S.O.S. Dinobots

by Ragey

The Autobots are sensing strange shaking activity nearby the Ark, and Ironhide believes it to be the work of that sod-off nerd Rumble, but after being informed by Spike that they're coming from behind a wall inside the ship the big guy uses his scanner to see what's inside, spying peculiar contents. Sideswipe and Brawn set about breaking down the wall, only to discover...

Dinosaur bones! Spike seems relatively unexcited about discovering such wonders, though the Autobots are intrigued and ask the little guy to educate them on the extinct creatures.

Elsewhere, Soundwave and Reflector are over at the Great Falls hydroelectricity factory type place, and after snapping a few photos and overhearing a simplified explanation from a child's father over how the energy generator works, they set off back to Megatron to provide him with a new hair-brained scheme.
 

Spike and Hound, meanwhile, are paying a visit to a museum to see dinosaur skeletons, and after producing holograms of them to bring back to the rest of the Autobots at base, they all decide that having a few fang factories on their team would help in kicking Decepticon ass, never mind the fact that getting these new recruits would just make their numbers wildly disproportionate. Optimus Prime gives his words of approval, and work on them begins immediately.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons just make it known to the audience that, yes, they are going to use the hydroelectricity place as a power source to vanquish the Autobots, and set out to do precisely that.
 

The Dinobots; Grimlock, Slag and Sludge; are finished and Wheeljack, Ratchet and Spike make a big deal of showing them to the other guys, demonstrating their excellent combat capabilities by making them clean up the mess they made when burrowing the bones out. Huffer is unimpressed for all the wrong reasons, while Wheeljack mentions to Optimus how he was faithful to the original creatures by giving them simple brains, but he'll be constantly upgrading them to sort any problems.

Bit of a problem already, Wheeljack!

The Dinobots go nuts and start trying to kill everyone, stomping around and tail whipping and all kinds of crap, leaving Optimus just a little frustrated at his comrade's idiocy and demands they be disabled before they create a catastrophe. It's a bit late for that, however, as Grimlock heads to control room and starts lasering Teletraan-1, causing it to explode.

Bumblebee and Spike are sent flying by the explosion, Ratchet seems rather unaffected by the situation, and Grimlock is lured back to the other Dinobots by the little yellow guy, where Trailbreaker busts out a force field in an attempt to fend off their fire, but doesn't exactly help in winning the war.

Optimus grows impatient and tries to destroy Wheeljack's creations, but he's reluctant to let that happen, and uses his magnetic inducer to stop them; with them disabled, he pleads with Prime to give them a second chance, only for the big cheese to deny him, believing them to be too dangerous for future use and demands they be locked away for good. And so, they're shoved back in the cave and the entrance is sealed, leaving Wheeljack as one unhappy bunny.

The Decepticons arrive at the Great Falls and set about their usual antics, chasing off the guards with laser fire and whatnot, leaving them with no choice but to call the Autobots for help. However, their plea goes unanswered, thanks to Teletraan-1 being in bad shape, and their communications computer is subsequently exploded by Ravage, leaving Megatron to claim the factory as his territory now.
 

Thankfully, Spike and Hound are the Decepticon activity finder team until Teletraan-1 is operational, and their radar quickly picks up electronic signals, Hound's hologram ability able to pinpoint their location to the Great Falls. He reports this info to Optimus Prime, who rolls out with the rest of the Autobots, excluding Bumblebee, who's left to look after the Ark and make the saddest face he can muster. Wheeljack is up to something!
 

While Soundwave and the more obedient of the jets fill energon cubes with this generated energy, Starscream awaits the Autobots to arrive and foil yet another of Megatron's ridiculous plans, though his leader assures him he has a surprise in store for them. In the meantime, his troops merely fly around and shoot at the Autobots when they arrive, and they seem to have the advantage as the Autobots are bumbling doofuses who stand around flexing their gears instead of actually attacking.

Megatron grows sick of this idiocy and connects the energy generator to his cannon, using it in combination with Rumble's pile drivers to send the land the Autobots are on crumbling to pieces, sending them falling down to the harsh waters below! Bumblebee arrives at the scene, having felt useless back at base, and he and Spike drive off to find help.

They arrive back at the Ark to find Ratchet and Wheeljack, telling them of what happened and being told that they alone can't save their buddies. Wheeljack reveals what he was working on earlier: Brain upgrades! He suggests they slip them on the Dinobots and use them to help beat up the Decepticons, ignoring Prime's demand that they never be activated again. He briefs his creations on their mission, and after taking fifteen seconds to say about ten words in total, they understand and fly out to save the day.

After letting Optimus grunt in his chains for about ten seconds, Megatron and his minions aim their weaponry to finish them off, only for the Dinobots to fly in! Sludge paddles through the river after them, where you'd imagine he'd lay some smackdown upon reaching the other side, but it's actually Wheeljack who puts Megatron out of commission with a shoulder cannon blast to his abdomen.

Naturally, Starscream claims leadership for himself and calls for an airborne strike, dropping cluster bombs on Grimlock that do no damage at all, and is blasted out of the sky with his mouth laser. Thundercracker decides that spraying Slag with a flamethrower will help plenty, but this is Robot dinosaurs we're talking about here. Rumble attempts to swallow Sludge up in a quake, only for the Dinobot to pull the same trick on him, causing his arms to fall off, while Skywarp is tail whipping into Soundwave, sending them both out for the count.

Megatron gets to his feet, reluctant to lose, and transforms into his gun mode while leaping into Starscream's clutches and firing everywhere; Wheeljack notices his friends' guns when dodging the fire, and their fancy features to free his comrades and restore them to pristine condition, while the Dinobots blast Megatron out of the sky. Realising they're heavily outnumbered, he calls for an official retreat and the Decepticons scarper.

With the menace out of the way, Wheeljack and Bumblebee apologise for disobeying their orders, claiming any punishment they receive is justified, only for Spike to state that if they did follow their orders everyone would be dead meat by now. Prime, realising he was in error, claims that even the smartest and coolest people are sometimes wrong, offering no punishment and even allows the Dinobots to stay as official members of the team, much to the delight of them all.

Grimlock's design alternates various times throughout the episode, having a simplified design with basic features and one that's more complex with all kinds of little details, most evidently on his head.

This only exists through season 1; afterwards, the simplistic design is the only one kept. A slight shame, really, as the more detailed head is uglier in my view, but actually looks like a dinosaur head; the simplistic one reminds me of a whistle with fangs.

Gears can fly, apparently.