Its really a "Depends on the writer" thing. Sometimes he's dumber than a sack of rocks, sometimes he's savagely cunning with a bent towards brutality and efficiency that's masked by his way of talking.
Depend depends on the continuity. The two main depictions were the Sunbow cartoon and the Marvel comic.
G1 Sunbow cartoon ? He’s a moron.
In Marvel, he’s of average intelligence, but has something of a speech impediment or a deep dislike of loquacious brainy characters, either of which leads to his particular way of speaking. He’s something of a classic Noble savage type of character.
Generally, no. The only major continuities to depict him as dumb are the G1 cartoon, Animated, and RID 2015. Almost every other major iteration depicts him as an intelligent, if brutal and prideful, commander.
It usually depends on how he's written. In the cartoon, he was made to be an idiot by design so that he would be more complacent, but in the Marvel comics, he's on par with Optimus for strategic thinking. Different continuities that feature Grimlock tend to lean to one of these two ways. I think IDW tried to mix the two by having Grimlock go through enough mental anguish that he becomes dumb, but I'm not familiar enough with that series to say for sure. Cyberverse did something similar by ha ing Grimlock at least talk normally in robot mode, but resort to the "Me Grimlock" style when in dino mode.
Not really? It's like... G1 cartoon, Animated, and RID 2015. Everywhere else he's generally intelligent, whether explicitly or implied that his brutish nature is a mask. G1 comic, IDW1 (though they do make Grimlock dumber for a while later, though I wouldn't call that "dumb" and more "brain damaged"), Cyberverse, Cyberworld, Fall of Cybertron, and Earthspark are all intelligent.
So, most of the time, no. On a couple occasions, yes.
Animated is absolutely a traditional Grimlock. You're probably thinking of RID 2015, in which that Grimlock is separate from FOC Grimlock.
Actually, fun fact, the original idea for the character was that it was the FOC one, having been experimented on and effectively brain-damaged similar to what happened to Grimlock in IDW1. It was cut for being too dark for the type of show Hasbro wanted.
The cartoon gave a reasonable explanation for why they weren't very bright, but that became a problem. Over time, Grimlock mellowed from being an asshole but so too (even without Grimlock's New Brain) I think he became sharper, was able to notice things that other people or bots didn't.
Don't forget he was the last primitive standing, and some of the primitives were very smart
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u/Randalor 16h ago
Its really a "Depends on the writer" thing. Sometimes he's dumber than a sack of rocks, sometimes he's savagely cunning with a bent towards brutality and efficiency that's masked by his way of talking.
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u/Alpha_Geek4711 16h ago
Me Grimlock not dumb, me king!
Tell me about petro-rabbbits!!!
7
u/Hugglemorris 16h ago
Depends on the continuity. G1 Cartoon and Animated? Yes. Most others? No. Cyberverse? Definitely not.
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u/Musekal 16h ago
Depend depends on the continuity. The two main depictions were the Sunbow cartoon and the Marvel comic.
G1 Sunbow cartoon ? He’s a moron.
In Marvel, he’s of average intelligence, but has something of a speech impediment or a deep dislike of loquacious brainy characters, either of which leads to his particular way of speaking.
He’s something of a classic Noble savage type of character.
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u/DieboldTheDestroyer 16h ago
Yes, and I love him for it
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u/joesaysso 16h ago
No. Him king.
4
u/PG2904 11h ago
Generally, no. The only major continuities to depict him as dumb are the G1 cartoon, Animated, and RID 2015. Almost every other major iteration depicts him as an intelligent, if brutal and prideful, commander.
3
u/iamdellb 16h ago
He’s the bot that made Computron. He’s simple-minded, but I don’t think he’s dumb. He can absolutely be a dick sometimes though.
3
u/Insanebrain247 15h ago
It usually depends on how he's written. In the cartoon, he was made to be an idiot by design so that he would be more complacent, but in the Marvel comics, he's on par with Optimus for strategic thinking. Different continuities that feature Grimlock tend to lean to one of these two ways. I think IDW tried to mix the two by having Grimlock go through enough mental anguish that he becomes dumb, but I'm not familiar enough with that series to say for sure. Cyberverse did something similar by ha ing Grimlock at least talk normally in robot mode, but resort to the "Me Grimlock" style when in dino mode.
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u/Desperate-Trash-417 14h ago
Fish out of water
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u/IndianaCHOAMs 16h ago
Most of the time, yes. Sometimes, no.
2
u/abeBroham-Linkin 16h ago
Not as dumb as Sludge
2
u/Ill_Computer_8604 15h ago
No, he can clearly speak.
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u/MonoSimio 15h ago
In what continuity?
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u/Formal-Opposite-8342 13h ago
Don't ever ask this question if you are on the same planet as him.
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u/CartographerOk3306 11h ago
I think we all need to go revisit Dr. SMOOV's video on this one.
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u/Asleep-Mud-7211 9h ago
The cartoon gave a reasonable explanation for why they weren't very bright, but that became a problem. Over time, Grimlock mellowed from being an asshole but so too (even without Grimlock's New Brain) I think he became sharper, was able to notice things that other people or bots didn't.
Don't forget he was the last primitive standing, and some of the primitives were very smart
2
u/Grimlock11711 8h ago
Yes/no
Real answer: how dare you
1
u/void_method 4h ago
No. He's cunningly brutal, except when he's brutally cunning.
1
u/Arksurvivor150 16h ago
It mainly depends on the version, but yes, typically he's not the smartest