Cliffbee.com Drift Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Drift
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



CAR MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 14.5cm Width: 6.5cm

   A white sports car with red stripes on his hood and doors, Drift has red kanji (Japanese writing) on his doors that translates to Samurai. His front & side windows are transparent blue while the rear window is painted a metallic blue that matches fairly well. His headlights are the same blue as his windows while his tyres are dark grey, his hubcaps silver and his taillights red. There's a couple of patches on his roof painted white, and while it's visible, it doesn't stand out like some of the yellows we've seen. Overall it's a good colour scheme, although I would have like an Autobot symbol.

   Drift has elements of both Nissan & Mitsubishi sports cars - appropriate that a character named after a phenomenon (drifting) that originated with Japanese sports car drivers has an alt mode such as this. He's not 100% realistic, to avoid copyright, but he looks realistic enough & looks good. There's a massive spoiler on the back, reminiscent of drifters (or "rice rockets", similar looking cars, built for show rather than performance). The only real blemish here is two gaps on his hoof for transformation joints.

   There's little play value here - his tyres roll and that's about it. The front wheels attach to the forearms, which can unclip slightly, so he doesn't roll very well. There's a long sword (a katana, actually) stowed underneath, so he has almost no ground clearance, but Drift manages to not scrape the sword on the tabletop.

   A good car mode despite minimal play value - Drift looks realistic enough to work in this mode. His styling is very Japanese thanks to the kanji on his doors while the massive spoiler sells this mode. The gaps on his hood are my only real complaint about an otherwise solid vehicle mode.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Unclip and set aside the katana underneath. Split the centre of the hood and fold the centre panels over the fenders, revealing his head. Unclip the doors, split the rear and flip up to form his boots. Pivot the feet into place, stand him up. Rotate the front fenders down as shoulderpads, pull out the forearms. Lift out the handles on the inside of his doors, fold away the side windows, and swing the doors back as an armour skirt. Pivot the roof up and clip into place as his chest, place the katana in either or both hands.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 14.5cm Width: 9cm

   A white robot with dark grey thighs, upper arms, hands and feet, Drift has a silver face with transparent blue eyes and a weak lightpipe. His wrists and patches on his shins are painted red, along with Autobot logos on either shoulder. The windshield on his chest is transparent blue, backed by dark grey. Drift is essentially a G1 character (despite being a new character) and the layout here is very G1, with the roof/windshield as his chest, the rear tyres on the outsides of his chunky boots and the front wheels on the outsides of his forearms. The doors as an armour skirt is a newer style, mind you. It's a good colour scheme which is kept simple and well laid out.

   The sports car doesn't dominate here - there's no massive spoiler, so the design alludes to the Japanese heritage of his name in other ways, such as sword hilts on the top of his armour skirt. There is enough of the car here for a G1 feel; elements like the chunky boots featuring wheels, fenders as shoulderpads and windshield on his chest help with the G1 look. The armour skirt works well visually while having enough movement to stay out the way of his poseability. Drift has a rather decorative head with long antennae, prominent cheeks and a prominent chin; this gives him a fairly comic-esque face, which fits into the origins of the character.

   Drift has a total of three weapons - the main katana and the two silver machetes stowed inside either side of his armour skirt. All three are composed of soft plastic, making stowing them fairly easy. The katana can clip into his back for storage. You can even use the folded up side windows to hold this weapon within his armour skirt (hanging out the back). Thanks to Ty Henderson for his information on Drift's weapons.

   Drift has good poseability, allowing him to use his weapons well. His head turns while the waist is fixed. His shoulders are hinged under the shoulderpads which are themselves on ball joints. His elbows are hinged with rotators while his wrists also rotate. The hips are ball jointed while his knees are hinged with rotators in his thighs. His feet are static, but with big enough footprints that he can strike a lot of poses without worrying much about overbalancing. The end result is one of the few Transformers who can hold a sword using both hands - and Drift can do it without looking awkward or bending the sword (which is composed of soft plastic).

   A great robot mode with a nice layout, an attractive head, very good poseability and a G1 feel, thanks to the placement of car parts and comic stylings. There are no gimmicks here, just a very well put together robot mode and great weaponry.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of, although Generations Blurr shares the mould (with some retooling).

OVERALL

   While his über-prominent character in the comics has annoyed some in the fandom, Drift represents a new G1 character, which is something notable. The actual toy is good, with a realistic alt mode, a strong theme and a name that fits, and a good weapon which augments his strong poseability. While the character might be controversial, he's one of the better Generations toys, and is one I'd recommend to those who appreciate this sort of toy - 9/10

"Transformers" and other indica trademarks of Hasbro and/or Takara.