Gridlock

This article is about Cyclonus' dead friend from the 2019 IDW G1 continuity. For the leader of the Dinobots, see Grimlock.

Gridlock is a Transformer from the 2019 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I'm giving Crankcase a run for his money!

Gridlock was a friend of Cyclonus before meeting his untimely demise. He is missing an arm and has a giant hole in his head.

These days, the only remnant of Gridlock is a hallucination of Cyclonus's. Unlike the others, Gridlock's not a chatty ghost, generally keeping quiet and hanging around in the back.

Fiction

2019 IDW continuity

Gridlock, Grudge, Provoke, Paragon, Cyclonus, and Highfire were members of the same unit during the War of the Threefold Spark. Early in the war, the squad was deployed to the Tagan Heights; after Highfire was killed in action, the team fought Turmoil and a swarm of Skywarp drones on the Hydrax Plateau, which ended with Turmoil taking Paragon captive, before fleeing the planet. Gridlock promised Cyclonus that they'd find a way to get his lover back, only for an enemy sniper to shoot him in the head. Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part One Gridlock's remains were turned over to Termagax for her to study. Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part Two

In order to process his grief Cyclonus developed a coping mechanism of conversing with the hallucinatory "ghosts" of his friends, Gridlock included. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Four Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part One

Two megacycles after the end of the war, Cyclonus witnessed Brainstorm being murdered by an Ascenticon. Shortly thereafter, Windblade and Chromia came investigating. Cyclonus, having gotten used to being alone, refused to tell them what he'd seen. Once the two left, Highfire remarked that he should've told them what he'd seen, since they'd liked Brainstorm, something Gridlock corrected: She had liked Brainstorm. The World In Your Eyes Part Four

While Cyclonus was taking vigil at Memorial Crater, the ghost of Gridlock mocked Cyclonus' mission and insinuated unkind things about his mental state, much to Highfire's chagrin, while insisting that Exarchon was gone and never coming back. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part One

Some time later, the Memorial Crater was badly damaged when the Ascenticons blew up the secret base they'd been keeping beneath it. As Cyclonus mourned, Gridlock merely commented on the waste, remaining silent as the others began squabbling amongst themselves. The Change In Your Nature Part Five Cyclonus's search for answers led him to believe Sixshot was responsible, and he went to Iacon looking for Chromia to get a lead on him, only to be rebuffed by Prowl due to the situation in the Senate building. Gridlock quietly followed on behind. Rise of the Decepticons: We Have Deceived You As the Ascenticons, now renamed Decepticons, staged a violent coup against the Senate, Cyclonus continued to hunt Sixshot, Gridlock's ghost still accompanying him. War World: Awakenings When Cyclonus violently barged his way into Decepticon headquarters, Gridlock remained as taciturn as ever, while the other ghosts bickered. War World: Hunt

After it appeared Provoke had managed to cheat death in the war's final battle, having been found by the Decepticons in the ruins of the crater, Cyclonus went to see her, and the ghostly iteration disappeared, replaced by Paragon. This was a development Gridlock's own ghost approved of, figuring Paragon's presence was healthier than Provoke's. Lord of Misrule: Enigmatic