BLADE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0009: Blade’s first Marvel Legends figure was movie based, and it would take until 2017 for him to actually get a comics-based Legend.  At least the follow-up wasn’t *quite* that bad.

My first introduction to Blade was Spider-Man: The Animated Series, a depiction that made me not jive so much with the Wesley Snipes version of the character from the first movie.  In my defense, I was also kind of 5, and an R-rated super hero movie really wasn’t for me.  Whatever the case, it’s kind of created a division between me and the character, so I never really got into him, beyond perhaps the novelty of him and Moon Knight being each other’s equivalent marks in Marvel’s ’70s horror books.  I do really like his ’70s design, hokey as it may be, but that one’s been rather light on the toy coverage.  As it stands, I haven’t actually owned a Blade figure at all…until now.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blade is figure 2 in the Mindless One Series of Marvel Legends.  It’s a Marvel Knights themed set, and he definitely vibes with that (enough that he’s been in both of the two Knights assortments).  Despite including a Build-A-Figure piece, Blade’s this assortment’s double pack.  It makes sense, given how popular his prior figures have been, but it definitely feels like it may have been a late call on Hasbro’s part.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Construction wise, he’s using the torso from the last Blade, as well as the arms from ’90s Havok.  Beyond that, he appears to be an all-new set-up.  The sculpt for this guy is pretty solid.  The only real downside I can really find is that his arms can’t really sit flush with his torso, but that’s always been an issue with this mold.  The design here looks to be an amalgamation of a few Blade designs from over the years, settling on something that generally approximates the overall vibe of his early ’00s appearances, post live action movie redesign.  It’s not first appearance Blade, but it’s certainly a very memorable take on him, so I get it.  It’s also very definitely a post-bitten by Morbius Blade, as the headsculpt so clearly shows, with his vampire teeth-baring expression.  It’s certainly a far cry from the last figure’s very pointedly calm expression.  It’s quite dynamic, to be sure.  Blade’s color work is very dark, as expected.  It’s not all strictly black, though.  The jacket and boots are, but the body beneath is a dark grey, and he’s even got a red lining on the coat.  There’s not a ton of paint, with it mostly being limited to the head.  What’s there is very cleanly applied, though.  Blade is packed with a sword, two stakes, two hand-held blade thingies, two pairs of hands (gripping and fists), and the head and energy effect to the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.  That’s actually quite a lot, making Blade one of the few Legends recently to not feel at all light on on extras.  I’d personally have liked an extra head, but I can’t fault them for going with what they did.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was prepared not to be all that into this figure.  Like I said, my attachment to Blade is minimal.  But, I get *why* this figure got made, and I do like this design more than any of the prior releases.  Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  He’s actually pretty fun.  I’m still holding out hope on that ’70s style Blade sometime soon, but until then, this guy’s a respectable stand-in.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.