Transformers Studio Series Drift review

Drift initially began as a comic character that later made his debut in the movies. Rather than look like he was inspired by the swift Japanese mecha with the typical pop culture elements people notice, he became a full-on samurai that turns into a European car. Not that I'm complaining since he's one of the coolest AOE-onwards designs of all time! I also dug his character, as despite being pretty loyal to Optimus Prime, he had a bit of hate towards the other Autobots behavior and didn't like how Bumblebee led the team while Optimus was missing. I was also happy that Drift an incarnation in RID15 (also one of the better parts of the show), though his Deadlock incarnation in Cyberverse isn't so prominent. Another thing about Drift that isn't so prominent is his helicopter altmode in AOE. Of course, everybody knows that he turned into a helicopter at least twice in the movie, almost making him take influence from Springer (to the point where he is customized from Thrilling 30 Springer by fans), but the figures based off that mode don't actually match up the design of the chopper. One of them hilariously retools the DOTM Skyhammer mold, which is not a good thing for a character that has his own design (and it also took up a spot for a Western Star Optimus Prime). Anyways, let's see what makes the Studio Series version of the character good, shall we?

Here we have Drift in his vehicle mode. It's a helicopter of seemingly made-up model. The front of it looks pretty good, as it doesn't have some of the typical real-world details that would be present on someone like Blackout or Dropkick. It's got some uncommon details, too, like helicopter blades that have two larger than the other, landing skis, and a tailfin with helicopter blades that look almost like a fan. The cockpit's pretty cool, and almost looks Nightwing esque with the blue going along with the black. The missile pods may look normal, and some could say this looks more like a toy drone, but it's an uncommon design I love for helicopters in Transformers.

The side of the helicopter mode makes the back look a lot smaller than the front, and there are a few gaps due to parts of the figures maintaining the robot mode shoulders, but the rest of the altmode is perfectly fine for the most part.

You can store the missile pods on the sides of the altmode, which look pretty subtle compared to the rest of the altmode. Not a bad thing since they wouldn't make the altmode look too clunky by comparison.

Here we have Drift next to the figure he was molded from, that being Dropkick. Dropkick may have a realistic altmode compared to the toyetic look of Drift, but I feel Drift has more bang for your buck than Dropkick does, what with the size and cooler altmode.

This makes me think of the Nordic Gamer meme, where Dropkick would say "you think you're a better character than me?" while Drift would say "yes". Also like the Virgin Dropkick vs the Chad Drift if the virgin faced the chad.

Here we have the sky vehicle meet the land vehicle; it's Car Drift vs Bugatti Drift! While Drift's better known as a car in Age of Extinction, there's something unique about him being a helicopter, even if it's briefly seen. You can also tell how the size of this altmode doesn't actually look too odd next to the car, as I feel a human could better fit in that than they would with Dropkick's altmode.

Yeah, there's no real way to make the triple changing nature of Drift work, but it's slightly more believable than it is with ShatKick, both of which make the G1 Triple Changers look believable.

Transforming Drift is pretty similar to the ChopDrop, but while that version doesn't feel too smooth of a job, this figure's plastic does make the conversion feel a bit less frail in comparison. Whether it's due to the aforementioned plastic being better or the new parts being a lot more tolerable than with Dropkick, it makes the figure go from feeling like an afterthought of a Transformer to one that doesn't feel like shit.

The robot mode is so good, and it's possibly the best version of AOE Drift you'll get at a Deluxe price in terms of the accuracy. While there are a few helicopter pieces that the actual robot mode wouldn't have in the movie, at least they don't look 100% out of place with the design compared to, say, the Skyhammer version of AOE Drift. Aside from parts of the arms and the landing gear on the legs, at least this figure doesn't look too clumsy compared to the Dropkick figure. The cockpit doesn't even look awful, though it does make me think of Transformers Prime Soundwave with a face that all the Deviantart fans would make. So while there are pieces of kibble that the actual design wouldn't have, at least the rest of the helicopter parts flow well. I also love the coloring of the toy, as it's black with the nice metallic blue highlights with bits of gold here and there. Also love how the daggers are intact despite not being removable.

The headsculpt is fantastic, with a stoic but wise look to this character's face. No weird eyes or smile like on the other AOE figures, as this guy has nice blue eyes, better sculpting, and no oddities.

Articulation is the same as with Dropkick, but it does feel easier to handle than before. Ball joints at the neck, ball joints at the shoulders for moving front and back, hinges in and out, a swivel at the elbow and a bend too. Hips are on ball joints, they swivel above the knee, and the knees bend. Now I should mention the tail rotors, which can be displayed as a shield if you want, though it's not really effective; onto the back it goes!

You can store the swords on his hips when they're not in use, and they actually look decent while also not being a pain to tab in. But why would you leave them sheathed on his hips???

The swords being a solid color does suck, but at least they do match up with the daggers. If you want, you can add some sort of silver paint to make them stand out.

The missile pods can be stored on his legs, and they don't get too much in the way of the look. I should also mention that the legs are the only things that remain from the Dropkick tooling, as those look like the shins that Dropkick originally came with. At least the coloring is the same as is the rest of Drift, but it is odd.

Here he is next to his mold mate, Dropkick. It's night and day when it comes to just how each figure is executed. Dropkick looks like a beginner's first made-from-scratch figure while Drift looks more official in comparison. While it may seem a bit harsh to criticize Dropkick, you have to admit he should be chained and broken apart by Drift.

No doubt this version of the mold is better. And no, this won't be the last time we see helicopter Dropkick.

Here he is with the old AOE figure. The AOE figure does have a nice, nostalgic look to the character, but I have to admit that it's almost like a 2007 Movie version of the Cybertron Crosswire figure when it comes to how toyetic it looks, while the Studio Series looks more screen accurate overall. I also like the height of the new figure; while it may seem weird to say such a comment, Drift was a shorter character than the likes of Bumblebee and Crosshairs, so I'm fine with him looking shorter than he is.

Posing them is certainly a different story. My AOE Drift has tight knees, and I also don't like how the arms don't look right with the shoulders when posing them. At least Driftkick doesn't look too bad overall, lacking the odd clunkiness of the old Deluxe. Also, his swords, despite being solid charcoal black gray, look better with the length they got.

Overall, this figure is the best version of Movie Drift in the market. Despite it not being a car, the robot mode looks a lot better than previous attempts, the weapons look good, the transformation's pretty neat, and being a retool not only takes what was a shitty figure into a better engineered one but said retooling is almost as effective as turning Springer into Sandstorm in the Thrilling 30 line. If you see this figure, certainly pick him up!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐