News Bot

2012-04-29T05:32:19Z

202.156.10.242: /* Notes */

:''News Bot is an [[automaton]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]]''

[[Image:NewsBotModel.jpg|right|250px|thumb|"And now a Detroit News Flash: here are the results of the national sheepdog trials. All of the sheepdogs have been found 'not guilty'."]]
Whenever there is news to report, '''News Bot''' is there! Whenever there is a scoop to be found, News Bot is there! Whenever the writers need to [[Waspinator|inflict comic violence against an unsuspecting putz]] and [[Tutor Bot]] isn't available, News Bot is there! Ever vigilant, ever hunting for the truth of the matter, and ever ready to be crushed under a taxi.

He also has a sweet hat.

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[David Kaye]] (English, "[[Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster]]"), [[Townsend Coleman]] (English, "[[The Return of the Headmaster]]")

[[Image:Daniel and robot.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Add another couple hundred to his therapy bills.]]
News Bot's first break into the media world came when he interviewed the Autobot [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], in what was presumably a means of improving the compassionate but clumsy bot's standing with the people. News Bot quickly shifted into an interrogatory mode, however, and asked if Bulkhead (as the largest and most potentially destructive Autobot) ever feared for the damage he might do to [[Detroit]] and its people. Bulkhead's attempts to clear his good name quickly resulted in the dismemberment of the News Bot's boom-mike arm, which was followed up by "utter destruction" and "horrific carnage" as Bulkhead's attempts to save the city from a rogue missile did as much damage to the environment as the stray projectile would have. News Bot reported this all very thoroughly and only missed making a despairing plea of "Oh, the Humanity!" before being accidentally crushed under a car. The sight of his head protruding from the wreckage mildly traumatised [[Daniel Witwicky (Animated)|a nearby human child]], a situation which Bulkhead then worsened by decapitating the hapless News Bot. Kid's gonna need some serious therapy to suppress these memories.

[[Image:NewsBot.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Autobots: Threat or Menace?]]
Suitably patched up within a few hours, the News Bot later reported on an attack at the Detroit Solar Fusion Power Plant. Though it was Headmaster enacting the carnage in Bulkhead's hijacked body, News Bot assumed Bulkhead was the party responsible, suggesting a chip on his shoulder, which was fair enough, given their history together. {{storylink|Headmaster (episode)|Headmaster}}

Some time later, News Bot provided coverage for a news conference hosted by [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] and [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], which quickly turned sour when Sentinel began condescending toward humans. Rightly deducing that Sentinel was little more than a poser with little of value to say, News Bot then attempted to grill Optimus on human-cyborg—er... human-Autobot-relations, which earned him the wrath of Sentinel. {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}}

==Notes==
*News Bot's design has many touchstones with media equipment and newscasting in general. He's mounted on three wheeled legs, much like a [http://www.besttripodreviews.org/ camera tripod]. Besides his two conventional arms, which are forever scribbling in a notebook (as opposed to making any sort of digital record), he also has a microphone and still-images camera mounted on extra limbs. If he can also record footage through his optics, then this little bot can write a newspaper and broadcast both radio and TV news segments ''at the same time''. Sweetness.
*And of course, he's got the fedora hat and press pass that have been hallmarks of the "go-getter journalist" stereotype since time immemorial.
*News Bot was designed by [[Brianne Drouhard]], following notes from [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]].
*Strangely enough, both episodes featuring the News Bot have featured the Headmaster. Freaky.

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Robots]]

Drift (G1)

2009-04-28T07:23:20Z

202.156.10.242: Seriously, until he does some major Grimlockesque screwup, we can safely label him as one

{{factions|autobot|decepticon}}
{{disambig2|the Generation 1 character|the ''Armada'' episode|Drift (episode)}}
:''Drift is <s>a Marty Stu</s> an [[Autobot]] in the [[IDW continuity|IDW]] portion of the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

{{spoilers|Spotlight: Drift|5/8/09}}

[[Image:AHM 06 CoverA.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"Oh Drift-chan, you smell awesome, and not at all like feet!"]]

'''Drift''' (ドリフト ''Dorifuto'') was not always an Autobot. In fact, he slaughtered quite a few when he was known as the Decepticon '''Deadlock.''' But Deadlock's eyes were opened to what the Transformers' war had become when he stumbled across a lost faction of neutral Transformers long since forgotten. He discarded his ruthless ways, abandoned his guns for swords, and changed his name and appearance. When Drift returned to the Transformer war to make right what he put wrong, he was a bot of few words and disciplined action.

These days, Drift is a member of a ragtag team of rebels under the command of [[Kup (G1)|Kup]], working alongside many members of the disbanded [[Wrecker|Wreckers]]. Because of his brutal past, Drift isn't well-liked by [[Bumblebee (G1)|a few]] of the Autobots. He's seen as a late-comer to their side of the conflict, especially since in his past life he had killed quite a few of them! The rest don't seem to care, or are [[Cliffjumper (G1)|genuinely impressed]] by his incredible skills, so long as they're used against the other side!

{{quote|We're going about this the wrong way, '''all''' of us! After countless centuries of fighting ... the Autobots are a '''step''' away from what we were when all this '''started.''' And us-- the Decepticons have become something '''worse''' than any of us could have '''imagined'''.|Drift explains his new perception of the war to his [[Turmoil|former commander]]|"[[Spotlight: Drift]]"}}

==Fiction==
===IDW comics===
{{ongoing}}
{{-}}
[[Image:SpotlightDrift Deadlockisdead.jpg|left|200px|thumb|He's your horrible fancharacter.]]
While he was known as Deadlock, Drift used to be the second-in-command of the [[Decepticon]] [[Turmoil]]. During this time he earned a reputation by slaughtering his Autobot opponents. At some point Dreadlock disappeared, and was thought to be dead. Turmoil's only wish was that he had killed the traitor himself.

Some time later, after receiving a new body and fighting style from his mysterious benefactors, Drift set off to make a difference. His chance came in an attempt to free a group of Autobots held captive on the ship he previously served aboard. Upon entering Turmoil's ship, his attempt at stealth was successful until the [[Wrecker]]s arrived and blasted their way aboard. Jumping into the battle to assist them, He piqued the interest of a few Autobots. [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] was injured as Turmoil entered the battle and recognizing Drift's voice as his former lieutenant, attempted to destroy him, However the result was to knock Drift and [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] to another room. The two quickly worked together to program the ship to overload. In his final confrontation with Turmoil, Drift stated his intention was to help, not kill, and left to rescue Perceptor before the ship blew up.

After his arrival on the Autobot ship, Kup invited Drift to join his new unit as an Autobot. {{storylink|Spotlight: Drift}}

[[Image:Allhailmegatron6-omgdriftomg.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Seriously, you made this guy up when you were eight.]]

Drift was among the crew of the spacecraft ''[[Trion]]'' when it was baited into a Decepticon ambush over [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. Its command codes were hacked due to their being sold to the Decepticons by an Autobot traitor, and left defenseless it was forced to crash-land on the desolate landscape of the planet. Eventually the crew were found by [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]'s unit, who unfortunately proved to ''also'' be stranded. When [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] was revealed by [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] to have been standing invisibly among them, Drift was the only one who didn't appear surprised. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 5|All Hail Megatron #5}}

When an advance scout of the [[Insecticon swarm]] discovered the Autobots' base-camp, Drift was dispatched to take care of it. Drift stood stock-still as the creature walked up to him, greeting it with a simple "hello" and smirking as the monstrous beast snarled in his face. Finally he beheaded the beast with a single wave of his sword. A second creature tried to attack Drift from behind, but the smirking Autobot merely tilted his head slightly, allowing [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] to kill the beast with some precision sniping. [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] thought the incident was the coolest thing ever. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6|All Hail Megatron #6}}

After [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] revealed to [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] that he was the traitor, an army of the Swarm came after them. Drift saved Ironhide while Sunstreaker blew the bridge, killing himself and the Swarm army. Later, Drift visited Ironhide and claimed that the Decepticons had access to the Autobots' systems in a way that Sunstreaker couldn't possibly have. Ironhide asked if this meant there was a second traitor, Drift replied that there was simply more to the situation than they knew. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8|All Hail Megatron #8}}

When Mirage was showing some doubt in the Autobot cause, it was Drift who said that, now more than ever, the Autobots should continue being who they are. [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] insinuated that Drift had no right to say something like that, which started an argument that was only stopped by the return of Optimus Prime. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 9|All Hail Megatron #9}}

==Notes==
* Commenting on what inspired him to create Drift, writer/creator [[Shane McCarthy]] said that "I wanted a character in AHM that had a particular element to him that [[Star Saber (G1)|I didn’t see readily available elsewhere]] and secondly because, frankly, I thought it would be a great idea for Hasbro to have an [[Lightfoot|Autobot Drift racer]]."<ref>http://www.smactalk.com.au/?p=101 Shane McCarthy blogs about Spotlight: Drift.</ref>

* According McCarthy, Drift's Japanese overtones are meant to be a tip of the hat "to the country that gave birth to [Transformers]."<ref>[http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18585 Comic Book Resources October 27th, 2008 interview with Shane McCarthy]</ref> It is possible he meant ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change]]'', as the ''[[Transformers brand|Transformers]]'' franchise was developed between [[Hasbro]] and [[Marvel Comics|Marvel Entertainment]], two American companies.

* [[IDW Publishing]] claimed that Drift had been solicited by [[Hasbro]] to receive a toy in the ''[[Universe (2008 franchise)|Universe]]'' line. After months of no word whatsoever on the subject from Hasbro or a single hint that such a thing would happen from the usual sources (read: leaks and stolen toys), Hasbro's Australian branch eventually answered the claim with a rather unequivocal "No, there is no character named Autobot Drift or any toy designed after the comic character coming out in our 25th Anniversary or any other Transformers line." in an online Q&A session.<ref>[http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=3438 Ozformers Q&A with Hasbro Australia]</ref> However, IDW editor [[Chris Ryall]] maintained at New York Comic-Con 2009 that Drift was still on track to receive a toy, but no release date had been set. In a March 2009 online Q&A session, Hasbro confirmed that no Drift toy was currently planned at all, although they "would love to make a toy after IDW's Drift and will do our best to fit him into the line at the right time." <ref>[http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/hasbro-answers-seibertrons-questions/15360 Hasbro March 2009 Q&A on Seibertron.com]</ref>

* Drift's name is derived from the Japanese driving technique of "[[wikipedia:Drifting_(motorsport)|drifting]]", rendered in Japanese as ドリフト走行 (''dorifuto sōkō''). This is also the source of the Japanese Katakana writing on his car mode doors and in Chris Ryall's announcement;<ref>[http://ryalltime.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html "ドリフト走行*" entry in Chris Ryall's blog]</ref> it is a transliteration of his English name and is not from Japanese fiction.

*Drift's vehicle mode design is similar to the [http://www.zapfcreation.pl/megabloks/mega-bloks-magnaformers-magscinder-28451-p-318.html Mega-Bloks Magna Former] [http://www.collectiondx.com/node/1789 Magscinder], from the drifting body kit, to the rising sun deco right down to having "DRIFT" written in katakana on its car doors.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Autobots]]
[[Category:Comic-only characters]]
[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category:Generation 1 characters]]

MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

News Bot

Drift (G1)