It took a little longer than I intended, but here we are finally at the last Cosmic Legions figure from the second wave! I last checked in on this line a week or so ago with the slightly disappointing Aius Cyppiteon, but I can all but guarantee you that we’re going out with a bang with today’s figure, Slygor Ryz!

As we’ve seen with the past TU5CC faction figures, Slygor can double as a specific character or as more of a troop builder. The Gravekeepers are the guards of Hvalkatar Prison’s Cell Block 5 and Slygor is their commander. But while most of the previous TU5CC figures got by with just different heads to distinguish them as separate figures, Slygor here has a lot more going on. Indeed, with so many different combinations to kit this figure out, it’s kind of hard to decide exactly how to tackle it, so let me just jump in and start with the base figure and go from there.

Slygor is built off of the same body we saw used with the TU5CC Sentry as well as the shoulder rig and belt, with added armor pieces for his hips and thighs. And while the sculpt was every bit as fabulous with that previous figure, it’s so nice to see it all lit up with some beautiful paint, as opposed to the flat grey used with the Sentry. Here we get a gorgeous metallic blue over most of the armor plates, with some black and gray hints and a few hits of silver on some of the bolts. It’s not the most complex paint scheme, but it is amazing the difference it makes in picking out all the little details in this suit. I especially love how the blue contrasts with the panels of mesh left in the bare gray plastic. It’s just lovely!

I’m going to say that Slygor’s head sculpt is probably one of the weaker efforts in this line, but that’s not to say it’s bad, but maybe just a tad generic. Honestly, I think that says more about how off the charts many of the other alien portraits have been, rather than anything negative about this one. The head is sculpted in brown plastic with some some darker brown stripes. The beady eyes are set far apart and sunken under the brow, his ears have points, and his nose is both broad and flat. No doubt, he looks like a pretty hard dude.

This shoulder rig can support the included space helmet with a large translucent purple dome. We’ve seen this helmet a few times in this series and while it looks great, I’m still not thrilled about the fit. It’s mostly held on by friction in the back and it leaves gaps down under the chin. I’m no spaceologist, but I’m pretty sure having gaps in your pressure suit is hazardous to your health. I just wish TFH had designed the way this attaches to the figure a lot more secure, especially since it’s a piece we have seen over and over again.

If you want to customize the figure as a Gravekeeper, you have two alternate heads to choose from, both of which we’ve seen included with the previous TU5CC figures. These are both really cool designs and are painted to match the rest of the suit and have removable translucent purple visors. I still get a bit of a Geth vibe off of these form Mass Effect, and that ain’t a bad thing.

You also get some larger pieces that can replace the visor: One painted to match the armor and the other cast in the same translucent plastic as the regular visor. Just on the heads alone, you could easily buy five of these figures and have different portraits for each one.

There’s an alternate shoulder rig available if you don’t want to use the one compatible with the domed space helmet. This one works with along with the two pieces of included shoulder armor and covers more of the chest. It really transforms the look of the upper body, giving it a lot more bulk, and you get a pair of hoses that can be plugged into the various ports on the figure to present a number of different display options. I tend to favor this shoulder rig for the two helmeted heads, while I like the previous one for the Slygor character, but the option is there to go whatever way you like.

As for accessories, we get some repacked stuff, but we also get some new stuff too, so that makes me happy. We get the standard rifle again, this time cast in black plastic with some gray paint hits. It feels like this weapon has been released with every other figure, but I don’t mind. it’s a great no-nonsense design, and exactly the sort of weapon I could see lined up in closet in the Prison Security Office. It definitely suits Slygor and the Gravekeepers perfectly.

You also get a Stun Club and a riot-style shield. The shield is something we just saw last time with Aius and while I wasn’t keen on it with that figure, it definitely suits the Gravekeepers a lot more. It’s got a new paint job with some alien script and symbols painted on the front. You can also swap out the front plate for a translucent purple piece and turn it into a partial energy shield.

The Stun Club is brand new and includes two different tops: One off and one with the electricity on, which is conveyed with a bit of translucent plastic lightning crackle inside it. The shaft has a bit of blue paint to match the armor and you get some black and gray pieces to further mix things up. I like this weapon a lot and it looks like it would be pretty formidable club even without the electro feature.

And finally you get a hologram insert for his gauntlet. This one is the solar system projection that we’ve seen before but recolored in translucent purple.

Wow, this figure is a huge step up from the bare bones malaise of Aius Cyppiteon. Sure, there are a lot of reused parts here, but they present us with a lot of new combinations to create what is not only a pretty fresh feeling figure, but one where you could buy a half dozen of this guy and still not be able to display him in all his various possibilities. I promised myself no army building when it comes to Cosmic Legions, but if this guy ever goes on sale through some of the online retailers that carry them, I sure would be tempted to break that promise. In the meantime, that catches me up on Cosmic Legions, so hopefully I can start chipping away at some of my Mythic Legions backlog because the latest wave is about to ship soon!

I really wanted to finish up my review of the second wave of Cosmic Legions last year, but there were a lot of distractions arriving in November and December and in the end I came up two figures shy of that goal. I’m going to try to remedy that as early as possible so I can sneak in a few Mythic Legions figures before new stuff starts to arrive so let’s dig in today with the second to the last figure from Gravenight… Aius Cyppiteon.

By now these window boxes should be familiar. I like them well enough, but I have decided that I’m going to pitch the trays, flatten out the boxes and tuck them somewhere until I eventually toss them out. When it comes to storage space, the struggle is always real, and I’d rather conserve space for more figures than empty boxes. According to the narrative, Aius Cyppiteon is another one of the hapless alien gladiators made to fight in the bowels of Hvalkatar Prison, and while he may not look like a viable combatant, his race have a telepathic advantage. Let’s get this Grayborn out of the box and check him out!

Straightaway, if you’re a fan of the whole Area 51 Gray Alien aesthetic, this guy should be right up your alley. He’s got the lanky gray bod and the bulbous head with giant black soulless eyes. The body is nicely textured all over, giving his skin a realistic look, and there’s some brown and purple wash in there to bring out some of the sculpt and make all that gray a bit more dynamic. With that having been said, the figure’s coloring still looks a lot flatter and less interesting than what was shown on the solicitation shots. There’s not a lot of costume going on here. He has a softgoods skirt that’s held up by a pair of sculpted brown belts. These have some copper disks and a little silver paint hits to the buckles and fixtures, and remind me joust how good TF4 are at sculpting and painting plastic to look like seasoned leather! He has a pair of gray grieves on his lower legs, and a single forearm bracer on his left hand.

The figure comes with two shoulder pieces, and I’m not a fan of these. They plug into the back as usual, but since the figure is bare chested, what’s supposed to be holding them on? Well, similar to some Mythic Legions figures, you get a shoulder strap to make it look like it’s securing one of them, so I guess the other is supposed to just stay in the package? Yeah, that’s weird. Also, the figure has such narrow and downswept shoulders the armor piece still just looks like it’s awkwardly floating there. Beyond that the piece itself is nicely done, and looks like it’s fashioned out of some sort of alien crustacean shell.

The head sculpt is very nice and really hammers home that Area 51 look. The eyes are just beautiful and creepy at the same time, and the purple paint around the eyes looks great. There’s some scarring on the figure, no doubt from fighting matches in The Gravering, some of these are just painted on while others are in the sculpt. But, there is a jagged cut through the head over the right eye that looks more like damage to the mold than it does an intentional scar. Aius comes with a security key that hangs around his neck on a very thin piece of string. It tends to get twisted when I hang it under the shoulder strap, but looks awkward if I hang it over the strap.

The articulation is standard stuff for the line, although there was a slip of paper included in my case that warned about heating up Aius’ chest joint before working it as it might snap. Mine was indeed frozen right out of the box and while heating it up seemed to help a little, it still feels like moving it too much will twist it off, so I’m just going to let that joint be for now. You do get a decent number of extra hands here, which is fortunate, because the figure isn’t exactly laden down with accessories.

The first of those accessories is a staff that we saw all the way back in my very first Cosmic Legions review of Thygar. The official canon calls this a Metor Hammer Staff. I wasn’t terribly impressed with this piece then and seeing it again isn’t helping any. Thygar’s Staff came with a second version to suggest that it can convert to a flail, but you don’t get that here. I will say, it does suit this figure more, as I can see him trekking across a lonely alien landscape with it. The staff is painted gold and has some green wash to give it an aged patina, or perhaps a hint of energy contained within.

The second and last accessory is this riot shield, which I don’t think suits the look of this character at all. Hey, I know it’s not my narrative, but this shield looks like it would weigh about as much as Aius himself and the figure agrees, as the spindly hinges in the elbows can’t support its weight for long before it drops to rest on the ground. The accessory looks really good, with The Gravering emblem crudely spray painted on the front and I’ll likely wind up giving it to one of the other figures because it certainly won’t be displayed with Aius.

On a side note, you can disassemble the shield to make it smaller and a little more appropriate for Aius’ build. it’s a little better, but I’m still going to be giving this shield to someone else.

If you can’t tell, I found Aius Cyppiteon to be a pretty underwhelming figure, and easily the most disappointing release in the line so far. Which isn’t too bad, because he’s really the only disappointing release. The base body is fine, I like the aesthetic, but there’s just not a lot going on here to win me over. In fairness, he didn’t seem like a good value at the time of the pre-orders either, but since I was going All-In, he came along for the ride. I’ll probably end up keeping him, unless he starts going for crazy money on the secondary market. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t save him for last, because I didn’t want to end these reviews on a downer, and I have a feeling the next and last figure is going to be a lot more interesting.

Welcome back to Hvalkatar Prison, a den of aliens, intrigue, and vicious gladiatorial fights! Today, I’m pressing on with my look at the second wave of Cosmic Legions and I must say I’m having a blast with these figures! This time, Gravenight offers up another one of the unlucky alien contestants with Kanoxx Vull. And I have to say, based on his appearance, I wouldn’t bet against this guy in a fight!

Vull comes in the now familiar window box with some character specific art on the front and some blurbs about him and the overall narrative on the side panels. His species is called The Raseeris and he hails from a colony of laborers called The Red Spiral. His background reminds me a lot of Kraggnar from the first wave, in that he’s not necessarily a bad guy, just another unfortunate alien being used in the fights because he happens to be an intimidating bruiser.

Vull kind of looks like a buff Grimace that’s been assimilated by the Borg and I’m here for that! He’s got a rough-textured purple skin, which is exposed on his upper chest, arms, hands, legs, and right foot, while his lower left leg has been completely replaced with an artificial limb. He sports some coppery armor around his waist, which extends in segments upward to cover his abs, plus he has some silver armor up on his shoulders and around his neck. Some of his accoutrement appears to be life support, as he has hoses running from the cylinder on his back to his hip, another from his hip to his artificial leg, and a big one feeding out of the back canister and into the side of his face. Then again, these may just be there to buff his cool factor. We also get a bit of fuzzy softgoods around his unmentionables.

The detail work in the artificial limb is excellent. The foot is sculpted with what looks like articulation in the toes, but alas these are static. I dig the little pistons and wires and it supports the figure just fine. I should mention that both of the hoses that lead into the hip pieces sometimes fall out when posing, and I may wind up just gluing them in place, because there’s really no need for me to ever remove them.

As usual, you get two heads, one with a passive expression and one with a more fierce one. Vull’s facial features reminds me of some of the designs from the old Oddworld games and that ain’t a bad thing. He’s got no visible nose and a broad mouth. Hey, did you know Kanoxx Vull has no nose? Really, how does he smell? AWFUL! OK… Full disclosure, I think this guy probably smells like lavendar and cosmoline. The right side of his face has one red beady eye while the left side has some cybernetic elements and an ocular implant with a blue lens. The wide hose that feeds into the side of his face stays put pretty well, but it does inhibit his ability to turn his head to the right without it pulling out. The antenna is made of soft bendy plastic to keep it from snapping, but that gives it a natural curve.

The other face is pissed off Vull and makes for quite a statement. His mouth is opened to expose a wall of jagged sharp teeth, his brow is crinkled up, and he just looks like he’s about to put his opponent through the wall. It’s a wonderfully expressive piece of work and I love it!

As for accessories, Vull comes with very little, and I’m guessing that’s because a lot of extra sculpting and plastic went into his cybernetics, hoses, and armor. I was actually expecting him to be an Ogre Class figure because of the lack of accessories, but he’s just normal sized. Anyway, his one accessory is a rather large spiked mace, and while the shaft has a polished industrial look to it, the spiked head feels like it’s right out of Mythic Legions. I do love me a spiked ball on a stick, but I think a little more imagination could have gone into Vull’s weapon, especially since he’s only got one.

Kanoxx Vull is an extremely cool looking figure and even among a line of alien weirdos, he still manages to invoke a lot of personality and individualism. The sculpt and character design gel really well together on this guy and the paint and colors are quite striking. With that having been said, Vull feels like he has one foot in the Mythic Legions line and one in the Cosmic Legions line. I’m not sure if there are Mythic Legions parts in here, but his bare body parts could certainly pass for Orc flesh, plus the fuzzy diaper and mace both look like they were pulled right out of Mythoss. Not necessarily a bad thing, though, and the cybernetic bits certainly help to carry the day.

Welcome back, Toyhounds! I’m back from my little Thanksgiving break and have completed the first lap of my personal marathon of crippling holiday depression! I hope you all had a peaceful and pleasant time, and I’m ready to get back to some toy talk. Last week I started looking at the new wave of Cosmic Legions with the random pick of Noveunn Leen. It was a strong start to the assortment and a fantastic figure! This time I’m selecting a specific figure, Mbyra Jmgyra, because in the Cosmic Legions narrative, she’s a fellow member of The Bleeder’s Guild and sometime partner of Noveunn.

I still haven’t decided whether or not to keep these boxes, but chances are they will eventually get downsized to the trash for lack of space. I like them better than the card and bubbles of Mythic Legions, but I’m still not crazy about the extras kept on the inside of the tray. It’s stylish and all, but it makes them difficult to get to. As for Mbyra, well thankfully I do written reviews and not videos so I don’t have to worry about pronouncing her name correctly, but I’m going with Embiera Jimgiera. She is classified as a member of the Scorrox race, which as we’ll see have some interesting characteristics. We’ll also see that I found much of this figure to be cool ideas in theory, but kind of problematic for the figure.

Mbyra is certainly a distinctive looking lady and I do love the overall design. She likes to show a lot of skin with her metallic green armor consisting of two shoulders pieces, an upper chest, forearm bracers, lower grieves, and some hanging plates around her brown belt. The armor is very cool and has an almost floral motif to its sculpting and pattern. It also has what look like jump jets located behind the knees, something we’ve seen on some of the wave one figures. Also pretty noteworthy is the long scorpion-like tail that hangs down from the back of Mbyra’s head and ends in a rather nasty looking sting. There sure are some imaginative beats on this body, but I can’t say I’m impressed with everything.

One of her more interesting features is her semi-transparent skin. Yeah, The Four Horsemen went with a heavily orange tinted, semi-transparent plastic for her arms, legs, hands, feet, and mid-riff. It was a surprise to me when I got the figure, as I didn’t really notice it in the solicitation photos. And to be honest, I’m not really sold on it. It makes for a nice, vibrant glow under the right light, but it comes off to me as cheap looking in the hand. I was worried about it creating problems with the joints, but to it’s credit that wasn’t the case. It does however make for some mangled fingers on the extra hands, which are super soft and bent. I did have problems with the shoulder pieces, they were ridiculously tough to get pegged in and yet the right one pops out at the slightest manipulation of the arm. Finally, the scorpion head-tail is a cool idea, but it’s a stagnant piece that relies on an added bump in the back to keep it in check and it severely curtails the articulation of the neck. It’s a shame this piece couldn’t have been jointed.

You get two head sculpts, with the tail and cheek piece being shared between them and it can be tough to get that whole shebang to slot around the head securely. Still, when it is done right, it’s neat how it isn’t readily noticeable as being a separate piece. The portrait has some nice things going for it, with the top of the head resembling a scorpion carapace and the side pieces influenced by their claws. It’s all cast in the same type of plastic as the body and the face is painted in an off-white with bright green eyes and red lips. It’s not as impressive a head sculpt to me as what we’ve seen in the past, but it’s different and certainly not bad. I will say that seeing the orange of the head framed by the green of the armor makes for quite a strikingly beautiful color combination.

The alternate head has an angry expression with her mouth showing off some pointy teeth and just an overall scowl on her face. It’s a very expressive alternative good for fierce battle poses. The open mouth isn’t as convincing as we’ve seen with some of the other figures in terms of depth, but it still looks good. This may be the one I go with the most for display. So, how about weapons? Are we going to see some new ones?

Sort of. Like Noveunn, the only new piece we get is a plug-in for the gauntlet and in this case it’s a curved blade. It’s actually a very cool addition and it looks right at home on the figure. I actually like it a lot more than Noveunn’s rocket. Pity we didn’t get two of them.

As for the rest, Mbyra favors the weapons issued with the Sphexxians from the first wave, so for starters you get the big alien blaster rifle. I absolutely love the sculpting and design of this piece and it fits the character really well, but I’m just convinced that it’s too big and ungainly to really work with the articulation style of these figures. It’s hard to get her to hold it all that convincingly. Also, what I think was supposed to be the trigger-finger right hand was mangled so badly because of the super soft plastic, I have to resort to her regular gripping hand to hold the rifle. At least she’s practicing proper trigger discipline. The deco for the weapon gives it a nice coppery sheen and really brings out all the detail in the sculpt. The power nodules are painted metallic purple.

The other weapon is the Electrostaff. I like this one a lot too, and once again I think it suits the character really well. The staff is painted to match the rifle and you get silver paint on the blades. Maybe it would have helped if TFH had included an energy effect part or something in this wave to help add a little something to a weapon we’ve already seen quite a few times. It’s worth mentioning that going All-In on this wave included a bonus accessory pack and I also got an extra bag of parts, both of which I may check out when I get through all the figures, but it’s a shame they couldn’t bundle some of those new pieces with the figures.

Obviously, I have a few issues with this figure, but that doesn’t mean I hate or even dislike Mbyra. She’s pretty cool and very distinctive, but I think she may be the weakest figure in the line so far. At least for me. The translucent plastic really does look decent under the right lighting, but in hand and on the shelf, it just doesn’t look that great to me, and I would have rather it just have been regular painted plastic for the skin. Working out even some basic articulation in the tail would have also gone a long way to make her more fun to play around with. The armor looks great, but having the shoulder piece falling out can be irritating. All in all, I’m still glad to have her. Next week, I’ll open another one in this wave and I’ll make it a random selection.