Dragstrip
(Combiner Wars)
Dragstrip's alt mode is a F1 race car, as it's pretty much always been. This version of Dragstrip, though based off his G1 version, has only four wheels compared to the original's six, and is thus a bit different of a kind of F1 race car. By and large, this mode looks pretty good; there's not even a hint of any robot extras, and for the most part the toy is pretty proportional. The sole exception to this is that-- likely due to Dragstrip's transformation-- the spoiler is pitifully small; it should have been at least about twice as large and/or long. It looks almost funny, how small it is. On a much lesser note, the main body of the race car is just a bit TOO close to a rectangular shape; it should curve inwards a bit more at the sides around where the seat is, but Dragstrip's pointed shoulders mean the sides stick out just a bit too far there. For his color scheme, Dragstrip very much apes his G1 version's, with his primary colors being a dull orangish "cheese" yellow and stripes of fuchsia along the sides and the center. The fuchsia really goes great against the orangish yellow, though making it a "purer" (but not bright) yellow like on the original toy would've helped add to the contrast a bit more. There's also some silver near the rear, on the "bars" connecting the tires to the main body, and on the tire hubs, while the tires themselves and cockpit are black. The black in particular provides some nice contrast; the silver looks decent enough as a neutral color for the others to work off of, but there isn't quite enough of it and it doesn't go all that well with this shade of yellow, in my opinion, even if it doesn't outright clash. Dragstrip comes with two accessories; a sword, and the standard hand/foot/gun accessory that all Combiner Wars deluxes come with. What's cool is that Dragstrip's hand/foot/gun weapon can integrate with the race car mode a bit, by plugging into a circular peg on the top and then folding down the thumb of the weapon right in front of the spoiler. Given how the two protrusions at the front of this accessory look like some sort of energy beam projectors, it gives Dragstrip some weaponry in this mode. Dragstrip has two 5mm ports in this mode for storing weapons, one on each side, around where the cockpit is. The placement of the corresponding peg on the sword-- otherwise a solid weapon-- is really unfortunate, though; the sword has to be put in at an odd diagonal angle, which looks off no matter how you cut it.
Dragstrip's robot transformation is pretty simple, simply involving folding out the arms from the sides, folding the front section back behind Dragstrip's back, and then sliding out and folding around the legs at the waist. (Dragstrip is the only Combiner Wars deluxe to have the old "push and pull" slide mechanism for leg extension, and not a slightly more complex "open up the lower legs up and fold out the lower legs on hinges" transformation.) In this mode, Dragstrip appropriately looks a little lanky, with his chest and upper legs in particular not being as wide/thick as on most TFs. His arms are even a bit skinny from a front view, though from a side view they're actually a tad thick. The spoiler from the race car mode makes for some excellent feet, and the front of the vehicle mode is nice and secure behind Dragstrip's back, not getting in the way of any articulation. The mold detailing on Dragstrip was a bit sparse in vehicle mode-- granted, he's a sleek race car, but even some areas like the pistons could have stood to be more detailed-- but here Dragstrip gets noticeably more detailing on his robot bits. There's a bit of "exhaust pipe" detailing on his lower arms, and plenty of right angles and "sharp" edges on his main body. His headsculpt is one of the best out of the entire line-- I love how they took his general G1 look, made it more round and thus streamlined (as suits a race car), and then make his visor come down a bit at the eyes, sort of like it's "bleeding"-- hardcore, man. If it wasn't for the coloration, I'd swear Dragstrip was a goth 'Con. The color scheme is largely the same in this mode as in vehicle mode, though light gray has been added-- yes, it's that ugly shade of the color, but thankfully it's only used on his combiner peg in his chest. The use of pastel blue and light red on the head and nowhere else is also a nice touch, too-- it makes Dragstrip look more individualistic. That said, there's some fuchsia paint on Dragstrip's upper legs, which is noticeably a shade or two darker and glossier than his fuchsia plastic, and sticks out a little. That aside, most of Dragstrip's paint app budget was used for vehicle mode, so unfortunately his robot mode is a bit bare paint-wise, particularly at the chest, where some paint to bring out all those lovely details would've really been something. His arms also only have a little bit of silver on them, even if the fuchsia breaks up the yellow a bit more effectively there. For articulation, Dragstrip can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), inwards at the wrists, rotation at the waist and movement at the hips (at two points) and knees. Other than a bit more movement at the knees and/or ankles, he's got pretty much all the articulation you can reasonably ask for on a deluxe, and he's well-balanced too, so he can pull off some great poses.
