IDW - Drift: Empire of Stone #4

Written by: Shane McCarthy

Breakdowns by: Guido Guidi

Pencils page 5-10 by: Marcelo Ferreira

Finishes by: Stephen Baskerville

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber 

Plot

Drift, Ratchet, Grit, Gigatron and his remaining troops all rush towards Hellbat and the awakened Army of Stone. Gigatron goes after Hellbat himself, whilst the others take on the Stone soldiers, but Hellbat has a larger Stone soldier take on Gigatron alone.

Drift manages to sneak up to Hellbat, and goes to attack him, but Vanquish steps between them, HOWEVER Grit then appears and takes on Vanquish due to his personal grudge with him.

Drift manages to reach Hellbat with Gigatron's help, and Vanquish badly injured Grit, however in his cockiness Grit grabs Vanquish's head and rips it off, killing the Decepticon, and he collapses from his injuries.

Drift takes on Hellbat himself, and manages to defeat him one on one, but Gigatron joins in on the fight as well, intending to take Hellbat's control panel for the Stone Army for himself to use, and turns on Drift in the process.

Whilst Drift and Gigatron are fighting, Hellbat programs all of the Stone soldiers to kill Gigatron, then allows Gigatron to kill him, along with the control panels, preventing the command from being cancelled.

With the power supply destroyed, the complex starts to detonate, so Drift, Ratchet and the surviving Decepticons all escape, just as the building blows behind them.

Following the destruction, Ratchet invites Drift back to the Lost Light, not as an Autobot, but as his friend.

Unseen by any of them, Grit crawls out of the rubble, removes his Decepticon insignia and walks off into the sunset.

Characters

Autobot

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Gigatron - Two Headed Dragon Possibly Killed by Stone Army

Hellbat - Jet Killed by Gigatron

Vanquish - Jet Killed by Grit

Grit - Van (Defects from Decepticons)

Gigatron's Troops

Cybertronian

Drift - Car

Wing (Mentioned)

Other

Stone Army Destroyed in Explosion

Notes

• This issue is literally just one big fight scene...seems perfect for a Drift story huh?
• Gigatron has still only transformed into his dragon mode, making it unclear if he is a Decachanger in this continuity or not.
• Gigatron's fate in the end is left a bit unclear, the Stone Army are swarming him, and then the building explodes around them. Though this IS Transformers, and this IS one of the stronger characters around too, so he probably survived somehow
• Also, since Grit survived the explosion and collapse of the building, it's likely that Gigatron could have too.
• Drift's decision is also left unclear at the end of this issue, Ratchet invites him to return to the Lost Light with him, but we don't get a final answer...guess we'll find out in MTMTE soon though!

IDW - Drift: Empire of Stone #3

Written by: Shane McCarthy

Breakdowns by: Guido Guidi

Finishes by: Stephen Baskerville

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Hellbat gives a monologue on how he found the Army of Stone almost as soon as their group arrived on the planet, and then reveals how he's been using other Autobots and Decepticons to use their power sources to power the Army, which is otherwise inert thanks to Drift and Turmoil killing their Monks on their first visit. Hellbat reveals that he finds their long lives somewhat pointless, and wants to end it all, by using the Stone Army to wipe out both the Autobots and Decepticons.

They are about to use Ratchet and Drift for more power supplies, when Grit returns and kills one of his cohorts. A battle ensues with Drift taking on Vanquish, Grit going after Hellbat, and Ratchet dealing with the last one.

The battles wage on, but Vanquish abandons Drift, so he can save Hellbat. In the process he sends Grit flying into a wall, and leaves him plummeting down a long way. Drift and Ratchet rescue him, and the trio narrowly escape their own deaths.

Hellbat turns on a machine that activates a large number of the Stone Army, who go after the trio. Drift and the others agree that there's no way to stop them alone, so they head to Gigatron's throne room where they expose Hellbat's plans, just as the Stone Army smash in as well. Gigatron gets angry at Hellbat's betrayal and destroys the Stone Army.

In the aftermath, Drift tells Gigatron that they need to join forces to take down Hellbat, before he can unleash more of the Army on the universe.

Characters

Cybertronian
Drift - Car

Autobot

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Gigatron - Two Headed Dragon

Hellbat - Jet

Vanquish - Jet

Grit - Truck

Grapple Guy Killed by Grit

Green Guy Killed by Ratchet

Other Decepticons

Turmoil - Tank (Mentioned)

Other

Army of Stone

Stone Monks (Mentioned) Killed by Deadlock and Turmoil in past

Notes

• Drift claims to have taken a vow to never kill again....maybe he hadn't made that pact before he went to Delphi and as willing to kill Dent etc?
• Mention is made of Hellbat's helmet-eyes, implying they are actually eyes, and aren't decoration.
• Despite all his talking, Hellbat seems kind of incompetent in battle this issue
• Vanquish is shown to have retractable swords from his wrists
• We're shown that Gigatron has his twin headed dragon mode, wonder if he has the others too?

IDW - Drift: Empire of Stone #2

Written by: Shane McCarthy

Breakdowns by: Guido Guidi

Finishes by: Stephen Baskerville

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Centuries ago, Deadlock and Turmoil crash land onto a rocky planet, where they find a large stone palace with an army of stone creatures inside. When they report this back to Megatron he is uninterested.

In the present day, Gigatron tells Drift to help him locate the Stone Army, so he can add them to his forces to aid the Decepticon's military efforts, ignoring Ratchet's claims that the war is over now. Drift manages to arrange for himself and his friends to go free, but it all goes to hell when Hellbat calls Grit a traitor, for being able to get himself captured by the Autobots, resulting in a fight that leads to the trio being put into a cell after a quick battle with Gigatron and his forces.

In their cell, Ratchet begins a plan by having Drift pretend to be dead, and has a fake argument with Grit for killing him, however the Decepticon guard doesn't believe the story, but frees them regardless due to his friendship with Grit, giving them back their confiscated weapons as well.

Grit tells his friend, Knockout to get off the planet as soon as he can, and Grit goes to hunt down Hellbat, to kill him for insulting him earlier.

Drift and Ratchet head off to find the Stone Army before Gigatron and his troops can, but they find that the Army has already been found, and has been hooked up to machinery. Suddenly Hellbat appears with some of his troops saying that he'll explain everything, especially since he's about to kill them both for uncovering his secret.

Characters

Autobot

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Gigatron

Hellbat - Jet

Vanquish - Jet

Grit - Truck

Knockout - Excavator Truck

Decepticon Troops

Turmoil - Tank(Flashback)

Megatron (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Drift/Deadlock - Car

Other

Stone Army

Notes

• It appears that in the past both Turmoil and Deadlock (future Drift) worked for Gigatron
• If Hellbat has already located the Stone Army, then why did he convince Gigatron to keep Drift and the others alive?
• Grit and Knockout's friendship is a reference to their toyline's past as Micromaster combiner partners

IDW - Drift: Empire of Stone #1

Written by: Shane McCarthy

Pencils by: Guido Guidi

Inks by: Stephen Baskerville

Colours by: John-Paul Bove

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Drift, now exiled and a Neutral Cybetronian again is fighting with some Decepticons on a planet they have enslaved, and manages to defeat them, taking them prisoner on board his shuttle. The Decepticons expect him to take them back to Cybertron for a trial, but instead he says he's handing them over to the Galactic Council, who detest Cybertronians.

Drift arrives on a Galactic Council Outpost, where he finds Ratchet waiting for him, planning to bring him back to the Lost Light with him. Drift refuses, and Ratchet is shocked that Drift plans to hand over some Cybertronians to the Council, with Drift saying that he plans to catch all the remnants of the Decepticons at the Galactic Rim, to which Grit, one of the Decepticons, laughs and says he's badly misinformed if h thinks there's just remnants out there. He refuses to say anything else, but his cohorts tell Drift about a Decepticon outpost, in exchange for them being taken back to Cybertron instead.

They head out to the outpost world, but are quickly shot down by weapons-fire, and crash, with only Ratchet, Drift and Grit surviving the fall, upon leaving the wreckage of their shuttle, the group are attacked by a large group of Decepticons, with Grit about to be killed by the Decepticons for travelling with some Autobots, but Drift and Ratchet save him, much to his shock.

Unfortunately the duo are soon forced to stop when more Decepticons arrive, and are placed into cuffs. The group are taken  to a stone castle that Drift recognizes, and are taken inside, to a Decepticon leader, who greets Drift as Deadlock, and wants his help to take the system they are in apart....

Characters

Autobot

Ratchet - Ambulance

Decepticon

Gigatron

Hellscream - Jet

Vanquish - Jet

Grit - Truck

Desperados Killed in Shuttle Crash

Gigatron's Troops

Overlord (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Drift - Car

Other

Blue Aliens

Galactic Council Outpost Denizens

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Notes

• This series follows what Drift has been up to since his self-imposed exile from the Lost Light
• There are a lot of generic characters from the Victory anime appearing in this issue (and Hellscream from the Victory comic too!)
• The unnamed leader of the Decepticons in this story is based on Robots in Disguise Megatron. Since it is unlikely that he'd be called Megatron as well, I'm assuming that he'll be using his Japanese name, Gigatron.
• Drift appears to recognize the castle on the planet, but doesn't appear to recognize the planet itself implying that this is just a mass-produced castle used by "Gigatron", or it's a mobile base of some sort.