Slug figure

The name or term "Slug" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Slug (disambiguation).

A slug figure Slug figure.

Slug figure—or, commonly, just slug—is the term used by toy collectors and industry professionals to refer to a small, usually immobile figurine. Slugs take their name from the ammunition term in reference to their small size. Slug figures are characterised by their lack of articulation, and are made from or are presented as one piece of material, usually plastic.

The term "slug figure" began cropping up in Hasbro Pulse livestreams and Transformers product descriptions in the 2020s, though internal product listings have been shown to mention slugs long before then. The practice of including slugs with Transformers toys, usually to demonstrate scale, is nothing new—though slugs are typically renamed things like "mini figures" in customer-facing product copy.

Examples of slug figures

Not all "mini figures" are slug figures! Following the strict definition of a slug being an unarticulated, immovable plastic construction, some slugs in Transformers include...

Generation 1 Figure-Collection

We promise we didn't desaturate one of these pictures just to get the other.

The Generation 1 Figure-Collection was a series of candy toys released by Kabaya in 2003. The line consisted of fourteen blindpacked figures, known colloquially as "bottlecap" figures. The figures themselves, standing at about only one inch in height, were all rendered in a monochromatic black-and-white color scheme (save for two full-color chase figures).

Masterpiece

Great Scott!

A part of the Masterpiece toyline, Starscream's realistic F-15E vehicle mode was complemented by a small figurine of the dastardly Doctor Arkeville to fit into his cockpit. And since the Seeker body is such a popular choice for redecos, the molded component of Arkeville ended up being released seven times over, all told!

Transformers (2007)

The "Screen Battles" segment of the Transformers live-action movie toyline paired Deluxe Class movie toys with slug figures of (largely) human characters in an attempt at representing the difference in scale between them and the robots. Slugs in this line include prominent movie characters like Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes, Sergeant Epps, Agent Simmons, the Decepticon Frenzy, and nearly Captain Lennox.

Generations

You transform it into vehicle mode by hiding the robot figurine inside a box and pretending.

Demonstrating scale is not just for human slugs. Two exclusive versions of Generations Metroplex (available at San Diego Comic Con 2013 and Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong 2013 respectively) each came with a squad of twelve figurines of the then-contemporary designs of Orion Pax, Megatron, Bumblebee, Thundercracker, Trailcutter, and Hoist, in both robot and vehicle modes. These allowed collectors to re-enact the battle over the city-sized robot as depicted on Metroplex's packaging.

Studio Series

 

Finally, toys of everybody's favourite movie series characters.

Studio Series launched in 2018 with the line-wide goal of presenting screen-accurate Transformers characters in a consistent robot mode scale. Because of this, certain characters with prominent roles in the movies were relegated to slug figure size, like Brains and Wheelie. Human protagonists Sam Witwicky and Charlie Watson also received slugs, packaged with their respective Bumblebees. Steeljaw is also there for some reason.

War for Cybertron Trilogy

So if these are all to scale with Unicron, but also to scale with the Ark... is the Ark also to scale with Unicron?

The release of the HasLab exclusive Unicron, the biggest Transformer ever ever, led to a proliferation of slugs in the War for Cybertron Trilogy toylines. Unicron himself came with teeny tiny slugs of Hot Rod and Galvatron, roughly to scale with Unicron, in reference to The Transformers: The Movie. The Deluxe Centurion Drone Weaponizer Pack continued this collection with its own Optimus Prime, which also saw release with the Kingdom Titan Class toy Autobot Ark.

This was small potatoes compared to the "Behold, Galvatron! Unicron Companion Pack", which included a whopping fourteen mini-figures to bolster your "TF:TM" cast, including Arcee, Cyclonus, Dirge, Kup, Megatron, Perceptor, Scourge, Soundwave, Starscream, Ultra Magnus, Swoop, Slug, and Grimlock. Snarl is also there for some reason.

Legacy

Now that's what I call a mothership.

Titan-class Nemesis, from the Transformers: Legacy line, included slug figures of jet-mode Thundercracker, Skywarp, Thrust, and Ramjet. This release thus rounded out the ranks of the original cartoon's Seekers in slug format, as the other two had been included with the "Behold, Galvatron!" set above.