Watching AOE, I realize how Drift, who had the potential to be an excellent character, just sorta...well, he was just kind of there. Let me clarify-this isn't a "Movie Drift Sucks" thread. He's still very dignified, very cool, and portrayed VERY well by Ken Watanabe. Fuck anyone who thinks he's a racist stereotype (over the top maybe, but NOT racist). But do you think he could have been done better? When we first heard Drift was in the movie, I hated the idea, and thought Bay was trying to pander to the Weeaboos. But then we were told of "A former Decepticon trying to regain his honor". Instantly, I thought of a Ronin...Not the Marvel character, but the term for a samurai without a master. I thought this was the potential for an AMAZING robot character, one who was complex, driven, and an overall satisfactory character. So I picked up every toy of Drift in anticipation (except the Flip 'n Change, because...), and when I heard Ken Watanabe was voicing him, I flipped my shit. Then the movie came. They never mentioned he was a former Decepticon. He was still cool, just...man, they missed an opportunity BIG time. He wasn't even fucking NAMED. I really would have liked to see him portrayed as a Ronin type character, roaming the Earth without a master, and halfway through the movie, he joins the Autobots to finally find a cause to be a part of. But that's just me. How do you feel Drift was portrayed? Did they do alright? Did they fuck up?
Yeah it was kinda pointless making him a former decepticon, and you know giving him a name if you're not going to use it in the film. Hopefully they'll actually someone will say his name in the next film, and possibly discuss his decepticon past. The most characterization of the autobots in age of extinction went to prime, followed closely by hound and bee.
Better than Sideswipe and Dino at least. Yes, Drift has to be utilised for TF5. His character has a lot of back story that could be explored beyond. We can't leave that out of the movies. A former Decepticon like him is an interesting thing that could be the focus for TF5.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. As much as I adore Drift, Swipe will always surpass him. I do think, like all other Bayverse Transformers, he is woefully underused and under-developed.
Yeah I thought they handled him well. I thought AoE was excellent in terms of the Transformers' characterizations compared to the previous movies. But know that you mentioned it that whole Ronin thing could have been interesting to explore, hopefully they'll do that in the next movie. The reason to why I think they didn't have that "was a Decepticon before and now an Autobot" talk/scenario in AoE was that they already did that in ROTF and it wouldn't have added anything significant to AoE.
I wish they gave him better lines. His whole "mystical warrior" schtick came across as rather forced and cliché. Especially with examples like the haiku and his "we must use the element of surprise" line. It made him feel pretty flat as a character. That said, I loved his "No, that is Optimus Prime" line.
I love him, because I interpreted his character as a total Japanophile that is trying so hard to be a samurai so far that he totally redesigned himself and calls Optimus sensei. I really wish he threw in some other Japanese words just to sound even more like a tryhard fan of Japan. Also, I'm glad they left out the whole "used to be a Decepticon" thing, because it makes no sense in a Transformers universe where the Autobot's only attitude towards all Decepticons is "eliminate with extreme prejudice." And if they had tried to justify it, it would have just added yet another unnecessary scene to an already overlong and cluttered film.
Yeah, I think that one might have made up for it. It's almost as if his whole "mystical warrior" persona was actually satirical.
As a Drift fanboy I was glad to hear he was going to be AoE, even knowing that it wouldn't be IDW Drift, a reference of any sort would be enough for me and yeah, it worked. I liked how full on "Japan!" he was and as Stryker055 said, someone who was trying to act Japanese, as if.....rather than doing that whole "we learn from our cultures" thing Transformers in the movie do, Drift learned from some major Otaku Japanese wannabe. Before the movie was released I imagined a scene where Prime finds Drift on Lockdown's ship (ex-Decepticon hunted by Lockdown) so he's not an Autobot, but not a Decepticon. Prime frees and him and he joins in for the final fight.
I felt he was a fun and cool character, but it would be great for them to elaborate further on his background in the next movie.
They do use his name once in the film, but it's on a screen during the after-factory chase scene. It's one of those "blink and you'll miss it" moments.
I know i have said this over and over, but some of the bot scenes seem to end to quickly, jumping from one scene to another, especially the fight between bee and drift, i wouldn't be surprised that, on the DVD release, these scenes are played out properly, and we hear Drifts name been used, hopefully a few more Transformations scenes as well (crosshairs and hound, looking at you!)
At least Drift had an entire sequence dedicated to his skills as a robot samurai without any cuts that go back and forth between human and robot action
seriously. he would've stuck out like a sore thumb with any other movie decepticons considering the lack of snarling, the humanoid design and the face not being sharp and pointy...
He's a token character obviously and his presence screamed "filler" through and through. His origin was not explained. How can they (Bay and co.) not expect fellow moviegoers to be curious about an asian-looking transformers suddenly appear out of nowhere . He's pretty forgettable actually .he's in the movie just to qoute one-liners.
I thought he was cool. He probably had the least lines out of the Autobot cast next to Brains but only by a small margin. His wannabe mystical warrior character was played just right and his conflicts with each of the other bots was a real treat. I don't know, he's still a hundred times better than Ironhide, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Dino or Que.
