TF Views

Are you referring to the spoiler and the center of the hood?

The same. I also had some trouble fitting things back together in car mode. (I do agree, the folding windows are a nice touch though. They might be lost on the Blurr retool though, if the guns need larger storage slots.)

I will likely leave the robot chest alone. As it stands now, the official toy is not terribly accurate to much of the character's appearances in fiction, so there is no need for my custom to be. (And, to be honest, I simply have not way to make the alternate mode look correctly alien...)


Defense of Drift:
The character is thematically consistent with AHM. As I note above, Drift does not save the day. And, what good he does is largely ignored by his peers. There was never any formal rule that said "Spotlights have to be for old characters". Most TFs have "out of the box" schtick. Many of the complaints about Drift are blown out of proportion because he was not introduced by the "right" writers.

JediTricks wrote:Drift is bit too right out of the box a Snake Eyes Wolverine Boba Fett Batman, half Joe Camel, a third Fonzarelli, a kung fu hippie from gangsta city, a rappin' surfer, and he pities foo's.

I really don't see where you're getting this. Drift doesn't have anything resembling a catchphrase or cool verbal tic. The most 'awesome' thing he's done so far is slice a Swarm a little bit before Perceptor blew it's head off. He's no more in-your-face than any other Transformer. Hell, he's sidelined in action scenes just as much as anyone else. Can you actually cite any specific examples of these personality issues you're making fun of? I'll give you Boba Fett, because like Fett, Drift looks cool, but doesn't really get in the way by *doing* anything. Dropshot saw more action in AHM than he did.

As for the Spotlight, I was glad that we got it. Here I was, a few issues into AHM, wondering who this Drift fella was (I actually initially assumed he was some super-obscure G1.5 Euro exclusive or the like that I'd never heard of), and IDW goes "Hey, here's a one-shot that tells you who he is!". You just *know* that if we hadn't gotten that Spotlight, then the people complaining about Drift getting a spotlight would've instead complained about how they just stuck Drift in with no explanation whatsoever.

It's clear that a lot of the hate aimed at Drift is well over the top, given how small a part the character actually plays in All Hail Megatron. It also seems clear that those who dislike the character either reacted badly to how Drift was hyped, or else just didn't like the story and so they lashed out at the author and his supposed 'fan character' as a result. Because truth be told, Drift is hardly the first author-created Transformers character to appear in print, and he has a much smaller role in the story than many we've seen in the past. Emirate Xaaron and G2 Jhiaxus come to mind as comics-only characters that played a far larger role in their respective storylines than Drift did in AHM.

JediTricks wrote:These days, a Mary Sue doesn't have to bed anybody, and doesn't have to be held in high regard - just have an extreme impact on other characters positive or negative, "god that Mary Sue pisses everybody else off" is now established so that she can come back and save the shit out of the day. Bottom line, a Mary Sue merely needs to be an instant bag of ideals from the author. Drift is bit too right out of the box a Snake Eyes Wolverine Boba Fett Batman, half Joe Camel, a third Fonzarelli, a kung fu hippie from gangsta city, a rappin' surfer, and he pities foo's.

He's none of the above. He's skilled at combat, but so are numerous other Transformers. Bludgeon has much the same skill set as Drift, and I doubt anyone considers him to be a Mary-Sue for any author. Drift doesn't really have an attitude problem. To the contrary, Drift seems fairly calm, collected and at peace with himself, which I find interesting considering that he's a former Decepticon. He doesn't save the day, and he actually has very little impact on the other characters, apart from Perceptor obviously.

Again, if not for the hype from IDW, I doubt Drift would have made much of an impression at all.

Dominic wrote:The character is thematically consistent with AHM.

He's the embodiment of one of the themes, which is "how did we stray so far from our ideals, and how do we get back after all that's happened?" Megatron's main struggle over the course of the story is dealing with a Decepticon army that's moved a long way away from his particular ideals. Sideswipe goes on a rant about how the Autobots deserve to die because they've stopped viewing life as precious, and Kup talks about needing "a way back" to what the Autobots once were. Drift is the one character we've seen who found a way to come back from the abyss he had fallen into as a Decepticon. And even for him it's not an easy road, since he isn't accepted by the other Autobots. It suggests that even if the war is won, that there may be no going back for some, if not most.

Many of the complaints about Drift are blown out of proportion because he was not introduced by the "right" writers.

Agreed.

andersonh1 wrote:It's clear that a lot of the hate aimed at Drift is well over the top, given how small a part the character actually plays in All Hail Megatron. It also seems clear that those who dislike the character either reacted badly to how Drift was hyped, or else just didn't like the story and so they lashed out at the author and his supposed 'fan character' as a result. Because truth be told, Drift is hardly the first author-created Transformers character to appear in print, and he has a much smaller role in the story than many we've seen in the past. Emirate Xaaron and G2 Jhiaxus come to mind as comics-only characters that played a far larger role in their respective storylines than Drift did in AHM.

And to quote me earlier on that very subject:

I wrote:

BWprowl wrote: The hypocrisy of everyone bitching about Drift getting a toy while simultaneously celebrating Straxus getting one is especially delicious.

Except that Straxus was there "during" G1, Drift is retconned into "new" G1. It's a bit like Acid Storm. A bit. Although, technically he was "there" also even if his character development wasn't. But, my issues with Acid Storm for some reason don't extend to Drift. My only irritation with new characters being created now is that I'm usually like 90% sure they could have used one of the later G1 toy only characters to fill the role where as at the time new characters were being created as toys faster than the fiction could be written so it was sometimes necessary to create new characters. Anyway, I think that's the case that could be made for pro Straxus/anti Drift. I still plan on getting a couple if I see them, and don't really have anything against Drift, I was just playing devil's advocate.

I think it's a matter of timing. Those other characters, Straxus, Jhiaxus, Xaaron were all created "at the time". Drift was essentially created after the fact basically making him a G1 character that was created after G1. This almost comes back to the other thread about what is G1?

As for the Spotlight, I was glad that we got it. Here I was, a few issues into AHM, wondering who this Drift fella was (I actually initially assumed he was some super-obscure G1.5 Euro exclusive or the like that I'd never heard of), and IDW goes "Hey, here's a one-shot that tells you who he is!". You just *know* that if we hadn't gotten that Spotlight, then the people complaining about Drift getting a spotlight would've instead complained about how they just stuck Drift in with no explanation whatsoever.

The "Spotlight" was arguably filler. It was obvious fromAHM that Drift has jumped the fence at least once. (Comments from the characters made that clear.) "Spotlight" just showed the specific jump. But, "Spotlight" is the same series that gave us the Cliffjumper special, (a cliche wrapped in a banality with a hint of predictability) and the Galvatron special.

I think it's a matter of timing. Those other characters, Straxus, Jhiaxus, Xaaron were all created "at the time". Drift was essentially created after the fact basically making him a G1 character that was created after G1. This almost comes back to the other thread about what is G1?

No, this comes down to idiot toy-hacks being unable to deal with change..and being okay with that.

These are the people who never left the damned 80s. These are the same types as the Trek fans who whined because Patrick Steward did not wear a wig like Shatner. That the same types of people who think "GI Joe" needs to be returned to the pre-1987 status quo.

New things are scary. These people whine because they do not like vegetables because they are yucky. The daring ones might accept pepperoni on their pizza. But, buffalo chicken is just too much for them.

The need TF to be stuck where it was around 1985. TF is their rock. They can rely on it to never change like that mean old world. Adding a new character, (not a new toy), to the mix upsets them. It is scary, especially when that character is not part of a new sub-line and is being intorduced into precious G1 which can never ever ever ever change by being written above a certain level.


Dom
-wishing Hasbro stuck to its guns with all those characters it killed in the '86 movie.

Right, the timing of it is why the toyhacks can't handle it. Cause it was added after the fact. I'm not arguing that it's rational and I agree that it's idiotic, but that's the reason behind it. I was just playing devil's advocate.

Shockwave
-Does not like buffalo chicken pizza.

Isn't Habsor the biggest toyhack of all by staunchly refusing to leave G1 to the mists of legend and create a genuinely new TF series that's meant to stick around and be developed for as long as G1 did...?

If anything, I wish there were MORE characters who came from where Drift did. Enough to have their OWN series, devoid of ___imus Primes and ___atrons. Might even check out his toy for the same reason I snagged the Victory ones, and that's a big deal 'cos I haven't bought ANY TFs lately.

Go "NIHON ICHI!" Mess

Dominic wrote:The "Spotlight" was arguably filler. It was obvious fromAHM that Drift has jumped the fence at least once. (Comments from the characters made that clear.) "Spotlight" just showed the specific jump. But, "Spotlight" is the same series that gave us the Cliffjumper special, (a cliche wrapped in a banality with a hint of predictability) and the Galvatron special.

I don't see how any Spotlight issue is just 'filler'. Filler happens in an ongoing series or mini where the author is trying to pad out the length so he doesn't run through his ideas too fast. Drift's background was easy enough to guess at from reading AHM, but the spotlight issue gave details, both on him and about Perceptor's change as well.

It was filler in the sense that we did not get any really new information out of it. Drift was a former Decepticon who eventually joined the Autobots. It was not as bad as the Cliffjumper special, (a case study in why writers should not simply be allowed to write their favorite characters), but it was not especially good.

Isn't Habsor the biggest toyhack of all by staunchly refusing to leave G1 to the mists of legend and create a genuinely new TF series that's meant to stick around and be developed for as long as G1 did...?

Hasbro is just doing what the market rewards. Remember the volume of bitching and moaning during the late beast era...right until Hasbro started doing regular homages to old characters?


Dom
-because G1 had the finest engineering, the best animation and the highest caliber of writing.

Dominic wrote:Hasbro is just doing what the market rewards.

In other words, they're scared of taking risks and obsessed with maintaining an established and reliable pattern, like any old neckbearded toyhack.

One problem I have with Habsor now is that an increasing number of long-time fans are actually being brought on as staff, or at least given REAL ULTIMATE POWAR. Recipe. For. Disaster. Imagine if, say, M Sipher was able to make decisions that affected what all other fans were presented with?

owait

...Who created Drift? I kinda missed the boat on that one. I'm hoping it wasn't a long-time fan, but meh.