I wasn’t a big fan of the Masters of the Universe movie when I was a kid. I couldn’t wait to see it, but it turned out to be so different from the cartoon that it really destroyed all my expectations and my enjoyment. It wasn’t till a couple years ago when I gave it a second chance, and I’m definitely glad I did.
Now that I’m more mature in my understanding of story dynamics, I can really appreciate the fact that Skeletor had pretty much won and enslaved Eternia. There was also the amazing performance by Frank Langella. Gone was bumbling cartoon character, this Skeletor was downright evil with his subtly menacing personality. Lastly, the movie introduced some interesting new characters like Skeletor’s storm troopers, Karg, Saurod, and Blade. As a kid I couldn’t stop wondering where Merman or Trap Jaw was. As an adult I love seeing new characters introduced, rejuvenating the stale lifeblood of an established franchise.
So ever since rediscovering this movie, I’ve been waiting its original characters to get the Classics treatment. The first one we get is Blade, the master swordsman who (despite his name) uses other weapons too.
The first thing about this figure that you notice is just how much work the Four Horsemen put into him. Sure there’s a little parts reuse with his torso, upper arms and lower legs, but everything else is all new! This really came as a surprise with his upper thighs and boots. I love the additional knives strapped to his legs, but the little zigzag pattern on his boots wasn’t necessary to enjoy the figure. It’s just a little design bonus that’s nice to have.
Aside from the head, his most impressive piece has to be the armor. All the little sculpted chainmail pieces look fantastic. The leather straps also do a good job of breaking up the pattern, keeping it from looking too busy. He also has some pretty impressive scaled bracers, with a small triple crossbow attached to his left wrist.
But the head is where most of the personality resides with MOTU figures, and Blade’s no different. In general he looks a bit disgusted with his snarled mouth, but this is also one of those heads you can get subtle emotions from different angles. An eye patch with a huge scar is always cool, and I love the double bladed bunny ears and chin spikes. Sure they look ridiculous, but he somehow pulls it off. Continue to page 2…
The figure himself IS pretty sweet, but for me the dumbed-down Swords were quite the turn-off. I was in the middle of customizing them with paint and sharpies (two words: NO skills), when I realized I had an extra “End of Wars” Weapons Pak. My Blade is now brandishing Two MATCHING re-colored Sir Laser-Lot Swords. And I can now once again sleep at night. [^)
I had Never before wondered about how Blade came to work for Skeletor prior to this Review. I wish I could still claim that… [^D
I think Blade came out fantastic! He’s definitely on my list of top ten favorite MOTUC figures. I believe Blade is the only character in MOTU mythos to be sculpted based on a real human (actor, Anthony De Longis). I’m not counting Standor (“He’s not in *my* canon”). My only constructive criticisms are that I really wish we got double swords just like the original toy. The movie accurate sword is nice though. The missing paint on the swords is a shame. Its sort of like buying a brand new Corvette and then going to a junkyard to buy used tires.
What, no Bunny Ultron to compare ear “wings”? LOL 😉
http://thefwoosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DSC03640.jpg
the armor does look cool and if they do another weapons pak, I hope they put the swords in there.
I’m not a big fan of the movie, even now, so otherwise, this guy does nothing for me.
Is he wearing pantyhose?
I wish we had matching swords for him… (fixed by buying through shapeways and painting the custom swords) There’s the Carnivus sword from WP#3 or the SLL Sword from WP#4
I eBayed this guy since he was one of the last must have characters for me. I do like the movie and I never owned the vintage figure, so that helped a lot. The only downsides here all have to do with swords, paint, and lack of symmetry.
I hope Mattel sent a comp fig to Anthony De Longis for those great promos he’s done getting fans to sub up.
hell, i hope they sent him an entire case!!!
Sweet figure, great review, hilarious comics.
Wish the armour could’ve been done a little better, his ear-blades weren’t quite so soft, and he had two movie-style swords. But I still love the figure.
One thing I don’t understand is why his toy-style sword is curved. I had the original Blade figure (long since passed on to a friend of mine), and his swords were straight.
Definately a highlight of the sub, year-to-date, for me. Wish I had bought an extra.
That last comic is hilarious. What would the clinical term for that fetish be?
gladiophilia? laminophilia? Knife play is a thing tho.