Grimlock (G1)
| The name or term "Grimlock" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Grimlock (disambiguation). |
- Me Grimlock am Autobot Dinobot and later Maximal from Generation 1 continuity family.
Some Autobots wonder why Grimlock is even on their side. His disposition is much more suited to the Decepticons. After all, he values power and strength over wisdom and compassion, and furthermore, he doesn't really get along with most Autobots. When faced with a problem, his usual responses are to slice it with his energo-sword, tear it to pieces with his bare hands, or outright eat it. He is more willing to accept casualties than most of the Autobot leadership, and doesn't seem particularly concerned about the fleshies either. These things, coupled with his dislike of Optimus Prime, have led to a defection or two on Grimlock's part. He'd have no problem offing the Autobot leader if he thought he could get away with it, though.
What the Autobots don't realize is that the only thing he hates more than weakness is those who abuse their strength, meaning when push comes to shove, Grimlock will always fall in on the right side of the fence. And despite their disagreements, Grimlock holds a respect for Prime's strength and leadership.
Grimlock is the leader of the Dinobots, a small but powerful strike squad. Grimlock himself is extremely strong and durable, and is one of the few Transformers who can not only stand toe-to-toe with Optimus Prime and Megatron, but actually give them a run for their money. Despite his strength and prowess, Grimlock continually struggles with his pronouns.
| “ | Me, Grimlock — BADASS! | ” |
—Grimlock on himself, The War Within #5 | ||
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Inspired by dinosaur fossils, Wheeljack and Ratchet built Grimlock, Slag and Sludge, who promptly went on a rampage. Wheeljack convinced Optimus to lock up the Dinobots, rather than destroy them. Upgrading them to be smarter and more obedient, Wheeljack sent the Dinobots to rescue the Autobots. Frustrated by the Dinobots' success, Megatron learned Grimlock desired to be Autobot leader and tried to trick the Dinobots into serving him, but Optimus's selflessness convinced Grimlock otherwise. The Autobots called upon the Dinobots whenever they were overwhelmed, but Optimus deemed them too chaotic to work at the Autobot base and even had them sent to an island populated by living dinosaurs. Angered by being taken for granted, Grimlock left, until Spike Witwicky convinced him to help when the Autobots began to suffer from Cybertonium deficiency.
In 2005, Grimlock battled Devastator at the Battle of Autobot City, rescued Hot Rod and Kup on Quintessa, received his first kiss from Re-Cycle on planet Junk, and kicked the butt of a god. Still an active Autobot soldier, Grimlock even received a temporary boost to his intelligence, allowing him to create the Technobots.
Marvel Comics continuity
Grimlock lay dormant on the Ark when the ship detected Shockwave in the Savage Land. Fitting Grimlock and his four comrades with alternate modes based on the local fauna, the Dinobots battled Shockwave until they became stuck in a tar pit. In the present, Ratchet discovered their location. Grimlock almost immediately began butting heads with Optimus Prime and soon he and his team left the Autobots.
Following Prime's death, Grimlock returned to nominate himself for the position of leadership, and proved his worth by leading the Autobots in battle against Trypticon. Unfortunately, power corrupted Grimlock, who lived up to his alternate mode's name by constructing a variable voltage harness to torture defectors like Blaster, and picking a fight with Autobots from Nebulos led by Fortress Maximus. Prime was rebuilt as a Powermaster, and appointed Grimlock and Fortress Maximus as his lieutenants.
Grimlock was deactivated in the wake of Starscream's Underbase-fueled rampage, but Ratchet revived him as a Pretender to battle Megatron. Battling the Mayhem Attack Squad, Grimlock found himself in the heart of Cybertron where Primus lay, much to his disbelief. A blast by Octopunch intended for Grimlock hit Primus, awakening him and alerting Unicron to his presence. After returning to Earth and warning Prime, Grimlock joined the search to recover the Matrix of Leadership. During this time he stocked up on Nucleon, which gave him a more powerful body, but at the cost of his transformation abilities. After Prime sacrificed himself to defeat Unicron, Grimlock was Autobot leader once more, and participated in a disastrous battle with Bludgeon's soldiers on the planet Klo. Astonishingly, Prime returned with the Last Autobot, who resurrected the fallen Autobots and ended the war.
In various splinter timelines, Grimlock led the Earthforce, helped Optimus and Megatron battle Jhiaxus's Cybertronians, and rallied with Razorclaw to hold out against the Swarm. In one Grimlock captained the Graviton, patrolling the universe for signs of Decepticon activity for over a decade of peace before Megatron returned and in another, he lived with the effects of Nucleon for twenty-one years before travelling to Nebulos to seek a cure.
Milton Bradley mini-comic
Grimlock was among a number of Autobots under Jetfire's command who crewed the Ark. After it crashed into Earth, the ark detected Soundwave and repaired Grimlock and three others into the Dinobots. The Dinobots soon tracked down Soundwave, but he proved too much for them to handle until Grimlock used his brain and brought the nearby cliff down, knocking them all offline. In the Transformers
Transformers PD-Type
Star Saber recruited Grimlock as backup for a duel with Deathsaurus. Grimlock became bored watching the two of them fight in the sky, but when Star Saber finally succeeded in knocking Deathsaurus to the ground, Grimlock gnawed on his head while Star Saber looked on, pleased at the outcome of his clever plan. Me Strongest! Me Grimlock!
Kid Stuff Talking Story Books
Grimlock and the other Dinobots lived in an underground jungle environment, hidden beneath the Antarctic ice cap. Grimlock and hundred of other Dinobots were immersed in their tar cocoons, awaiting activation to join the Autobot ranks. When the Crusher, a Decepticon juggernaut, forced its way into the Dinobots’ headquarters, the vibrations it produced inadvertently freed the cocooned Dinobots, who charged at Megatron and Soundwave to fend them off. Jaws of Terror
Optimus had requested Grimlock and the rest of the Dinobots’ assistance when he and Prowl investigated Decepticon activity on the island of Buru. Upon their arrival, the Dinobots quickly began overpowering the Insecticons on the island. Slaves of the Insecticons
Marvel Storybooks continuity
Grimlock and the other Dinobots stood by while Swoop mercilessly butchered Devastator and killed the Constructicons one by one. The rest of the Dinobots then joined in ripping the Constructicons' carcasses into scrap metal for good measure. Battle for Earth
Grimlock was present to hear Blaster convey a message from Megatron to Autobot headquarters. Megatron announced that he had taken Sunstreaker hostage, and demanded that the Autobots surrender. Sideswipe was infuriated by the capture of his "twin Autobot," and declared that he would go rescue Sunstreaker himself. Grimlock told Sideswipe that he would not be able to defeat Devastator on his own, and sent Sludge and Slag to help him in his rescue effort. Despite the Dinobot troops' power, the rescue mission failed, and the Autobots had to come up with a new plan. Optimus decided to rely on trickery, and ordered his Autobots to build a hollow effigy of Devastator for them to hide in. Grimlock then wheeled the statue to Decepticon headquarters. There, a note attached to the statie, explaining that it was a peace offering, was used to lure the evil robots into a false sense of security. The ambush and subsequent battle that ensued spelled victory for the Autobots. The Autobots' Secret Weapon
Marvel coloring books
Grimlock encountered Hot Rod on the outskirts of Autobot City. The young Autobot explained to Grimlock as the rest of the Dinobots assembled around them that he was being chased by a squad of Decepticons. Hot Rod then continued into Autobot City to inform Ultra Magnus of the situation while the Dinobots went to do battle with the Decepticons. Though they were taken by surprise by the Decepticon fliers at first, the Decepticons soon gained the advantage in combat. Grimlock even managed to snatch Starscream right out of the air. In the midst of the battle, Grimlock noticed Galvatron taking off towards the nearby Oil Valley to steal oil for himself. Grimlock took off after him, and the two fought it out in the oil drilling area. Grimlock used an oil tower as a bat to beat down on Galvatron. Galvatron retreated within Cyclonus (though not before Grimlock landed a hit on him with the tower) and the Autobots were cheered on by the oil rig workers as they returned to Autobot City. Battle at Oil Valley
Grimlock took part in a battle over energon cubes at Mount St. Hilary which ended when Starscream scarfed all the energon. The Lost Treasure of Cybertron
Big Looker storybooks
Grimlock and the rest of the Dinobots accompanied Hot Rod, Kup and Arcee on a space-faring mission. Though Kup warned Grimlock not to overload the ship, Grimlock ignored him, reasoning that he didn’t want to make a second trip. The ship wound up malfunctioning, and they crash-landed on the planet Quintesson. There, they encountered Wheelie, who warned them about the planet’s evil inhabitants. They soon encountered a few Quintessons leading their Sharkticon soldiers to apprehend them. Grimlock used his powerful jaws to snap whichever Quintesson unlucky enough to wander too close to him into two. After the Quintessons had been defeated, the Autobots left the planet in the ship that had once been piloted by Wheelie’s parents. The Story of Wheelie, the Wild Boy of Quintesson
The Transformers Adventure Game Books
Dinobot War
Grimlock, along with the rest of the Dinobots, were present during Earth's distant past, when you, Ravage and Laserbeak travelled through time. The Dinobots quickly learned about the Decepticons' plan to attack the Autobots still slumbering in stasis aboard the crashed Ark, and set out to oppose them. Whether or not they succeeded was up to you!
Dinobot War
Find Your Fate Junior
Dinobots Strike Back
Grimlock, along with the rest of the Dinobots, were on lookout duty in Hidden Valley. Bombshell managed to sneak up on the group and Grimlock was one of the Dinobots who were subjected to the Insecticon's mind-control. After being ordered by his new master to attack Autobots and humans alike, Grimlock's fate was up to the only Dinobot retaining his free-will, Swoop. If Swoop reports directly back to Autobot base about what transpired, the Autobots weigh multiple options on how to best stop the Dinobots' rampage.
If the Autobots choose to use Mirage's abilities against the Dinobots, Grimlock and the rest of the sub-group are tricked into believing Optimus is standing at the edge of Bandit Bluff's precipice, and charge for the Autobot leader. Their target turns out to be an illusion fabricated by Mirage, and the Dinobots are knocked unconscious by their fall, and subsequently freed of Bombshell's control.
If the Autobots choose to use Windcharger's abilities against the Dinobots, the outcome of the Dinobots' and the rest of the Autobots' confrontation has two possible outcomes. If Windcharger uses his magnetic powers too close to the Dinobots, the powerful magnetic field sends Grimlock and the other Dinobots into convulsions before killing them. If Windcharger decides to use his magnetic powers from a greater distance, the Cerebro-shells are harmlessly extracted from the Dinobots. Later, Grimlock is celebrating with the Autobots when he recalls Bombshell announcing that controlling the Dinobots was only a part of the Insecticon's plan.
Optimus in turn can send Bumblebee, Skids and Sludge to investigate nearby electromagnetic activity. If he does, and Skids returns to Autobot base after the Decepticons has captured Bumblebee, Prowl suggests to send Grimlock and his ilk as undercover agents into the Decepticons' local operation. Prowl explains that the Decepticons are likely unaware that the Dinobots are no longer under Bombshell's control. If Optimus goes with this plan, Grimlock bisects Frenzy after successfully doing his part, and the Autobots successfully defeat the Decepticons thanks to the Dinobot's strategic placement.
If the Autobots choose to simply attack the Dinobots immediately and brutally, Grimlock becomes temporarily blind thanks to Tracks's black-beam gun. Next, he is bombarded by Sunstreaker's and Sideswipe's high-energy electron pulses, until his Cerebro-Shell falls out of his body. Later, when Grimlock is once again master of his own thoughts, he accuses the Autobots of enjoying taking him and his team down. The Autobots simply laugh at him.
If Swoop chooses to stay and fight Bombshell instead of reporting back to base after the Dinobots have become Bombshell's slaves, and successfully defeats the Insecticon, Grimlock is freed along with the other Dinobots. Whatever other choices are made in this path, Grimlock stays unaware of what has transpired, his memory a blank during the mind-control. Dinobots Strike Back
Frito-Lay posters
The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual
After the Ark crashed into the Earth, Grimlock, Snarl and two others remained active and were reformatted to resemble dinosaurs, the planet's dominant lifeforms. Unfortunately the reformatting was a little too thorough and they were left acting like real dinosaurs as well. Rendered inactive by a meteorite strike, they lay dormant beneath what became modern-day Brazil until Grimlock and Snarl were inadvertently awoken by developers from a logging company. Optimus Prime, Jazz and Blaze travelled there to investigate but were ambushed by the Decepticons and Soundwave trapped the Dinobots in a plasma net. Unfortunately for him, the net caused a negative ion feedback which triggered their Transformer circuitry and restored their personalities along with their robot modes. Grimlock and Snarl sent the Decepticons packing but remained in Brazil to look for their missing comrades rather than return to the Ark with the Autobots. The Dinobots!
3H comics
- Voice actor: Gregg Berger (English)
Grimlock was among the legendary Transformers summoned from J'nwan by Sandstorm to help battle Shokaract. Terminus Departure
A Grimlock was one of several Transformers being monitored by Primus and Alpha Trion as the Universe War began. Abduction Hailing from an earlier era of the Cybertronian wars, Grimlock arrived in the Cauldron and soon found the unlikely allies of Megatron and Optimus Primal. They were confronted by two of Unicron's Dark Generals, Reptilion and Striker. OTFCC Live-Action Drama
Striker was overpowered and held prisoner beneath Grimlock's mighty boot. Using his spark telepathy, Primal was able to at least temporarily override Unicron's corruptive influence on Striker (although Grimlock remained somewhat unconvinced). Grimlock's concerns became academic as Reptilion returned with Unicron's other generals, Obsidian and Tankor. Luckily, Silverbolt and Trailbreaker managed to orchestrate a jailbreak among the Cauldron's other "guests", so Grimlock and Megatron soon had all the reinforcements they needed. The Matrix Templar known as Snarl helped forge a connection with Primus, creating a way out for the escapees. Grimlock was apparently dispatched back to his own era along with the other displaced abductees. Escape
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
| “ | Me not like Optimus Prime or Autobots that much... but me like you and yours even less! | ” |
—Grimlock's voice recording on a bomb he left for the Seekers, "The War Within Preview" | ||
Years ago, before the war, Grimlock was part of a cage-fighting arena. He and Starscream fought beside and against each other on numerous occasions. Starscream believed Grimlock was a natural born killer, but Grimlock really just carried a lot of rage and needed an outlet.
When the war began, Grimlock sided with the Decepticons. Then, after a while, he switched sides and went to the Autobots. Nobody is quite sure why or what happened. The War Within Preview He eventually became leader of a squad including Ironhide, Kup and Wheeljack.
By the time Sentinel Prime was killed and a new leader had to be chosen, the Autobots were losing the war, and Grimlock was growing impatient with the Council of Ancients' strategy. Grimlock called a secret meeting at the Helix Gardens with Prowl, Jazz, and his running crew: If the new Prime wasn't up to doing what had to be done, then they'd do it for him—and take the Prime out in the process. The War Within #1
Optimus Prime, having defeated a team of Decepticons by himself, still didn't settle Grimlock's nerves. Prime's decision to evacuate Cybertron did it; Grimlock had enough. He left and went to brood by himself. The War Within #2 Starscream and his Seekers dropped by while Grimlock was alone. Starscream baited Grimlock, telling him he was a Decepticon inside and was just in denial. He gave him a choice: go to Sector Zero-Six and help the Seekers take out the Autobot command post, or warn the post about their arrival. Grimlock, out of spite, instead evacuated the Autobots from the base and left the Decepticons a present: a bomb. The War Within Preview
While he was on his way back to Iacon to help with the defense, Prowl ordered him away, instead telling him to go find Optimus Prime. Grimlock decided that it was a good opportunity to give the new Prime a piece of his mind. The War Within #3 While he and the team went deep into Cybertron's core to find Prime, they found out about Megatron's plan to win the war and turn Cybertron into a mobile battle station with which to conquer the universe. Grimlock split up his team: He would go find Optimus Prime, and the rest of the team would shut down the transformation system for Cybertron. To his surprise, Prime abruptly was standing next to him. Prime ordered Grimlock to help him find Megatron. Grimlock shoved his energo-sword into Prime's hands and gave clear instructions: If Megatron is the problem, then fix it. The War Within #5 When the crisis was over, Grimlock no longer questioned Optimus Prime. He knew that Prime had figured things out, and though he hadn't executed Megatron, he wasn't going to spend his time in the war running away. The War Within #6
During the Dark Ages, Optimus Prime and Megatron were seemingly destroyed in a space bridge explosion, which created a crack in space through which the ancient being known as The Fallen emerged. With the loss of Optimus Prime, Grimlock broke off from the Autobots now led by Prowl and formed the Lightning Strike Coalition. Grimlock was targeted, along with Jetfire, Blitzwing and Hot Spot, by The Fallen, who wished to use their apparently unique Sparks to help in his revival of Primus, which would allow Unicron to locate him. Fragmentation
The Fallen sent Bludgeon, Mindwipe and Bugly, who arranged for Grimlock to receive a communication between Jetfire and Shockwave. Devastation Believing Jetfire was intending to defect, Grimlock headed for the meeting. However, when the Chaos Trinity arrived and captured Jetfire, Grimlock jumped out of the shadows and attacked. The Fallen had to watch his followers take a sound beating. After dispatching the mystics, Grimlock attempted to execute Jetfire. The Autobot scientist was saved only because The Fallen himself soon arrived. Revelation
Grimlock being Grimlock, he launched himself at The Fallen, but was completely overwhelmed. Confrontation He woke up later strapped to a table and had to listen to Jetfire trying to convince him to help them both escape. Grimlock broke free with ease and was part of the multi-faction army that attempted to halt The Fallen's plans. Conflagration
Later, Grimlock served both as leader of the Dynobots and the right-hand bot to Ultra Magnus, who had taken control in Optimus' absence and had managed to secure a truce with Shockwave. Grimlock was less than happy about this, partly because he didn't trust the Decepticons, and partly because he had no idea what to do with himself in peacetime. He never got to find out, as the truce was betrayed by Starscream's forces, and Grimlock was apparently killed when he dove in front of a shot meant for Magnus. The Age of Wrath The Age of Wrath Pt.2
Millennia later, the Ark and the Nemesis left Cybertron in search of new resources to fuel the war, but never returned. Grimlock and the Dynobots followed a group of Decepticons to a primitive world that would later be known to them as Earth, all of them looking for the lost Ark. The Dynobots assumed alternate forms similar to Earth's indigenous giant reptiles, dinosaurs, and fought off an attempted ambush by the small crew of Decepticons they had been tracking. Extermination
Millions of years later in 1984, the other Autobots and Decepticons on Earth awakened and the Great War began anew. The Autobots and humans eventually defeated the Decepticons and all the Transformers were to be sent back to Cybertron on the Ark II. However, the ship was destroyed during launch due to sabotage by General Robert Hallo and Adam Rook, in the hopes of recovering the Transformers and reprogramming them to be war machines. Prime Directive issue 1
At some point, Megatron captured the other four Dinobots, a fact which he used as leverage to get Grimlock to turn traitor and join the Decepticons after they were reactivated by Lazarus. Prime Directive #3 Grimlock's only real contribution to the Decepticons was crushing unoccupied cars in San Francisco Prime Directive #4 Prime Directive #5 and being beaten up, and beaten down by Trailbreaker. After the Decepticons abandoned him, Optimus Prime offered to take Grimlock back, but he refused, stating circumstances had changed too much. Prime Directive #6
Grimlock's apparent allegiance to the Decepticons didn't last very long, though, as Shockwave soon showed up with his Triple Changers. Grimlock's true loyalty became obvious when he stopped Blitzwing from blowing off Optimus's head by grabbing his tank turret and bending it into a pretzel with one hand. After that, Shockwave sent Megatron off to Cybertron, prompting Grimlock to rejoin the Autobots in the Ark. New World Order When Optimus's group surrendered to Ultra Magnus, some of the Autobots remained on Earth, Grimlock among them. He travelled to the frozen north, and freed the other Dinobots from Megatron's holding tank. Brothers' Burden
Stealing a Decepticon shuttle, the Dinobots then headed for Cybertron, intending to free Optimus Prime and his group. After a rough landing in the Wastelands, they acquired some transportation from Octane and hurried to Iacon. Cold War There, Grimlock did his part by leading a massive Dinobot assault on Shockwave's Tower, before breaking off to take care of the Decepticon leader himself. Blitzwing again got in his way, and Grimlock was forced to battle both, a battle that was going his way until Ultra Magnus shot him in the face. Passive Aggression Perceptor repaired the Dinobot commander, and Grimlock did his part for the rebellion by giving Hot Rod some back-up. For a third and final time, he fought Blitzwing, this time taking out the Decepticon with ease, grabbing him by the tank turret and throwing him into a Guardian. Leaving the main conflict, Grimlock followed Shockwave, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus into the citadel, and ended up saving the two Autobots, stating that he'd hate to lose the chance to pay back the "stuffy traitor". Optimus Prime thanked Primus, but Grimlock said Prime should be thanking him. Revelation
While the main group of Earth Autobots returned, the Dinobots remained on Cybertron to give Ultra Magnus some needed muscle. They were assigned to help Kup fortify the new Autobot bases on Cybertron's moons. The Route of All Evil
Dreamwave Transformers/G.I. Joe comics
Grimlock was among the Autobots who were awakened by G.I. Joe in 1939 after laying dormant on the Fera Islands for three million years. He was eager to start smashing Decepticons again, and probably would've smashed the humans as well if Optimus Prime hadn't been here to tell him they were friendly. While the other Autobots were a bit wishy-washy about helping G.I. Joe in their fight against Cobra and their Decepticon allies, Grimlock threw himself into battle almost immediately, using his World War II-era tank mode to destroy one or two incoming Rattlers. Transformed
With Roadblock as company, Grimlock fought his way across the Fera Islands until he ran into Rumble, whose earthquakes were too much for him and the other Autobot tanks to handle. Trial by Fire Grimlock was knocked off a cliff by Rumble's attacks, and as he was struggling to keep himself from falling to his doom, he urged Roadblock to save himself. However, the human refused to let Grimlock give up, and stayed behind to motivate him, drill sergeant style. While the human's words did give Grimlock newfound strength, the cliff still crumbled, and he and Roadblock fell. Thankfully, Superion saved them just in time, although Grimlock didn't enjoy feeling small in comparison to the combiner. Wolves
On the way to the Cobra Terrordrome, Grimlock listened to Stalker being pessimistic about their chances of survival, and casually asked the human if he was a coward. Upon reaching the Terrordrome, Grimlock fought and defeated Soundwave, having always hated him for his cowardly guerilla tactics back on Cybertron. Shortly thereafter, the Autobots and Joes came under attack from Bruticus, and Roadblock suggested that Grimlock show the giant some real firepower... only for the Dinobot to be swatted aside like a fly. Grimlock presumably died along with the other Transformers when the Matrix of Leadership was destroyed in order to stop Bruticus. The Iron Fist
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers continuity
| “ | It just isn't a proper party without Grimlock around. That guy is nuts. | ” |
—Hot Rod | ||
Grimlock and his team were transported to Earth's prehistoric past by a malfunctioning Teletran 3. A joint Cobra/G.I. Joe team traveled through a time portal to bring them back. Unfortunately, Shockwave's Decepticons blocked their return. Just as Shockwave's victory appeared complete, Roadblock and Lady Jaye successfully opened up the final time portal, and the humans returned, with some heavy artillery in the form of the five Autobots, now reformatted in huge, powerful dinosaur bodies. Grimlock took the lead by knocking Shockwave through a wall, and beating the tar out of the 'Cons, alongside his new Dinobots, their new abilities more than a match for the Decepticon forces. When the Decepticons retreated, Grimlock transformed and requested an audience with Optimus Prime. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #4
Grimlock was part of the small team sent to help with the Joes' decommissioning of their Cybertronian mechs. Grimlock was more than a little vocal about his distaste for the post, and lack of interest in the humans. He was, willing to help the Joes fight Cobra, when the latter attacked en masse... even if he complained about helping the weak fleshlings. The Art of War #1 When Cobra Commander was cornered in an underground facility, Grimlock did his part by terrifying him into talking. They were interrupted when Serpent O.R. appeared, and attempted to take control of both Grimlock, and Roadblock's robot. Grimlock resisted, but Roadblock's robot turned around and punched him in the face. Grimlock responded by ripping its arm off. The Art of War #2
As Serpent O.R. teleported to Cybertron, Grimlock's team pursued him, but ended up having to fight off cannibalizers in a junkyard. Although Grimlock was shot in the face and knocked down, he soon got back up and continued the hunt for Serpent O.R., only to run into his new troops—the Predacons, Seacons and Stunticons. The Autobots and their human companions were captured and imprisoned in the Decepticons' base in the Gladiator Zone. The Art of War #3 They eventually managed to escape thanks to Snake-Eyes, but Grimlock insulted the humans anyway. The Art of War #4
After hearing that Serpent O.R. had captured Optimus Prime, Grimlock violently interrogated Runamuck for directions to where Prime was being kept. By the time the team arrived, they found that Serpent O.R. had stolen the Matrix of Leadership, only to have his new "Serpentor Prime" body taken from him by Cobra Commander. Grimlock and Snake-Eyes attacked him, but were smashed into a wall by his tentacles and taken out of action. After Hawk defeated Cobra Commander, Grimlock admitted that the humans were great warriors and great friends, and apologized for being hard on them. The Art of War #5
The Beast Within
Four million years ago, Grimlock combined with his fellow Dinobots to form The Beast, a savage abomination of a gestalt that knew no mercy. Fearing its destructive and uncontrollable power, Grimlock vowed to never again set it loose. The Beast Within Part 2, Consequences
In a devastating battle with the Decepticons, Grimlock attempted to hold his savagery in check, holding back his full strength even as his comrades were being annihilated. In a fit of desperation, he made the decision to combine with the other Dinobots to form The Beast. Though Optimus attempted to reach Grimlock within the raging juggernaut as it began to slaughter friend and foe alike, Grimlock’s consciousness was lost in the maelstrom of rage that was the Beast’s mind. The Beast Within
Transformers Legends anthology
Grimlock's response to the Autobots finding a badly-damaged and helpless Starscream was to suggest that they should throw the garbage out in as many pieces as possible. When that turned out to be off the table, he was happily in support of brainwashing Starscream instead. Redemption Center
IDW Generation 1 continuity
| “ | Will he be pleased to see us? | ” |
| “ | Hell no. He's never pleased to see anyone. | ” |
Grimlock was a forged heavy-weight class Point One Percenter. The Divided Self Arm the Lonely He has been a warrior for millennia, although not always an obedient one. He was languishing in a military brig after angering a field commander when he met a fellow detainee named Slag, and started swapping stories. Slag had shot a vice-admiral in the back to con him into a frontal assault, so Slag won the conversation. Grimlock thought this Slag guy sounded like a good bloke, and the two of them discussed the formation of their own rule-breaking strike team, the Dynobots. Maximum Dinobots #2 Grimlock and the Dynobots would go on to serve under the Primal Vanguard Rage as a covert strike force, carrying out over 200 missions under the command of Nominus Prime and receiving numerous commendations.
Everything changed, however, when the team was sent to investigate a tunnel network below the Toraxxis Plains. Set upon by powerful cyber-morphic predators, the Dynobots were forced to use technology developed by their medic, Skar, to scan the creatures and match their power. These new alternate modes gave the team the edge needed to defeat their assailants, Underworld but Grimlock, unable to control the rage induced by his monstrous form, inadvertently killed Skar. Massacre On returning to base, the Dynobots were placed in quarantine for the study of their altered bodies, but overwhelmed with grief and a feeling of betrayal, they staged an escape and went on the run. Underworld
Having fallen from grace, the Dynobots began fighting in the gladiatorial pits. Rage There, the likes of Scorponok regarded Grimlock as one of the greatest gladiators the pits had ever produced, having personally fought him one-on-one. Soundwaves At the start of Megatron's rise to power, the Dynobots turned out to an open casting call for Megatron's underground gladiatorial games, and got a good deal more respect from the Predacons than the other attendees. It turned out to be a recruitment drive for the Decepticon army. What they thought of that is unknown, as Autobot security forces raided the party soon after. Megatron Origin #3. While Megatron would mark Grimlock as a potential Decepticon of great potential, he was also acutely aware that for all his strength, Grimlock possessed a "flaw": compassion. Rage
Later, Grimlock and the Dynobots were in Ironfall, at the Ring of Trials, when they heard Optimus Prime's call to arms against the new Decepticon insurrectionist government. The Dynobots responded on the side of the Autobots, and joined in the march on Megatron's citadel. Broadcast During the battle, Grimlock and his Dynobots took out a lot of tanks, sneering at the Decepticons' definition of "armored". Endgame
Not long after Megatron's defeat, the Dynobots once again disappeared from the radar and took to robbing energon reserves supplies, receiving intel from Swindle. After a raid proved less successful then had been hoped, Grimlock throttled an explanation from Swindle, who admitted that intelligence had suffered in the now Scorponok-dominated Decepticons. Releasing the Decepticon, Grimlock fretted over the idea that the longer the Dynobots remained on Cybertron, the greater the risk their unstable alternate modes posed to the populace. Derelicts Tempers in the Dynobot ranks soon flared as Slag accused Grimlock of dragging them from small-time raid to small-time raid because he enjoyed their life on the run. The pair began to loose their tempers, but were talked down by Swoop, who feared what would happen if they transformed. Their next raid was at the Toraxxis mega-refinery. While they broke in, they were hindered by remote sentries until Grimlock killed their controller. Once they had captured the refinery, Grimlock ordered they wait for Snarl to bring a truck to drain the energon. Wreckage
Tempers continued to flare until a furious Slag seemingly abandoned his comrades, but returned at sunrise just as Scorponok's Decepticons arrived in their own bid to raid the refinery. However, Grimlock had triggered the refinery's alarm during the fight and summoned back-up in the form of the Autobots. Faces of Darkness
Using the arrival of the Autobots as a distraction, the Dynobots made their escape, followed by Scorponok, Blitzwing, Dai Atlas and Orion. Scorponok and Blitzwing managed to get ahead, and as Scorpnok ordered Blitzwing to attack, Grimlock mocked him for hiding behind artillery. The two former gladiators clashed, the fight driving Grimlock into a rage. After stabbing Scorponok, Grimlock began to lose control, battering the Decepticon to the ground. As he advanced on his prey, Grimlock began to change into his bestial form, with his eyes changing from yellow to red and bladed ridges bursting through his exoskeleton. The Dynobots tried to restrain him, but he seemed to have lost control completely, crying out he'd kill them all. He was brought back to his senses by a shot from Orion. Grimlock begged Optimus to let him leave, but when the Autobot leader refused, Grimlock threatened to blow the refinery up, killing everyone there. By appealing to his better nature, Optimus managed to talk Grimlock down, but this only allowed Scorponok to attempt the very same thing. Rage Grimlock survived the subsequent explosion, but was left wandering the ashen blast crater alone. Fallout
Eventually, Grimlock was found by both Kup and his teammates, who, with some difficulty, managed to convince him that Optimus Prime could be able to help the "cursed" Dynobots. Prey They met up with the Prime at Starsreach Spaceport, where a mass exodus of neutral Cybertronians was occurring, but the entire group was caught in a Decepticon aerial bombardment ordered by Scorponok. Enraged, Grimlock fully transformed into his beast mode and attacked the Decepticon ground forces, Massacre with such vigor that they effected a full retreat. Still in a fury, it took Optimus to subdue and calm Grimlock sufficiently for him to revert to robot mode. Despite Prime's efforts to convince them otherwise, the Dynobots proceeded with their plan to get themselves away from Cybertron, leaving the spaceport in a shuttle. Unleashed
However, an ancient monster appeared on the surface not long afterwards, accompanied by the same predators that the Dynobots had fought beneath Toraxxis. Unwilling to leave the Autobots to their fate, Grimlock turned the ship around and air-dropped with his team to the surface, where they were able to fight off the smaller beasts. When Megatron approached a wounded Optimus Prime, Grimlock leapt to the rescue. Engrossed in combat, neither the Dynobot or Decepticon noticed Trypticon lean down towards them, and the creature swallowed them whole. Annihilation
Trapped inside the monster, the two enemies were attacked by more of the dragon-beasts, revealing to Grimlock that they were generated from inside Trypticon. Agreeing to a temporary alliance to escape alive, Megatron and Grimlock fought their way to the beast's plasma-core, where they found vast containers of an aggression and power-boosting energon substance. With Megatron covering him, Grimlock went to destroy the reservoirs, but was halted when proximity to the volatile fuel began increasing his rage. Fighting through the impulses the Dynobot cleaved open the tanks, felling Trypticon. Emerging just after Megatron, Grimlock found Prime close to death, and decided to let his battle with Megatron wait until another day so the wounded Autobots could be taken to safety. As they retreated, leaving the inert Trypticon in Decepticon hands, Grimlock asked Jetfire for his help in curing the Dynobots. Belly of the Beast
Though Grimlock was worst off among the Dynobots, Autobot scientists were eventually able to purify his corrupted energon and re-engineer his original altmode, curing him. He was sent to check up on Trypticon's body together with Hot Rod, but the optimism of the young recruit got on his nerves and an argument broke out between the two when he accused Hot Rod of not understanding pain and guilt. They quickly shut up upon noticing that Trypticon had disappeared. Primacy #1 The beast soon reappeared from the depths of space on a collision course with Iacon, prompting an emergency security meeting which Grimlock attended. Primacy #2 Once this turned out to be the first step of a Decepticon invasion plan, he took to the battlefield, fighting Junkions and Sharkticons before being confronted by Blackwall, an old rival from his gladiator days. Primacy #3 Though outpowered in hand-to-hand combat, Grimlock prevailed by stabbing Blackwall in the head with his sword, proclaiming he was better at fighting dirty. He then gathered his Dynobots and led them into battle against the Predacons, saving Hot Rod from the beasts and personally breaking Razorclaw's jaws off. Primacy #4
In no small part due to Grimlock's influence, the Dynobots remained a group of close knit hunters and guardsmen who preferred to work outside the Autobot rulebook, though still on the same side. Grimlock was among the Autobots fighting atop the Decepticon warship Hell's Point during a particularly brutal fight. The Gloaming After Shockwave destroyed a cache of energon the Dynobots had been hoarding, causing them severe energon burns and equally severe humiliation, they swore revenge. So, against orders from Optimus Prime, they followed Shockwave when he left Cybertron to stabilize "Ultra-Energon" deposits he had sent to other worlds as a precaution against the depletion of Cybertron's own energon reserves.
When Shockwave reached his first destination—Earth, at the end of the last Ice Age—the Dynobots destroyed his ship, but Slag revealed that the high energon levels of the planet would put them in stasis lock, since they hadn't come prepared like Shockwave. Slag then came up with the idea that they should scan the local life forms and create alt modes based on those animals, but with synthetic flesh coatings to protect against the high levels of energon radiation. Grimlock was completely against the idea, but since Slag couldn't come up with something better, he relented. However, he refused to take on the form of the weak mammalians that dominated the planet, demanding "something with some... bite." Scanning fossil deposits, Slag found the remains of some extinct reptilian animals and brought up a holographic representation of one to see if Grimlock approved. What popped up was a Tyrannosaurus rex, which Grimlock seemed to fall in love with the moment he saw it. The choice made, Grimlock took the Tyrannosaur as his altmode and had Slag find more dinosaurs as templates for the rest of the Dynobots.
On teleporting down to the planet's surface to confront Shockwave, they gained an initial advantage, as Shockwave's logic was unable to comprehend the effort and risks they had taken for their revenge. However, when Shockwave recognized this weakness, he shut down his logic processors and executed a "rage" program to enable him to operate on pure instinct. He shrugged off the Dynobots' attacks and beat them severely, ending the assault by burning off their organic coatings. Unable to accept another defeat, Grimlock transformed to robot mode and fought against his imminent stasis lock to no avail.
However, before leaving the Dynobots' ship, he had enabled a "dead man's switch" designed to take Shockwave with them if they were defeated. When he entered stasis lock, this failsafe activated, firing on a nearby dormant volcano and causing an eruption which buried Shockwave and the Dynobots under ash and lava. Thousands of years later, their entombed bodies were discovered by a human archaeological team. Spotlight: Shockwave
Daylight come and me Grimlock wanna go home.
Thousands of years later in 2007, the human organization Skywatch took over jurisdiction of the dig site and excavated Shockwave and the Dynobots. Escalation #5
When the Reapers attacked the Decepticons, Skywatch decided to awaken the most advanced of their "Eureka Six", which turned out to be Grimlock. Devastation #5 Devastation #6
Grimlock's reactivation was sabotaged by an agent of the Machination and when he awoke, they had no control over him. He escaped the facility, confused and angry. His escape was engineered by the head of the Machination, Scorponok, who wanted Grimlock to join him in the Machination plot to dominate the Earth by running interference and delaying Megatron's plans long enough for the Machination to put their plans into action.
Grimlock considered for a second, but refused the offer for two reasons: he could turn Scorponok in to Ultra Magnus for redemption, and as revenge for Scorponok once robbing an installation the Dynobots were guarding. The two fought and Scorponok quickly gained the upper hand, mostly due to his Headmaster upgrade. Grimlock was able to activate his transporter chip, which beamed him back to his ship, the Skyfire, which was buried deep in ice somewhere. Grimlock hoped he could use the ship to find the other Dynobots. Spotlight: Grimlock
Finding himself trapped, both on a useless ship and in a less than inconspicuous form, Grimlock was forced to try and contact some of his less reputable acquaintances in an attempt to get the Skyfire into some sort of working order. Meanwhile, the Machination had tracked him down and had sent their Tsunami Unit to apprehend him. Grimlock's early warning system detected them, and he circled round as they began to attack, bursting from the ice and transforming. The battle very quickly turned in his favor with four of the clones falling in the opening moments. The surviving Headmasters were rather shaken, but managed to fulfill their mission: attach a device which would orbital bounce him to Nevada, near Skywatch's base. Grimlock materialized in the middle of a busy street in Fallon. As a car crashed into his toe, he realized things had just gone from bad to worse. Maximum Dinobots #1
Grimlock knew Scorponok was trying to deliberately set him up as a rampaging monster, but didn't expect his fellow Dynobots to be sent to take him down! He was able to fight them all off but unable to break their reprogramming by appealing to their team ethos...and when they did regain sentience and memory, it was because Scorponok let them so they could get pissed off at the knowledge Grimlock had set up a "dead man's switch" without informing them. Grimlock's defence was that such a sneaky, amoral and rule-breaking act was what the Dynobots were all about, which surprisingly worked. While saying this, he grudgingly and with much moaning saved a human from burning to death. Maximum Dinobots #2
Convinced he'd brought his team round, Grimlock began issuing orders, only to be met by an icy silence. Swoop spoke for the group, saying his trust was hard earned and Grimlock tossed it away. Disgusted he abandoned the team, prompting the others to follow. Grimlock tried pleading with them, then turned in a huff, stating he'd be better off on his own. He was interrupted by the arrival of the Sunstreaker clones, who blasted him in the chest. Enraged, he vented his frustrations on the clones until their numbers began to tell. He was saved by the arrival of the other Dynobots, who felt that whatever had happened, they were still a team. However, they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of clones, until the arrival of the "help" Grimlock had requested earlier: the Monsterbots. Seeing the newcomers take the fight to the enemy, Grimlock extolled his unit to show the Monsterbots how it's really done. Decimated and demoralized, the surviving Machination clones escaped with their lives. Maximum Dinobots #3
Aboard the Monsterbots' ship, the Dynobots wondered why Grimlock would side with the outcasts. They gave Grimlock a stern look when he exited the cockpit. The Dynobots didn't see the point of fighting Scorponok, but Grimlock said that Scorponok made it their fight when he turned the Dynobots against him. Snarl disagreed, saying that it had always been Grimlock's fight, that he and the other Dynobots went along with him, and that it was now Grimlock's wounded pride at stake. After the Monsterbots blasted away the defenses, Grimlock exited the ship, saying that there was no way he could let this go, and that with or without the Dynobots, there would be a reckoning for Scorponok. The Dynobots decided that arguing was pointless and followed Grimlock. When Hunter O'Nion pulled the cords from Sunstreaker's head, shutting him down, the clones ceased to function. Sludge cried out in victory, but the moment was short-lived as Scorponok blasted Sludge into stasis. Maximum Dinobots #4
Grimlock stared down at Sludge's dead body, brooding about how it was his fault Sludge was dead... while a battle between Scorponok and Shockwave (for rights of revenge upon Grimlock) raged on around him. Eventually Snarl, Slag, and Swoop decide to get to the Monsterbots' ship while the getting was good, but Grimlock stayed behind with Sludge. Grimlock tried infusing some of his spark energy into Sludge to revive him, but it seemed to have no effect. Shockwave got the upper hand and let Scorponok escape, and in frustration, Grimlock attacked Shockwave. Grimlock and Shockwave were too busy fighting to notice the return of Slag, Snarl, and Swoop, who reasoned that, while helping Grimlock might not be much of a cause, it still beat being no better than the Monsterbots. They were noticed by Sludge, who seemed to have recovered due to Grimlock's treatment after all. The four of them dove into the fray proper, but Grimlock ordered them to go after Scorponok instead. When Hot Rod was about to get squished by Scorponok, the remaining Dynobots showed up in just the nick of time. At Hot Rod's urgings, Swoop severed the connections keeping Scorponok's head conscious. Grimlock in the mean time had found out Shockwave was using their battle to stall for time so that Soundwave could free him from Skywatch's control. The Decepticon attempted to abandon the fight, but Grimlock stubbornly refused to let him walk away, and rolled out a grenade, which incapacitated them both.
By this time Ultra Magnus had arrived and taken Scorponok into custody. Grimlock and Shockwave were both arrested and taken off-world. Ultra Magnus later told Grimlock that having Scorponok and Shockwave in custody could help offset Grimlock's own sentence. Grimlock wasn't interested, asking only that the blame was put squarely on him and that the other Dynobots' warrants were cancelled. Magnus agreed, and Grimlock was left to muse on the fact that Sludge and his team were alive and well, thanks to him. Maximum Dinobots #5
Grimlock was taken to Garrus-9. However, shortly afterward, Overlord and the Predators launched a devastating assault on the detention facility and seized control of it. Prisoners and guards, Autobots and Decepticons alike, were made to fight for Overlord's amusement... except for Grimlock, who Overlord kept alive and forced to watch footage of the pit fights. Snare believed the experience may have driven him mad. By the time the Wreckers arrived to free Garrus-9, Grimlock had disappeared from the facility under unknown circumstance. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4
Grimlock resurfaced a few years later, discovered in a stasis tube in a crashed Worldsweeper spacecraft on the planet Clemency by a ragtag Decepticon group known as the Scavengers. Rules of Disengagement These Decepticons had made themselves targets for the Decepticon Justice Division, and quickly decided to use Grimlock to their advantage, awakening him with a dose of circuit speeders that drove him into a ferocious rage, and pointing him in the direction of their hunters. Unfortunately, after a brief burst of violence and success against Tarn and Kaon, Grimlock all but stopped fighting following a blow from Tesarus, and would have been destroyed by the weaponized speech of Tarn if the battle had not prematurely ended when their opponents picked up the trail of bigger game and departed. In the aftermath, when the speeders had worn off, the Scavengers discovered that Grimlock was heavily brain damaged, and decided to take him with them, believing they could use him as a bargaining chip when and if they got back to Cybertron. Who's Afraid of the DJD?
Later, aboard the Weak Anthropic Principle on the planet Constancy, Grimlock was playing a game similar to Jenga whilst completely oblivious to the effects of Tyrest's universal killswitch on his shipmates. Arm the Lonely
IDW Beast Wars comics
| “ | Shadows lengthen. The twilight of the Cybertronian race gathers. The end is nigh. | ” |
| “ | Reminds me of the good ol' days. | ” |
—Grimlock | ||
Grimlock was less than thrilled about being forced to go through the Maximal downsizing. To add insult to injury, the resulting peace meant he had no outlet for his warlike tendencies. As such, he frequently volunteered for any dangerous, potentially risky, or outright suicidal missions, and when forced on to a science or exploration vessel, he preferred to spend the entire trip in stasis, rather than dealing with the prolonged inactivity. He had a personalized reformatting chip installed that deliberately seeks out only the strongest, deadliest beast modes (alive or extinct) on a planet. Beast Wars Sourcebook 2
Grimlock was among the Axalon's protoforms when the ship crashed on Earth. When Razorbeast and Optimus Minor were attempting to "rescue" Megatron from Magmatron, the Predacons detected a spark signature that was apparently off the scale, big and mad. Grimlock showed up and acted as the perfect distraction, making very short work of the Predacons. (Apparently, he was in a very bad mood after waking up and took it out on the Preds.) Magmatron offered Grimlock the chance to withdraw, and when the incredulous Grimlock refused, the Predacon general attacked. Magmatron narrowly arose as the victor by use of his triple beast modes. Grimlock was knocked out, but later helped to construct the Maximals' new base. The Gathering #4
Later, when Prowl remarked they had work to do on Earth, with Ravage's Predacon militia still a threat, Wolfang reminded him that they had Grimlock on their side. The Ascending #1 The bot in question was patrolling the jungle around the base at the time and bumped into the three-mech team of Manterror, Retrax, and Snapper. He only noticed Manterror and Retrax however, as Snapper was being crushed under his right foot at the time. While Retrax rolled for his life, Manterror had to face Grimlock on his own, and lost his wings for his trouble. This little group turned out to be a distraction, however, intended to lure the Maximals' big gun away while Ravage led an all-out strike on the base.
The former Dinobot wasn't about to be left out in the cold, however, and he returned to base ready for "the main course," which consisted of crushing Spittor under his foot and tearing apart Iguanus and half a dozen other Predacons. Still, even with him and Torca working overtime, things might have gone poorly without Lio Convoy's arrival. The Ascending #2
When Lio Convoy and Ravage led a joint force to stop Shokaract, Grimlock accompanied them. The former Autobot and former Decepticon had a moment of antagonism when the fight started. But once the battle got underway, Grimlock fell in with the Convoys. As Shokaract declared the end of the Cybertronian race, Grimlock seemed to reminisce, even as he transformed to his beast mode and led a charge. He was one of the survivors, although presumably, he would be a victim of Megatron's Transformation virus. The Ascending #4
Hearts of Steel
Grimlock was one of the many Autobots who fought against the Decepticons on prehistoric Earth. Hearts of Steel #1
Q-Robo Transformer
Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics
When Megatron and the Decepticons attacked Earth in the 21st century, Grimlock and the Autobots were there to stop them. During a battle in Tokyo, when Bumblebee doused Starscream with a fire engine's hose, Grimlock exploited the opening to lash the Decepticon with his tail and sending him crashing into Megatron. Henkei! Henkei! volume 1
Later, Grimlock saved a runaway train when it was forced off the tracks by Astrotrain, Henkei! Henkei! volume 2 then joined the other Autobots in battling the rampaging Triple Changer. Henkei! Henkei! volume 3
Some time later, when the newcomer Dinobot was brought into the Autobot ranks, he and Grimlock decided to fight immediately upon meeting each other. Henkei! Henkei! volume 11
Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga
Grimlock was part of a small Autobot team led by Optimus Prime who left Cybertron to pursue the Energon Cube through space. When the giant energy source crashed on Earth, in the Japanese town of Hoshinochō, it shattered into fragments that were scattered far and wide. Grimlock and the other Autobots set up a subterranean base below the Cube's impact crater, and began their search for the shards, taking the forms of local vehicles to hide their activities (Grimlock, in contrast to his comrades, took the conspicuous form of a Tyrannosaurus rex, for reasons best known to himself). Despite their attempts at remaining unseen, glimpses of the Autobots only magnified the reputation the crash of the Cube (believed by humans to be a meteor) had given Hoshinochō: that of a hotbed of rumored alien and UFO activity, Japan's answer to America's Roswell.
Henkei! Henkei! Transformers -Visualize-
Transformers: All Spark
Revenge (All Spark) Ray of Hope Great Aspirations Conclusion
Cloud
Slaughter Machine Dinobot (殺戮マシーン・ダイノボット Satsuriku Mashīn Dainobotto) was a monstrous and wild creation of Shockwave. After developing a personality of his own, he defected to the Autobots and became known as Grimlock.
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
Following Optimus Prime's exile from Cybertron, Grimlock defeated the new leader Rodimus in a duel and banished him from Metroplex, crowning himself king. Form Follows Function When captured members of G.I. Joe were brought before him, Grimlock was angry that they'd ruined Iacon with their G.I.Rockets and sentenced them to death by Sharkticon pit. Funeral for a Friend The humans were able to survive and escape, however, and an impressed Grimlock agreed to a truce between the Autobots and G.I. Joe. Form Follows Function Rodimus then returned to help save Metroplex from a combined Decepticon-Cobra assault, and when Grimlock protested, the reinvigorated former leader challenged him to a rematch. Presumably having lost, Grimlock was next seen leaving Metroplex to fight Megatron in a last ditch attempt to defeat the Decepticon god-king one-on-one. This duel ended with his death at the hands of Megatron, who went on to don his dinosaur head as a decoration. Everybody Hates Metroplex
IDW Angry Birds Transformers comic
Grimlock and Drift attempted to stop Starscream from catching Bumblebee, who was carrying the AllSpark, but the Decepticon evaded them and closed a blast door on them. Angry Birds Transformers #1 The AllSpark was lost in space in the scuffle, and Grimlock was present when it came crashing back through a window alongside a Minion Pig. Hard Boiled
Beast Wars: Uprising
Grimlock was a rarity: a "Builder" who became a Maximal. He was taken prisoner and kept within Fortress Maximus till freed by Lio Convoy's forces. Head Games
Ask Vector Prime
After Vector Prime abruptly left Axiom Nexus on the behest of his brother Nexus Prime, an overworked Rook put out a hasty request on Cragun's List for a replacement columnist. Grimlock eagerly took the job, and celebrated by renaming the column Grim Grams. Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist Grimlock was eager to work through the backlog of questions intended for Vector Prime while answering new questions about himself and his adventures... although he wasn't quite as thorough or coherent as his predecessor.
Over the course of the feature, Grimlock revealed several details about himself:
- His favourite dish was Plutonium Pepperoni.
- His favourite color is red.
- He enjoys the Jurassic Park movie.
- He likes to dance.
Games
The Transformers (PS2)
Transformers Battle Circuit
Grimlock, one of the "greatest Transformers of all time," was part of an Autobot team that participated in a tournament on Cybertron. He faced off against a team of Decepticons in a series of one-on-one matches. If he managed to defeat Menasor, Trypticon, Astrotrain, Starscream and Megatron, Grimlock was declared to be the tournament's champion! Transformers Battle Circuit
3D Battle-Card Game
Grimlock battled Megatron's Decepticon forces under Optimus Primal's leadership, alongside several Autobot allies. Energon Wars Expansion Set
Sector Seven game
Dubbed "Non-Biological Entity - 08", a video of Grimlock stomping through a construction site in dino mode reached the public through "hacked evidence" files. Sector Seven (game)
Transformers G1: Awakening
Grimlock was hanging out on Earth when he was set upon by the Seekers, Rumble and Frenzy. Though he was easily holding his own, Optimus Prime and a group of Autobots newly returned from Cybertron lent a hand. Afterwards, Optimus managed to talk Grimlock out of attacking his saviors, and Grimlock stomped off to beat up some more Decepticons. They were disappointingly easy for him to stomp.
After helping Optimus and Bumblebee defeat Shockwave on Cybertron, Grimlock complained about the lack of Decepticons for him to crush. Transformers G1: Awakening
Transformers: Battle Masters
Grimlock was one of the fighters that participated in different tournaments. Battle Masters
Transformers Legends
At a time when their group was the Lightning Strike Coalition, Grimlock went missing, and Swoop and Sludge searched fruitlessly for him on the planet Junk. Wreckage Slug and Snarl tracked Grimlock to the Sea of Rust. The squad were reunited as prisoners in Shockwave's laboratory, where the Decepticon scientist performed experiments on the Lightning Strike Coalition, transforming them into the monstrous Dinobots. This backfired on the Decepticon scientist, however, when the Dinobots used their newfound power to rise up against Shockwave and trash his lab. Rescue the King
Grimlock and the other Dinobots once proved their worth to the Autobots in battle, resulting in Optimus Prime cancelling plans to have the team shut down. S.O.S. Dinobots Grimlock and Swoop went missing, causing the other three Dinobots to act erratically, until the Autobots got the trio under control and locked them up. Day of the Dinobots - Part 1 The missing pair resurfaced, staging a raid and freeing their fellow Dinobots in the middle of the night. The five Dinobots marched on the Decepticon base, but were defeated by Shockwave, Ramjet and Ratbat. Day of the Dinobots - Part 2
At the sly suggestion of the Decepticons, Grimlock took control of the Autobot army and declared himself king. Though his reign saw the successful capture of Megatron and Shockwave, Grimlock decided leading wasn't for him and handed the reigns back to Optimus. Me, Grimlock, King
When Optimus fell in battle during a massive Decepticon attack on Autobot City, Grimlock took command of the Autobot forces and led them to victory over the enemy forces. S.O.S. Dinobots Grimlock also came to the aid of Rodimus and Sergeant Kup when the pair were put on trial by the Quintessons. He persuaded the Sharkticons to turn on their masters, saving the day. Mockery of Justice
When Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike were abducted by Skuxxoids during the Galactic Games, Grimlock and Rodimus Prime traveled to Chaar to see if the Decepticons were responsible. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 1 Grimlock fought against the combined Decepticon and Quintesson forces when they attacked Cybertron. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 3
Transformers: Battle Tactics
Grimlock participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! Transformers: Battle Tactics
Transformers: Devastation
Toys
Merchandise
Notes
- Grimlock is the only Dinobot in the original lineup whose name has two syllables, and the only Dinobot whose name doesn't start with the letter S. He's the leader for a reason, ya know.
- Grimlock has had a number of preliminary names, one being Tyrannobot. The Transformers cartoon series bible contains one description of him that was originally typed with the name "Trapjaw", then its title was crossed out by hand and rewritten "Grimlock". Another description was typed with "Jawbreaker", again crossed out and relabeled "Grimlock". Another preliminary name is "Tyrex", from the Sunbow Productions cast list page for "Countdown to Extinction"; this was evidently coined by writer Donald F. Glut.[1]
- An actor in a Grimlock costume was among "live" Transformers one could meet at the 1985 Universal Studios Tour.
- Grimlock's speech impediment is caused by varying conditions, depending on continuity. The difference between Grimlock's speech in the UK and US Marvel comics' writing styles was explained in the UK booklet "Transformers: The Facts" to be a ruse, as Grimlock didn't want to sound intelligent because he regarded intellectuals as weak. In the cartoon it was a result of primitive thought processes, something found in all Dinobots. In Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye, it is explained as the result of a virus, while the Transformers Hall of Fame blames it on a battle with Scorponok. In Spotlight: Grimlock, there was a brief mention of a damaged vocal processor; this was not only ignored by subsequent issues, but the rest of the spotlight. IDW's later Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD? gave him the speech impediment by saying he'd been brain damaged. Devil's Due didn't bother explaining, they just got him in the "Me Grimlock's" during part three.
- Grimlock is generally regarded as Simon Furman's signature character.
- Grimlock has his very own fanboy, Noise, who someday wants to grow up and be just like him—a godless killing machine.
- Grimlock's beast mode in The Gathering does not actually match any dromaeosaur on record, seeming to combine elements of both the dromaeosaur body type with that of a carnosaur or tyrannosaurid. The Beast Wars Sourcebook profile seems to have tried to rectify this by calling him a Megaraptor. Which is fine...except Megaraptor was later determined to be a misidentified carnosaur.
- In almost every instance in which Grimlock is drawn by Pat Lee, Grimlock's eyes protrude past his faceplate, rather than sitting behind it like normal. This becomes especially pronounced (and comical) towards the end of Dreamwave's first mini-series.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Grimlock (グリムロック Gurimurokku)
- French: La Menace (Canada, "The Threat"), Menace (Canada Beast Wars, "Threat")
- Hungarian: Mogorva ("Grim", Marvel comics), Grimlock (both The Movie dubs)
- Italian: Tiran, Drago ("Set Commandos" four-pack)
- Korean: Grimlock (그림록 Geurimnok)
- Mandarin: Kāng Sǔo (Taiwan, 鋼鎖, "Steel Lock"), Sz Sǔo (Taiwan Generation 2 cartoon, 死鎖, "Dead Lock")
- Portuguese: Trancoso, Grunhido (Brazil comics, "Grunt"), Implacável (Portugal, "Cutthroat")
- Russian: Smel'chak (Смельчак, "Daredevil")
- Spanish: Ferozaurio (Beast Wars)
- Ukrainian: Tverdokhvat (ICTV, Твердохват, "One Who Snaps Firmly")
References
- ↑ ZMFTS interview with Donald F. Glut (archive copy)
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Character stubs missing fiction
- Character stubs missing video games
- Action Masters
- Alternators Autobots
- Autobot leaders
- Battle Masters Autobots
- Beast Wars Maximals
- Beast Wars: Uprising Maximals
- Builders
- Classics Autobots
- Cloud Autobots
- Cloud Decepticons
- Combiners
- Decoys
- Dinobots
- Generation 1 Autobots
- Generation 1 Decepticons
- Generation 2 Autobots
- Gladiators
- Hall of Fame characters
- Henkei! Henkei! Autobots
- Point One Percenters
- Pretenders
- Turncoats
- Universe Autobots
