Transformers: Drift #1-4 / TPB

[inflatable dalek]

It's basically what the pre-publicity made it look Drift was going to be in AHM before it turned out he was a glorified extra. He's so big and swoony and sexy and better than everyone else and everyone wants him on their side because he shits Energon bricks made of awesome.

In a plot that's basically the standard McCarthy thing that bad arses with guns are way awesome and anyone who doesn't like a big throbbing weapon in their hands is a tosser.

Coupled with art that's frequently impossible to follow and almost seems to be channelling Pat Lee at times (I have no idea what Drift did to the super deformed Fallen impersonator Turmoil to escape from his ship, and that was only page three).

Though I was surprised to see Dai Atlas and his pussy pacifists all survived (albeit after learning that violence is the best solution to their problems), considering MTMTE makes the link between him and the Knights of Cybertron (though they're only called Knights here) did something happen to him in a latter issue? Because you'd have thought just going to ask him where the olde Knights are would have been the simple solution.

Also, the Hot Shot and SG Ravage panel makes all that fuss a storm in a tea cup as you'd have to have a degree in working out misshapen blobs to have a clue it was either of them.

[Terome]

Phew. I'm glad to see that I have some remaining capacity to judge a book by its cover.

Though I was surprised to see Dai Atlas and his pussy pacifists all survived (albeit after learning that violence is the best solution to their problems), considering MTMTE makes the link between him and the Knights of Cybertron (though they're only called Knights here) did something happen to him in a latter issue? Because you'd have thought just going to ask him where the olde Knights are would have been the simple solution.

Isn't that exactly what they are going to do in MTMTE? Their first port of call is Dai Atlas' lot for a chat.

Also, the Hot Shot and SG Ravage panel makes all that fuss a storm in a tea cup as you'd have to have a degree in working out misshapen blogs to have a clue it was either of them.

Jesus. I'd forgotten about that rubbish. I feel very British when people bickering rudely seems more immediately offensive to me than say, genocide.

[inflatable dalek]

Isn't that exactly what they are going to do in MTMTE? Their first port of call is Dai Atlas' lot for a chat.

They did? I must have missed that, I known Drift mentioned him but I thought the only plan was to follow the map?

Jesus. I'd forgotten about that rubbish. I feel very British when people bickering rudely seems more immediately offensive to me than say, genocide.

I also see in tit for tat, that the wiki has officially made those characters Henkei Hot Rod and Kiss Players Pedo Rape Ravage (or whatever he was called) for no better reason than to mock the original intent to mock Walki. The whole thing was basically a big circle of tossers wanking off in each others faces really.

[Terome]

They did? I must have missed that, I known Drift mentioned him but I thought the only plan was to follow the map?

Pretty sure they talk about going to visit Crystal City at the end of #2. My hunch is that they will get badly sidetracked then find something dreadful waiting for them when they do finally get there.

So the deal with Crystal City was that they left to build a Peaceful Place, then the Decepticon scourge that they thought they could ignore found them and only Drift could save the poor, innocent fools?

That is like a fairy tale told to the Hitler Youth.

I also see in tit for tat, that the wiki has officially made those characters Henkei Hot Rod and Kiss Players Pedo Rape Ravage (or whatever he was called) for no better reason than to mock the original intent to mock Walki. The whole thing was basically a big circle of tossers wanking off in each others faces really.

Uck.

At least when tossers literally wank off into each other's faces, they can't do it in full public view without someone sternly telling them to maybe do that somewhere else.

[inflatable dalek]

So the deal with Crystal City was that they left to build a Peaceful Place, then the Decepticon scourge that they thought they could ignore found them and only Drift could save the poor, innocent fools?

Yep, though it's only the one Decepticon, Lockdown. Who, despite Drift being a traitor who ran away like a big girl after disobeying orders wants to bring him back because Megatron loves him. There's a flashback where we see Megatron use Drift joining the Decepticons as a means of getting lots of other Transformers to sign up because he's that awesome. So awesome in fact you've got to wonder why he never showed up in any issues previous to AHM.

the main threat is actually a species that seem to be the bastard love child of the Borg and Orion Slave Girls.

[Terome]

Yep, though it's only the one Decepticon, Lockdown. Who, despite Drift being a traitor who ran away like a big girl after disobeying orders wants to bring him back because Megatron loves him.

That is impressively stupid! I guess that was when Megatron was in a sort of Grecian god phase and went all Ganymede on his boyfriends. Bravo on McCarthy getting his self-insertion slashfic published officially though. I think the closest anyone had previously got to that with the licence was when Furman had Hasbro pay him to work out his issues with his wife's menopausal years with Spotlight: Arcee.

There's a flashback where we see Megatron use Drift joining the Decepticons as a means of getting lots of other Transformers to sign up because he's that awesome. So awesome in fact you've got to wonder why he never showed up in any issues previous to AHM.

Those Decepticons were all the new readers who came on board for All Hail Megatron. Though to be fair, I did meet one of those mythical beasts the other day at the Royal Festival Hall. She said it all went downhill when the deeply strange bit about Sunstreaker came to the fore. Was there a bit in Drift where Megatron forced him to start talking about everything his exes had ever done and then, in front of everyone, openly fantasise about how they had all lied to him and then he, in return, had them brutally killed?

Because that would not seem out of place in the comic you are describing.

the main threat is actually a species that seem to be the bastard love child of the Borg and Orion Slave Girls.

Oh no! Girls!

[inflatable dalek]

Those Decepticons were all the new readers who came on board for All Hail Megatron. Though to be fair, I did meet one of those mythical beasts the other day at the Royal Festival Hall. She said it all went downhill when the deeply strange bit about Sunstreaker came to the fore.

See, that's what I said all along! Pissing off the old readers and then suddenly making the comic inaccessible to the new readers was idiotic. Why don't IDW listen to me? Just because I accuse them of masturbating in fanboy faces.

Oh no! Girls!

Sadly the just take the being a slaver and green from that side, they have the Borg's balls. That sudden change in their motivation from just wanting to enslave people to wanting to stick bits of Dai Atlas to their bodies because they love enhancing themselves was, as with so much of AHM, something that felt like it was being made up as it went along.

[Terome]

Sadly the just take the being a slaver and green from that side, they have the Borg's balls. That sudden change in their motivation from just wanting to enslave people to wanting to stick bits of Dai Atlas to their bodies because they love enhancing themselves was, as with so much of AHM, something that felt like it was being made up as it went along.

YOU COULD NOT MAKE THIS UP. They want Dai Atlas' dismembered Japanese parts to add to their strength? On the day that McCarthy finally explodes from the slow build-up of furious sexual insanity in his breast, I do hope they have a hazmat team stationed nearby his dance academy.

See, that's what I said all along! Pissing off the old readers and then suddenly making the comic inaccessible to the new readers was idiotic. Why don't IDW listen to me? Just because I accuse them of masturbating in fanboy faces.

She said she went back to read some of the pre-AHM issues but still didn't quite understand what the hell was going on with that Hunter bondage torture-porn. She thought maybe she had missed some Spotlights or something? She actually kept reading right up until 'Megatron was reading his poetry' and quit from exhaustion. She's on the Prime TV series now and much happier for it.

A survivor's tale.

[inflatable dalek]

YOU COULD NOT MAKE THIS UP. They want Dai Atlas' dismembered Japanese parts to add to their strength? On the day that McCarthy finally explodes from the slow build-up of furious sexual insanity in his breast, I do hope they have a hazmat team stationed nearby his dance academy.

Well, in fairness, they don't know about Dai Atlas directly, they just want to stick any Transformer body parts in themselves. In fact, it's an amazing coincidence that this group of slavers who've been thinking for a while that the Transformers are the greatest life form ever (something only reaffirmed by meeting Drift of course) and want to assimilate some of them just happen to set up their slaver camp on a planet with a secret Transformer city on it by complete coincidence.

though who wouldn't want a bit of Dai Atlas in them?

She said she went back to read some of the pre-AHM issues but still didn't quite understand what the hell was going on with that Hunter bondage torture-porn. She thought maybe she had missed some Spotlights or something? She actually kept reading right up until 'Megatron was reading his poetry' and quit from exhaustion. She's on the Prime TV series now and much happier for it.

A survivor's tale.

Why do you meet the ladies who like Transformers comics? I could have impressed her with the size of my collection.

[Terome]

just happen to set up their slaver camp on a planet with a secret Transformer city on it by complete coincidence.

Aah, there's secret Transformers junk everywhere. Besides, how else do you drive the point of the whole thing home if Drift doesn't inspire a whole generation to stop hiding and show themselves in all their proud glory?

I'm reading the summaries on the silly old Wiki now, and am I to understand that there is an extended competitive grappling sequence and a flashback to Drift's time spent homeless on the streets with a gentle, ill-fated companion?

Actually, all of this makes me glad. I'd thought Drift was a brainless kludge of third-hand manga references. Now that I know it is a brainless homosexual fascist warrior epic, whose plot is defined by jealousy and possessiveness. There hasn't been a whole lot of those in this franchise so far. I'm inclined to regard it as a delightful oddity on par with The Interplanetary Wrestling Contest. It speaks volumes that Roberts is game to embrace and accept this little queer bird of story without any obvious outside influence. Furman, tellingly, has categorically stated that there shan't be hide nor hair of any Wrestling, Interplanetary or otherwise, in his continuation of the Marvel books. That is No Fun, in my opinion.

Though I probably still won't read Drift because it looks shit.

[inflatable dalek]

I'm reading the summaries on the silly old Wiki now, and am I to understand that there is an extended competitive grappling sequence and a flashback to Drift's time spent homeless on the streets with a gentle, ill-fated companion?

Yep, and the flashbacks go pretty much straight from Drift: The littlest Transformer hobo to him being so famous and awesome Megatron first begs him to join up and then uses him as the face of their recruitment drive. Because who wouldn't want to smell of meths like Drift?

The bit where Megatron renames him Deadlock for no real reason suggests it's a bit of a lovers pet name as well.

It speaks volumes that Roberts is game to embrace and accept this little queer bird of story without any obvious outside influence.

Having now read his major previous appearances, I honestly think his showing in MTMTE is a deliberate piss take on Roberts part. Note how all the other characters now think Drift is an idiot and don't take the flowery nonsense he sprouts remotely seriously. I suspect IDW wanted their white elephant in one of the books because dropping him entirely would be embarrassing after all the fuss they made of him, and Barber as editor in chief got the final choice on that ("You can have him. Go on, I let you have Cosmos after all, this is the price you pay").

[Red Dave Prime]

Having now read his major previous appearances, I honestly think his showing in MTMTE is a deliberate piss take on Roberts part. Note how all the other characters now think Drift is an idiot and don't take the flowery nonsense he sprouts remotely seriously. I suspect IDW wanted their white elephant in one of the books because dropping him entirely would be embarrassing after all the fuss they made of him, and Barber as editor in chief got the final choice on that ("You can have him. Go on, I let you have Cosmos after all, this is the price you pay").

Hope that is the case

Thing is do, with his new persona, Drift stands out as a somewhat more interesting character in MTMTE - he doesn't have super smart & whitty dialogue, isn't meant to be likeable and doesn't have a cool backstory that we dont yet know - he's the most unique character there!

[Terome]

Thing is do, with his new persona, Drift stands out as a somewhat more interesting character in MTMTE - he doesn't have super smart & whitty dialogue, isn't meant to be likeable and doesn't have a cool backstory that we dont yet know - he's the most unique character there!

Yeah, and we've all met someone like MTMTE Drift - they've been in a car crash or lost a child or something and now they are determined to be defined by the thing that offered them comfort. It seems, to them, that the only other options would be to act as the tragedy hadn't happened or to linger on it forever. They are irritating. They are also, like every other character in MTMTE, a kind of liar one is likely to meet.

Going by your reports, Dalek, it sounds like there isn't a single character in Drift that resembles an actual human being. I guess that is why it is so tempting to lump all the characters into an author gestalt.

[inflatable dalek]

In fairness, unlike AHM where the awesomely bad bits are spread out amongst hundreds of pages of tedium, it's at least never dull.

[Terome]

Brevity is the soul of bugshit madness.

[Ryan F]

I actually just read this series in my attempt to get up to speed on all things IDW and, forgive me if this makes me look like a complete plank but... I kinda liked it.

Drift himself was a problem - admittedly I didn't buy for one second the way he completely flipflopped from badass Decepticon killer to Autobot hero over the course of the four issues.

The only real explanation is that he's just a wuss, easily led by whoever comes along to put an arm round his shoulder. First Megatron, then Wing. Drift is an indecisive sort, who naturally gravitates to charismatic leaders.

Drift apart, my first reaction was that this was actually a decent bit of storytelling, in that it had a beginning, middle and end (which considering I've just completed the Furman era was quite refreshing by comparison). It had a flow, a direction, a decent pace, and although most of the character beats were repossessed from other frachises (Drift convincing Dai Atlas to fight was totally copied from the Ian/Alydon scene in The Daleks; Wing as a doomed mentor is basically Jaga or Obi-Wan), there was a breeziness to it that I actually quite liked.

I wasn't on the IDW boards back in the day (and I haven't read AHM yet, as the trades put everything in a funny order), but if you take out all the outside drama and look at it on it's own terms, I don't think this is the total failure that people were making it out to be.

The central character is a bit rubbish and lots of it is recycled from other sources (the Slavers = the Krillitanes), but I thought it was quite fun, it passed the time well, and there was a simplicity and pointedness to it that (thankfully) made it a big departure from the Furman stuff.

I'd probably give it a 3/5 - flawed but fun.