War of the Dinobots
Title card via TFWiki, fan-archive fair use
A power-boosting meteor draws both armies, and Grimlock's ambition nearly turns the Dinobots against Optimus Prime.
At an observatory, Chip Chase and his colleague Jeff spot an unidentified meteor through the telescope. Its strange readings cause Chip to call in the Autobots, who soon arrive. Chip's already calculated when and where the meteor will land, and Optimus Prime decides that the Dinobots will be useful backup when it does.
At Decepticon headquarters, Megatron is watching video footage of the Dinobots and raging about how the dim-witted robots have defeated his warriors. Though Starscream protests that the Dinobots are brilliant as warriors, Megatron insists they must have weaknesses and orders Soundwave to find them.
Soundwave finds the Autobots in a derelict area waiting for the meteor to arrive. The Autobots take cover as the meteor crashes down. Once it has crash-landed, Optimus announces that they must analyze it, and blasts a clunk off for Wheeljack to take back to headquarters. Leaving the Dinobots to guard the meteorite, the Autobots roll out for home. As they drive, Optimus announces that he's decided to get Ratchet and Wheeljack to build two more Dinobots, and Spike and Chip offer to help. Back at base, Chip selects a Stegosaurus and a Pteranodon for the alternate modes of the new Dinobots.
At the meteor site, Soundwave scans the Dinobots' brains while in hiding and reports back to Megatron. The Decepticon leader declares Grimlock is arrogant, Slag is hostile, and Sludge is stupid. He vows to use those weaknesses against the Dinobots.
Megatron's forces arrive at the meteorite's location, and after the Dinobots trash the Seekers, Megatron comes forth and feigns humility. He wonders aloud why the Dinobots, as powerful as they are, follow a weaker leader such as Optimus Prime. The Dinobots debate Megatron's logic and conclude that Grimlock should be leader and they need to destroy Optimus Prime. The three seekers spirit away the meteorite, and Megatron suggests a plan to the Dinobots which will help them eliminate Optimus.
At the Autobot base, Prime and Ratchet oversee construction of two new Dinobots: Snarl and Swoop. During this, Wheeljack discovers the meteorite's energy is highly unstable. Trailbreaker manages to encase the fragment in a force field just before it detonates. Fearing a huge explosion, Optimus Prime rushes out alone to warn the Dinobots.
At the base, Ratchet and Wheeljack have Snarl and Swoop do a test run of their powers. Bluestreak, Ironhide, Sideswipe and Prowl attempt to stop the new Dinobots, but get their cans soundly kicked, though Bluestreak claims the Autobots would have won if the fight was for real.
Prime arrives at the crash site to find the meteorite gone. As he attempts to contact headquarters, the Dinobots attack him and he reluctantly fights back. Though he puts up a good fight, Optimus is unable to defeat the Dinobots by himself. Despite his pleas that they're friends, the Dinobots blast him unconscious, however, Grimlock stops Slag from finishing their former leader off, a restraint that Prime attributes to their Autobot training. The Dinobots instead take Prime to the Decepticons. In a nearby canyon, the Decepticons are draining energy from the meteorite, though Starscream's warning that the energy appears unstable is dismissed by Megatron. The Decepticon leader is outraged when the Dinobots turn up with Optimus. When Starscream asserts that Grimlock won't destroy Optimus because he's soft, the Dinobot leader shoots Starscream. Optimus attempts to warn Megatron about the unstable nature of the meteorite, but Megatron believes he's lying.
—Spike Witwicky learns that Optimus Prime really needs a vacation.
—Megatron on the Decepticons' failure to defeat the Dinobots.
—Chip Chase, wondering if they are truly truly outrageous.
—The Dinobots plan their coup.
—Sideswipe, finally seeing some action after being largely ignored for several episodes.
- Grimlock's head has been redesigned, though the old version still crops up in a few future episodes. However, the old design remained predominant in the comics all the way until Grimlock evolved into an Action Master in "Still Life!". The second head design would be used in all incarnations from then on.
- In an earlier draft of this episode's script, it was not Chip who discovered the meteorite, but an original character named Doctor Lynn Hyashi. In a deleted subplot, Sparkplug's jealousy of her technical expertise would have paralleled Grimlock's jealousy of Prime's leadership. Writer Donald Glut would later repurpose the character for the Challenge of the GoBots episode "Destroy All Guardians". Despite her removal from the script, a model sheet of Dr. Hyashi was created (seen at right)
- When Megatron orders the footage of the Decepticons' defeat by the Dinobots turned off, there's a lingering shot of Reflector looking a little alarmed. This is an artifact of the original script for the episode, in which footage from S.O.S. Dinobots was supposed to be replayed. Showing a rather detailed, gruesome battering the three-in-one Decepticon received from the Dinobots. As this scene was storyboarded, then cut from the previous episode, it had to be removed from this episode as well.
- This episode marks the only occasion in the entire series that a normally functioning Autobot willingly battles a normally functioning Optimus Prime ("Dark Awakening" and "The Return of Optimus Prime" don't count, as Prime was a zombie in the former and Rodimus was infected with the Hate Plague in the latter). The Dinobots have quite a bit of success, too... somebody could have used some lessons from them.
- This was one of the six episodes featured on the Revenge of the Fallen console game, and the three on the PSP game. However, it was erroneously named "War on the Dinobots". It was also, unfortunately, the Kid Rhino remaster.
- Seriously, Optimus Prime does not forgive Grimlock at all.
Screencaps via TFWiki (Teletraan I), used under fan-archive fair use.