Dinobot's History
Dinobot, named for Grimlock and his elite wartime unit, was a member of Galavar's cell of Predacon separatists in the employ of the Tripredacus Council. Although proud of his Predacon heritage, Dinobot's rigid code of honor led to frequent disagreements with his comrades, and over time Dinobot developed a deep, if private, hatred for thuggish 'bots like Terrorsaur and Scorponok. When Galavar went rogue and changed his name to "Megatron", Dinobot nevertheless joined his leader on a mission to liberate the Golden Disk from the Maximal Science Ministry. During the heist, Dinobot prevented Terrorsaur from killing a guard in the belief that there could be no honor in killing a defenseless enemy who wouldn't fight back before Scorponok killed him anyways.
After stealing the Maximal warship Darksyde, Dinobot and the other Predacons attempted to follow the coordinates on the disk but came under attack from the Maximal science vessel Axalon before Tarantulas could activate the ship's transwarp drive; as they jumped through unspace across space and time, Dinobot stopped Terrorsaur from firing on the Axalon as the blast would destroy both ships. When both ships crashed on a mysterious organic world, the Darksyde's computer rebuilt the Predacons with organic beast modes. Dinobot went to Tarantulas' lab to check on his progress on mapping the planet's environment, but Tarantualas only cared about the unspace energy all around the ship. Dinobot ordered Tarantulas to abandon the project, but the scientist refused to comply and ordered Dinobot to leave his lab.
When the Predacons captured and tortured the Maximal Nyx for information, Dinobot stepped in and tried to reason with Megatron, but his protest that a worthy foe deserved a worthy death only angered Megatron. However, when Tarantulas deduced that other Maximals must've survived the crash, Megatron forgave his outburst but warned Dinobot to not defy him again. When the seven Predacons went outside to watch Nyx's execution using Tarantulas's recently-invented transformation lock lens, Dinobot's long-brewing crisis of conscience finally came to a head; after destroying the device, he turned on the other Predacons so that Nyx could transform back into beast mode and escape. Skold and Scorponok accused him of betraying the Predacon cause, but Dinobot insisted that he had not betrayed his ideals and offered Skold the chance to join him. Skold refused, so Dinobot threw Skold at Megatron, forced the Predacons back into the ship, and used his security clearance to put the Darksyde into a full lockdown before escaping into the jungle.
While traversing the jungle, Dinobot used his beast mode to track Nyx and successfully rescued the injured flier from a native creature. However, extreme damage to her systems caused her to collapse, and after consulting her onboard computer Dinobot was able to plot a course back to the crashed Axalon. Once he'd arrived at the Maximal ship, the remaining four Maximals confronted him; although Optimus Primal and Cheetor initially mistook him for an aggressor, Dinobot announced his intentions to join the Maximals. A skeptical Optimus immediately confined Dinobot to a makeshift brig until he could deduce his true intentions, and although Primal remained skeptical, Nyx requested to speak with him, and grew increasingly convinced that Dinobot's unexpected rescue indicated a genuine change of heart. When Megatron and the other Predacons attacked shortly thereafter, Nyx made the decision to release Dinobot so that he could turn the tide in the favor of the outnumbered Maximals.
After Dinobot defeated Waspinator, Rattrap successfully reactivated the ship's deflector shields; when Primal ordered a retreat, however, Dinobot found that the shield frequencies corresponded to Maximal source code, leaving him unable to retreat with the other Maximals as the remaining Predacons closed in. Confident that he could best five Predacons again, Tarantulas, the sixth Predacon, rejoined the battlefield in time to ambush Dinobot, stab him through the chest, and leave him helpless as the other Predacons closed in to beat him to the brink of death. Primal used the Axalon's plasma cannons to force Megatron into a retreat and save Dinobot's life, but the experience left Dinobot critically damaged and doubtful that he would ever fight at full strength again. Although Dinobot planned to exile himself into the jungle so as to not burden the other Maximals, Primal told their new ally that they'd be honored if he joined their team.
Some time later, Dinobot was still on the mend and passed the time by sparring with Optimus, though he soon developed a mutual dislike for his nominal teammate Rattrap. One night, while briefing the other Maximals on his former Predacon allies over a game of cards, Cheetor heard a noise in the corridor and went to investigate. The Maximals discovered that Blackarachnia had invaded the base and sabotaged the remaining Maximal stasis pods in orbit. While Dinobot and Nyx headed to the ship's armory to see if she'd stolen any weapons, Dinobot prevented Cheetor from running into an explosive web-tripwire that would've killed them all. Although the Maximals couldn't prevent Blackarachnia from carrying out her sabotage and escaping, Dinobot and the other Maximals attended a meeting where Primal announced that they'd be going on the offensive.
Optimus and Dinobot were on hand when Skold delivered a wounded Razorbeast to the ship. Dinobot noticed that Skold had become more confident since they last crossed paths, and offered her a place with the Maximals, but Skold rejected his offer to become a Maximal; due to her own past, she accused the Maximals of hiding their cruelty behind a benevolent facade.
Having jury-rigged an escape pod as an improvised shuttlecraft to reach the Darksyde and take back the Golden Disk, Dinobot explained its history to his teammates and how Megatron first took an interest in the artifact before piloting the vessel and its crew to the Darksyde. Despite Rhinox's reservations about directly engaging the Predacons, Dinobot opined that Megatron understood no other language but force, and took the step of unleashing a bombing run on the Predacons below as part of a first salvo. In the ensuing battle, Dinobot mattched up against Megatron once more, but his injuries proved his undoing; the Predacon leader quickly realized that Dinobot now favored his right side and unleashed a punishing bite from his tyrannosaur jaws that left Dinobot badly wounded before Primal distracted Megatron at the last moment. Despite his injuries, Dinobot had enough fight in him to incapacitate Waspinator with his optic weaponry. Although the battle ended in a stalemate—Megatron held control of the disc and the Maximals left under a conditional ceasefire, although Rattrap secretly copied the information on the artifact—Dinobot grimly mused that they should've taken out Megatron when they had the chance.
At some point, Dinobot took part in a skirmish against the Predacons that ended with Cheetor getting injured.
While planting early warning sensors outside the Axalon, Dinobot and Optimus came under assault from Blackarachnia and Tarantulas, who attempted to infect him with a new variety of aggression-enhancing energon. However, Primal took the brunt of the explosion; while Dinobot's warrior instincts helped him suppress his anger, Primal had no such compunctions and quickly went berserk. As he rampaged through the ship, Dinobot suggested he take on Megatron, aware that Primal would tire himself before that and burn the infection out of his systems.
