Marvel Legends Blade review – BAF Mindless One

Blade has been overdue for an updated Marvel Legends figure. He’s one of my favorite Marvel characters thanks to his major role in kickstarting the Marvel movie universe.

His last figure was underwhelming on a lot of fronts to the point he stays far to the back of my street-level heroes.

Let’s see if this version of The Daywalker will rise to the occasion. Heh, heh. Puns.

Packaging:  Hasbro is done with the windowless packaging (hooray!). Now there’s no issue spotting any paint flaws or missing accessories once again.

This take on Blade is appropriately part of the Marvel Knights wave of Marvel Legends complete with the classic MK logo. It’s really been long enough that it can be considered classic.

Package artwork is provided by Inhyuk Lee from the variant cover of Blade: Vampire Nation. The bio makes a welcome return explaining Blade’s motivations and a glimpse of his powers though I’m surprised it didn’t mention his relatively new affiliation with The Avengers.

Of course, this isn’t a retail line, so Hasbro didn’t need to use the Avengers crutch to help sell Blade figures.

Likeness: Arguably more so than any other comic book character, Blade’s look has indelibly been redefined by the Wesley Snipes’ Blade trilogy. It makes sense when you consider Blade didn’t have a massive following compared to the first two films.

And Snipes’ Blade look wasn’t a huge departure from how the character looked around the Marvel Knights era anyway.

Hasbro reached back into the parts bin and reused the X-Factor Havok jacket arms, which explains the sleeves being partially pushed up. They’re not a great part choice due to their articulation limitations though.

The pre-MCU movie visual trademark elements are intact. Blade’s got the tight fade, sunglasses (that are thankfully sculpted on to avoid them flying off), body armor and a trench coat with red interior lining.

The head sculpt is very Snipes-esque by way of comics. His body armor looks very formidable.

Hasbro’s first Blade had a weird mold with janky looking legs. This time he’s rocking more cargo pants making more a more comfortable fit while he’s slaying vampires. I did “borrow” the stake thigh strike since that fit just fine since Blade can always use more weapons to burn up some vampires.

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Paint:  Another issue with Hasbro’s first crack at Blade was they ditched the all-black color scheme. They went with a dark grey and midnight blue combination.

For the body armor, pants and boots, Hasbro goes for more of a slate grey, which looks more like a black/grey to provide a little distinction with the black trench coat.

The paint work on his teeth is very well done.

Scale:  Blade is a normal size guy so he should be about eye to eye with Black Panther while looking up slightly at Captain America.

Articulation: Blade has better articulation by far compared to the previous Hasbro figure. The torso joint is tighter since it doesn’t have the ratchet joint. This actually aids Blade pretty well in terms of hitting some more dynamic poses.

The trench coat doesn’t impair any of the movement since it’s made out of a softer plastic. Leg range is dramatically improved so Blade can hit deep stances as well.

I did find his shoulders to be a pain to move. Their range is too limited so you’re not able to rest the arms flush closer to his body or get a good T-pose. That means no overhead sword strikes or even great dual grip sword stances.

Blade has:

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

 

Accessories: Blade clearly warrants a good haul of accessories and gets all but the most obvious one.  First up is his katana. It features a nicely detailed red hilt and a dull-ish silver katana.

He’s also got a pair of stakes. These would look better with a little splintering or maybe some red splatters on it.

Next up are a pair of glaves with grips/wraps using the same material as the katana.

He also has a set of swappable grasping hands. That makes sense for a character who largely uses weapons to take out bad guys.

Finally, he comes with the head and energy blast effect of the Build-A-Figure Mindless One.

Worth it?  I wasn’t sure how difficult Blade would be to track down so I didn’t wait for the usual discounts. As with most modern-day Marvel Legends, I don’t think Blade is truly worth $25. Under $20? Sure. Maybe I’d think differently with an alternate head sculpt?

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Hasbro delivered a significant upgrade over the previous Blade figure. With better shoulders/arms and an alternate head sculpt this would pretty much be the definitive version of The Daywalker.

Where to get it?  This is another wave that’s not available at retail. You can order Blade from Amazon.

As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.