Drift

[Tallestblue]

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.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Or for some real depth, have him as an Autobot confront a Decepticon that was one of his friends.

I agree with you on the new character point there TB. Made especially hard since he is trying to fit in with G1 as well, as opposed to a more recent series.

[Oilspill]

I don't think he's a bad character at all. He just hasn't done much yet - which I actually think was the better way for IDW to play it. It seems better that he be introduced gradually, get recognised in some minor roles, then later have a story focusing on him.

I mean, people were raging that Drift was being introduced and was somehow going to be written to be more awesome than every other character and save the day. But that didn't actually happen, so I think there would have been more rage if he played a bigger part.

I think the dislike may be partly to do with the way IDW and Shane McCarthy presented him on the IDW boards, interviews, blogs etc, and partly due to the fact that AHM messed up a lot of the existing continuity, and thus Drift became the posterboy for AHM hate. But not so much based on what he actually did in-continuity.

Personally I find Ongoing to have messed up the continuity moreso than AHM, and worse - it's boring. But that's just me.

But, back on topic, the Drift mini-series will be the deciding factor here on whether his character is interesting. And this will hopefully be the origin story that (as Tetsuwan was saying) Drift needs. If it's good, he may be redeemed in a few peoples eyes, if it is bad, then there will be only one thing that could save him...

...being written by Nick Roche & James Roberts

[Lint]

Considering how much the fandom loves the Generations Drift toy, I started thinking about how Drift could be improved. The character, that is.

Two words...

More swords

As for characterisation, a whole new miniseries which describes how he got his current swords in flashbacks while he quests for the new ones

I mean if he's going to be some bushido type character he may as well have a cookie cutter bullshido backstory to boot.

[Sharky]

Well for a start, we could look at his change from Decepticon to Autobot. hopefully nothing too cheesey in the old horror stories stakes. I would be pleased with the a ideological shift in thinking via some speech that was made by a commanding officer/Megatron which has 2 ways of being interpretted and Drift thinks to himself, that's not what I think. Or something like that.

I agree that he hasn't done much, but sadly all he did do was stand around looking like a tool and being the stereotyped shallow 'cool, calm, collected arse kicking guy' which is what irritated me the most for some reason. I think he should've had a bit more input into a story earlier as there wasn'tt anything to support his character at all.

To summarise: An origin story.

isnt that something they are kinda trying to maybe possibly in some potential explore with thundercracker he is a decepticon but doesnt quite believe in the way things are going at the moment.

drift i wouldnt say i hate, but i dont know why they couldnt flesh out an existing character in his place. one of the pretenders or powermasters that didnt get alot of page time....

to improve him, i like the idea of him confronting a former friend, not a commanding officer which he had it in for but someone he depended on/trusted and respected, have him tested with the decepticon idea again... really tested, remembering the good old days, touch on why he didnt want to be part of the decepticons, what drove him to seek redemption, (he didnt want to be an autobot straight away, only a bot cause kup asked)

more importantly i think they need to show us in a little depth who he was before drift the murder the mayham the darkside otherwise we wont care about the transition or why he is doing it or the story explaining it

[GoktimusPrime]

Not true. It's my experience having talked to other fans both online and in person that it's the very vocal minority that hate him. Most people don't mind him, or acknowledge that he's not done enough to warrant the amount of hate he gets.

Simply because most people you've spoken to don't like Drift doesn't mean that most of the fandom likes him. Likewise just because most people I know don't like Drift doesn't mean that the fandom in general hates him either. Remember that "the people we know" are just a portion of the fandom. For example, a lot of my friends who are TF collectors have collections numbering over a thousand, yet my studies show that we are actually a minority, with most collections actually numbering 100 or less. This year's survey may show different results, but past surveys have shown that the average collection is quite small. By simply saying "people I know" we're just presenting anecdotal evidence.

Also, some people like George Lucas insist that the people who hate Jar Jar Binks are a "vocal minority" of the fandom. And he could be right. You could be right too. But just because an opinion is in the minority doesn't make it any less valid or worthy. For example, most fans like Beast Wars - but if someone doesn't like Beast Wars and they have their own valid reasons for it, then it doesn't make their opinion less worthy than those of us who love Beast Wars right? You may not agree with those reasons, but it doesn't mean they're less valid. If I were a fan of the Drift character I'd welcome criticism and avidly defend the character; just as I'll vehemently defend Beast Wars should anyone want to criticise that franchise (as they are entitled to do).

Also, in a thread where we're discussing how to improve Drift we need to acknowledge any potential problems - cos obviously if we think Drift doesn't have any problems then there's nothing to improve on.

I'll discuss some of the problems with Drift first, then look at ways to improve. My main gripes with Drift are:
1/ He's a Gary Stu, or as role play gamers call them - "Munchkin". A character develops through complications presented to him/her within the plot/story. Little complication (challenge) means limited opportunity for decent character development and depth. This is what differs someone becoming an actual character or just being an archetype. This was the problem with the G1 cartoon - it was full of archetypes rather than developed characters, and the Marvel Comics were better at giving us actual characters which is why I preferred them.
2/ He sticks out like a sore thumb amidst a cast almost completely comprised exclusively of "GeeWun" characters. There is a WEALTH of existing characters in G1 and G2 who still remain untapped and I would much rather see them being exploited rather than just making up some character - that's one thing I liked with Last Stand of the Wreckers. Toys I've had for years like Ironfist and Rotorstorm suddenly became cool. And probably for the first time ever there was a peak in demand for Pyro (heh). The fact that he's among all these GeeWun characters - to me - makes it look like they're trying to pretend that Drift is a GeeWun character and that he's been there the whole time. As MV75 and others have aptly said when the topic of Drift was raised... "Who?"

So how can we improve on this?

My suggestions:
1/ This is simple - give him greater complications. As others have said, he needs more stories, and these stories should be presenting him with complications. A protagonist only improves by facing against greater challenges. Even Superman has his Kryptonite (and his greatest flaws are emotional ones; difficulties with social interaction (e.g. Lois Lane) etc.). As Stan Lee often said, it's a hero's flaws that make him (or her) interesting.
2/ Easy solve: Introduce more post-GeeWun characters. Mix it up more, then Drift won't look so out of place! Bring back Skram damnit!

[Lord_Zed]

Easy way to improve Drift, have him screw up royaly. The chracter just seems to perfect as is, as said above he needs some flaws, and to fail all the other Autobots have.

And then after failing he commits seppuku, no wait just kidding but he should fail.

I'd like to see him actualy get a nemesis who can actualy defeat him, a Megatron to his Prime so to speak. Bludgeon would be a good candidate as he's been around for a lot longer and has always been portrayed as a master of Metalikato. Does anyone even know what sort of martial art Drift practices?

[Sky Shadow]

Try to restrain yourself Skyshadow... I think everyone knows how negatively you feel about Drift. This is a topic asking about ways to improve the character. Anything derogatory towards the character is off-topic.

I've been doing some thinking, and I've got some ideas to improve the character.

1.) Drift needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine.

2.) Two, whenever Drift's not in frame, all the other characters should be asking "Where's Drift?"

3.)...

[The_Damned]

make him voyager size not deluxe

[Gutsman Heavy]

I'd like to see him actualy get a nemesis who can actualy defeat him, a Megatron to his Prime so to speak.

Lockdown might be filling that role, he'll be making his geewun debut in the Drift mini-series