New Video Review of Transformers Studio Series 86 Leader Class Slag

He looks reeeeeally good. My only real complaints are that I'm not a fan of the red head (its cartoon accurate, though, so I get why they went with it), and the "accessories" could be better (would rather they had included a sword than a mediocre Daniel figure). Other than that, this is probably as good as they can get for a mass-released leader sized version of this character.

Especially glad he doesn't appear to have all the hollow gaps on him that the Grimlock had.

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:I don't think it matters too much to Hasbro when they throw these sets together with additional figures to fill out a price point. Obviously, having a thematic relationship would be preferred, but more often than not, it's not been the priority. Studio Series Shockwave came with Wheelie, Brains, and a paratrooper human figure just because they could stick them in there and still not exceed the Leader Class price point, not because they all shared an iconic scene together in Dark of the Moon. Or, look at Netflix Wave 1 Megatron, who came with two "Captive" Autobot Battle Masters, Lionizer and Pinpointer. That never happened in the show, but Hasbro thought it made for a good gift set, so why not? I think Grimlock being paired up with Wheelie is more of a serendipitous rarity than a rule when it comes to designing these sets.

I would also go 1 step further and say there is no guarantee that any other Leader Dinobots will even come with an extra figure. For Sludge and Snarl, each of their dino modes have some dino parts that will likely require a little more plastic than Grimlock and Slag did, particularly Sludge's neck and tail, and Snarl's spine plates. I can easily see those areas eating up all the available plastic for their molds.

This is true, and something to consider. Will be interesting to see if the rumour that Swoop is being sold as a voyager is right or not.

Man I hope that's not true. Swoop is as tall as the other dinobots, would be a shame to mess up the scale after being so diligent.

Well, there's not much of a height difference between Kingdom Voyager Cyclonus, and Leader Galvatron, maybe a centimeter or two? I don't really have a preference, but it could be that Swoop has far less mass/plastic parts, so they could make him a tall voyager, to scale with the other much beefier Dinobots.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:I don't think it matters too much to Hasbro when they throw these sets together with additional figures to fill out a price point. Obviously, having a thematic relationship would be preferred, but more often than not, it's not been the priority. Studio Series Shockwave came with Wheelie, Brains, and a paratrooper human figure just because they could stick them in there and still not exceed the Leader Class price point, not because they all shared an iconic scene together in Dark of the Moon. Or, look at Netflix Wave 1 Megatron, who came with two "Captive" Autobot Battle Masters, Lionizer and Pinpointer. That never happened in the show, but Hasbro thought it made for a good gift set, so why not? I think Grimlock being paired up with Wheelie is more of a serendipitous rarity than a rule when it comes to designing these sets.

I would also go 1 step further and say there is no guarantee that any other Leader Dinobots will even come with an extra figure. For Sludge and Snarl, each of their dino modes have some dino parts that will likely require a little more plastic than Grimlock and Slag did, particularly Sludge's neck and tail, and Snarl's spine plates. I can easily see those areas eating up all the available plastic for their molds.

This is true, and something to consider. Will be interesting to see if the rumour that Swoop is being sold as a voyager is right or not.

Man I hope that's not true. Swoop is as tall as the other dinobots, would be a shame to mess up the scale after being so diligent.

Well, there's not much of a height difference between Kingdom Voyager Cyclonus, and Leader Galvatron, maybe a centimeter or two? I don't really have a preference, but it could be that Swoop has far less mass/plastic parts, so they could make him a tall voyager, to scale with the other much beefier Dinobots.

The small height difference between Cyclonus and Galvatron is really more because Galvatron is a very short leader.

Can someone who has both SS86 Grimlock and one of the SS voyager Megatrons please post a comparison picture? SS Megs is about the upper limit on voyager size now, so a comparison would settle this once and for all.

Kingdom leader galvatron isnt even as tall as TR voyager galvatron? So yeagh hoping swoop is leader class too -they could include the swords with him and red horns and even the optional heads.

Slag looks really good, would have preferred some cthru plastic on his back lege or somewhere. No doubt toy/chromed versions will be done at some point though.

I don't care what anyone says, I think the head done in red looks incredible, and much better than the toy version.
Overall this looks great and is on par with what I'd expect from SS86.

Here's my critique:

Bot mode upper torso (the red portion) is a little wide.
The upper legs (like with other figures) could be a bit longer. And I mean just a tiny bit.
Enough to make him the exact same height as Grimlock.
The Parietal Bone (or frill) should be a bit larger.
I think it'll stand out even more in-hand, but I still think the Siege greebling is a overdone.
I know this subline has included movie-related gimmicks for figures such as Hot Rod and Kup, however, I'm not a fan of the weapon storage in the tail.
Hopefully a 3P will come up with an add-on set that makes a tail piece to finish the gold/yellow tail (and hopefully a sword).
So my dislike of gimmicks continues with the Daniel figure...
I don't even mind that these new Dinobots aren't coming with swords.
But leave out the waste of a little figure.
Use that plastic to ensure things such as solid plastic horns happen... In other words, make the main figure the best it can be.
Especially considering most people interested in this figure don't need or want a pack-in figure.
Those on the fence about this character won't necessarily be persuaded by the pack-in figure.
In fact for some, I'm betting they'll end up passing on this guy because they can't see justifying $50 when the figure could be a bit better, and they have no interest in a faceless figure stuck in a sitting pose.

For me, despite my critical points, I am very happy with how this Slag looks, transforms, etc.
Yeah, the dino mode could be a little better, but relatively speaking it's still very good, and the bot mode is really on point.
This is one of those cases where if and when the next Slag is released-- IF it's not an MP version --any improvements most likely won't be enough for me to buy it.
And if the figure itself suffers from whichever inevitable gimmick Hastak plans to throw-in for a future line, then imo there's no way a better version will happen in the handful of years left that I plan to be collecting.

I know it's going to take a little patience, but in the next year or so it's going to be really exciting to eventually see 5 G1 leader class Dinobots on the same shelf...
Talk about making me feel like a kid!!!

Cyber Bishop wrote:I love it and I will get him on sight..

Me too. And since I think Grimlock should be taller than Slag, he'll be going next to my MP Grimlock.

daedalus25 wrote: But seriously, have you seen the artwork that came with those toys?

Have you seen the crappy artwork in the cartoon? Why do you guys worship the cartoon so much? A lot of the changes in the cartoon were completely unnecessary. Transformers are robots. Most of the G1 toys had robot faces. What was the point of changing them to human faces? Was Bumblebee's original toy face really so horrible that they needed to change it into a stupid looking human face???

Better yet, explain to me why Slag needed to have the color of his head changed? What possible purpose did it serve? To me, it seems like a totally unnecessary & pointless change. All the other Dinobots were just fine with black heads & silver faces. What was it about Slag that made black & silver not work & require a change? Why did somebody look at Slag & say "You know what? That doesn't work! We need to totally change the color of his head"???

A lot of the changes in the G1 cartoon make no sense. I understand why they changed Ratchet, Ironhide & Jetfire. But all the others? Nope! Totally unnecessary. Most of them didn't need to be changed at all. Especially poor Trailbreaker. Trailbreaker got the dumbest looking face in the cartoon. Compare it to the awesome robot face on the original toy.

it looks good to me
i think next will be sludge because
grimlock, slag and sludge were the first ones made in the show

Sowndwave76 wrote:In terms of Slag’s head/face... My best guess is to add in a little variety? Swoop’s head was Red & Light Gray...
Maybe someone thought more Red amongst the group would look good.
But either way, that’s the point— someone DID think it looked good.

Considering the *ahem* quality of the cartoon, it's more likely that the face was originally meant to be silver to differentiate from his helmet. This is the same cartoon that accidentally swapped Frenzy and Rumble's character sheets and sparked the endless debate.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Nuclearxpotato wrote:Considering the *ahem* quality of the cartoon, it's more likely that the face was originally meant to be silver to differentiate from his helmet. This is the same cartoon that accidentally swapped Frenzy and Rumble's character sheets and sparked the endless debate.

You bring up an excellent point.

New rule! Anyone so beholden to the cartoon appearances better be calling their blue cassette guy Rumble and their red one Frenzy. The cartoon appearance is the bible after all...

You say that like people who go by the cartoon don't already do that.