Grindor (ROTF)

The name or term "Grindor" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Grindor (disambiguation).

Grindor is a Decepticon from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.

I copied another character's alt-mode 'cause all the cool 'cons were doing it.

Grindor is a helicopter. Don't confuse him with that other guy.

Although it is objectives that will win a battle, it is sheer ruthlessness that will win a war.Grindor's sagely advice to the Decepticons, Revenge of the Fallen: The Game

Fiction

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Frank Welker

Ordered by The Fallen to capture Sam Witwicky for the information that the All Spark had imprinted in his mind, Megatron led Starscream and Grindor to Earth, waiting for the human boy to be flushed out by one of their agents. Grindor captured the humans' escape vehicle and brought it to an abandoned industrial facility where Starscream and Megatron were waiting. While Grindor waited outside, Megatron and Scalpel interrogated the boy, preparing to extract the information by removing his brain, a process that was interrupted by the arrival of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Optimus briefly fought off Megatron and Starscream before escaping with Sam into the woods.

Megatron and his soldiers followed, fighting the outnumbered and outgunned but defiant Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader cut off Grindor's right arm, then slashed into his chest before tearing his face apart. As he pushed the lifeless hulk to the ground, Optimus contemptuously commented on the materials Grindor was made of. Revenge of the Fallen

Games

Revenge of the Fallen The Game

Voice actor: Fred Tatasciore

Spoiler warning: Plot details follow. Please give an expiry date ({{spoiler|(story)|DATE}}) - either the date of the next episode/issue in the series or 30 days after release, whichever is sooner

Revenge of the Fallen The Game (Xbox 360/PS3)

I have tan parts! That's how you know.

Decepticon campaign

Grindor serves a similar role amongst the Decepticons to that which Ironhide serves for the Autobots - he's the Heavy Weapons Guy. Big, slow, durable, and seriously over-armed, Grindor can even drop off rocket-firing turrets for that extra added overkill. During the Decepticons' missions in Shanghai, Grindor got his butt kicked by the Autobots and was left to rot, requiring Sideways to come pull his fat out of the fire. Revenge of the Fallen The Game (console)

Autobot campaign

Grindor later showed up at the east coast foundry when Bumblebee arrived to rescue Sam. Assisted by a squad of drones, the Decepticon almost overwhelmed the plucky little Autobot, but in the end Bumblebee reduced Grindor and his unit into scrap metal. Revenge of the Fallen The Game (console)

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class

No, I'm not Blackout! There is NO missing scene dammit! We're nothing alike. I would never let myself get shot in the balls.

• Grindor (Legends, 2009)

Revenge of the Fallen Legends Grindor is a redeco of the first movie's Legends class Blackout toy in a light blue base color with digital camouflage. Legends Grindor is a small and highly simplified version of the character, featuring limited articulation and detail, with the helicopter mode not being a particularly faithful recreation of an Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low heavy-lift helicopter. (The placement of the fuel tanks, in particular, makes him look more like a CH-53 Sea Stallion.) Even though the robot mode sports an attempt to emulate the movie character's chest design, this does not involve the use of obvious fake elements of the helicopter mode's cockpit, unlike other Legends Class toys of movie characters.

Voyager Class

Just you wait, someone will call him Leader-1.

• Grindor (Voyager, 2009)
  • Japanese ID number: RD-18
  • Accessories: Scorponok mini-figure

Grindor is a redeco of the first movie's Voyager class Blackout figure in a more military-accurate grey colour scheme. The little Scorponok mini-figure has been redecoed to reflect the colour changes on the Revenge of the Fallen release of Deluxe class Scorponok (even though the two never appear together in the film).

Grindor transforms into a reasonably accurate MH-53 Pave Low. An aft "cage" compartment can be opened to release a small PVC figurine of his partner, Scorponok. A button under his tail rotor can be pressed in a geared action to rotate his rotor blades. By attaching the Deluxe-class Scorponok to his underside, the rotor gimmick also spins Scorponok's claws.

During transformation, Grindor's (mind-numbingly delicate) Automorphing gimmick is activated when the user swings down his legs, which in turn flips the gray chest section his head is mounted upon up and into position, and lifts his back assembly and locks it into place behind his head. Another, less impressive automorph is in his legs—if you pull his knees down, his shin armor pops out a bit. The entire rotor assembly on his back can be removed and converted into a gigantic fan weapon, to represent vaguely the hand-held rotor-blade weapon he and Blackout wield in the films. Because of the size of his rotor assembly, Grindor is also much shorter than most Voyager-class figures despite his bulk, barely taller than a Deluxe figure.

It is very easy for the gears in the cockpit/chest to become misaligned during transformation, enough so that the chest/head section refuses to align with the cockpit halves. Getting the gears back into alignment is a veritable nightmare, as so many other parts shift and move as you attempt to manipulate the respective pieces. Swinging the legs down locks the back assembly into place for robot mode, but simply swinging the legs back does not unlock it, with the user being required to separate the parts actively by hand. Failing to do so is sure to misalign your Grindor to bejeezus.

An interesting side note is that the two hard points located on Grindor's shoulders, intended to support his abominably large weapon, are actually the same size as the Mini-Con Powerlinx plugs on most Unicron Trilogy figures.

The original Blackout release of this mold was retooled as Movie Evac and Revenge of the Fallen Whirl.

Fast Action Battlers

Hey, is that Leader-1?

• Missile Assault Grindor (Fast Action Battler, 2009)
  • Accessories: Projectile

Missile Assault Grindor is a redeco of the first movie's Gyro Blade Blackout in a more military-accurate grey colour scheme. He is a simplified version of Grindor/Blackout design, designed for smaller children. His rotor blade can be detached and inserted into his left hand to represent the hand-held rotor blade seen in the film, just like the Voyager class version. He also features a chest cannon which can be flipped up from his back. Oddly, you can only see one-fourth of Grindor's head from a 90-degree angle. Even less of it is visible when his chest cannon is flipped up. He features a firing missile.

Notes

• Although his toys (and seemingly the CG model of his robot mode) are identical to Blackout's, and although the toys' packaging retains Pave Low licensing information, Grindor's alt mode in the movie is in fact a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion—essentially a slightly upsized Pave Low operated by the US Marine Corps. The ROTF video games include licensing information for the Super Stallion instead of the Pave Low. The alt mode switch may be explained by the retirement of the USAF's Pave Lows in 2008.

• Frank Welker is not credited for the voice of Grindor in the credits of the film itself, but his "Official Homepage" would later credit him for the role. While we're not entirely convinced that the page wasn't simply updated by someone who read it on Wikipedia, the "sheeeagh" that Grindor lets out as Optimus Prime rips his head apart is pretty unmistakeably Welker.

• Revenge of the Fallen never explicitly establishes Grindor as a separate character from Blackout. Screenwriter Roberto Orci, when asked, was not sure whether they were supposed to be the same character or not. Although given there is no scene which shows his resurrection, it can be safe to assume Grindor is a separate character with the same body-type.

• There is actually one very subtle difference between Blackout and Grindor. Grindor has a vaguely different head crest to Blackout (and on the toy box art, this crest is coloured gold).

• As seen in the game Grindor has the ability to hover using the engines of his Helicopter mode as jets. Blackout seemingly did not have this ability.