On our forums, I was just talking about how I’m not really into characters that are “badass for badass’ sake”, but then I turn around and do a Drift review. It would appear that my hypocrisy knows no bounds, but the truth is I haven’t had a chance to read a comic about Drift. I bought him because he looked cool.
I’m not really sure how much of a badass Drift is supposed to be in the comics. I am getting back into IDW’s Transformers with the launch of the new ongoing, but I haven’t had a chance to go back and catch up on what I missed. That pretty much includes Drift in his entirety. Bumblebee mentioned meeting him in the latest issue and I’m not sure what story he’s referencing. I went online to read up on him and the entries at TF Wiki & Teletraan tend to disparage more than celebrate him as they explain his creation and subsequent installment into Generation One history as a Decepticon turned Autobot. He definitely sounds badass for badass’ sake, so why did I buy him? It’s simple really; his toy is awesome.
Even though I’m not sure if I’m going to like Drift the character when I pick up his miniseries this fall, I do enjoy this toy.
His alt mode, which I can’t really identify as a specific car, has plenty of little sculpted details from the front grill to the exhaust, features clear windows (except for the rear window), and a nifty ‘custom’ paint job befitting his name. And he’s sleek too. In his car form, pretty much everything but the front bumper snaps snugly into place – sometimes too snug – and gives him a great overall look. He’s spent almost as much time on my desk as a car as he has as a robot.
I haven’t bought any non-animated deluxes in a few years, so I don’t have a good comparison shot of that class. Seaspray will have to do. They make a strange pair since Drift was designed to fit in to Generation One and Seaspray was updated out of it (but apparently is still the same Seaspray in continuity).
The transformation process is rather straightforward and after getting some painful figures in the last couple years, I really appreciate it. The back of the car flips out ingeniously to make his legs. I can’t really explain the process, but his knees are folded up in his trunk while his feet are the roof the car. It’s magic, I swear.
His arms fold out from under the hood, his doors fold down to provide sheaths, and the windshield moves up to cover his chest. It can be done rather quickly, the only hang-up being that some of the car parts that peg together tend to want to stay together. While that gives his alt mode some good cohesion, I’m a little fearful that I’m going to snap a peg here and there when transforming him.
Another thing I’ve been appreciating about newer transformers is the articulation. While, I love the boxy look of the TFs of my youth, I really appreciate how the modern ones can move. Drift has a ball-jointed head, shoulders, wrists and hips, double hinge elbows, hinge knees, and swivel thighs. In addition to that ‘figure articulation’ he can do a bit more with some extra “transforming” articulation in his shoulders, sword sheaths, and calves. The calve transforming points can somewhat simulate ankle joints, but one of the few ways Drift could be improved was if he had proper articulated feet.Continue to Page 2…
Ugh. I can’t stand Drift. It sucks that he gets an awesome toy while fans don’t have tons of classic characters.
In the upcoming months there are going to be a bunch of classics characters showing up. He gets alot of crap because he’s not one of the classic characters and, to be honest, it gets tiring reading that constantly.
He got a lot of the flak because he had a sotlight issue announced before he had even made his debut, with lots of promotion of how mega badass he was, something that was never proved on the printed page, making him look like an ascended fan character. And while he isn’t quite as bad as the internet would have you believe, he still takes a place in the line up that an old obscure character could have used.
I shan’t hesitate to pick up the mold as Blur thouh. The various shades of blue work beautifully on the car mode.
Thanks for a little more backstory. I can see the argument that he’s taking up a spot since he’s in wave one, but that should lessen over time as we get more G1 folks.
And Blur does look awesome… Vault and I turning into those folks that rebuy molds in new colors. 😀
LOL Sounds like He-Man fans “Marzo is too 200x”. LAME.
I can see that…
As for the figure itself, he is awesome. He’s incredibly fun to play around with. The upcoming Blurr in wave 3 has a new head, with pistols replacing the short swords, and a big sniper rifle replacing the big sword.
I’m excited for Blurr… Starting to wonder which older “classics” I’m missing.
But at the same time, I have Hot Rod and Hot Rod is a far cry from Drift.
NICE! Thanks for the review… now you convinced me to buy one!
Yay! And Sorry! 😀
Wow. That Tranformer looks really… badass! 😉
Yes… evidently my photography didn’t bring him down a notch. 😉
You should pick up All Hail Megatron since it directly effects the events in the current comic. The stuff from before doesn’t really matter anymore though.
Thanks! I feel like I’ve got a lot to catch up on.
Just one more outstanding Transformers deluxe in a year full of outstanding deluxes. I’m happy that he’s more plentiful now, so others can join in the fun.
Noisy, in bot mode, try folding out a window a bit on his scabbards and stowing Drift’s longsword in there for more inordinately bada$$ action. Also, be on the lookout at your TRUs for Breacher, Seaspray’s little scout class homeboy. I picked him up this week.
I’ll try the scabbard trick! Thanks!
And thanks for the heads up on Breacher true. I’ve been wanting to put Beachcomber in there, but WM refuses to cleance his $16 2pk.
I’m not a big Transfan (gee, I seem to say things like that alot, huh?) but reviews like this do make me re-think that stand. Altho I’d probably just always hunt for the best looking Optimus Prime and call it quits there. 🙂
Say, did they light-pipe his eyes there, or is that just some reflection from the photo shoot? Remember when it seemed just about every figure line had at least one chara with light-pipe eyes? I kinda miss that…
That is indeed light-piping – and incredibly well-placed light-piping, may I add. The hole allowing for light to reach the eyes is on the top of his head, rather than on the back of the head, where it can get blocked.
As for the best Optimus to have for casual Transformers fans, may I recommend Masterpiece/Anniversary Prime for the deep-pocketed – and Henkei Optimus for the non-deep-pocketed?
Agreed with Pax on a Masterpiece Prime. He’s magnificent if you got some dough to put forth. I never did get a companion Megs for him though. 🙁
The light-piping is well done; I should’ve mentioned it.
Thanks guys! Yeah, I recall Masterpiece Prime, I was giving him a good, hard look when I saw him pop up on redtag at Walmart a few years back, but he never came down from around $50 IIRC, and that was just too rich for my blood. I be poor. I figured if they marked the stack (yes, stack. Like about 15 of them) to the $35 range I’d pull the trigger but either it never happened or it did and someone scooped them all up.
I seem to recall there was a Revoltech Prime, when that line started. I know it was non-transforming (which I guess makes the name ‘Transformers’ useless to some) but it had a real nice look to it. That’s kinda sorta my benchmark. Looks like the cartoon, dig?
I suspect Classic Optimus Prime will get revisited yet again sometime soon. He’s the RX-78 Gundam of Transformers 🙂