THIS review’s title isn’t really a statement about what
happens in “Transformers Drift: Empire of Stone” # 3. Quite the contrary; more
stuff happens in this issue that an any other previous issue of the mini-series.
After
Hellbat reveals that he has control over the titular stone warriors, Drift,
Grit and Ratchet are in the fight of their lives when attacked by the stone
soldiers. It turns out that Hellbat had gained control over the stone warriors
by transplanting parts from captured Transformers. All this Hellbat did under
the nose of his Decepticon boss Gigatron, who had been futilely searching for
the same stone warriors. It turns out that Hellbat is really Hellbat-sh_t crazy
and wants use the empire of stone to destroy, in his words, everything. “What
is the point of us,” Hellbat monologues. “Kill. Our own kind. Others… That is
why we’re here. Machines of war, of death.”
The
back story is that Drift, under his former name the Decepticon Deadlock, and
his partner in crime Turmoil, had discovered the empire of stone previously and killed all the peaceful
monks who had been protecting the stone warriors. “I kind of feel like this is
all my fault,” Drift says, referring to both what happened in the past and the
present.
In
the middle of the fight, Drift manages to lead the stone warriors away to
Gigatron’s throne room and reveals Hellbat’s duplicity. Gagtron singehandedly
disposes of the stone warriors chasing Drift. Drift then says: “What is going
to happen is you and I joining forces… We’re both going to put an end to
(Hellbat’s) madness forever.”
