Sludge (FOC)
| The name or term "Sludge" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sludge (disambiguation). |
| The name or term "Slog" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Slog (disambiguation). |
- Sludge is an Autobot Dinobot from the Fall of Cybertron portion of the Aligned continuity family.
Originally a member of Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition, Sludge was left for dead during the experiments that turned the team into the Dinobots. Though he was able to recover and rejoin the team as their logistics expert, he still harbors much rage over the fact that his own friends never came looking for him.
He is also known as Slog.
Fiction
IDW Aligned comics
Shortly before the Great Exodus, Sludge was a member of the Lightning Strike Coalition, a brutal subgroup of Autobots under the leadership of Grimlock, who reluctantly followed Optimus Prime's more cautious brand of warfare... when ordered. Swoop was sent to investigate Shockwave's energon sources but he worryingly disappeared. When the other four coalition members learned that Swoop had been captured by Shockwave at a Decepticon facility in the Sea of Rust, they disobeyed orders and went after him themselves. Good Intentions Sludge and the others followed Grimlock, secure in his arrogance, who was glad that the fate of Cybertron rested in their hands. Secrets Although the group attempted to rescue Swoop from Shockwave's experiments, they were overwhelmed by Insecticons. Siege Mentality
Of all the Coalition, Sludge was left weakest from the battle, and Shockwave decided that he would experiment on him merely for practice. After altering the Autobot to have an alien reptile alternate mode, the Decepticon scientist had the Insecticon Kickback dispose of Sludge in the tunnels beneath the facility without even reactivating him. When his teammates, similarly modified, escaped, and dubbed themselves "Dinobots", they did not search for Sludge, believing him deceased, and it was four cycles before he was recovered by an Autobot clean-up crew searching the tunnels for energon. Beast Hunters #2
After Optimus and Megatron left Cybertron with the majority of their forces, the Dinobots remained behind with remnant forces led by Ultra Magnus. Eventually, when the time for the final evacuation came, Sludge and his comrades helped the last convoy of ships, led by Impactor, escape Cybertron. Ultra Magnus told the Dinobots to get to their own craft, but another squadron of Decepticons drew Swoop into taking them out himself. This resulted in Magnus being shot down when he tried to fend them off. Grimlock convinced the other Dinobots to attempt a rescue for Magnus. A Predacon, however, managed to get there first and capture him. Swoop was downed and captured in the process. Rage of the Dinobots issue #1
Sludge examined the bodies of the Predacons that were destroyed while trying to capture Ultra Magnus. He let Grimlock know that there were welding lines that indicated the warriors were cut up and sewn back together again, just as Shockwave did to the Dinobots. Snarl got Ultra Magnus' ship up and running and they followed Swoop's transmitter.
The Dinobots found the prison atop a mountain. Once they arrived at the top, the Dinobots took out the guards and Snarl was able to steal a module from one of them. The Dinobots found that the prison contained far more prisoners than they were expecting. The Dinobots managed to open every cell, but had to manually release Magnus. When they returned to the top, they met eyes with Ser-Ket. The Dinobots demanded that she hand over Swoop, but she revealed that Swoop had been re-forged into a Predacon. Rage of the Dinobots issue #2
After returning from hunting Forged, Sludge joined Grimlock in his throne room to listen to the grievances and petitions of the many 'bots found on their dying world, and taken in under their care. As the session drew to a close, Sludge took Snarl aside and informed him that Grimlock wouldn't be seeing anyone for a while, lest he snap and go mad from the burden of leadership. Heading out to hunt again in order to vent some of his own frustration, Sludge came across Firestar being chased down by a swarm of Insecticons. After teaming up with her to destroy the bugs, Sludge brought Firestar to Grimlock, despite his earlier discussion with Snarl. Firestar revealed that she was from Last Spark, a settlement that had previously refused to associate with the Dinobots. Upon hearing this, Grimlock flew into a rage and threw Firestar out of his throne room, despite her insistence that her people were in a dire need of his help. Sludge asked Grimlock to reconsider aiding the settlement, seeing as their race faced extinction, and needed to look beyond old grudges. Telling Grimlock that he knew that coming to Last Spark's aid was the right thing to do, Sludge walked away with Firestar. Snarl joined the pair, insisting that he needed to ensure Sludge returned intact from Last Spark, for Grimlock’s sake if nothing else.
En-route, Firestar revealed to the two Dinobots that she hadn't received permission to ask for their help, but had instead acted of her own accord in the hopes of putting an end to the slaughter of her people, being dealt out by a mysterious entity. Sure enough, Last Spark's leader, Airwave, was none-too-pleased about the Dinobots' arrival. Though he saw them as little more than monsters, Airwave was talked into allowing the Dinobots to stay and help. Firestar showed Sludge and Snarl the remains of those murdered by the mystery killer. Looking over the bodies' injuries, the Dinobots speculated that Kickback might be involved. They headed out to scope out the Insecticon's lair, and had their suspicions confirmed as Kickback and his followers suddenly descended upon them. Beast Hunters #1 A brutal confrontation followed. Kickback taunted Sludge during the fight, reminding him that his fellow Dinobots hadn't initially bothered looking for him after Shockwave's experiments. Sludge had trouble keeping up with Kickback's incredible speed, but eventually manages to land a decisive blow by allowing himself to be stabbed. Before finishing him off, Sludge questioned Kickback, asking why he attacked Last Spark... only to find that the Insecticons had never breached the settlement. Sludge decided to kill Kickback nonetheless before heading back to Last Spark. Once there, Snarl claimed he had solved the case, and went to inspect the settlement's crypt. He confirmed his suspicions that many dead had been drained of their energon before the murders had allegedly started. Airwave soon revealed himself to be guilty of the crimes, and attacked Firestar and the Dinobots before fleeing and turning the rest of the town onto Snarl and Sludge. Firestar wound up slaying Air Wave herself, and cleared the Dinobots' name in the process. Sludge and Snarl then returned home, where Grimlock, in his own way, apologized for his earlier behavior. Beast Hunters #2
Sludge and Snarl later returned to Last Spark to help the settlement recover from their recent ordeal. While he was talking with Firestar, Sludge was approached by Zoom, who enthusiastically suggested he go on patrol with the Dinobots. Sludge retorted that the young 'bot simply wasn't ready for the kind of action the Dinobots got themselves into regularly, and walked away. Beast Hunters #3
Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe
Sludge serves under Grimlock as part of the Dinobots. He has yet to understand the strength of his human allies. The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe
Games
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Sludge and the rest of the Lightning Strike Coalition deserted their posts defending the Ark to look into some mysterious energy readings. He helped steal an Autobot drop ship and together the team traveled to the Sea of Rust. Unfortunately the energy readings related to Shockwave's recent activities near the energon lake, particularly his efforts on the space bridge and the creation of the Insecticons. The Lightning Strike Coalition battled the Insecticons, but while the others were captured for Shockwave's continued experiments, Sludge was left behind. His body was found by Jazz, partially dismembered and grafted to the wall of an Insecticon hive. Jazz stated that he was in stasis lock. Jazz removed Sludge's memory core while attempting to find out what had happened in the tunnels. Jazz later flooded the tunnels with a highly toxic fluid, quite possibly destroying Sludge's body in the process. What became of Sludge's memory core is unknown.
After escaping from captivity, the newly christened Dinobots found a hologramatic datacore which projected the body Shockwave had originally planned to give Sludge. Fall of Cybertron
Transformers: Battle Tactics
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Slog (FOC) participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was an Epic character who first appeared in the "Grimlock's Escape" stronghold event, and could be recruited by collecting 500 units of Cybermetal, 250 units of Transmetal, and 50 cores of this character. Transformers: Battle Tactics
Notes
- Sludge is currently the only Dinobot that isn't playable in Fall of Cybertron's multiplayer. Considering there are only four multiplayer class types, this is unlikely to change.
- There's some indication that Sludge was initially planned to appear in the game as either a full NPC or character, including the fact that his model is set up to accept skeletal deformation, which would have only been necessary if the model had to transform (which Sludge never does in the final product, seeing as how he's a stasis-locked body). The model also sports beast-mode kibble, which can be a bit hard to notice in the game.
Foreign names
- Russian: Slyakot (Слякоть, "Slush")
