Blade vintage figure review thread

[Spacedust]

A nice lot of posts for the Ninjor thread last week. And now we have our sub-forum, to stop the main one getting cluttered up so much!

Anyway, this week lets look at a figure from a section of figures we haven't touched yet - the Movie releases. This week: That bald-headed sword-swinging foe, BLADE.

The Blade figure is a pretty fair representation of the character in the movie. Actually, the final version looks even more like the big-screen version than the prototype, which can be seen on backs of boxes & mini-comics, and in a couple of on-line photos. I'm especially glad they removed the weird grill thing from over his mouth.

We'd had figures with the right arms spring-loaded before (Fisto, Jitsu, the aforementioned Ninjor), but Blade had both arms spring-loaded.

Blade is quite a good character. Although, like many, I was disappointed that more familiar Evil Warriors weren't used in the movie, I quite liked him as a villain. I think much of it is due to the fact that he is more humanoid, as opposed to the many creature-based figures late on. I can see Blade easily fitting in to any previous wave, even the early ones.

Being released so late on, Blade didn't feature in all that much material, asides from the terrible "The Cosmic Key" mini-comic (easily my least favourite of all the mini-comics!).

Blade is one of the rarer figures on the second hand market, especially with his belt and two swords intact.
I got a fair-condition one mid-way into my re-collecting the line, with belt and one sword included, as part of a lot. Later on a got a more beaten up one and used it's sword to make my first one complete. Later still I got a complete mint example (I like to have two complete of every figure).

Blade was far too down the line of the original releases to see the light of day in the 200x revamp or cartoon series. Maybe we can hold out for a staction figure of him, so see how the 200x treatment makes him look. I hope it's one of those cases where they only subtly tweak him, as I don't think he's one of those than needs to be changed so much.

All-in-all... I never had him as a kid (for some reason, I chose Gwildor of all figures over him!!!! What was I thinking?!) , so I'm not awfully nostalgic about ol' Bladey. But he's an interesting character in the vein of the more traditional MOTU, he just has a really cool feel about him, and he makes a good figure. I'll give him a very decent 9 out of 10.

So there is my little Blade review.
Now I'd like to hear your own Blade-related thoughts, comments, memories, criticisms, anything! And don't forget to rate the figure in the poll!

[Darth Latveria]

I've always thought that Blade was a pretty good character, but sadly created in a situation that ensured that he would never be accepted by fans. If Blade had been part of the cartoon, I think he would've been rather popular, but the decision to create him for the third movie in place of using an established character automatically made him hated by legions of young MOTU fans.

I got the figure as a kid and I liked it a lot. I also liked having a more human character on the villains side. It was also cool to have a guy who used two swords. I give him an 8.

[krugos]

I never saw any of the movie figures as a kid and I didn't even knew they existed until I got internet, maybe back in '97, and started looking for images of all the motu toys online.
Blade has no nostalgic value for me, but I think it is a very cool figure and I'm sure I would have liked it as a kid. I'll give it an 8. It would be 8 and a half if that was possible, because 8 seems like too little but then 9 is too much.

[motu77]

10 just for nostalgic value. The movie figures was one of the last figures I got that summer before my family headed back to Germany.

[Spacedust]

I've always thought that Blade was a pretty good character, but sadly created in a situation that ensured that he would never be accepted by fans. If Blade had been part of the cartoon, I think he would've been rather popular, but the decision to create him for the third movie in place of using an established character automatically made him hated by legions of young MOTU fans.

I totally agree. I can easily see Blade as an earlier figure, and fitting into the Filmation cartoon series perfectly. But the circumstances of his release work against him.

[davidlogan]

I love the figure.
As a kid I never owned him. Having not yet seen the movie, one of my friends who had owned the figure and showed me and I did not even believe it was a MOTU figure. I told the kid he was trying to get one over on me. But then again I had the same reaction the first time a friend showed me Serpentor. I said that is a D&D figure, not GIjoe.

Later on down the road I found a store with Blade, Saurod, Gwildor, Snakeface and Blast Attack. And I only had money for one. At first I had settled on Snakeface...but only because I had not seen Blast Attack yet. Once I saw that figure, I went for it. I liked his action feature, plus since they only had one of him I figured he was better than the others.

I never saw any of those figures on toy shelves again.

I picked up Blade on the eBay market just a few years ago and I really think its a great figure and nice to see the movie get a little figure love. I give him a 9. He'd have gotten a 10 if he only had place to store his second sword on his belt.

[Yoko]

7/10

I hate The movie Blade

But the figure blade is pretty cool With his 2 swords n all

[Dr Bo]

Like the figure (and the movie), make a good oponent and look pretty nasty, a bit pirate-like mercenary villain, much fitting to pit against a half-naked barbarian with fur undie.

I also appreciate how they both made Blade really close to his movie incarnation and keep it in line with the rest of the MOTU line.

[TriKlops1971]

I only saw Blade once, and that was in the live-action movie. I don't recall seeing him in any of the mini-comics. Because of his late appearance in the MOTU mythos, I really couldn't warm up to that character. I gave him a 5 because he did look pretty cool and, had he appeared earlier, I probably would have liked him a lot more (read my post about who would win in a Blade/Tri-Klops sword duel if you want a chuckle).

Alas, Blade. We hardly knew ye...

[Bowhead Whale]

He's a good character indeed. That's why I gave him a 7. Though he doesn't flash with ultra-originality (this is where he lost points), he still integrates well with the other MOTU's. A plus for him: his articulations are made from a "rolling-marble" principle, instead of the average, drying-endangered rubber elastic.

[Flint]

I gave Blade a 7. He was the best of the movie figures imo and the only one I ever owned. He had cool weapons and a good sculpt. However he lost points because he didn't really fit in with the rest of the line.

[Spacedust]

A day late starting this week's review thread, but here we go anyway...

This week lets turn our attentions to that evil exploding menace, BLAST-ATTAK.

Blast-Attak was released with the final wave of figures, in 1986/7. Whereas most of the other figures of the wave were returning to their more simple, basic twist-waist feature of the earlier characters. Blast-Attak is probably the most 'gimmicky' of the wave.

Blast-Attak's feature was that his trigger hose could be pressed to cause him to 'explode' into two halves, taking out anyone around him. Afterwards, he could be clipped together again for another attack.

One of the very late characters, BA was far too late for any Filmation appearance, and was little used in any other media.

There has been discussion of what Blast-Attak actually is, that allows him to explode and come back to life - personally I have him down as some kind of mechanical robot.

Blasty is one of the rarer figures on the second-hand market; naturally, his trigger hose is the hardest part to find. I didn't get a mint, complete BA until late on in my 're-collecting'.

There has been no sign on the character with regards to a 200x revamp. As many have speculated, he probably wouldn't sit too well in today’s world full of suicide bombers, and would need radical reinterpretation if used at all.

All-in-all, although he has a really fun feature, in terms of a MOTU character, I wouldn't cite him as one of the classics. I give him an average 7 out of 10, based more on playability than character.

So there are my recollections. Now I'd really like to hear your own thoughts and comments on Blast-Attak. And as always, whether you post or not, don't forget to rate the figure in the poll!

[pH6]

Decent gimmick figure. Quite unique. There's one major flaw with the string, most BAs I've encountered try to explode on their own. Another thing I don't like is that you can't put the other part on upside down. Like he was featured in the Star Comic, the first time I saw Blast-Attak anywhere. Third thing that tries to confuse us is the minicomic. It puts him clearly with the mighty SNAKE MEN, but the package does not indicate this. And everywhere else he's shown among Skeletor's minions.

After all those complaints, I do like the figure. It's good, but it could be better.

[TriKlops1971]

I vaguely remember Blast-Attak. By the time that figure hit the toystore shelves, I had pretty much moved on from collecting action figures. He looked kind of cool, though. So I gave him a five based simply on his appearance.

[Ivan]

I used to have a Blast Attack for one day only! It was broken, and it couldn't be snapped together at all. So I returned it, the store was out of Blast Attacks at the time, so I took a TC Skeletor instead.

I liked BA, though (I gave him 10 points). Also, I never really considered him a Snake Man. The Star comic origin was better IMO.

[The Horrorist]

I love Blast Attak. Never had him as a child but I clearly remember him from the old days. Especially from the Marvel (Star) comics where he was introduced alongside Scareglow and Ninjor and working for Skeletor.

As a child I always wondered how his legs were articulated. I could imagine that they didn't have the standard rubber strings because of his feature. Like four years ago I finally got him through ebay and found out about the special leg articulation that he shares with Flying Fists He-man, Terror Claws Skeletor and Snout Spout. He came complete with a working feature.

Personally I never interpreted him as a walking-timebomb-man, more so as a 2-in-1 warrior. Like Multiple Man.

He gets a 9/10.

[Arkangel]

blast attak and horde trooper are the ones i remember better having as a kid. Blast attak is my favourite figure from the line.

[Captain Atkin]

To me, I always thought he looked kind of like Frankenstein. He seemed like a character who was brought back from the dead, so I definitley think he is a cyborg. Perhaps he was an evil warrior who was killed by an explosion, and now he is cursed to re-live that again and again by being a walking time bomb(???)

Some people think he is a Snakeman. In the comics he was created by King Hiss, so I agree that he is a member of the Snakemen. Whether or not he is an "actual" Snakeman though, I do not know. With his flat face, he seems to be more human, although Snakeface did have a more flat/human face too.

Overall, I think he has a very cool design.

[CocoaSmooth]

Blast Attack was one of the most original designs ever. He is up there and I gave him a ten.

[The Trollan Stud]

Blast Attak was the last MOTU figure I bought back in the day. I remember going to the TRU in Cedar Rapids, IA sometime in 1988 and seeing and endcap full of MOTU toys on sale (I bet they were on clearance by then.) I saw this new guy and Beast Man, who I never did have.
I chose BA because of his weird feature, and I'm glad I did. I've lost the hose that makes him explode, but he still stands up, has the ax thing, and still looks line new besides a little paint wear on his nose.



Good choice for a review. I hadn't thought about that guy in ages.

[braxsis364]

I kinda liked Blast atack my brother did'int. I remember my brother makeing a time limit between blasts for Blast atack. and he was right his powers seem more realistic that way.like you Spacedust I say about a 7.

[Arkangel]

To me, I always thought he looked kind of like Frankenstein. He seemed like a character who was brought back from the dead, so I definitley think he is a cyborg. Perhaps he was an evil warrior who was killed by an explosion, and now he is cursed to re-live that again and again by being a walking time bomb(???)

Some people think he is a Snakeman. In the comics he was created by King Hiss, so I agree that he is a member of the Snakemen. Whether or not he is an "actual" Snakeman though, I do not know. With his flat face, he seems to be more human, although Snakeface did have a more flat/human face too.

Overall, I think he has a very cool design.

that's a cool idea, i like it. did blast attak ever appeared on the series?

[Evil_Horde]

I like the design fo Af and her weapon! Voted 8!

[Evil_Horde]

Fantastic AF!! 10 of course! I love when he goes to pieces!

[PaoloKr]

The best figure from the movie.
7