Stardrive

Stardrive is a Cybertronian Space Knight from the 2005 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

Stardrive knows that she's not like her fellow members of the Solstar Order. Orphaned as a protoform after her ship ran afoul of the Galactic Council, she was rescued by Rom and raised in isolation from the rest of her species, growing up amongst the myriad organics under the protection of the Order. Eventually, Stardrive rose to become one of the many Space Knights of the Solstar Order, dedicating the rest of her life to battling the malicious Dire Wraiths that plague the galaxy.

But although she's a competent, dedicated warrior, Stardrive struggles under the burden of her Cybertronian heritage in a civilization of carbon-based lifeforms. Having grown up hearing the horror stories of the Cybertronian Great War, Stardrive is aware just why her comrades are prone to view her with such mistrust. Should the destructive Autobot/Decepticon war reach Solstar shores, Stardrive will have to decide where her true loyalties lie...

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.

In the mid-19th century,^[1] a Camien vessel containing a cargo of protoforms attracted the attention of a Galactic Council warship; misidentifying the vessel as a Cybertronian ship, they pursued and shot it down in the Gray Area between Council space and the neighboring Solstar Order. The altercation caught the attention of the Space Knight Rom, who investigated the crash site and discovered that all but one of the protoforms had perished. Rom rescued the survivor and brought it to his home planet of Elonia. There, scientists managed to stabilize the injured "Gray Area Anomaly," and created an energon synthesizer, reverse engineered from energon samples recovered at the crash site, to nourish it.

The protoform soon developed into a healthy young female Transformer; she was raised alongside other alien youngsters and soon discovered her ability to transform into a car Shining Armor #1 and space fighter, Shining Armor #2 from which her classmates nicknamed her "Stardrive." Raised in isolation from her species, Stardrive learned about the destructive legacy of the Cybertronians in her school, with teachers suggesting that with the "proper upbringing," she could do better than the rest of her species. Shining Armor #1

On a graduation field trip to Mato Grosso, Stardrive was attacked by the Dire Wraith Vekktral, who tried to assimilate her. Shining Armor #1 Shining Armor #2 She was saved by Rom and a group of Space Knights, and the experience convinced her to join the Space Knights to emulate her hero Rom, and after graduating from the Space Knight's academy, she was bonded to a suit of crystalline armor and granted a pair of Neutralizers.

Five years after her "birth", Stardrive was deployed to stake out Mining Colony 25-6-41 in the Farouko Cluster, where she spent a week in her car alternate mode to spring a trap for the Wraiths. When Rom, Livia, and some new cadets arrived and engaged the Wraiths, Stardrive preemptively revealed herself to rescue Auxin from an ambush. Auxin wasn't particularly thankful for her timely rescue, angry at losing his first kill to "the machine." Stardrive's popularity didn't improve after she argued against Livia's proposal to sterilize the entire colony. Rom agreed with Stardrive's assessment; the matter settled, the two senior Knights brought Stardrive with them on their next mission: negotiations with the Galactic Council regarding the threat of a potential Wraith migration into Council territory.

Arriving at the space station Orchid Crossing over Xetaxxis, Stardrive was hurt when Rom and Livia revealed that they had deliberately brought along Stardrive to be paraded in front of the Council—proof that the Solstar Order was capable of keeping Cybertronians "in their place"—and Rom's words of encouragement did little to alleviate it.

The next morning's meeting quickly went off the rails when the Council's representatives revealed themselves as Wraiths in disguise and their ship transformed into Astrotrain, vanguard for a larger Decepticon insurgency led by Starscream, who had formed an alliance with Vekktral to steal Stardrive's energon synthesizer. A terrified Stardrive was cornered by Starscream, who nearly got his hands on his prize before the Autobots Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus, who had been tracking the Decepticons across space, joined the battle. Shining Armor #1

Something's familiar 'bout these strangers like me...

The appearance of the Autobots threw the battle lines into chaos; mistaking Stardrive for a Decepticon, Magnus blew her, Rom, and Starscream through the wall. Bumblebee tried to mediate with her, but Stardrive assumed that it was another attack, fighting off him and Sky Blast. Seconds later, Sky Blast was forcibly assimilated by a Wraith, and the resulting fusion mutated out of control and threatened the space station's structural integrity. While Rom and the other Space Knights bought time for the crew to evacuate, Bumblebee again tried to talk to Stardrive as the two Autobots headed for their shuttle at the same time that Rom told her to evacuate. When the Autobot ship exploded, Stardrive used her starfighter mode to scoop them up and carry them to safety, crash-landing on the icy planet below. On the surface, Ultra Magnus placed Stardrive under arrest for violating Article Three of the Tyrest Accord; Stardrive agreed to surrender if the Autobots helped her find the other Space Knights. Before they could start searching Rom and the other Space Knights found them, and Stardrive watched sadly as Rom shot Ultra Magnus. Shining Armor #2

Magnus recovered quickly, and the Autobots and Space Knights quickly came to blows before Stardrive intervened, furious that she'd seemingly been lied to about her species and her recent treatment to appease the Council. Magnus managed to clear up the matter—clarifying that, unlike the Solstar Order, Cybertron had never permanently unified and different factions of Cybertronians stood for different principles—Stardrive introduced herself and the two groups agreed to a tentative alliance. When Livia suggested razing the world to prevent the spread of more hybrids, Stardrive revealed the existence of her energon synthesizer, and the three Knights flew to the crash site to try and recover it, Stardrive trying to convince Livia to see otherwise on the way.

They arrived at the wreckage of the Orchid Crossing at the same time as Starscream's Decepticons; ignoring her orders to engage the Seekers, Stardrive used her car mode to evacuate some Xetaxxian scavengers, taking to the air to escape... only for Starscream to outmaneuver her and kill the aliens inside her cockpit. A despairing Stardrive retreated to the wreckage of her quarters and eventually struck a deal with Starscream. She would give him the energon synthesizer if he took his forces and left Xetaxxis. Shining Armor #3

Claiming to need her knowledge of the Wraiths to fight off the organic shapeshfiters, Starscream invited Stardrive to join the Decepticons, a pitch that Stardrive flatly refused before Rom and Livia's fight against Dirge spilled into the wreckage and sent the Seekers fleeing. In a last-ditch effort to win the battle, Livia suggested detonating Stardrive's energon synthesizer to keep it out of Decepticon hands and eliminate the Wraith presence on the planet. Stardrive, her patience finally exhausted, snapped and declared that she was no longer a Space Knight, taking the synthesizer and flying off...only for Livia to shoot out her engine. Ignoring Rom's attempts to mediate, Stardrive simply transformed into her car mode and rammed Livia into some nearby vines, preparing to slay her before Bumblebee and Sata arrived.

Isn't it embarrassing when you both show up wearing the same tires?

While Sata only increased Stardrive's rage at the Knights, Bumblebee made her stand down when he revealed Magnus sacrificed himself to keep the synthesizer out of Decepticon hands. With so many dead, Stardrive agreed to work with the others as long as nobody sacrificed anymore innocent lives... a deal that was cut short when Vekktral, now possessing the body of Ultra Magnus, returned, bringing with him an army of Wraiths. The heroes were soon pinned down and surrounded by Wraiths and Decepticons, only for, much to Stardrive's confusion, the Wraiths to turn on their erstwhile allies. Shining Armor #4

Out of options and patience, Stardrive resorted to using Sata as a sword as she battled Vekktral, slicing off one of his arms to free Starscream. Their previous alliance forgotten, the Decepticons briefly teamed up with the Autobots and Space Knights to blast the Wraiths so as to prevent any more hybrids from coming into existence... only for Starscream and his Decepticons to immediately retreat in the hopes of grabbing the energon synthesizer. Stardrive pursued the Decepticons and managed to rip Starscream's wings off. In response, Starscream simply set the energon synthesizer to detonate so that the Autobots couldn't get their hands on it either—a solution that Livia found more than convenient, as it would simply sterilize half the planet as she had proposed earlier.

At least find a phone booth first, sheesh!

The Knights and Autobots prepared to flee the planet, Stardrive briefly contending with a wounded Vekktral and abandoning him to his fate after scraping him off her wing. Safely in orbit once more, the heroes watched as the energon explosion ripped across the icy world, cauterizing the Dire Wraith infection but also killing thousands of innocent Xetaxxians. Unable to process what she had done, Stardrive ignored Livia's protests that their actions were in the name of the greater good and declared that she was no longer a Space Knight. Able to shed her metallic armor by virtue of her Transformer physiology, Stardrive assumed her starfigher form and flew away.

Some time later, Stardrive had arrived on a distant, idyllic planet as she mused to herself that, while her entire life had been shaped by the prejudices of others, now was the time to start anew—unaware that a trace of the malicious Dire Wraith infection lingered within her. Shining Armor #5 Over the next two hundred years, the Wraith biomatter would proceed to spread through her systems; though not enough to fully transform her into a Wraith, Stardrive developed the ability to voluntarily mutate herself into a monstrous, Wraith-like form capable of channeling their dark magic. The Dead Come Home, Part 2

Just a few more spikes and extraneous weapons and she can audition for a part in the Bayverse.

In the present day, the rogue Autobot Prowl, tracking the activities of Onyx Prime's Maximals across the galaxy, stumble into Stardrive in deep space, Road's End and invited her to join his makeshift crew of Autobots and their allies aboard the starship Peaceful Revolution. Circa 2018, the group tracked their foes to the backwater planet of Regalis V, where they discovered that the bestial Transformers had attacked the marooned Throttlebots. The Dead Come Home, Part 1 Though resentful of their mission and her new leader, Stardrive used her Wraith powers to easily slay Drancron and Hydra. The Dead Come Home, Part 2

Now joined by the surviving Throttlebots, the group followed the Maximal Titan Nemesis as it travelled through space; soon afterwards, Stardrive felt a surge of inexplicable pain, warning her that Elonia was in grave danger. Prowl brushed off her concerns, but Stardrive remained convinced that "something big" was coming. Shortly afterwards, the group discovered where the Nemesis was heading... the planet Devisiun, the latest planet to be targeted by Unicron. Though the crew fought to defend the planet, the sheer number of Maximals forced them to retreat, and Prowl opted to fall back, hoping that that they could lead Unicron into a trap when he moved to consume the next planet in line. Unstopped and Unstoppable

Indeed, Stardrive soon reported that they had lost contact with Cybertron as Unicron moved to consume the Transformer homeworld, and Prowl simply opined that the Transformers were destined to make their last stand on Earth. By the time that the Peaceful Revolution arrived in the Solar System, however Sanctuary Station had already fallen. A vengeful Stardrive brought her hybrid power to bear, slaughtering her way through a hundred and fifty six Maximals... before Unicron himself tore through Jupiter's atmosphere on a direct course for Earth to complete his mission of Cybertronian extinction. Road's End

The Peaceful Revolution caught up with Unicron as the monster planet entered Earth orbit; when Prowl wondered why Unicron didn't consume the planet then and there, Stardrive theorized that it was waiting until all of the stragglers had regrouped on Earth, unaware that Unicron was really waiting because it had sensed the presence of the corrosive Talisman somewhere on the planet. Pilot Goldbug brought their ship in for a landing on Earth, but accidentally warped directly into the planet's crust, materializing underneath Mount Rushmore in the middle of a battle between the Dinobots and the Colonist Soldiers. A Sunrise Dark When that battle was done with, the Autobots boarded the Peaceful Revolution and flew to Victoria Falls to regroup with Optimus Prime and the other survivors of Cybertron. During a briefing, Bumblebee attempted to reconnect with her after their adventure so long ago, but she promptly and rudely told him to shut it.

David Cronenberg powers, ACTIVATE!

Soon afterwards, the Autobots, joined by the heroes and villains of Earth, put their final gambit into play; as part of their opening attack, Stardrive joined Prowl in Toronto to take out Unicron's engineer, Shockwave. Bolstered by fellow Wraith hybrids the Red Shadows, Stardrive joined the ninjas in the streets of Toronto to keep the Maximals busy, taking on Optimus Primal in the ensuing melee. Assembly

As the battle intensified, Prowl, having taken Shockwave prisoner, regrouped with Stardrive so that she could play her role in Prowl's complex plan: using her Wraith powers to invade Shockwave's body and mind, Jetfire was able to connect her into the energies of the Enigma of Combination—its powers amplified by Superion's copy of the relic's code. Together, their powers were sufficient to make contact with the spirits of the deceased, their presence linked to Infraspace through the Talisman, and into the immaterial consciousness of Optimus Prime as he dealt with Unicron's original consciousness. When the threat had passed, Stardrive helped Prowl escort the defeated Shockwave into custody before joining Rom and Livia outside Metroplex, gazing happily out on her new homeworld. Ceremony

2019 IDW continuity

Stardrive was considered to be brave and loyal by Thunderclash, being counted among his potential recruits for the Wreckers. Tread & Circuits Part 4

Notes

"I'm just a baby. Baby baby baby. I'm a baby! I'm zero years old! Gotta love me!"

• Having developed from a "forged" protoform into a naturally female Transformer, Stardrive and her ship could not have been from Cybertron in the timeframe of the story. Her world of origin is never actually revealed in the comic itself, only fleetingly referred to as a "Cybertronian colony" in the prologue, but sharp-eyed readers will note that Stardrive's energon is bright blue rather than purple—an evolutionary trait shared by all Transformers born on Caminus, and first alluded to in the Titans Return one-shot comic. Author John Barber would later confirm this theory.^[2]
• Barber pitched the idea of a Cybertronian who was raised in isolation from their species. This not only led to Stardrive but also Centurion.^[3]
• Stardrive's "natural" color scheme, seen to the right, was inspired by Priscilla Tramontano and her then-turquoise hair.^[4]
• While not the first female Transformer to have more than one alternate mode, Stardrive is the first female to be explicitly labeled as a Triple Changer.
• Alex Milne named Stardrive as a reference to the Enterprise from Star Trek.^[5]

References