Slash

Slash was the Transformers Age of Extinction figure that I had the least amount of interest in. First it was due to the color scheme not being my favorite, but after I saw some reviews of the figure I predictably wasn’t going to buy one anytime soon. So why do I have this one? Not only was the figure on sale ($15!) but this Last Knight version of Slash does away with my main complaint with the figure (before I actually owned it anyway) which was the Color Scheme, by replacing it with one that I think is a lot better.

Slash’s alt mode is a Velociraptor (at least I think it is) and yes; the best part of the figure. The sharp Icy blue combined with those red eyes give the raptor a look of coldly precise, unfaltering aggression. This mode, with all it’s spikes, opening mouth, and it’s height does what I think the Age of Extinction version failed to do, which was make the Dinosaur mode look like something to be afraid of, and this new color scheme definitely warrants that.

Transformation into robot mode starts a chain reaction, that suddenly causes this incredibly awesome Dinobot to become something much… lesser, and it all begins while going into robot mode. The Transformation is kind of a functional mess, as it has lots of clearance issues, but everything does work even though it might not feel that way while you are doing it.

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The result of this is a robot mode that, again, looks really cool despite it’s bulky, cluttered design. What this design does for the overall functionality of the toy as an action figure is…disappointing to say the least as the articulation is definitely suspect. In terms of poseability, Slash has an abundance of joints, but because of the bulky design, the most important ones are virtually useless. The elbows can bend further backwards than forwards due to the beast mode, and the arms themselves can’t move out or forward without moving the huge (but hugely cool looking) shoulder pads making poses with his dual axes difficult. The legs are a similar story, as the rubber “spikes” above the knees inhibit most of their movement, while the rest is stopped by the raptor’s tail, which just sits on his back and is actually photoshopped out of the figure’s box images. The one redeeming factor of this mode, other than the appearance, is that Slash’s dual axes can still store in the Velociraptor arms which are now just hanging off of his back.

Slash’s size is actually pretty short, as Bumblebee is a lot taller than him!

Overall, I honestly didn’t expect to dislike Transformers: the Last Knight Slash so much. Although I think the Raptor mode is great, and at least the robot mode aesthetics are pretty good, that doesn’t excuse a figure with questionable design decisions that inhibit articulation and provide a clunky transformation. Of you can find the figure for very cheap I’d say do it even just for the alt mode, but for reference I paid only $15, and honestly even that is too much.