Shift Code: Drift Empire of Stone # 1!

ASIDE from the original fembot Arcee, there is no Transformer as controversial as the Autobot Drift. Created by writer Shane McCarthy and first appearing in the 2009 IDW Publishing series “All Hail Megatron,” Drift was criticized as being a fan’s fever dream. He was a former Decepticon named Deadlock who had seen the error of his ways and switched sides. More than the back story, it was his character, a samurai-like robot with ridiculously large swords that rubbed some fans the wrong way. But just like Arcee, many fans embraced Drift, turning him into, ironically, a fan-favorite character who would go on to appear in not one, but two mini-series as well as his own Spotlight issue. Back when it was still very uncommon, Drift got a comic-accurate toy from Hasbro. Drift proved so popular that he even appeared in the Michael Bay-directed film “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” as a triple-changer voiced by Ken Watanabe. In the comics, Drift had shifted from being a samurai to more of a crusading knight character when he joined the crew of the Lost Light in “Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye.” In the aftermath of the Overlord fiasco, Drift had elected to take the blame and was stripped of his Autobot status, leaving the ship afterwards. Where is he now?

HFTD Deluxe Class: "Rescue" Ratchet!

Remember being a kid, daydreaming about what you'd be when you grew up? Between thinking I'd be an archaeologist (Indiana Jones), an offshore oil rig worker (The Transformers), a space cowboy (Star Wars) and a G.I. Joe (well, G.I. Joe), I thought it would be pretty cool to be a doctor. You'd be up to your ears in scratch, hanging with movie stars and famous people, and flying off on the Enterprise saying cool things like, "Dammit, Jim! I'm a Doctor, not a call center agent!" (I was a stupid kid). This was before I learned that being a doctor meant that you'd have to cut people open, hold their spleens in your hands, regularly examine the results of other people's bowel movements and stay in school for an extra 10 years. Being the lazy bastard I am, this was something that I could not stomach. Of course I ended up staying in the University for nearly a decade anyway, but that's a story for another time. My point, before I got sidetracked, was that I thought being a doctor was cool. Part of the reason for this was that one of the coolest characters on The transformers was Ratchet, the company medic.

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