Tag Archives: hvalkatar

Feb 2 2024

Cosmic Legions (Gravenight): Slygor Ryz/T.U.5.C.C. Gravekeeper by The Four Horsemen

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!

Jan 17 2024

Cosmic Legions (Gravenight): Aius Cyppiteon by The Four Horsemen

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.

Dec 6 2023

Cosmic Legions (Gravenight): Kanoxx Vull by The Four Horsemen

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.

Nov 27 2023

Cosmic Legions (Gravenight): Mbyra Jmgyra by The Four Horsemen

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.

Oct 4 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): Sphexxian Prison Guard and Sphexxian Block Commander by The Four Horsemen

It’s been quite the trek getting through the first wave of eleven Cosmic Legions figures, but we’re finally here looking at the last two figures in this assortment. And they’re a couple of disgusting bugs! The Sphexxians hail from the planet, V’zapir and serve as a security force throughout the Cell Blocks of the Hvalkatar Prison. I was especially excited to get these because they remind me a bit of the Veloxi race from the old StarFlight game. If you get that deep cut, then congratulations, you’re probably old like me. Anyway, let’s jump in and see what we’ve got!

This is our last look at the packaging for this assortment and overall I still like it a lot. The window boxes feel more professional than what we’ve been seeing in Mythic Legions and while I still think the side tray of accessories is awkward, these are overall nicer to look at. You get blurbs on each of the side panels spotlighting the story of this first wave along with the specific character. These bugs require a bit more assembly than the previous figures we’ve seen with a lot of their bug parts having to be plugged into their bodies, which creates some bumpy times along the way. I’ll start with the Prison Guard…

This guy looks amazing, and it wasn’t until I got him in hand that I realized a lot of what we’re seeing on him is intended as armor. I initially thought they were going for an iridescent bug shell, but basically only the brown bits are supposed to be the actual bug. The metallic turquoise finish for the armor suit is gorgeous and has some purple and blue accents painted on the textured screen plates. The colors in most of this assortment have been off the charts, and I love that! The detail in the armor is pretty mind blowing and I had a great time just turning the figure over and over again in my hands to take it all in. The sculpted gear on the utility belt alone is way more than we get on most figures these days. The extra set of smaller arms are fully articulated, but these are unfortunately a huge pain in the ass. They were very tough to get pegged into the body and they tend to fall out a lot, so I try to position them out of the way and leave them alone. There’s yet another set of vestigial legs higher up in the chest, but these are static.

The semi-translucent wings plug into the back with pegged hinges, exactly how the wing pieces in Mythic Legions have worked, with all the advantages and disadvantages of that system. The attachment gives you the ability to swivel them and angle them, but the friction from the peg isn’t always enough to keep them in position so they drop quite a bit. And I suspect this will get worse the more they’re handled. There’s also no joint between each of the wings, so you can’t spread them. Apart from that these look really good. I love the serrated backs and the brown tint to the clear textured plastic, making them both beautiful and gross at the same time. I really love how you can see more of the bug anatomy through the back of the armor including the back of the thorax and the abdomen hanging down with a stinger attached.

The helmeted head is a work of art. The multi-faceted eyes are actually supposed to be part of the helmet and not the actual bug eyes, which was surprising to me. You do, however, get more bug parts like the antennae and pincers sticking out. The pincers stay in pretty well, but the antennae have a habit of dropping out, especially the one on the right. Since there’s no articulation on these, I may wind up gluing them in place.

The Prison Guard comes with one brand new weapon, a Sphexxian Blaster Rifle, which is an extremely cool design and it’s painted to look like scrimshaw, which I dig a lot. Unfortunately, the articulation and overall design of the figure doesn’t make really make him all that adept at wielding such a large weapon. I really couldn’t get him into a pose where he’s supporting the front of the weapon with his off-hand and when I tried I usually wound up knocking out the smaller arms leading to endless frustration. He can, however, hold it pretty well in his trigger finger hands, but it looks like too large a weapon to be fired one-handed. And while on the subject, this guy comes with five sets of hands, which seems really excessive, as I only wound up using two different sets for all the pictures in this review.

Next up is his Electrostaff, which we saw last time included with the TU5CC Engineer. I really like the look of this piece and I’d like to imagine it’s capable of shooting projectiles as well as for melee combat. The worn silver paint on the blades looks fantastic here and there’s a hint of purple to give it something of an eerie energy glow. All in all a great looking weapon to give to a guard.

And finally, he comes with a set of the arm blasters, which we’ve seen several times in this assortment. At first I thought these were an odd inclusion for the bugs, but now I can picture them flying around blasting the shit out of things with these and I wholeheartedly approve. OK, let’s move on to the Block Commander…

I won’t have to be as long winded here, because the Block Commander is basically a repaint of the Guard with a new head and all the same accessories. The armor is repainted a metallic orange with some metallic pink and silver hits on some of the plates. It looks good, but not as flashy as the Guard. It’s also a bit closer to the brown bug parts, so the contrast between the two isn’t as dramatic. Everything I said about the jointing pitfalls on the first figure apply here, although the smaller arms on this figure drop out even more frequently to the point of being irritating when I am posing him. The green tint given to the translucent parts iof the wings looks really nice.

The head is the only new bit of sculpting here, and it’s cool that we get to see what these guys look like without the mask. The fact that the compound eyes are part of the helmet and the bugs themselves only have tiny beady blue eyes is a cool subversion of my expectation. The rest of the sculpt is excellent with with some deep cuts between the carapace and even some little jutting horns. The antennae fit into this head better than on the Guard’s and I haven’t had any issues with them popping out.

The Blaster Rifle here is repainted in purple and while I think it looks good, I like the Guard’s version better. It brings out the detail in the sculpt a bit more and looks more exotic to me, as if the weapon is actually crafted from bone. Once again, it’s a cool design that the figure just cannot hold all that convincingly.

And you also get the arm blasters and the Electrostaff. The Sphexxians are gorgeous figures and extremely cool alien designs, but they do have more problems than any of the other figures in this assortment. Some of those problems may vary from figure to figure based on the varying tolerances, but some of them are just less than stellar design choices. For example, I would have happily sacrificed articulation in the smaller arms to have them not drop out whenever I mess around with the figure. None of these issues are catastrophic, but I’m going to call them out nonetheless. As for this line in general… For me, Cosmic Legions really has succeeded in taking the wonder and imagination of the Mythic Legions formula and moving it into outer space. I was pretty dubious about the prison backstory for the first assortment, but I can’t deny it served to deliver some great looking figures and imaginative characters. I’m looking forward to the next assortment, but now that I’m finished with this one maybe I can get back to some unfinished business I have with Mythic Legions!

Sep 18 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): T.U.5.C.C. Science Officer, Sentry, and Engineer by The Four Horsemen

I’m nearing the home stretch with my reviews of the first wave of Cosmic Legions figures, which is probably the quickest I’ve ever gone through a wave of TFH figures. It’s nice to try to be current and timely every once and a while. If you’ve missed out on the previous reviews, check them out HERE. Otherwise, I’m blasting ahead with a look at the three members of the T.U.5.C.C. Faction!

What’s all that gibberish stand for? It’s a commerce alliance called The Traders Union of the Five Circles of Cosmerrium. And not only do they orchestrate inter-planetary trade, but they’re also the ones responsible for running Hvalkatar Prison and benefiting from the labors and research conducted there. That can’t be good! My original plan was to review the Science Officer and Sentry together since they share most of the same body, but I didn’t want to leave the Engineer out, so I threw her in here too. Let’s start with the Sentry!

The Sentries are basically the guards of Hvalkatar. I can’t remember if The Sentry and Science Officer were classified as Legion Builders, but I think they were because they were the cheapest figures in the assortment. If you’re not familiar, TFH’s Legion Builders are just a classification of figures with fewer paint apps geared more towards customization and troop building. I almost passed on this fella, because I thought he looked more like an artist proof than a finished release, but I’m glad I got him because even with the drab gray finish, he looks really good. There are parts here borrowed from Olek Thygar and some new bits to give the body a more enclosed and complete spacesuit. You get some silver paint on the belt buckle and chest piece, but that’s it. The flat gray brings out the sculpted detail rather nicely, and boy are there some beautiful details in this suit! I’m not a customizer, so mine is staying flat gray and that’s fine because I could certainly see a drab suit like this being issued to the rank-and-file. I do wish it had the TU5CC emblem (seen on Slogg) printed on the shoulder. The most I’d be willing to do is maybe stencil a white ID number on the shoulders instead.

You get two heads to choose from. There’s an exposed alien head that works well with the domed space helmet, and here we do get some more paint. The creature’s skin is ebony black with some faint white among the fissures. He has six bright orange eyes set in red circles. This helmet stays on a lot better than the one that came with Olek, but I’m still not too keen on the gap in the front, which would be a bit of a problem on a pressure suit like this. Still, otherwise it looks great.

The other head is a fully enclosed and form-fitting helmet, which can be worn under the space suit bubble, but I think that looks a bit redundant, so I prefer this one with the helmet and bubble off. The helmet is the same flat gray as the suit with an opaque yellow-orange shield. The narrative claims these Sentries are of varied races, but this helmet looks like it would be a perfect fit for the alien head included. I dig it!

The Sentry comes well armed, and if we start small and work our way up, then his wrist blasters come first. We’ve seen these before a couple of times and they simply peg right into the holes on his forearm bracers, presumably to look like they could be retracted and deployed. These are cast in black plastic and they look great with this suit.

Next up is his blaster rifle. Again, we’ve seen it before, so nothing new here. It’s cast in black to match the wrist blasters and he has two trigger finger hands, so he can wield it in either hand. You do get a second set of hands, but the only difference is in the way the wrist hinge is orientated. Also, I’ll note here that the Sentry does come with those clear rods to attach accessories to the ports on his suit, but nothing he comes with really works with the ports on the suit all that well. Although, I suppose you could store the blaster rifle across his butt.

Lastly, you get a sniper rifle, and if you haven’t picked up on the pattern yet, yes we’ve seen this before and yes it’s cast in black plastic this time. I said early on in these reviews that the only gripe I really had is the lack of variety in the accessories, and now that I’m more than halfway through the wave, nearly all the accessories are repeats. Just like before, there are sockets in this rifle so you can peg in those arm blasters to give it some more power. All in all, this is a nice looking figure, even if it does lack some of that gorgeous coloring we saw on previous releases. Next up… The Science Officer!

The Science Officer is billed as a sort of combination Lab Technician and Security Guard. He utilizes nearly the same body as the Sentry with the only differences being found in the belt and the chest piece. This one is cast almost entirely in white, although you do get a little light blue-green gradient here and there which gives him a bit more of a premium look than his drab gray cousin. Add to that the brilliant metallic blue chest piece and this guy really pops on the shelf despite not sporting a lot of paint operations.

You get even more vibrant color in the alien head, which is a deep pink and has metallic green eyed protruding from the side of his noggin. This is a really cool head design and I think he’d be right at home hanging out at the Cantina on Tatooine. What’s not cool is they couldn’t bother to throw in a dome for his helmet. I seriously though mine was just missing, but when I looked up the figure on the store site, it confirmed that he didn’t come with one and that’s kind of cheap and sucks. Why give him the lower helmet piece and not the dome?

The second head is a fully enclosed piece with a blue tinted visor, and again this one matches the contours of the alien head really well. I’m not sure how that visor piece would work, as it makes it look more like a robot head. But either way I dig it a lot. I’m really tempted to pick up a couple more of these guys to display with that head!

Moving on to accessories, The Science Officer does come with a new hologram piece for his arm and it’s a blue skull. Is he talking to the skull? Is the skull an artifact being displayed on his holographic projector? Don’t know. But it looks cool and it’s one of only two new accessories we’ll be seeing today that we haven’t seen before, so I’ll happily take it!

As for guns, we get the pistols we’ve seen a few times in previous reviews. This time they are painted with a snappy silver finish and they can be pegged into his hip armor for fast draw action. This is the best use of those clear attaching rods on any of these three figures. And just like The Sentry, you get two sets of trigger finger hands, with one set hinged up and down and the other side to side.

And here’s the blaster rifle that we literally just saw! It’s still an amazing sculpt and it looks damn good in the silver finish. For some reason I have problems getting this guy’s trigger finger into the guard, so for now he’ll just be practicing proper trigger discipline. Let’s move on to the third figure in this TU5CC trifecta… The Engineer!

Oh, it’s a lady! The Engineers are billed as keeping the mechanical operations on the prison running smoothly and also as personal attendants to Highwarden Slogg’s life support systems. She introduces a pretty fresh mix of parts, but like the other two we’re not getting a whole lot of paint applications here. The suit is all black with just a silver hit on the belt buckle and a bright red disk in the middle of her chest unit.

So, I really dig this head sculpt, mainly because it looks like an alien mask with the eyeholes concealed in the design. I’m not sure if that’s what they were going for, or why I think that’s so cool, but I just do. The bulbous crimson head sports one gold and black eye right in the middle of the forehead. Damn sexy if you’re into cyclops.

You also get a fully enclosed helmeted head, which like the others retains the shape of the alien head pretty closely. This is another great looking helmet, and again, I’m tempted to nab a couple more so I can put one one each side of Slogg.

As you’ve already seen, we get the pistols again, and she can peg them into her butt. The pistols, like all of her accessories are cast in a sort of greenish-gray and they still look good.

But wait… here’s a new one! You get an Electrostaff and it’s pretty big and impressive. No doubt a good weapon for skewering prisoners as they try to escape.

And finally, here are the arm blasters… again! Eh, I can’t complain. They look great on her. And I have to keep reminding myself that yes… Mythic Legions was just as bad about recycling weapons in the early waves. I don’t know, maybe it’s because these figures have been so wildly successful since then that I thought we might get a little more variety here. At least the overly recycled weapons are pretty damn cool looking and it’s not really something that’s detracting me from enjoying these.

And that’s it for the TU5CC forces so far! We’ll be getting more in future waves, and that excites me because despite not having the gorgeous coloring we saw on the previous releases, these figures are still loads of fun and look great. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’d love to pick up some more of these to display with the helmeted heads, but I’m trying to control myself when it comes to army building and let’s face it, even as the “budget” figures of this line, these are still pricey on the second hand market, running about $45 a pop at certain online retailers. And while I’m a bit surprised that they’re still readily available, I doubt they’re likely to last long enough to go on sale. Anyway, I’ve got one more Cosmic Legions review to go, so get ready for some bugs!

Sep 1 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): Highwarden Slogg by The Four Horsemen

Happy Friday all! You may have noticed that there was no content on Wednesday as i was hunkered down for the hurricane, but it passed us by leaving just a nasty taste of tropical storm force winds and lots of rain. But, I am back today and I’m continuing my look at the initial wave of Cosmic Legions figures! If you need to get caught up you can take a look at the two versions of Oleg Thygar, the four-armed brute, Kraggnar, and the femme fatales, Vorgga and Zeerian Spyre. Today I’m turning my attention to the big daddy of the wave: Highwarden Slogg. He is the biggest figure by far and he looks like one nasty piece of business.

As with the previous figures, Slogg comes in a very attractive window box, but this one differs in that it is absolutely huge, even dwarfing Kraggnar’s box to some extent. As his title states, Slogg is in command of Hvalkatar Prison and his little bio tells us that he is encased in a suit that keeps him alive by moisturizing and treating his epidermis, which was severely burned when he was just a young blob. Let’s get him out of the box and have a look at him!

And yes indeed, he is one hefty hunk of plastic. Slogg’s impressive size is more girth than length, with most of it in his rather unique support suit. Slogg’s lower arms and legs are exposed showing his rough green skin, which is just covered with ridges and fissures. Meanwhile his bulbous head resides under a frosted dome that keeps him moist and flavorful. But how about the detail on that suit! You can just about make out the orange onesie that all the gear and equipment is grafted onto. Otherwise it’s a mess of tubes, hoses, pipes, fixtures, straps, buckles, gauges, and even a pair of what… nipple canisters? Sorry, I don’t know what else to call them. The dingy colors of the suit’s equipment looks great next to the bright green of the skin and the orange of the undersuit. You also get some bright red, blue, and yellow buttons down there in his groinular region. Gosh, there’s so much to see!

Indeed, when I first got Slogg out of the box I had a great time just turning the figure over and over in my hands and examining all the little bits and bobs. I really like the alien lettering stenciled here and there. Also, I’m pretty sure that’s a pee port located right in between his legs, possibly with an evacuation nozzle stored below it that has to be attached for him to relieve himself. I don’t know, folks, but I’m having fun making it up as I go. He also has a TU5CC badge on his shoulder, which stands for Trader’s Union of the Five Circles of Cosmerrium. Yeah, that’s a mouthful and we’ll learn more about it in the next Cosmic Legions review!

The murky dome can be a bit tricky to get off, but trust me it does come off! Removing it gives you a better look at Slogg’s disgusting melon. He kind of looks like The Gillman from The Black Lagoon hit up Five Guys a few too many times. There are so many gross folds in his skin that lead to that flappy mess of a mouth. His beady eyes peer out from beneath bloated brows, or at least one peers out. His left eye looks like it’s seen better days. There’s a scar running down the middle of it and the pupil is gone. Boy do I love the paintwork on Slogg’s noggin. It matches the rest of his skin, but also has some absolutely gorgeous gradient work where it wavers between darker green in some places and almost yellow in others. This portrait is a goddamn work of art.

And if you like your green blobby space wardens a little more angry, T4H have you covered with a second head sculpt. And oh damn is he angry! This portrait has his mouth open showing his spikey teeth and even a bit of the insides in his disgusting maw. It’s an absolute crime that one of these heads has to sit in the box, so I may just wind up displaying it beside the figure on a riser or something.

Because Slogg has plenty of chonks, his articulation is a tad more limited, but most of that comes from the range of motion in what are most of the usual joints. Rotating hinges are the order of the day, and they’re found in his shoulders, elbows, wrists, and lower legs. His hips are ball jointed, he can swivel at the waist, and his giant head can rotate left and right. But yeah, you do have to pop his dome every time you want to change the direction of his head. The arms are great, but the legs are mostly for positioning so he can stand. Although he really doesn’t have a problem in that department. Slogg also comes with two sets of hands: One set of accessory holding and one set of fists.

And that accessory is what T4H call a Data Screen. This device has a cable that plugs into one of the two holes on his butt, depending on which hand you want him to hold it in. Now, this looks to me like it’s a multipurpose device used to check on the status of his suit, as it looks like a suit schematic is displayed on the screen. It’s kind of a burdensome device to carry around for suit diagnostics, so I’d like to think it serves a double purpose.

A weapon, maybe? Yeah it appears there are possible beam emitters on the front that reminds me of the weapon design from Space 1999. Maybe the orange nob controls the beam intensity or maybe it just regulates how moist his suit makes him. And because Slogg is such a huge bastard and uses up so much plastic, that’s all you get for accessories. Still, for a figure this big extra hands, an extra head, and that big device ain’t too shabby.

There’s no doubt that from the very first solicitation pictures, Slogg struck me as a stand out figure in the wave and now that he’s in hand he does not disappoint. The sculpted detail and imagination that went into this figure makes it an absolute work of art. I’m extremely curious to see how the pieces to this guy will play out in future releases. In a modular line like Cosmic Legions, I have to imagine that T4H considers parts recycling when designing figure components, especially with big and costly figures like this. But, it’s hard to imagine a figure this distinctive will be easy to repurpose. I guess we’ll find out!

Aug 7 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): Kraggnar by The Four Horsemen

Last week I kicked off my look at the first assortment of Cosmic Legions with Olek Thygar and I mentioned that I was shorted one figure in my shipment. Well, T4H customer service got on that pretty damn quick and sent out the missing figure. So, let’s bump him to the head of the line and check out Kraggnar!

Kraggnar is the second biggest figure in this assortment, so I was pretty excited to get him open and take a look. The packaging is the same style of window box we saw last time. You get a blurb about this series on the right side panel and a little bit about Kraggnar on the left, and it’s all collector friendly. Hailing from the planet Quarvum, Kraggnar is described as a builder and architect, and now a prisoner of Hvalkatar Prison. He has now been tossed into the gladiatorial battles in the Cell Block known as GraveRing.

And he is indeed a big boy. If you’re familiar with the Mythic Legions line, than this fella would qualify as an Ogre Class, so he outclasses the regular figures in both heft and height. Like Olek, Kraggnar has a very scaly reptilian-like body, which I’m sure will be put to dual purpose in Mythic Legions if it hasn’t been revealed already. Indeed, even the ports in the back where his second set of arms plug in will likely be used for wing inserts. Also like Olek, I am in love with the vibrant shades of color used on the skin here. In this case, it’s orange and it goes from light on his chest to darker as it gets to the extremities, where it becomes very deep and just pops beautifully. The scales feature an array of both deep and softer cuts and everything about this guy’s anatomy just looks superb.

Kraggnar sports a set of futuristic gladiatorial armor, which includes heavy forearm cuffs on all four of his arms, an x-shaped harness with a light blue stone in the middle, a belt with a furry loin cloth, and grieves on his lower legs. All of these pieces are colored in a rich metallic silver and feature some sculpted weathering. The arm cuffs and chest harness are all removable, while the belt and grieves are sculpted as part of the body. I also really dig the loops on the arm cuffs and the big ring on his back, suggesting that the guards have to chain this beast up every now and then.

You get two heads included with Kraggnar and while they are both excellent sculpts, the variation here is pretty minimal. The first head is a neutral expression, while the second has a slightly more prominent brow and gritted teeth, giving him a bit more fierce of an expression. The quality of both portraits is excellent with more of that lovely scaling to the skin. I really like his blue eyes, and there are some nasty looking gashes between them, which makes me wonder what creature scored such impressive hits on a combatant this imposing. I will likely keep the second head displayed on the figure nearly all the time, as I think it just has more personality.

There are no surprises here in the base articulation, although it’s worth pointing out that the second set of arms mirror the same articulation as the front set. You also get a pair of fists, and all six pairs of hands will work with either set of arms. The back arms stay put really well and the joints are capable of holding them up despite their considerable weight. Unfortunately the same can’t always be said for the hips and I have had this brute do the splits a few times because of the considerable weight of his upper body. But, he will stay upright if I don’t make the stance too wide.

If you happen to be adverse to your orange space ogres having two sets of arms, you can remove the rear set and insert the provided plugs to fill in the holes, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go this route.

Kraggnar comes with one weapon and it’s a giant space mace. I really love the design of this thing, as it almost looks like it’s just a repurposed component to some space ship or giant piece of machinery. The coils running through the center also suggest maybe it has some kind of electro-shock properties. The paint on it looks really good, and the weapon definitely suits the figure.

As the second biggest (and second most expensive) figure in this initial assortment, Kraggnar does not disappoint. He is an absolutely gorgeous figure both in terms of sculpt and coloring. He’s an imposing beast on the shelf, but so much fun to pick up and play with. I guess my only nitpick here is that I would have preferred TFH nix the back plugs and use that plastic for another set of hands or maybe another accessory, because there’s no way I’m ever going to display this brute without all four of his arms!

Jul 26 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar: Book One): Olek Thygar (Hvalkater and GraveRing) by The Four Horsemen

It’s finally here! After almost two years since the preorder closed, the first wave of Cosmic Legions figures arrived and I’m ready to start digging in. For those unfamiliar, they are basically a sci-fi version of T4H’s wildly popular fantasy based Mythic Legions figures, which have been going strong for a little while now. I went All-In on this first wave, although T4H didn’t pack one of the figures in the box, and I’m trying to solve that issue with them now. Wouldn’t you know it, it had to be one of the expensive ones! Anyway, I’m starting off with what seems to be the main protagonist of the wave, Olek Thygar, because we got two versions of him in this initial assortment.

Here’s the packaging for both figures. T4H has finally transitioned from bubbles on cardbacks to full on window boxes. I like these better, but they are putting the accessories on a tray mounted inside the side of the bubble, which is kind of awkward to get to. The left side panel has a blurb about the line’s narrative and the right has a blurb about the character. I’m not going to get terribly deep into the fiction of this line, but Hvalkatar appears to be an intergalactic prison where Olek finds himself thrown into, and eventually I guess leads a revolt. GraveRing is a particularly nasty Cell Block where the prisoners are made to fight in gladiatorial combat between bouts of hard labor. So, the GraveRing version of Olek sees him as a gladiator and the other version has him in a spacesuit with weapons, so I’m guessing it’s after the revolt? I really don’t know. Like Mythic Legions, the narrative and character bios are there to take or leave… let’s just enjoy the figures! We’re going to start with the Hvalkatar version as it is the more complex figure with the most accessories.

There are a few different display options for this figure, but I’m starting him off in his full-on space suit with the dome helmet. The detail on this figure is just mind blowing and while most of the intricate detailing of the suit is sculpted as part of the body, T4H have added some separately sculpted pieces here and there to add to that complexity, making for an exquisite layered effect of depth and interlocking plates. The articulation style here is pretty much identical to what we’ve seen in Mythic Legions, and the figure is still built on a modular model. For customizers who want to mix and match, Cosmic is compatible with Mythic, but that sort of thing is beyond what I’ll be looking at here. I am happy to report that neither of these figures had any joint issues and they articulated fine right out of the box.

The boots and gloves hint at Olek’s alien anatomy with only three fingers on each hand and what appears to be two giant toes. There are peg holes located on the gauntlets and the front and back of the torso. These are part of a new play mechanic that runs throughout this line, and we’ll explore these a further in a bit. The coloring here is quite beautiful. The armored pieces of the base suit are matte black and gray with an orange undersuit, shown mostly in the pants. You get some more orange trim throughout and some gorgeous metallic blue trim as well. All the paint operations are sharp and clean.

The helmet is removable and you can even remove the orange-tinted dome separately. This brings me to one issue with the figure and that’s the helmet not locking securely to the figure. Not only does it leave a gap in a few spaces, but it seems to be designed to be held on by friction alone, which does not do the job at all. It’s not a critical problem, but considering how much thought and design T4H puts into these figures, this one seems like a really uncharacteristic oversight.

And that brings us to Olek’s portrait, which is absolutely beautiful. He has a gorgeous blue color with bright red piercing globes for eyes. The skin is heavily scaled with deep fissures and definitely has a dragonesque motif, particularly in the scaling on the neck. Olek also has a gold fixture placed on his forehead, which I suppose could be ornamental for his race or perhaps serve some kind of purpose. I really love the sculpted detail inside the helmet, and there are even some paint apps in there too.

You get a completely different style helmet as well, which is a lot more streamlined. This head also comes with a separate neck piece, which is completely enclosed extension of the space suit. The helmet is designed to be form fitted to Olek’s head and it gives the figure even more of an alien profile, which is pretty cool. You also don’t have to deal with the fit issues of the larger domed helmet. The orange shield is even removable so you can get a better look at the fully sculpted face under it. This neck piece is also useable with the regular head and can be incorporated into the dome helmet for what I think makes for a better overall look. If you like display options, this figure certainly has you covered! Let’s start checking out accessories and weapons!

One of the coolest little extras is this holographic readout that plugs into the peg hole on either of the gauntlets. Similar pieces will be a recurring theme in this wave and this one makes for a really neat effect. It’s cast in translucent plastic with green tint at the bottom and a frame around the green text panel.

And while we’re on the subject of those arm peg holes, Olek comes with a pair of pop-up blasters for them as well. I really dig these a lot!

Olek comes with a matched pair of pistols, and here’s where we can get into the other peg holes on the suit. The figures come with an assortment of translucent pegs (two short and two longer) and these clear cylinders can be placed into the ports to secure weapons to them. In this case, the pistols work pretty well attached to the peg holes on the back. I have yet to find a good use for the peg holes on the front of the suit, as those seem to be oddly placed to attach anything.

The pistols sport some excellent detail and are painted in a speckled gray finish. They work really well with the included trigger finger hands, and I guess I should point out here that Olek comes with two sets of trigger hands, one designed to hinge up and down and one side to side. If you want to beef these guns up, you can also plug the arm blasters into the peg holes on the sides.

Next up is his heavy blaster rifle, which again is intricately sculpted and finished to match the pistols. This has a scope, a non-removable magazine and looks totally bad ass. It also has a peg hole, but I haven’t found a really good place to attach it. Again, you can beef it up by adding one of the arm blasters to the side. I have to say, I am really digging the gun designs in this line so far.

The final accessory is a big one! It’s listed as an extra heavy blaster, but to me it looks like it’s a digging tool, like a jackhammer. I’d like to think this is a piece of equipment that the guards gave to the prisoners to go out and mine asteroids as it has a big chisel-like wedge at the end. Maybe Olek is using it as a weapon like Isaac Clarke in Dead Space. Either way, this is a gorgeous piece of kit with lots of sculpted detail and lots of paint hits to the shell and the various components. There’s a grip on the back and a grab bar on the front so he can hold it like a chain gun and use it to pulverize rock or prison guards. And that covers this version of Olek, let’s move on and check out the GraveRing version…

And here he is, stripped of his space suit and ready for gladiatorial prison combat. There isn’t as much to talk about here as with the previous figure. This version of Olek reuses the belt and legs from the space suit, as well as the arm bracers from the gauntlets. His feet, hands, and upper torso are all bare showing off that beautiful blue scaled skin, and I am absolutely in love with the gradients of blue used here, it’s just so gorgeous! I also really dig that Cardassian-like neck. And holy crap is the sculpting for his back scales just incredible. This version comes with several more pairs of hands than the last one, including relaxed hands and various types to hold accessories.

The head sculpt is partially resculpted and it’s kind of fun to speculate as to why. The gold fixture is missing and in its place is what looks like three more exposed eyes. It actually looks like the gold piece was ripped out and this is a wound left behind. His horns are also grown longer. Maybe his species normally cuts these and he left them to grow long for combat? Either way this is a beautiful portrait!

Now in terms of accessories, this version comes up really short when compared to the last version. You get a new hologram piece for his gauntlet, this time it looks like an image of a spaceship. It’s cast in translucent green plastic and has some very nice detail. I just really dig the way these hologram pieces look.

You get a staff, which is kind of plain looking and strikes me as a Mythic Legions throwback. I guess the guards don’t want the gladiators to have powerful weapons. Makes sense. This one does, however transform into a flail.

Well, not really, but it’s supposed to and you get the pieces to make it look like the top comes off and connects to another piece with a chain. It looks like it would come in handy for whacking opponents in the head or tripping them up so you can make the kill.

I remember really being on the fence about picking up both versions of Oleg, but in the end I’m glad I did. The first version is definitely the more interesting figure, but that’s to be expected because at $48 he sold for $11 more than the second version. Meanwhile, the second has it’s own charms with all that exposed blue scaly skin. So far, I dig the peg system for attaching weapons and accessories to the figures, as it gives me a nostalgic feel for the old Centurions line by Kenner. So far Cosmic Legions manages to secure its own identity, while still being planted firmly in the Mythic Legions system. Indeed, I think we’ve already seen a Dragon Man figure teased using parts from Olek and it will be interesting to see what other crossover T4H and customizers can do.