Grimlock

Status: Released

Release Date: June 2008 (June 2008)

Wave: Animated Voyager Wave 3

MSRP: $19.99

Size Class: Voyager

Suggested Age: 5+

Assortment Number: 83463

Product Number: 83716

UPC/Barcode Number: 653569323112

DPCI Number: 087-06-0087

Recolors/Reuses: Animated Golfire Grimlock

Voice Actor: David Kaye

Cartoon Overview
The leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock started out life as an animatronic dinosaur, rebuilt as a Dinobot by Megatron and Isaac Sumdac, then given life by a combination of Ratchet's magnetic powers, Bumblebee's stingers and Sari's Key. Awakening again in Sumdac's lab, the first thing Grimlock heard was Megatron commenting that his "prospects are grim, locked in this prison of a lab". "Grim... lock... Grimlock..." were his first words.

Unable to control the newly awakened Dinobots because they now possessed something similar to Sparks, Megatron instead used deception. He tricked the Dinobots into thinking that all cars were bad, because they were powered by fossil fuels, and that the worst were "car robots". Grimlock went on a rampage with the other two Dinobots following. As Megatron hoped, the Autobots arrived and fought the Dinobots on an equal footing, until Bulkhead overpowered them and threw them into a tar pit. They were later rescued by Prowl and Bulkhead and transported to a deserted island where they could live peacefully. There, Grimlock discovered that he possessed an incredible new ability - he could transform into a powerful robot that wielded a sword of fire!

The next time Grimlock was seen (Survival of the Fittest), he had been forced to serve Meltdown, having been coerced into servitude by Meltdown's acidic touch. However, once Meltdown had been subdued by the efforts of Sari, Captain Fanzone and Prowl, Grimlock was quick to seek his revenge, taking on (and easily defeating) Colossus Rhodes and Meltdown's mutants.

In Megatron Rising, Optimus, Prowl and Bulkhead journeyed to Dinobot Island to try and get the Dinobot's help against the Decepticons, but they found the Dinobots were less than cooperative.

Grimlock and the Dinobots were next seen in The Elite Guard. During the events of Megatron Rising, the Autobot's ship had crashlanded on Dinobot Island. Because Ultra Magnus and the other Elite Guard did not believe Optimus' story about what had transpired, leading up to the shattering of the Allspark, Optimus had to take Sentinel Prime and Ultra Magnus to the site. En route, the Elite Guardsmen attracted the attention of the Dinobots, who attacked the intruders to their domain. Grimlock took on Sentinel Prime, knocking him off his feet, before Ultra Magnus broke out his hammer and used his lightning attack to scare off the Dinobots. Grimlock was the last to withdraw back into the undergrowth.

Grimlock, along with the other Dinobots, appeared again in Black Friday. Smitten by Blackarachnia's wiles, Grimlock and the other Dinobots did whatever Blackarachnia asked, including breaking Meltdown out of prison to help Blackarachnia rid herself of her organic half. Grimlock was not above beating up on the other Dinobots for trying to win over "his" girl, and he readily attacked Optimus Prime when he found Blackarachnia on Dinobot Island. However, Meltdown needed a Genetic Modifier to complete the procedure that Blackarachnia was asking for, and so Grimlock and Optimus hit New Detroit looking for it (and finding it in the hands of the one and only Porter C. Powell, who Grimlock swallowed and then spat out to convince him to be cooperative). With the modifier in hand, the two returned to Dinobot Island, only to find that Meltdown planned to double cross Blackarachnia and purge her mechanical half instead. Meltdown's two goons, the Submarauder mutant and the Bomb Burst mutant, attacked Optimus and Grimlock. Grimlock took on Bomb Burst, and used his flame sword against the creature, setting fire to the nearby forest in the first place. He could not defeat Bomb Burst, though, until Snarl showed up and lent a hand (or more accurately, a club). Grimlock only watched as Optimus Prime fought and defeated Meltdown, then embraced Blackarachnia. Overcome by jealousy, Grimlock attacked Optimus and knocked him to the ground, allowing Blackarachnia to escape in the confusion.

Grimlock also has a cameo at the end of "Three's a Crowd", although he would not appear fully in Season 3 until "Predacons Rising" where along with the other Dinobots he was still serving Blackarachnia. He took on Jetfire in a battle which took place mostly off camera, but Jetfire seems to have easily won the battle (it's possible that Jetstorm also assisted, although none of this was seen on screen).

When Soundwave captured the Autobots and reduced every other human in New Detroit to a mindless zombie, Sari went to Dinobot Island to get Grimlock's help, but Grimlock was less than helpful, initially attacking Sari until he found out that she was quite capable of fighting back. Although he refused to help, he mentioned that he was not talking to Snarl, because Snarl was acting as a pet to another intruder on Dinobot Island - leading to Sari recruiting Snarl and Scrapper.

Powers and Abilities

Aside from his brute strength, Grimlock can shoot superheated flames from his mouth in beast mode. In robot mode, Grimlock carries a sword, whose blade can ignite into a sword of flames. "Predacons Rising" showed that Grimlock can also shoot these flames from his sword.

Grimlock has a simple personality though, and is quite primitive. He can be manipulated through his emotions, as Blackarachnia and Meltdown has demonstrated, variously using love and fear of pain to control the mighty Dinobot.

Notes
Grimlock and the Dinobots were originally intended to appear in Megatron Rising Part Two, but the animation was unusable so their brief battle with Megatron in this episode was left out (according to Marty Isenberg, the Dinobots would have been easily defeated by Megatron to show how powerful Megatron is.)


Other Comic Information

Titan UK

Grimlock's first appearance in the Titan UK Transformers Animated stories is in Transformers #17. In this issue he, along with the other Dinobots, comes to the rescue of the Autobots who have been captured in their own base by Starscream and his clones. The Dinobots are easily able to defeat the army of clones and free the Autobots. In return, Grimlock and the Dinobots stay at the Autobot base until the rainstorm passes. Unfortunately, the forecast is for rain, rain, and more rain.

Grimlock appears again in the second issue of the Transformers Animated comic. In this story he is much worse for wear, having been brought to his knees by a rage virus infected Snarl and Swoop. However, Sari is able to heal him with her key.
(It is possible that this story is meant to take place before the story in Transformers #17, as it would partially explain why Grimlock and the other Dinobots were willing to help Sari save the others - they owed Sari one).

Appearances


Titan UK Transformers #17
Titan UK Transformers Animated Comic #2 - Ratchet & Grimlock are dead?!

Contributors: Tony_Bacala, Tim Formas, Sol Fury, Super_Megatron, GogDog

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