The Energon Pub

Sorry if this is posted before. I haven't gotten to read the Hail Megatron comics. From what I hear about Drift. Chris Ryall has stated that he wants Drift to become their Wolverine. And they're trying to shove him down fan's throats. I think the real Autobot who is the "Wolverine" of the Autobots is a toss up between Hot Rod and Grimlock. I wanna read people's opinions on Drift. What is your opinion on him? Is he cool or does he suck as a character? If this has been discussed before on here. I would like to get the link and read about your opinions on him.

I would pay $10 for an official published 12 paged comic that shows nothing else but Drift getting beat to death by characters like Wheelie, Roller or Chip Chase.

He's basically what Shane McCarty would be like if he where a Transformer in his dream-world.

Here's a quick conversation between me and Diem about drift awhile back. BTW, my work cpu does not allow copy and paste from Seibertron, so bear with me. He asked pretty much the exact same question as you...


Prime Evil wrote:
Diem, Drift isn't like that at all actually. He seems calm and remorseful about those that he has killed and isn't trying to redeem himself. He's looking to help out who he can however he can. Even at the cost of his own life, since he has already gotten his second chance. It's not about second chances with him. He's moving forward from his past (for now) and wanting to help.

Not Wolverine-like.

Diem wrote:
Is he...is he actually a good character?

I pretty much gave up on IDW after Spotlight: Nightbeat.

Prime Evil wrote:
Well, that hard to answer objectively. I personlly like him. Has a character like him been done before. Yeup. But what character hasn't. He's only had 1 issue to have any focus on and it was fast. He has some characterization in AHM, but then you are also dealing with a much larger cast and he can get lost in that as well. But Bumblebee seems to really dislike him.

He seems (to me) that he is really trying to be a better bot, no matter what some of the current bots think about him (BB). The nice thing was that when BB was coming down hard on him, for being and ex D-con, Hot Rod stuck up for him. You notice that Perceptor is different in the IDW-verse? Well, he was like old G1 Perceptor till something happened, and Drift ended up being the bot that saved him while jumping out of a burning Decepticon cruiser. So Percy and Drift kinda have a buddy type bond now, even though Percy ain't himself. He's like a super sniper now. Again IDW...

Sorry for that, but it's best for you to judge if YOU like him or not. Me. I like him. But maybe some of that might give you a lil insight to him.

God Optimus Prime wrote:I wanna read people's opinions on Drift.

Drift is to Transformers (and All Hail Megatron) what Ahsoka Tano is to the Clone Wars cartoon: an element brought into the larger narrative by the creators that brings little to the table, and whose very existence fractures the carefully built up universe.

Case in point: Drift was pimped out hard by McCarthy (even to the point of getting his own Spotlight ahead of several hundred better qualified candidates), yet did extremely little in the overall storyline to warrant the attention given him.

I'll buy a toy of him if he were made.

I liken him to Snake Eyes of GI Joe really with the difference that most people know of Snake Eyes' history (or at least the common themes of his various histories). We don't know that much of Drift at the moment. I can't say that I like or dislike him at the moment though, I'll wait to see more of him before my final assessment.

I dont know why people hate Drift so much. It has been the purview of the creators every iteration of Transformers to add new characters. Aside from having his Spotlight he was not prominently featured in AHM.

I dont mind Drift and for me he represents a dynamic of the IDW-verse that really hasnt been explored. It stands to reason that since the Autobots were originally the security force of Cybertron the overwhelming vast majority of Cybertronians were civilians. When the war starts it wouldnt make sense that everyone on the planet chose sides. There had to have been a rather large portion of Cybertronians that chose neither side and eventually fled the planet. This was alluded to in Drift's Spotlight.

I dont think Drift is a bad character to be the avenue into looking at this part of the universe. He also has the unique perspective of being to look at this ongoing war from all three angles.

MYoung23 wrote:I dont know why people hate Drift so much. It has been the purview of the creators every iteration of Transformers to add new characters. Aside from having his Spotlight he was not prominently featured in AHM.

Reread what I said, then you'll realize that you just answered your own question.

Togrutas are hot. I'll take Ashoka over Drift anyday.

My god though, it's like shoving a character that I do not want down my throat. Like, Drift gets a toy and a zillion other candidates that have been well established do not? I don't mind it, I'll buy the figure, I'll enjoy the character if he's in the cartoon, but it would be a lot better if someone else played the 'Wolverine' character. And I'm a 'new' fan in the sense that I welcome just about anything new to Transformers, and anyone that doesn't have my welcoming attitude probably hates Drift to the core.

I don't know much about Drift aside from seeing him in a comic preview and some concept art. The design looks neat but the fact that he seems to have either been conceived as a "Wolverine" of Transformers or ended up in the role gives me pause. It's like Bumblebee of the live action movie line. He's everywhere and it's basically because the marketing folk think he's "great for the kids!" and while it makes sense for business, it's annoying for a fan like me who loves the BB character but not so much its use by the owners. No need to destroy a character's credibility by forcing it upon us.

However, it doesn't mean the character can't be cool if used well by a writer. So here's hoping.

Personally I like the character. Decent background and interesting motivations. Is he a Mary-Sue as a lot of people seem to think? I have no idea as I don't know much about the guys behind the comics, but I think it's a bit of a cop out to label him a such.

Is he being rammed at us? Not really, yes he got a spotlight, but honestly getting an IDW spotlight in my opinion means jack all, as regardless of if the book is good or not, I honestly have disliked their overall reboot of G1.

Also (as already brought up) how is he different from any other created character tossed in the mix by creaters looking for something they feel is missing? Is his inclusion that different from TFMovie Barricade?, ROTF Mudflap and Skids or Scalpel? Fun Pubs original character Landshark? Their entire Shattered universe? Even the original comic gave us characters that filled requirements for stories like Scrounge or Liege Maximo?

Regardless, it comes down to this, read the stories, do you like the character? Good. Hate the character? Also good. The TF Multiverse has hundreds of characters. If you feel he belongs at the top with the big G1 boys, or lower than a throwaway character from a sub par Japanese manga, make the call yourself. It's better to form your own opinion that to just take ones given to you.

Editor wrote:Also (as already brought up) how is he different from any other created character tossed in the mix by creaters looking for something they feel is missing? Is his inclusion that different from TFMovie Barricade?, ROTF Mudflap and Skids or Scalpel? Fun Pubs original character Landshark? Their entire Shattered universe? Even the original comic gave us characters that filled requirements for stories like Scrounge or Liege Maximo?

Have any of those characters been given the amount of attention that Drift has?

Darth Bombshell wrote:

Editor wrote:Also (as already brought up) how is he different from any other created character tossed in the mix by creaters looking for something they feel is missing? Is his inclusion that different from TFMovie Barricade?, ROTF Mudflap and Skids or Scalpel? Fun Pubs original character Landshark? Their entire Shattered universe? Even the original comic gave us characters that filled requirements for stories like Scrounge or Liege Maximo?

Have any of those characters been given the amount of attention that Drift has?

Are you saying that Barricade didn't have a large part of the first movie? He's not even in the second and yet we are still getting toys of him.

Mudflap and Skids are brand new and they had a big part in the movie and a bunch of toys made. I found them novel enough, but not enough to warrant the Screen time they got or the number of figures they are getting.

Seeing that the 'Ramming' of Drift is his spotlight and role within AHM, I would easily say that the push to like these characters is much greater than IDW's ability to put out a couple comics.

Those characters are new in a sense that the whole RotF universe is new. They need new characters. From my recollection, AHM had been focusing on the G1 universe, established decades ago. There was no need for a new character in a series concerning the G1-verse..

Blurrz wrote:Those characters are new in a sense that the whole RotF universe is new. They need new characters. From my recollection, AHM had been focusing on the G1 universe, established decades ago. There was no need for a new character in a series concerning the G1-verse..

And retconning the **** out of a new take of that material to make it more like the 80's material.

I just think the announcement for his spotlight was awesome "Fan favourite character Drift is starring in his own spotlight" 2 months before his first ever comic appearance.

I would agree had you said that IDW is based on G1.

While there is no doubt that IDW is centered on G1 based characters, I find it has as much to do with either the Cartoon G1, or the Marvel G1 comics as the Devil's Due Joe/TF crossovers did.

They aren't focused on G1, what IDW is crafting is a G1 inspired world, as witnessed by some designs that are completely new, some that are from Classics, and some from the other available source.

As such Drift's addition to the Autobot forces is much the same as Dropshot being added to the Decepticons, or the drafting of Spike and Sparkplug into the military.

As far as the "Fan favourite character Drift is starring in his own spotlight" Yhea that was pretty stupid, but honestly what do you expect, they are trying to sell books. It's not the first time a cmpany has done that, Hell, almost every issue of Marvels upcoming comic magazine (For the life of me, I can't think of the name) they do the same thing, pimping the hell out of books barely selling in the top 100 books of the month.

Editor wrote:I would agree had you said that IDW is based on G1.

While there is no doubt that IDW is centered on G1 based characters, I find it has as much to do with either the Cartoon G1, or the Marvel G1 comics as the Devil's Due Joe/TF crossovers did.

They aren't focused on G1, what IDW is crafting is a G1 inspired world, as witnessed by some designs that are completely new, some that are from Classics, and some from the other available source.

As such Drift's addition to the Autobot forces is much the same as Dropshot being added to the Decepticons, or the drafting of Spike and Sparkplug into the military.

I would agree with you, the idw verse was originally thought out and written as something very different from the G1 we all know (and sometimes love) which is why I didn't mind that they announced they were introducing a new character called Drift. But the problem was idw kicked out Simon Furman (well not really) but they did take away the control over his well thought out and fresh universe. And Shane McCartney went along and decided to ignore the established direction, feel and very being of this new universe going so far as to also ignore and retcon established continuity and designs in favour of what is basically the G1 cartoon just with more violence and gore.
I even spoke to Furman when Infiltration#0 came out and asked him if Spike and Sparkplug would show up in this new comic series and he answered with they wouldn't and that this was going to be very different from what we where used to.
That's why Galvatron has no connection to Megatron what-so ever.
Dropshot already existed in the comics before he was shown in AHM, he was seen in his original G1 body on Gorlam Prime (a planet that is now Cybertron II) and he wasn't a Decepticon, I also think he got blasted to smithereens.

Idw's so called "fresh new direction" is nothing more but the 80's with added senseless and meaningless action and violence.

And completely off(on)topic, I retract my statement about Ahsoka. I watched the first few episodes of Clone Wars Animated and I want to jump off a bridge.

Blurrz wrote:And completely off(on)topic, I retract my statement about Ahsoka. I watched the first few episodes of Clone Wars Animated and I want to jump off a bridge.

See? Now you know how I feel about Drift.