I think the people hate Drift hate him because he's new, and as a general rule, those Transformers fans seem to hate change. Ironic, because that's technically the point of Transformers. He's an Awesome toy, one of the best I've purchased this year, and certainly deserves a fair go.

Certainly Drift's backstory is a cut and paste of anime cliches, but in twenty years time maybe it won't look so bad, I mean, is Drift as bad a character concept as say Bludgeon? Bludgeon is aSkull-faced Samurai transformer constantly announcing he's a master of Metallikato. Okay, we get it. If Drift were created by Simon furman 20 years ago would he be so hated by that vocal minority? I thoroughly doubt it.

How to improve him? Maybe spend less tim focusing on how Awesome hes and more how flawed. Perhaps a few moment can spent detailing How Drift feels after a Decepticon attack? Or maybe be confronted by one of his past victims? Don't belabour the point til we are sick of it, but, Do something with him. other than what we've seen thus far.