Slash and Burn

Even though I have gathered together a bunch of original TMNT toys over the last couple years, there was only one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy that I purchased when the original run of action figures were clogging the stores. While I'm simply fascinated by the late eighties/early nineties Playmates Turtles toyline now, and have been lucky enough to acquire quite the collection of heroes and villains in my secondary market travels and trades, during the time the toys were hanging on toy store shelves they did little to interest me. I didn't care about any of them.

Except for Slash:

When I stumbled upon Slash on the pegs back in 1990 I just had to have him; his design was a little 'something extra' above and beyond the normal and relatively simple turtle and villain action figures of the time. He was a total bad-ass! He had some rather brutal (albeit hot pink...the nineties, ladies and gentlemen) weapons and he looked mean. He's like a Bizarro-turtle, complete with backwards 'S' on his belt buckle! In fact, now that I type that, I bet Bizarro was the inspiration for this guy, and is probably why I found (and still find) him so appealing!

Beyond his look, I knew and still know nothing about Slash except that he's a bad guy. He's like the Boba Fett of TMNT (pre-prequels of course!)

I displayed Slash in my room for years, a solo yet loved representative of a toyline I completely ignored for years. Yet somehow over the years and the many times I have boxed up my stuff and moved I have lost my original Slash. This is especially odd because I tend to keep pretty good track of my toys and if/when I get rid of one it remains rather memorable in my little mind; and to add to the mystery I have come across his weapons floating all alone in a baggie recently...yet still no sign of Slash himself.

I have no recollection of selling him or of giving him away, so maybe he's buried in some random box to be discovered again in the far off future. Until then, thanks to Jboypacman from Revenge from the Cosmic Ark, I have this one to rejoin my ranks and further ignite what originally grabbed me about these silly little toys in the first place.

My original Slash had a black belt and a darker shade of yellow on his chest-shell; this one is a lighter yellow and has a hot pink belt (nineties again) and apparently is considered a relatively hard to find 'variant.' He also came with "Nasty Nunchuku, Mutant Mace, Razor-spiked Gnarly Knife and a Psycho Sai (this Slash is missing the nunchucks and gnarly knife, but as I previously stated, I have my originals around here...somewhere!)

Thanks again Jboy! Slash rocks!