Mega Bloks TMNT Blind Bag Series 2 SLASH!

The Mega Bloks Nicktoon TMNT Blind Bag minifigs have already made it to wave 2, and the best figure of the bunch so far is Slash!

Of the two blind bagged series, I have thus far only picked up one from each (Raphael from series 1 and Slash from series 2). I'm trying to keep to my absolute favorite characters and have been lucky enough to find each series and squeeze until I found my needed figures.

Slash is pretty easy to find using the squeeze method; he has a huge torso with a spiky shell and you can double check for his mace as well to be sure you have the right figure.

Along with the Fully Disclosed Box TMNT 2 movie Casey Jones, I now have three TMNT Mega Bloks minifigs. They're all pretty cool, but I'm a much bigger fan of the classic toon, movie and comic versions of the turtles and their pals than of modern iterations, so it's been pretty easy to pace myself with these little things. I'd love to see Mega Bloks release some minifigs based on the classic action figure designs, that would be pretty Bossa Nova!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Half Shell Heroes Slash

Slash has long been a favorite TMNT character of mine. When I heard he would be appearing as part of the Half Shell Heroes line I knew I had to track him down!

This is of course the modern Nickelodeon cartoon version of Slash - he's quite a bit different from the original version, but still retains enough of the Bizarro Ninja Turtle vibe to be cool!

Slash comes in a two-figure set with Baxter Fly (more on him later this week). True to Half Shell Heroes form, any figure with a weapon has it permanently molded into the hand. I understand the safety regulations that probably make this a necessity, and not including weapons (at least for the 'big four') is out of the question as each Ninja Turtle is defined by his ninja weapon of choice, but it's a little disappointing in execution. In fact, I have avoided getting my favorite Ninja Turtle (Raphael) in Half Shell Hero form because his sai are molded with plastic between the barbs. Safety shmafety, just give him rounded sai and be done with it! Or make Raph without his sai. I'd rather have him sai-less than with weird webbed sai. Besides, kids have been playing with ninja turtles for years and I have not heard of a single instance of anyone poking their eye out on a plastic sai.

*climbs down from soapbox.

In Slash's instance, to hold the permanent mace his right arm has been sculpted at a weird angle. It limits posing to some extent, but then again he does look pretty brutal with that spiked mace!

Designed to compete with Fisher-Price's Imaginext and Playskool's Marvel Super Hero Adventures lines, Half Shell Heroes are Playmate's entry in the pre-school geared action figure game. Scale-wise he looks just right standing next to Batman and Spider-Man, although he may be a little shorter than he is in the current cartoon. Obviously these guys will all fit just fine into each others' playsets and vehicles, which is pretty awesome when you think about a kid having Batman, Spider-Man and the Ninja Turtles team up to battle Shredder, Joker and Green Goblin. It warms my heart!

The prototype pics showed a little more paint on this guy (par for the Playmates course) but he's painted well enough and basic enough in design to not feel too plain or drab. His shoulders swivel and his legs both rotate up and down together - just like Imaginext figures. I'm not sure if his head is supposed to turn or not but mine doesn't and I don't want to force it and break it.

One final observation - it's hilarious to me that this tiny guy's head is so much larger than the head of the standard pin-headed Nickelodeon Slash action figure. Someone needs to do a head-swap!

Nickelodeon's TMNT Slash Action Figure :: Turtle Power!

Slash has always been one of my favorite TMNT characters. I love the Edward Hyde/Bizarro aspect of the character, the mad twisted tweak on the cuddly loveable Turtle Teens.

So when I learned Slash would appear in the Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon, and that he would later appear as an action figure, I was pretty stoked.

At first I was unhappy with the action figure's shortcomings, and had decided to pass on him. But Toys R Us is having a 'Buy one, get one 40% off' TMNT sale, and since I was buying Newtralizer I decided to nab Slash anyways.

I am glad I did.

I admit, the pin-headed design isn't my favorite. And of course it has been said time and again (even by me) that Playmates' non-turtle TMNT action figures fall short in many ways (paint apps, articulation, accessories...you name it.)

But I took a step back from the toy collector mentality for a minute and realized a few things: primarily, if 'OtherToyCo.' was in charge of the TMNT license, they would be asking upwards of $20 plus for these guys. And while you might get slightly more articulation, or perhaps more paint apps, there would still be plenty of issues to complain about. PLENTY! And would you really be getting more/better for your more money? I say thee 'nay.'

So is Slash perfect? Heck no. But at BOGO 40% off he and Newtralizer came to about $6.30 each, and that's simply incredible in this day and age. Heck, $8.99 for a figure this size is incredible this day and age, especially for a licensed property. Playmates keeps these guys at around $8.99, sells them everywhere, has yet to release an impossible to find anything, and stores stay well stocked and have sales all the time.

All that considered, I just can't complain about Playmates handling of TMNT action figures anymore. I will continue to like/dislike character designs and whatnot, which is anyone's prerogative, but I'm absolutely okay with how the toyline is being handled and how many kids it is able to reach at this price-point while still (somewhat) appeasing old jaded toy collectors at the same time.

Nickelodeon Slash is scaled smaller than he appears in the cartoon, but his scale works well next to the original Slash. And having grown up a Transformers/GoBots fan, scale is just something you had to let go of. In the Transformer world, Semi trucks are larger than jet fighters, and cassette players are even larger than that! Scale, shmale - who needs it?

Modern Slash comes with one weapon: a nice, solid mace.

There are currently two paint variations on the modern Slash. The one I picked up has yellow paint apps on his chest. The other available version lacks this paint app and instead has the paint applied to small spikes on his left shoulder. I've seen both versions in person, and although it's a small thing, I prefer this one. Your mileage may vary, or you might not care either way, but something to consider if you are in the market for Slash.

"Paradise!"

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!