Transformers: Redemption

[Onslaught Six]

They also, apparently, had a conflicting Dinobot origin...which is the obvious answer to Dom's question.

There wasn't anything conflicting about the Dinobots origin... Like I explained above, in "Monstrosity" they had to take dino forms based on "cyber-morphic predators" on Cybertron, but they were soon restored back to their vehicular forms in "Primacy". Eventually they took on dino forms again in "Spotlight Shockwave", this time based on Earth's dinosaurs as a means to protect themselves from energon radiation, like in Beast Wars.

Ugh, this is exactly what I mean though. The Dinobots already had an established origin cycle--"We were vehicles, now we're dinosaurs." Dille making them into dinosaurs before that is fine, if it were a retcon, until someone (probably Barber) told him that he completely fucked up and they already did that once...so they had to change back again. It is pants on head retarded.
Imagine if Megatron became Galvatron...only for a later story to reveal that he had actually already become Galvatron before, but reverted to being Megatron because...some other writer wanted to show him becoming Galvatron.

Stuff like "well they HAD to take dino forms in Monstrosity" is literally an invented bullshit thing; a writer wrote that scenario, it did not literally happen, and it could have been avoided. This is like saying, "Superman HAD to kill Zod in Man of Steel." Like, no he didn't! Yeah, he was put in a position where he decided killing Zod was the only option...because some fucking writer wrote him into that position! He could have written literally anything else instead to avoid that "problem."

I think Dille just wanted to show how the Dinobots became the Dinobots, and somebody figured nobody was giving a shit about a web-exclusive series that was only vaguely in continuity anyway, so they ignored that it overwrote past canon, and then had to "fix" it later. Literally the only reason they take vehicle forms again is so that they are in vehicle form so they can later take dino form...again. The whole thing could have been avoided if they had just never become dinosaurs in Monstrosity to begin with.

[Dominic]

Exactly.

[Sparky Prime]

Ugh, this is exactly what I mean though. The Dinobots already had an established origin cycle--"We were vehicles, now we're dinosaurs." Dille making them into dinosaurs before that is fine, if it were a retcon, until someone (probably Barber) told him that he completely fucked up and they already did that once...so they had to change back again. It is pants on head retarded.

So you'd prefer it if it was a retcon? Making it a retcon would mean that it would have conflicted with the already established origin. The way Dille and Metzen told the story however, it allowed them to use the Dinobots as Dinobots, with out conflicting with the continuity at the same time. Why is that a problem? And why assume it was a mistake they had to fix rather than something they'd intended to begin with? Again, given how Dille and Metzen handled the IDW continuity throughout the rest of the series they'd written, I can't imagine that they weren't already familiar with those kinds of details to begin with.

Imagine if Megatron became Galvatron...only for a later story to reveal that he had actually already become Galvatron before, but reverted to being Megatron because...some other writer wanted to show him becoming Galvatron.

Imagine? The AEC trilogy did that... twice. But the Dinobots taking on dinosaur forms isn't like Megatron changing his identity to Galvatron. These are Transformers, who can change their what their altmode is whenever they want. It's like Megatron going from a tank, to a gun, back to a tank. So what's it matter if the Dinobots took on dinosaur forms twice? Other characters have changed altmodes back and forth a couple times in these comics, why can't the Dinobots?

I think Dille just wanted to show how the Dinobots became the Dinobots, and somebody figured nobody was giving a shit about a web-exclusive series that was only vaguely in continuity anyway, so they ignored that it overwrote past canon, and then had to "fix" it later. Literally the only reason they take vehicle forms again is so that they are in vehicle form so they can later take dino form...again. The whole thing could have been avoided if they had just never become dinosaurs in Monstrosity to begin with.

Considering Monstrosity focused on Trypticon and his origins, I think what Dille and Metzen were trying to do was explain why there would be dinosaur-like Transformers already on Cybertron. If you're going to have dinosaurs on Cybertron, it only makes sense to bring in the Dinobots themselves. And again, there was nothing vague about the continuity here. They make it very clear this takes place in the IDW continuity in the story. There's no way they didn't already know the Dinobots had an origin in IDW given how they handled the already established continuity in the book. As such, I think they had always intended for them to be restored to their vehicular forms so as not to conflict with Furman's story.