WENG THE BLADE MASTER

 I AM NOT A FURRY BUUUUT... the Thundercats is a very important part of my childhood as well as other half man half beast characters, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Back in the 80s wasnt rare to see such ocurrences as well as toy series totally original and not based on anything else that build a lore and story figure by figure, like like Masters of the Universe did it or even McFarlane Toys many years later. But its been soo long since something like that was on the market.

But not anymore, since Mestro Union, a newborn brand make its debut with The Furay Planet, a project about a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals dealing with violence, drugs, duels and gangsters. This world will be developed one character at a time, with one figure including a comic book with part of theyr lore and adventures.

Crocker the crocodile is already out as well as Veteran William the wolfman. While i still yet to get a Crocker, Veteran William turned out to be one of the best figures i ever seen in my whole life, an impresive feat for such a small and unknown name as Maestro Union, soo of course i was overhyped by the third figure of the line: Weng the Blade Master.

A chinese tiger man, a wandering warrior with dual blades in the shape of a very heavy figure, just like William. This guy is 1/12 scale soo he fits perfectly with most modern action figures tough given his inhuman nature, he is twice as tall as a normal human soo this is quiet a big figure!!

Just like William, Weng feet are longer than it seems in the back side and while he also have very cute beans, his paws are mostly plain soo he can stand perfectly and stronglly like a tower despite his digitigrade legs. He needs a little balance but once his knes are a little bend theres no problem for him to stand, something that speaks very good from Maestro Union enginering.

His first articulation is on the puff of hair on top of his head, is ball jointed and the hair can be also removed quiet easy. The he have a ball joint on his head and just like William, his neck is an elongated structure with another ball joint on the base and this lets him tilt his head a lot up and down and to the sides. Theres ball joints on his shoulders with a butterfly structure, cut articulation on the biceps and a double articulation on the elbows (very different to William since Weng is not modular and cannot be dismanteled), theres articulations on the wrists, the chest, the waist, legs, knees, ankles (or half animal leg...i dont know how to call it) and a really good articulation on his paws that can move to the sides and in circles to adjust his balance.

While in theory, all this articulations are the same as William and have a big range of movement, not all work too well....first of all, the clothing piece on his waist pretty much obstruct his entire legs movement. The peice is made in part with soft plastic but the legs cant be opened to the sides at all and are very limited. Gladlly, the knees move just perfect.

The waist dosnt move too much or the chest articulation, mostly for the big muscle stricture that obstruct it and the wrists are totally obstructed by the long gloves made with soft plastic. The rings on the arms dosnt helo either soo Weng is, in the end, not as easy to pose as Veteran William.

The sculpt is amazing. The feline face is perfectly sculpted and the hair is pretty sharp looking, he looks magestic and cute at the same time. His pecturals are glorious. His whole musculature is glorious but those bulgy pecs are just impossible to ignore. Unlike William that have a pretty lean musculature, Weng have the body of a body builder with his biceps and back being really huge.

Theres no venis in here tough, his muscles have a rugged texture that imitates short and soft hair, like a peach tough his hands have no hair  and looks really rough and rugged, like the hands of an old man with veins all over them and a lot of wrinkles and theres a pretty nice pif puff of hair on his forearms that looks like fire.

The gloves are made of soft plastic and the rings covering them are made with haird plastic and make a pretty strong bling sound each time he moves.The waist piece is really beautifull. I dont know how to call this kind of clothing, but consist in 3 layers of a red fabric tucked in top to a belt with two armor side structures at the sides. Theres a lot of pockets and cords hanging around and in one side he have metalic plates along with big coins that looks like yen and at the other side theres just leather and a brown animal fur.

Theres also green jade rings hanging from a cord, with tiny symbols carved on them and the jade rings are made of transluscent plastic. There is also a plate protection n his stomachwith big fish escales painted in silver and this two sections shines a lot and stand out.

Sadlly, as pretty as this looks, i seen many people removing it since it really obstruct his legs movement despite the material. I dont think is that easy to remove it soo i wont do it but i wish this tiger have an easy way to leave him nude, just like William.

Also i almost forgot. in between the red fabric in the back, his little tail is coming out. The tail have the same rugged texture as the rest of the body and is not articulated but instead...is bendy!!! Soo you can pose it around him with totall freedom. I love how different is the enginering compared to William.

His puffy pants have a velvet like texture as well as an enbroidment pattern. While the sculpt and wrinkles is fantastic and very realistic, they are mostly hidden by all the stuff thats hanging from his waist. 

The paint is excelent, with his small shiny yellow eyes, cute pink nose and black little dots on his snout taking all the atention. The white hair have a grey wash soo it dosnt looks plain and his orange body have also a lot od darker orange tones to give volume to those already amazing muscles. The change from orange to white in the center of the torso is pretty soft and looks soo good but not as good as the black strips on his back and arms and also his face, strips that dosnt mix at all with any other color tone of shadow at all!!!

The puffs of hair on his arms is brigth yellow givign them an even more fiery look and i already mentioned the green jade and silver fish details on his waist piece, but the red fabric that draps around his body also have a lot od dark tones to give it shadow and deep. Even the coins and metal plates as well as the big rings on his wrists have both a golden color but also some green to make it looks as rusty and old gold.

His pants are a solid dark blue color and thats all but thats OK since they are mustly hidden and his knes pads have a very natural brown wash and grey fur on the bottom. By the way, the knes pads leave his knes totally....exposed and i find that strange, i wish they covered with something else but that would block the knee articulation i guess.

He have a second head with a expression full of fury but also control over his emotions, unlike William, Weng is a martial artist thats why he neve goes runing in a feral and nude state. The sculpted wrinkles on his nose and his superior lips is really good but makes him look soo soo....cute. Its imposible to not see a kitty in here despite the big bare fangs. The paint is great, you cans ee the pink inside on his mouth but also, and even more stuning, the black strips pattern over his face and hair is the same in both heads....this are not random strips, this is an extremelly carefully aplied paint.

He comes with 4 pair of hands: closed fist, hands to hold accesorys, claw hands and an open palm and a two fingers gesture. The two fingers gesture can be used for some cool martial arts pose but also for him to hold on his pipe or even say "hi". The sculpt is as good as always in this hands tough some of the white paint in the ball joints chip away pretty easy.

Adn here is the proble,....i took me many days and a whole lot of hot water to be able to remove the hands. I almost broke my fingers doing it. Its totally IMPOSIBLE to remove his hands since the hole on his wrist is too small for the peg and bot sections are made of hard plastic. Plus those damn gloves and wings on his forearms dosnt help either soo i had to give him a bath in really hot water for like....5 whole minutes and a lot of brute force use to be able to remove those hands!!!

And put the hands back is still imposible.....each time i want to change the hands i need to use the hot water bath and a lot of force and that is unforgibable. Making the forearms of soft plastic soo it can be adjusted to the peg would have been perfect or make the gloves to open up and be removed more easy but i dont remember ever having this difficult of a time with any other figure...

His other accesory is a stray hat made of soft plastic with a big hole in the center. Out the hat on Weng head and his cute little ears will hold it in place perfectly, plus theres a cut on the side soo he can look with one eye. The patthern sculpt is amazing since bot sides of the hat are totally different but the paint is also soo perfect it fits perfectly the patthern. This is one of the coolest items for him to use.

Then he have a cloack made with soft plastic with a cord in front. Weng head must be removed to put or remove the cloack cape but put the head back with the cape on is really tricky. This cloak have a very nice flow and drapes pretty natural around Weng´s body, sculpted in grey plastic it also have some brownish tones in the bottom to make it looks dirty and old and sculpted for on top made with hairder plastic. The brown fur looks way too much like Veteran Williams hair and have the same grey tones as well...suspicious.....

While Weng looks incrediblly cool with the cape and the hay on, this cape really block some of his arm movement despite the soft material. Also theres an extra collar fur piece that goes in beetwen Weng´s head and his shoulders to cover the articulated neck, but this piece is only necesary when theres no cape.

He also comes with a pape made with bambo. This little piece is marvellous and extremelly delicate, with an exquisit nrown paint with some cooper on each end and a tiny little hook with a tiny little sack full of tobaco. I find the hook pretty delicate but is pretty cool to see the tobaco hanging and moving with the pipe and it fits perfecly on the hand with two fingers but also it can be placed in a small rope on Weng´s belt. This piece demands extra caution soo it dosnt get lost or it broke while moving around Weng (or changing those damn hands).

There is also 3 small silver knifes with an sculpted pattern and 3 little holes. The holes are for Weng claws soo he can hold them but they also fit in 3 small holes at the side of his pipe. Again, lose this little items is pretty easy and most be handled with care.

Then there is a jug with sake or maybe only water? The jug is green with a red cap and a pretty old and aged paint, and also a rop net on the bottom. Really it amaze me how perfect is the painting aplication on the rope!!! Weng can hold it on his claw but the jug also can hang from a black hook on Weng´s belt, close to the little knifes. While the jug is pretty resistant and hard to miss, i think the black hook on the tiger could be broke easy if not handled with care.

Then theres a cute pair os shoes. The shoes have an sculpted pattern that is hard to see thanks to the black paint and a weird pointy shape but.....in ordet to sue them, Weng´s cat feet must be removed from the articulation, but the plastic is soo hard i could not do it!!! Plus the shoes are amde with hard plastic as well soo take them back looks like hell as well and i wasnt up to the challengue. Also i cant see anyone chosing the shoes over the animal feet with claws. I am sure is easyer to Weng to stand with the big shoes but i prefer the animal paws anytime.

And lastly theres a big big and thin chest made of wood only a head smaller than Weng himself. While the wood texture is good theres no paint on it except on the golden motifs and ornaments at each corner and the center of the chest, with wath appeares as a plant in the very center. In the back of the chest theres this weird bullet like item that can be taken out. Theres no instructions on how to use this little thingy soo is really tricky make it works.

There is an almost invisible cap on the center of the cap that needs a lot of hot water (again) to be removed and leave a hole. The bullet like thingy can be used in this hole soo it conect with the chest and Weng can hold it on his back like a back pack. It looks kinda cool but silly and it not always work wince the bullet section is too short, it needs a lot of balance and also gives troubles to Weng to stand still.

Open the chest to reveal a velvet covering with two chinese swords on it. The velvet is a nice detail and the swords have two rings on the blade and a lion head and 3 flowers carved on the handle. The paint is very basic but perfectly aplied, specially on the two tigers in the bottom of the blades and looks fantastic on Weng´s hands.

Almost over but theres one single item left: the comic book with Weng story and a section with fanart. Sadlly, the print is still not that good and this comic book is only 1/3 of wath Veteran William had, also the art looks amazing in some panels but not that good on others. Aside of qualty or art taste, the story shows Weng facing a group of legendary warrios (Kung Fu Panda???) and finally beating the Namelss One - a samurai rabbit to later be turn into a vagabond that only lives to protects the Nameless One grandaugther, Luna. 

Given how short is the comic theres not a whole lot of lore to explore here tough the idea to give some context to the figure is really cool and ties with the very next figure of the line: the Namless One and Luna.

Overall, this figure is soo incrediblle looking, imposing, very manly and very sexy as well and every bit of the sculpt and paint jov is far superior to popular and much more expensive brands. I hyoed this tiger for more than a year since he looked soo amazing on photos but in the end, he dosnt reach Veteran William perfection.

All the stuff on top of his body and his outfit limit a lot his movement, and also the complete inability to change hands is really not acceptable. I STRUGGLED soo much taking the images seen in this post, is was a real figth  and given all the small and delicate pieces over this figure, i feel lucky i didnt broke anything.

Still i am very happy with him and how fantastic he looks. My interest on the rabit is null and the crocodile looks good but kinda silly compared to both Veteran William and Weng the Blade Master but it seems they are also making an african hyena and it excites me to see wath other kind of figure Maestro Union have in store. With enginering issues or not, this figures are real pieces of art.