I was doing pretty well keeping up on my Mythic Legions backlog, but the wheels fell off the wagon in July. And while I really should be getting back to the figures from The Poxxus Wave, I was able to grab a couple of the new Skeleton Legion Builders from The Four Horsemen’s in-stock sale, and I’m going to have to bump them to the head of the line. The first boney builders were released as part of the original assortment back in 2016 and were armored, whereas these new ones come buck nekkid, with bones and all showing. Let’s dig right in!

It’s been nearly a decade, but the standard Mythic Legions packaging hasn’t changed much. The figures still come on a card and bubble, which is totally collector friendly as the bubble extends to cover the entirety of the card. The cardback art is generic to each assortment, but otherwise pretty forgettable, but you do get a bubble insert that has a little blurb about the character on the side. I tend to clip and save these and toss the packages.

These new skellies are about as generic as you can get, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. They are basic articulated skeletons, but executed brilliantly, and since they have no armored body parts like the originals, you can use these for a wide variety of play and display genres from fantasy to horror. They are a bit on the chonky side, which fits with the overall Mythic Legions aesthetic, but no so much that they won’t work with a variety of other 6-inch scale lines. The sculpt work here is excellent and there is a ton of detail in these frightening fellows. I dig that there are actual gaps in the lower legs between the tibia and fibula. There’s also some crazy sharp detail in the feet and hands as well as the coccyx and spine. There’s some filler behind the ribcage to give him heft and durability, but you can still stick something between those ribs! There are two big holes in the back of the shoulders, which you find in pretty much all Mythic Legions figures, and I’ll get back to these near the end. I do wish we got some filler pieces for these, as they are rather unsightly when not in use.

We’ve known for a long time now that T4H are really good at sculpting skulls, so as expected, the head looks great. They did a nice job painting in those eye holes and making them look like vacuous, soulless pits of despair. The teeth are especially well done, as are the fissures running around the sides of the head. The jaw is also hinged to give him some added emotive abilities.

Articulation here holds no surprises, as these ghoulish guys make use of the standard Mythic Legions system of modular rotating hinges. The joints on my skellies are excellent, being just tight enough to support poses and they don’t seem like they would be getting loose over time. You do get a bunch of extra hands, including fists, two types of accessory holding hands, and some pointing finger hands for when they have a bone to pick with someone.

The skeleton comes with a spear, a sword and shield, and a sword belt. The belt is much nicer than the ones we used to get back in the day. It’s actually textured and has a sculpted buckle, and swells out at one point in the loop. It hangs pretty loose off the hips, so I think it works best here as a shoulder strap, allowing him to carry the sword through the loop on his back. The sword dates back to the original Kickstarter and I still love this classic, no nonsense design. I was happy to see that it’s painted, as Legion Builder weapons sometimes don’t get that treatment. Here the blade is silver and the hilt is gold. The round shield has been used before a bunch, but it’s also a welcome addition. This one is also painted a mix of copper and bronze and uses the grab bar on the back for him to hold it.

The spear is also from the original Kickstarter design and some day I really need to count up how many of these things I own, because it’s certainly a lot! This weapon is also painted with a gray tip and black shaft.

As for the back holes, these are traditionally used as slots for shoulder armor, and here’s the Skeleton LB2 wearing one of Skeleton LB1’s armor pieces. It looks kind of big on him, but I guess that’s to be expected. I don’t think I’ll really use any armor on these guys for regular display.

The holes can also be used for some of the wing accessories T4H have put out over the years. Here he is with a set of bone wings and I really dig the way this looks. The color isn’t a perfect match, as these new skellies are whiter than previous releases, so you get a little more rotten tan color to the wings, but I think it works.

And here’s a comparison of Skeleton Legion Builder 1 and 2. I think I like the skull on the first one a little better, but then the new one gives you that articulation in the jaw, so it’s kind of a toss up. These guys look great mixed together for a skeleton army and T4H have given us quite a few Skeletal villains to lead them into battle.

More comparisons? Well, as you can see that this guy is a lot chonkier than Storm Collectibles’ Golden Axe skeletons, although I was surprised that he’s shorter as well. Storm’s skeleton is lankier and a bit more stylized, so displaying them together is a bit of a reach for me. As for NECA’s AD&D figures, I think they work really well together. They are a little shorter than Warduke and Strongheart, but not jarringly so, especially if you just count the heroes and villains being really tall. They’re also going to scale really well with Super7’s upcoming Dungeons & Dragons cartoon line.

I’ve been trying to cut back on my Mythic Legions purchases, just because I have so many of these figures in my backlog. Indeed, it was a total stroke of luck that I was at home and on my computer when I was reminded that these were dropping as an in-stock sale. Had they been anything else, I probably would have resisted, but these fellas are just so versatile that I had to pick up a couple. There was a limit of four, so at least I did manage to show some self-control. At $26 a pop, I think these are some of the best value the Mythic Legions line has produced, especially with the painted weapons. They sold out pretty quickly, and I’ll be interested to see if any of the usual e-tailers get them in and what the pricing will be like.