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Grimlock and the Dinobots
Oct. 21st, 2010 01:18 pmOkay gonna babble here for a minute.
It might not be obvious, but Grimlock is my favorite Autobot. And I'm starting to get tired of seeing this belief held about him and the Dinobots.
I see folks talking about how they perceive them as being child-like or retarded and thus it's "not cool" to give them the same about of robo-lovin' that other characters get. It know it's not fandom-wide, but I see enough of it to make me go :C
Now, if you're writing a fic set in the third season of the G1 cartoon, I could totally see that. Grimlock was rather castrated and turned into a sort of animal side-kick character, there.
But even Grimlock in the first two seasons could totally hold his own. He and the Dinobots were presented as simpler than the other Autobots, but we're talking super intelligent robot lifeforms from space. If Grimlock is stupider than other Autobots, he's still farrrr more mentally capable than the average human. And no one complains that the less intelligent humans in Xeno fics shouldn't be involved in the funtimes!
Grimlock just has a speech impediment. :< Or, maybe, he just likes to talk different. All that proper grammar just isn't all that important than how awesome he is.
Grimlock and the other Dinobots are shown making decisions for themselves. He's aware enough to be annoyed at Optimus for only calling in the Dinobots when they need their help in battle. I can totally see him as capable enough for consent, which is really the only thing you need.
In the Marvel comics, the Dinobots were Cybertronian in origin, first shown as unit out on their own. They weren't built by any of the others and we presume that their creation was the same as the other Autobots.
He doesn't even start speaking any differently until issue #28, and the TFwiki notes: "Grimlock speaks in the manner of his cartoon counterpart for the first time in this issue ("Why you not destroy humans?"), and will do so for the rest of his appearances in the comic along with (at least until his demise in "Dark Star") a much more "buffoonish" and self-centered personality as well. Later, in Marvel UK's 1989 booklet "Transformers: The Facts", the writer claims that Grimlock's varying speech pattern is a deliberate ruse on his part, because he considers intellectuals weak, though this is never specifically stated in any story."
In the Dreamwave and IDW continuities, Grimlock is still ruthless and arrogant, but he's also clever and thinks ahead. And he still has that lovely speech quirk in Dreamwave. <3
Anyways, this just runs down to the fact that I want more people to write Grimlock bangin' Optimus Prime, damnit. :T
It might not be obvious, but Grimlock is my favorite Autobot. And I'm starting to get tired of seeing this belief held about him and the Dinobots.
I see folks talking about how they perceive them as being child-like or retarded and thus it's "not cool" to give them the same about of robo-lovin' that other characters get. It know it's not fandom-wide, but I see enough of it to make me go :C
Now, if you're writing a fic set in the third season of the G1 cartoon, I could totally see that. Grimlock was rather castrated and turned into a sort of animal side-kick character, there.
But even Grimlock in the first two seasons could totally hold his own. He and the Dinobots were presented as simpler than the other Autobots, but we're talking super intelligent robot lifeforms from space. If Grimlock is stupider than other Autobots, he's still farrrr more mentally capable than the average human. And no one complains that the less intelligent humans in Xeno fics shouldn't be involved in the funtimes!
Grimlock just has a speech impediment. :< Or, maybe, he just likes to talk different. All that proper grammar just isn't all that important than how awesome he is.
Grimlock and the other Dinobots are shown making decisions for themselves. He's aware enough to be annoyed at Optimus for only calling in the Dinobots when they need their help in battle. I can totally see him as capable enough for consent, which is really the only thing you need.
In the Marvel comics, the Dinobots were Cybertronian in origin, first shown as unit out on their own. They weren't built by any of the others and we presume that their creation was the same as the other Autobots.
He doesn't even start speaking any differently until issue #28, and the TFwiki notes: "Grimlock speaks in the manner of his cartoon counterpart for the first time in this issue ("Why you not destroy humans?"), and will do so for the rest of his appearances in the comic along with (at least until his demise in "Dark Star") a much more "buffoonish" and self-centered personality as well. Later, in Marvel UK's 1989 booklet "Transformers: The Facts", the writer claims that Grimlock's varying speech pattern is a deliberate ruse on his part, because he considers intellectuals weak, though this is never specifically stated in any story."
In the Dreamwave and IDW continuities, Grimlock is still ruthless and arrogant, but he's also clever and thinks ahead. And he still has that lovely speech quirk in Dreamwave. <3
Anyways, this just runs down to the fact that I want more people to write Grimlock bangin' Optimus Prime, damnit. :T
