I do not hate Drift as a character, but feel his background of evil-turned-good-and-i-come-with-cool-swords-plus-ninja-skills is derivative and not "different" enough.

The way he was portrayed in the comics (e.g. that issue when he fought against the swarm on Cybertron) made him out to be some super-elite-bot.

What I'd like to see is him go up against a strong Decepticon and come away defeated, as this would give some variation and depth to stories involving him.