Hero's Edge Fire Axe ()

Camera is borked; this makes me laugh *shrug*

This contains something known to California to cause cancer or birth defects.
Ergo, don't buy one if you're pregnant or generally fearful.

This doesn't have a name, so I'm just using the one from the game.

Use your eyes and mind when shopping. You'll figure it out. 

I have faith.

 

Murphy's are radically red. Tell me something I don't know~ Relatedly, I did say that a fire axe was more apropos, for him. Ummm, this now counts as my second weapon for Alex, because while it's too far removed from Murphy's, damn is the head spot-on to Alex's. Took me a while to admit that, but here we are. It's a great piece, in spite of the objective criticism that I'm ultimately going to deliver; I have no intention of giving it up, unless a friend happens to ever want it.

 

Unlike the Rusty Axe, the handle on this one is rock solid. I can't squish it for the life of me. It might as well actually be wood. It's incredible! Especially compared to the one that I checked out at Halloween City, last year. That one had a cold, clammy, gummy feel to it. I imagine it would degrade and get full-on sticky VERY FAST. Avoid that one!

 

DON'T HIT ANYONE OR ANYTHING WITH THIS, OR SWING IT LIKE AN OLYMPIAN, BECAUSE EYE-RELATED CATASTROPHE IS 100% POSSIBLE. Yep, the head comes off just the same as the other one, and you can swap them if you are so inclined. I don't think they look good reversed, but you do you!

The blade absolutely needed more paint, right on the edge itself. More red is more accurate, right? Rationalization, ahoy!

As such—and as with Henry's—I'm pleased since I got it as cheap as I did. Unfortunately, the paint on the blade makes it such that I don't recommend getting this for full price, even if you adore Murphy Alex. C'est la vie~

 

I went back to one of these for Murphy. It is my truth, in this regard.

3½ Beautifully Routed Rounds of Backtracking out of 5

Hero's Edge Rusty Axe ()

 

This contains something known to California to cause cancer or birth defects.

 Ergo, don't buy one if you're pregnant or generally fearful.

 

It doesn't have a name, so I'm just using the one from the game.

Use your eyes and mind when shopping. You'll figure it out. 

I have faith.

 

Not gonna lie, it's really good. There are some things worth noting, but the short version is that this is amazing, given the hefty discount I received on it. At full price? If you REALLY REALLY want one, sure. Yes.

The handle is ever-so-slightly squishy and there's a few small paint blemishes afoot, on the visible parts. There's a world of difference between slight imperfections and damning problems. I only found the former. Visible is a key word, because the head is removable, and will probably reveal some paint streaks, as there are on mine. However, the friction of the foam is quite formidable, and other than deliberately sliding it off by hand, you'd have to swing this as violently as a real axe, to get it to fly off. It certainly can, but you have to MEAN it.

 

Don't beat anyone or anything with it, and to avoid eye-related catastrophe, DON'T SWING IT LIKE AN OLYMPIAN.

All of this of course means that you can swap heads with some of the other axes in the line, if you'd like.

Again, it's great at a deep discount. If Henry is your favorite*... What is it that the kids say these days? Oh, right...make it rain.

4. Why Would It Be Anything Other Than 4 out of 5?

*Hiiiiiiiiiii Allen 😄

BladeBuilders Basic Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker Lightsaber Heather Mason Beam Saber (2017?)

I got rid of what I had for Heather?!?! Yeah; I just kept the Deluxe Katana for her, instead of Harry. That thing rules.

Buuuuuuuuut, a little while back, I was visiting one of my favorite flea market stalls, and saw a familiar sight: the vacuous back-end of a BladeBuilders Lightsaber. Except the blade was nowhere to be seen… Turns out they released a basic version without sounds, meaning there was room in the hilt for the blade to completely retract into!

SOLD!

I alluded to it ever so briefly in my review of the electronic variant, but what sells me on Luke’s Jedi saber are the colors of lower-tier versions of it. High-end replicas accurately recreate the lathed-out, delicately rendered area below the emitter, as well as its copper coloring. Cheap ones? They fill it in and slather it with orange paint. Yeah, it looks crude, but I’ll take crude and solid over daintiness any day of the millennium. Orange, green, and…silver. Silver isn’t exactly white, but it in no way impedes this from evoking Heather in palpable (color)ways.

Believe me, an accurately black hilt with Josie and the Pussycats’ leopard print is 100% me, but I’m not going out of my way to achieve that, when this is as incredibly satisfying as it is.

Especially this specific version, which is much more of a costume accessory than a fully-featured toy…on its own. Since I shamefully failed to mention it in the other review, the open end is designed to take connector pieces that allow you to Frankenstein different sabers together. Obviously, this exact one didn’t come with any, but it doesn’t seem that new examples will, either. I remember that the electronic one came with a single connector, but there are some sabers that come with multiples. I’m not going to rain on a child’s creativity just because I’m an old curmudgeon. It’s a neat system, even if it isn’t for me. And, the empty end ports have never bothered me. A gimmick that doesn’t significantly compromise a toy? Be still my heart~

The only complaint I can personally lodge against it is that the pieces of the blade nest together in a specific way. Though, there’s no actual harm to them being crammed in willy-nilly, as thick and robust as they are. A kid is free to have stress-less fun; I’m the one who has to take a minute to fiddle with it, to get them all satisfyingly aligned, as pictured.

No rest for the anal-retentive.


4 Perfectly Apropos Paint Rubs out of 5
You may recall that, yes, I have previously valued things like stability and aesthetics over electronics.

Nicky Bigs Novelties Sledge Hammer ()

Several years ago, I decided to reduce my collection as much as I feasibly could. It took an agonizingly long time to rid myself of my toku toys, but it was distressingly easy to hand off most of my Silent Hill arsenal to a friend. The further I’ve been striding out of the quicksand-esque quagmire and malignant miasma that is tokusatsu, however, the more my simply relocated wrecking bar has been calling out to me to place it back on the rack—to completely refill my repository.

The magnificence of my new Buster Sword has certainly played a role, as well.

How ironic that my collection is now all prop weaponry, given how I ended up feeling about Sentai and Rider role-play toys.

No one can see past a decision they don’t understand~

_____________________________

In having (and having had) painted foam weaponry, for a number of years, at this point, I can happily report that they hold up much better than I originally assumed they would. If you handle them with care and gently dust them, you should be fine for a decently long time. That having been learned, what kind of weapon would be appropriate for a protagonist whose implements break rather easily?

Turns out the answer is hollow plastic. The head is a mite horizontally loose, but you have to deliberately torque it, or swing it violently, to notice. Normal handling and display would never give that away. It comes in two pieces, but there are a multitude of raised plastic mounds within the overlap that resemble tiny ramps, arranged in successive stages. I.e., the connection is absurdly good and I do not recommend trying to ever take it back apart. My previous hammer had the grandeur of its paint to thank for it appearing bigger than it was. This one looks decently long, because…it’s decently long…

For a costume party or display, I can certainly recommend this.

Hitting someone will assuredly harm it, instead of them, though. Since being replaced, I've been using this to inflict some pain on inanimate objects, and I've tried it on myself, to boot. It can definitely sting, and it can survive some plastic curling due to impaction. DON'T HIT PEOPLE OR THINGS WITH IT. I'm kind of impressed at its durability, in spite of:

20…SAME YEAR UPDATE: I noticed that this thing is not straight. The bottom half is warped. I can rotate it and the head, but no dice. It has become an irksome entity, through and through.

I give no shits, because the universe has provided the perfect replacement~


3 More New Reviews To Look Forward To out of 5