1-style Dinobots. It helps that he has the same good mix of colors, including a gold face, baby blue eyes, and a red Autobrand on the snout.
He’s Snarl’s understudy.
Proportionally, Skarr has the same kinda oddly tiny forelegs as Sludge, but at least there’s a bit of articulation to them, even if it’s not terribly useful.
He kinda, sorta walkin’.
You can also technically rotate the tail along the joint it’s on. Speaking of that tail, it’s still really clearly a fist, though, even if the sculpting is trying to not be.
It’s good enough to clobber opponents, though.
Lastly, the sheer size of him works in his favor, in that he’s actually a really solid brick of plastic in this mode, with really good “pick up and grab” energy, if that makes sense.
“Quickly, Slash, heal yourself by getting behind me and using my tail!” “Yeah, I’ll pass.”
Arm Mode
The Weaponizers are getting less and less of a role here.
This is definitely a more involved arm transformation than Swoop’s was, and is a bit challenging, because of how the required waist spin bumps his robot legs into his dino legs. But beyond that, the arm pegs onto Volcanicus just fine, and in its default configuration, uses the dino head on the shoulder to provide some nice visual symmetry with Swoop.
The limitations of the default configuration.
However, he’s also not as good of an arm as Swoop. For one thing, his fist likes to fall off of the square peg it attatches to. And for another thing, while he can do a bicep curl, he can’t swivel his arm thanks to the repurposed waist joint bumping into his robot arms and dino legs. That being said, I was able to finagle a different transformation that fixed those issues, by spliting his robot arms and rotating them upwards, so I could move both them and his dino legs out of the way, as pictured below.
“Finally, I can shake my fist!”
It turned out Slash’s armor was too thick for the healing jab, so they needed to combine and do this to make it happen.
Overall
This review came out kinda short, eh? I guess I’m running out of things to say about these guys, even if this is technically the most unique one. I do like his design, he fits in with the rest of the team, his “The Big Guy” look manages to be unique, and it’s a good-looking dino mode. But Swoop, he ain’t. The biggest problem is just that he can’t stand up very well in his robot mode, and beyond that, his weapon’s definitely a fist, and his arm mode’s got problems. He’s got a nice dino mode, though.
He’s going to continue to take his anger out on Soundwave.
If you want a good looking Ankylosaurus robot, he’s your guy. But outside of that, he’s skippable unless you’re aiming for the full mini-Dinobot combiner team team. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing this design blown up onto a larger figure, with more budget. No way he’s getting a Leader-class figure to go with the Studio Series 86 Dinobots, but a Deluxe or bigger would rock.
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