Drift Scores New Look

MichaelBay.com has revealed the new look for Drift with a red paint job and designs that emphasises a samurai look. The exact model of Mercedes alt mode was not revealed.

New Alt Mode of Drift Revealed

In a twitter and blog post, Transformers: The Last Knight director Michael Bay revealed the new alt mode of Drift as a black and red Mercedes AMG GT R. In Age of Extinction the character's alt mode was a black and blue Bugatti Veyron. Generally speaking the alt modes for the cars is partly driven by story, partly by Bay's taste in cars and most importantly by wiliness of car makers to offer up their vehicles for free (which means more $ for VFX) and let Hasbro make toys off of them. My guess is the switch is due to Mercedes making a better offer (possibly more than one copy for filming purposes?). Thanks to Feris O. for the heads-up.

Transformers 4 Concept Art and Products, Transformers 5 for 2017 and More

A Hasbro presentation found on Transformers licensee Vilsco Textiles site has revealed a bunch of concept products and art for Transformers: Age of Extinction. The art (below) includes early designs for Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, Lockdown and Grimlock that sometimes was spotted on set clapperboards. Of note is some of the art is dated for 2012 indicating that pre-production on Transformers 4 began shortly after post-production on three ended.

The 2014 roadmap indicates the home release of Transformers 4 set for Q4 (probably late October, early November just like the previous movies) along with something referred to as "Animated Stunt" with a new beast like faction symbol. The same symbol comes up for a Q1 2015 animated cartoon while another new faction symbol is used for either a second series or second season of the series for Q1 2016 that will be followed by Transformers 5 in Summer 2017. Below is a look at the new faction symbols and concept art, for the rest of the gallery of concept products head over to TFW2005.

Toy Images Showcase Transformers: Age of Extinction CGI Character Art

From the Idle Hands blog via the Transformers_Movie Instagram account below are a bunch of images of the packaging for Hex Bug Transformers: Age of Extinction line. The "bugs" are themed to the major characters of the movie. For fans, the key bit is it appears the art isn't based on the toys but on the actual movie CGI art resulting in our best look yet at the new characters of Galvatron, Lockdown, STinger, Drift and the bearded visage of Hound. All images of the Toy Fair TF Hex Bug display is here. Thanks to Feris O. for the link.

Toy Fair 2014 Reveals Transformers 4 Grimlock Robot Mode, Confirms Movie Characters and Alt Modes

In preparation for Toy Fair 2014 being held in New York this weekend, Hasbro has revealed their initial line-up of Transformers: Age of Extinction toys for "youngsters" called the One Step Changers via USA Today (and mirrored on TFormers). The official images (below) show the robot mode of Grimlock (which seems more like a mash-up of Grimlock and Beast Wars Dinobot). The images also provides the first official confirmation of what fans had already worked out for Crosshairs (Autobot, green 2014 C7 Corvette Stingray), Drift (Autobot, black & blue 2013 Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse), Lockdown (Decepticon, dark gray 2013 Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Coup) and Stinger (Decepticon, blood red 2013 Pagani Huayra). In addition there is a "new" Dinobot called Slash with a Velociraptor alt mode. I assume that means that is a fourth Dinobot confirmed for the movie (outside of Grimlock, Slug, and Strafe) but it could just be a toy and not have a movie appearance.

UK Toy Fair 2013: Toy Teases, Lockdown, Drift and More

The UK Toy Fair was held this week which provided the first look at the toys and merchandise that Hasbro is planning for Transformers: Age of Extinction. Sadly the fair was not open to the public or press and security was tight so while there are descriptions of some of what was on display, most of the pictures are for ancillary products. Still there was at least some potential useful information revealed including more looks at the TF4 versions of Prime, Bumblebee, Drift and potentially Lockdown. It really does seem like Transformers Prime animated look was inspiration for the TF4 redesigns. Thanks to Feris O. and others for the info.

First Look at Transformers: Age of Extinction Drift?

An image posted on Facebook from the Party City Halloween 2014 catalog shows what might be a look at Transformers: Age of Extinction Drift. Assuming this isn't a fan fake-out (and its Super NES look makes me wonder), the costume gives an idea on the direction of the movie version with the swords and samurai look. It seems the only thing that really is carrying over from IDW's original version is the swords and the name. (via Seibertron)