Well, this is it. Six years in the making, and MOTUC has finally updated all the vintage figures. He may not be the last toy released in the line, but Dragstor is the last one - with a technicality. The Laser-Light figures are kindasorta going to be the last, but they didn't get an ordinary, worldwide release like everything else. Dragstor is the last figure that ordinary kids could have.
Essentially Mattel's answer to Transformers, Dragstor turned into a vehicle by... um, lying on his stomach, because he had a wheel there. So basically, he's almost as cheap as a Go-Bot. Almost.
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DRAGSTOR: TRANSFORMING EVIL WARRIOR/VEHICLE
REAL NAME: THEYDON
One of the fastest athletes in all of Etheria, Theydon was lured into Hordak's experimentation matrix with promises of fame and fortune. Instead, the former record-holding runner was transformed into a terrible mutation and brainwashed to become an evil Horde crony. Now half-man half-machine, he became Dragstor - the vicious maniacal speed demon. He is able to move faster than any other warrior and he even outpaces some vehicles! Dragstor loves to chase down helpless victims and drag them back to Hordak. He transforms from evil warrior to evil vehicle and in a burst of speed chases after enemies of the Horde with rip-roaring velocity!
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Funny how he got mentioned in Extendar's bio, but not vice-versa. Hordak used a lot of brainwashing, so this plot sort of makes sense, though it is odd how they thought a great sprinter would translate into a dude with a wheel in his belly.
PACKAGING: ****
It hasn't changed, and neither have you. Take that, Heraclitus!
SCULPT: ***
If every Horde member is a classic monster (Grizzlor = werewolf, Hordak = vampire, Leech = gill-man, etc. etc.), then Dragstor is, uh... the dude with a motorcycle wheel in his chest. Okay, that fell apart. Anyway, there's this weird thing going on in He-man's world where robots have disturbingly organic faces. First Blast Attak, and no this guy. Dragstor's eyes look more at home on Saurod than on him, unless he was originally a reptilian snakeman before the roboticization.
And then we have the gigantic flaw that hurts this figure most: His wheel does not move. It's a different texture from the rest of him - ruber - but it's only half a wheel glued into an armor overlay. You can even see the gap from the side!
PAINT: **1/2
On a technical level, his paint isn't bad - there's no visible slop, at least, and his black-red-silver-blue color scheme fits the concept as well as the character, for the most part.
There's just one problem: Dragstor is the wrong color. His torso is black when it should be blue. Technically it's minor, but in a line slavishly devoted to redoing the old figures, it's very odd. It's a huge, glaring issue that this figure did not need.
ARTICULATION: ***
Dragstor has typical MOTUC articulation, and his seemingly-bulky armor doesn't even impede him very much. On the surface, he's just fine.
HOWEVER... his wheel does not spin. This is a travesty of sculptural and articulation, and cannot be forgiven! Seriously, it's pretty glaring. Also, he can't properly lie in "racing" mode. He just looks like he fell down drunk.
ACCESSORIES: ****
Dragstor has a whip, which was originally the ripcord for his vintage toy. Just like Blast Attack, except that it's rigid plastic instead of soft rubber, and already posed. Neither is better than the other, it all depends on your preferences. It plugs into his back, though that socket can also be used for his backpack.
Dragstor also has a crossbow, just like every other Horde member. His resembles a car engine, and is pretty cool in how they twisted it around to turn it into a weapon.
But it's not just a crossbow! As with the original figure, it plugs into his back for his "transformation." Thing is, I have no idea which way it should go. The way that looks right from the front has the exhaust pipes facing the wrong direction, after all.
And the way that seems to be facing correctly doesn't fully fit into the socket because his back gets in the way. So, it's up to you.
VALUE: **1/2
I have said this before, but this should be a $20 figure, officially costs $27, but after shipping and tax is over $40.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Dragstor has no durability problems.
WHERE TO BUY:
Like most(all) Matty product, you have to go to a third party to find them.
OVERALL: ***
Not the best. Not the worst, either, but not the best. Dragstor just sort of is - he's a lot like Blast Attak in that respect, and it's pretty clear that he's the last of the vintage figures because of this.
It's unfortunate, too. This year, the line has put out some real knockouts, and genuinely incorporated vintage action features. But Dragstor feels like a step back, and this part of the line's history is going out pretty quietly. Dragstor should have come out years ago, especially with this execution.
