Hi there, my faithful readers from all over the world! A very warm welcome once again to uber blogger and friendly guy, Adam aka WSX! This time, I thought that I should blog about a really "obscure"-- by that I mean this Transformer has a slight infamy of being "the black sheep" of the venerable series of Transforming robots far back we=hen he first debuted on the pages/ creative mind of his creator: IDW's Guido Guidi & Shane McCarthy! Although his development has been two years in the making, when the Drifts character was introduced, many of the fans were skeptical and the response was rather tepid. The preliminary design pictures, however, told a whole different story. A new hero was born!
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UNPOPULAR CHARACTER?!
This character was initially (and still is to some quarters of the fandom) ,considered a non-official member of the Autobot/ Transformers original mythology. I cant fault those hard-core fans as they have their own take and belief system on what constitutes as being a "true" or core character. As for me, I have been somewhat neutral to this incarnation as this character is starting to gain some smidgen of respect and likability, as the folks at IDW publishing have rather impressively cobbled together Dirt's "background" and story amongst the plethora of back-stories of some of the most beloved Transformers characters. Yes, although the secret's out that his creators set out to portray him as a former mercenary and cold-blooded killer of all things Autobot; the formula of repentant Decepticon's have not really been explored as deeply as that of Drift's, if memory severs me right! LOL! I think as an independent character, he totally rocks, and personality wise, some of the detractors can band him and pigeonhole Drift as being a Samurai/ warrior wannabe. Well, it's their loss, IMHO, and a definite gain to his new-found legion of fans, your's truly included!
"Drift (ドリフト Dorifuto) was not always an Autobot. In fact, he slaughtered quite a few when he was known as the DecepticonDeadlock. But Deadlock's eyes were opened to what the Transformers' war had become when he stumbled across a lost faction of neutral Transformers long since forgotten. He discarded his ruthless ways, abandoned his guns for swords, and changed his name and appearance. When Drift returned to the Transformer war to make right what he put wrong, he was a bot of few words and disciplined action.
These days, Drift is a member of a ragtag team of rebels under the command of Kup, working alongside many members of the disbanded Wreckers. Because of his brutal past, Drift isn't well-liked or trusted by a few of the Autobots. The rest don't seem to care, or are genuinely impressed by his incredible skills, so long as they're used against the other side!"
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DRIFT IS GIVEN DUE RESPECT!
Initially given the fan-made and third-party maker response, Drift finally "made-it" and earned a relatively faithful representation and transitioned from page into the form of an all-action, poseable plastic toy of himself. I had gotten wind that a "simultaneous" USA and ASIA release for the latest wave of Transformers toys, specifically the "Hunt for the Decepticons" or Transformers Mover 2 Ver. 2.0; plus the G1 redux or Generation's line were hitting the shelves of the toys'r'us retail outlets in Malaysia, there was no stopping me from getting the two characters I wanted badly, with the other most wanted being Generations Decepticon seeker, Thrust. Stalking the store worker was not an option, as I I had to do was ask the store Manager to pull out those deluxe toys from their freshly shipped boxes. I can attest that personally, there is nothing like being the very first people/ person to be in line for a newly launched and sought after merchandise. Pulled by the local mall after work and waited patiently for the tags to be stickered on. Was tempted to pick myself TWO Drift toys, but alas, I stuck to my original plan and saved myself some Ringgit while I was at it.
His toy details are as below:-
Toy Line:- Generations
- Autobot Drift (Deluxe, 2010)-
- * Released 22 June 2010
- Accessories: Two "dual swords", one large sword
- Drift transforms into a genericised Nissan Silvia S15.[1] In vehicle mode, Drift's two shorter "dual swords" store inside his doors (which double as his hip sheaths during robot mode), while the larger sword stores in a set of grooves on the underside of his vehicle (also used in robot mode). Behind his windshield kibble is his pre-Earth chest design, in a nod to the form Drift had been seen in almost exclusively at the time of the toy's unveiling. Due to his ball jointed wrists, Drift is one of the few Transformers figures that can hold a sword with a two-handed grip.
- While Drift's Earth mode designs showed him sporting the katakana ドリフト ("drift") on his car doors, the toy instead sports the kanji 侍 ("samurai"). The large sword sports the kanji 天下無双 (tenka musō, "peerless under heaven", or just "peerless" if you're not feeling idiomatic.)
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- IDW Publishing initially claimed that Drift had been solicited by Hasbro to receive a toy in the Universe line. This may have been premature, as it was followed several months later with a denial, albeit from Hasbro's Australian offices.[2] This was rebutted by IDW editor Chris Ryall at New York Comic-Con 2009, denied again in the March 2009 Hasbro Q&A for Seibertron.com[3], and finally acknowledged by Hasbro at BotCon 2009, when early design sketches were unveiled for Drift's toy. The toy itself was first shown at Toy Fair 2010.
- Drift's mold will be retooled into Generations Blurr
^Text taken and credited to tfwiki.net
AWESOME INCARNATION!
The designers really made Drift's robot mode feel pretty sturdy when in one's hand. Transformation is pretty straight-forward, and there are a dozen steps in all. It takes about 5-10 minutes to transform him from his drift-racing car mode. Looking every inch like the Bushido warrior ready to charge into battle, he is strong and fearless. The randomness in the emergence of this out of mythology character was rather a fortuitous event, not least because it took only two short years for Hasbro's approval to be made into an awesome and kickass toy. Just painted the sword hilt with Gold Gundam markers, as well as some of Drift's detailing on his face and legs to make the Robot mode stand out and have some slight personality. there are some minor gripes in that the hip=kibble can be a hindrance to the poseability factor, but to me, it's not really a big issue. All in all, this is just a fun toy to play with, and as a" stand-alone" robot, he is a great addition to any Transfans' collection! Buy it now! A+
Drift is Copyright 2010 - IDW Publishing, Hasbro & Takara
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