Today, I thought I’d do a public service announcement by way of review. If you missed out on the Mythic Legions Advent of Decay Kickstarter, and you want to get in on some of these amazing figures, today is your last day to drop in pre-orders over at Store Horsemen. In the meantime, I’m opening the last of the figures that I picked up from small interim assortment called The Coliseum. These weren’t part of a Kickstarter, but rather went straight to pre-order and included a handful of regular figures and the third Deluxe Troll of the series. I already checked out Raygorr and Rahmulus, and now it’s time to have a look at Brontus the Arena Troll!

Brontus comes in a satisfyingly large window box that has a nice bit of heft to it.  The box is identical to the ones they used for the Forest and Stone Trolls and features some nice artwork and lets you get a good look at the big beastie inside. The packaging here is collector friendly, so long as you’re willing to practice a bit of patience when removing all the wire ties. I’ve actually been displaying my Stone Troll in the box up at the top of one of my display cases, and I’ll likely do the same with Brontus here. Sadly, I didn’t have the funds for the Forest Troll at the time, and unless T4H decide to do another run on him, I doubt he’ll ever wind up in my collection. There are usually just a couple on Ebay at any one time, and they sell for stupid amounts of money! Anyway, I’m not here to dwell on the past, so let’s get Brontus opened and check him out!

Here’s the big guy out of the box and in all his orange-y Troll glory. And damn, ain’t he pretty! Brontus uses a repaint of the exact same body as the Forest and Stone Trolls and it’s worth pointing out that this is an incredible sculpt. Every bit of him is covered with some kind of detail, including a leathery skin texture and various fissures and cracks here and there that suggest there is no word for moisturizer in the Troll language. The body is also studded with rock-like scales, which work pretty well on this guy and the Stone Troll, but felt a little out of place on the Forest Troll, which is why that one didn’t make the cut when I was budgeting what I was going to buy.

One of my favorite little details on the Troll body is the way his paunch that hangs over his belt, suggesting that this fellow is well fed on the bodies of his fallen foes. The belt itself is part of the body and has a cool hammered metal look to it as part of the sculpt, which matches his wrist cuffs perfectly. He’s also wearing a real fur diaper, which I believe is the same one that came on the Forest Troll. Under the fur there are leather-like strips that come down and these I’m not all that keen on. They’re made from a very stiff material and rather than hang naturally, they just sort of jut out in all different directions. I’m thinking I might be able to steam them to get them to fall more naturally, but that seems like a lot of work for something that is really just annoying. Brontus also comes with a rather long brass chain that goes around his neck and hangs down.

I can’t say enough good things about the coloring on this figure. The gradations of orange used for the body give him a real premium look and it looks like they used a subtle wash to really bring out all the little cracks and crevices in his disgusting Troll skin. Each of the rocky bits on his skin are individually painted too. His back reminds me of the Horta from the original Star Trek series, and that ain’t a bad thing!

The only new piece of sculpting on this guy is his head, and Brontus is indeed a cyclops, which meant I was powerless to resist this purchase. Why there aren’t more cyclops action figures is a mystery I will never understand. Whatever the case, this is a superb portrait and the paintwork T4H invested in Brontus’ one giant eye is absolutely superb. Couple that with the pointed ears, flat nose, and the broad down-turned mouth, and you’ve got a face that is brimming with personality. Brontus looks slightly pensive and more than a little sad. I don’t think he likes life at The Coliseum.

Because he uses the same body, the articulation here is identical to the previous Trolls. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, as well as swivels in the hips, ankles and wrists. The neck also has a swivel, but because of the way he’s hunched over it allows Brontus to tilt his head from side to side, rather than actually rotate it left and right. All in all, you aren’t getting a super articulated beast here, but the points of articulation are solid and useful, and strong ratchets in the shoulders mean that he can hold aloft his gigantic weapon, which in itself is no small feat. So let’s take a look at that weapon.

Brontus wields a giant troll skull mounted at the end of a tree and that’s one of the most badass things I’ve ever heard of. The handle is the same piece used for the Stone Troll’s giant boulder mace with a fresh coat of paint and sculpted iron bands with rivets to fortify the weapon. I really dig the way they have the nub of a branch coming off the handle, as this fits in between the fingers and helps him hold it securely. The skull itself has a bit of a wash to it, but overall looks like it was bleached in the sun before being converted into a weapon. Based on the configuration of the teeth, I’m thinking this is probably from a downed Stone Troll and love the fact that they put a massive iron spike at the end of it, as well as riveted a band of metal to help hold it together.

And there are a few shots of Brontus with Rocky, which is the name I chose for my Stone Troll. Considering that the bodies are shared 100%, I think they still look pretty distinctive from each other.

These guys also scale really well with the regular figures. Brontus towers over Rahmulus, and the troll hands are sculpted so that they can easily pick up and hold pretty much any Mythic Legions figure.

The Trolls were $100 at the time of pre-order and I’m pretty satisfied with that price, especially considering what they go for now on the secondary market. Yes, these are rotocast figures, and they would probably cost only a fraction of that if they were mass market releases, but it’s not like you’re seeing figures like this at retail these days. Plus, the quality of the sculpt and paint, along with how massive his weapon is, really justify the asking price here. If the Forest Troll went back up for pre-order, I’d grab one in a second and that should tell you just how much I love these big guys. And it might just be that the new Troll euphoria hasn’t worn off yet, but right now I’d say Brontus is my favorite of the bunch.