The Energon Pub

So, let's talk about Drift shall we?

IDW wanted a character that was iconic to their series, they also wanted one to create a little tension in the normally co-operative Autobot ranks. They also wanted a ninja. Thus Drift was born. He's a former Decepticon who (apparently) killed far more Autobots than we have fingers and toes. Along the way, he discovered a little something called morality and deserted, not to be heard from for a long time.

He comes back fully upgraded by a mysterious third faction of Transformers and instead of returning to his former cold blooded killing ways he goes looking for redemption by killing a bunch of Decepticons in cold blood. Along the way, he meets Kup and his team, Perceptor gets shot and nasty words are spoken between Autobots and Drift, then between Drift and Decepticons. He ends up destroying the Decepticons and saves Perceptor, who will never be the same.

Personally I like him as a character. I feel that IDW has given him enough personality and made him unique enough to fill a niche that's been missing in recent TF Comics. He's also being used to open up a possible future story arc; the third faction. I also get the feeling that Hasbro has their sights on him for future TF Cartoons. Afterall, there has been concept art of him as a figure floating around as a toy.

In the end, Drift is the best of the comics only characters. He's not cannon fodder like all those characters in the Marvel comics, he's got more history to him than DW's Sunstorm and certainly far less of a mary sue that that guy.

Agree or disagree?

Well, Drift Do'Urden is a weird character... I think the problem with him is that they wanted it to be cool, and while the idea of him is really not bad, but they pulled him in a series that already changed too much on the IDW universe-with retconning, character changes, and overall storytelling.


If we would have seen the path he took to change sides, and not just get a "his name was Deadlock, and was a con, now a bot" - type introduction he could have been lovable, but so... Mary Sue.

I doubt you will get many to disagree about how well Drift has been written, he has had plenty of page time devoted to him.

Personally I dislike him, I feel he detracted from AHM by forcibly needing page time to "show-off", and while his Spotlight delved into his past, the Spotlight could have been better served being used on another character, and the IDW-verse would be none the weaker for never having Drift included.

In short, Drift was not needed in the IDW stories, and has felt forced in many of his appearances. He gives off a Poochie vibe to me, and I cannot wait until he goes out the same way as Poochie did.

I've long held the belief that Drift is to All Hail Megatron what Ahsoka Tano is to new The Clone Wars cartoon: an unnecessary addition to the narrative of the series made by those in charge for no reasons other than their own, and whose existence seriously detracts from my enjoyment of said narrative.

No matter what problems the Clone Wars Not-A-Movie/Series and All Hail Megatron have, be they from a creative or narrative viewpoint (and let's face facts, both have plenty to speak of), I would have enjoyed them far more than I do if the writers of both didn't decide to make their OC's the center of attention in all cases. The only good point I give Drift is that he's not as offensive to Transformers canon as Ahsoka is, as her existence basically furthers the belief that Lucasfilm thinks Star Wars canon is as malleable as Play-Doh, while Drift simply bothers me for his Gary Stu-ish tendencies.

I like his design, that's about it.

I dislike him a lot, I dislike him so much that if a toy is made of him, I would buy it just to burn it to a pulp and display it as cannon fodder for the real characters in my collection.
He was one of the reasons I stopped reading the idw TF comics all together. Had he been introduced by a good writer I might have liked him.
But then gain I tend to hate the introduction of new characters that are "super awesome powerful as f**k and vital to the TF universe" just like Sunstorm.

Can't say I really give a toss about him one way or another.

Though Mkall's description of him

IDW wanted a character that was iconic to their series, they also wanted one to create a little tension in the normally co-operative Autobot ranks. They also wanted a ninja.

Makes IDW sound like a bunch of wannabe's trying to appeal to fanboys and cashing in on the "popularity" of ninja's.

Try hard's never win.

he look kinda ridiculous and he is a poochie as people call him

I dont understand all the consternation about him. He hasnt dominated AHM at all and has only spoken in a few issues other than his Spotlight.

I think he represents something that actually makes sense regarding what McCarthy has done. Before the war the vast majority of Cybertronians were civilians. When the Decepticons were formed and the war started it forced many to choose sides. It stands to reason that not everyone on the entire planet took a side and there had to be a group that fled the planet and didnt engage in the civil war.

Every Transformers incarnation has created their own characters. Id take Drift over Bulkhead, Botanica, Wheelie and other terrible characters people saw fit to add to the mythology.

I love to hate him, Does that count?

When we first saw sketches for him I was all for it, I thought he looked cool and thought it might be fun to throw a new character into the mix of our beloved G1 cast. And the "B" cover drawn by Guidi for his spotlight issue is one of my favorite covers in the IDW comic series.

But now I think he stands as everything I don't like about AHM. And I really don't the idea of the 3rd faction that trained him. Just like "Zeta Prime" from Spotlight Blurr I feel it is an unnecessary addition to the established fiction, And it seems that whenever Shane McCarthy writes a comic, he needs to add something to the continuity for some reason.

I will buy his toy if it gets made by Hasbro though.

MYoung23 wrote:I dont understand all the consternation about him. He hasnt dominated AHM at all and has only spoken in a few issues other than his Spotlight.

That's exactly the point, though. For someone whose done so little in the overall narrative of things, including getting a Spotlight issue over a dozen better candidates, it's suprising that so much attention has been lavished onto him.

Darth Bombshell wrote:I've long held the belief that Drift is to All Hail Megatron what Ahsoka Tano is to new The Clone Wars cartoon: an unnecessary addition to the narrative of the series made by those in charge for no reasons other than their own, and whose existence seriously detracts from my enjoyment of said narrative.

This.

The only thing I liked about Drift was that he was a bit similar to IDW Blurr in terms of appearance.

Eh, I'm OK with Drift. He seems fairly innocuous so far, and I quite liked the Perceptor-rescue sequence in his spotlight.