Well, it’s not exactly Mythic Legions, but the big sale this past Monday on StoreHorsemen got me remembering that I had a one-off purchase of the T4H’s Gothitroplis line hanging around for quite a while now and I think it’s long past time that I opened him up and gave him a look. So let’s keep the Wednesday Four Horsemen love going with Eagalus!

BIRDS! The Gothitropolis series is all about humanoid avian warriors. It’s an idea that is sort of hit and miss with me depending on the bird the figure is based off of. Some of these work extremely well and others not so much. I was never going to go deep on this line, but I frequently regretted not picking up Eagalus as a stand alone figure. Some time later one of my Twitter buddies and fellow Toy Hound offered his up for sale and I took the bait. The packaging here is very similar to what I’ve been showing from the Mythic Legions line, in other words, it’s simple, serviceable, and collector friendly. The back of the card just slides off of the bubble allowing you to get at the goods. The cards are all the same and feature shots of the different figures in the line on the back panel.

Eagalus is an unbridled testament to T4H’s sculpting and painting chops. I mean, we’ve become accustom to seeing their stuff from Mattel, but lines like Gothitropolis (and Mythic Legions) leaves them unconstrained by corporate costing and limitations. What’s that Mr. Corporate Bean Counter? We have to cut out three paint applications to bring the project in under budget?  Nope, there are no such handicaps here, and what we get is a masterpiece. I mean just look at this beautiful sonovabitch and tell me that this isn’t the most beautiful Eagle Man Warrior that you’ve ever seen.

In addition to the individually sculpted feathers that make up most of the body, Eagalus is showing off some incredible detail in his outfit. Just look at all the intricate decorations on his sash and all the great Revolutionary War-styled gear that’s sculpted onto his belt. And the paint! There are so many colors and the quality of the paintwork on this figure just blows my mind. There’s more paint operations and attention to detail on this belt and gear alone than we get on an entire figure from those other guys. Not to mention the paint on each of the individual sculpted feathers. I particularly like the metallic purple paint used on the armor with the red trim.

From the back we can get a better look at his intricate armor and more of his handsomely feathered body. Even the scales on his feet are individually sculpted. Also, check out those little wing nubbins on his back. I’ll come back to those in just a bit. Like Mythic Legions, the articulation on this figure includes lots and lots of rotating hinges and the figure is largely modular, so Eagalus can be taken apart at the joints and mixed and matched with other Gothitropolis figures.

The head sculpt is also worth gushing over. It’s teeming with patriotic nobility and bird bad-assery. The paint on the beak looks especially good and I love all the detail they sculpted inside his mouth. From top to tail, this guy is high art and I haven’t even let him spread his wings yet!

Yes, you can pull out those two wing nubbins from his back and pop in his real wings. If you own the DC Universe Classics Hawkman or Hawkgirl, you’ll likely find these familiar. They attach with the same style of rotating hinge peg and are jointed about midway through each wing to allow them to spread or fold up. The sculpting here is every bit as detailed as what we got on the rest of the figure. They are, however, a bit heavy, and the joints are sadly not always up to the task of holding themselves up. In addition to the wings, you also get three pairs of feet. One set is designed to stand on, one set are grasping feet, and the others are perfect for when you want to pose Eagalus in flight.

Eagalus also comes with this bitchin’ cloak patterned after the American Flag and with a bird-shaped starfield.  It’s beautifully tailored, with a ragged cut bottom edge, and some additional holes for weathering. It fits right over his head and fits him pretty well.

And lastly, Eagalus includes a mace-spear pole weapon. It’s so damn long that it comes broken down into two pieces in the package.

Like most of the Gothitropolis figures, Eagalus was originally priced around $35, but quickly sold out. For a while he was going for a ton of monies on the second hand market. I bought mine for about $60 and it was worth every penny. T4H have since re-released him, which made the prices for this guy more palatable, but only for a short while. Last time I looked for him there weren’t any on Ebay and most of the big toy e-tailers had sold out even with prices in the $70 range. Yes, he was part of Monday’s StoreHorsemen sale, but as you probably guessed… he sold out there as well. So, if you want a majestic eagle-human-hybrid warrior for your action figure collection and you see him for a reasonable price, don’t hesitate. Personally, I may wind up displaying him with my Bioshock Infinite figures. I think he looks great with the Motorized Patriot’s flags and mini gun.