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G1 Character Profiles
GRIMLOCK

| Personal Profile | Cartoon Biography | Quotes |

Personal Profile: Grimlock is one of the most well known characters in the Transformers mythos.  The lovable Dinobot brought comedy to the cartoon, controversy to the comic and he was one of the greatest toys.  He is the leader of the Dinobots, he transforms into a Tyranasaurus-Rex and is one of the most powerful regular sized Autobots.  He joined the Autobots in the cartoon and comics in their first year, but didn't have a toy until 1985.  The other members of the Dinobots are Slag, Sludge, Snarl and Swoop.  Grimlock's personality on the cartoon was very different from his personality in the comics.

Episodes appeared in: SOS Dinobots, War of the Dinobots, The Ultimate Doom part 2, Countdown to Extinction, Heavy Metal Wars, Atlantis Arise, Day of the Machines, Dinobot Island part 1 and 2, Desertion of the Dinobots part 1 and 2, Transformers: The Movie, Five Faces of Darkness parts 1-3, Chaos, Thief in the Night, Madman's Paradise, Carnage in C-Minor, Only Human, Grimlock's New Brain, Call of the Primitives and Dark Awakening.

Cartoon Bio: Grimlock was created by Wheeljack and Ratchet on Earth in 1984.  He was created with Slag and Sludge and was immediately recognized as being the leader of the Dinobots.  At first they rampaged through the Ark and Optimus Prime ordered that the Dinobots be put offline permanently but when he and the other Autobots were captured by Megatron, Grimlock and the other Dinos were used to rescue Optimus and the other Autobots. Shortly after Megatron convinced Grimlock and the Dinos that Optimus and the Autobots were their enemies and the Dinobots kidnapped Optimus Prime.  Wheeljack and Ratchet with the help of Chip Chase created Swoop and Snarl and the two new Dinobots were used to rescue Prime from Grimlock, Slag and Sludge.  During that battle Optimus saved Grimlock's life and Grimlock realized that the Autobots were really his friends. In 1985 an Island with real Dinosaurs was found by Powerglide and Bumblebee.  Optimus decided that Dinobot Island would be a good place for the Dinobots to train and practice their fighting skills, because the Ark was too small for the giant Dinobots.  Megatron and the Decepticons found out about the Island and wanted to harvest it for all the energy it produced.  The Dinobots were thrown in a pit of lava, but were later rescued and got a bunch of real Dinosaurs to help them attack Megatron. Later the Cybertronian Autobots and Decepticons began to malfunction because they ran out of Cybertronium.  The Dinobots were made on Earth so they were the only Transformers not effected and they were sent to Cybertron to get some.  When they got to Cybertron they disappeared.  Spike and Carly went to Cybertron to find them and found Swoop who led them to the other Dinobots that were captured and working for Shockwave.  Eventually they were freed and brought the Cybertronium back so that the Autobot's bodies could be restored. In Transformers the Movie the Dinobots came in the shuttle with Optimus Prime towards the end of the attack on Autobot City.   When Galvatron attacked they went in the shuttle with Kup and Hot Rod.  The shuttle was shot down on Quintessa and Kup and Hot Rod were captured by the Quintessons.  On Quintessa the Dinobots met Wheelie who led them to Kup and Hot Rod and they were able to rescue the two Autobots from the Quintessons.  They took a ship to the planet of Junk and were with the Autobots when they attacked Unicron.  They helped with the attack on Unicron but were not very effective. After the movie Grimlock's character had change.  He was now incredibly stupid and provided the show with a lot of comic relief.  The other Dinobots didn't play large roles in the show but Grimlock was very important in the creation of the Technobots.  Grimlock had become very smart when he was investigating a tunnel deep within Cybertron.  Later during an battle at Unicron's head Grimlock created the Technobots, who could merge into the gestalt Computron.  Grimlock downloaded his intelligence into Computron and went back to being his old self. He can also be credited for saving the Universe.  When Primacron created Tornatron an entity that steels energy from transformers Grimlock and all the other Primitive Transfromers were called to save the universe.  All the others were defeated by Tornatron but Grimlock broke into Primacron's lab and flipped a switch that reversed Tornatron's actions.  Tornatron gave energy back to all the transformers it stole energy from.  Grimlock then destroyed Primacron's lab.

Comic Biography:Grimlock's character in the comics was very differant from his cartoon character.  In the cartoon he was there for comic relief, but the comics explored Grimlock's character further than that and it gave us a look at what Grimlock is really all about.  He was smarter in the comics although his vocabulary was the same, he still managed to make himself sound smart most of the time. Grimlock and the Dinobots were all created by Teletran 1 during prehistoric Earth.  They were sent to attack Shockwave, who had traveled to Earth from Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons on the Ark were still dormant.  They battled Shockwave but were thrown in a tar pit during the battle and remained their until they were freed by Ratchet in 1984. Ratchet freed the Dinobots from the tar pit so that they could help him defeat Shockwave. Instead they ended up fighting Megatron and were eventually victorious against him with the help of Ratchet.  The Dinobots then joined the Autobots.  Later they left because they felt that Optimus Prime wasn't a good leader. When Optimus Prime died the Autobots were without a leader.  When Grimlock and the Dinobots saved the other Autobots from Trypticon, the Autobots made Grimlock leader.  When Grimlock became leader he became very power crazy and wanted everything done his way.  His only concern was to get the Ark functional so they could get back to Cybertron and he didn't care about Earth or the humans living on Earth.  Many Autobots resented Grimlock's leadership and some even left like Blaster and Goldbug. Image courtesy of Dan KhannaDuring Grimlock's reign as leader of the Autobots he managed to get the Ark out of Earth's atmosphere and into space.  He was challenged by Fortress Maximus for leadership of the Autobots, but Fort Max was injured at the time and Blaster fought for him.  During the battle between Blaster and Grimlock the Decepticons attacked and the two Autobots stopped the fight.  After the Decepticons had been driven back, Blaster and Grimlock agreed that no leader would be able to lead the Autobots except for Optimus Prime. Later when Starscream was powered by the Underbase Grimlock was chosen as one of the leaders of an Earth group.  When Starscream attacked however, he was relentless and decimated the Autobots and Decepticons alike.  Grimlock and the Dinobots were killed in this fight. Grimlock was given new life by Ratchet when he made Grimlock into a Pretender with Bumblebee and Jazz.  The classic Pretender trio was sent into the heart of Primus along with a micromaster team.  They were followed by a group of Decepticon pretenders led by Bludgeon.  In the heart of Cybertron they found Primus and they found out that a loud noise can wake him.  When the Decepticons attacked the noise of the battle woke Primus. Grimlock was on the Ark under the command of Optimus Prime when he discovered Nucleon, a special substance that would give life to deactivated transformers.  He wanted to use Nucleon to revive the Dinobots and any other transformers that were deactivated.  Optimus said no, but Grimlock went anyway.  This was the first moment when we see how much Grimlock cares about his fellow Dinobots.  He feels like he is a big brother to them and would do anything to get them back to life, including risking his own which he did when he went to get the Nucleon and tested it on himself before he gave it to the deactivated Autobots. During the fight between Unicron and the transformers Grimlock brought his fellow Autobots into the fight after he gave them Nucleon.  He must have given it to the Decepticons too because there were revived Decepticons as well.  After the war with Unicron Optimus had passed away and Grimlock was named new leader of the Autobots.  He also learned that the result of Nucleon is that you can no longer transform. A Decepticon/Autobot alliance had been formed after the Unicron war.  They decided to abandon Cybertron because Unicron had damaged it too much.  The Decepticons sabotaged the Autobots ships and left but Grimlock had some ships hidden that the Autobots used to leave Cybertron and follow the Decepticons.  After Optimus Prime came back to life again, Grimlock relinquished command. In G2 Grimlock was second in command of the Autobots under Optimus Prime.  He led an attack on Jhiaxus' territory that resulted in the deaths of Red Alert and Mirage.  He later disobeyed Prime's orders and went to Earth to save Prime from the Decepticons and he ended up saving Prime's life.

Grimlock; Quotes:

"You wrong, and you ugly too!"
"Me Grimlock no nice Dino, me bash brains."
"Me Grimlock no bozo, me king!"
"Me Grimlock kick butt."
"Me Grimock not feel sorry, me Grimlock laugh."
"Me Grimlock here to save universe."
"Me Grimlock laugh at small creature who make big problems."

 
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