Dinobot Hunt (IDW)

This article is about the IDW issue. For the Marvel UK story, see Dinobot Hunt!. For a list of other meanings, see Dinobot Hunt (disambiguation).

« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #8 » Combiner Wars #1
"Dinobot Hunt"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 8, 2012
Cover date	August 2012
Story by	John Barber
Art by	Andrew Griffith
Colors by	Josh Perez and Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2012)

Ironhide and the Dinobots search for the missing Aerialbots, but unexpected surprises lurk in the wilderness...

Synopsis

Just as the Dinobots make their return to Cybertron, the Autobots detect a signal coming from deep within the unexplored wilderness that now covers most of their planet. Knowing that most of the Autobots are unsettled by him following his return from death and his talk of a vision of the future, Ironhide volunteers to investigate the signal, believing it may have been sent by the Aerialbots, and recruits the Dinobots, equally as ostracized for their refusal to give up their Earth-borne dinosaur modes, to join him. The team are flown out over the wilderness by Sky Lynx, but before long, some form of interference begins to play havoc with his guidance system, and Ironhide orders him to safely return to the city while he and the Dinobots air-drop to the surface and continue on foot. Unfortunately, they drop straight into the lair of a mutated turbofox, and although the Dinobots are able to destroy it with brutal swiftness, the discovery of Silverbolt's wing among the detritus indicates that the team are on the right track to discovering what became of their former comrades. Ironhide advocates finding a place to set up camp for the night, much to Slag's consternation; Swoop, in turn, is amused to hear the two grizzled warriors trash-talking one another.

Back in Iacon, Starscream and Metalhawk have begun pushing for free elections, with Bumblebee resisting out of private concern that Starscream will win. Surprisingly, however, Prowl voices his support for the idea, and when Bumblebee questions him, Prowl encourages him to provide for the voters a counterpoint to Metalhawk and Starscream's romantic spin on the history of the war. Megatron was no freedom fighter, no hero—Bumblebee was a hero, and Prowl believes that if they hold elections, Bumblebee will honestly win.

At the Decepticon pen in Iacon, Swindle approaches Shockwave to talk, though the cyclopean Decepticon has no interest in hearing him, claiming he is content not to interfere in current events. Refusing to believe him, Swindle brings out Dirge, who relates everything that he has seen and heard Prowl do, explaining that he is on the run from the Autobots and wants Shockwave's help. When Shockwave asks what he wants him to do, Swindle grins and dubs that the real question.

Back out in the wilderness, Ironhide and the Dinobots' explorations have turned up signs of a battle that indicate the combatants were not simply wild animals. Ironhide suspects with some concern that Megatron may yet live, hidden in the wilds, prompting Slag to mock him for his new, reserved attitude. By way of explanation, Ironhide details his premonition for the Dinobots, and surprisingly, this placates Slag, who understands the idea of putting your faith in something intangible: after all, he explains, he didn't join the Dinobots out of rationality. Discussion of Ironhide's vision continues as they cobble a shelter together to spend the night in, with Sludge asking if the Autobots will win in the future. Ironhide reluctantly admits that in his vision, the Autobots have spread to all the corners of the galaxy: expansion, the same goal Nova Prime saw for their race. And if that's the case, is that really a victory? Unsettled by the talk, Ironhide is unable to fall asleep as night sets in, and as such, when noises begin outside, he is first into action. The unseen enemy has made short work of half the Dinobots: Snarl's apparently-dead body is hurled at Ironhide from behind, and as he struggles to get his bearings, he stumbles across Sludge's decapitated beast mode head. Bellowing challenges into the darkness, Ironhide is unprepared for the next attack...

...as Slag and Swoop run him through from either side!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	NAILs
Ironhide (1) Sky Lynx (2) Slag (3) Swoop (4) Snarl (5) Sludge (6) Prowl (7) Bumblebee (8) Jetfire (10) Broadside (12) Zeta Prime (15) Sentinel Prime (16) Optimus Prime (17)	Starscream (11) Dirge (13) Megatron (14) Shockwave (18) Swindle (19)	Metalhawk (9)

Quotes

"You had a vision."
"That's what I call it, but it's more'n that. It's somethin' I know in my Spark is true. Don't matter if you believe me."
"Those things... they do have truth in them."
"Huh. Guess I didn't expect you to believe in things like visions."
"You think I decided to become a Dinobot because of, what? A rational philosophy?"

—Slag and Ironhide

Notes

Continuity notes

• The Aerialbots left Iacon for the wilderness back in issue #3.
• The Dinobots were last seen at the close of the Maximum Dinobots mini-series, over three years before the publication of this issue. Prior to this, IDW continuity has consistently named the team the "Dynobots" in-story (a term borrowed from Dreamwave Productions' War Within: The Dark Ages, used to refer to the team as they existed on Cybertron before they had dinosaur modes). With this issue, that's obviously been abandoned, and the team have changed their name to the traditional spelling, though it's never actually addressed in-story.
• Sludge calls Sky Lynx an "oversized Ardurian roc," another reference to the bird-like alien species visually depicted for the first time in issue #6.
• Prowl's flashback to the war shows images of Megatron battling Sentinel Prime from Megatron Origin #4, assassinating Zeta Prime and casting Orion Pax into the Underworld from Autocracy #8, and ripping the Matrix of Leadership out of Optimus Prime from All Hail Megatron #7.
• Megatron has been missing since the final part of "Chaos", the penultimate issue of the previous ongoing series, having failed to reappear on Cybertron post-reformatting.
• Dirge has been on the run since issue #4, in which he was briefly mind-controlled by Bombshell, and witnessed Prowl executing the Constructicons. He had hooked up with Swindle for protection by issue #5, and Swindle believes Dirge's intel will help incriminate Prowl in the murder of Ratbat, as seen in issue #2.
• Ironhide's vision of the future, Pax Cybertronia, was seen in issue #31 of the ongoing series.
• Slag and Swoop's eyes are yellow when they attack Ironhide at the end of the issue. This isn't an error; the Dinobots' eyes have been subtly changing from red to orange to yellow throughout the issue, and they will remain yellow all next issue as well. This is not the first time we've seen a character's eyes turn yellow when they lost control of themselves—the same thing happened to Sunstorm when he was mind-controlled by Bombshell in issue #4. Bear that in mind...

Transformers references

• This issue is, of course, named after the Marvel UK story, "Dinobot Hunt!"
• The layered, honeycomb-styled landscape Sky Lynx flies over on page 6 is reminiscent of Cybertron as it appeared in Dark of the Moon.
• Swindle tells Shockwave that Dirge comes with "cone-shaped hat in hand" — a reference to the fan-coined term, conehead.
• Sky Lynx mentions a place called Leghuz Bregiv. It is a reference to his Hungarian (Légi Hiúz), and Russian (Braviy) name.

Real-world references

• The opening scene, in which Ironhide addresses his "troops" while marching in front of a giant Autobot symbol, pays homage to the opening of the movie Patton, in which the title character does the same in front of a giant American flag.

Errors

• Dirge's optics are yellow in the second panel of page 17, before switching to red; this isn't tied into the yellow-eyed mind-control stuff in the rest of the issue! His "eyebrow" piece is also colored blue like his helmet for the second and third panels, but gray like his face in the rest.
• On page 20, its should be it's.

Other trivia

• The return of the Dinobots in this series coincidences with that of their leader Grimlock across issues #7 and #8 of sister title More than Meets the Eye and in The Transformers: Regeneration One #82 for a micro-event called out on the August covers as "Dinobot Month!"

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title: "Dinobot Hunt" (ダイノボット・ハント Dainobotto Hanto)

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Ironhide and the Dinobots in their dino modes, by Andrew Griffith and Joana Lafuente.
• Cover B: Ironhide and the Dinobots in their robot modes jumping from Sky Lynx, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente.
• Cover RI: Slag, Sludge, Swoop, and Snarl by Marcelo Matere and Priscilla Tramontano, the third quarter of a combined image formed with the RI cover to More than Meets the Eye #7, #8, and Robots in Disguise #7.
• Hasbro Exclusive Cover: Vortex advancing on a terrified Transformer, exclusively available with Generations Deluxe Class Vortex. Rebranded as Combiner Wars #1. Art by Ken Christiansen and Volta.

• 
  Me Ironhide!
• 
  Never did want to live forever.
• 
  G1, baby!
• 
  Step into the Vortex!

Advertisements

• More than Meets the Eye #8
• The Transformers: Regeneration One #82
• Doctor Who Annual
• Godzilla: The Half-Century War
• More than Meets the Eye 2012 Annual
• Rocketeer: Cargo of the Doom (back cover)

Reprints

• The Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 2 (January 2, 2013) ISBN 1613775415 / ISBN 978-1613775417
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #6–9.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
  • Trade paperback format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 2 (August 4, 2015) ISBN 1631403648 / ISBN 978-1631403644
  • Collects Autocracy issues #1–12, Spotlight: Trailcutter, Hoist & Orion Pax, Robots in Disguise issues #7 & #8–9, and More than Meets the Eye issues #6–8.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: Robots in Disguise Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404261 / ISBN 978-1631404269
  • Collects Robots in Disguise Volumes 1–5.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 56: City on Fire (October 2, 2019)
  • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #8-14 and Annual 2012.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Robots in Disguise Volume 2 – cover art by Andrew Griffith and Joana Lafuente
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 2 – cover art by Saren Stone
• 
  Robots in Disguise Box Set – cover art by ???
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 56: City on Fire – cover art by Don Figueroa and Andrew Griffith