The Energon Pub

After a various number of hints and even Hasbro not refuting the rumours that they planned to make a Toy of Shane McCarthy's "Drift" Character from his Comic book series "All Hail Megatron", comes an indicator that "Drift" may not actually be receiving the toy treatment.

Thanks to a Q&A Session with Hasbro Australia, posted on the OTCA Boards it seems that for now there has been no indication that a toy version of "Drift" is in the pipeline:

A comic book website last week with writer Shane McCarthy confirmed the upcoming 'Autobot Drift' toy. Will this be in the 25th line, and when is it likely to be released?

No, there is no character named Autobot Drift or any toy designed after the comic character coming out in our 25th Anniversary or any other Transformers line.

So not only does it appear that Drift will not be part of the 25th Anniversary line, as yet there are no plans for a "Drift" toy in any upcoming Transformers line. However this does not rule "drift" out from getting the toy treatment in the future.

For more of the Q&A Session with Hasbro Australia, please click here.

Stay tuned to Seibertron.com for more information as it comes to hand.

Is it possible that the folks at Hasbro who took part in the Q&A session were simply not aware that the toy is in the pipeline?

It Is Him wrote:Is it possible that the folks at Hasbro who took part in the Q&A session were simply not aware that the toy is in the pipeline?

Fron how generic their answers are to the other questions it could easily be an issue of one hand not mentioning what the other is doing.

They may also not know if Drift is being done as a convention or fan club special.

Is it possible that Drift just won't be available in Australia?

Is it possible that Drift is just fanwank and will be killed off at the end of AHM?

wow it hurts me to hear, these painful painful words

with there pointy letters with its jagged punctuation

...............................ouch

damn was lookin forward to this fig

Psychout wrote:Is it possible that Drift is just fanwank and will be killed off at the end of AHM?

Or is it possible Hasbro have realised that are are infinity+1 characters who deserve a place in Universe ahead of some character only a few people will actually recognise? Hell, if they want to do obscure characters, why not Devcon or Skids or... well any of the infinity+1 characters who already exist?

ephbot wrote:Is it possible that Drift just won't be available in Australia?

I was thinking the same thing, that Hasbro America might be planning it, but Hasbro Australia isn't.

Blozor wrote:

ephbot wrote:Is it possible that Drift just won't be available in Australia?

I was thinking the same thing, that Hasbro America might be planning it, but Hasbro Australia isn't.

Whatever general release figures the USA gets, Australia gets, and lately SDCC exclusives have gotten a limited release here too.

i_amtrunks wrote:No, there is no character named Autobot Drift or any toy designed after the comic character coming out in our 25th Anniversary or any other Transformers line.

Truly bad news if this is the case. I don't think Drift would fit into 25th Anniversary, anyway, as I'd take the term "25th Anniversary" to be a celebration of the establish characters that have turned up in the past 25 years anyway. I feel that based on what I've seen of him, however, Drift warrants a figure.

Sledge wrote:

Psychout wrote:Is it possible that Drift is just fanwank and will be killed off at the end of AHM?

Or is it possible Hasbro have realised that are are infinity+1 characters who deserve a place in Universe ahead of some character only a few people will actually recognise? Hell, if they want to do obscure characters, why not Devcon or Skids or... well any of the infinity+1 characters who already exist?

Not all "obscure" characters warrant a figure. Devcon should get a figure. Arcee's G1 character should finally get a figure (though it's not fair to call her obscure). Frankly I wouldn't mind seeing Kranix and Arblus (from the animated movie) get figures too, but those they are also characters my collection can live without (which is why they count as examples of obscure characters that don't warrant a figure).

I think calling Drift obscure now, however, is a disservice to a character that's too new to deserve such a label. It wouldn't kill Hasbro to come up with something totally and completely new. The point of key established characters getting updated is a good, valid one, but the worst thing that can happen with Hasbro coming up with something new is the newbie character being such a bomb Hasbro wouldn't want to touch it again. Even then, they can't know if they don't try.

HASBRO Q&A

doesn't mean Takara won't be doing it, Hasbro just doesn't know yet

ShGarland_1383 wrote:

i_amtrunks wrote:No, there is no character named Autobot Drift or any toy designed after the comic character coming out in our 25th Anniversary or any other Transformers line.

Truly bad news if this is the case. I don't think Drift would fit into 25th Anniversary, anyway, as I'd take the term "25th Anniversary" to be a celebration of the establish characters that have turned up in the past 25 years anyway. I feel that based on what I've seen of him, however, Drift warrants a figure.

I thought the 25th Anniversary was to be a celebration of everything, not just "established" characters. If Beast Wars are getting figures for Dinobot and Cheetor, Repaints being blessed with the names of Micromasters, Hot Shot giving props to the Unicron Battles, and even Robot Heroes offering Victory Sabre and Dessaras. Why not have Drift in there to represent for the 25 year.

It's better than repacking a movie or animated figure that is less that a couple years old. I'd rather see Drift than another Lockdown or Bulkhead.

Hmmm...it'd be nice for it to happen. But if it doesn't, it's no biggie. It's not like we don't have new characters popping up all the time anyways.

It definitely is not a case of Takar cranking one out and Hasbro not knowing about it. This one started out on the U.S. front so Hasbro U.S. wuld be the first to know, then Takara (if I understood the reports correctly). I agree that other characters, like G1 Arcee,
deserve the special figure treatment and that Drift does not fit into the "25th Anniv." timeline, but after seeing his first appearance in AHM he is honestly the only other figure aside from the new Movie Soundwave that I was really concerned about. If I only got two figures between now and the end of the year I would ask that those two figures be Soundwave and Drift. That's saying something considering how badly I would like to get some of the new Universe figures (Ironhide/Hound/Ratchet and Acid Storm would keep me happy for a while).

ShGarland_1383 wrote:I think calling Drift obscure now, however, is a disservice to a character that's too new to deserve such a label.

Of course he's obscure! He's a character that's only appeared in a comic series. That puts him on a par with Flame. Even within TF fandom he's obscure.

A comic book website last week with writer Shane McCarthy confirmed the upcoming 'Autobot Drift' toy. Will this be in the 25th line, and when is it likely to be released?

No, there is no character named Autobot Drift or any toy designed after the comic character coming out in our 25th Anniversary or any other Transformers line.

Ouch! - it doesn't get any more explicit than that. Shane and IDW are sort of looking like idiots right now. Given that Hasbro could've easily dodged the question, I think they've made it pretty clear in black and white.

I'm ever so pissed. I don't really want to believe it. We should have two more waves of Universe Deluxe figures and I think they might have a hard time filling it out without Drift.

I call shenanigans. SHENANIGANS!!!!

Whaaaat?!?! Noooooo!!!!!!!! I was hoping for a Drift figure!

They can make 101 repaints of Dorito!Starscream but they can't make even one Drift? *sad face*

Sledge wrote:

Psychout wrote:Is it possible that Drift is just fanwank and will be killed off at the end of AHM?

Or is it possible Hasbro have realised that are are infinity+1 characters who deserve a place in Universe ahead of some character only a few people will actually recognise? Hell, if they want to do obscure characters, why not Devcon or Skids or... well any of the infinity+1 characters who already exist?

This makes sense to me.

*Soundwave* wrote:HASBRO Q&A

doesn't mean Takara won't be doing it, Hasbro just doesn't know yet

Why would Takara do an exclusive figure of a character exclusive to Western comics?

It seems to me that if Hasbro don't know, they would've said that. All they have to do is say 'we can't comment on that yet'.

But they were very specific in what they said.

Highbeam wrote:Whaaaat?!?! Noooooo!!!!!!!! I was hoping for a Drift figure!

They can make 101 repaints of Dorito!Starscream but they can't make even one Drift? *sad face*

uhmm...dorito starscream?

Sledge wrote:

ShGarland_1383 wrote:I think calling Drift obscure now, however, is a disservice to a character that's too new to deserve such a label.

Of course he's obscure! He's a character that's only appeared in a comic series. That puts him on a par with Flame. Even within TF fandom he's obscure.

Probably in a couple years time, he'll be obscure, but not right now. There's been much controversy and publicity around Drift. I haven't bothered with the comic, but still know of the character.

Kids and fans who've been out of the loop since G1 won't know who he is, but it's not like attractively designed Transformers ever needed much name recognition to sell.

Sledge wrote:

Psychout wrote:Is it possible that Drift is just fanwank and will be killed off at the end of AHM?

Or is it possible Hasbro have realised that are are infinity+1 characters who deserve a place in Universe ahead of some character only a few people will actually recognise? Hell, if they want to do obscure characters, why not Devcon or Skids or... well any of the infinity+1 characters who already exist?

QFT to both. Hell, the Classic Universe line hasn't even got a Blitzwing yet, and he's a decently known character. And being the other two 'Con triple changers are in there, Blitzwing's absence makes less sense to me. Why would they put some random comic character like Drift in the line, with like Sledge said, the infinity+1 characters that don't have toys yet.

UPDATE:

Our friends over at TFormers got a hold of Chris Ryall and called him out on the claim. According to Chris, Drift is still a go!

Down_Shift wrote:UPDATE:

Our friends over at TFormers got a hold of Chris Ryall and called him out on the claim. According to Chris, Drift is still a go!

Well thats good to hear.

I may not like the character that much, But I do like his design.