![]() ![]() Possibly my biggest pet peeve with this release starts here as every limb and accessory for this guy is held down by an annoying, plastic, tie-down. Slash comes on a plastic tray that is easily removed from the box, if you want to preserve it, and the backdrop is that of his home world, if I’m not mistaken. Of course, ultimately the box is just trash that houses the action figure and mine has been ripped open, but I still think the box is pretty cool. It’s great to see NECA continue to seek out an authentic artist for these lines as it really does add to the presentation. All of the art is done by former Archie artist Kevin Mitchroney who also previously worked on the San Diego Comic Con exclusive carrying case from a few years back. It’s in the same shape as the Fugitoid and Loot Crate Claw Shredder packaging which is that of a trapezoid and features a window display on the front with artwork on the sides and product shots on the rear. Since this is the first in a new subline from NECA, we should talk a little about the box. This figure shares most of its anatomy with the previously released Tokka. They have been saying similar things about April for awhile too so I certainly wouldn’t hold your breath, but as the toon line gets further into deep cut territory it wouldn’t shock me to see a fan favorite like Slash revisited once again. TMNT brand director for NECA, Trevor Zammit, has even indicated they may redo the cartoon version on this body. It’s amusing to me because in the vintage Playmates line, Tokka was basically a repurposed Slash so the cycle is complete! This body though gives Slash that thicker, more physically imposing, appearance that I think fans wanted from the other figures. NECA seems to have heard that criticism from the fanbase as this version of Slash is on the newer Tokka base body. He doesn’t necessarily need to be taller than the turtles, but he should have more mass. I like both interpretations of the character, but my main criticism with each release was that Slash was too small. They have done two versions of the character already, one for the video game and one for the cartoon, but both utilized the standard ninja turtle mold. Slash, being a popular character within the fanbase, makes some sense as NECA’s debut in the Archie universe. Per usual, NECA went all out with the artwork on the box hiring former TMNT Adventures artist Kevin Mitchroney to handle things. His debut was in an issue of the series written by Stephen Murphy, though I can’t find a credit for who actually created the character, but many on the Archie staff were unhappy with how the Mutanimals characters were treated when brought over to the cartoon and I assume Slash was no exception. A lot of other takes on the character seem to have followed suit where Slash will start off as an adversary before becoming more ambiguous and even heroic. Not really knowing how evil Krang was, Slash helped him and was introduced as a villain to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but he’d eventually come to realize that Krang was no friend of his and was taken in by the Mighty Mutanimals which basically made him a good guy. His home world was destroyed by industrialists which essentially sent him into a frenzy that landed him in an intergalactic prison of sorts where he befriended Krang. Slash as he was presented in the comics was a little more nuanced. It likely made sense to someone in marketing to basically have an anti-ninja turtle in the ranks of the bad guys and that toy set the stage for the character’s introduction in the show, even though toon Slash would end up being quite different as far as temperament goes. That figure is based on the Playmates release which really honed in on Slash’s debut where he was more bad guy than good. Slash is someone we’ve talked about recently as Super7 just sent out their take on the beastly snapping turtle. One of the most popular characters to debut in this fashion has been the sometimes evil mutant, sometimes alien, turtle Slash! It’s through this comic that many characters fans would come to enjoy in both the Playmates toyline and the show actually originated. These comics started off as adaptations of the show, but soon went their own way. The cartoon is, by far, the most popular and successful it would seem and a natural complement to that television show is the line of comics released by Archie while the show was in production titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. NECA started first with doing figures based on the original comic appearance of the turtles in the Mirage Studios series which has lead to video game, movie, and cartoon adaptations. The big, bad, alien, turtle is here to kick some ass!Īs NECA continues to find success with its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines of action figures, the company has sought to branch out beyond the usual source material in an effort to give collectors more of what they want and also likely to just keep the hype train rolling. ![]()
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