"Alpha Trion Slag: Uses his strength to stop conflict, not incite it"
Round 2 of the Power of the Primes vs Age of Extinction Dinosaurs. A battle of the Triceratops. Unfortunately, this week has been pretty busy for me, hence going back to the random images found online. Paid employment hunting comes first, sorry. I should also state that yes, I know its an inappropriate word in Europe, but from here on out, I'm calling them Slag. And to get something out of the way, Pteradon does not mean Flying Dinosaur, but rather Flying Reptile. You can thank rushed, unchecked research on that one. With that out of the way, let's get to the review.
Starting with PotP Slag's dino mode and he does do a lot better then Swoop does in terms of a convincing dino mode (for the record, I know Swoop's kibble is a holdover from the G1 toy, I brought it up as a complaint about people who want the Pteradon transformer as a metal Pteradon. Naturally, it's not an issue who like the G1 toy's design). While it still wouldn't fool anyone with half a brain into believing he's a Triceratops, the robot mode is very well hidden. The most kibble he has without accessorizing is the Robot mode feet masquerading as back mounted air vents. Like with Swoop though (and is probably a reoccurring trend for the other deluxes) is the accessories, because the combiner hand has nowhere really to go that even remotely works, and the gun... is a Transformers gun, they don't often store well. In terms of posing, the rear legs are pretty stationary as all they have are swivels whereas the front legs have robot arm articulation (I wonder why...). The mouth can also open, but due to the way he transforms, Hasbro gave his jaw a pseudo ratchet joint so there's no clean way to have his mouth open without having his jaw. Overall though, its a solid effort from the adorable dino. Articulation's fine, paint work's great, just wish he had a better jaw. Now let's see what his edgier brother's up to.
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| This is the retail release (Takara I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) of the figure, the robot mode picture I have does show the colors of the version I have as it, like Strafe, are more muted, based off the movie, not needing to be bright to sell toys. |
And... well... edgy's an understatement. Age of Extinction Slag is certainly a nastier looking dino then PotP's is, pulling off the intimidation factor a lot better then Strafe did and makes him look more dangerous then what we currently believe the dinosaurs looked like. Unfortunately, he's more bark than bite as he ain't going anywhere, and no (quite frankly, amazing) paint is going to change that. Due to molding, the front legs can only go forwards at the... um... front thighs? I don't know animals very well... Moving on, the lower half of the legs can only bend forward as well making it impossible to even try and fake a walking pose for them. Sad thing is that the back legs are somehow worse as the only thing moving on those are the hinged dino feet. Jaw at least works a lot better then PotP's Slag and both the tail and the dino head even have some movement in them thanks to transformation joints, but the dino head will expose the robot head.
While PotP's Swoop pulled off some interesting tricks to get the combiner limbs to work, Slag kinda brings his C game for the combined mode. The Leg mode for Slag just looks like a folded up Triceratops with a missing tail and broken to the point of a head dangling neck (it's not, of course, it's just the impression I get from it). The arm mode configuration is also kinda basic as while Swoop did at least try to hide the fact that arm modes are normally just a half transformed robot with a peg coming out of its chest, Slag just runs with it. You don't even need to do anything to the front half of the body to get it from Leg mode to Arm mode. The dino tail does do a decent job at hiding the big gap that forms in the "totally not the robot mode shins" as that's where the "totally not robot mode thighs" go in dino mode. I've said all that I need to say about the new hands in the Swoop v Strafe review, go there if you're curious because its the exact same hand here, just without the special tabs in the thumbs for the sake of Swoop's robot mode.
I will give AoE Slag credit for one thing. He has working elbows that don't require a sacrifice of the hands (something I can't say about at least two more AoE Dinobots on the review chopping block). However, Bayformers giveth to their designs, and they taketh away because there are problems with the robot mode, and a lot of it comes down to kibble. The AoE toy designers must have been big fans of Beast Wars because kibble's on the menu for a lot of them. Lets go bottom up, remember those unmoving hind legs in dino mode, well they're the robot mode legs and while they sport average articulation, those thick, unmoving hind legs just lead to robot mode shins bigger than the thighs and sculpted in a kinda awkward way when you look at him from the side, something I find easy to do cause my copy has a loose waist swivel. The tail also folds up in an awkward way, giving him either a backpack that sticks out a lot, even though the tail looks like it could go on top of the spine or a butt flap long enough for you to might as well not fold up and give the robot mode a tail. He's got two transformation hinges that let you curl his arms closer, to give something like a bodybuilding pose, but the arms have limited backward movement thanks to those useless front legs of the dino mode. Seriously those legs are fraging useless. Splitting the dino head to use for shoulders looks cool, but one personal problem they and the tail have is that they're made of rubber and unfortunately when I got mine, the rubber for one half of the main horn was breaking (probably in transit, as this was second hand) and is delicate now as a result. The robot head is ok, nice silver plastic on it, but lacks any form of personality due to the whole knight motief. It kinda looks like a knight from a video game found some dino parts and designed to use it as armor. He's also got too much paint on him for the "everything piping" that Strafe had going for him. The frustrating thing about this Slag though is that almost every compromise they had to make to the toy just seems to act as a domino effect. The hind legs don't move for the sake of the robot, but now gives the robot really thick shins and an awkward bone structure. The dino's front legs can't move because of the robot mode arms being the dino's belly, but the robot arms struggle with movement because of the unmoving dino legs in robot mode. He just can't catch a break, can he?
PotP's Slag's robot mode, by comparison, is far cleaner, arguably too clean for G1 fans. A common bit of kibble all the Dinobots had were these wings that came from the front half of the dino mode, which Slag's missing here. It's not a deal breaker for a lot of people, myself included as the only issue that comes from it is that Slag's a little fatter on the hips. He handles his love handles better then Skullsmasher does (no idea why he's the next character for Earth Wars). The Leg engineering is simple, yet effective as the rear dino legs connect to a secret panel that act's as an extra bit of heel support. On my copy of the toy, the legs are actually really tight so he'll be great in the combined mode in terms of carrying something (wish the base toy came with something for that, but more on that when I get to Grimlock). Arms are traditional arms for the deluxe class (ball joint shoulders, bicep swivel, elbow hinge) and while the solid looking head sculpt has a neck swivel, due to the fact that it's in the dino's mouth, its a pain to move. At least the dino jaw covers up the Combiner plug and has a port for the Prime Armour... which look just as stupid on Slag as it does Swoop.
Which one's the best of the two? Honestly? While he has some junk problems, I have to give it to AoE Slag. Power of the Primes Slag, while still having the excuse of being a combiner limb, feels really generic to me in terms of engineering, plays it safe. While with AoE, yeah the kibble's a nightmare but at least it's a more impressive transformation. I also feel kinda sorry for AoE Slag just due to all the kibble. I'd genuinely love a Voyager class AoE Slag, just to see how the engineering is improved thanks to the bigger size. I heard it went well for Scorn (I can't judge because I don't have a Last Knight Scorn). Anyway, up next is the king himself, a battle of the Grimlocks. For the main site though, the most recent review you can find here: https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/pokemon-mystery-dungeon-gates-to.html and up next for there is Fire Emblem Warriors.
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