Master Replicas: Sting Sword FX Collectible

A LOTRG.com Review!

As many of you know, Master Replicas has ventured into Middle-earth and will be releasing some great Lord of the Rings merchandise in the coming months. The first item in their Lord of the Rings line is the Sting Sword FX Collectible which is due to ship in July. It measures 27” long x 5.5” wide x 1.5” thick and is a fully authorized and licensed by New Line Cinema.

Although I don't own any of Master Replicas Star Wars or Star Trek collectibles I am well aware of their quality which has raised my expectations for their upcoming Lord of the Rings collectibles. Now that I have had the honor and privilege of reviewing the Master Replicas Sting Sword, I can tell you that my expectations have been met and exceeded.

In this day and age of real scan technology and super articulation most collectibles receive rave reviews and rightly so. As companies compete for the collector market, attention to detail has become the rule rather than the exception. Will Rogers once said "I never met a man I didn't like", well these day I believe more and more that 'I never met a collectible I didn't like'. That being said, I now find myself reviewing a collectible that raises the bar to a whole new level.

Packaging

Sting comes packaged in an appropriately Lord of the Ring decorated rectangular box. The packaging is pretty straightforward and features good descriptions and images of the treasure it holds inside. Removing the contents reveals no waste of space with the Sting Sword, base and directions all adequately held in a protective styrofoam core.

Sculpt

Cast from the same molds used to create the movie prop, the Sting Sword FX Collectible is as authentic and accurate as you can get in a reproduction. When you remove it from the box you can feel the impressive weight of it, letting you know right away that this is no toy. This is mainly due to the sturdy die-cast metal hilt which is finished with a realistic wood grain pattern complete with silver leaf filigree exactly like the Elvish accents on the original Sting as seen in the movie.

As impressive as the hilt is the real beauty and magic of this Sting Sword is the blade. Constructed of polycarbonate, it has a brushed metal finish with a trans-reflective silver coating giving it the look of real metal. But it gets even better, the core of the blade glows bright blue when activated, which will have you thinking that orcs are about. ;) The protective clear cover is embossed with the elven pattern found on the blade of the original prop. As complicated as the description of the blade may seem, the fact is when you look at the Sting Sword it looks exactly as if it has a real metal blade.

FX Feature

The thing that makes the Sting Sword stand out in the world of replicas is the special FX features. It has three modes which can be activated by a small switch on the hilt just below the cross-guard. The three positions are OFF/ON/ORC. When Sting is turned to the ON mode it emits sword clashing battle sounds when struck. The sounds come from a small but powerful speaker found just below the cross-guard on the hilt. Although not meant for child's play, due to the potential skull splitting heft of the replica itself, this feature, combined with the intentional durability of the blade, does give the Sting Sword a certain 'Playability'. Making this even better is the third ORC mode which when enable makes the blade glow blue as the movie Sting does when orcs are about. This is sure to endear this Sword to costumers who wish to have the most realistic Sting replica to compliment their Frodo costume.

Since Sting is an electronic FX collectible it obviously needs batteries which are housed in the hilt. To insert the required two "123" 3-volt batteries you need to unscrew the pommel by rotating it counter clockwise which brings us to the only flaw we could find on Sting. Unfortunately this needed battery access makes the pommel just slightly but noticeably loose.

Accessories

The only accessory that the Sting Sword comes with is the plastic display base. It is versatile, allowing Sting to be displayed either horizontally or vertically. The base is made to resemble carved stone with stands that are meant to resemble wrought iron. Although it does serve it's purpose it seems a little skimpy when compared to the extraordinary quality of the sword it is meant to compliment. It would be nice in the future to have a more rugged and detailed base however that would also increase the price point. And speaking of price...

Value

The Sting Sword FX Collectible is currently available for pre-order on the Master Replicas website for $119. Compared to the price of other realistic sword replicas this is a steal, especially since besides being an authentic replication it has the added FX features. As mentioned above, it would be nice to have a better display base which would increase the price, but given the value of the product I think it would be well worth it.

Final Thoughts

The Sting Sword FX Collectible is so impressively unique, it is hard to find the adjectives to do it justice. There is no single Lord of the Rings collectible to compare it to. Although at first glance it would seem most similar to the many other replica Sting Swords, it also has the 'playability' aspect that puts it in a category all it's own. It is essentially the best of both worlds: high-end authentic reproduction and useable role-playing collectible. If I had to sum it up in one word it would be AWESOME!

Final LOTRG.com rating 9.5 out of 10!

To see more Sting Sword review images visit our Master Replicas Gallery.

In addition to Sting, Master Replicas has a bunch of other Lord of the Rings replicas in the works including Sauron's One Ring, Gandalf the White's Staff and the Light of Earendil. To learn more about these items and pre-order them, visit:

Master Replicas: LOTR