I got Drag Strip from Hong Kong last week, he arrived in the post at the same time as the Amazon.co.jp exclusive leader Optimus Prime, so if I seem downbeat about this figure it's because he's been outshone somewhat by the black leader Prime.

Drag Strip is quite frankly a mediocre figure, he doesn't have a joint that isn't used for transformation which limits his poses. His arms are the most limited, due to the lack of an elbow swivel, but the legs have 4-way articulation at the hips, have thigh swivels, and bend at the knee. Drag Strip's head articulation is limited by the car kibble on the back of his head.

His "blades" attach to the back of the arms with c-clips.

Master Disaster is semi-transparent hinting that he may be a hologram.

The transformation is pretty simple, the only thing you've got to watch for is the steering wheel falling off and disappearing.







The car mode is also a mixed bag. Master Disaster doesn't go into his seat easily, he ends up pushing the purple shield down with his legs as you fight to wedge him into the car, and he appears over-sized in relation to the car.

The tyres have "XS PAOLINOS" on them, whatever that means.



The yellow paint apps do not really go with the orange plastic in my opinion. The purple is metallic which is quite nice.

The "weapon mode" is a complete joke, I can't imagine anybody buying this for the weapon mode unlike most of the other HA basics.



It's just the car mode with the rear fin folded a bit, the purple shield pieces folded out, and a 5mm post folded out from one of Drag Strip's upper arms. Is it a gun? If it is, it would look like a robot holding a car not a gun. Is it a shield? A not very good shield, since there's a hole right in the middle of it.

So in summary, meh.

 

I agree 100%. This had got to be the weakest of the HABs so far.

Its just......not thought out well. That when that happens to transformers...its not pretty.

Wonder what the repaint will look like...

 

this... is kinda crappy. i was a bit excited about having a drag strip, but looking at this, i'm gonna save my money. could have been so much better if he was just a regular deluxe

 

i saw someones video review on this and its a shame that this paired with icepick, they are the weakest.

and out of a sea of autobots we still now only have 2 cons. and they both are bad. terrible and half assed third weapon modes as well as bot modes.

sucks.

 

double post.

 

Can we get a pic of him with RotF Dead End, both Scout and Deluxe versions?

 

I don't have scout Dead End, but I do have the deluxe...

 

Thanks!
Looks like he'd go better with the Deluxe.

 

I will still be getting him, shortcomings and all.

 

Got him yesterday, quite happy with him. He apparently has a bicep swivel aqnd his race car hood arms actually blocked its movement and posing possibilities. But the leg posability is excellent all round. Like I said, shortcomings and all, but nice.





Alt mode looks absolutely brutal.


And again to voice my grief and also his...

 

It doesn't look all that bad.

 

I got HA Drag Strip from HTS.com yesterday, and it's better than I thought it would be. You basically need to forget the instructions with this one to make it better.

Master Disaster is a nice figure on his own, he's all translucent smoke-colored plastic so he's supposed to be a hologram, or a ghost or something. Still, he looks great with the light behind him.

I decided that Drag Strip needed a gun, so I went with Breacher's little dual cannon. It clips on either arm nicely, and in indy racer mode, you can place the gun right on the part directly behind the driver's seat - the barrels hold it in place nicely, and the c-clip rests on the narrow edge of that part of the car like it was made to go there.

I like the indy car mode quite a bit - if each HA Basic has one really good mode, this is the one here. It's sleek, compact, surprisingly long but narrow, probably narrower than a real indy racer. I like how the legs form the car sides, they peg in solidly and help keep the car together. The arms forming the front are a bit less solid in car mode, and like to come apart a bit, but fiddling with the shoulder joints and putting a bit of clear nail polish on the pegs that hold the front ends together helps.

The driver can be a bit tricky to place just right in car mode - I like to keep the purple bottom panels apart, place the driver's back into the peg, position the arms just inside the cockpit so that the hands rest on the odd extended steering wheel, and then put the legs into position. Once the legs are wedged firmly in place (they just fit) you close the purple panels and the indy car rolls along nicely.

I find that the blades can fit on the front folded back in a sort of extra fender at the front, or extended out in a sort of front bladed mustache arrangement. Looks decent in both modes, the blades are on ball joints so they position lots of different ways.

Racer Mode
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27483297@N02/6062669597/in/photostream

Racer Mode w/mustache
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27483297@N02/6062669599/in/photostream

I was pleasantly surprised by the robot mode - earlier photos made it look pretty gimpy, but he's not bad at all. I like to rotate the purple back panels around so that the 'handles' are on the bottom. The spoiler piece can then be folded around the little narrow bits to hold the back in place. The arms aren't optimal, but they have decent jointing at the shoulder so you can get some good poses out of them. The legs and feet are good, and the head, while it's a little blocked by the car part on its back, can still look around well enough.

I find that you can peg the blades at the front of the forearms to make an approximation of Optimus's arm swords - the ball joints really help here.

Robot Mode:
Robot Mode | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

There is, naturally, a decent enough mech mode too. Simply fold down the robot head assembly, and use the folded-up spoiler on the back as a saddle for Master Disaster. You can position him manning the robot mode easily enough, and that Breacher cannon even fits on the folded-up head part pretty well.

Mech Mode | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lastly, the weapon mode. I'm not sure what they were going for in the instructions, maybe a bladed shield or ad-hoc battle axe. You can put the blades on the back panels, fold the panels out and get a number of different axe or pickaxe modes easily enough though, the back panels can move under the back tires. I kind of like folding down the rear spoiler, folding out the panel-and-blade bits, and utilizing a peg hole where the spoiler goes so that it forms a crossbow.

Crossbow Mode | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The head assembly can fold into the empty space in the center of weapon mode so that it doesn't look so obvious. Here's Shockwave using the Drag Strip crossbow mode:

Drag Strip Crossbow w/Shockwave | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It's a lot better than I thought it would be - it needs a bit of improvement, and you need to go beyond the instructions, but he's a pretty neat little guy, easily one of the better HA Basics.

Tim
"toy geek"

 

Bah...

I knew what I was getting into with this one. I dont care who they call him..he is "the Stig" to me, and the driver was a selling point for me.

Weapon mode...there is nothing worth commenting about. Unless you like to comment on a jar of elephant urine..

Bot mode..Not bad..def not great. Not alot of character. Its just...there.

Car mode. SOAB...I dunno man....I CANNOT get the driver to sit in, hold the sterring wheel, without one of two things happening. The bottom popping out stopping it from rolling, or the two black shoulder/dash parts splitting from the pressure of feet being in there..

Without a driver..yea..pull the blades off, and the car is decent. But this just should NOT be that hard to get the driver to incorporate with the car, with something that sells itself as "something that works with the driver figure"

OK..so just before I hit "post reply" I started screwin with it more to see if its just me, but NOPE, mine will NOT allow the driver to correctly sit in it, and have everthing tabbed tight. the ONLY way is to rotate the lower shins 90 deg so his feet face towards the pavement...only then can I close everything up and have it roll, with the driver in correct position.

 

The arm/chest parts don't stay connected to the body well in robot mode. Gave the swords to dotm dlx optimus

 

At first I liked him. Then a review popped up. Then I didn't like him. Now he has grown on me and I plan on getting him. Isn't that strange? Plus,I'm a sucker for TF's with melee weapons  

 

I should have listened to you guys. This toy is horrible. The worst part is that the driver doesn't actually fit in the cockpit. Thankfully I got it with a coupon so it only cost me $5.

 

He does fit in perfectly. There's a compartment designed to accomodate his feet so he doesn't push on the shield part.

 

not for me man. And I know your pretty slick with figuring things out, but the "compartment", on mine at least, is not tall enough to accomodate the length of the foot. It will pop apart the black sides, or stop it from rolling.

the ONLY way, I can get the driver to sit in it, and have it roll, is if I turn his lower legs backwards so the toes point down, actually clearing the "compartment" and then close the purple parts.

I wouldent min d seeing a pic of how you do it. Ive messed with this SO much, I just find it impossible to sit the driver, toes up, and have the purple parts clear for it to roll.

 

Having just picked up the figure myself, I'm pretty sure that's how you're supposed to do it. Disaster sits awkwardly in there any other way, but fits perfectly once you flip the feet upside down.

Anyway, it's a decent figure for the $5 I paid for it. It's my first HA figure, so I'm probably most intrigued by Disaster -- I find it pretty amazing that such a small figure is still superior to most offerings in other action figure lines in any scale. Drag Strip himself is okay, but not great. I knew that going in, though! I mainly wanted him to stand alongside his fellow Stunticons, and he works just fine for that.  

 

Looks badass in both modes, but kinda flawed. C+.