Corrodia Gravis


 * Corrodia Gravis is a disease in the Generation 1 continuity family.

Corrodia Gravis condemns a Transformer to a slow, wasting death as rust consumes his body. Only a systems boost from a Transformer with a compatible constitution can stave off the degeneration. It is not clear whether this cures the disease, or merely retards its progress.

The Dinobot Snarl is susceptible to Corrodia Gravis.

Marvel Comics continuity
At Earthforce base, Wheeljack diagnoses Snarl as suffering from Corrodia Gravis, and informs Grimlock that he will die unless a transfusion can be obtained from a compatible donor. Unfortunately, the only compatible Transformer is Starscream. The Dinobots, Prowl and Ironhide travel to the Louisiana swamps to secure Starscream's cooperation, only to find that he is under threat from the Mayhem Attack Squad, Megatron and Shockwave. Amazingly, they kick all of their asses and in return Starscream agrees to help - for a price...

In 1992, Snarl is at an advanced stage of Corrodia Gravis, and the other Dinobots bring him to the Savage Land in search of the control crystal from the shuttle that they left there millions of years ago when they came to stop Shockwave. They hope to use it to store his brainwaves while they obtain a new body, only to find that it is being used to hold back a disease that is killing the resident dinosaurs. As a temporary solution, they use the crystal to transfer Snarl's mind into a stegosaurus until they return with a replacement body.

Trivia

 * The name Corrodia Gravis is reminiscent of the real-life human autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, which causes progressive muscular weakness and can be treated but not cured. This suggests that, unlike Cosmic Rust, Corrodia Gravis is not caused by a pathogen but is instead an inherent condition. This would also explain the unusual lengths to which the Dinobots are forced to go in order to help Snarl.