Here we have what I deem to be the best version of Blade in action figure form. Don't get me wrong Wesley Snipes was Blade but after the first few episodes Kirk Jones really made the part his own. Not to mention his best looking armour that's not just for show. I've been hoping for an action figure version of him for ages, but I stopped thinking it would come, then I saw a marvellous custom by Blayne Scott and I decided then and there I wanted to do the same. Two months later here he is.



The Figure:

I started with a Punisher Marvel Legends figure (which I am using for a couple up coming customs as well), using a Blade 2 Marvel Legends figure for the arms and head, also the sword and glaive.

Using a HUGE amount of Aves Apoxie Sculpt (most of it not used) I crafted the chest using bamboo skewers as the stakes across the whole body. Made the pistol holsters out of 2 really small pieces of cloth super glued them to the top then covered wit the tops of the bandoleers. The bottom of the bandoleer is 2 pieces of aves with a bit of elastic holding it together. The bottom is not attached to the belt as I did not want to restrict movement of his waist.

To make the leg stakes I had to cut a corner out of the trousers so that they'd fit, and fix the whole up with more aves. Using three whittled down skewers and a bit of aves around them then attached to the feet. The leg holsters I made using the weapons I'd already crafted covered in Paddle pop wrapping then wrapping a bit of aves around it. The leg holster straps were quite simply strips of aves sculpted to look the way they do. using a bamboo skewer to create the ring effects. I had to cut half a holster off another Punisher so I could get the double holster effect.

The head is made from a Blade 2 blade, I'm not sure if I got the likeness right, but it doesn't look like Wesley snipes anymore ;) the glasses are from the same blade but re-sculpted, the Marvel ones were really cheap looking and looked more in common to geordi LaForges visor than any of Blade's glasses. The only things that are not sculpted are the ears and mouth.

I re-sculpted the gloves Blade's gloves which were literally hands painted black with finger nails et all replacing the entire left hand with the Punisher's hand.

I painted the figure using Tamiya paints, the skin tone is a mix of their brown red and skin tone. Then using Jo Sanja's varnishes. The tatoos were a great pain to get right, especially considering there is next to no images available on the web that show his left head tattoo.

The Weapons:

The sword was from Blade 2 by Marvel Legends I trimmed it down because it was far too long and looked ridiculous! then of course painted it properly ;)
The glaive was from the same Blade figure, sanded down the sides so it was half as thick then cut out a bit of the inner blade so it was smaller. It does fit in the holster in his chest.

His pistols were donated by a Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legends figure then I added some Apoxie sculpt to the ends using skewers (again) for the laser sight and weird bobble thing on the bottom then repainted it.

His double barreled shot gun is scratch built aside from the handle donated by one of the Punishers weapons, using 2 acrylic rods as the barrels.

His stake shotgun was much more complicated. Using a piece of straw from one of those drink hats I cut a small amount off then used 2 acrylic rods painted transparent yellow with silver ends I inserted inside then sculpted the rest of the gun.

There are more images on my blog http://thebalzan.blogspot.com/2011/06/blade-series-custom-action-figure.html

I've changed all the pictures, and updated more onto my blog, hope you enjoy.