The Energon Pub

[Sabrblade]

To be fair Drift was a Decepticon before joiming the Autobots

A point not even hinted at by the movie, as no one would know about it if not for the toy bio saying so.

[Deadput]

A point not even hinted at by the movie, as no one would know about it if not for the toy bio saying so.

Rise of the dark spark states he was a former con as well it's one of those all but confirmed things.

Plus every other Drift ever has been a former con and I'm pretty sure it's intentional I mean remember brains he is also a former con according to the prequel comics yet it's not stated in the film itself.

(Yes Rid Drift is a former con too just not stated in the show it's in a book)

[Kurona]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

[Sabrblade]

A point not even hinted at by the movie, as no one would know about it if not for the toy bio saying so.

Rise of the dark spark states he was a former con as well it's one of those all but confirmed things.

A game whose story had jack all to do with the movie it was meant to tie in with (thanks to Bay forbidding any licensees from seeing the movie's script prior to the film's release).

Plus every other Drift ever has been a former con and I'm pretty sure it's intentional I mean remember brains he is also a former con according to the prequel comics yet it's not stated in the film itself.

(Yes Rid Drift is a former con too just not stated in the show it's in a book)

None of those other Drifts matter to the content of the AOE movie.

[SlyTF1]

So, because he's a samurai played by a Japanese guy, he's obviously a stereotype. Right.

No, it's how he was played. He was given an exaggerated accent (Ken Watanabe does not sound in real life quite like how Drift sounded), he used Japanese terms that Americans know but only used them out of their proper meaning because of how pop culture has constantly used those terms incorrectly, he presented himself as a well-behaved bot of honor yet kept doing lot of disrespectful and dishonorable things throughout the movie, he spoke proverbs for no reason other than his having a Japanese motif as said proverbs never fit the context of the situations in which he spoke them and which only incited ill reactions from his teammates (particularly Crosshairs)... Drift is a far cry from a respective representation of a Japanese Samurai character. Beast Wars Dinobot, or even the character-less Swordbot Samurai Team members from Transformers Go!, were far more accurate expressions of how an actual Samurai would be like.

To be fair Drift was a Decepticon before joiming the Autobots so perhaps he hasn't had time to worry about the true meaning of honour!

What did he even do that was dishonorable? He was the most loyal and disciplined of the Autobots. At least, he tried to be.

[dragons]

So, because he's a samurai played by a Japanese guy, he's obviously a stereotype. Right.

No, it's how he was played. He was given an exaggerated accent (Ken Watanabe does not sound in real life quite like how Drift sounded), he used Japanese terms that Americans know but only used them out of their proper meaning because of how pop culture has constantly used those terms incorrectly, he presented himself as a well-behaved bot of honor yet kept doing lot of disrespectful and dishonorable things throughout the movie, he spoke proverbs for no reason other than his having a Japanese motif as said proverbs never fit the context of the situations in which he spoke them and which only incited ill reactions from his teammates (particularly Crosshairs)... Drift is a far cry from a respective representation of a Japanese Samurai character. Beast Wars Dinobot, or even the character-less <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?toolid=11600&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=smart&icep_ff3=9&icep_uq=transformers%20swordbot&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg" class="epn-link" target="_blank" id="epn8">Swordbot</a> Samurai Team members from <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?toolid=11600&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=smart&icep_ff3=9&icep_uq=transformers%20go&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg" class="epn-link" target="_blank" id="epn7">Transformers Go</a>!, were far more accurate expressions of how an actual Samurai would be like.

So was wheelie and jetfire


To be fair Drift was a Decepticon before joiming the Autobots so perhaps he hasn't had time to worry about the true meaning of honour!

[SlyTF1]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

[Zeedust]

Unicron is the worst thing they could do especially since he is a one dimension character from the start

Pretty much all the movieverse bad guys are either one-dimensional or zero-dimensional. Unicron would fit right in.

[JazZeke]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

[Sabrblade]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

Precisely!

And in the cases of Drift and every other unexplained/unmentioned/unexplored areas of AOE, there was next-to-no tie-in material to even provide such answers. So one couldn't even do the extra homework to get such answers since none were available at all.

[Hellscream9999]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

That's because it is the essence of bad storytelling - at least a major part of it

[JazZeke]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

That's because it is the essence of bad storytelling - at least a major part of it

You know that, and I know that. But Sly has his head burried so deep in his a- I mean, the sand, that he doesn't know that.

[Hellscream9999]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

That's because it is the essence of bad storytelling - at least a major part of it

You know that, and I know that. But Sly has his head burried so deep in his a- I mean, the sand, that he doesn't know that.

Mr. Plinkett for life yo

And to be fair, I don't mind having to dig for easter eggs, it's nice fan service; a main characters name shouldn't be treated that way

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

[Sabrblade]

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

Yup! Forget this guy's not having a backstory in the movie, dude doesn't even get a name despite being a roughly major player in the flick.

[JazZeke]

Well yes, but the point is that it's a point not addressed in the movie itself - hence most viewers will not know of it. You have to dig into extra material to know this particular character trait.

That's what I like about the movies. You have to work for answers.

And I consider that the essence of bad storytelling. A movie should provide all the relevant information to the audience within itself; audiences should not be expected to do homework or buy tie-in material to understand what is going on. When I buy a movie ticket, I expect to be paying for a whole story, not just part of a story.

Especially if said tie-in material isn't even written by the screenwriters, but left to other writers to clear up. That is the very definition of laziness.

That's because it is the essence of bad storytelling - at least a major part of it

You know that, and I know that. But Sly has his head burried so deep in his a- I mean, the sand, that he doesn't know that.

Mr. Plinkett for life yo

And to be fair, I don't mind having to dig for easter eggs, it's nice fan service; a main characters name shouldn't be treated that way

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

A good Easter Egg is having Wakanda on a map in the background of Iron Man 2 like a half-dozen movies before Black Panther even shows up.

Assuming a character has the same backstory as the other incarnations in a franchise is not an Easter Egg.

[Hellscream9999]

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

Yup! Forget this guy's not having a backstory in the movie, dude doesn't even get a name despite being a roughly major player in the flick.

oof, screen-writing failure 101, #1, 2, and 3

[Hellscream9999]

Mr. Plinkett for life yo

And to be fair, I don't mind having to dig for easter eggs, it's nice fan service; a main characters name shouldn't be treated that way

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

A good Easter Egg is having Wakanda on a map in the background of Iron Man 2 like a half-dozen movies before Black Panther even shows up.

Assuming a character has the same backstory as the other incarnations in a franchise is not an Easter Egg.

Did they? That's pretty cool, I don't dig for easter eggs (so by that logic, I shouldn't even know drift's name - way to go ), but it's cool that you can

[Emerje]

A good Easter Egg is having Wakanda on a map in the background of Iron Man 2 like a half-dozen movies before Black Panther even shows up.

But that was all pointing towards the Captain America movie, not Black Panther specifically since Cap's shield also showed up in the Iron Man movies and vibranium comes from Wakanda.

Emerje

[Sabrblade]

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

Yup! Forget this guy's not having a backstory in the movie, dude doesn't even get a name despite being a roughly major player in the flick.

oof, screen-writing failure 101, #1, 2, and 3

Su Yueming didn't even get her name said onscreen either. So for all we know, Li Bingbing's character would be known to moviegoers as just "that hot Chinese lady".

[Hellscream9999]

I remember someone saying that they never even mentioned Drift's name, I won't waste my time re-watching that movie, but if that's true, then that would explain why they don't bother explaining his backstory

Yup! Forget this guy's not having a backstory in the movie, dude doesn't even get a name despite being a roughly major player in the flick.

oof, screen-writing failure 101, #1, 2, and 3

Su Yueming didn't even get her name said onscreen either. So for all we know, Li Bingbing's character would be known to moviegoers as just "that hot Chinese lady".

The bumbling incompetence of the writing => me =>

[Emerje]

Ending credits are there for a reason...

Emerje

[Sabrblade]

Ending credits are there for a reason...

Emerje

Yeah, but they aren't part of the story. One shouldn't have to wait till the end credits to learn the names of prominent characters.

[Hellscream9999]

Ending credits are there for a reason...

Emerje

That's like saying it'b be okay to not mention bucky barnes by name in the winter soldier... it's still not okay, but by the same token, she wasn't much of a character anyways, still, could've easily mentioned her by name

[Deadput]

Sabr Drift's name was on display in the movie

[Hellscream9999]

Sabr Drift's name was on display in the movie

Huh, I forgot to take my binoculars to the movies that day, guess that's why I missed it

eh, I give 'em partial credit, the screenwriter's still get none though