For many viewers, the 2017 Super Bowl won't just be about football - since countless fans from around the world tune in to see the zaniest commercials, coolest movie trailers, and today, a clever Dinobot-inspired twist on Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl. Following the release of the new Transformers: The Last Knight Extended Super Bowl trailer, Paramount Pictures has unveiled a first look at Transformers 5's "mini" Dinobots.
Previously, we'd heard that Michael Bay's upcoming film would feature "baby" or "mini" Dinobots but little is known regarding how the characters will be implemented or what the "mini" versions of Grimlock, Slug, and Strafe would look like. Now, thanks to the 2017 Super Bowl, and some tongue-in-cheek marketing, the Mini Dinobots have made their appearance in a pre-game video.
The teaser, posted directly to the Transformers 5 Facebook page, features a breakdown of each mini-Dinobot, there skills, stats, and size comparisons.
Transformers 5 star Mark Wahlberg had teased the possibility of Mini Dinobots a few months back - adding context to a one-off comment that Michael Bay made during our time on the Transformers: The Last Knight set. The end result is exactly what a fan would expect from the basic notion of Baby Dinobots - smaller, cuter, but still very alien-looking versions of the Dinobots that (briefly) appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction.
How exactly the Mini Dinobots will feature into the final film remains to be seen. Some fans are already speculating that, considering footage of Grimlock being attacked in The Last Knight's recent teasers, it's possible the Dinobots may get the Guardians of the Galaxy "Groot" treatment - mortally injured or damaged early in the film but brought back onto the team thanks to new (mini) bodies.
It's also possible the Baby Dinobots are, as their name would suggest, actually babies - which, in a film series that has given moviegoers everything from sentient Mountain Dew machines to a giant Combiner bot with swinging testicles, wouldn't be much of a stretch. After all, since The Last Knight will be exploring Transformers throughout Earth history (including a stop in Medieval Times) those "baby dinobots" could appear in the distant past - as younger versions of themselves long before the present-day action of Transformers 5.
That all said, Mini variations of established Transformers aren't an entirely new concept in the franchise - as "Mini-Cons" have long been part of Transformers mythology. In the animated series and comics, Mini-Cons were smaller Transformers that bonded with larger bots - giving their bigger partners new abilities or weapons. Based on what has been revealed of the Mini Dinobots, they don't appear (right now) to fit the parameters of Mini-Cons but with Transformers 5 digging deep into expansive Transformers mythology, it's still possible the Baby bots will be more than just comic relief.
Nevertheless, while the studio has yet to share where these Mini Dinobots fit into the larger movie, and whether they are the same Grimlock, Slug, and Strafe viewers saw in Transformers 4, a few Dinobot details have trickled out over the past year - including that moviegoers will get to see Grimlock as the "naughty dog" of the Autobots.
The notion of Mini Dinobots is sure to have series skeptics rolling their eyes (again) - after prior "cute" Transformers embodied what longtime fans didn't like about Bay's live-action adaptation. Still, there's no question the baby versions will be a hit with younger moviegoers - and provide new ways for the film's producing partner, Hasbro, to sell toys.
