Dinoking is the combined form of the six-member Dinoforce, a team of Pretender combiners released in 1989 as part of Japan’s Victory portion of G1. Dinoking’s robot mode only includes the inner robots and combination accessories, and does not interact with the Pretender shells.
Description
Standing at a miniscule 6½ inches (16.5 cm) Dinoking is the smallest combined mode of any combiner team, tied only with his mold-mate, Monstructor. His six component figures connect directly to each other, except the legs which require an adaptor to attach to the torso. Unlike most G1-era combiners, Dinoking features a common color scheme. Each figure uses black and white, with blue and green accents and a gold chestplate. As standard with G1 combiners, his feet, fists, and head are formed by accessories attached to the figure, and his only articulation is forward rotation of the shoulders (accomplished by rotating Kakuryu’s shoulder joints). He wields a large black rifle, in addition to having gun barrels on each of his fists. Details of the individual figures are discussed on each of there pages.
Collector Notes
Dinoking’s stocky and simple design makes him rather sturdy. However, the shells of entire Dinoforce (like the Pretender Monsters) suffer from several inevitable forms of degradation. The plasticiser (a chemical used in the molding process) seeps out over time, forming a sticky film on the surface of the rubber. This film can be cleaned away using mild soap and water. Also, this process can cause the gold paint on the shells to tinge green, or turn green. Unfortunately, both of these processes are inevitable regardless of storage conditions, and even sealed examples are affected.
Variants
Dinoking does not have any known production variants.
Availability
Dinoking was available in Japan in 1989 as a giftset, or the six component figures could be collected individually.
Redecos & Retools
Dinoking is a redeco of Monstructor, released the same year by Hasbro. However, the Pretender Monsters’ shells are completely different than the dinosaur shells of the Dinoforce. Monstructor was never available as a giftset.
