In a Botcon interview, the designers just didn't have the tooling budget, and given the choice, decided to re-use one of their favorite non-show movie molds with new parts to fill the role.

 

That's weird. You would think they'd be willing to sacrifice a non-movie character (since there are a few) in order to produce a better Drift, even if he's a retool of somebody else.

 

Well, given the timing and the lineup, the only non movie bots would be the three non show dinobots, and im sure they wouldn't sacrifice those...

Jya na!

 

There's also Hot Shot, who is a redeco of Crosshairs, and I don't think anybody really desired a redeco of Crosshairs. And why that particular toy anyway? IMO, the Voyager slot could have gone to a different character (Voyager version of Prime?) and we could have gotten a different Drift in the deluxe lineup instead of Hot Shot, but oh well.

 

man if only they had made a voyager version of prime! oh wait they did.

 

I nice Voyager of him in the form he was in for practically the entire film would have been nice.

 

So is the Voyager version going to be a triple changer?
Helicopter and Bugatti?

 

But redecos have zero tooling cost and that's the issue. Just like a new Voyager version of Prime would have the same budget problem as a new Helicopter Drift.

Really the only figure they could've sacrificed was Dinobots Slog and that was a no go from the start, they wanted to do all the Dinobots in one style which is why we're getting a Slog.

Remember, the toy line doesn't have one big budget that they meet, each price point and each wave have their own budgets and there just wasn't any room in the movie voyager waves for an entirely new mold. Retool yes, but nothing all new. So instead of not doing anything, they took one of their favorite toys and retooled it to give a Helicopter Drift period. Was it the best choice? Who knows.

 

They even could've repainted Voyager Springer blue instead of Skyhammer. I don't know which I would prefer, honestly, since I'm passing on the Skyhammer Drift, the deluxe is enough for me.

 

Yes looked nothing like a Cybertronian helicopter.

 

No it's just the DOTM voyager Skyhammer painted blue with Drifts head.

 

Yeah I thought Foc vortex too, or that other recent deluxe helicopter that shall remain nameless.

 

This right here? This is hilarious!

 

I hated Hasbro retooling a helicopter into a Drift toy. A helicopter doesn't suit Drift. He is a Japanese race car. And I hate Bay for going along with the helicopter idea by having him turn into one in AoE

 

Honestly, the Tomahawk mold probably would have fit in better with the rest of the toys size-wise, anyways. I'm not complaining about the decision, as I think it's neat, but I'm still wondering why the heck they decided to make him a helicopter. I mean, with a name like Drift, a car mode is implied- or a hot air balloon mode  

 

It's probably the swords. A robot with a bunch of swords strapped to his back almost always is assumed to turn into a helicopter.

 

We can blame Springer for this.

DAMN YOU, SPRINGER!  

 

I think it was the other way around. The movie established him as a copter before it did the car.

 

I won't lie, and i'm sure it's been said before. But I'd totally be down for a redecoed Springer as Drift.