We elected to give him the ability to do damage to himself for 2 core reasons. The first being a nod to the “lore” aspect of the character. The second being the potential of expanded future design space. Characters starting with damage on them open up many Battle card interactions.
Yes, Fangry may have the Autobot Tag, but is still a Decepticon and Drift’s Ability will grant him Stealth against him. This is in line with the WotC ruling of inclusivity of Faction;having “Stealth against Decepticons” might as well read “Stealth against Decepticons+”. If there were ever a situation in the future where a dual-faction Decepticon-Mercenary was available to your opponent, Drift would have Stealth from that character, as well.
Perceptor may have the Autobot Tag but is still a Decepticon because of the
Grax head. Thus, Drift’s Ability will grant him Stealth in this scenario.
Yes, you only need to do the damage if you choose to use the ability.
Yes.
Yes.
Post WotC: Alpha Trion Protocols
If my opponent has a tapped character with Brave and I flip Drift to bot mode and do 2 to him, can I attack one of my opponent’s untapped characters and ignore the Brave guy?
[Source: Alpha Trion Protocols Wave 2 FAQ] 
No, since the target with Brave is still a legal target for Drift to attack, even after the ability (you are not forced to attack an untapped character after all), the Brave forces you to attack that character as long as it is among the possible characters available to select in combat. Since Drift’s bot mode ability essentially adds your opponent’s untapped Decepticons to the normal list of characters available for him to attack, the Brave would still apply.
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