Toy Review - Studio Series Drift (Helicopter Type)

ドリフト
Series - Studio Series
Sub-line - Age of Extinction
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 7
Released here - August 2019
Approximate Retail Price - $23
Approximate Size - 11cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Helicopter
Main Features/Gimmicks - spinning rotor
Main Colours - black with blue and gold highlights
Main Accessories - 2 swords, 2 missile racks, rotor/shield

Robot mode...
https://i.ibb.co/6YMQRWZ/studioseries-drift01.jpg
The two blades at the back are fake. They're part of the rotor for the helicopter mode but unlike the original AOE Drift Deluxe toy they're not actually a pair of short swords. The large swords can clip onto the outer thighs but they attach very loosely. The rear rotor becomes a shield which... seems impractical (not that shields are impractical, I mean using what is basically an electric fan as a shield doesn't seem very practical). It can clip onto his back which is where I have it in this pic, but if you want to use it as a shield then it can also attach to either forearm.

Comparison with AOE Deluxe Drift (Car Type)
https://i.ibb.co/gVr7gzf/studioseries-drift02.jpg
Why black? I suspect that it's because the car and helicopter modes are black with blue highlights, even though the robot mode is predominantly blue. I guess when it comes to make a toy you can either have him being blue being more colour accurate in robot mode but less so in alt mode(s) or vice versa in the case of this Studio Series toy. Perhaps it's time for DIBDIB (Drift is Blue Drift is Black)! :p The lack of a pouting duck face immediately makes this toy's head look much nicer than the original.

Helicopter mode
https://i.ibb.co/bJXCrQQ/studioseries-drift03.jpg
Reminds me of Airachnid. It's not that visible in this shot, but there's a gap around where the tail boom meets the main fuselage. This is also a rather back-heavy chopper mode.

The revolution begins
https://i.ibb.co/DfsQ475/studioseries-drift04.jpg

Comparison with One Step Changer AOE Helicopter Drift
https://i.ibb.co/vvmD4Bq/studioseries-drift05.jpg

OVERALL:
A nice enough toy. Recommended.

Re: colour

The car - a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse - is actually a very dark blue, not black. On Drift, this is more readily visible in the actual movie, particularly in the Chicago scenes, but there are also videos taken of the car: this video taken of some of the movie's cars on display in 2013, and there is this video of Crosshairs and Drift in Hong Kong. Of the 92 Vitesses made, six were made in this colour scheme.

The blue on the Age of Extinction toys is clearly too light, while the black on this toy is too dark.

At least a lighter blue is still blue (right colour if not wrong shade). But black doesn't seem to make as much sense. How odd.

Was pretty stoked when I saw the first pics of this. Finally a decent looking movieverse Drift fig (not a big fan of the previous 2 car versions).
The engineering/transformation is very similar to Dropkick, but asides from a few leg pieces, its an all new mold. There is a surprising amount of transparent blue plastic used, most of which has been painted black. The whole front portion of the chopper plus the detachable missile/rocket pods are all the semi-clear blue of the cockpit.

In robot mode his proportions are pretty good, though can look a little thin in places. Articulation is decent, but suffers from similar issues as Dropkick - no ankle or wrist joints being the worst. The blue and gold highlights on the black look fantastic, and this is the best Drift headsculpt we've gotten, in my opinion. All the joints on mine are very tight. Despite the similarities, Drift's robot mode works out much better than Dropkick's.

Helicopter mode has a unique, futuristic, stealth look that is not too Earth-based, but clearly not Cybertronian. Very swooshable and I really like the look it. Turns out to be quite bulkier and visibly larger than Dropkick. Rotors spin well (unlike Dropkick). But tail-rotor partsforming! OMG, worst toy ever. Just kidding - I prefer it being removable to use as a forearm shield (thingy) or hidden on his back as opposed to being just kibble hanging off somewhere.

Okay, so I'm a fan. But whats wrong with it?
Just like Drokpick, this figure is small. Real small. Probably too small. The sword stowage in bot mode is crap - fiddly to get the swords on, they fall off too easily, and I dont think it looks good either. Annoyingly, the swords are too tight in the hands and cannot be pushed all the way down. And then there's the previously mentioned articulation limitations.

This is great little toy, especially if you're a fan of the character, helicopters, or sword-wielding bots in general.

I’m going to end up with 4 Drifts.
Got the one with the mini dinobots
Blue one
Black one
Now this darn thing

I sort of hope that Hastak take a stab at a generations airachnid using the heli drift or heli dropkick's engineering.

1. This is one of those rare occasions when I have to say that the alt. mode is better than the robot mode.
2. This copter looks like a craft that wouldn't be out of place in a James Bond flick especially with the tail rotor being a hovercraft propeller (a unique touch).
3. Like that the two small rotors look like sword blades.
4. Don't like that those small rotor blades are not ikazuchi swords (like Generations Drift).