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Non-affiliated, Non-lengthy, Non-articles about Transformers

Saturday 8 March 2014

Canadian G1 "Red Slag"


If you're interested in time-honoured, well-known, much-loved vintage Generation 1 Transformers variants that seem to have been around longer than the hobby itself, you won't get much better than the Hasbro Canada late 1984 release of Dinobot Flamethrower Slag, or "Scories" as he was called on the Canadian packaging. Often considered cartoon-accurate (although he isn't completely), 'Red Slag' seems to become more popular as the years go by as folks take the opportunity to polish up certain corners of their near-complete G1 collections. Inevitably, its price has gone up too.


Canadian G1 Red Slag

Certain GiG Diaclone Triceratops have the same scheme - and moulding

The 'Red Slag' has a few very easily identifiable distinguishing features that make it as popular as it is. The name implies that its the increased amount of red on the figure compared to the regular G1 Slag that makes it special, but that's not the whole story.

One of a couple Canadian Slag variants

The Red Slag - the famous one - also has a silver robot face, and white robot legs which provide a massive part of the successful contrast that makes this variant so appealing. The red parts are important too of course, you've got the red robot helmet, red fists, red 'spine' and incredibly-tough-to-replace red missile launcher. 

Easy to see why it's called "Red"

It's interesting to note that the late 1984 GiG Italian Diaclone Dinosaur Robo Triceratops also came in this exact colour scheme with the same copyright, but also another version with silver horns. Canada itself got another Canadian Slag too, with black legs but some features of this "Red Slag" as well. Then there was the standard Hasbro Slag that is most common in Canada.


That launcher is a $100 accessory easily

One of the things that stops this being 100% cartoon accurate is the fact that his face is not 100% red like cartoon Slag, but this looks better in my opinion, easily the nicest colour scheme this mould ever enjoyed. It's also the colour scheme of the Hasbro mock-up protos that can be seen in the earlier catalogue photography and on all Hasbro G1 Slag boxes. It's basically Hasbro photo-shoot Slag colours. Photo-shoot Slag, heh...

Standard vs Red G1 Slag

Allow for heavy chrome wear on standard specimen when comparing

Because the Red Slag is an early Dinobot release, it has certain features like pointier thinner missile tips, and the box has 1984 box artwork on the rear. There is also no "Transformers" in a thin black box above the name/function bar(s) on the box front, those started being added to 1985 series 2 Transformers boxes. The red spine on the Canadian variant means that it's pretty easy to spot this toy in dinosaur mode, the hinge halfway up his back is red as opposed to the more common black on normal G1 Slag.

Yesterday's Heroes

Still a group of headturners

As mentioned before, Red Slag is an oldskool G1 variant that seems to have been known about forever, part of the fabric of early Transformers rarities like the European Red Tracks, Black Mexican Prowl and even the Diaclone Blue Bluestreak. I've really never been a big fan of the Dinobot toys or characters, as some UK collectors commented recently, it can be hard to understand why anyone unfamiliar with vintage Transformers comics could find them appealing based solely on their cartoon personas. 

FansToys have done their homework

But, appealing it is, and - if you can believe it - even moreso in hand. I believe FansToys have launched their FT-04 Scoria range with the most appealing scheme of the lot for this character, but as usual it depends on your point of entry. Comic and toy-centric fans may prefer the regular black-helmet look for Scoria/Slag, Sunbow cartoon lovers may wish for an all red face, and as a variant collector originally, this is the scheme I most prefer.

2014 is definitely the year of the Dinobot, and the spotlight is on Slag.

Slag - Scories - Scoria...now Slug?

All the best
Maz


11 comments:

  1. I've been actively searching for one of these since I saw him on Heroic Decepticon's blog last year. I have no idea what they go for, but I want one.

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    1. They used to be more common before collectors became generally aware and started hiding them away in their collections. Nowadays they start at about $200 loose even incomplete if buying from a knowledgeable collector.

      All the best
      Maz

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    2. hey Optimal, it seems that in addition to the "poison" from my blog, now you get to be poisoned by Maz's articles and blog as well! =)

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  2. Oh, IDW, stop it with the "Slug" silliness. This is "Slag" and will forever be Slag!

    I love this variant of Slag. It's not rare by any means, but its also tricky to find though. Finding it MISB in a Canadian box however, would be a whole new level of challenge!

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    1. Too right! I thought it was a liiiiitle bit clumsy how it was handled in Dark Cybertron, I thought it was done with much more tongue-in-cheek intelligence in Transformers Animated season 3 where they had to go with "Snarl" instead of "Slag"!

      Agreed, MISB red Slag - total mega-rarity.

      All the best
      Maz

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  3. There is a third Canadian Slag variant, with white legs and black everywhere else, I have owned two of that variant now, and subsequently sold them to close friends that are more into variants than I, all I wanted was the full red and white lol. Optimal got it three ways, since one of my first posts was about him too. haha. Poor guy.

    You guys have no idea how many people have asked me to find them one of these for their collections. H D is right, they aren't that rare, especially around here. I think I've had five in my possession in the last year and a bit. The last one was sold a couple weeks ago, it stuck around a while, but the owner wanted a pretty hefty price for it, and he got it.

    Great write up Maz. Still one of my favorite Canadian pieces along with my error box Superion gift set

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    1. A third one, I should have guessed! You are putting yourself out there as the fandom's Red Slag go-to person, be careful haha!

      Cheers Bryce, my favourite Canadians remain Sunstreaker "Solo", Autobot Megatron, Jetfire (because it's Jetfire) and the bagged minibots with instruction books.

      And Slag.

      All the best
      Maz

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    2. Bryce, now you need to find me a Canadian Slag with red face, white upper legs and chrome horns... haha

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  4. I’m rather proud that I have a show accurate Dinobot team in my collection (authentic Diaclone Swoop, red Slag, and the other 3 Dinos). Swoop is of course the highlight, but Slag isn’t far behind, despite having worn chrome, some paint chips, and badly applied stickers.
    Getting him was a bit of a story though. After getting a Diaclone Swoop at a steal (£150 for a boxed one with some unapplied stickers, but a patch of chrome wear and no Diaclone driver, which I later got on ebay), it became obvious that a red Slag was needed to add the final touch to the set. After looking around, I spotted one on TFW2005 that the seller was listing as C6-C7 condition and was missing the red launcher. Given that finding a red launcher would be a real needle in a haystack job, I passed on him. Jump forward a few weeks later, and what should I spot while trawling ebay UK but a red Slag launcher?? A bargainiferous £5 later (yes, I got a red Slag launcher for the price of an incredibly more common black launcher). Now all I needed was a red Slag to go with it!
    A stumbling block came when the TFW Slag seller told me that it had been sold on ebay in the meantime, but eventually persistence paid off and I got a loose red Slag to go with the launcher and complete a show accurate Dino line up!

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    1. Wow, some immensely good deals and strokes of luck there, nowadays that's going to be nigh impossible to recreate. Diaclone Swoop is almost a 4 figure item and loose worn Red Slags can fetch £200.

      Show accurate Dino line up is a fantastic achievement, one to be very proud of. Especially if you haven't resorted to sordid KO-buying :)

      All the best
      Maz

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