OK so I'm a little confused now. The other day we had Hasbro of Australia saying there was definitely not going to be a Drift figure coming out no way no how. However, yesterday the good folks at IDW totally swore he was coming out. Hasbro of America hasn't really said anything either way. So who do we believe: a) The good folks that basically just distribute under the Hasbro name, and gave people the only opportunity to buy a MP-2 at retail outside of Japan some how? or b) The guys who draw pictures and tell stories about the toys, but don't have much to do in the production or sales of them? I'd personally love for this guy to come out... but maybe in some other color than baby blue..
Hey nutlag! I knew you went somewhere..... Yeah.... I personally think Hasbro AUS is full of shit. They, at the moment, have a worse track record than IDW. With that said, it's still possible that we won't see this guy but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I really like his design.
I think he means he's sick of the AllSpark blue being plastered on all the figures as of late. Personaly, I have no problem with it if the blue isn't spread everywhere, like Movie Incinerator's upper arms. But what I think is going on is that the comic guys are talking about the spotlight for him. A toy would be cool, but with the economy in the hole it's in right now, Hasbro can't afford to make a toy that's only appeared in a comic book aimed at mature readers no less.
As of yesterday at NYCCC they specifically said that the Drift toy would be part of the 25th Anniversary Universe toyline.
OK, now THAT I find unbelievable, since we know Universe is going on hiatus very soon - most likely until late 2010 - and we've still heard no official mention of this toy's existence anywhere even though we HAVE heard about other unseen (non-movie) toys like Animated Arcee and Rodimus Prime. We know from recent Q&As that it takes about a year for a figure to get from concept to stores. If Universe is stopping in April/May, then Hasbro would've had to have been so enamored with the character of Drift as to start working on the toy about ten months ago. Not impossible but kind of unlikely.
Universe exclusives during the Movie line's return to toy aisle dominance wasn't ruled out. Considering how Drift will be aimed at mainly AHM readers and then the fandom itself, I can see that happening. Now, is he Alternator sized or Deluxe sized? If it's the former, then he's a must buy for me. I love Alts, even though I only own two.
I hope Hasbro would make more traditional characters into the Universe/Classics line, like Wheeljack, Blitzwing, Soundwave, etc... Rather than this comic one-hit-wonder dude.
Drift would more likely than not be a new mold, no way Hasbro is going to make a new mold an exclusive.
Mind you those were the LAST Alternators barring SDCC exclusives because no other retailers would take them. There's a reason they're not still on the shelves, they didn't sell. Its not that they made the new mold specifically as an exclusive in mind, they already had the tooling done and the line was canned, so THEN they go to exclusive status so they can at least get SOME return on the new mold they spent cashmonies to produce. A more recent example would be Titanium War Within Grimlock and Prowl, those toys were production ready for months but the line was canceled. TRU and Hasbro eventually worked out a deal and those molds were sold there. The problem with Drift is, so far as we know, no mold has been produced for him in advance. So he won't fall into those other exceptions.
When Hasbro AUS doesn't know something, they generally say "We don't have any information on this at this time." This time, it was a definitive "No", that he would not come out in the 25th anniversary or any other line. And a disclaimer posted on the Ozformers board during the first round of Q&A said that they generally contacted Hasbro US for info on stuff they didn't know. So it seems pretty definitive to me that Drift isn't getting a toy. IDW is just full of bull. They've been building up Drift as their Wolverine so they want to keep hype alive.
