Drift (G1)
| The name or term "Drift" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Drift (disambiguation). |
- Drift is an Autobot from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
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, working alongside many members of the disbanded Wreckers. Because of his brutal past, Drift isn't well-liked or trusted by a few of the Autobots. The rest don't seem to care, or are genuinely impressed by his incredible skills, so long as they're used against the other side!
Fiction
IDW comics continuity
Drift was originally a homeless Cybertronian, living on the streets and stealing energon to survive. The hopeless 'bot was befriended by Gasket, an optimistic and caring individual who found people like Drift, and brought them together. When Gasket was killed by Autobot law enforcement after trying to stop them from executing a thief, Drift exploded with rage, grabbed the nearest gun and killed them all. He realized he had a knack for violence, and while his actions forced him into hiding, it also attracted the attention of the Cybertronian underground, who trained Drift as a killer. Amongst this group, Drift realized the level of corruption in the senate. At some point, he attended a recruitment rally held by Megatron, who drew Drift in with his talk of equality. Megatron singled Drift out of the crowd, claiming to have heard great things of him, and asked him to join the Decepticons to fight for a better Cybertron. Drift agreed and, after being was hailed by the crowd, was renamed Deadlock by Megatron. Drift #2 Drift rose to become the second-in-command of Turmoil, garnering a reputation as a vicious and merciless fighter.
On an unknown planet, Deadlock led a battalion against an Autobot squadron. The Autobots' leader called a retreat, and Deadlock's team celebrated. This was spoiled when one of the soldiers pointed out that Deadlock had been ordered to merely observe, and once again had disobeyed orders. When he threatened to inform Turmoil of Deadlock's disobedience, Deadlock killed him. He claimed Turmoil was too cautious and that it was time for new leadership. He called for the other soldiers to follow him, but they summarily captured him and brought him to Turmoil. Turmoil used a stasis lock to trap him in robot mode and attempted to execute him. Deadlock managed to escape, and after initiating an emergency protocol to cover his escape, stole an escape pod and departed the ship.
Deadlock crashed on an unknown planet. He spent the moments after exiting the pod reminiscing on his past, before he spotted a glow above some nearby cliffs. After scaling them, he found a massive structure, but before he could explore, a mysterious cloaked figure appeared. Before a fight could break out, the stranger introduced himself as Wing, claiming he meant no harm. Deadlock asked if he was from the complex as he needed a ship, but Wing revealed that the complex was run by a gang of slave traders. He offered a deal: help him free the slaves, and he would find Deadlock a ship. Deadlock agreed, but first said he needed guns. Together, they jumped some guards and stole their weapons, however a stray blast stripped Wing of his cloak, revealing him to be Cybertronian. Deadlock accused him of being an Autobot, but Wing denied this. Still in need of a ship, Deadlock questioned Wing as to their location on the base. Before they attacked, Wing asked him for his name and Deadlock, remembering old times, gave him the name Drift. They jumped into the complex, but Drift automatically went for the ship, abandoning Wing. However, he was attacked and nearly killed by one of the slavers. Drift went offline, but awoke surrounded by mysterious Cybertronians and in a new body. Wing revealed that Drift had nearly died, and that they had repaired him. Drift tried to run, but as he made it out the door was stunned. Wing, coming up behind him, welcomed him to Crystal City. Drift #1
Wing explained that they were the Circle of Light, a group of Cybertronian scholars and scientists who abandoned the planet during the early days of the war in order to find peace and preserve Cybertron's culture. They built the new Crystal City, and developed a Utopian society, free from poverty, sickness and ideological battle. Drift claimed it was a war for the future, not ideology, but Wing countered that their war was dooming Cybertron. As Wing continued to sing the praises of their city, he challenged Drift, claiming he was not a mere brute and that he must have a reason for fighting. He asked if Drift would destroy a peaceful city where no one was ever left behind. Drift remained silent.
Wing and Drift were taken to a meeting with Crystal City's leader, Dai Atlas. While Drift waited outside, Wing was admonished for bringing a corrupting influence to the city. He was ordered to keep Drift with him at all times. Afterward, Wing brought Drift to an empty room, discarded his swords and asked him what the Decepticon symbol stood for. Drift replied it meant strength, power and conviction. Wing asked if this meant they were superior, and that was it simply that if they were the strongest that they should rule. Drift said yes and was told to prove it, without weapons. He attacked Wing, who promptly and repeatedly floored him. He was then informed that they would do this everyday. If Drift could defeat him, he could leave. If he never defeated him, he would would stay with them forever. Drift claimed this was unfair as he had only ever truly trained with guns. Wing simply told him to learn.
Weeks later, Wing was still dominating Drift. When he was told he'd never conquer the galaxy this way, Drift angrily said that he didn't join to conquer anything. He revealed his past, and explained that he would help build the new order. Wing countered that war was not the way. Crystal City held everything Drift had ever wanted, but even if he had the best intentions to begin with, that he had lost the way. Drift had been used, but unlike the other Decepticons, he had gotten a second chance. Their sparring was interrupted by a summons from Dai Atlas. When they arrived in the control room, he informed them that they had received a coded signal and he thought Drift might be able to translate. Drift claimed he could not understand it, but that night, snuck out of the city and drove far into the desert. There he met with the slavers, who had used a Decepticon code to offer Drift a deal. The code had been obtained from Lockdown, a Decepticon sent by Megatron. The deal was simple: hand over the location of the Circle of Light or die. Drift #2
Some time later, after leaving Crystal City, 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'd previously served aboard. Upon entering Turmoil's ship, his attempt at stealth was successful until the Wreckers arrived and blasted their way aboard. Jumping into the battle to assist them, he piqued the interest of a few Autobots. Perceptor was injured as Turmoil entered the battle and, recognizing Drift's voice as that of his former lieutenant, attempted to destroy him. However, his attack only resulted in knocking Drift and 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. Spotlight: Drift
Now a crew member of the spacecraft Trion, Drift got to know his new teammate Blurr over many friendly games of Go. Perceptor felt he owed a debt to Drift for saving his life, and so devoted much of his time to upgrading himself for more combat-oriented tasks. While Kup discouraged this, Drift stoically accepted Perceptor's new ambitions. Lost & Found
They were soon baited into a Decepticon ambush over Cybertron. The Trion's 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's unit, who unfortunately proved to be also stranded. When Mirage was revealed by Jazz to have been standing invisibly among them, Drift was the only one who didn't appear surprised. 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, smirking "hello" as the monstrous beast snarled in his face. Finally, he beheaded the scout 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 to kill the beast with some precision sniping. Cliffjumper thought the incident was the coolest thing ever. All Hail Megatron #6
After Sunstreaker revealed to Ironhide that he was the traitor, an army of the Swarm came after them. Drift saved Ironhide while Sunstreaker blew up a 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, but Drift replied that there was simply more to the situation than they knew. 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 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. All Hail Megatron #9
Drift took part in the battle against the Swarm and joined the others in escaping Cybertron in Omega Supreme. All Hail Megatron #10. On Earth, he battled the Decepticons, and when Thundercracker volunteered to divert the humans' nuclear bomb, Drift attempted to congratulate his former comrade on seeing the light. Thundercracker called him a traitor, slapping Drift's hand away and claiming he was merely following the Decepticons' true ideal.All Hail Megatron #12
Two years later, Drift is still with the Autobots, hiding on Earth. ...For All Mankind After Optimus Prime left the Autobots, Drift decided to stay with the larger group, rather than leave with Rodimus and his fellow defectors. Drift celebrated Bumblebee's election with numerous other Autobots. The Hanging Sword
Robot Heroes
Drift was Optimus Prime's friend and always let his actions speak louder than words. When the Autobots arrived on Earth, he hid himself in a lake. Upon Optimus's order, he transformed into his car mode to roll out. Later, when the Decepticons attacked, he pushed Starscream over a tripwire held by some of the Autobots' human allies. I Am Optimus Prime
Toys
Generations
- Autobot Drift (Deluxe, 2010)
- Accessories: Two "dual swords", one large sword
- Generations Drift transforms into a cross between an Nissan Silvia S15 and the Mitsubishi FTO. In vehicle mode, Drift's two shorter "dual swords" store inside his doors (which double as his hip sheaths during robot mode), while the larger sword stores in a set of grooves on the underside of his vehicle (also used in robot mode). It can also be stored (in robot mode) in the doors where the windows fold up. Behind his windshield kibble is his pre-Earth chest design, in a nod to the form Drift had been seen in almost exclusively at the time of the toy's unveiling. Due to his ball jointed wrists, Drift is one of the few Transformers figures that can hold a sword with a two-handed grip. Left unmentioned in the instructions is that the clip that holds his large sword is on a small concealed arm that allows the sword to move away from his back and out of the way of his legs and shoulders. Drift's swords are made from a kid-friendly flexible material, and therefore care must be taken to avoid warping. His hand holes are slightly larger than 5mm, but taper toward the bottom.
- While Drift's Earth mode designs showed him sporting the katakana ドリフト (Dorifuto) on his car doors, the toy instead sports the kanji 侍 (samurai). The large sword sports the kanji 天下無双 (tenka musō, "peerless under heaven", or just "peerless" if you're not feeling idiomatic.)
United
- Autobot Drift (Deluxe, 2010)
- Japanese ID number: UN-08
- Accessories: Two "dual swords", one large sword
- The TakaraTomy Transformers United release of Autobot Drift features more paint applications in both vehicle and robot mode to better match Drift's appearance in the comic books.
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 I didn't see readily available elsewhere and secondly because, frankly, I thought it would be a great idea for Hasbro to have an Autobot Drift racer."[1] He later said he wanted to show what'd happen if a former Decepticon became an Autobot.[2] Of course, this has never happened before.
- According to McCarthy, Drift's Japanese overtones are meant to be a tip of the hat "to the country that gave birth to [Transformers]."[3] It is possible (though unlikely given how many people mistakenly believe Transformers is Japanese) that he meant Diaclone and Micro Change, as the Transformers franchise was developed between Hasbro, Griffin Bacal and Marvel Entertainment, three American companies.
- Drift's name is derived from the Japanese driving technique of "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;[4] it is a transliteration of his English name and is not from Japanese fiction.
- IDW Publishing initially claimed that Drift had been solicited by Hasbro to receive a toy in the Universe line. This may have been premature, as it was followed several months later with a denial, albeit from Hasbro's Australian offices.[5] This was rebutted by IDW editor Chris Ryall at New York Comic-Con 2009, denied again in the March 2009 Hasbro Q&A for Seibertron.com,[6] and finally acknowledged by Hasbro at BotCon 2009 when early design sketches were unveiled for Drift's toy. The toy itself was first shown at Toy Fair 2010.
