Who?

Slash was a Dinobot released in AOE but was cut from the movie. Apparently, there were supposed to be a bunch of him and they were going to be significantly smaller than the other Dinobots. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and not even one Slash was in AOE.

Or TLK for that matter. So why do we get a “movie accurate” repaint of a character that wasn’t in any of the movies?

I don’t know. Let’s get into the review!

Alternate mode

Slash here is a very nice looking raptor. The new paint does a lot to make him more intimidating. It’s actually very impressive how much detail they put into the dino mode since Slash is a Deluxe Transformer. I especially like the head. Another thing that’s impressive is that there’s no visible robot kibble and there are no gaps that are too distracting.

Slash has okay posability in raptor mode. His head can look up and his mouth can open. His arms and hips are ball-jointed. He can bend at the knees as well as rotate and bend his feet.

Transformation

The transformation is intuitive and straightforward. There’s no sticking points and it’s an enjoyable process. The only thing that bugs me is the tail doesn’t transform and compact down more.

Robot mode

Yeah, he doesn’t look good with his legs in default configuration. Luckily there’s a simple mod you can do to make him look better. Switch the lower legs around so his feathers are behind him. Now, that’s much better.

I’ll admit I thought that Slash was a complete waste of time in robot mode when I saw his pictures online. But with the new colours and leg mod, he’s growing on me. Especially now that I know he was meant to be an Autobot troop builder.

Slash has decent enough posability but his arms are way more restricted than I’d like. He can swivel at the head. His shoulders are ball jointed and he has bicep swivels. His elbow bend is almost non-existent and he can’t rotate at the wrists so he has curling arms. Slash actually has a waist swivel which is always a good thing. His hips are ball-jointed and he rotates at the thighs as bends at the knees. His feet can point down.

Gimmicks

As with the other TLK Deluxe we took a look at, Slash doesn’t really have any gimmicks. He only has his weapons.

In Slash’s case, they’re two reasonably sized axes. They’re made of soft plastic but they look nice and intimidating. What’s neat is the storage for them in dino mode. They become feathers and spikes on the underside of his raptor arms!

Toy or collectible?

Toy more than collectible. The TLK Transformers were all horribly overpriced so they shelf-warmed everywhere till they were put on clearance.

Now you can get Slash and a bunch of other TLK stuff ridiculously cheap. I paid about RM18 ($4.50) for him. At that price, both kids and adults should be happy with him.

Closing

While the raptor mode is great, Slash is a bit iffy in robot mode. Doing the leg mode does help but he’s still not a Transformer I’d go out of my way to get.

Get him if you find him cheap and like raptors.