Marvel Legends Blade figure review – BAF Man-Thing wave

From most accounts, Blade tends to get his due as the grandfather of the Marvel movie universe. Long before Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Avengers became blockbuster franchises, Blade was proving superheroes could work on the big screen. Toy Biz recognized the impact of the Wesley Snipes series and released a Blade Marvel Legend figure with his likeness. The figure mostly holds up today, but a Hasbro Blade was becoming a more popular request.

After an early tease a few years ago, Hasbro finally made good with the Blade for the Marvel Knights aka Marvel Netflix wave. Let’s see if the Daywalker’s new figure fares.

Packaging:  I’m normally not thrilled about a black/red color scheme, but it works for this particular wave. It helps that Hasbro hasn’t killed that with other waves. The blood red interior also fits for these characters and makes them standout more in the package.

The side portrait is OK, but looks a little bored for Blade. The bio is better than average here with a fairly comprehensive explanation of the character.

Likeness:  Since Blade is hardly a regular fixture in Marvel comics or movies his look is less clearly defined. The attire choice looks like it could work for a Snipes era Blade sans leather jacket. This is a nicely sculpted outfit that looks like the well dressed utilitarian vampire killer would wear. I like the detailed paneling, straps, tubing and kneepads. My Toy Biz one has the leather jacket, but it’s withering away.

There’s two head sculpts, but there’s not enough differences between them. The biggest is one has a nearly regular haircut and the other looks like he’s auditioning to be a Road Warrior. I would have loved a fang showing headsculpt …and maybe a high top fade that could pass for Snipes with the regular head would have been perfect.

My figure had a lot of mold problems. His left thigh has a big lump and both thighs have these weird bubbles like the figure was pulled out the mold before it finished settling.

Scale:  Blade might be part vampire, but he doesn’t need to be particularly tall. He’s the size of a regular hero like Daredevil.

MORE:

• The Walking Dead: The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be review S7 Ep1
• Awesome Con 2017 cosplay gallery – Day 1
• McFarlane Toys releasing 5 inch scale Negan and Glenn set and Sasha
• Hot Toys Figure Reviews

Paint:  He has a pretty simple outfit with just silver accents. That detail is good as well as the hairline and red tinted glasses. The brown stakes could have used a touch of weathering so they had some detail, but other than that it’s solid paint work.

I don’t love the grey/dark blue color scheme as I’d much rather have Blade in all black. Blade’s skin tone seems somewhat ashen as well and doesn’t look as natural as say the Miles Morales figure.

Articulation:  Blade doesn’t have the usual articulation. His hips are set deeper than others so back and forth leg movement is restricted. The ankles also suffer thanks to the lip portion of the boot. That renders the joint pretty much useless as there’s little up and down like most ML figures. He can grip his sword with both hands, which will make for fun swordplay setups.

Blade has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep
• elbow (double jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double jointed)
• ankle

Accessories:  He comes with the aforementioned alternate head. I wish there were greater differences than the hairstyle as I doubt I’ll ever pose him with the hair patch look. He does come with his sword, which has some welcome paint detailing on the hilt. If you wanted, you could also count the thigh stake pad, but I’m not sure fiddling with them is the best idea.

I wish Hasbro also tossed in a gun and a leather jacket to win over more Toy Biz and fans of the film trilogy.

He also comes with the right leg for the BAF Man-Thing.

Worth it?  I grabbed Blade for $20. That’s the regular Legends price, but given the somewhat plain accessories this doesn’t seem like the steal of most figures. Blade seems to be the most popular figure in the set so waiting for cheaper prices might not be the best idea in this instance.

Rating:  7 out of 10

A lot of Hasbro releases in 2017 have been definitive versions of characters. This is a decent update, but there’s still room for improvement.

Where to get it?  I picked Blade up from Wal-Mart, but I’ve seen the Marvel Knights wave at Toys R Us and Walgreens.  If you strike out there you can also try out Amazon.com.