The Mightiest Dinobot
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| "The Mightiest Dinobot" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | The Magic of Cybertron #4 | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 21, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | July 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Ian Flynn | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Casey Coller | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Joana Lafuente | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Jake M. Wood | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Megan Brown and David Mariotte | ||||||||||||
Spike steps up to save Smolder and the Dinobots when King Sombra's newest minion attacks.
Synopsis
[edit]Spike introduces his fellow dragon Smolder to the Dinobots: since his first adventure with Grimlock, the little dragon has become their number one fan and obsessively researched everything he can learn about the prehistoric heroes and their Autobot allies. While Smolder's confidence, strong wings, and scorching fire-breath wow Slug, Snarl, Swoop, and Sludge, Spike struggles to impress the group despite Grimlock's attempts to help him—as he bashfully points out, he's still just learning how to fly, and only uses his magical fire to send messages.
At that moment, however, a huge shadow blots out the sun as another voice cuts in: the voice of King Sombra's newest and biggest servant, Superion! Spike immediately recognizes the giant combiner as one of the strongest Autobots, and while Grimlock orders Smolder to get Spike to safety, the five Dinobots swing into action. The Dinobots are powerful fighters, but Superion is more powerful still; the combiner easily gets the upper hand; as he prepares to finish off Grimlock, Smolder tries to distract the giant warrior but is contemptuously swatted aside. Spike manages to catch Smolder as she falls from the sky; the older dragon briefly despairs that they can't match Superion's power, but Spike observes that something's wrong. From his research, he knows that combiners usually have a hard time staying coordinated, and theorizes that Sombra's magic must be what's keeping the individual personalities of the Aerialbots suppressed. Spike and Smolder hit on the same solution together: break up the team!
Smolder gives Spike a lift as the pair zip through the air, dodging the combiner as they taunt each of Superion's individual components and do their best to pull the gestalt warrior apart by reminding each individual Autobot of who they really are. When faced with one mind pulling in five separate directions at the same time, Sombra's magic begins weakening; when Superion eventually collapses and falls apart into his individual Autobot components, the spell is fully lifted and the Aerialbots return to their old selves. Sludge initially thinks that Spike used a spell of his own to counter Sombra's sorcery, but the dragon admits that it was nothing quite so flashy: just a simple matter of applying his knowledge to a problem. Grimlock tells his friend that this is what makes Spike an incredible warrior, and proudly announces that from this day forward, Spike is an honorary Dinobot!
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
[edit]"Do you not see wings? Friend-Spike can fly too!"
"I'm... still learning, to be honest."
"Him learning to fly! Him dragon! Breathe fire, too!"
"M-mostly to send correspondence..."
"Telecomm fire! Him do other things!"
"N-no, that's about it."
"...Friend-Spike. Help Grimlock out here."
"I'm a good listener?"
- —Grimlock plays hype man for Spike
"I'd make an 'extinction' joke... but it's as far beneath me as you are."
- —Superion
"Superion is five Autobots put together. Think about the last time you and your friends tried to agree on pizza toppings, then make it way more complicated."
"Yona and Sandbar are still arguing about the pineapple."
- —Spike and Smolder
Notes
[edit]Continuity notes
[edit]- Spike befriended Grimlock during their time on Earth together in the third story of the first crossover. In that story, Spike taught himself how to use Teletraan I to defeat the Constructicons; this sequel tale reveals that at some point between then and his return to Equestria in the final battle, he presumably used the Autobot computer to learn more about the Dinobots and the other Autobots.
- Spike notes that he mostly uses his magic fire to "send correspondence"; in the Friendship is Magic cartoon, this fire-breath was the primary means by which Twilight Sparkle communicated with her mentor Princess Celestia, mostly through letters that summarized the moral of the episode.
Transformers references
[edit]- As the Dinobots take on Superion, the Aerialbot combiner takes Sludge out of the fight by swinging him so hard his eyes cartoonishly bug out of his head—a homage to his famous defeat at the hands of Devastator in the first act of the animated movie.
- To defeat Superion, Spike gets into the heads of each his components by pointing out one notable personality trait for each one—Silverbolt's fear of heights, Slingshot's arrogance, Air Raid's love of flying, Skydive's passion for science, and Fireflight's childlike wonder.
- This is the most characterization the individual Aerialbots have received in almost twenty years.
Errors
[edit]- On page three, Grimlock uses the phrase "breath fire", which should probably be "breathe fire".
