THE WALKING TIME BOMB
Blast-Attak
A red and gold robot from Mattel's 1987 line, sold on a card that promised "He flies apart!"
Blast-Attak is a robot villain from Mattel's 1987 Masters of the Universe line, a living time bomb who blows apart in battle and puts himself back together.
The record
The facts
THE 1987 FIGURE
He flies apart
Blast-Attak arrived in the spring of 1987, a robot muscleman in red and gold with green boots and gloves, a thermometer and a pressure gauge sculpted into his chest, and a big red poleax. The card promised "He flies apart!" and the toy delivers: a cable plugs into his back, and pulling its trigger wire releases the spring latches that hold his torso together, so the two halves jump away from each other.[1]
He began on paper as something else. Mark Jones's first concept in early 1985 gave him a human face and a spiked costume, and Richard Lepik's drawing late that year is close to the finished robot under the working name Crack-Pot. Errol McCarthy is credited with the card art. Mattel's 1987 Style Guide sums him up as "a robotic muscleman with an extremely short fuse," with the "Ability to blast apart to attack and knock down enemies who approach him from both sides at once."[2]
[1] ^ Battle Ram dates the US release to around March 21, 1987. The patent for the action feature was filed on September 16, 1986, and the cable itself was borrowed from Mattel's BraveStarr Fort Kerium playset, where it blew open a safe and a jail window.
[2] ^ Mark Jones drew the earliest known concept on February 26, 1985, with a human face and a spiked costume. Richard Lepik's version, dated November 26, 1985, is much closer to the toy and carries the working name Crack-Pot. A near-final hard copy had darker green boots and gloves, gold connectors inside where the toy's are red, and a white weapon painted red.
THE STORIES
Snake Man or Evil Warrior
His own minicomic and his own style guide disagree about who he works for. Revenge of the Snake Men, packed with the figure, makes him a creation of King Hiss and a Snake Man; the style guide files him with Skeletor's Evil Warriors. Star Comics took the style guide's side in its seventh issue, "Long Live the King," dated May 1987, where he turns up on Skeletor's side alongside Ninjor and mostly uses his gimmick to dodge sword strikes, and Mattel's magazine stories split the difference by having him serve Skeletor beside both groups.[3]
He never appeared in Filmation's cartoon, which had finished before he was made.
[3] ^ Battle Ram also records him in the MOTU Magazine stories "Rescue King Randor" (fall 1987) and "The Dark Power of Skeletor" (fall 1988), working for Skeletor alongside both factions, and in the newspaper strip story "Ninjor Stalks by Night" with Ninjor and Scare Glow.
LATER FIGURES
Back in two halves
The collector versions came decades after the 1987 toy. Masters of the Universe Classics made a seven-inch figure for its 2015 subscription, spelling the name Blast Attak without the hyphen, with the cable trailing from his back.
Origins brings him back at five and a half inches with the split intact, set off now by a pump on the end of the detonator cable, plus a techno-style halberd and a minicomic. Mattel's copy gives him a serial number, Program Robot Serial Number 1710, and the job the character always had: walk into battle, blow apart on a timer, and reassemble to fight again.
THE FIGURE TO OWN
The Origins Blast-Attak
Origins keeps the vintage proportions, the red and gold and the blast-apart action. BigBadToyStore is taking pre-orders.
Origins Blast-Attak
Pre-order at BigBadToyStore, $21.99 Paid link
Full details and photosPrices and stock read from BigBadToyStore on November 2, 2026. In collaboration with BigBadToyStore. #BBTSpartner
IN BRIEF
From Crack-Pot to Origins
Crack-Pot
Mark Jones and Richard Lepik draw the robot that becomes Blast-Attak.
The vintage figure
Blast-Attak reaches US stores in the spring with Revenge of the Snake Men.
Masters of the Universe Classics
A seven-inch Blast-Attak for that year's subscription.
Origins
The Origins Blast-Attak, with a pump detonator, on pre-order at BigBadToyStore.
Questions
Blast-Attak, answered
Who is Blast-Attak?
A robot muscleman in red and gold who fights for Skeletor, and in some stories for King Hiss.
When did the Blast-Attak figure come out?
Battle Ram puts it at around March 21, 1987.
How does the action feature work?
Pulling the trigger wire in the cable releases spring latches in the torso, and the two halves fly apart.
Is he an Evil Warrior or a Snake Man?
Both, depending on the source. His pack-in minicomic makes him King Hiss's creation; the 1987 Style Guide lists him with the Evil Warriors.
What was his working name?
Crack-Pot, on Richard Lepik's November 1985 concept drawing.
Is Blast-Attak in the cartoon?
No. Filmation's He-Man had ended before he was made.
Is he in either He-Man movie?
No. He is not in the 1987 film or on the 2026 cast list.
What comes with the Origins figure?
A techno-style halberd, a detonator unit with a pump trigger and a minicomic.
Can I buy a Blast-Attak figure now?
BigBadToyStore is taking pre-orders for the Origins Blast-Attak.
Pre-order the Origins Blast-Attak, $21.99 Paid link See the figure
Compiled by the heman.org desk from Battle Ram's history of the vintage figure (Adam McCombs, April 12, 2021), Mattel's 1987 Style Guide as quoted there, Star Comics' Masters of the Universe #7 (May 1987), Mattel's product copy for the Origins figure and BigBadToyStore's current listings.
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