Warning: contains spoilers for Transformers: Beast Wars #4!
IDW's animated TV series, the new comic version of the story makes some key changes, including the addition of original character Nyx into Dinobot's narrative.
In the acclaimed Transformers: Beast Wars 1990s TV show, Dinobot originally leaves the Predacons after his attempt to usurp Megatron fails spectacularly. He then tries the next best thing by challenging Optimus Primal to a duel to decide who will lead the heroic Maximals. The Predacons ambush this confrontation before it can unfold, forcing Optimus to save Dinobot. Optimus' decision to help his foe is a major turning point for the rogue Predacon, becoming key to Dinobot's eventual redemption.
The comics began drastically changing this particular story arc earlier on in the series when the Predacons captured Nyx and proceeded to torture the poor Maximal. Sickened by their lack of honor, Dinobot both freed Nyx and escaped himself. Now, in Transformers: Beast Wars #4 by writer Erik Burnham and artist Josh Burcham, Dinobot stumbles across the struggling Nyx, who sustained heavy damage during her imprisonment. Showcasing the instincts that eventually saw him accepted by the Maximals in the show, Dinobot rescues her and decides to take her back to the Transformers who were, until recently, his sworn enemies.
Upon Dinobot's arrival at their crashed ship, the Maximals understandably misconstrue his heroism as some sort of diabolical act and attack. But rather than fighting back, Dinobot successfully subdues them, placing Nyx gently on the ground and then making the surprising statement: "I formally request to become a Maximal." This is quite a divergence from what he says in the TV show, "I have left the Predacons to your group... as leader."
Even if Dinobot suddenly ramps up his aggression next issue, this change puts his traditional redemption arc under his own control, as it's his sense of honor and empathy that brings him to the Maximals. At the same time, if Dinobot never makes his play for leadership, Optimus Primal will not be put in a position where he can willingly choose to save his enemy; an act of kindness that changed Dinobot for the better.
If Optimus Primal had never saved his foe in the TV show and Dinobot had won, it's more than likely that Dinobot would have contorted the Maximals into his own interpretation of what the Predacons should have been. But by Dinobot willingly choosing to fall in line after Optimus' act of mercy, Dinobot truly accepted what the Maximals represented. The Transformers: Beast Wars comic, however, takes all of this away from Optimus Primal, making Dinobot's redemption more bound up in his interactions with Nyx while perhaps retaining the character's vicious edge. Fans will have to keep reading to see how this change affects the larger story, which once again shows Transformers: Beast Wars isn't afraid to break new ground.
