90% of the United Cutlery line is intended to look pretty (If it's a fantasy piece, you shouldn't have any doubts). That's it - that's the only function. If you understand that, then you won't be disappointed.
Most of their "branded" items are suppossed to be functional and do just fine compared to other knives in the price range. For example, the Colt knives (Colt CSAR, Colt CSOK, Colt CT-4000, etc) and Harley Davidson series knives (Flaming Legend, Multipurpose Tools, etc). Heck, some of the better knives are just knives from other companies, repackaged and "branded" to the H-D company - like the SOG Multitool, Gigand Spectrum, Sebertool, etc.
Are they the be all to end all? No. Would I use one? No.
United Cutlery Products have, however, gotten more people into knife collecting than any other brand - because they get hooked on the "fantasy" pieces, then move on to better and better knives.
They serve their purpose, and there is a market for them. BladeForums.com just doesn't attract that sort of market.
Spark
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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here