King, he's not really that stupid.

 

I like the Renegade-ish Grimlock more then the stupid oaf kind.

 

All valid points I think. Frankly, having grown up with both the cartoon and the marvel comics... I actually preferred the comic rendition of Grimlock (and the Dinobots in general) as apposed to the cartoon take on them.

Though, that's not to say that the cartoon versions, at least in seasons 1 & 2, didn't have their own charm that I greatly respect. Unfortunately, season 3 really bastardized the Dinobots and I think it really started about halfway through the movie when they were tainted by Wheelie.

That said... I never cared for the fact that the Marvel rendition of Grimlock, at least through most of the run, would have had no problem offing Prime if he thought he could get away with it and some of his other more 'questionable' choices during his stint as de facto leader of the Autobots. Though, it seemed that once he came back from the dead as a Pretender he seemed to mellow a bit and was more of a team player, but still willing to take the risks that Prime wasn't (or couldn't) as leader of the Autobots... such as reviving everyone with Nucleon.

I don't really have an opinion on the DW version of him as I've never read DW's comics, but I can't say that I'm a fan of him turning against the other Autobots (I read somewhere that he did that). Though, having not read the issues, it's hard to judge his actions without the right context.

Frankly, the current IDW take on him from Spotlights: Grimlock & Shockwave and the current run of Maximum Dinobots has been my favorite take on him. He's a brilliant tactician and loyal to the Autobot cause (he also seems particularly loyal to his troops and seems to regret his 'betrayal' of them in his 'Shockwave doesn't win no matter the costs' end game scenario), but he's also a loose cannon, a rebel and really short tempered. To me, this rendition of Grimlock is the one that meshes his personality the best.