Dinobot Slash (1-Step Changer; AoE)
Beast ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dull jungle green, moderately light pale blue, light metallic green, and some light milky gray, silver and dark metallic aquamarine
Rating: 4.9

    Like his mainline deluxe, the 1-step changer of Slash is a spiky velociraptor, with most of the spikes intending to be feathers, given archaelogists' current understanding of how velociraptors actually looked like back in the day. The mold detailing shows off a very segmented-armor type of look underneath all the spike-feathers, with a couple of gears on places like the hips. The head is the best part of this mode, with a VERY fierce look and incredibly intricate detailing on the teeth and eyes. What's odd about this version of Slash is that his colors are mostly flipped from the deluxe-- this version has a green body and blue feathers, and it's the other way around on the deluxe. Not sure what was up about the miscommunication, though admittedly it bugs me less since he doesn't actually show up in the movie. Both the green and the blue are paler than on the deluxe as well, making Slash look considerably duller and not as bright and eye-catching-- perhaps a nice compromise between the positively tropical scheme of the deluxe and the grays and blacks of many other movie toys, though personally I like the deluxe's coloration a bit more. The biggest problem with this mode, by far, are the proportions, however. He shares the same transformation as the regular-sized 1-step Grimlock toy, so he has hips that stick out way too far from the sides, an overly short tail, and a main body that is too long in this mode. It all just looks off, though not as off for a velociraptor as it does for Grimlock as a t-rex, admittedly. Given the one-step changer gimmick and budget, Slash sadly has no articulation at all in this mode.
    Just like Grimlock, Slash transforms by pulling apart his dino hips, and everything else automatically rearranges itself for robot mode. And again, just like Grimlock, he shares many of the same major issues with the robot mode. Shoulders that are way too wide, arms that are too wide and awkward-looking from the front and too skinny from the side (with the hands merely molded into the dino feet), and then there's the legs, obviously made from halves of the front of the velociraptor mode. The dino head folds back to become heels while the "knight shoes" fold forward, but the legs have the opposite issue from the arms; they look too skinny from the front, but way too wide from the sides, where the dino arms and head form a really big back end to the feet and are just big pieces of obvious kibble. The upper legs are also way too small in comparison to the lower legs. On the positive end, the chest looks fairly nice-- although there's some blah light milky gray plastic evident in this mode, it's mostly reserved for some minor parts, with most of the chest itself painted a nice silver with some little nautilius-like details here and there. The headsculpt is very well-done, emulating his deluxe's headsculpt (though again, with reverse colors) and a nice metallic aquamarine visor and silver faceplate. The gray plumage around his neck also almost looks like some sort of feathery decoration, a nice touch, as well. For articulation, Slash can only move back-and-forth at the shoulders-- though articulation certainly isn't the point of 1-step changers.
    1-step Changer Slash may look slightly better than the subline's regular-sized Grimlock, what with a more attractive color scheme and a nice-quite-as-egregiously out-of-proportion beast mode, but it's still an awful toy, even keeping in mind the limitations of the gimmick and the budget. As odd as his beast mode proportions are, his robot mode proportions are outright terrible, particularly with the feet. Not recommended unless you have a young one who absolutely MUST have a Dinobot velociraptor, but isn't old enough to get the superior deluxe version.
 

Review by Beastbot

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