Maximum Dinobots issue 1

« The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #1 »
Ur title... It has a flava...
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	December 10, 2008
Cover date	December 2008
Written by	Simon Furman
Art by	Nick Roche
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Edits by	Denton J. Tipton
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Maximum Dinobots

Grimlock starts finding out just how much worse it can get.

Synopsis

In the distant past on Cybertron, the Dynobots savagely obliterate a group of Decepticons guarding an energon silo. The team's motto was "crash and burn"... but in the present, Grimlock muses that he didn't think it would end quite so literally. His ship, the Skyfire, is half-buried in the Franz Josef Glacier of New Zealand; he's been branded as a renegade by Ultra Magnus and is being hunted by Scorponok; and Megatron's Decepticons are poised to take over the Earth. Grimlock wonders how much worse it can get.

In Big Trex Skyride at the outskirts of Reno, Nevada, Agent Red orders Doctor Weston to give the other captive Dynobots a run through. They easily destroy three derelict vehicles. Red is impressed, but remarks that this seems awfully familiar: they thought all was in readiness before, but instead got Grimlock's disastrous escape. Weston remarks that the software kinks from the past have ironed themselves out, but Red is not assured.

The Diaclone Empire shall rise again!

It turns out that Red is correct to worry, because Mister Kloss reports to Abraham Dante that he has planted a virus to bring the Dynobots under Dante's control. Dante stares out a window at his Sunstreaker clone Headmaster army and muses that the Machination will rise.

At a Machination warehouse in Northampton, Massachusetts, a wall explodes and Sunstreaker emerges; he then destroys the warehouse with missiles. He's angry that he still hasn't found his real head, but Hunter O'Nion (as an avatar) reminds him that they've found a clue, leading them to something called "Dinobots" in Dallas, Texas.

Back at the Skyfire, Grimlock sends an interstellar message to some unspecified unsavory types, seeking help in repairing his ship. Just then he's alerted to the presence of Dante's Headmasters, who have "bounced" to the crater and started firing on his ship. Grimlock sneaks behind them, transforms to dinosaur mode, and attacks. He easily tears through the Headmasters, but one is able to place a tracker device on Grimlock, which orbital bounces him back to Fallon, Nevada. A public panic alerts Skywatch, and Agent Red orders Weston to dispatch the Dynobots to intercept Grimlock.

This has all been engineered by Dante, who also has a visitor at the Machination's gates, in the form of Hot Rod. He's not too concerned, however, and as he combines with Scorponok, he announces that he will destroy Hot Rod after the Dynobots have been taken care of.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Grimlock (1) Slag (2) Sludge (3) Snarl (4) Swoop (5) Ultra Magnus (6) Sunstreaker (13) Hot Rod (15)	Scorponok (7) Megatron (9)	Joshua Red (9) Weston (10) Kloss (11) Abraham Dante (12) Hunter O'Nion (14) Drake (16)	Sunstreaker clones (8)

Quotes

"Trapped in a combat-shunt variant form adapted for one specific mission profile, currently only able to make cosmetic changes. Marked as a renegade, or—worse—a deserter, by those I once deemed comrades-in-arms. Hunted by Scorponok, a rogue Decepticon with a penchant for technological piracy. Staring down Armaggeddon—a Decepticon army under the command of Megatron poised to take Earth by force!
"Really, how much worse can it get?"

—Grimlock makes the mistake of tempting the universe.

"I'm still no closer to finding my real head. The Machination has it, somewhere, and I want it back."
"I know how you feel. Because, well, we feel the same stuff. Comes from sharing a brain. Think about it, Sunstreaker... holo-avatars notwithstanding, aren't we, well, talking to ourself?"
"I suppose so. Still haven't got used to this whole Headmaster thing. Probably never will. No offense, but...I'm a serial 'me'."

—Sunstreaker and Hunter O'Nion find out that this Headmaster stuff is hard.

(Grimlock gets dumped by an orbital bounce into the middle of Fallon again in broad daylight)
"Oh...frag."

—Cue things getting worse for Grimlock.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Like several characters in All Hail Megatron, Grimlock's robot mode, and to a lesser extent his dinosaur mode, have undergone some redesigning. Unlike the AHM reworkings, there's an actual explanation: It is the result of his attempts to remove his Tyrannosaurus mode, which resulted only in minor cosmetic changes. However, his original Cybertronian body, while using the same design as in Spotlight: Shockwave, has a head shape along the lines of the Marvel Comics/"S.O.S. Dinobots" model.
• The opening sequence is a raid on an energon silo in Sub-Sector Nine. This is presumably the same raid Shockwave would eventually become involved with, as mentioned in Spotlight: Shockwave, ultimately leading to the Dynobots' fate on Earth.
• On page 3, you can clearly see Slag killing 'Cons who've surrendered. Also, once that battle has ended and the Dynobots have reconvened, Slag is seen bobbing the decapitated head of a slain Decepticon on his knee. Slag sure does like keeping around the heads of those he's killed.

Transformers references

• When Grimlock sends his message off, the symbols in the very middle of the screen are stylized renditions of the three Monsterbots' beast mode heads.

Real-world references

• The testing area for Skywatch is an homage to Jurassic Park, as is the font for the series title.
• The symbol in the top left of Grimlock's message (two figures, shaking hands), in the second panel in which Grimlock is writing, is taken from the artwork to Radiohead's OK Computer album.
• Also present in the symbols is the IDW Publishing logo.
• The Dynobots' motto of "crash and burn" is also the motto of the eponymous warriors from the 1990 movie Robot Jox, who are pilots for giant transforming mecha. It's also the title of the not-really-a-sequel-but-marketed-as-a-sequel-in-some-countries Crash and Burn, which likewise features some giant robot action.

Other trivia

• The Sunstreaker clones appear in four different color schemes: gold, black, white and red. Of those four, the white and red Sunstreaker clones pay homage to Sunstreaker's Diaclone Lamborghini Countach LP500S "Super Tuning" toy colors, while the black clones possibly also homage Shattered Glass Sunstreaker, who had debuted earlier in the same year, or the Alternators redeco that he was based on.
• Sunstreaker has a USB port.
• This comic was released the same day as the birthday of Grimlock's first voice actor.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Grimlock in dino mode "eating" the title card by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham.
• Cover B: Montage of the Dynobots, in their original Generation 1 designs, with Scorponok and Grimlock overlooking them; art by Marcelo Matere and Priscilla Tramontano. This art was later used for the trade paperback.
• Cover RI: Grimlock "punching through" the Klaus Scherwinski cover of All Hail Megatron issue 1 as if it were a wall; art and colors by Nick Roche.

• 
  Cover A - Much tastier than Jurassic Park.
• 
  Cover B - Grimlock doesn't like GEEWUN.
• 
  Cover RI - Even Grimlock hates All Hail Megatron!

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• Speed Racer: the Next Generation
• Pirat Tales
• Ghost Whisperer: The Muse
• Transformers: Alliance #1
• Angel: Smile Time (back cover)

Reprints

Other than collections of the full series.

• N/A

External links

• Nick Roche's gallery of the inks-only pages