HA Drag Strip - Avoid at all Costs - tell me why I'm wrong

[JediTricks]

That's how it always works with this crew, right? I say something is TERRIBLE and immediately you guys come up with a dozen reasons why you should buy it anyway, and 2 years later you either still love it for your personal quirky reason, or you end up resenting your original praise?

Anyway...

HA Drag Strip with Master Disaster

This is a bad figure. Not "so bad it's good" bad either, just "so bad, I wonder who gave design duties over to the intern" bad.

I don't even know where to start, it's got a bad deco, a middling sculpt, confused articulation, terrible "weapons" which don't stow or get used in alt mode, awful accessories, not enough personality, problems with light passing through most of the parts, shoulders that don't lock down and don't align right and have a mess of excess parts, and the most unusable trashy "weapon" mode yet where the whole car I guess is supposed to be a blade weapon held from a peg in the middle. Oh, and Master Disaster, who is dark smoke translucent plastic, suggesting he's a hologram rather than a character, doesn't fit in the vehicle cockpit and can't hold the steering wheel once you jam the figure into it in a way that goes beyond what the hip joints allow (the hips have to go 90 degrees and then get pushed together, and you can't do any of that without de-transforming the underside to get the human figure in). The shoulder joints are a source of pain, there are too many joints working against each other, so they will pop out. The steering wheel that has to fit into the ugly open chest also will pop out of its horrible joint. And the accessories, 2 large curved yellow and purple blades with a bunch of junky tech sculpting, have nowhere to go natively in vehicle mode. Oh, and did I mention that the instructions are confused about how the arms transform, rotating on an axis that the joint cannot move?

All in all, I think Hasbro should be ashamed to release a figure this bad.

[138 Scourge]

Dang, man. I still haven't seen any Drag Strips around here, we're just now getting Tailpipe and Whirl. I hate to hear that he's so bad, though, that's one I was really looking forward to.

[JediTricks]

Dang, man. I still haven't seen any Drag Strips around here, we're just now getting Tailpipe and Whirl. I hate to hear that he's so bad, though, that's one I was really looking forward to.

Oh, I didn't realize that I took it out, but I got the figure from HasbroToyShop as a preorder that shipped early.

BTW, I like Tailpipe and Whirl. Both have flaws, to be sure, but they feel true to the "HA Basic" identity, where Drag Strip doesn't. I knew seeing DS at Botcon this year that I wasn't going to love this figure, but man, in person it under-delivers even to that expectation.

[Shockwave]

I am actually NOT going to tell you wrong. Mostly for two reasons: 1, I don't have Drag Strip and B, I've been consistently underwhelmed by the whole DOTM line in general. I like Shockwave and Powerglide and that's it. Bumblebee sucked and Starscream was meh.

[Onslaught Six]

I am actually NOT going to tell you wrong. Mostly for two reasons: 1, I don't have Drag Strip and B, I've been consistently underwhelmed by the whole DOTM line in general. I like Shockwave and Powerglide and that's it. Bumblebee sucked and Starscream was meh.

I like Starscream as Thundercracker. Sentinel is kind of inbetweeny iffy to me (glad I used a gift card for him) and Barricade & Crankcase were well worth it. Still debating Skyhammer. G2Swipe is awesome. I haven't opened Hatchet or Laserbeak yet (what the fuck is wrong with me?).

Anyway, I already said this in the other thread but I was really looking forward to this guy. His weapon mode is actually obvious--he's the Skyboom Shield! From Armada! Other than that, I dunno, I don't have him yet.

[BWprowl]

I like Starscream as Thundercracker. Sentinel is kind of inbetweeny iffy to me (glad I used a gift card for him) and Barricade & Crankcase were well worth it. Still debating Skyhammer. G2Swipe is awesome. I haven't opened Hatchet or Laserbeak yet (what the fuck is wrong with me?).

Which of the, like, five DOTM Sideswipes are you referring to here? I'm assuming the Wal-Mart one?

I really liked Deluxe Starscream, but I'm a whore for Starscream, so my opinion is colored.

After a review this vicious, I'm almost tempted to get HA Drag Strip just to see if it lives up to the nega-hype. Of course, I greatly disliked Tailpipe and his whole set, so it'd be hard to a HA Basic to disappoint as badly as that one did, especially now that my expectations for Drag Strip have been lowered so much.

[Onslaught Six]

There is only one DOTM Sideswipe that could justifiably be called G2Swipe, and it's the one you mentioned. (Get him, he's awesome.)

[BWprowl]

There is only one DOTM Sideswipe that could justifiably be called G2Swipe, and it's the one you mentioned. (Get him, he's awesome.)

I have him already. He has Transtech symbols, I'm not passing that up!

[Onslaught Six]

I got him because, hey, awesome colours and a mould I didn't already have. I never bought SidearmSwipe because I was...waiting for a repaint! And then one happened, so.

God damn it, Hasbro, repaint DOTMSwipe into Tracks already.

[annhell]

Well, JT, if you recall, I tend to agree with a lot of your views on what makes a TF good or bad.

I personally haven't fiddled with a Drag Strip, so there a lot of details I can't comment on. Even though I'm seeing it everywhere here, it's 1 of the 2 HA basics I didn't bother to get (Thunderhead being the other one) because the weapon mode was incoherent and weird. That alone was enough to put me off.

So, no, I ain't tellin' you you're wrong; I'm avoiding it too