IDW - Transformers/Back to the Future #4

Written by: Cavan Scott

Art by: Juan Samu

Colours by: Candice Han

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Editors: David Mariotte & Chase Marotz

Plot

In the dark 2015, the few remaining Autobots are fighting, and dying to the giant Decepticon, Watchtower. 

Gigawatt gets fixed by Doc Brown, allowing him to time travel again, but before he can, he gets shot by Watchtower, protecting Marty and Doc. Gigawatt transforms and Marty gets inside regardless, but he can't build up speed, forcing Skilz and Doc to push the Autobot to speed him up to 88 mphnto time travel. They're successful, but everyone else is dead, with Watchtower about to step on the left behind Doc and Skilz...

Gigawatt and Marty arrive in 1984, and intercept Rumble in the real time machine, his human slave, Biff Tannen turns against Rumble, but the Decepticon manges to escape after shooting Gigawatt again.

Rumble makes his way into the crashed Ark, intending to wake up the Decepticons, but finds the Autobots having been awoken by Gigawatt and Marty already. Rumble tries to escape again, but Biff and Marty dump the collected Energon on top of him, crushing him.

In the aftermath, Optimus thanks Marty for his help, but he's distracted by the dying Gigawatt. Optimus convinces him to return the time machine to Doc Brown in the real 2015, and end this time disruption...

Marty arrives in 2015, to see everything back to normal, and Doc shows him that Gigawatt is alive after all, thanks to the Autobots and their allies. Optimus reveals that in his time, the Autobots are living in secret, protecting the humans, but can now fight and live in the open, thanks to his work.

Gigawatt, Marty and Skilz return to 1985, where life is back to normal, or better. Gigawatt and Skilz look over their human friend from a distance, as Marty is gifted a new truck from his parents...one which weilds a small purple insignia on the grill...

Characters

Autobot

Gigawatt - Modified DeLorean Time Machine

1984/Good 2015 Optimus Prime - Truck

1984/Good 2015 Bumblebee - VW Beetle

1984 Jazz - Porsche

1984 Ratchet - Ambulance

1984 Brawn - SUV

Good 2015 Hot Rod - Sports Car

Good 2015 Skilz - Hoverboard

Bad 2015 Rodimus Prime - Caravan Killed by Watchtower

Bad 2015 Bumblebee - VW Beetle Killed by Watchtower

Bad 2015 Skilz - Hoverboard Likely Killed by Watchtower

Decepticon

Bad 2015 Watchtower - Hill Valley Courthouse

1985 Rumble - Cassette Crushed under Energon Cubes

1984 Megatron Disassembled in Ark 

1985 "Marty's Truck" - Pick-up Truck

Human

Marty McFly

1984/Good 2015 Biff Tannen

1985/Bad 2015 George McFly

1985/Bad 2015 Lorraine Baines-McFly 

Good 2015 Doc Brown

Bad 2015 Doc Brown Likely Killed by Watchtower

Other

Good/Bad 2015 Einstein, the Dog

Notes

• It's kind of ironic that the series about time travel is several months overdue, isn't it?
• The giant Decepticon isn't named in the comic itself, but the rollcall page informs us he is "Watchtower". Due to his size, he is probably a Titan as well.
• We never saw the future, successful version of Megatron in this series, maybe because the concept would destroy our minds?
• Rumble recognises Gigawatt as an Autobot, but he was a Decepticon originally. Unless he was always supposed to join the Autobots after waking up on the Ark?
• Biff's outfit in the good future seems to be based on the regular outfits of the Witwicky family in the G1 cartoon
• The ending implies that Marty's new truck is a Decepticon in disguise, it's unclear who it could be, but the first thing that comes to mind would be one of the Dreads from the Movie series.

IDW - Transformers/Back To The Future #3

Written by: Cavan Scott

Art by: Juan Samu

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz & Candice Han

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Editors: David Mariotte & Chase Marotz

Plot

The Constructions find Scrapper's deactivated body and blame Biff for it, forcing the human to run. Bonecrusher goes after him, but the Construction gets blasted by Doc Brown's nullifier, just like Scrapper.

Doc explains his plan to try make contact with the Autobots using a nearby communications tower to get them to help Emmet recover his time machine to fix the timeline. When they reach their destination, Doc manages to get out a signal, but Biff, who has taken his nullifier, shoots the tower, shutting it down, and escorts his new prisoners back to the Constructions, and their newly arrived boss, Starscream.

Having picked up the signal, Rodimus and his small band of remaining Autobots head to Hill Valley, where they see Biff about to execute Doc and Marty's parents, Marty however grabs some piping and smashes Biff's exosuit gun, saving them.

The Autobots join in and attack the Decepticons, stealing the nullifier back from Biff and uses it to knock down Biff and the remaining Constructicons, using Skilz's new hoverboard mode to do so. Starscream gets knocked out by a powerful punch from Rodimus, and the Decepticons in the area are all defeated...

Suddenly, the Hill Valley Courthouse transforms into a giant robot, looming over them all....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus Prime - Caravan

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Gigawatt - Modified DeLorean

Skilz - Hoverboard (Formerly Skateboard)

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet Punched out by Rodimus

Hook - Crane Shot by Rodimus

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer Blasted by Doc Brown

Scavenger - Excavator Blasted by Marty

Long Haul - Dump Truck Blasted by Marty

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck Blasted by Marty

Scrapper - Front End Loader Deactivated

Human

Marty McFly

Doc Emmett Brown

George McFly

Lorraine Baines-McFly

Biff Tannen Exosuit Blasted by Marty

"Goldie" Wilson (Image on Billboard Only)

Other

Courthouse Bot - Hill Valley Courthouse

Einstein, the Dog

Notes

• It's unclear yet if Doc's Alpha-Wave Ionic Nullifier is fatal to Cybertronians, Scrapper is mentioned as being "deactivated" and it does damage the communications tower, but he never says it has killed any of them. It's likely it's designed to just shut down their systems, putting them in stasis lock.
• Biff's new Exosuit is based on the ones used by the humans in season three and four of the G1 cartoon, but more heavily armoured than theirs were.
• Despite scanning a Skysled for his new alternate mode, Skilz takes on a hoverboard design, reminiscent of Marty's one from the future scenes of the Back To The Future movies, possibly meaning he just scanned the engine parts to upgrade his existing skateboard mode
• The giant Courthouse robot at the end of the issue isn't identified, or even hinted at by any of the Decepticons during this issue, baking me believe it's possible it's not a Decepticon, and couild be anyone really (my hopes are for a Vector Prime type character)

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?

IDW - Transformers/Back to the Future #1

Written by: Cavan Scott

Art by: Juan Samu

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Editors: David Mariotte & Chase Marotz

Plot

Rumble and Ravage have been deployed to Hill Valley where they are enjoying watching a kid in a Delorean being shot at and chased by some Libyan terrorists, however they're shocked when he suddenly vanishes and returns later. Analysing the area, Soundwave and Megatron determine that the vehicle is a time machine, and the too Cassettes are tasked with capturing it for them.

The duo follow Marty McFly and Doc Brown to Marty's neighborhood where they attempt to steal the time machine, but the Autobot Bumblebee finds and attacks them. When their fight starts to draw attention from the humans, Bumblebee band Ravage transform to hide, and Bee reverses over Ravage, crushing him in cassette mode.

Shortly afterwards, Doc Brown uses the Time machine again, shocking Bee to its abilities, but he neglects to report it to Optimus, who tells him to return to base.

Marty soon goes to bed, exhausted from his journey to the past, however he is soon awoken by his father, now wearing identical jumpsuits to the rest of the family, and are all led outside, where Marty finds the whole town has been enslaved by giant robots, the Decepticons.

Marty realises that something must have happened to the time stream and he needs to get away from the robots to try and find Doc Brown to try and resolve it. He escapes the human work camp, chased by Starscream, but the Decepticon is knocked out by the Delorean appearing through a time portal.

Initially Marty thinks it's the Doc inside the car, but it begins to transform, revealing another robot, Gigawatt, he knows who Marty is, and needs his help to fix the time stream!

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Hound - Military Jeep

Gigawatt - Delorean Time Machine

Decepticon

Megatron - Gun or Tank

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Ravage - Cassette Crushed by Bumblebee

Rumble - Cassette

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Blitzwing - Jet/Tank

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Scrapper - Front End Loader 

Human

Marty McFly

Doc Emmett Brown

George McFly

Linda McFly

Dave McFly

Lorraine Baines-McFly

Coordinator Biff Tannen

Libyan Terrorists

Other Human Slaves

Needles (Mentioned) Presumably Dead

Other

Einstein, the Dog

Notes

• This comic series is part of the now constant "Transformers Vs X" series, which in this case is also being used to advertise the new Gigawatt figure from the special collaboration line.
• The opening page features a note from Doc Brown that essentially tells the audience to enjoy the comic, and don't worry about continuity, much like we were told at the start of the MLP crossover series.
• This story is set at around the end of the first Back to the Future movie, where Marty travels through time and saves Doc Brown from his murder 
• The Transformers side of this continuity seems to be based on the designs from the G1 cartoon again, but Rumble us coloured his more traditional red and black colours, rather than using Frenzy's colours like in the cartoon.
• It's unclear why Marty was immune to the timeline changing after he returned him, maybe he was protected by the trans-temporal particles around him?
• Starscream's bullying of Biff Tannen in this story mirrors Biff's own bullying of the McFly boys in the main timeline.
• It's not revealed what happened in the past to cause the new Decepticon ruling timeline, but I'll guess that when Doc Brown went through time Rumble snuck aboard, managed to get to the past where he woke up the Decepticons early.