The
following is in response to Phantom
Troublemaker’s 5/27 review of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe
Classics Blast Attak action figure.
I
propose a counterpoint Blast Attak review in response to Phantom’s
scathing review. He got his first and I read his review, which I
thought was pretty harsh.
I definitely felt Blast Attak in the wallet
as well, though. Almost $11 in shipping for one figure is pretty brutal.
However, I certainly do not think he is a 1 out of 5. I had noticed
from the pictures online that he has a very clean torso silhouette.
One of everybody's major complaints on the line has been the bulky
armor on the male buck. Characters have the snowsuit problem in the
area under their arms being so padded that they can't put their arms
down by their sides. The solution is here! I really hope this is a
sign of more to come. Blast Attak uses the Horde Trooper buck which
has a much skinnier waist line and trimmer silhouette. This is great
for characters who had vintage sculpted armored bodies. The Horde
Trooper torso is robotic, which works just fine on Blast Attak even
though you can't actually see it since his armor is not removable.
It’s seam is up the back and is glued shut. I do wish that it was
not glued shut since interchangeability is part of what makes MOTUC a
great line. All you can do with Blast Attak is change out his head.
However, I think this is something I am willing to trade to solve the
fat armor problem.
I
love Rio Blast as a character but unfortunately most of that figure’s
problems are in his armor. Between the fatness of it and then the
problem with the flap on his chest not closing flush the execution
just didn’t do it for me. Especially since Rio Blast isn't wearing
any actual armor. It is just his cyborg torso. If he had had the
Horde Trooper body, which I think would have been perfectly
acceptable since he is a cyborg, you could have kept his waist trim
and had more real estate in the chest to make his chest flap recessed
enough to close flush. It looks like Blast Attak’s armor was put on
his torso first and then his arms and head were connected afterwards
during assembly. I really wish this is what they had done with Rio.
As
far as Phantom’s comments on the paint... yes there is a lot of
great sculpted detail on here that could use some extra paint, and of
course
his color scheme is all over the place, but his gold chest really
does pop and I can't deny the fact that his face totally reminds me
of one of my favorite villains from one of my favorite TV shows -
Scorpius from Farscape
(which is amazing and you should all watch it). He has a great sort
of psycho dumb-looking intensity and big bold gold body with bright
reds which totally draw your eye to his torso which is the part that
is supposed to explode so that's good. His color scheme can’t be
helped; it matches the vintage figure. However, a couple of
additional paint apps on some of the circuitry and detail on his
limbs and armor would certainly have helped.
As
for the vibrating axe pogo stick accessory - yeah it's big, awkward
and weird and doesn't make sense. But big and weird is fine with me
in He-Man and it is what the vintage one came with and is translated
very well here. I tossed it to my wife and asked her what she thought
it was and she said she thought it was a kind of rifle. I tried to
pose him with it like a rifle and it didn’t quite work. Then there
is his whip, which is fantastic. It is the most flexible whip
accessory we have gotten in the line. It seems strong, too and
hopefully will not break like my Leech’s net. I do wish it plugged
into the back of his armor and really see that as a missed
opportunity. The whip itself is awesome though and looks good with
other characters like Catra. I am currently displaying it with Flogg
since his whip thing is so huge.
Blast
Attak was one of the last characters to come out in the line and I
didn't have him as a kid. I think my plan is to display him with the
Horde. I don’t think he looks right with the Snake Men at all, but
his techno look and reds and blacks fit in well with the Horde.
Especially with one of my extra Horde armbands on him. Thankfully the
Horde Empire is always ready to have some extra propaganda for
anybody who needs it. He won’t look out of place there unlike some
people. I'm talking about you, Entrapta.
The
lack of his vintage action feature does not bother me. I think that
if a character has two forms than both forms should be able to be
displayed. Like Mermista or King Hssss. Say Blast Attak did come with
his vintage action feature and could break apart. How would you
display that? He would just be laying on the ground in two pieces.
Pretty lame. His power isn't that he falls apart, like the vintage
Horde Troopers, it is that he blows apart.
Blast
Attak is certainly not one of the best figures in the line. He has
his share of flaws. The bad paint, non-removable armor, and his whip
not plugging into his back are the ones that bother me. We have to
take a few characters who leave us a little wanting to save paint and
tooling dollars for other characters that need them. I’m thinking
here about Dragstor and a functional spinning rubber wheel in his
chest. However Blast-Attak’s waist line and trim armor really put
him up a few notches in my book. I hope that more characters utilize
the Horde Trooper torso but that they find a way to make the armor
removable.
Good
Journey!
-
Beau Brown
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