Transformers Review –Drift (Generations Deluxe)

Intro:

2010 was a very exciting year for Transformers collectors all over the world. It seems like there are several new lines emerging, and from all the preview photos that we’ve seen on the web, they look very promising. The new lines include the Power Core Combiner, Generations (which will include figures from the War on Cybertron video games) and Hunt for the Decepticons. The latter looks to be mostly redeco-ed versions of ROTF action figures. Today I will review one of the firsts Wave 1 releases from the Generations series – Drift.

Honest to God, I’ve never heard of the character before, and I have no idea from which comic series it originated from either. The box however provided the best idea of how the character is like. It seems like Drift was once a Decepticon and was a fearsome warrior, who was also a master swordsman. Eventually something happened to him that would change him forever – he would eventually switched allegiance to the Autobots and swore to destroy every single Decepticons he could fine, all across the universe.

Interesting bio if you would ask me.

Drift, would mark for the first that I ever bought an unknown character (well, at least as far as I could remember). Why? Based on the photo shots that I’ve seen on the net, he looks absolutely awesome, and his car mode kinda reminds of Energon Wheeljack and I could even catch glimpses & hints of the original G1 Wheeljack and even Tigatron on it. If there was ever love at first site, this was it. I was hooked based on photo alone.

So, was the purchase really worth it, or were the photos nothing more than a really good deception? Well, read on…

Alternate mode:

            Drift comes packed in his alternate, which as far as I’m concerned looked a very convincing sports car. The long sword can be inserted onto the slots available underneath the car. The car is predominantly white and red, and it offers nothing much than just roll on its all fours. There is also a Chinese word on the both side of the doors. My Mandarin ain’t that good, but based on what I do know, the word is pronounced as “chou”, which loosely means “companion”. I don’t know what’s the significant of that word with the Chinese character, but my hunch is, (please correct me if I’m wrong or tell me if I’m right) he switched sides because on one particular missions, he saw Megatron (or some other Decepticon leaders) murdered the only friend he ever had, so from that day onward, he swore to destroy every single Decepticon in the name of his dead friend. Close? You tell me…

            In Japanese, I think the word is supposed to mean "Samurai"?
            Hmm...
            So anyways, I think the car looks like your standard sports car, with good detailing and would provide Drift with a very good disguise here on Earth.

Robot Mode:

            I think Drift really shines in his robot mode. I mean, based on his articulations alone, I’m actually surprised that he’s not a Voyager-class. Heck, I think most Voyagers can even come close to what he can do. His articulations are amazing at best. He’s got very good balance that he could even perform kicks, points his sword at your face, and much more!!! I really mean it when I say this – I’m absolutely impressed with this figure. I mean, Hasbro really showed a lot of improvement on this figure, and kudos to them. The car doors, which act as sheath for both of his short swords or buster swords, may hinder a little bit of movement, but it’s only minimal. The head, I don’t know whether it’s intentional or not, but it really reminds me of Tigatron. 

            The long sword is definitely worth a mentioned. It’s not as good-looking as Vector Prime’s sword, which I think is one of the best-looking swords ever made for a Transformer, but it really comes close. The only problem I have with it is that it’s made from soft rubbers, which will results in the sword being bent by gravity if it’s held in one position for too long, apart from that, no complaints. The hilt is long enough for it to be held with both hands. 

            There are also 4 more Chinese wordings on both sides of the blades, read as “tian xia wu shuang”, which would loosely means – peerless. Somebody who knows something please confirm this for me.

Overall:

            I really think that this new series really holds a lot of promise. Based on what I have seen so far, this line is going to be fantastic. For a Deluxe figure, I am actually surprised that they have ranked the difficultness as 4 out of 5, which I think is valid, since Drift is no easy customer – another plus point for me. The articulations are absolutely amazing, and I can’t say that enough. The designs are very detailed with very few complaints. I am really looking forward to many more good things to come out of this new series, and I hope that Hasbro could really maintain this standard, or even improve on the subsequent waves.

            Final verdict, I give Drift 10/ 10. I really, really, really love this figure.