Rage of the Dinobots issue 4
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| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | February 20, 2013 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | February 2013 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Mike Johnson & Mairghread Scott | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Agustin Padilla | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Tom B. Long | ||||||||||||
| Editor | John Barber | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | Jean-Carlo Tirado | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Prime cartoon | ||||||||||||
Grimlock versus Shockwave!
Synopsis
[edit]The Dinobots and Ultra Magnus meet Shockwave in battle, but the cyclopean scientist proves to be surrounded by a forcefield that deflects their every attack. Knocked out by an electromagnetic pulse triggered by the Decepticon, the team is taken to Shockwave's laboratory, where Grimlock is strapped to an operating table and the others are jailed. As Grimlock struggles to escape, Shockwave explains that he created the Dinobots based on the hypothesis that a combination of intelligence and brute savagery was necessary to create the perfect soldier. Having observed the Dinobots in action since their escape from his clutches, however, he now postulates that sentience is not necessary, and fully unleashing that beast within Grimlock will transform him into the ideal warrior. As Shockwave sets about his wicked work, Grimlock recalls the last time he was trapped in this position, his previous escape and battle with Shockwave, and his being injured in the space bridge explosion that followed, left for dead until his fellow Dinobots came to his aid...
Elsewhere in the complex, Snarl tests the durability of their cell with his blaster while Ultra Magnus puts his mind to work thinking up an escape plan. He and Slug engage in a fake argument, during which Magnus threatens to blast the Dinobot, prompting the guards to come rushing in to prevent the untimely death of Shockwave's experiments. Slug and Magnus immediately turn on the guards and take them down, then quickly locate Shockwave's lab; Slug smashes into the wall, weakening it enough that a combined charge from all four Dinobots breaks it open, just before Shockwave makes the fateful incision into Grimlock's cranium. Caught by surprise, Shockwave is seized by his four former experiments and Magnus, and rather spectacularly torn limb from limb with one almighty pull. Grimlock is soon released from the table, but just as he is coming back to his senses, a hologram of Shockwave appears in the room and reveals that they have not killed him, but rather, slain only one of many avatars working on one of many labs all across the planet.
A little later, the Dinobots and Magnus gather at a spacecraft, ready to take off and join Optimus Prime's fleet. Grimlock informs Magnus that the Dinobots will not be going, instead remaining on their homeworld to save the few 'bots still there, as well as to hunt down Shockwave and finish him once and for all. Magnus bids them farewell, affirming them as his fellow Autobots, and takes off as the Dinobots head out for further adventures.
Featured characters
[edit](Characters in italics only appear in flashbacks)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
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Quotes
[edit]"I was Optimus Prime's right hand!"
"I don't care if you were Nexus Prime's left leg!"
- —Ultra Magnus and Slug
"Dibs on Sentinel Prime's palace."
- —Swoop
Notes
[edit]
- During Grimlock's flashback to events of the Fall of Cybertron video game, what's seen of Shockwave and Starscream are their War for Cybertron bodies. This issue also patches up a gap in continuity between the end of the game and the start of this mini-series, showing us what happened to Grimlock after the space bridge explosion that ended his role in the game (one of the elevated platforms that level was set on crumbled beneath him and he fell and wound up buried in rubble until the other Dinobots found him).
- Continuing the approach taken by IDW's Fall of Cybertron comic, Earth's dinosaurs are specifically referred to as "ancient", again affirming that Shockwave looked into Earth's past, and that the game is not set—as High Moon Studios promotional material often claimed—contemporaneously with the era of living dinosaurs.
- We actually see what Grimlock looks like under his visor and faceplate. It’s not pretty. The comic also seems to imply that Grimlock's faceplate acts as a sort of life support system, or at least aids in his speech.
- There's a "bonus GRIMLOCK pinup" by Thomas Deer.
Errors
[edit]- On page 15, it appears Sludge is drawn doing Slug's work of ramming through the door, followed by Snarl telling Slug to quit ramming the door and then Slug taking credit for ramming the door while Sludge magically appears behind them.
Covers (3)
[edit]- Cover A: Grimlock and Ser-Ket, by Ken Christiansen
- Cover RIA: Prime Shockwave, by Nick Roche and Joana Lafuente, part of a combined image formed from the RIA covers to all four issues.
- Cover RIB: Fall of Cybertron Shockwave concept art by Norwood Cole.
