The Dragon Pays His Dues
From Transformers Wiki
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| "The Dragon Pays His Dues" 過去を償う竜
(Kako o Tsugunau Ryū) | |||||||||||||
| First published | October 20, 2012 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Andrew Hall | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Hidetsugu Yoshioka | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||||||
| Packaged with | Grimmaster Prime Mode | ||||||||||||
When called into action, will former Decepticon Grimmaster have what it takes to fight alongside the Autobots?
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Synopsis
On Dinobot Island, the newest addition to the team of prehistoric heroes the locale is named after puts his Power Core drones through their paces. Formerly a Decepticon, Grimmaster has signed up to join the fight for Earth, and has been training on the island for ten years in order to finally get strong and skilled enough to make a difference, as well as to pay back former Autobot Supreme Commander Star Saber for once saving his life. Jetmaster soon arrives with a message from human ally Major Clouder of the Department of Defense: although Racemaster has managed to keep his drones out of Decepticon hands despite multiple attempts on them, the loss of the military drones and the disappearance of Choppermaster has necessitated that Grimmaster be called up to active duty. Jetmaster is a little wary of the Grimmaster's ex-Decepticon status, but is soon softened by the Dinobot's promises to do his best, and the dedication and time he's obviously put in to his training. Grimmaster gathers his drone "buddies" around him, and they all let out a primeval roar of support for their boss.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots |
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Notes
- The kanji "竜" in the original Japanese title literally means "Dragon", however, it can also refer to "Dinosaur".
- Grimmaster's soft-hearted nature and former-Decepticon status mark him as Kakuryu, of Victory's Dinoforce. Abandoned by their leader Deathsaurus in the final stages of the Victory cartoon, when last seen in the show's epilogue, the Dinoforce had settled down and taken jobs on Earth; Kakuryu had started working at an amusement park, but has gone on to become a full-fledged Autobot in the interim.
- Dinobot Island first appeared in the two-part Generation 1 cartoon episode that shared its name. Grimmaster has obviously followed in the original Dinobots' footsteps by deciding to use it as a training ground, just as they did.
- This story is the first to give us any kind of definitive date for any of the various pieces of Japanese fiction that followed Victory, establishing a ten-year gap between it and United EX (and its contemporary, Operation Combination). This would place these series in 2035.
- "Major Clouder" is the side-switching Godmaster Clouder, or "Doubleclouder", from Super-God Masterforce. The Masterforce cartoon gave very little information on Clouder, but showed him to have access to Department of Defense video files and military vehicles, implying a connection that is at last plainly stated in this story.
- Star Saber saving Kakuryu's life did not occur in the Victory cartoon, but rather in issue #4 of the Victory manga, in which Kakuryu tumbles off a cliff after a botched attempt at an ambush, only for the Autobot leader to haul him to safety and save his life, rather than finish him while helpless. The panel from the manga in which Star Saber grabs his hand is even re-drawn without embellishment in this story's illustration. The Victory manga actually occupies a separate continuity to the cartoon, but to sidestep any conundrums, writer Andrew Hall notes that he fully intended the EX story to be part of the cartoon's continuity, merely implying that a similar event to that seen in the manga also occurred in its timeline at some point.
- Grimmaster's drones are named after his fellow Victory characters Star Saber, Road Caesar, and Landcross. The other drone, the Illumina III drone, is named for Jan Minakaze's pilotable mecha the Illumina II (itself christened after the human girl), and is noted in Grimmaster's bio to be able to carry a human passenger in reference to this. Furthering the Dinobot connection, Wheeljack, original creator of the Dinobots, is credited with building Grimmaster's drones.
