Soldier of Fortune Review: Major Bludd 25th Anniversary

Major Bludd is a really funny case to me. As a kid I never really understood him as a character. I was supposed to believe he was a top ranking member of Cobra and also a badass mercenary. When it came down to it he was pretty low on the totem pole. Sure he could order around some flunkies but I always felt like he was behind Baroness, Destro(the weapons dealer?), Zartan(the other merc), The Crimson Twins and anybody else that showed up not a Cobra Trooper. Was I also the only person that felt he was out of place and and just sort of disgruntled. His outfit wasnt particularly blue,red and black. Nope he wore his brown jump suit without a care in the world.  What about Zartan you might say? He wore a brown motif as well. Well Zartan had his own faction and I always felt he legit was on his own side.



  Major Bludd was still a cool looking figure to me as a kid. He had a metal fucking arm and that goes along way in the street cred department if you ask me. Not to mention his missile launching handgun. I also always imagined his missiles could shoot off of his backpack if need be.  He's got an eye patch so you know he has been knee deep in it before. The look was not to be argued Major Bludd looks like a stone cold killer.
 
This just always boggled my mind as a kid. Here was a hardened military vet who if you read his file card was in the Australian Military, French Foreign Legion, and a military advisor to a number of countries worldwide. Now what I want to know is why in the hell didnt Cobra have him in the boardroom just cranking out new battle plans. Why did Destro and the Baroness get endless crack after crack at taking down the Joes? A rich covert op and a weapons dealer should not be making all of the plans when you have a guy who is in demand  all over the world just for his advice. I said it before Cobra was its own worst enemy most of the time. Thats life when you are a professional Soldier of Fortune.

   On to the figure. Now the card art for Major Bludd has always been one of my favorites. It really showcases his B.A. robot arm, his missile launcher, and the dog tags of what I always believed to be his victims.(Joe's and any other jobs he was paid to do) I already gave you the gist of his military background but Larry Hama gave the good Major another little quirk. He likes to write bad poetry! " When your feel low and woozy? Slap a fresh clip in your uzi!" Is just a snippet from the works of Bludd. That is alot to take in for a five year old amped up on Dipping Stix!
 

  Starting with the head sculpt this figure looks like Major Bludd. You got the eye patch , a foul grimace and a sweet fu man chu. Now im a little disappointed that his helmet isnt supposed to be removed. When I pulled mine off expecting a bald head or crew cut there was nothing but a slot for his helmet to sit. Great looking face but the rest of the head could use some work. Do yourself a favor and just leave the helmet on.

    The rest of his body looks pretty good since Major Bludd was a bare bones kinda guy anyway. He has chest armor and his sweet dog tags that could be considered an accessory if you pulled his head off. His paint job is pretty clean lots of brown and black with a smidgen of green. I dig it. Now the best part for me is probably on others gripe list. His B.A. robot arm. On the plus side its a robot arm. I love that it only has three fingers(its like even his robot hand has seen some shit) and its jet black. I just like it because if im gonna get a new arm it better look cool and this guy has taste! Now on to the minus side of things. There is no articulation at the elbow so you cant get too crazy with his poses but that is about it. I would say it was a oversight by his weapons dealer but its even bent at the elbow in the artwork. I guess there is an argument to the fact that the old figure didnt have any articulation at the elbow either but come on. Hasbro had a shot to improve on the original in every way and im sorry a little articulation would have gone a long way.

   Now onto what should be the best part of this figure review for me but really seemed to be lacking. The Good Major comes with a Missile Launching pistol, 4 removable missiles(cool) and a back pack to hold 3 of the missiles. The missile gimmick is pretty cool and I enjoy that they are removable but do yourself a favor. Just leave them in the back pack. I have pretty nimble fingers if I do say so myself. For the life of me getting these to slide in place on the pack and to stay was a feat of dexterity that im not sure everyone has. Now are these accessories cool? Yes, but it just seems to be lacking. You ask me he should have came with an Uzi like his poetry says and a pair of rib cracking knives. Call me greedy if you want but when I look at this figure other than his head, dog tags and three accessories not much is new here. They could have thrown in a hand gun or something. A knife would have won me over especially after watching Major Bludd on Renegades and yes I know this came out in 2008 or so.

Is this toy fun is the real question? Yes he is and believe me I dont need  an accessory handout to make him more fun. I dipped into my childhood bag of bits and found some items that suits him just fine. I posted a couple of my favorite proper Major Bludd load outs below. One more side note if you havent watched G.I. Joe Renegades do yourself a favor and at least watch the Major Bludd episodes(netflix has them as of the time im writing this) the dude is boss on that show.

Now at the end of the day what do I rate this figure? Now the G.I. Joe's get there Yo Joe score but since this is Cobra:Soldiers of Fortune I think they get a little something different. How about some Cobra Coins?

1 Cobra Coin= Trooper pay
10 Cobra Coins= Equals Top dollar Merc worth every cent.

I give Major Bludd 7 Cobra Coins.

He would have been a 8 or higher easily if he had a couple more options inbox. Its like Hasbro was taking a cue from Cobra and wasting the good Majors potential as well. Im hoping for a ultimate version or something.



Roberto