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.

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on Grindor. A master strategist, and close combat specialist, Grindor can predict his opponents next move before they know it themselves. It's reached the point where it's less planning and more instinct on his part. With every possible move planned out beforehand, Grindor confidently wades into the center of battle, ready for any and all comers.

Except this guy.

Don't confuse him with that guy.

“	Objectives will win a battle, but it is sheer ruthlessness that will win a war.	”
—Grindor's sagely advice to the Decepticons, Revenge of the Fallen: The Game

Fiction

Titan Magazines

Unlike his bio, Grindor here comes off more like a working stiff.

Him and Raoul were in the same engineering course.

Grindor was despatched to Las Vegas by Soundwave, who refused to tell him what he was looking for and directed him to some old car. He was a bit fed up until he was told to cut open said car and remove its insides, fun fun fun! Once he'd secured the Cybertronian "memory tree", he came under attack by NEST forces intending to capture him. Using his rotors, he created a whirlwind that hurled cars at his enemies, but they easily managed to anchor him to the ground with an electrified cable before he could retreat.

Luckily two dumbasses turned up and shot the cable off, allowing Grindor to escape! Learning Curve

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.

I predict a checkmate in 4 mo-*stab*.

Megatron followed, but soon called for his soldiers to assist. Grindor played little part in the opening attack, grabbing the Autobot and sawing into his face before being knocked away, but eventually gathered on the outnumbered and outgunned but defiant Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader immediately unsheathed both battle blades and attacked the Decepticons, cutting off Grindor's right arm, slashing into his chest, sending some of Starscream's artillery his way and throwing his right battle blade into the Decepticon's torso. Badly hurt, Grindor required some downtime before he could rejoin the battle, during which Optimus stabbed Megatron and knocked off Starscream's arm.

I think you'll find your death is beyond imagination.

Grindor was just pulling out the deenergized blade Prime had swung into him when the Autobot unleashed his hooks and jabbed it into into his optic, using the leverage to pull himself onto the Decepticon. Once on top, Prime then struck another hook into Grindor, then proceeded to tear his head 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

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game

Voice actor: Fred Tatasciore (English) Jarosław Boberek (Polish)

Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC

Decepticon campaign

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

Grindor served in a similar capacity amongst the Decepticons to that which Ironhide served for the Autobots - he was the Heavy Weapons Guy. Big, slow, durable, and seriously over-armed, Grindor could even drop off machinegun turrets for that extra added overkill.

During the Decepticons' missions in China, Grindor oversaw their supposedly secret mission in Shanghai, until his forces were detected and routed by NEST and the Autobots. Imprisoned in the docks, Sideways had to come and rescue his comrade.

On the United States West Coast, Grindor was assigned to hack into NEST's communication network in the downtown area. Fighting through its Autobot Protectobot defenders, Grindor managed to link up with each of the town's five communications arrays, furthering the Decepticon cause.

On the East Coast, Grindor was assigned to capture Ladiesman217, designation Samuel Witwicky. After destroying the human's dorm building, Grindor took Witwicky to the nearby foundry where he would be interrogated by Megatron. However, during this process, the Autobots sent waves of Protectobots against Grindor in an attempt to save the boy, but they failed.Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Autobot campaign

While Grindor secured their position by deploying Combaticon and Constructicon drones around the town, Bumblebee arrived to rescue Sam. Assisted by his 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 (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

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.

This mold was also redecoed as Spinister for the Kmart-exclusive "War for the Skies" battlepack.

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.

• Surface To Air Showdown (Voyager 2-pack, 2009)
  • Accessories: Scorponok mini-figure

A Costco-exclusive two-pack featuring Grindor squaring off against Ratchet, strangely reminiscent of Ratchet's fight with Blackout in the Transformers: Autobots Nintendo DS game. Both toys remain unchanged from their individual retail release.

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. In the TFWiki.net Hasbro Q&A for July 2009, it was confirmed that Grindor, not Blackout, appears in the movie.

• In the novel, it never tells his name, just a "huge Russian helicopter". Who can blame them, Roberto Orci couldn't eithre.