Tooling for MOTU Origins Blast Attak Spotted in Great Black Wizard Test Shot

It never ceases to amaze me how deep Mattel digs into their tooling library, and this latest discovery really drives that home! Thanks to eagle-eyed collector horde_apprentice on Instagram, we’ve caught a glimpse of what looks to be the tooling for Blast Attak, one of the remaining vintage figures yet to make his MOTU Origins debut! With the discovery of what we believe is a test shot for a potential Club Grayskull exclusive Great Black Wizard, this new sighting couldn’t have come at a better time. As we know, Blast Attak is on Mattel’s radar as they have vowed to complete the vintage run but actually seeing the tooling pieces in use gives us a tangible sign that he’s in the pipeline. Given Mattel’s history of maximizing their molds, it’s not surprising they’d find creative ways to bring this figure to life using existing resources and new parts. Still, for long-time fans of the line, it’s a thrilling confirmation that one of the few remaining vintage characters may finally be getting ready to explode onto shelves, literally and figuratively. Channeling our inner Allison Troy (aka Retro Toy Princess), let’s take a closer look at what’s been uncovered and what this could mean for the future of the MOTU Origins line by looking at the vintage MOTU Blast Attak figure and the Great Black Wizard test shot.

Blast-Attak

Blast Attak was first teased on the trail that leads to Snake Mountain on the Eternia box art. In the Masters of the Universe lore, Blast-Attak is generally considered an ally of the Snake Men, although he is depicted as a villain overall, sometimes working alongside Skeletor’s forces.

Like most MOTU figures, Blast-Attak came packaged on a blister card, featuring bold artwork of the character exploding in action. The back of the card provided instructions on how to activate his self-destruct feature as well as showcasing other figures in the series.

The card art features Blast-Attak, illustrated by Errol McCarthy, taking on a Horde Trooper and Mosquitor as he blows himself up, assuming to take them with him in the blast.

Blast-Attak has a gray, gold, and green color scheme with red highlights and his body is designed to look mechanical, with visible bolts and circuitry. This figure had a very steampunk look and feel to it and his body has a distinctive robotic, armored look with a faceplate that resembles a grimacing living being underneath.

A member of the Evil Warriors and later the Snake Men, Blast-Attak is an android built as a walking time bomb. After a certain pre-set period of time, he will explode and cause immense damage to his surroundings, before reforming automatically. You can see the inner workings of the figure below and how he comes apart.

The knee and lower leg areas between the Great Black Wizard and vintage Blast Attak figures share matching sculpt details, including the circular knee cap design and the mechanical patterning along the shins.

The thigh sculpt on the Great Black Wizard figure clearly matches the vintage Blast Attak design, with identical thigh panel lines and mechanical detailing along the sides. You can see how the molded ridges and tubing replicate the same segmented structure, lining up with what we’d expect a Blast Attak MOTU Origins figure to feature.

From the rear, the mechanical detailing on the Great Black Wizard’s thighs lines up nicely with the vintage Blast Attak sculpt, showing the similar raised tubing and panel segments along the back of the legs.