Transformers: Generations Drift

 

I know that I’ve been writing on some older toys recently, but these are mainly focusing on figures that are somehow new to me: either I’ve never experienced the mold before, or it’s a new character to me, or something like that. 

Drift is from 2010 I think, and this is/was the very first figure he ever had. Drift was introduced in the (I think) excellent “All Hail Megatron” miniseries that IDW Comics ran in 2008. He was introduced to much auto-disdain: Drift is a street race car armed with a very samurai sword and shows up to eradicate a swarm of Insecticons that had been running rough shod all over Cybertron, besting the ragtag group of Autobots (actually comprised of some heavyweights. . . ), basically instantly establishing himself as a Marty Stu (right? That’s what you kids are calling a male Mary Sue character these days, right?). 

He was also, via this “All Hail Megatron” inclusion and that series’ inclusion in a G1 comic universe, now a G1 character, in the same way that Sunstorm was retconned into G1 through Dreamwave’s ongoing G1 comic. Whether you acknowledge Drift as a G1-esque character, or not, he was at least given some characterization and dialogue, making Drift a much more successful shoehorned character than recent efforts to do so, such as Alpha Bravo. 

Years ago, when this figure was in stores, I’d passed on it on purpose. I wasn’t a fan of the character that much, although I certainly didn’t dislike him as much as some people did. I’d seen him maybe once, and wasn’t able to pick it up, and then I’d basically noticed that I hadn’t bought one because I couldn’t remember if I’d seen one since that initial sighting. That was, again, in 2010, the beginning of the dark times of Hasbro distribution, where entire sublines would sometimes never show up at retail in my area. I never saw the second (?) wave of the Hunt for the Decepticons series, so Highbrow and Strafe and the Seaspray repaint and Lugnut were never able to be added to my collection through stores. I’ve since added Highbrow, but have never seen the middle two, and have only seen Lugnuts online for very expensive. Many of the Deluxes from the Reveal the Shield line I bought at second run stores, like T.J. Maxx. This poor distribution has continued to the present day.

The alt mode is a sporty car in white and red, and that’s almost there is to honestly say about it. It is a cool looking car, for sure, sporty and sleek, but I don’t know if it is based on a real world car or not. The toy was repainted into Generations Blur about a year later, and the car is better suited to Drift, honestly. It makes a fine Blur, but the car is on the blockier end for a character like Blur, who is generally sleek and real slender. Anyway, it’s a realistic car, which is another strike against it for Blur, but I think helps the idea that Drift is a G1 character, as the realism of the car better fits in with the general scope of the Season 1 Autobot cast who, although often updated and modernized, routinely maintain that realism in alt mode even now as newer models of the characters are made. Most characters post 1986 movie took on a more futuristic look, which didn’t really fit with the late 70’s vehicle designs that the pre-1986 years of toys had. Drift also looks good with post 2010 efforts to take those ’86 characters and remake them into slightly more realistic earth modes, so basically, Drift is able to stand next to almost anyone, be it as a character or aesthetic, or as an actual figure, which is pretty cool. 

Robot wise, Drift is kind of cool while being kind of plain. His arm are very poseable, but the car hood shoulder pads are a bit of an issue. They don’t limit movement, but rather they make some poses look bad because of how the pieces sit on top of the shoulders. Transformed, they stick out behind Drift, parallel to the ground, and the arms hang beneath them. The arms are very poseable, but the shoulder pads move right along with the arms, so depending on how you try to arrange him, those pads may look cool or look all disheveled. Drift is armed with three swords, one very large one that he can hold with both hands, and the arms very clearly are designed to allow him to hold that sword with both hands in front of his body as well as reasonably over this head. The movement of the shoulder pads is necessary, but it may have been nice to be able to peg the pads into the robot body so they don’t move around, and I don’t think that sacrificing the ability to hold the sword above his head would really be a terrible thing. 

The other two weapons are some other kind of sword, shorter, smaller ones more like giant knives that small swords. The hilts of both short swords fold down, and the pieces store inside the car mode doors, which in robot mode, turn into sheathes on the hips of the figure. This is something real great in my opinion, an avenue I wish more toys would explore. Onboard weapon storage is always a plus for me, and some toys have really gotten it right.  The long sword fits into a flat C clip on the back, which is also underneath the car in alt mode. This is something very cool, as it makes all of Drift’s weapons attach to the toy even when not in use. Transformer swords, and most action figure swords in general, are usually pretty solid but will bend like crazy under weight or pressure; for safety concerns, you can’t have a solid, unbending piece of plastic. These onboard storage options help to keep the pieces from bending, and they do look pretty nice as well. The arms have five points of articulation each, shoulder, bicep swivel, double jointed elbow and ball joint wrist, to facilitate the two handed sword holding option. The arms are by far the most developed part of the entire toy. 

This is not entirely unusual, as there are a number of toys and Transformers specifically that are built around a singular element in order to highlight or accentuate that one thing. Sometimes, it’s a well-defined gimmick or accessory. Toys that have electronics often suffer for the inclusion of them, but are largely built around said part. In the Transformers history, things like Headmasters are 100% dependent on some single element in order to function completely. Occasionally, the entire purpose of a figure is to reference a single moment in a narrative, or give attention to some background decoration. Sometimes, it’s the ability to strike a pose that is the heart of a toy design, and you know that the designer meetings where they developed Drift made it very clear that the purpose of this figure was to hold a large sword in front of himself. He succeeds at that.

This is what I was made to do.

Drift is one of those toys that look like a car cracked open and a robot was found inside, but parts of it do this better than others. The legs are pretty bad for this, as they form the back end of the car, and it is clear that they are so wide across the calf because they are just the back parts of the car. They undergo a neat transformation step, but they are just the back end of a car with some robot feet sticking off of them. The hood part forms the shoulders, but again as a result of the shoulder pad arrangement the look is not too bad. The robot torso is actually pretty good, and pretty well disguised. Only the front window of the car ends up on the chest of the figure, and the dark grey of the body is a nice contrast to the white of the car body.  He is a cool looking robot, largely thanks to the aforementioned shoulder pads, but again, most of the attention went to making him able to two hand his sword. There is nothing “wrong” with this figure in either mode, so it’s not like the arms can be blamed for anything. The biggest reason it seems, and always has seemed really, that people don’t like this toy is because they don’t like the character. There are better figures than Drift on pretty much every and any level of measurement, but he is not a bad figure whatsoever.

But, Drift is a complicated figure in the mind of the fandom. The current television show is apparently making Drift a regular character, and Age of Extinction tried to make him a live action movie “character.” He has had a few other toys at this point, and was a regular in the IDW “More Than Meets the Eye” comic up to the point when I stopped following it closely. One of Drift’s issues was his portrayal as the everyweeabo robot. Drift was the honor-bound samurai styled character who was saddled with astroturfed “mysterious past” as a former Decepticon, naturally the baddest assed kind to contrast his newfound peaceful, calm, reflective nature as an Autobot. This backstory is conveniently available when needed,  and just as conveniently ignored when not wanted. I honestly didn’t find Age of Extinction Drift to be a problem, where some people found him to be a racist caricature. I don’t have a problem with comic Drift either, other than the previously stated Marty Stu-ing that happens in “All Hail Megatron,” which I just find lame. I personally like the invention of ‘new’ G1 characters, as G1 is my jam, but I don’t fault people for not liking anyone or anything, provided there is some actual reason. That doesn’t mean a reason I accept or agree with; just an actual reason. Like, “Stupid weeabo robot” doesn’t really work for me, but “I don’t like that they made him weeabo wish fulfillment” does. I don’t like when a character is a “bad ass” because their character traits are “being a bad ass,” but Drift has had some actual efforts made to flesh him out, so I’m good with him.