The Constructicons led by example in 1985, and are the most widely known, possibly because just about everybody thinks it's fun to say "Constructicon". A sort of brinksmanship followed, with good and evil robots upping the ante on both sides with new and colorfully collectible special teams. Eventually, the modular design of the toys themselves would begin to work against the concept; excepting the Constructicons and the pricey Predacons, the combiner teams were all comprised of one big guy and four little guys with largely indistinguishable block heads. But despite their shortcomings, the gestalts had an inexplicable mystique to us kids. And one of the most revered of those teams was the legendary Stunticons.

No crew but the Stunticons had such je ne sais quoi. Maybe it's the vaguely naughty-sounding name, and how it tumbles off the tongue like a T-boned stock racer. Maybe it's the fact that the Stunticons were, in layman's terms, a bunch of evil berserker robots that turned into sportscars, and usually cars are the good guys. Maybe it was the comic-book cover of Menasor, the Stunticons' hulking combined form, garnished by a border of Marvel's entire roster of super-beings, who despite their abilities appear no more a threat than a handful of ladybugs. There are a zillion reasons to love the Stunticons. They were nothing short of schoolyard legend.

And yet, aside from some typically hideous Pat Lee books from the Dreamwave era, the beloved Stunticons have never really seen a re-invention. This isn't completely unusual, there being Technobots, Seacons, and a few other stragglers in the same club. However, things do move slowly in the toymaking world, and although the "Stunticon" moniker hasn't been expressly used as of yet, familiar cars with bad attitudes have popped up here and there.

A recent example would be the (I'm betting) non-movie Dead End toy from the upcoming Revenge Of The Fallen, who shares most of his color scheme with his Stunticon forefather. However, Dead End has one dinstinction over his mates; his name has been re-used over the years, keeping his trademark nice and fresh, even if his bio (and breed) varied. The rest of the Stunties? Not so lucky.

Thus, when 1986 Breakdown re-emerged, long after his aborted Generation 2 bow, it was as "Brakedown", an old Autobot who lived on a racing planet. Motormaster, once the brutal leader who dreamt of taking out Optimus Prime (long story; they're both tractor-trailers), lost his name completely, and was forced to take the name of Menasor, the giant bitch he once resentfully formed with his jerk buddies. And the ultraviolent, golden yellow basket case of an F-1 racer known as Drag Strip... oh, poor Drag Strip.

Long kept in limbo by his hard-to-trademark name, Drag Strip seemed to be a sure thing as one of the super-detailed, gorgeously expensive "Alternators" a few years ago. It made perfect sense; Alternators were known for perfect-replica car modes, and Drag Strip was really only known as a car. Sure, it wasn't the same model as DS' old six-wheeled kicks, but it worked as an updated version, and they even threw in a remolded head. Didn't really look like DS, but as I said earlier, his head was the standard tiny square, and on the cartoon he looked totally different, so no biggie. They even coated him in racing decals that were actually all fandom in-jokes, to up his desirability as a repaint of Windcharger (whom I've never been able to call anything but Overdrive, sorry if you understand).

Then they found out they couldn't call him Drag Strip.

Obviously under duress, Hasbro called him "Decepticharge". Seriously. See, he's a Decepticon, and he's a repaint of Windcharger, so... yeah. The guy who names things was out that day. Lately, Hasbro has gotten savvier about nailing down their old character names, fattening things up with descriptive modifiers ("Rescue Ratchet", "Command Ravage", etc.). But, like I said, things move slowly in Toyland. None of this really matters, anyway; kids won't care if they like the toy, and fans are going to call it whatever they want. Bottom line: was it Drag Strip? No. It's Decepticharge.

Fast forward to 2006. Classics Mirage is released, and is widely accepted as a fantastic example of the strengths of the line. This year, rumors abounded regarding a yellow repaint of this lauded Mirage. After months of back-and-forth, it was revealed as an exclusive to HasbroToyShop.com. It was Drag Strip, and it was barely twice the price of Mirage in the first place. Soon as the pre-orders opened I was on that shit. I am no fool.

Now, before I actually start this proper, I must admit my apprehension in reviewing Transformers as of late, due to the fact that almost every one of these blasted robots has hurled me into fits of nostalgic euphoria. Such giddiness rarely translates into a satisfying read. I will endeavor to stay on track. Haha, track.

Packaging: For the first time, I have to include this section. Drag Strip comes in a black box with a velcro door front. I had a devil of a time trying to get a decent picture of it. Simply put: this box is gorgeous.

The logo and Decepticon insignias are raised in shades of grey and chrome. Drag Strip is rendered almost Sin City-style, both on the front and right side. In some places the symbols are simply a gloss application on the flat black. Man oh man, it looks great.

On the back, the Universe logo is given a more 3-D treatment, and Drag Strip's transformation is depicted in color pictures, with a line drawing of the front cover art lightly in grey behind it. DS is a little shinier in the pics, and his forearms are black instead of the actual yellow, but he's nowhere near as 'Shopped as typical package shots. Also note: Wow.

Opening the velcro cover-flap reveals Drag Strip in ROBOT mode, and he just looks great. The inside flap has his bio, which I won't spoil for you (but I will say it's faithful), and his specs, which match his color scheme beautifully. Also note: WOW. WOW. WOWTHIS CARDBOARD IS THICK I HAVE TO GET THIS OUT OF BOX NOWW. NOW. NOW.

Drag Strip on TFWiki