Dungeons & Dinobots

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"Dungeons & Dinobots"
Publisher	Fun Publications
First published	December 5, 2008
Written by	Trent Troop and Greg Sepelak
Illustration by	Evan Gauntt
Cover	Evan Gauntt
Continuity	Shattered Glass
Chronology	Current era (2008)
Page count	36

Following the Ark's destruction, the new Dinobots are unleashed! But what ancient horror is behind Grimlock's miraculous transformation?

Synopsis

Events from the prologue are in italics

At the recently discovered Arch-Ayr fuel dump in Khon, the Decepticons defend the station from the Autobots, who are attempting to steal the fuel there so they can make the Ark space-worthy once more. Megatron is downed by a plasma blast, and Starscream rushes to his downed leader with a medi-pack, as Optimus Prime pushes his foot forward. Megatron asks his second in command for a status report; Starscream reports that Huffer is hardly a concern, and that Hound's hallucination signals have been taken out by a dampener. Prime is holding position, but Rodimus and Arcee are attempting to flank towards Sideswipe and Gutcruncher's position. Their conversation is interrupted when the Decepticon's newest recruit, a Cliffjumper who claims to be from a mirror universe where Autobots are good and Decepticons are evil, begins firing across the battlefield at Prime. Megatron orders Starscream to help Cliffjumper, while he repairs himself, vowing to not allow the fuel depot to fall into Prime's hands, while Starscream reluctantly suggests destroying the depot. Soundwave's voice cuts in on the Decepticon radio, telling the others that he's called in reinforcements, as an exasperated Megatron realizes the one squad he's called in: the Mayhem Suppression Squad. Suddenly, Crasher races across the battlefield, transforming and pounding her hands into the ground, creating shock waves that send Huffer and Hound flying. Crasher greets her commander, and sends Dirge and Thundercracker to deal with Rodimus and Arcee. Dirge's laughter-inducing engines take Rodimus out of the battle, but the insane Arcee rushes forth, blasting Gutcruncher. She too, however, is taken out when Thundercracker's ability to create an area of total silence prevents her from hearing the voices in her head, and Gutcruncher take her out. Prime is furious with his troop's weakness, but is suddenly blasted by the Decepticon cowboy Bludgeon with his pistols, while the Decepticon wolf, Carnivac, rushes forth. Working together, the two keep Prime from focusing his attentions on either one of them, angering and fatiguing the Autobot leader. Watching, Starscream admits the group is quiet effective, while Megatron is concerned by their enthusiasm.

Both sides regroup to discuss tactics. The Decepticons wonder how to flush the Autobots out of their cover when a rumble shakes the battlefield, knocking down several of them. Getting up, Cliffjumper spots massive mechanical beasts, crushing everything in their way. Sideswipe assumes its one of Hound's illusions, but Thundercracker points out that Hound's offline, and that the dampener is still running. Cliffjumper notices Grimlock in the lead, and realizes they're newly created Dinobots. The herd stops, and atop the largest one, Wheeljack greets Prime, the mad scientist having escaped from his exile in Gygax to enact his revenge. His newest creations, the Dinobots, were created from modified version of the artificial intelligence program created by Starscream for Grimlock. Prime, seeing his disadvantage, forgives the scientist for all his sins...provided his creations work. Not the reaction Wheeljack expected, he nevertheless orders his creations to destroy the Decepticons. The heard roars...and begins to tear into each other after an impact between two of them spreads throughout the heard. Wheeljack fails to control his creations, and is knocked straight into some scrum when his mount joins in.

At Autobot headquarters in Iacon, Prime furiously berates two of his soldiers, Blurr and Side Burn. Optimus blames the loss of the depot on Blurr, the cousin of Crasher, telling him he should have killed her when he had the chance. Blurr attempts to defend himself, but the younger Side Burn cuts in, pointing out that he had suggested reforming the Wreckers, and that if the Decepticons had been defeated, Wheeljack would have attacked Prime with his Dinobots. Angered, Prime nevertheless considers the recovery of the Dinobots more important than "stress relief" or the recovery of a minor fuel depot. Grimlock, in particular, is a priority, Prime not wanting him to fall back into the Decepticon's hands. All Autobots who are not involved in Ark repair are to search for the Dinobots. Prime intends on sending Wheeljack back into exile, but Side Burn, recognizing Wheeljack's potential, comes up with an alternative punishment: forcing Wheeljack to repair the computers for the Ark, a lowly task for someone as intelligent as him, and to have him know that he will be going to Earth in case he tries to sabotage the ship. Delighted by Side Burn's deviancy, Prime has him reporting to Ark duty, where Wheeljack with join him after getting a Earth-mode from the Autobot "medic" Ratchet, while Blurr is to join the Dinobot search party. Leaving the chamber, Blurr pushes Side Burn into the wall; suspicious of the younger Autobot, Blurr tells him to stay out of his way, lest an "accident" happen. Side Burn simply smiles as the elder Autobot drives off, repositioning a Decepticion Micromaster corpse Blurr knocked down.

At the fuel depot, reinforcements from Darkmount load up supplies and energon rods into Astrotrain. Dirge advocates capturing a few of the Dinobots to make Dinocons, but Cliffjumper is unsure, remember the Dinobots of his home dimension and how troublesome they were. Starscream, however, sees merit in Dirge's idea, wanting to recover his old A.I. matrix, and Megatron agrees. Megatron has Astotrain return to Darkmount with the supplies for "Project Doubletake", and has Starscream gather a dozen of their best soldiers for this "Dinobot Hunt". Crasher, enthusiastic as ever, volunteers the Mayhem Suppression Squad for this mission.

The ever-optimistic Huffer follows Grimlock into the lower, abandoned levels of Cybertron. Smiling to himself, he launches his tow-cable around Grimlock's midsection. Noticing this, Grimlock begins to thrash about, throwing Huffer into a wall and causing him to drop the positronic deregulator made by Wheeljack to tame the Dinobots. Grimlock rushes forth to his attacker, but when he sees the Autobot symbol on Huffer's tow-cannon, the hardwired directives installed in him by Optimus Prime begin to cause him pain. Huffer tries to placate the Dinobot, but Grimlock tells him to shut up, hearing a voice that Huffer can't. As the smaller Autobot begins to slowly aim his cannon, Grimlock, following the unseen voices instructions, leans forth and grabs Huffer's gun, destroying it and the Autobot symbol that caused him pain. Huffer, not one to push his chances, transforms and flees. Grimlock wants to chase Huffer, but his unseen instructor beckons him to come forth, as the Dinobot heads further into Cybertron...

Near the Rust Sea, Cliffjumper and Sideswipe spy in their makeshift hunting blind as one Dinobot, a small red and grey one named Slugfest feeds on the energon crystalline growths. Sideswipe isn't sure how to proceed, but Cliffjumper jumps forth, tackling Slugfest to the ground. Slugfest yelps, telling Cliffjumper that he has big friends, but the extradimensional Autobot ignores his claims, fixing a restraining bolt to Slugfest. Suddenly, Sideswipe warns him to look out, as a large Dinobot bursts through the crystal "trees", declaring "Me gore you!" The Dinobot lunges at Grimlock, but when he notices Cliffjumper's symbol, the Dinobot is confused; it looks the the purple face he's not supposed to hurt, but is colored like the red face he's allowed to. Sideswipe takes his chance to fly up and hit the Dinobot with his missile batons, surprising the Dinobot. Sideswipe transforms as the Dinobot's aggression is focused on him, and Cliffjumper grabs onto his tail as the Dinobot gives chase. Climbing up with a restraining bolt in his teeth, Cliffjumper shouts to Sideswipe that he'll be there soon, realizing his mistake too late, while Sideswipe dodges the Dinobot's ice breath. All the while, the two bicker at each other.

Elsewhere, Jazz and Goldbug have managed to find a Dinobot of their own; a flying one named Swoop, who is currently nesting on an old communications tower. Jazz wants to kill the beast, but Goldbug insists on keeping it alive, telling Jazz to climb tower. Jazz wants to vote on it, and the two argue until Blurr and Rodimus arrive. The two Seekers agree with their commander on sending Jazz up, but Prime's bodyguard flips down his missile racks, still refusing to go up. When all of the other's weapons are leveled at him, however, Jazz asks for a cable.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons	Autobots	Others
Starscream (1) Megatron (2) Sideswipe (8) Gutcruncher (9) Soundwave (11) Crasher (12) Dirge (13) Thundercracker (14) Bludgeon (15) Carnivac (16) Slugfest (17) Kakuryu (18) Goryu (19) Doryu (20) Unnamed dead Decepticon Micromaster (26) Astrotrain (27)	Optimus Prime (3) Huffer (4) Hound (5) Rodimus (6) Arcee (7) Grimlock (21) Sludge (22) Wheeljack (23) Blurr (24) Side Burn (25) Jazz (29) Goldbug (30) Swoop (31) Drench (33) Cliffjumper (34) Ratchet (35)	Cliffjumper (10) Omega Terminus (28) Mutants (32)

Quotes

"Fear not, Mega-Dude! This is Soundwave, rockin' the radio from Darkmount, and I bring you joyous tidings! For I have totally called in the cavalry!"

—Soundwave is the righteous bearer of good news.

"Shoot it! I can't keep this up forever!"
"I can't, the glass gas'll blow back in my face!"
"That's a terrible weapon!"
"Why don't you just beat it to death with a missile if you're so smart!"

—Sideswipe and Cliffjumper discuss tactics.

"Yes, it seems we could use a hand."
"Heh, good thing I gots two, eh?"

—Goldbug and Rodimus. Oh, the irony.

"Listen Huffer, you'd better talk. My partner here isn't quite what you'd call sane. He believes in Primus."

—Sideswipe gives the Shattered Glass perception of Transformer religious views.

"Me... me... m... m... my... I... iii... I... Griiimm... lock... waaaaannnt... to talk a little bit about the truly fascinating ramifications of directly applied neutronic rearrangement when applied to instantaneous mechanical re-engineering! It is a fascinating subject, particularly in terms of practical application, wot?"

—Grimlock goes from stupidly incomprehensible to intelligently incomprehensible.

"LEAVE WITH YOUR LIVES. NEVER RETURN."
"And if we don't?"
"YOU ARE OUT OF SCRAPLETS."

—Omega Terminus makes a rather persuasive argument to Sideswipe.

Notes

• Characters mentioned but who do not appear in-story include: the "real" Optimus Prime, Cliffjumper's Megatron, Sunstreaker, the Wreckers, Cliffjumper's Dinobots, Astrotrain's Micromaster partners, Blaster, Geronimo, Slag, Primus, Bombshell, Ultra Magnus, Beachcomber, the Old One, Fixit, eight Autobot-aligned Dinobots, Hoist, and Chromedome.

Continuity notes

• This story takes place after the original "Shattered Glass" comic. Various events and ideas from that story, including the foiling of the launch of the Ark, the Decepticons being joined by the positive universe Cliffjumper, and the idea that mirror universe sparks are called "embers", are mentioned near the beginning of the story.
• Crasher was originally mentioned in Blurr's BotCon 2008 biocard as his cousin; her role is greatly expanded on in this story.
• Grimlock was noted to be a creation of Starscream's in his BotCon 2008 biocard.
• Blurr attempts to defend himself by pointing out that Prime didn't have Sunstreaker kill Sideswipe, his brother; Sunstreaker showed up in the original "Shattered Glass" comic, shown to be one of Prime's earliest recruits.
• The Wreckers were originally mentioned as a mercenary group in Rodimus' BotCon 2008 biocard; Rodimus was the sole survivor of the group.
• Side Burn is treated as something of an enigma, not really belonging with the Autobots. Later stories would make exactly why this is explicit.
• Cliffjumper notes that his Dinobots often ran off on their own, and would occasionally attempt to take over the Autobots; the former calls back to Marvel Transformers issues #19 and #70, while the later likely refers to issue #27.
• In the original "Shattered Glass" comic, the Decepticons had never heard of Primus until Cliffjumper told them about Him. They are shocked to hear the idea that they are the work of a benevolent Creator. By the time of "Dungeons & Dinobots", word of Cliffjumper's "beliefs" has apparently made rounds. The Autobots consider Cliffjumper crazy and laughable for being "Mr. 'The Planet is a God'".

Transformers references

• Like a few characters in the original Shattered Glass comic, many of the characters introduced in this story are either repurposed from existing toys, or virtual redecoes of existing toys. (Although some, such as characters simply namedropped, as well as Hound, are not sufficient described in story to know what they are repurposed/"redecoed" from.) Additionally, while the original "Shattered Glass" story depicted most of its characters as being near identical to their positive-universe counterparts but with their moralities inverted, this story depicts the characters having opposite versions of their positive-universe counterpart's tics and abilities.
  • Huffer, repurposed from the Target-exclusive live-action movie Armorhide toy. Many of these Scout class figures would be repurposed as various Shattered Glass characters. Unlike positive-universe Huffer's whiny, complaining nature, Huffer takes everything in stride, considering even damage to himself a reason to smile.
  • Hound, who is noted to have an "hallucination signal"; later stories would make it clear that this is an inversion of the positive-universe Hound's holograms.
  • Arcee, repurposed from the Target-exclusive live-action movie Elita-One toy. Arcee is depicted as being completely insane, perhaps owning to the original depiction of her positive-universe counterpart in the IDW comics.
  • Gutcruncher, repurposed from the Target-exclusive live-action movie Signal Flare toy.
  • Soundwave (having previously appeared in a non-speaking role in the original Shattered Glass comic) is depicted as one righteous dude, compared to rather emotionless depiction of Soundwave in the original Transformers cartoon.
  • Crasher, who is either repurposed from or shares her positive-universe counterpart's initial white color scheme. Crasher is noted to make an odd whirring noise when she transforms; the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon depicted the Guardian and Renegade's conversion noise as a mechanical-sounding whir, more similar to the Beast Wars conversion noise than the concurrent Transformers one. Additionally, Shattered Glass Crasher releases shock waves into the ground with her arms, as opposed to GoBots Crasher using her feet to produce them.
  • Dirge, a virtual redeco of Timelines Dirge in the colors of Beast Wars II Thrust. Dirge is depicted as a lively bot who looks on the bright side and cracks jokes, as compared to positive-universe Dirge's grim, depressive personality. Shattered Glass' Dirge has laughter inducing engines, while Generation 1 Dirge had fear-inducing engines.
  • Thundercracker, a virtual redeco of Classics Starscream in his positive-universe counterpart's Action Master color scheme. Thundercracker can create areas of pure silence, mirroring his positive-universe counterpart's ability to create a sonic boom.
  • Bludgeon, repurposed from his Robots in Disguise counterpart's toy. Bludgeon is depicted as having been influenced by transmissions from Earth to model himself after a cowboy, pistols and hip holsters included, as opposed to his positive-universe samurai counterpart.
  • Carnivac, a virtual redeco of his positive-universe counterpart's toy in either red-and-blue or gold (the story doesn't say whether Carnivac is a Pretender or not; its likely that one of the color schemes is in error). Carnivac is depicted as something of a knight, similar to Beast Wars Silverbolt.
  • Wheeljack, a virtual redeco of Energon Downshift in European-exclusive Generation 1 Slicer colors, who was himself a Decepticon redeco of Wheeljack's Generation 1 Wheeljack's Action Master toy. This would later become a real toy at BotCon 2010 as "Decepticon Slice", which could be repurposed as Wheeljack. Unlike most, Wheeljack is still a mad scientist in this story, although with more emphasis on the "mad" part. Like his positive-universe counterpart, his "ears" glow when he talks, in a sickly yellow-green instead of blue.
  • Goryu, a virtual redeco of Masterpiece Grimlock in a color scheme inspired by Goryu's positive-universe counterpart's shell, along with the distinctive spikes of said shell added to his dinosaur mode.
  • Slugfest, a virtual redeco of his positive-universe counterpart's toy in the color of fellow cassete Grand Slam. Slugfest believes himself to be "the coolest" and that everyone loves him; positive universe Slugfest, meanwhile, is paranoid about what everyone thinks of him.
  • Kakuryu (who only shows up in illustration, along with Doryu), based on Generation 1 Slag in a color scheme inspired by Kakuryu's positive-universe counterpart's shell colors; Kakuryu's dinosaur alt-mode has been changed from a Triceratops to a Styracosaurus.
  • Doryu, based on Generation 1 Snarl in a color scheme inspired by Doryu's positive-universe counterpart's shell colors.
  • Sludge, a virtual redeco of his Generation 1 Sludge in Constructicon colors.
  • Side Burn, repurposed from his positive-universe counterpart's Universe toy. Side Burn believes that "undue attention to females" is a waste of resources, while the positive-universe Side Burn was a womanizing mech who was more often occupied with chasing them instead of his missions.
  • Astrotrain, repurposed from his Cybertron counterpart's toy. His Micromaster partners would later be named in "Do Over".
  • Swoop, a virtual redeco of Cybertron Brimstone in the color of Armada Ravenus' mutated form (Ravenus normal form resembles Swoop's positive-universe counterpart). His positive-universe counterpart's position as the "friendliest Dinobot" is amped to 11 here.
  • Drench, repurposed from his positive-universe counterpart's toy with red eyes.
  • Cliffjumper, a virtual redeco of Classics Cliffjumper in navy and grey.
  • Ratchet, a virtual redeco of Energon Roadblock in white and green scrubs, with a new head inspired by Ratchet's positive-universe counterpart.
• Additionally, a few Shattered Glass characters are mentioned who do not appear in the story. Most of these characters would eventually appear in the other prose stories, comics, or some other source. These characters include:
  • Blaster, who's noted to have a cassette/"memory cartridge" holding form.
  • Geronimo, who died early in the war; his positive-universe counterpart also died early in the war, as mentioned in Dreamwave Productions' The Age of Wrath comic.
  • Slag, whom Goryu thinks is ugly.
• At the beginning of the story, Starscream yells "Megatron has fallen!" when his commander is wounded, the orders the others to stick to the plan; this inverts the rather common event of the positive-universe Starscream declaring himself leader after even the slightest damage caused to Megatron in the original Transformers cartoon ("Megatron has fallen! I, Starscream, am now your leader!").
• Soundwave radios in from Darkmount, the Decepticon-held city introduced in the original Marvel Transformers comic.
• The Mayhem Suppression Squad originally appeared in the "Shattered Expectations" April Fool's comics, set outside the main Shattered Glass timeline. Dirge, Thundercracker, and Astrotrain make the jump into main Shattered Glass continuity here.
• Carnivac shouts "The Mayhem Suppression Squad has shown you its valor, can you not do more?" inverting the Furmanism of "I can do no less."
• Wheeljack is the creator of the Dinobots, much like his positive-universe counterpart was their co-creator in the original Transformers cartoon. Huffer notes in the prologue that Wheeljack and Ratchet (whose positive-universe counterpart was the other creator of the Dinobots) could always make more if the escapees are permanently offlined.
• Gygax was originally mentioned in Classics story "The New World", also written by Sepelak and Troop.
• Side Burn notes that they Wreckers would have been the Autobot's best bet against the Mayhem Suppression Squad; the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad often fought one another in the Marvel UK Transformers comics.
• Energon is stored in yellow rods, rather than in pink cubes, as in most positive universes.
• With the Dinobots crazed and scattered, and with both teams trying to gather them up, this story calls back to the Marvel UK Transformers story "Dinobot Hunt!", and Megatron names their mission a "Dinobot Hunt" accordingly.
• The Rust Sea was originally mentioned in the Marvel UK Transformers letters page.
• Written on Goryu's hip is Cybertronix reading "D-322"; D-322 was the Japanese ID number of his positive-universe counterpart's toy.
• Goryu possesses ice breath instead of flame breath like most positive-universe Dinobots.
• Grimlock gained a remarkable intelligence, just like his counterpart in The Transformers cartoon episode "Grimlock's New Brain".
• Scraplets return, but in this universe they are a healing potion.
• The Omega Terminus is the mirrorverse version of Vector Sigma.

Real-world references

• The Arch-Ayr fuel dump is named for the former high-ranking Hasbro employee, Aaron Archer.
• Several characters take influence from real-life celebrities/fictional characters, including:
  • Optimus Prime's voice is meant to sound like the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon villain, Venger, who was also voiced by Peter Cullen.
  • Rodimus, who's dialogue in this story is modeled on John Travolta's character, Vinnie Barbarino, from the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
  • Soundwave, who, according to author Greg Sepelak, is modeled on "Bill S. Preston Esq. and "Ted" Theodore Logan, with a big heaping helping of Val Halen [sic]."
  • Bludgeon's personality, while not influenced by any specific person, seems to be inspired by the adaption of several samurai films into westerns.
• Gygax, the location on Cybertron to which Wheeljack was exiled, is named after Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. The name of the text story and several of its settings, themes, and objects are an overt homage to Dungeons & Dragons.
• Cliffjumper presumably picked up the exclamation "Geronimo" on Earth, which itself is named for the famous Native American leader.
• Cliffjumper isn't very good at remembering dinosaur names; he calls Slugfest a "stagnosaurus" and Goryu a "tyrantosmarmus".
• Grimlock's shift to an intelligent robot closely follows a similar such scene in Gremlins 2, when a Gremlin injected with an intelligence serum immediately declares that "iiiii wwwaaaaaaannnnn....ttto talk about this fascinating phenomenon taking place at this moment."

Errors

• On page 7, Cliffjumper remarks on the noticeable memory cartridge kibble on Slugfest, indicating his alternate mode. However, Dinobots and Dinocons don't HAVE alt modes at this point in the story. They were unable to transform until the Omega Terminus altered them between this story and Do Over.
• On page 20, "air" is misspelled as "hair".
• On page 27, "Blurr" is misspelled as "Burr".
• On page 28, "last remnants of his one-time friend was" should be "last remnants of his one-time friend were".
• On page 30, Blurr claims that since the Autobots have captured eight Dinobots, they have an eight hundred percent increase. Before the hunt, they had zero Dinobots. Eight hundred percent of zero is still zero, and if by some chance Grimlock could count as one Dinobot because he was shortly on their side some time ago, then the increase would be seven hundred percent to get up to eight Dinobots.

External links

• "Dungeons & Dinobots" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club