IDW - Transformers/Back To The Future #2

Written by: Cavan Scott

Art by: Juan  Samu

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Editors: David Mariotte & Chase Marotz

Plot

In 1985, Gigawatt tries to get Marty to help him to save the future, but the human is scared at the sight of another giant robot, assuming he's with the ones who have enslaved his family. As a result, Starscream attacks the newcomer, and almost takes him out, until Marty throws the skateboard he's carrying at the Seeker, and it unexpectedly transforms into the Autobot Skilz, who manages to knock down Starscream, allowing Gigawatt to transform, and Marty and Skilz get onboard, and they time travel to 2015.

The 2015 they arrive in, turns out to be one where the Decepticons have been ruling the planet for over 30 years now, with the remaining Autobots led by Rodimus Prime. Once there, the Autobots explain to Marty that Emmett Brown is responsible for this future, as when he travelled to the original version of 2015, Rumble stowed away, a D feigned innocence to get Emmett to fix him up from his I juries following the earlier battle with Bumblebee.

Now in the future, Rumble contacts Megatron, telling him that he's finally gotten ahold of the time machine, and gives his location in Emmett's lab, but when he arrives, Megatron is revealed to be beaten down and near dead, having been overwhelmed by Optimus and the Autobots. seeing this sad sight, Rumble steals the time machine and travels back to 1974, where he enslaved Biff Tannen, and forces him to help him collect Energon for ten years.

In 1984, the future version of Rumble leads Tannen to Mt St Hillary, where they activate the Ark, and command it to only revive the Decepticons, allowing Megatron to slaughter most of the still sleeping Autobots. Afterwards, Megatron decides they don't need two Rumbles, so he kills the time travelling one, but saves his head, so the scientists can study it to learn his secrets.

One of the Decepticons, Gigawatt, realized just how evil Megatron is when he executed some humans for their teams getting behind schedule, so he scans the captured Time Machine, and escapes, quitting the Decepticons, but gets shot in his chest, damaging his flux capacitor.

Afterwards, Gigawatt joined the Autobot resistance and told them about what happened. Gigawatt intended to travel to 1974 to stop Rumble's mission from the start, but his flux capacitor's damage sent him to 1985 instead, where he happened to find Marty. Rodimus, knowing of Marty from their data on Emmett Brown ask if he knows how to fix the flux capacitor, but he states that the doctor is the only one who knows his to do that, and they don't know where he is now...

Meanwhile, in the Hill Valley Workcamp, George McFly stumbles out of exhausting, prompting Scrapper to prepare to terminate him and his wife, until he is shot from behind and electrocuted by Emmett Brown, who asks the McFlys if they will help him to save the world from the Decepticons...

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus Prime - Caravan

Gigawatt - Modified DeLorean Time Machine

Skilz - Skateboard

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

1984 Optimus Prime (Flashback Only) Killed by 1984 Megatron

Hound (Flashback Only) Likely Killed by Megatron

Jazz (Flashback Only) Likely Killed by Megatron

Original 2015 Optimus Prime - Truck (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Scrapper - Front End Loader Electrocuted by Doc Brown

1985 Rumble - Cassette (Flashback Only) Killed by 1984 Megatron

1984 Megatron - Gun (Flashback Only)

Original 2015 Megatron - Gun (Flashback Only) Near Death

Soundwave - Cassette Player (Flashback Only)

1984 Rumble - Cassette (Flashback Only)

Flamewar - Motorcycle (Flashback Only)

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Flashback Only)

Shockwave (Flashback Only) Being Rebuilt

A Seeker (Flashback Only) Being Rebuilt

Other Decepticons (Flashback Only) Being Rebuilt

Human

Marty McFly

Doc Emmett Brown

George McFly

Lorraine Baines-McFly

Other Hill Valley Slaves

Biff Tannen (Flashback Only)

Pasadena Workcamp Coordinator (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatron

Arleta Workcamp Coordinator (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatron

Other

Einstein, the Dog

Notes

• Skilz, the newly introduced Autobot who was disguised as a skateboard is (obviously) based on the Armada character, Grinder, but with a slimmer body and new colour scheme
• From the characters available in the dark future of 2015, we can assume that bumblebee was the only survivor of the Autobot slaughter in 1984, with Rodimus, and others like Skilz arriving afterwards from Cybertron.
• Due to the nature of time travel, some alternate versions of the same character appear in this issue, so the character list might get a bit confusing....I'm assuming this will be the same in the next two issues too...
• As I guessed in the last issue, Rumble snuck aboard the DeLorean and used it to manipulate the timeline in the Decepticon's favour.
• Gigawatt being a former Decepticon could be a reference to his toy not featuring an Autobot insignia.
• So, if Gigawatt can scan the DeLorean to turn into a fully working time machine...can the others do the same too?