History Trivia / DinoAttackRPG

* ActorAllusion:
** More of an Author Allusion, but Sam Throramebi drew comparisons between [[Toys/LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]] and [[Toys/{{BIONICLE}} Makuta Teridax]], who are two of Greg Farshtey's favorite villains to write.
** Several of Atton Rand's characters' names follow a ShoutOutThemeNaming, usually consisting of the surname of the character's inspiration and the given name of the actor who played that role.
*** Similarly, Marco Martinet's surname is derived from the voice actor of [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], Charles Martinet.
** Kurt [=MacReady=] was the one sent to catch Snake, and the two of them subsequently got into a brawl. They were inspired by [[Film/TheThing1982 R.J. MacReady]] and [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Snake Plissken]], respectively, both of whom were played by Kurt Russel, and served as the lead to Creator/JohnCarpenter movies released a year apart from each other.
** Hauk and Angel Eyes, both of whom are inspired by characters portrayed by Creator/LeeVanCleef, are revealed to be cousins.
** In celebration of ''[[VideoGame/LEGOIsland LEGO Island's]]'' 15th Anniversary, the Brickster referred to himself as "Thumper" and quoted a number of lines from Smartass, the lead weasel of ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'''s Toon Patrol. David L. Lander, the original voice actor of the Brickster in ''VideoGame/LEGOIsland'', also voiced Thumper in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' and Smartass in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit''.

** [=PeabodySam=] is not especially fond of how Talia Kaahs and Shannon Grimton were handled in the RPG and considers them some of the weakest elements of his writing, largely due to being [[SatelliteLoveInterest underdeveloped flat characters who only existed for the purpose of being love interests of other more-developed characters]]. Grimton in particular suffers from being a last-minute addition to the story, giving her very little time to develop and resulting in a very rushed RomanticPlotTumor. Kaahs, on the other hand, was introduced much earlier but was rarely given any screentime; her FishOutOfTemporalWater status was barely even touched upon, even though it could have been PlayedForDrama (much like Steve Rogers in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'') for some much-needed character development.

** The appearance of the ''Iron Predator'' was submitted by that guy from that show and approved by [=TakunuvaC01=].

*** Regarding the character Libo, [=PeabodySam=] regrets the way he handled his character. He now refers to Libo as "a neat idea for a cool character who was stuck in the wrong story". When he first came up with the idea for Libo, he was so excited that he just had to put it in ''Dino Attack RPG''... only to realize later on that he had no use for Libo in ''Dino Attack RPG'' and was stuck with a character with little relevance to the plot. This is why Libo was PutOnABus following the discovery of the Dino Island Laboratory and ultimately got [[DroppedABridgeOnHim a bridge dropped on him]].

** Most people refer to the Toys/{{BIONICLE}}[=/=][[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force]] crossover as the ''[[XMeetsY BIONICLE Meets Exo-Force RPG]]'', as a reference to the fact that it had very little to do with the rest of ''Dino Attack RPG''.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke Note that "Dino Attack" is mentioned nowhere in "BIONICLE Meets Exo-Force RPG".]][[/note]]

** And now that the Website/{{BZPower}} Forum Archive has been taken down following a hacking incident in February 2013, the entire original ''Dino Attack RPG'' has become an extreme case of this trope.[[note]]That's 224 pages, 8924 posts, and about five and a half years of MissingEpisode.[[/note]] Fortunately, over a third of the RPG was able to be recovered by players and compiled into [[http://www.mediafire.com/download/uu62g8o5utzamrw/Dino+Attack+RPG+Archive+v1.3.zip a downloadable archive]], but that leaves about two thirds of the RPG lost.

** And now that the Website/{{BZPower}} Forum Archive has been taken down following a hacking incident in February 2013, the entire original ''Dino Attack RPG'' has become an extreme case of this trope.[[note]]That's 224 pages, 8924 posts, and about five and a half years of MissingEpisode.[[/note]] Fortunately, over a third of the RPG was able to be recovered by players and compiled into [[http://www.mediafire.com/download/uu62g8o5utzamrw/Dino+Attack+RPG+Archive+v1.3.zip a downloadable archive]], but that leaves about two thirds of the RPG LostForever.

* ShrugOfGod: Not even [=Andrewnuva199=] knows what Ata put in Zero's coffee, or if there even was anything put in there.

** More of an Author Allusion, but Sam Throramebi drew comparisons between [[Franchise/LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]] and [[Toys/{{BIONICLE}} Makuta Teridax]], who are two of Greg Farshtey's favorite villains to write.

** The idea that there is a relationship between Kate and Wallace Bishop only came about after Atton Rand noticed they both had the same last name.
** Rex's physical appearance was based upon [[Franchise/LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]] Special Agent Zed, who was [=PeabodySam=]'s Website/{{BZPower}} avatar when ''Dino Attack RPG'' was created. This was suggested by other members of the RPG during that time, who mentally linked [=PeabodySam=]'s avatar to Rex's appearance. Similarly, Frozeen's appearance was created by ''Roleplay/AlphaTeamMissionDeepFreezeRPG'' host Victor Draven, who imagined Frozeen with Pepper Roni's head.

* CreatorBacklash:
** "Backlash" might be putting it too strongly, but while [=PeabodySam=] considers ''Dino Attack RPG'' an overall success, he is also aware that it failed in several regards, and other LEGO [=TBRPGs=] that try too hard to emulate ''Dino Attack RPG'' end up suffering from these failures as well. One such failure was the way {{Story Arc}}s were handled; while they succeeded in bringing players together, they always suffered from ArcFatigue. With a group of devoted ''Dino Attack RPG'' players and a host who was able to attend to the RPG, this could be overcome, but when the formula was tried by ''Alpha Team RPG: Ogel's Last Stand'' and ''LEGO Universe RPG'', it failed miserably, with hosts too busy to attend to the RPG combined with players who quickly left the RPG following the initial NewbieBoom that all new [=RPGs=] face. As such, [=PeabodySam=] urges fellow TBRPG hosts to avoid emulating ''Dino Attack RPG'' or handling things a certain way just because ''Dino Attack RPG'' did it that way.
** Atton Rand has mixed feelings about Trigger. While he did have some fun going against the primary characters he used to play in other [=RPGs=] (young idealistic action girls, some of which may have gone into Mary Sue territory), he does somewhat regret handling the character the way he did.
** [=PeabodySam=] is not especially fond of how Talia Kaahs and Shannon Grimton were handled in the RPG and considers them some of the weakest elements of his writing, largely due to being [[SatelliteLoveInterest underdeveloped flat characters who only existed for the purpose of being love interests of other more-developed characters]]. Grimton in particular suffers from being a last-minute addition to the story, giving her very little time to develop and resulting in a very rushed RomanticPlotTumor. Kaahs, on the other hand, was introduced much earlier but was rarely given any screentime; her FishOutOfTemporalWater status was barely even touched upon, even though it could have been PlayedForDrama (much like Steve Rogers in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'') for some much-needed character development.
** Also see OldShame.

** The main reason why Atton Rand abandoned [[Franchise/RockRaiders Axle's]] role in the RPG after his return from hiatus was because he was a bit embarrassed and wanted to focus more on characters he actually created, rather than just using ones already made by Franchise/{{LEGO}}, although most of Atton's later characters tended to be [[{{Expy}} expies]] of famous movie or television characters.

** Atton Rand has admitted to regretting certain choices he made in ''At War's End''. In particular he has admitted to regret abandoning the idea to have Firecracker perform a HeroicSacrifice in favor of a KarmaHoudini and even talked about writing a FixFic giving the character some sort of dignified closure. He has also regretted the way he handled Trigger and Snake, and isn't proud of Plastic Serpent. Also, despite having built TheReveal early on, he is somewhat embarrassed by the reveal of Jenny being Dr. Strangebrick's daughter.

* SleeperHit: Considering how Website/{{BZPower}} [[ItWillNeverCatchOn dismissed]] the Toys/LEGODinoAttack line, it is quite surprising that the ''Dino Attack RPG'' was met with huge popularity.

** More of an Author Allusion, but Sam Throramebi drew comparisons between [[Franchise/LEGOAlphaTeam Evil Ogel]] and [[Franchise/{{BIONICLE}} Makuta Teridax]], who are two of Greg Farshtey's favorite villains to write.

*** Take two shots if it has anything to do with Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}.

** Most people refer to the Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}[=/=][[Toys/LEGOExoForce Exo-Force]] crossover as the ''[[XMeetsY BIONICLE Meets Exo-Force RPG]]'', as a reference to the fact that it had very little to do with the rest of ''Dino Attack RPG''.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke Note that "Dino Attack" is mentioned nowhere in "BIONICLE Meets Exo-Force RPG".]][[/note]]

** And now that the Website/{{BZPower}} Forum Archive has been taken down following a hacking incident in February 2013, the entire original ''Dino Attack RPG'' has become an extreme case of this trope.[[note]]That's 224 pages, 8924 posts, and about five and a half years of MissingEpisode.[[/note]] Fortunately, over a third of the RPG was able to be recovered by players and compiled into [[http://www.mediafire.com/download/okzo0bk9seb2odk/Dino_Attack_RPG_Archive.zip a downloadable archive]], but that leaves about two thirds of the RPG LostForever.

** The RPG ended on [[MayanDoomsday December 21, 2012]]. Coincidentally, ''Roleplay/AlphaTeamMissionDeepFreeze'' (the direct inspiration for ''Dino Attack RPG'') started on December 21, 2004, turning this into a case of BookEnds as well.

* NamesTheSame:
** When you say Kate Bishop are you referring to the comic book superhero, the Victorian-era actress, or the teenaged rookie in the Dino Attack Team?
** Even better, [[http://www.sarah-bishop.com/ her mother]] shares a name with a famous Australian painter.
** Barry Jackson's name was meant to be a shout-out to actor [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001608/ Barry Pepper]], but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Jackson according to Wikipedia]], he is also an actor, several athletes in different sports, a theatre director, and a production designer.
*** Of course, to be fair, Jackson is a fairly common last name, so such coincidences are inevitable.
** Also [[http://www.alanspierce.com/attorney-profiles/alan-s-pierce.html Alan Pierce is an attorney.]]
** Despite popular belief, agent Kevin "Knuckles" Kabrinsky is ''not'' named after Knuckles the Echidna from ''SonicTheHedgehog''.
** Get this. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Alexander Dr. Rex Alexander]] is a former college basketball coach. Now, would we say that his Name's the Same as Rex Alexander or Dr. "Rex" Alexander? [[TakeAThirdOption Or both?]]
** In some instances, there are characters in ''Dino Attack RPG'' who have the same names and analogous roles as characters in official LEGO canon, but are intended to be separate characters. For example, there's a pirate named Greybeard who was once a member of Captain Redbeard's crew, and then there's another pirate named Greybeard who was once a member of Captain Redbeard's crew... and his soccer team. There's also a diver named Dan who helped out in recovering the lost Constructopedia pages in the sea where LEGO Island once was, and then there's a diver named Dan who lives in LEGO Town.
** The name "El Paso" for the town where Clint and Angel Eyes were to meet was chosen partially at random as it seemed to have a suitable Western vibe for the environment. It turns out that is also the name of an actual city in Texas, making the connection surprisingly stronger.

* TooSoon: After poking humor at Engineer's (very recent) death, Zach immediately backpedaled a little and noted that his joke might have been distasteful.

* WorkingTitle: ''Merciful Escape'' and ''First Assignment'' were written under the title "HTTYML", which stood for "[[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon How To Train Your Mutant Lizard]]".

* BeamMeUpScotty: Greybeard had a brief moment of OohMeAccentsSlipping in order for his ShoutOut to Admiral Ackbar's [[MemeticMutation famous]] line from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' to work properly. Andrewnuva199 later quoted the line as it would have normally sounded in Greybeard's [[TalkLikeAPirate Pirate Accent]] and cited it as his favorite variation of the meme.

** Andrewnuva199 feels the "dark conciousness" character in Andrew's head was an awkward and mismanaged idea. It's slightly cringeworthy for him in regards to how he was written into the final encounter with Malestrom!Zach and Ahua, but is at least grateful he was able to wrap it up more or less smoothly there and be done with it.

** The unnamed XERRD scientist who switched bodies with a Hybrid has been jokingly nicknamed "Gene Rick" by [=PeabodySam=] as a reference to his rather generic physical appearance in ''XERRD: For Science!'' comics. Andrewnuva199 picked up on this nickname and, in a Steam chat, referred to the scientist as such, meaning that "Gene Rick" might be on its way to AscendedFanon...

** During the Maelstrom Temple battle, sometime after Adventure's [[TheCavalry cavalry]] arrived, Andrewnuva199 wrote about one random Dino Attack agent in the temple who had a phobia of butterflies. While making his "In the Maelstrom Temple" video, [=PeabodySam=] used the character model of Adventure to represent this butterfly-fearing agent. Andrewnuva199 decided to ThrowItIn and make it canon that Adventure was, indeed, the Dino Attack agent that was afraid of butterflies.

* WordOfSaintPaul: This occasionally comes into play, especially regarding {{Retcon}}s made to stories written by players who have long since left the RPG, such as Kotua in Space or The Castle Gear. For example, the suggestion that Landro was a XERRD scientist who went mad and was babbling nonsense was made by Andrewnuva199, not The Castle Gear.

** Rex's physical appearance was based upon [[Franchise/LEGOAlphaTeam Alpha Team]] Special Agent Zed, who was [=PeabodySam=]'s Website/{{BZPower}} avatar when ''Dino Attack RPG'' was created. This was suggested by other members of the RPG during that time, who mentally linked [=PeabodySam=]'s avatar to Rex's appearance. Similarly, Frozeen's appearance was created by ''Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG'' host Victor Draven, who imagined Frozeen with Pepper Roni's head.

** Numerous players nicknamed Databoard "Data". The same applied to Databoard's teammates from ''Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG'', Subzero ("Sub") and Frozeen ("Fro"), although Subzero does not appear in ''Dino Attack RPG'' and Frozeen has never gone by "Fro" in the ''Dino Attack RPG''.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: This was the primary reasoning behind [=PeabodySam=]'s decision to write Frozeen as having difficulties with social interactions due to Asperger's syndrome, rather than trying to out Frozeen as homosexual, to explain why Frozeen never had a girlfriend in ''Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze RPG''.

** Kotua In Space literally disappeared off the face of the internet after 2007. While Kotua is not confirmed to be dead, it is a little suspicious that his cameo appearance during the final battle was a variation of BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts...

** Most players who left the RPG also tended to disappear from Website/{{BZPower}} around the same time, and as a result they are all difficult to track down and can be considered reclusive artists, especially due to the anonymous nature of [=BZPower=] usernames. There are exceptions, such as Chronicler of Ko-Koro and Canama, who are still active in the online LEGO community. However, by far the most infamous example of this in ''Dino Attack RPG'' would be Kotua in Space, who not only disappeared from [=BZPower=] but also Brickshelf, [=MOCpages=], and many other websites all at the same time in late 2007 and has not been heard from since.

* DevelopmentHell: ''HTTYML'' is supposed to be two parts, the first part covering Rex's earliest memories and the second part covering Rex's first Dino Attack mission. It's been over a year and a half since the first part was released and yet no update on the status of the second part.

** Some of [=PeabodySam=]'s original ideas for the end of the FinalBattle, namely the main characters fighting their way through a Mutant Dino-infested Mercy Hospital to reach evacuation on the rooftop, was adapted into the first part of ''HTTYML'' when the idea was left on the cutting room floor.

** And now that the Website/{{BZPower}} Forum Archive has been taken down following a hacking incident in February 2013, the entire original ''Dino Attack RPG'' has become an extreme case of this trope.[[note]]That's 224 pages, 8924 posts, and about five and a half years of MissingEpisode.[[/note]] Fortunately, about 41% of the RPG was able to be recovered by players and compiled into [[http://www.mediafire.com/download/okzo0bk9seb2odk/Dino_Attack_RPG_Archive.zip a downloadable archive]], but that leaves about 53%, over half of the RPG, LostForever.

** And now that the Website/{{BZPower}} Forum Archive has been taken down following a hacking incident in February 2013, the entire original ''Dino Attack RPG'' has become an extreme case of this trope.[[note]]That's 224 pages, 8924 posts, and about five and a half years of MissingEpisode.[[/note]] Efforts were made to try to recover as much of the RPG as possible, but most of it will remain lost forever.

** While he doesn't actually dislike it, [=PeabodySam=] is a little dissatisfied by how the Adventurers' Island StoryArc turned out, mainly due to its huge focus on ''LEGOUniverse'' with the actual Dino Attack theme being put off to the side and Adventurers barely having to do with the story arc.

** [[LEGOIsland Enter or Return]] insist upon using a shark in medical practice.

** Snake and Firecracker were originally supposed to [[KarmaHoudini get away with their actions]] before everyone forced Atton Rand to change it because they felt it was unfitting for someone to get away with a crime at the end of ''Dino Attack RPG''.

** During the final celebration, Atton Rand attempted to perform a {{Deconstruction}} on LEGOIsland, primarily focusing on the fact that the Brickolinis make pizzas hot enough to burn peoples' mouths and to open jail cell doors and what would happen if the LEGO Island Police Department actually did something about this. However, this did not roll over so well with other players for a number of reasons. It was very out-of-character for Nick Brick to arrest Papa Brickolini; it was a PlayerPunch to players who loved ''LEGO Island''; it presented a completely unnecessary ConflictBall in what was supposed to be the final celebration; and, most of all, the Deconstruction simply did not work since it tried to present the Brickolinis as [[{{Flanderization}} completely oblivious to the Brickster using their pizzas to escape]], but the Brickster only canonically escaped with super-hot pizza twice (the first time, the Brickolinis were tricked; the second time, they were wary and tried to subvert it, only to be hit in the face by a DiabolusExMachina), and the super-spicy-tongue-melting-jail-cell-door-opening-hot pizza was never actually made by the Brickolinis (it was a [[OverlyLongGag gag]] intended to [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] how hot the Brickolini's pizzas were, but it was never actually supposed to depict the Brickolinis as incompetent and oblivious), so the Brickolinis repeatedly sending super-spicy-tongue-melting-jail-cell-door-opening-hot pizzas to the jail and obliviously setting the Brickster free had no canon backing, causing the whole Deconstruction to fall apart. For these reasons, this entire scenario was thankfully {{retcon}}ned into CanonDiscontinuity.

** Some may argue that the Quadrant 14 trap was a case of this, but actually this is a case of ExactWords, seeing as the lie to go find Dr. Inferno's weapon was written IC by Dr. Rex, not OOC by [=PeabodySam=]. Similarly, [=PeabodySam=] never referred to the Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins as the [[TempleOfDoom Maelstrom Temple]] in OOC.

* NewbieBoom: After the Goo Caverns StoryArc began, ''Dino Attack RPG'' met a flood of new players.

** One of the reasons why [=PeabodySam=] has retconned much of the early ''Dino Attack RPG'' is because he is ''embarrassed'' by some of the early things he wrote. He is also... not proud... of some of the things he said OOC as well.

** Dr. Cyborg as Dr. Rex's brother? Ouch. avmatoran almost wants to go back and delete all of that.

** Most players who left the RPG also tended to disappear from Website/{{BZPower}} around the same time, and as a result they are all difficult to track down and can be considered reclusive artists, especially due to the anonymous nature of [=BZPower=] usernames. There are exceptions, such as Chronicler of Ko-Koro and Canama, who are still active in the online LEGO community. However, by far the most infamous example of this in ''Dino Attack RPG'' would be Kotua in Space, who not only disappeared from BZPower but also Brickshelf, [=MOCpages=], and many other websites all at the same time in late 2007 and has not been heard from since.

* SleeperHit: Considering how Website/{{BZPower}} [[ItWillNeverCatchOn dismissed]] the LEGODinoAttack line, it is quite surprising that the ''Dino Attack RPG'' was met with huge popularity.

** Arguably the case with a few Second Headquarters Squad characters, who are somewhat modeled not only after the original ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' classes but also after how they are depicted by the fanbase. For example, the gender confusion of Pyro is a reference to fan speculation regarding Pyro's gender. Heavy's obsession with [[EverythingsSatiatingWithSandwiches sandwiches]] and the resulting food debate was based upon fanmade YouTube videos. The HoYay between Heavy and Medic was inspired by the fanbase joking about Heavy and Medic's relationship, although PlayedForDrama instead of [[PlayedForLaughs Laughs]] in ''Dino Attack RPG''.