Transformers Timelines: Slicer (BotCon 2010 Exclusive) Review

Transformers Timelines: Slicer (BotCon 2010 Exclusive)

Manufacturer: Hasbro
Brand: Transformers
Line: Timelines
Sub-Line: Generation 2: Redux
Size Class: Deluxe
Contents: Slicer x1
Spoiler x1
Gun x1
Missile Launcher x1
Missile x1
Tech Card x1
Instructions x1

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet”

What many people don’t realize about this scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is that during her monologue on the balcony Juliet is not actually asking where Romeo is, rather she is asking why his name has to be Romeo Montague. The true meaning of this scene comes forward when she goes on to say “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweat”. What she goes on to say is that if he were called by any other name wouldn’t he still be the same Romeo that she fell in love with? Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with Transformers, so let me ask of you this; “Slicer, Slicer, wherefore art thou Slicer? Would not a toy by any other name, like Shattered Glass Wheeljack, be just as sweat?”

“Now, Go Away, Or, I will Crush You a Second Time!”

Most Decepticons make violence their vocation, others see it as an art or a means to an end. For Slice, violence is everything. When confronted with a problem, he leaps into battle, lashing out with every weapon at his disposal until either he or his enemy is a smoldering wreck, even if that enemy is an uncooperative door. He loves smashing Autobots and humans but when confronted by other Decepticons, has a quick temper born of petty cruelty.

Slice followed Breakdown to Earth looking for new and interesting forms of ultra-violence. His Neuro-Centre Control Unit burned out after he landed in Toulon, France, sticking him with a thick French accent. He doesn’t mind. It gives him an excuse to start fights with friends and foes alike.

-Tech Card

Every year Fun Publications, in coordination with Hasbro, puts on on of the biggest Transformers conventions in the world. The convention, BotCon, touts a slew of exclusive figures each year that are highly sought after on the secondary market and usually command a premium price. This years convention was held at The Dolphin Resort in Disney World. Each year the figures have an overlying theme, and this years set was a re-visitation of Generation 2 characters aptly titled Generation 2: Redux. The full list of figures available this year are as follows:

Box Set:Included with Primus Package or $305 for Non-Attendees

Attendee Figure: Free to all Primus Package Attendees

Slicer

Souvenir Set #1: $79 (Limited to 1,500 sets)

Double Punch
Scorch
Shattered Glass Ravage

Souvenir Set #2: $72 (Limited to 1,500 sets)

Rapido
Cindersaur

Souvenir Set #3 (The Sharkticon Clones): $59 (Limited to 1,000 sets)

Slicer was the BotCon 2010 Attendee Figure that was given to everyone who bought the Primus Package and attended BotCon that year. Despite the bio given on his tech card, there is a bit of confusion as to who or what this figure is supposed to be; an homage to Generation 1 Action Master figure Slicer or Shattered Glass Wheeljack. The whole thing is kind of complicated, but I’ll try to explain it as best as I can.

Action Master Wheeljack & Slicer

BotCon Slicer is a repaint of the Energon Downshift mold. The interesting thing about this mold is that it was initially intended to be Wheeljack, but because that name had already been used for a character in the Armada/Energon/Cybertron Trilogy they chose to give this figure a new name and just let it stand as an “homage” Generation 1 Wheeljack. This alone makes it a perfect mold to repaint as Slicer because the original Action Master Slicer was just a repaint of the Generation 1 Action Master Wheeljack.

Shattered Glass Wheeljack

Now this is where some of the confusion begins. In 2008 the BotCon set’s theme was Shattered Glass. The premis behind the whole Shattered Glass theme was that it took place in an alternate universe where the Autobots were evil and the Decepticons were the good guys; the Autobots sported purple Autobot insignias and the Decepticons touted red Decepticon logos. Energon Downshift had an Autobot logo molded into his chest, and rather than remolding the figure to take the logo off, Fun Pub just painted the logo as a purple Autobot symbol. Fun Pub also put out comics to support the whole Shattered Glass mythos, one of which featured a Shattered Glass Wheeljack who looks a lot like BotCon Slicer.

Now that we’ve gotten all that stuff out of the way, lets break down the articulation of this figure. The ankles are articulated with a simple hinge that allows for about 80° of front-to-back motion (from standing to leaning forward like Michael Jackson in the Smooth Criminal video). In the knees you’ll find a single-hinge as well as swivel-point; the swivel-point allows for a full 360° of rotation while the hinge provides between 170° to 180° of movement depending on the orientation of the leg-kibble; 90° forward and 90° backward. The hips are also hinged, the hinge allows for 90° of side-to-side movement, however there is no point of articulation that allows for any type of forward motion.

The elbows are articulated with a single-hinge that provides roughly 90° of movement, from fully extended to half raised. In the shoulders there is a ball-joint as well as hinged movement. The ball-joint provides a full 360° of rotation, from front-to-back, while the hinge allows for about 90° of side-to-side motion. In robot mode the twin exhaust is fully visible on both arms, so as a little added bonus each of the tail pipes can flip down a full 90° to give the figure a bit of extra fire power during battle.

The head is mounted on a simple ball-joint. The head can be tilted slightly up or off to the side, however given the shape of the head and the rest of the stuff molded into the shoulders it can only be rotated about 45° from side-to-side.

Slicer has several peg-holes providing a variety of options when it comes to arming him. Each gun can be held separately in each hand, or mounted on the spoiler while he holds the spoiler. There are also peg-holes in his shoulders and legs that can be used to mount the guns in both robot mode and vehicle mode.

As I mentioned, in vehicle mode there are two points where the guns can be attached to the car; there are peg-holes in the front as well as the back. One of the features that I really like about the vehicle mode are the working Lamborghini-style doors; both can raise about 180° to completely open the driving area of the car.

Given the mold and character history, it’d be almost impossible to find another existing mold to repaint as Slicer, the paint applications are nice and do a good job of flushing out the homage to the Action Master figure.

There are a few things that have room for improvement, but given that it is an Energon-era figure it does deserve a bit of leeway. The limited articulation in this figure is a bit of a drawback, it would have been nice to have a bit of rotation in the wrists and ankles, and a swivel-point in the hips to provide a bit of forward motion in the legs would have done wonders to improve the poseability of this figure.

Overall this is a very nice figure. If you’re in the market for a “high-end” collectible figure then I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. Given that this was not just a BotCon figure, but that it was also only available to people who attended the convention, this figure is probably going to be a bit pricey on the secondary market. The prohibitive price is the only thing I can think of that would keep me from recommending this figure to everybody. This is probably going to end up being just out of reach of most casual collectors, and given that most collectible figures usually don’t actually get played with much I don’t see the poseability of this figure being a factor for many high-end collectors as much as how well the mold woks for the character; be it Slicer or SG Wheeljack.

Th0r4z1n3 Jul 29, 2010 Classics, TFCC Exclusives, Transformers

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