{"id":27832,"date":"2014-05-09T11:22:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T16:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=27832"},"modified":"2014-06-30T23:50:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T04:50:00","slug":"vault-review-motu-classics-blade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=27832","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Blade"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t a big fan of the Masters of the Universe movie when I was a kid.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t 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.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t till a couple years ago when I gave it a second chance, and I\u2019m definitely glad I did.<\/p>\n

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Now that I\u2019m more mature in my understanding of story dynamics, I can really appreciate the fact that Skeletor had pretty much won and enslaved Eternia.\u00a0 There was also the amazing performance by Frank Langella.\u00a0 Gone was bumbling cartoon character, this Skeletor was downright evil with his subtly menacing personality.\u00a0 Lastly, the movie introduced some interesting new characters like Skeletor\u2019s storm troopers, Karg, Saurod, and Blade.\u00a0 As a kid I couldn\u2019t stop wondering where Merman or Trap Jaw was.\u00a0 As an adult I love seeing new characters introduced, rejuvenating the stale lifeblood of an established franchise.<\/p>\n

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So ever since rediscovering this movie, I\u2019ve been waiting its original characters to get the Classics treatment.\u00a0 The first one we get is Blade, the master swordsman who (despite his name) uses other weapons too.<\/p>\n

The first thing about this figure that you notice is just how much work the Four Horsemen put into him.\u00a0 Sure there\u2019s a little parts reuse with his torso, upper arms and lower legs, but everything else is all new!\u00a0 This really came as a surprise with his upper thighs and boots.\u00a0 I love the additional knives strapped to his legs, but the little zigzag pattern on his boots wasn\u2019t necessary to enjoy the figure.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a little design bonus that\u2019s nice to have.<\/p>\n

\"blad3\"<\/p>\n

Aside from the head, his most impressive piece has to be the armor.\u00a0 All the little sculpted chainmail pieces look fantastic.\u00a0 The leather straps also do a good job of breaking up the pattern, keeping it from looking too busy.\u00a0 He also has some pretty impressive scaled bracers, with a small triple crossbow attached to his left wrist.<\/p>\n

\"blad4\"<\/p>\n

But the head is where most of the personality resides with MOTU figures, and Blade\u2019s no different.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 An eye patch with a huge scar is always cool, and I love the double bladed bunny ears and chin spikes.\u00a0 Sure they look ridiculous, but he somehow pulls it off.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Blade\u2019s paint job is half and half.\u00a0 The areas that were given attention, like the chainmail, look great.\u00a0 The shiny silver on black is always a great look.\u00a0 Unfortunately some of the details were ignored for cost reasons.\u00a0 One spot I would love to see a dark wash on is the skull insignia on his chest.\u00a0 There\u2019s a really nice sculpt on it, but that silver really masks the detail.<\/p>\n

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The second paint issue is part of his accessories.\u00a0 Blade\u2019s swords were molded in gray.\u00a0 One was given some red on its hilt, but that\u2019s it.\u00a0 The shiny silver from his armor would have really made these two accessories pop.\u00a0 Aside from that, both swords are decent but not too exciting.\u00a0 One has a curved blade with a fancy hilt, while the other is more traditional.\u00a0 The more traditional one has a handle that\u2019s larger than normal, which is a bit frustrating when it comes to getting figures to hold it.<\/p>\n

Blade\u2019s third accessory is his energy whip.\u00a0 I love that he actually came with this since it\u2019s a pretty prominent scene in the movie.\u00a0 The trans red of the whip looks great with the silver handle too.\u00a0 Unfortunately the handle design has an awkward thumb guard that makes posing the whip correctly frustrating.\u00a0 Going for movie accuracy is cool, but sometimes sacrificing it isn\u2019t a bad thing.<\/p>\n

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Even with his accessory issues, I really do like this figure.\u00a0 Unfortunately it really ignites my need for more movie inspired figures like Karg, the storm troopers, and a Langella Skeletor.\u00a0 Hell, I\u2019d even take a repaint of Man-At-Arms.\u00a0 I guess Saurod and Gwildor will just have to do for now.<\/p>\n

-Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[14,7,34,10],"tags":[76,78,20,29,2558,1444],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/bladFP.jpg?fit=480%2C195&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-7eU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32311,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=32311","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":0},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com Exclusive Hover Robots Review","date":"December 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30880,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=30880","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":1},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com Gwildor Review","date":"March 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21308,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21308","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: MOTU Classics Dragon Blaster Skeletor","date":"October 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Masters of the Universe Classics usually does a fantastic job of updating vintage figures with a more modernized look. \u00a0I was particularly excited to see what Dragon Blaster Skeletor\u2019s would look like.\u00a0 Unfortunately I think my expectations were too high. I never had Dragon Blaster Skeletor as a kid, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/dbsk01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":429,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=429","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":3},"title":"ItsAllTrueReview: MOTU Classics Skeletor","date":"July 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19001,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19001","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":4},"title":"Mattycollector Announces Dragon Blaster Skeletor","date":"June 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mattycollector announced another upcoming MOTU Classic via a \u201csneak peek\u201d e-mail to Club Eternia members. I was again left off the mailing list, but it didn\u2019t take long for news of Dragon Blaster Skeletor to make his way to me. I gotta tell you though, I'm not in love with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12147,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12147","url_meta":{"origin":27832,"position":5},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com Battle Armor Skeletor Review","date":"March 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I love my MOTU Classics Battle Armor Skeletor, but he's a bit difficult to review. For one, I've already reviewed most of this figure at least three times already. He does include some swanky new armor and a fan-demanded axe, but can I really prattle on about that for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27832"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28399,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions\/28399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}