No matter how you look at James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Bloodsport was one of the highlights. Personally, I loved the movie and felt it had many, many highlights, but get a charismatic and likable actor like Idris Elba in a role and you’ve got guaranteed gold.
And really, making a pretty obscure character like Bloodsport one of the stars of a major motion picture is gutsy, and I think it paid off.
When you have a film based on a popular comics property, then you know that the merchandising is soon to follow. The good folks are McFarlane Toys have been flexing their newly acquired DC license to deliver some great action figures and collectibles based on DC Comics characters, and Bloodsport is included in that batch.
Good ol’ Robert DuBois is part of The Suicide Squad collection in the DC Multiverse line, and comes with a few accessories and goodies: two swords, a trading card, a small circular display base, and King Shark’s torso. The other members of the Squad that are part of the same collection have other parts for the Nanaue build-a-figure, but even without the legs, arms, and head you could still make a “Steve Agee on set stand-in” figure by fitting the pieces over another toy.
All you need is a little imagination.
Bloodsport is reported to have 22 points of articulation, per the box, and sure enough, this figure is highly posable. I was able to get DuBois into some pretty cool poses, even without the use of his stand, and the dual swords look great in his hands. The detailing on his suit is pretty nice too, though the color scheme is a bit different than in the film. On screen, his costume was a dark gray or black with gold accents where the figure is navy blue with orange accents.
It’s a curious change, and I feel that the figure would have “popped” more with a few more splashes of color here and there. The fingerless gloves on his hands allow his brown flesh to peek through, which adds a bit of character there. That said, besides the curious color choices, he looks like Bloodsport from the film, especially the smooth helmet that was inspired by the Xenomorph from Alien. I particularly dug the finer details on the various pouches and other attachments that adorn his suit, as they give Bloodsport an asymmetrical, tactical look that doesn’t feel sloppy or disorganized. He looks like he’s come to hunt, which is what you’d want from the character.
While his sword accessories aren’t bad in themselves, it’s also curious why blades were included when Bloodsport used mostly firearms in the film. Given his “nanotech” guns, it would have been cool to have different pieces that can attach to his suit, which you then take off to mix and match and create some outlandish firearms. Instead, the twin swords are another curiosity for an otherwise solid figure.
OVERALL: To be frank, this is the first McFarlane DC toy that I’ve gotten my hands on, and if it’s indicative of their usual output, I feel like I’m in for some great action figures. Aside from some curious paint and accessory choices, Bloodsport is a great looking figure with a wide range of posability.
The Bloodsport figure is available from both Amazon and Entertainment Earth.
Thanks to McFarlane Toys for providing the figure for review.
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