Slammer

Slammer is an Autobot drone from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Hey! Yo! Look out down below!
Here he comes, Kingdom Slammer
War For Cybertron's hero!

For a drone controlled by Metroplex, Slammer does not do much. He is usually seen in the form of Metroplex's left rear tower, though he is rarely seen in tank form.

Sometimes, Slammer is a sentient Transformer armed with the power of the C.O.M.B.A.T. technology.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Metroplex can maintain control of Slammer over a maximum range of 40 miles. Slammer's cannon shoots explosive rocket-propelled mortar shells with a range of 1.5 miles. Metroplex's Universe profile

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Chris Latta (English; Slammer never spoke, but Latta was cast for the part.)

Slammer at left, with his alliterative domestic partners

Slammer was often seen when Autobot City looked like Metroplex's city mode, which was usually right before or after Metroplex transformed. When in tank mode, Slammer was accompanied by his partners Scamper and Six-Gun.

Slammer appeared alongside Scamper and Six-Gun when the latter interrogated the Dinobots and Sky Lynx over the recent theft of famous monuments. Thief in the Night

Later, Slammer and Scamper responded to Swindle's intrusion of Metroplex, but were disabled when the Decepticon blew a hole in the floor, causing them to crash. The Ultimate Weapon

Legends comic

When Metroplex was rebuilt in a new body, Slammer was incorporated as a stationary cannon normally hidden inside his right arm. Metroplex used his firepower to defeat Metrotitan, then took him with him to the Legends World where Slammer and his other components assured him they'd always be together. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

Closer than ever to reaching the AllSpark, the Autobots awakened after crash-landing on pre-Ice Age Earth. While battling the Decepticons, both sides were joined by the Maximals and Predacons, their epic battle changing their combined destinies.

Slammer's function was a combat drone, and he trans-scanned into a tank/tower. His Weaponizer ability and heavy artillery were his powers and weapons, and his core traits were being obedient, passive, and formidable. Slammer's message from the future was that he is part of something larger. Kingdom webpage^[1]

Toys

The Transformers

He still has nightmares about being thrown at stacks of Pogs back in the '90s.

• Metroplex (1986)
  • Takara ID number: C-70

• Known designers: Kōjin Ōno (TakaraTomy)

The Transformers Slammer is a small tank unit composed of one of Metroplex's city-mode towers with a cannon turret added on. Due to the peg used to let him become a tower, he can replace one of Metroplex's fists to act as an arm cannon of sorts. Naturally, he was only available with Metroplex.

The original mold is also used by Metrotank.

• More information on Slammer at TFU.info

Encore

• Metroflex (September 2008)
  • Encore number: 12

In 2008, Slammer was re-released alongside the Metroplex in the Encore line with a minor retool that allowed his gun turret to become the top of a building in city mode.

Legends

• Metroflex (Metroplex) (January 27, 2018)
  • ID number: LG-EX
  • Accessories: Scamper figure, Scamper's blaster, 2 guns & missiles, 2 shoulder cannons, repair claw

• Known designers: Hisashi Yuki (TakaraTomy), Yuki Ohshima and Emiliano Santalucia (concept art)

The Takara Generations release of "Metroflex" was reissued as a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive under the Legends line, to commemorate the release of Legends Dinosaurer. The Generations incarnation of Metroplex only includes Scamper as a companion figure, but in the accompanying mini-comic, the flip-out turret on Metroplex's left arm is repurposed as actually being Slammer.

War for Cybertron: Kingdom

It's not just "Death metal"…
It's actually: "Technical Guttural Slamming Brutal Death Metal".

• Autobot Slammer (Deluxe Class, 2021)
  • Hasbro ID number: WFC-K33
  • TakaraTomy ID number: KD EX-14
  • TakaraTomy release date: June 25, 2022
  • Accessories: Tank gun

• Known designers: Mark Maher (Hasbro), Shogo Hasui (TakaraTomy), Hirofumi Ichikawa (detailing)

Part of the final wave of War for Cybertron: Kingdom Deluxe Class toys, "Autobot Slammer" is a Siege-esque "Weaponizer" that's a heavy partial retool of Earthrise Ironworks^[2] that can split apart into weapons usable via the C.O.M.B.A.T. System, as well as transforming into a tank in 20 steps. Slammer only re-uses the waist and thighs of Ironworks, and everything else appears to be entirely new. As a Weaponizer, he can be taken apart and converted into weapons and armor that can be attached to other figures that use the C.O.M.B.A.T. System (or, really, any 5 mm post-compatible toys). His stock photography shows how the treads can be removed from his back and combined to form an arm-mounted chainsaw, and the rest of him can be taken apart to form boots, a cannon, and back-mounted missile pods. On the packaging, this is demonstrated with the concurrently-released Autobot Pipes, while the instructions instead feature Kingdom Wheeljack.

Speaking of Wheeljack, Slammer's instructions contain an error concerning him. In the sequence showing how to weaponize Wheeljack with Slammer's parts, step 2 shows Wheeljack's spoiler halves being removed… but in step 3, they're reattached. In step 4 they're magically gone again, and stay that way.

Slammer is intended to accompany Thrilling 30 Metroplex, who is covered in 5 mm ports that Slammer's parts can be plugged into—in particular, by putting the gun barrel connector on the back of the tank and standing him up so he plugs into Metroplex's shoulder, he can form a battle tower for Metroplex's city mode.^[3] With Metroplex having been released some eight years prior, this feature is not documented in Slammer's instructions or stock photography.

In the product renders on the back of the box, Slammer's thighs are white; the actual toy has black thighs. The small connector used to attach the tank barrel to the arms in tank mode is widely reported to be extremely loose, with virtually no tension working to hold the part in place. Unfortunately, the tank barrel is too wide to hold blast effects securely. Slammer's deco also seems to be heavily inspired by the unofficial Toyhax "upgrade" sticker set for the Generation 1 toy, most notably with its black-painted details and stripes, the silver turret tip, and the silver turret hatches.

Slammer was officially revealed via a preorder listing page at BigBadToyStore and Entertainment Earth in late September 2021, with no public announcement from Hasbro. Though Slammer's wave was scheduled for a first quarter 2022 release, they actually arrived on U.S. store shelves in December 2021. In Japan, he was released as a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive.

Merchandise

Transformers Trading Card Game

• Slammer, Combat Drone (2018)
  • Wave 1A: Metroplex Deck
  • Rarity: RT
  • Card Number: T04/T04
  • Stars: 4

Slammer, Combat Drone is one of three standard sized character cards included with the Metroplex Deck. Unlike most cards included in the Transformers Trading Card Game, Slammer, Combat Drone only has art on one side in order to reflect the character's status as a non-transforming drone. The card was included in a ready to play box set, along with Metroplex, Autobot City, Scamper, City Patrol, Six-Gun, Heavy Weapons Expert, and a 40 card battle deck.

Notes

• Due to Kingdom Slammer not being known until 2021, Slammer's redeco Metrotank instead appeared in a 2019 chapter of the Legends manga as a "virtual redeco" of Siege Deluxe Class Brunt.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Slemmer (スレマー Suremā), Slammer (スラマー Suramā)

References