Dragstrip might not be one of those significant characters in G1 apart from him being a Stunticon, he's a unique member of said team, he's been reused from Mirage a few times, had a female counterpart in Animated, and was Thew's first-ever Transformer back in the G1 days. That being said, when we got a Combiner Wars version of him announced, I knew I had to buy him because he actually looked really cool and was going to help usher in a new way of making Combiners great for the Generations line (even if, in retrospect, it was all about repaints). So let's take a look at what this version of the F1 Formula Decepticon has to offer!
Here is Dragstrip in his vehicle mode, a very nice altmode to go with considering how most of the Combiner Wars offerings in the first wave were just jets in the Deluxe Class lineup. The figure looks very good to the model of the vehicle mode and has some paint apps that help make the figure feel more complete overall. The maroon goes well with the mustard yellow a lot better than expected, and the black used in the cockpit and tires as well as the silver for the spokes and wheels are nicely added. The Decepticon insignia is a nice touch, too. The proportions of the vehicle mode are also nice, though the spoiler might look a little weird to some and the seat is too small.
It's a generally cool vehicle mode, and it's able to roll okay on some surfaces. I should mention that the wheels are the same as the ones later used for Power of the Primes Jazz. It's just a nice and sleek vehicle all around.
The accessories can plug onto the top of the vehicle and the back where the bottom usually houses the hand/foot in the limb modes...it'd look pretty stupid on the shoulders.
For comparison with an Autobot F1 Formula race car, here is Siege Mirage! These two make for different contrasts between one another in terms of proportions and the like, especially with the way the spoilers are handled and the way the fronts of both vehicles are. I also appreciate how unique they are from one another even if one is longer and the other is clunky.
Transformation is pretty neat and is almost a reverse from Mirage, with the extending legs, swiveling waist, the arms moving up, the hands revealing, and the front is the back. While the resulting robot mode is sort of a reverse Mirage, it's still fitting for a new take on the Stunticon himself and looks very good. Sure, his arms look like sleeves, and the back sticks out more than it should, it at least allows him to feel a little more refined than most CW limbs. And hey' the joint fits the shiny chest look in a way!
Head sculpt is very good in terms of detailing, and I like how his visor has that bleeding look to it that helps him stand out from the typical Stunticon blockheads. The baby blue weirdly looks nice, too. Articulation is par for the course and the head, shoulders, and hips are on ball joints, the biceps and thighs are on swivels, and both the elbows and knees bend on hinges. You could technically give his feet frontal movement.
As far as his accessories are concerned, he has a dagger that I tried to remove the sharpie of because it looked horrible so it's not quite painted properly, and he also has the well-known aspect of all Combiner Wars limbs: guns that turn into hands or feet. He wields them alright despite his left hand feeling a little loose.
Let's go over the reuses: This is the Takara Unite Warriors version of the character (now named Dragstripe), giving him a more cartoon-accurate deco to the point where his shoulders attempt to mimic the middle set of tires. Yeah, I'm not that big of a fan of this version, but he does come with more G1 accurate versions of the Stunticons (or Stuntrons in this case).
This is the G2 repaint of Dragstrip, which gives him a sweet black and blue deco that changes the way the toy feels, with the G1 version having a crazy look to the character compared to this guy looking a lot slicker and maybe not as neon. The blade would look cool if it was translucent, though. He comes with a set of equally accurate depictions of the G2 Stunticons.
Now for the non-Dragstrip versions of the mold, this is Mirage! This guy has a new head and is basically the reverse of what Dragstrip had in the Universe line; whereas we had a Classics Mirage mold that was repainted into Dragstrip, we now have a Dragstrip mold that was reused for Mirage! The car mode looks accurate, and the robot mode isn't too dissimilar to what Mirage would normally have, though I wish he had a gun instead of a blade. If you can customize him, he can have his back become the chest with some finagling.
And this is the Takara Unite Warriors version, making Mirage (or Ligier) much closer to the G1 version of the character with a deeper blue and brighter whites. He's included with the rest of the Autobots in this set to make Optimus Maximus, with this combination suggesting that he forms the left leg to homage Energon Prime's Super Mode.
For a comparison with Mirage, you can tell just how different both as they achieve unique robot modes out of the same vehicle shape. Sure, their transformations are different from their "source materials" but you can't fault them for what they're achieving overall! So in a time where the gestalts are now going higher in value thanks to these being the most common versions made officially by Hasbro, I do recommend getting Dragstrip, especially if you want one of the nicer Combiner Wars Deluxes that feels well-made and could fit the bill as a mostly standalone toy.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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