I will start by saying this: there are far more new parts than we first thought.
The car shell of course is fully new (including the wheels), but so is the head, torso, hips, legs and feet. The only thing remaining unchanged are the robot arms, and even then the samurai armour hanging off them is a different piece on both. However, as you will see, these new pieces are made to resemble the older ones and that's where the toy becomes disappointing due to the lack of variety.
Below are images of their robot modes. You will notice how the heads are slightly different at the mouth area. I personally do not know which I prefer. The TLK version replaces the clear plastic in back of the head for a black piece, which I don't mind since the light piping attempt had previously failed.
You will also notice that TLK Drift is unable to store all his swords on his back. He does not have extra slots in his back kibble, which also hangs lower than the AOE Drift. Also, the Mercedes logo on TLK Drift is fake kibble while the Bugatti grill on AOE Drift was surprisingly a piece from his actual alt mode, but we knew that from the stock images.
So, let's move on with the subtle and frustrating retooling. As you can see in the image below, the TLK version's lower leg is a different piece from the AOE. You can tell with the detail right above the connection to his foot where that detail is twice the length as the AOE version, meaning that the piece is different in size, slightly. The hips with Samurai armour are also different. Instead of little pin sized vertical rectangles decorating the hip it is now larger horizontal rectangles. Lastly, the feet pieces have also been changed to have holes to fit the swords in vehicle mode.
Here are shots from the sides and back. Another significant downgrade with this toy over the AOE one is that the parts of the back are loose and do not clip anywhere. The back for the AOE one was surprisingly solid and doesn't swing around when you pick it up or pose him. This one does. It is also a bigger backpack since the entire back of the car is now part of the shell and instead of folding inward, it folds outwards giving TLK Drift a lot of junk in the trunk.
None of these flaws are deal breakers though, especially if you do not have the AOE version, but it's getting closer to me not recommending this toy. Extra paint would help of course, since he looks a bit drab with a lot of unpainted plastic, which means some nice sculpted detail is left unhighlighted.
Now let's look at the cars!
Their sizes are about the same and of course the real "genius" feature here is that what was once the front is now the back and what was once the back is now he front. However, in terms of transformation, that doesn't change anything. It is still the very similar steps. These are partly puzzle toys and there is nothing new or exciting in terms of the puzzle here. He is a tad bit simpler too since this time the entire car is a shell so the no part of the robot's upper torso needs to move, the car just wraps around him.
But like I said, this doesn't make him all that inferior, it's a small detail. What isn't a small detail is the paint on the car mode. Take a look at the image of the back of the two, the TLK Drift has 0 paint applications there. The back lights are not painted, it's all black unpainted plastic. Whatever red paint motif they try to keep throughout the alt mode stops short and it's jarring.
To add insult the injury, the paint that is applied is applied in the poorest way I have ever seen.
In the end, the only part of this figure that I find quite cool is the idea of an all black car becoming an all red robot. But any imaginative engineering was provided in the previous toy so the novelty wears off fast. I find the previous version superior in ever way. More options with the swords, better alt mode integration, far superior deco in alt mode and a cooler alt mode (personal opinion of course) that we don't see much. That said, I would still be open to a more premium deco of this toy, to highlight the sculpting and make the sleek car mode pop more.
From the looks of it, the Legion and Deluxe ones are for the whole assortment, not individual figures. Toys 'R Us did that earlier with RiD's Clash of the Transformers.
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