Battle Fist Sword
by guest writer J-Sun

Like many fans, when I first saw the redesign for Fisto on the cover of MVCreations' Masters of the Universe Comic Vol 2, #1, I immediately had an appreciation for Fisto and his weapon's new look. When it was revealed that a Fisto figure would be taking plastic form without the sword, like many fans, I was somewhat disappointed. My disappointment didn't last long though, as I decided that if Mattel wasn't going to make Fisto's Sword I would have to make the sword myself!

I examined the awe inspiring cover art by Emiliano Santalucia (the only source for the sword design I have come across) and pondered what it would take to make a sword that was close to that design. The details in the sword design are very fine and crisp and I immediately discounted the idea of going with a sculpt from sculpy (which is my material of choice for most of my custom figure work). There were just too many fine edges in the design—too many pieces that had to be really crisp or symmetrical in order to pull this off right.

So I found myself a nice rectangular piece of acrylic plastic—this would be the main blade. Although achieving the blade shape would require a lot of work to the plastic, at least two sides would remain smooth and flat. I drew the basic shape of the blade onto the plastic and went to work with my Black and Decker Wizard Tool (similar to a Dremel). Sanding away at the acrylic I eventually had my basic blade shape formed. For the details on the blade I layered very thin pieces of acrylic, which were trimmed to shape and glued to the main piece. It was looking good, but I was far from finished.

The hilt of the sword was next—this was carved out from a separate piece of acrylic, which was later glued to the blade. I feel that the hilt was the biggest challenge. I carefully carved away with the Wizard and finally achieved the look I was going for—thankful that the fine points of the hilt did not crack or chip during the process.

The next step was more sanding—with nail files, various grit sandpapers—whatever it took to get that plastic into shape. This took some time and patience and there was plastic dust and filings everywhere, but things were definitely coming together and it was time to add the details.

You'd be surprised what I used to put together the details of the hilt. The ribbed handle of the hilt was taken from a Martial Arts He-Man weapon... but all the rest was chopped and sanded and carved from pieces of plastic from doll eyes, crayola markers, and little cylinders of plastic from pens.

Now the little fist at the end of the hilt was pure luck—it belonged to a little robot guy I had in one of my bins where I keep fodder for customs—ones man's junk is another man's treasure—or in this case—a little robot guy's fist is just the right piece of scrap to finish off a custom BATTLE FIST SWORD—it works perfectly.

The final step was painting the sword. I used acrylic craft paints, Silver and Deep Violet, to match with Fisto's armor and the comic cover reference.

Creating this sword was a real a scratch job. What was most fun about putting this sword together was determining what scraps could be used to achieve the shape I was going for and assembling them and then carving away to make things "just right".

I wish that I was better able to explain the creative process in a way in which other fans could more easily replicate their own Battle Fist sword. I encourage anyone interested in customizing weapons or figures to give it a shot —inspiration is everywhere and we are surrounded by countless materials, bits and pieces that really allow us all to bring our visions to life—heck —look what I used!

Give it a shot... You have the POWER!

Check out MPb's complete Masters of the Universe customs, including a custom how-to for Jitsu and MossMan.

Also visit He-Man.org, the most complete resource for fans and collectors.

Article © 2003 MillionairePlayboy.com. All Images © 2003 J-Sun .