Stardrive

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

She came first in the "most generic car Transformer name" contest.

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...

I'm only alive because Rom gave me a chance. I became a knight to give everybody one.Stardrive, Shining Armor #1

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

The Camien vessel that contained Stardrive's protoform was fleeing a Galactic Council warship, who managed to shoot it down in the Gray Area that bordered their empire and that of the Solstar Order. Passing Space Knight Rom intercepted the vessel and investigated the wreckage of the ship, discovering Stardrive's newborn protoform. Rom brought the protoform to Solstar space, where doctors repaired the protoform and built an energon synthesizer to nourish it, based off a sample of energon recovered from the ship's wreckage.

Dubbed "Gray Area Anomaly," the young Transformer was raised amongst 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." In her classes, she learned about the long and destructive history of her species–and the Great War that had wrought devastation on the galaxy. On a graduation field trip to Mato Grosso, Stardrive was attacked by the Dire Wraith Vekktral, Shining Armor #1 who tried to assimilate her. Shining Armor #2 She was saved by Rom and a group of Space Knights, but the experience was enough to convince Stardrive to join the Space Knights. She trained at the Academy, where she was bonded to a suit of crystalline armor and received a Neutralizer, hallmarks of the Space Knights.

Five years afterwards, Stardrive was deployed to Mining Colony 25-6-41 in the Farouko Cluster, which was compromised by Wraiths. Stardrive used her alternate mode to masquerade as a normal car for over a week and spring a trap for the Wraiths. When Rom, Auxin, and Sata arrived, they unmasked several Wraiths, and Stardrive revealed herself to save Auxin from a Wraith ambush. Auxin was furious at losing his first kill, and Stardrive's situation didn't improve when she argued against Livia's proposal to exterminate the entire colony. Rom agreed with Stardrive's assessment, and the Knights–most of them still resentful of Stardrive–left for their next mission: negotiations with the Galactic Council regarding the containment of the Dire Wraiths.

Unbeknownst to Stardrive, the Knights had deliberately brought her along as proof that the Order was capable of keeping Cybertronians "in their place." The meeting went poorly, as the Council reacted badly to the presence of a Cybertronian. Before long, the Council representatives revealed themselves as Dire 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 the Order's energon synthesizer. Stardrive refused to join the Decepticons, and the battle was soon compounded when Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus joined the battle. Shining Armor #1

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

On the floor, Stardrive asked Starscream who the Autobots were and he offerred to tell her everything about the galaxy if she joined him. Just as Rom and Bumblebee might have reached a peace, Magnus shot Rom, Stardrive, and Starscream back through another wall. Bumblebee tried to have a reasonable discussion with Stardrive only for the femme to assume it was an attack and shoot him in the chest before Sky Blast attacked her. After Sky Blast had been possessed by a Wraith, Bumblebee again tried to talk to Stardrive only to be shot. Magnus broke the fight up and told Bumblebee they were leaving. As the Autobots hopped out, Bumblebee offerred to take Stardrive with them at the same time that Rom told her to evacuate. When the Autobot shuttle exploded however, Stardrive offerred the two a ride down to Xetaxxis. On the surface, Ultra Magnus placed Stardrive under arrest for violating Article Three of the Tyrest Accord and she agreed to go with him, if the Autobots helped her find the other Space Knights. While Bumblebee was sympathetic, Magnus went on an anti-organic rant before he was shot by Rom. Stardrive watched mournfully from the sidelines. Shining Armor #2

Magnus recovered almost instantly however and the Space Knights and Autobots came to blows, only stopping when Stardrive interceded accusing Rom and Livia of lying to her about Cybertronians before she properly introduced herself to Bumblebee and Magnus. Once relatively cooler heads began to prevail, Livia suggested destroying Xetaxxis which Bumblebee protested to as the Decepticons had no reason to stick around until Stardrive revealed the existence of her energon synthesizer. After learning that she was a Triple Changer, Stardrive took off with Rom and Livia to the crash site to try and retrieve the synthesizer. As they flew, Stardrive revealed she could feel the cold atmosphere before trying to make Livia see the immorality of destroying a populated world to no avail before the Decepticons attacked. Despite being ordered to engage from above, Stardrive turned to car mode to try and evacuate the Xetaxxians to Rom's approval. As she tried to blast through the Decepticon blockade, Starscream mocked her inexperience, maneuvered around her and perfectly shot the Xetaxxians within her. Despondent, Stardrive retreated to the ruins of her room. Upon realizing Starscream was there as well, she armed her Neutralizer and aimed it at the energon synthesizer before making a deal with the Decepticon. She would give him the synthesizer if he promised to take his forces and leave Xetaxxis. Starscream agreed, Shining Armor #3 and offerred to take Stardrive with him, claiming to needing her knowledge of the Wraiths to fight off the organic shapeshfiters all while extolling the Cybertronian superiority over organics. Stardrive might have agreed where it not for Rom and Livia knocking Dirge into Starscream and the two Seekers fleeing.

When Livia (shockingly) suggested blowing up the energon synthesizer to kill the Wraiths and Decepticons, Stardrive finally snapped and declared she was no longer a Space Knight, grabbed her synthesizer and flew off...only for Livia to shoot out her engine. Stardrive simply turned to car mode and rammed Livia into nearby vines, preparing to slay her before Bumblebee and Sata arrived. While Sata only increased Stardrive's rage at the Knights, Bumblebee made her stand down when he revealed Magnus had given his life to keep the synthesizer out of Decepticon hands. Though maintaining Livia was wrong, Stardrive agreed to work with the others before Magnus returned but possessed by Vekktral. As the Wraiths and Decepticons then turned on each other, Stardrive despaired at the true state of the universe. Shining Armor #4

Notes

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

• Stardrive developing from a forged protoform and being female of course means her ship could not have been from Cybertron circa 200 years ago. Author John Barber would later clarify on Twitter that the ship was of Camien origin. In-story, this is backed up by her possessing blue energon rather than the usual purple, which was an evolutionary trait established in the Titans Return one-shot comic.
• Barber pitched the idea of a Cybertronian who was raised in isolation from their species. This not only led to Stardrive but also Centurion!
• Stardrive's "natural" color scheme, seen to the right, was inspired by Priscilla Tramontano and her then-turquoise hair.

External links

• Stardrive on the IDW Hasbro Wiki