Judging from concept art, Slash here was apparently going to be in the movie at one point, but was cut for whatever reason (budget/length). Regardless, Slash's alternate mode is a velociraptor made almost entirely of knives and edges-- another new Dinobot who follows the tried-and-true one-syllable "S"-word name schtick. His proportions in this mode are very close to perfect, with even the underbelly of the mode not being too bulky. There's a couple of minor "bars" on the sides of his main body, but that's about it as far as robot extras in this mode. And what a mode it is-- Slash is just CHOCK full of blades everywhere, from his tail to the back of his arms and legs to the back of his neck and head, all simulating the partially feathered appearance that most archaeologists currently believe velociraptors had. Because he has so many large spikes, Slash has a lot of rubbery, bendy plastic-- pretty much all the yellow-ish green bits are soft plastic, with the exception of the underside of his neck. They don't seem to be particularly "stretched" in their positions in either mode, though, so I don't foresee this being an issue for those of you worried about warping. Beyond all the points, Slash's mold detailing still looks rather cool, with an embedded red mechanical eye, a rather unique black-painted crest on his nose, plenty of teeth, and intricate armor-like detailing on his neck and lower legs. The color scheme for Slash is one of the wildest of all the movie Dinobots, being mostly turquoise and yellowish-green with a bit of black to help bring a bit of "dark" to him. It's a rather neat, "tropical" color scheme that actually makes some of his spikes look like ferns or palm tree leaves, and certainly stands out a movieverse shelf. The colors are broken up pretty well, with no one color being too dominant in any one place-- always a good thing. The yellowish green paint on the neck, the aforementioned painted head crests and silver teeth, the red for the dino eyes, and the nice black fade on the upper back and the turqouise fade on the tail all look marvelous; no issues there. Slash is also fairly articulated in this mode, being able to move at the jaw, shoulders, hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and rotation at the ankles to help him stand stably. I wish his tail could've had some movement (given his weapon storage, it's impossible for his arms to move at the elbows given the transformation), but all in all he can move to a pretty good extent in this mode.
    Slash's transformation is a bit more complicated than you'd expect, though still not what I'd call particularly difficult. His head and neck (more or less) become his feet with a few twists and turns, while his dino legs become the arms, the tail hangs off the back, and the dino chest becomes large shoulder-claw armor bits. The only somewhat tricky part is that the sides of his entire body slide around the midsection during the transformation, and certain pieces have to be out of the way to properly do this. The end result is... well, let's just say the dino mode was certainly a priority for Slash. The big issue here is the sheer amount of dino mode extras hanging off. The feet are very obviously visible stuck on the back of the lower arms, the dino arms just hang off behind the shoulders unceremoniously, the entire tail section also hangs off the back (and way down behind Slash's lower legs), and the dino head sits behind his lower legs in a somewhat disjointed/fragmented but still obvious manner. (That said, the lower jaw half makes for a great heel on each foot, so Slash is pretty stable.) The rubbery plastic "fern" pieces on his upper back in dino mode also form some kind of weird fan pieces in front of his crotch, like some sort of fern-loincloth. The proportions are also slightly off in a few areas-- the arms are a bit short proportionallly, while the legs are a bit two-dimensional, being considerably wider from a side-on view than a front-on view. The waist is also a bit skinny. That said, having the dino stomach split into big claw-like pieces that fit over his shoulders was a stroke of genius, keeping this mode looking nice and "sharp", even if I wish they were painted black to match his dino claws. Slash's mold detailing on his robot mode pieces is a bit more "fossilized" in its look than in dino mode, with the armor plating on his chest actually looking like it has little nautilus-like swirls in it. He has the AoE Dinobot-standard "pointy knight shoes", and his head does look like a helmet, though not as obvious a one as on, say, Slug; the top of the head and his mouth are rather ridged like a shell, and he has a lone red visor that helps complete the look quite well. For weapons, the rubbery "feathers" under Slash's dino arms come off and form hand-held axes-- a creative usage of those pieces, and given that his dino arms aren't otherwise used in this mode, these weapons can be stored someplace other than Slash's fists in this mode. For articulation, Slash can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, waist rotation (limited because of the "ferns" in front and the tail in back), and movement at the hips, knees (at two points) and front-and-back a little at the toes. It should also be mentioned that because of the lack of clearance, Slash's elbow articulation also isn't very ranged-- thus, his articulation is okay, but not as good as you'd think from the list, given that and all the dino extras on his body.
    Dinobot Slash has an excellent velociraptor mode, with some fantastic mold detailing, a very unique look, and some "tropical" coloring that really makes him stand out on any shelf. His transformation is also quite inventive. That said, his robot mode pays for such a great dino mode, with lots of obnoxious kibble, some odd proportions here and there, and somewhat limited articulation in important places like the elbows. Because of said robot mode, overall he's my least favorite of the "mainline" AoE Dinobot molds.

Review by Beastbot

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