Savage Land

Super Mario World! It's a blast from the past!

The Savage Land is a secret jungle paradise on the coast of Antarctica that is home to many monstrous, prehistoric creatures. Ka-Zar lives here in the present day.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Four million years ago Shockwave followed the crashing Ark down to the planet Earth, but instead of prehistoric Oregon, he landed in the Savage Land where he spent his time productively by fighting dinosaurs. The Ark's barely-functioning computer detected his presence there and reactivated five Autobots to deal with the threat. The Last Stand Rebuilt with altmodes resembling the Savage Land's dinosaurs, these newly minted Dinobots took one of the Ark's shuttles to Antarctica and battled Shockwave but the mission was only a partial success—while they succeeded in defeating Shockwave and burying him under rock, the Dinobots fell into a tar pit and sank without trace. Repeat Performance!

In 1984, Huffer learned of these events and had Ratchet dispatch one of the Ark's probes to investigate. However, instead of locating the missing Dinobots, the probe reactivated Shockwave who crushed it and then flew to Mount St. Hilary where he promptly defeated the remaining Autobots, Optimus Prime, Bluestreak, Ironhide, and Mirage. Nice going, Huffer. The Last Stand

As the only functional Autobot (he was moonlighting at the hospital when Shockwave attacked) Ratchet needed to bolster troop numbers, so he took a shuttle containing his mobile repair bay to the Savage Land to revive the Dinobots. After digging them out of the tar pit, he replayed the events that led to their subterranean incarceration (for the benefit of the reader) by tapping into Slag's memories. Once reactivated, the Dinobots accepted Ratchet's offer of a second chance to take down Shockwave and they left with him for the Ark. Repeat Performance!

Marvel UK future timelines

Later, the Savage Land's dinosaurs fell victim to a disease that drove them to madness and death. Professor Embrey, a paleontologist stationed there, discovered the Dinobots' shuttle and used its control crystal to create a healing machine. He also established a quarantine zone, using the shuttle's weapons to defend his healthy dinosaurs from the sick ones. In 1992 the Dinobots returned to the Savage Land in the hope of transferring Snarl's mind into the control crystal, to buy him some time while they searched for a cure for his apparently untreatable Corrodia Gravis. At first they were none too impressed by Embrey's appropriation of their technology, but after he pleaded for the lives of his dinosaurs the Dinobots formed a new plan and transferred their stricken comrade's mind into the body of a healthy Stegosaurus. They then departed the Savage Land, leaving Snarl in Embrey's care. Destiny of the Dinobots!

Transformers '84

The circumstances surrounding the creation of the Dinobots was an event shrouded in apocrypha and conflicting information. According to Punch, one version of the tale involved "actual, living dinosaurs", but he didn't believe it. Secrets & Lies #2

Notes

• The Savage Land first appeared in the X-Men comic in the 1960s as a primitive land sustained by alien technology. It was included in the Transformers comic as one of many nods to the Marvel Universe during the brief period of time in which the series was considered to be taking place in the mainstream Marvel setting. As the Savage Land still sees active use in their stories, it seems as though IDW couldn't mention the location by name in their Secrets & Lies miniseries; even in Simon Furman's author commentary, he merely refers to it as "The Original Location".
• The Savage Land is not Dinobot Island. That's a different secret jungle paradise that is home to many monstrous, prehistoric creatures.

External links

• Savage Land at Marvel Database
• Savage Land at Wikipedia