If you have loose ratchets make sure they didn’t install the tooth that gives the ratcheting effect in upside down. I had two of them this way which required glue to resolve since having them upside down also broke them when the leg was moved
I was wondering why the right leg on my first Slug broke. Didn’t realize the piece had been put in upside down even after I opened the leg up.
Wow, deep cut / good memory there. Yes, I'll have to say it has, though technically SS86 Grimlock outdid FOC Grimlock, which previously outdid Energon Grimlock in my personal world of stuff.
So I finally got mine delivered from Hasbro Pulse yesterday after finally giving up on trying to find the blasted thing in the wild. I love the figure. Both modes are fun and intuitive. I just finally happy to have him in hand.
Out of the box mine had basically zero friction in the elbows, and his wrist hinges were floppy as well. Luckily just needed to tighten up everything with a screwdriver (thank God they used screws) and it's fine now. The figure is fine, it's nothing too special, and I think the dino mode proportions are downright goofy (albeit accurate), I guess I just got him to complete a large-scale Dinobot team. Grimlock felt a bit more impactful in both modes.
yeah he's got these proportions going on for him. looks soooo weird whilst also being half potato. the funny thing though I just notice OG Slag had the same exact proportions.
My copy (via Macy's) arrived earlier today. Flaws with my copy: There is some "slop/play" in both of the lower knee ratchets but, I'm fairly certain all copies have that due to an engineering flaw. The lower left (your right if face to face) knee ratchet works but, it's loose (nothing is broken & the "floating" piece was installed correctly). How to potentially fix loose lower knee ratchets (if nothing is broken): I'm surprised that no one has tried/mentioned this yet. If you have a loose lower knee ratchet: Remove the two screws holding the lower leg together, then take it apart. Remove the two screws holding the thigh together, then take it apart. Swap the "floating" pieces (these are the light grey pieces with a single "tooth" that strike the red ratchet "teeth"). Yes, they might look slightly different (the lower knee ratchet ends are slightly asymmetrical for some reason) but, they are interchangeable. Make sure that the "floating" piece's "tooth" is pointing towards the red ratchet "teeth" (it should look like how alligator/crocodile/dinosaur teeth interlock) when you install them. Reassemble the thigh and then reassemble the lower leg. You're done. You should now have a stronger lower knee ratchet and, a slightly weaker upper knee ratchet. The slightly weaker upper knee ratchet shouldn't be an issue since a lot of people feel like the upper knee ratchets are far too strong. However, you might not like how the upper knee ratchet moving easier feels (especially when you're only trying to move the lower knee ratchet). The upper knee ratchet shouldn't be weak, it's just going to feel different if you're used to the default assembly from the factory. Swpping the "flaoting" pieces is really the easiest option until someone makes replacement parts that strengthen the lower knee ratchets while removing the "slop/play" in them. Engineering flaws: The tolerances vary wildly on the "floating" pieces for the knee ratchets. They need to have less of a concave bow and/or a slightly longer "tooth". There is "slop/play" in the lower knee ratchets. It will still be present even if you swap in the "floating" pieces from the upper knee ratchets and, swapping a weaker "floating" piece into the upper knee ratchet will not introduce "slop/play" there. That means it's either a design flaw with the location of the retention walls in the lower leg for the "floating" pieces and/or there is a design flaw with the size of the red lower knee ratchet. The backpack needs to "lock" in better. Mine will not "lock" in like mtblanks 's copy does in these photos. I have to have the "vents" level to the waist to have any hope of a secure connection. The step of the tail hinge assembly transformation (where it tabs into the the lower legs) for the alt mode is extremely awkward/cumbersome. The tab on the tail hinge assembly that is supposed to "pop" under the notch on the tail's gold painted plastic section is absolute hell. It leads me to believe that it's supposed to stop the tail from going past its actual alt mode position (tucked under the gold painted plastic instead of sitting on top of it) and that the tail is supposed to point up to the sky in robot mode (which looks terrible). Based on that, I feel like someone realized it would look a lot better in robot mode if the tail swung the other way (like it does in the stock images) but, everyone forgot to change/reduce the tab on the tail hinge assembly so that the tail could easily "lock" into the alt mode position easily from either direction. The robot mode needs larger heel spurs because the toy is extremely top/back heavy. There is no ankle front/back tilt and that helps immensely when it comes to posing/balancing larger toys (especially when they are top/back heavy). Also, Cyberverse deluxe BAF Megatron sort of set the bar for how ankle articulation should work on all size classes because you do some amazing leg angles with that toy. Aesthetics flaws: The chest/shoulders in robot mode is vastly broader than they should be (specifically the double hinged red sections) but, that was the trade-off to have an adequately wide alt mode. The tail shouldn't be on the backpack but, the Sunbow animation cheated and made the tail and a lot of other stuff vanish into thin air. However, it had to go somewhere and there isn't really a spot on the back of the lower legs (so it could also act as a large heel spur (for counterbalance) with the existing leg transformation (unless there were visible hinges everywhere and ankle rocking would likely block the lower knee ratchets even if the tail collapsed/telescoped some). What it did well: The robot mode legs look fantastic. It's pretty neat that you can choose not to collapse the rear alt mode legs/thighs so that you can mimic the look of the G1 toy. The alt mode and the robot mode both look great. It can actually get some pretty decent dynamic poses in robot mode (as long as you are willing to let the upper torso angle forward for counterbalance). I know that this section is super short but, it's meant to highlight the outstanding aspects of the toy and it's not intended to balance out a cons vs pros list. Closing thoughts (purchase): I don't regret this purchase even though it's not as "nice" as SS86 Grimlock is. It almost feels/looks like it was designed before SS86 Grimlock was but they chose to lead with SS86 Grimlock because it was going to sell better and set off an avalanche of "all in" while SS86 Slag would have set off a chain reaction of "I'll wait to see how the others look" if Hasbro/TakaraTomy had lead with it. However, SS86 Slag has a more solid/complete look to it's alt mode than SS86 Grimlock does. The robot legs in SS86 Grimlock's alt mode just don't sit flush nor look nearly as refined as SS86 Slag's do. Essentially, SS86 Grimlock has some quirks in the alt mode to avoid any in the robot mode and SS86 Slag has quirks in the robot mode to avoid having any in the alt mode.
I think visually/aesthetically Slag looks amazing. Both robot and dino modes look exactly how they should (though one could argue that the proportions and legs of the dino mode could have been improved slightly). He certainly has presence and looks really good next to Grimlock. I like his weapon storage in his tail. Basically, everything which can be seen in photos or videos looks good. In hand, though, it's another story. First of all many of his joints are not fun to manipulate. His shoulders and waist are too stiff and his knees neither sound nor feel good. They nailed all of this in Grimlock, I really don't understand why they couldn't use similar joints with Slag. Transformation is not enjoyable. At least on my copy the chest pieces are way too tight and a real chore to move. Parts don't always line up when turning and collapsing the legs. The tail assembly gets in the way and for the cherry on top, the little tail tabs need to be lined up with the leg slots. One false move and the tail assembly comes undone. Otherwise I do like the way his hind legs fold up into his robot legs. All in all, despite his looks I really don't look forwards to transforming and posing Slag. Which means I might sell him. A shame, since I was hoping to have all the Dinobots. I hope I'm not missing something, like some specific way to open and close his two chest halves.
I LOVE the Slug toy. It's amazing. I want to talk about just how annoyed I am at this Daniel Witwicky toy. This *IS* Studio Series, right? Recreating scenes from The Movie™, ya? Daniel went with Ultra Magnus' ship, and they ended up on the Junk planet. The Dinobots were on Quentessa. Get your shit straight, HasTak! Geez. What would have been best would be including the Quintesson Prosecutor with Slag, so we can recreate the "Excuse me!" scene, and maybe the Quintesson Executor could have been included in the Pit Of Judgment set. Anyway, the main reason I'm upset about his inclusion here is because the Exo Suit clearly could have been a transforming Core Class figure, and might have been designed as one. I fully expect to see this mold again, but better. The head dome is a separate piece, easy to mold in clear plastic, and could potentially house a small human head. It is easily removable, just take the single screw out of the back. I'm trying to think of anything that might be a good source of cheap clear plastic shaped correctly for replacing the dome. EDIT: there's even detail molded into the insides of the "dome risers". Come on. Why wasn't this a clear dome with a head?
Despite being adamant that I wasn't going to rebuy the Dinobots, after being so pleased with SS Grimlock that I got at Target for $35 thanks to a circle coupon and a discount, with a good coupon expiring tomorrow and having Slug in hand, I picked him up today; I had planned on getting just Grimlock, Sludge, and Swoop from the SS line but at this point, I may as well. I had him in hand in person and I had a pretty good coupon expiring. He wasn't as cheap as Grimlock (Slug came from Meijers, so the reward and coupon combo wasn't as good), but here I am. So I guess I'm rebuying the Dinobots since it would be weird not to get Snarl at this point if I'm getting the rest. Sadly, as others have noted, Slag isn't nearly as good as Grimlock. Both in terms of design of the transformation and execution of the final product. I guess I'm somewhat fortunate in that having loose knees, that's really it and with some tightening of the screws it's not even that bad though the backpack sections are looser than I'd like, but as an overall just doesn't feel as incredible as Grimlock in any way except size. He certainly is a beefy boy. "Daniel" is such a superfluous piece too. I'm hoping future Dinobots are more like Grimlock and less like Slag.
I didn't realize that the 3rd party and aftermarket "hip upgrade kit" for SS86 Slag comes with replacement "floating" pieces for the lower knee ratchets. I thought they were for the hips (which seemed odd since those are pinned with a large smooth head pin). The hip upgrade pieces just plug in like a gap filler which both strengthens their grip and fills the gap they plug into. I guess I'll grab one of these when I grab the KBW Waspinator "strengthener" upgrade piece (so that the chest actually "locks" into the/onto the hinge assembly) and a pair of the translucent orange smokestack/pipes/exhaust blast effect KO for Kingdom Rodimus Prime next weekend. New Joint Strengthening Upgrade Kit For SS86 Slag | eBay
Hey what is the deal with Slag's head just being held up by friction...did they do that on purpose. Am I missing something? I'm worried eventually that the hinge just gives out and becomes droopy? I'm wondering if they botched the design, it looks like the chest was supposed to lock the head flap in?
I've had two copies of this figure the first one the chest did not tab in all the way and this was an issue, on the second copy the chess piece pushes back all the way and provides a very small amount of friction that keeps that in place pretty well
It's probably for neck articulation to allow the head to look up and down. This is a case where they should have just used an older ball joint design (e.g. KBW Airazor/Skywarp) that had a relief cut out in the head for the stem/post of the neck since you can't see the back of the robot head because of the alt mode's head that forms a "hood/cowl". Having a panel that holds the neck/head which doesn't look into place is becoming far too common.
Thanks for sharing that link! My figure had that lower knee ratchet break after like the 2nd time I transformed it. I was debating returning it since the joint still has enough friction to hold the figure up and pose (somewhat) and its mostly in Dino mode anyways.. but this would be nice to pick up. Anyone have any experience with this kit and know of anywhere that only sells the knee joint?
