Samurai Choppa.

Drift was a triple-changer in Age Of Extinction for some reason. He turned into both a Bugatti and a weird looking helicopter. It’s very memorable to me because it didn’t contribute anything to the film.

And we never did get a triple-changer Drift toy.

But we did get two separate figures for Drift. Unfortunately, while Bugatti Drift was a brand new figure, Sky Drift was a remold of an existing figure. Fortunately, it was a remold of a universally beloved Bayverse figure, Dark Of The Moon Voyager Skyhammer.

This is Takara release of the mold from the Movie Advanced Series line. It has slightly different paint than the Hasbro release and a different name, Sky Drift.

Vehicle mode

Sky Drift is a blue helicopter and dangerous looking one at that. Apparently it’s a made up helicopter model but it looks like it could exist in real life.

Sky Drift’s incredibly clean looking in vehicle mode with almost no robot kibble visible from any angle, even from below. He’s also very nicely painted in different blues, blacks and golds.

For playability, Sky Drift has free spinning rotor blades and can mount his missile launchers on the side, behind his cockpit or under the wings. Also, the swords can be stored under the wings as well. Sky Drift also has deployable three-point landing gear.

Transformation

This mold has a very interesting transformation that’s complex but much less frustrating than you’d expect. The chest and arm transformation in particular is a unique experience.

The DOTM era Transformers get a lot of flak but I feel like they have the most intuitive transformations out of all the Bayverse Transformers lines.

Robot mode

Sky Drift is a jacked robot samurai. Seriously, if the movie followed this scale then Drift would be taller than Optimus and Hound. Sky Drift looks much more convincing as a former Decepticon than the smaller Drift.

The only new part in robot mode is the new head. It looks better than the one on Deluxe Drift but some people take issue with the pronounced lips. The nicely done paint detailing carries over into robot mode.

Sky Drift has a lot of articulation and can pull off a bunch of poses. He’s got a ball-jointed head. His arms rotate as well as go in and out at the shoulders. He has bicep swivels as well as bending elbows. His wrists can bend in towards his body. He has a waist swivel. His legs rotate as well as go in and out at the hips. He has double-jointed knees and rotates below the lower set of knees. His feet can move up and down.

Gimmicks

Sky Drift has no actual gimmicks and lacks the MechTech weapon that Skyhammer came with. He still comes with the missile launchers though.

Sky Drift does however come with two new accessories. Two longswords that can combine into a fat claymore. It’s huge, blue and gold and badass.

Toy or collectible?

I’d say both but leaning more onto the adult collectible side of things.

Sky Drift (and the original use of the mold, Skyhammer) make for the perfect “big kid” Transformer. Nice, complex but intuitive transformation with two great modes. He’s also available at not too ridiculous prices (only a bit more than what he retailed for originally) and for what you’re getting, he’s worth it.

On the adult collector side of things, this is a unique remold of a great figure and a nicely painted Takara release. Yes, the Studio Series Drift is more accurate in both modes but I still think an adult collector would be happy with Sky Drift.

Closing

Skyhammer was one of the best things to come out of the DOTM toyline but somehow I like Drift way more than Skyhammer. Drift isn’t screen accurate at all but it feels like this mold was made for Drift.

If you’re not a stifler for screen accuracy give this version of Drift a shot. He’s a great Transformer with some fun weapons and having a beefy robot samurai wouldn’t hurt anyone’s collection.