Tag Archives: the four horsemen

Aug 12 2024

Mythic Legions: Skeleton Legion Builder 2 by The Four Horsemen

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.

Jun 3 2024

Mythic Legions (Poxxus): Azahazzar by The Four Horsemen

After a little segue last time to check out the Dark Templar Legion Builder, today I’m headed back into the Poxxus Wave to open another figure from Mythic Legions most recent assortment. This time we’re going big with the Demon King Azahazzar! And just to show you that The Four Horsemen aren’t making up all the canon as they go along, Azahazzar and Poxxus were both name dropped all the way back in the original Kickstarter. When Poxxus summoned the Demon King, Azahazzar to the realm of Mythoss he was split into two twin demons, Azhar and Zazhar. But, when Poxxus returned to Mythoss, he used his power to join them together once again as Azahazzar! I only own one of the two twins, Zazhar, and I reviewed him back in 2021. He actually didn’t make the cut when I was budgeting my original preorder, but I grabbed him when he came back in one of the All-Star Waves. Meanwhile, Azhar still eludes me, and I’m OK with that, since he’s mostly just a repaint and my action figure dollars can only stretch so far. Anyway, let’s check out this big boy!

As a bigger figure, Azahazzar comes in a box, rather than the usual card and bubble. But, we’ve seen these larger boxes many times here, so there’s nothing really new. It is collector friendly and there’s a little bio on the side panel recounting most of what I already talked about. Azahazzar is part of the Ogre Class, which makes him considerably taller than the regular releases, but still not as big as the infamous Trolls.

And Azahazzar is indeed a gloriously evil looking and imposing beastie. From the waist up, he’s mostly in the buff, but he does have some beautifully sculpted shoulder armor and some purple bracers worn on his forearms. His chiseled demon physique is pretty impressive and I absolutely love what they did with the paintwork for his skin. It’s a chalky black with some green highlights suggesting that he is positively oozing demonic power. He also has jagged green fissures painted on his upper arms, neck and upper chest, depicting pulsing veins of power. Down below he has a chonky belt with plated hip armor and a softgoods purple sash and skirt. His lower legs are clad in plate armor and terminate in large hooves, also painted with an ethereal green glow!

The belt is dominated by a large visage of Poxxus himself, and this is a beautiful sculpt, painted over in bronze with red bulging eyes. The belt has all the little rivets and fixtures painted, along with the brown straps. As we’ve seen, TFH are really pushing the softgoods on these newer figures, and here the purple skirt and front sash are beautifully stitched and have some wire for posing or just giving them some weight to help fall more naturally.

And that brings us to the head sculpt, and this is just a superb piece of work! I can definitely see the design lineage trace back to the twins, only with a lot more detail, as it is a larger noggin. Some of the painted green veins are actually sculpted into deep fissures in his skin, particularly above the eyes and around the mouth. His deep set eyes are also painted in the same green and without pupils, giving him a piercing gaze. The top of the head tapers outward to accommodate the four ram-like horns that curve upward and outward majestically. These too are painted with more of that ethereal green. The neck and head are framed by those sweeping and organic shoulder armor pieces and if you look close you can even see some small runes sculpted into them and painted with more green.

Azahazzar comes with two translucent green magic effect parts, which can be attached to his wrists by popping off the hands and bracers. These can be fitted on with the flames pointing inward or outward for different effects.

And finally, he comes with a staff. The shaft of this is made up of two pieces that fit together, and these appear to be the same ones used for several of the past Ogre Class figure weapons. The top piece of the staff is made up of two large translucent spheres, one yellow and one blue, signifying the colors of the twin demons he was split into. I do have a bit of a problem with the top piece not fitting onto the staff all that securely. It will stay on, but it could get jostled off pretty easily. I will likely wind up gluing it to the staff.

And with Azahazzar, The Poxxus Wave has given us two very impressive Ogre Class figures, the first being the Dragon Man, Aracagorr. I do enjoy that this figure’s backstory ties all the way back to figures released in the very first Kickstarter, but even without that callback, he’s a magnificent piece of work. I actually couldn’t budget this big fella when I locked in my preorders for this wave, but luckily he was available after the fact and I was able to pick him up without getting beat up too badly on the price. I’m definitely glad I went back for him, because he’s going to be an imposing presence on my Mythic Legions demon shelf!

May 22 2024

Mythic Legions: Dark Templar Legion Builder by The Four Horsemen

When it comes to Mythic Legions, I’ve mostly been pushing through the most recent Poxxus Wave, but I was doing some organizing last weekend and found a box filled with more unopened figures from previous waves. So, I thought I’d mix things up and check out one of those before getting back to Poxxus! I’m not exactly sure which assortment today’s release belongs to, but we’re going to have a look at The Dark Templar Legion Builder!

As a Legion Builder, this figure does not represent a specific character, but rather a way to bolster your armies as nameless battle fodder. And that means no bio either. These Legion Builders also tend to be priced a bit less than the regular releases and have less paint applications, allowing customizers to do their thang. But, alas, I have no such skills, and the figures are still finished enough to display fine on their own. I will note, that this guy is classified as a Deluxe, which confused me, because I thought the Deluxe Legion Builders came in the extra large trays with a lot more extras. Nope, he comes in the regular sized card and bubble and a price that reflects a normal Legion Builder. I’ll have a bit more to say on that at the end when we do a comparison with the regular Templar Legion Builder that I checked out way back in 2018! It’s no secret that the Templars have been among my favorite Knights in this entire line, so I was intrigued to get an EVIL version. Let’s check him out!

Straightaway, this figure leans more toward the old than the new, with most of the body lifted directly from the regular Templar LB and most of the parts being even older than that! From the neck down, the only differences are the belt and hip armor, the shoulder armor, and the lack of any kind of neck armor. All of the armor is painted in a dark charcoal, which looks very nice, especially when coupled with the pitch black tabard and white cross. As mentioned earlier, the figure lacks all the lovely little paint flourishes found on the regular figures, so there are no silver paint hits to the rivets or buckles, giving the figure a very utilitarian appearance. Still, the detail in the sculpt still manages to shine through even without the premium paint job. These early figures can come across as a bit chunky when compared to the more slender offerings that have come since, but I think these old bodies still look great.

The helmet is the same basic Great Helm design we saw on the regular Templar, but the reinforced plating around the visor is slightly different as is the pattern of the breathing holes. And the biggest difference is the removal of the top socket, which allowed for an adornment or spike, in place of side sockets, which in this case are populated with black pointed horns and segmented fins, almost forming a full circular. The horns are painted in glossy black with the fins matching the armor’s charcoal. The whole thing makes for a distinctive and delightfully sinister presence.

I believe the sword debuted a couple years back in the Arethyr Wave. I’ve only seen it a few times, most recently with Hadirana. This was a big deal to me as it introduced scabbards instead of just thrusting the sword’s naked blade through the belt. Sure, that works fine, but adding a scabbard is just neat! The scabbard and hilt are cast in the same dark charcoal as the armor and the blade is painted silver. You get a standard issue brown sword belt to hook the scabbard onto. The only downside here is that T4H seem to have only designed one sword so far to work with the scabbard, as the blade has to be thinner. They did, however, take the opportunity to add a central fuller to the blade rather than just the usual diamond cross-section found on the standard sword. I do like the hilt, and since this one is left unpainted it isn’t completely obvious that it’s the same as Hadirana’s brightly painted version.

The shield is super old school, dating all the way back to that first figure assortment where just about everyone had one of these. The face is painted black with a white cross to match the tabard and the rim is painted in silver. It has the standard 90-degree angled grip that pegs into the back and allows for a lot of adjustment to orientate the shield while posing the figure.

And finally, you get the same poleaxe that was included with the regular Templar Legion Builder. Here it’s painted all silver, while his predecessor had a gold shaft and silver blade. As usual, the blade is a separate piece from the pole and can be removed.

I like this figure a lot, but there’s a definite discrepancy between what the regular Templar Legion Builder came with and this guy’s inventory, namely the large standard flag. Maybe TFH felt the new sword and scabbard was the equivalent, but the accessories here still feel wanting for what is called a Deluxe. They could have at least tossed in the two optional neck armor pieces. On the other hand, it was a real treat to play around with a new figure based on the older style bodies. These guys feel so good in hand, with smoother joints and just a satisfying chonkiness to them. That’s not to disparage the newer figures, but there’s just something that feels simple and streamlined about these earlier style releases. Next time, we’ll turn back to one of the newer figures from the Poxxus Wave!

May 8 2024

Mythic Legions (Poxxus): Thraice Wraithhailer by The Four Horsemen

I was tempted to go all in on GI JOE this week, but then I remembered that I had to throw some love to Mythic Legions, so let’s do that today. If you need to catch up, I’ve already covered two of the figures from the most recent Poxxus Wave, Samir Scrollwarder and Aracagorr, and today we’ll be checking out the first baddie in the assortment… Thraice Wraithhailer.

We’ve seen the packaging many times before, so let’s just jump into a bit about the character. Thraice is an Umangeist, which TFH identify as “A corrupt supernatural mingling of flesh and phantasm,” and damn, that’s some top notch wordsmithing right there. Ms. Wraithhailer ia a summoner with an unquenchable thirst for power and has sided with the evil forces of Poxxus in Mythos’ latest struggle between good and evil.

Thraice comes out of the box with her shoulder armor off, so all you need to do is peg those into her back to get her ready for battle. Pegging these in has been a painful experience on the recent figures, so I was happily surprised to see these go in nice and easy. I’ve been through so many Mythic Legions figures and have so many yet to be opened, that I no longer go crazy trying to identify all the parts reuse, although I do certainly recognize the shoulder pieces, as we’ve seen those many times before. The body consists of the leather-style armor we saw introduced with the Elves, and here it’s done in black and brown with some fine silver paint work around the fixtures and rivets. I’m also blown away by the attention to detail on the laces running up the front of her cuirass. The individually sculpted laces are painted brown and each and every eyelet is painted silver. The boots give way to a dark chocolate brown, matching the belt. The belt has a bronze disk buckle front and center, some sculpted pouches on the side and more of those immaculate tiny silver paint hits to the fixtures. The belt looks great, but it does have a habit of riding up and shifting about when posing the figure.

This wave is big on the softgoods flourishes, and here we see a black skirt utilized along with the sculpted armor, which hangs down from the hips and wraps around the back. We also get wired flap of cloth hanging down the front. I really am impressed at how well the cloth is integrated with the plastic. It looks great! Thraice also comes with three sets of hands: Two sets for accessory holding and one set for spell-slinging!

And there are two portraits included, although the differences are rather subtle. The first is rather neutral and it doesn’t make Thraice look like such a bad gal. The eyes are very nicely painted with white centers to her pupils giving her something of an ethereal look. The facial features are well-rounded and beautiful with an ashen complexion and her pure white hair hangs down over the fronts of her shoulders with some stray strands falling over the extreme left side of her face.

The alternate portrait makes her look a bit more wicked, or at least like she’s concentrating on a spell or incantation. Her brow is a little furled and her eyebrows are downturned, while the hair is identical. There’s definitely a difference of expression between the two heads, but it’s not exactly a huge difference. Either way, they are both gorgeous! And if you aren’t all that wrapped up in the official canon, I think Thraice could certainly pass as one of the heroes if that’s what you want her to be. Or perhaps just a shadowy figure who’s path is uncertain.

You also get a purple softgoods cloak, similar to the one we saw last time with Samir. Once again, it’s beautifully tailored with wire running around the edges for posing and the material falls about the figure quite naturally, which is impressive for this scale. The deep purple both fits the character well and offers a bit more color to make her pop. Naturally, you do have to remove the shoulder armor to fit it on her. On the downside, I did not want to wind up pulling out the stitching on the hood clasp trying to get her hair to fit inside the hood, so I kept the hood down in the pictures. The solicitation shots do have her wearing it up, so I’m sure it’s possible, but I just didn’t want to risk it.

Thraice doesn’t come with a whole heck of a lot in terms of extras. Mythic Legions can be like that. Sometimes you get a ton and sometimes just a small assortment. Indeed, in this case you just get two magic effect parts and a staff. The staff is pretty simple and understated, but I do really dig the translucent blue crystal ball at the top. The black shaft is smooth and you get some bronze fixtures sculpted at the top and bottom. I kind of like the idea that the staff is just a focusing tool for Thraice’s power and it doesn’t need to be all kinds of elaborate and crazy to do that.

As for the effect parts, these are both to demonstrate Thraice’s abilities as a Summoner. The first is a translucent blue skull and it is really damn nice. The projected skull has it’s jaws open and the spiraling tendril of energy wraps around the figure’s arm to make it look like it’s being cast forth. The translucent effect looks great and when combined with the bright blue it practically looks like it’s illuminated.

The second is a serpent’s head with a long spiral tendril that wraps around the staff. This one looks really nice as well with the same gorgeous translucent blue coloring and a lot of detail to the serpent head.

I’ll confess that Thraice underwhelmed me in the accessories department, but she more or less makes up for it as the figure itself is absolutely excellent. I think the choice of armor fits the type of character they were going for quite well and while there aren’t a lot of flourishes of color, the black and brown looks solid and the meticulous touches of silver do impress. And once again the use of softgoods is very welcome here and it I like that you can display the cloak open and still see the body sculpt, giving me the best of both worlds. Yes, I would have liked a few more extras included. I get that she’s probably not a sword-user, but at the very least, that exotic curved dagger and sheath we’ve seen many times before would have given us something to hook onto her belt. And I’ll likely borrow one from another figure.

Apr 26 2024

Mythic Legions (Poxxus): Samir Scrollwarder by The Four Horsemen

Last month I started checking out the newest assortment of Mythic Legions figures, centered around the return of the evil scourge, Poxxus. My first figure was the large and impressive Dragon Man Aracagorr, which was a mighty fine debut for the wave. And, yes, it’s taken me a few weeks to get back to it, but I really do have so much cool stuff to cover and three reviews a week can only take me so far. I’d love to do more, but it’s often a crunch just to keep up this pace. Anyway, today’s offering from the Realm of Mythoss is the powerful wizard, Samir Scrollwarder!

Unlike our giant dragon friend, who came in a window box, Samir comes in the usual bubble on card that we’ve been seeing with Mythic Legions from the beginning. The card art is generic to the wave, but you do get some character specific text on the side of the bubble insert, telling us that Samir is one of the good guys and Keeper of The Great Library of Agbendo. This presentation is both attractive and serviceable, as well as collector friendly, but I don’t tend to keep these packages. I will note that Samir came packaged with his blue robe off and in a baggie behind the bubble, but I’ve had him out long before I took this shot and opted to leave it on. But, let’s start out without the robe and see what we’ve got!

Straightaway, I love Samir’s classic wizard look. Long gray beard? Check! Bald Pate? Check! Robes? Check! And speaking or robes, let’s start there. Mythic Legions is a line known for its exquisite sculpting and paintwork, so the heavy use of softgoods is kind of a new thing for the line, and Samir is definitely the first of these figures in my collection to be fully dressed in cloth and showing very little sculpt on the body. For the record, the underlying body is fully armored, but I won’t be disrobing him. I’ll never display him without the robe, so you’ll have to take my word for it. His wizardly garment is immaculately tailored, fits the figure well, and falls about him quite naturally. There are wires sewn into the bottom edge as well as the sleeves to allow them to be shaped the way you want them and it serves the purpose very well, especially in those sleeves, which gives them a little added weight. How do wizards cope with those long dangling sleeves? It seems like they would constantly be knocking over dangerous potions or catching them on fire, while reaching over a candle to grab another book.

The head sculpt is very nicely done, giving Samir an ancient and wizened countenance. The long gray beard is intricately sculpted with strands of hair weaving around and crisscrossing each other. His skin has a rich brown pigment and I dig the creases in his brown and the crow’s feet radiating from the sides of his eyes, which suggest he’s been around a while and seen a lot. The painted eyes are a little flat when compared to some of TFH’s other efforts, making them serviceable but not exceptional.

You also get a second head depicting the mystical arts welling up in Samir. This is mostly the same head sculpt, but here we get some green paint depicting arcane markings on his face and his eyes are painted entirely in green, showing the power within him.

The robe is cinched at his waist with a brown plastic belt that tabs together in the back behind a sculpted pouch. The connection there isn’t terribly secure, so I do find it popping open now and again.. I may wind up using some poster putty to secure it, or just outright glue it, since I don’t really ever plan on removing the belt. You get some accessories for the belt, including a cluster of pouches and potion containers that clips on. There are also a pair of loops to allow him to keep a pair of scrolls at the ready. The scrolls are plastic and sculpted in rolls. The belt has some fine gold paintwork on the buckle as well as the fixtures on the pouch.

Articulation is standard Mythic Legions stuff. I believe the figure is built on the Elf-style body so despite being armored, it’s more lithe and feels a bit more agile than the bulkier knights. You get four sets of bare hands with Samir. These include fists, two sets of casting-gesture hands, and a pair to hold accessories.

Samir also comes with an mystical text from the Great Library of Agbendo The powerful tome has a sculpted belt around it, holding it permanently closed. There are some loose pages sculpted into the fore edge and a real chain so he can wear it around his neck and keep tabs on it. The covers have a realistic leather texture to them and there’s a golden sun emblem sculpted on the front as well as reinforced corners.

And finally, you get his magical staff and a magical effect part. The staff features a winged cobra at the top, encircled in a ring. The staff has several rows of rings and a spiral grip running down to the end. The entire staff is finished in a deep copper color. The swirling green effect part is meant to snake around the staff, but it also works really well to depict Samir launching a mystical attack from his hand. Snaking it around his arm inside the robe holds it in place really well and the figure is capable of supporting the weight of the piece without any help of a stand!

And here is Samir wearing his blue cloak. I had originally planned on shooting more of the review with the cloak on, but I was pretty impressed with the figure in just the brown robes and so I saved it for last. The cloak looks great on him and certainly adds some color. You get wires running throughout the edges of the cloak as well as around the opening of the hood and these make it easy to work with when posing the figure. It’s quite impressive that even with both the robes and the cloak on, the softgoods don’t look puffy or oversized on the figure and I think that’s a testament to how great the tailoring is. Ultimately, I will likely keep the blue cloak on him for regular display, but I’ll be open to switching it up now and again.

Samir feels like quite a landmark figure for the line. It not only introduces a very classic and traditional wizard design, but it also shows us how well softgoods can be utilized for these figures. Now, I’m not saying I want a lot of my Mythic Legions figures dressed from head to toe in cloth, but it’s nice to see how well TFH can do it when it’s appropriate. They also did a great job with his accessories and the magic effect piece turned out a lot more versatile than I had expected. We did get another wizard in this assortment… an EVIL wizard, but I’m going to hold off on him and try to mix things up for the next time I visit with this amazing line!

Mar 29 2024

Mythic Legions (Poxxus): Aracagorr Figure by The Four Horsemen

Yes, I have quite a backlog of Mythic Legions figures (mostly from the Illythia Wave) to check out, and yes I’m still bumping the newly arrived Poxxus Wave to the front of the line. I’m not trying to slight those other figures. Their time will come, but in an effort to be slightly current, I thought I’d jump ahead. The Poxxus Wave marks the third assortment of figures based on the return of a Big Bad to the Realm of Mythoss. First there was Arthyer, then came Illythia, and now we have Poxxus. I’ve only begun opening these, but I started with one of the big boys and he made quite the impression, so let’s go with him! As always, these were part of a limited pre-order through Store Horsemen, and while other retailers have been getting them, they tend to be sold for high mark ups.

Aracagorr is a member of a Demi-Dragon race called the Dragosyr. And while he looks like a pretty tough customer, he’s actually described in the lore as a noble warrior who has pledged to fight against the coming of Poxxus and his diseased forces. As we’ve seen in the past waves, the larger figures (Trolls and Ogres) come in window boxes with a generic, but attractive deco and a little blurb about the character on the side panel. Everything is collector friendly and you do have to attach Aracagorr’s tail to get him all ready for display.

And wow! I experienced a bit of sensory overload when I first got this guy out of the box. He’s big, he’s hefty, he towers over standard-sized figures, and both the sculpt and paint are absolutely stunning. This Dragon-Man uses some of the same parts as Kraggnar from the Cosmic Legions line, and while there is some of new sculpting here, the body has the same basic physique, with the elongated torso and legs that are slightly shorter than one might expect. The body is covered with meticulously sculpted scales, bumps, and ridges that had me turning the figure around in my hands just to take it all in. The tail has a ring with a slot, making a sort of C-connection that fits around the post connecting the upper body to the pelvis, allowing you to attach it without taking the figure apart. I thought it was going to be a chore, but it went on pretty easily. The downside to this design is the tail looks rather thin as it approaches the body, but that’s only really noticeable from certain angles. And as amazing as the sculpted detail on this figure is, the colors really steal the show. The electric blue paint is gorgeous as it slowly transitions to lighter aqua green to darker purple at various parts of his body. I can’t remember the last time I saw a paint job on a figure anywhere near this striking.

Aracagorr’s armor includes grieves, forearm bracers, and shoulder pieces. These are all done in a fairly classic knightly design with a flat gray finish and an understated aqua green wash to give it a hint of mystical energy. He has a chest harness that connects at the front with a studded disk, a wide belt with hip armor hanging off the sides, and a gray furry diaper to protect the modesty of his majestic dragon dongle. The belt has a large stylized dragon head motif carved into the front with horns protruding up and outward. As usual, all the little sculpted belts and straps on the armor are textured to look like leather and the rivets and buckles are all painted in metallic silver.

The portrait shares all the striking detail and coloring of the body. It’s covered in sculpted scales and has a snout with a small horn jutting up from his nose, counterbalanced by a pointed chin. The jagged jaw displays an array of sharp teeth jutting up and down from the jawline, and he has two horns sweeping back from the top of his head. The eyes are nestled under prominent brow ridges and there’s some electric purple painted scales under them. The jaw is even articulated with a fully sculpted tongue allowing for some different expressive display options. This is a breathtaking head sculpt and it makes me wonder if we will ever get a full-on dragon in this line and if so, just how epically magnificent (and expensive) it would be.

The articulation here is identical to what we saw with Kraggnar. Kraggnar had a little issue with the hips holding up his bulk in certain poses, but Aracagorr’s tail helps to skirt that problem by giving him some extra support. The tail also has a swivel cut about halfway to the end. You get three sets of hands with the figure: Fists, graspy hands, and tight grip hands. I’m happy to say I didn’t have any QC issues with the joints and he didn’t require any heat or force to get any of them working.

Besides all the hands, Aracagorr comes with two other accessories: A big sword and a magic effect piece for the blade. The sword is suitably sized for this bruiser with a distinctively contoured blade and a winged dragon motif making up the crossguard. The extended grip allows for two-handed wielding and the pommel looks like it was designed to crack some skulls. The blade has some sculpted nicks to the blade suggesting it has seen a lot of use and the fuller-like cut-out has some aqua paint to give it a mystical look.

The effect piece fits right onto the edge of the blade and is cast in a clear reddish-purple plastic. I think I would have preferred something in blue to match the figure as the coloring on this effect piece gives it a kind of grape jelly motif.

For whatever reason, I don’t even remember this Aracagorr being on my radar when I dropped my Poxxus Pre-Order, but he was the first out of the shipping box to really catch my eye. The colors and sculpt on this figure are superb and even among a collection of figures as diverse and beautiful as Mythic Legions, he commands a presence on the shelf that cannot be denied. What’s more, he’s big enough to go toe to toe with just about any villain in Mythoss and I can see him drop kicking my Goblins with glee. Heck, I’d even give him fair odds against any of the Trolls. I’m sure we will inevitably get a repaint, maybe with a new head and some variant armor, and I can’t wait to see what TFH come up with.

Mar 6 2024

Mythic Legions (All-Stars) Lady Avarona by The Four Horsemen

I was hoping to get to some of my Mythic Legions backlog before the new wave arrived, but those figures hit my doorstep this past weekend. But I will manage to squeeze this one in before bumping the new ones to the head of the line. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since I last checked out a Mythic Legions figure here, but in my defense, last year I was pretty busy with Cosmic Legions. And even with three reviews a week, it’s easy for stuff to fall by the wayside. But, that’s why I’m trying to focus on a lot of unfinished business in 2024. Today’s figure comes from one of the most recent All-Stars wave, so let’s check her out!

The packaging hasn’t changed much at all since this line began. We still get the full plastic front with bubble that slides off the cardback. The cards are generic to the specific wave, but the bubble insert has some information on the character. Lady Avarona, the youngest of the Avarona Family, seems to be a pretty bad girl. Actually the whole lot of them are kind of dirt bags. They sided with evil during The Great War and got branded as traitors and now she fights for the evil Legion of Arethyr. Before getting started, I have to report that the figure’s left hand was rattling around in the package when I got her. Upon opening her I saw that the wrist peg looked like a dog had chewed it. I purchased her new, so I have to assume it was factory damage that nobody caught. I was able to remove the peg from the arm socket, reinforce it with some glue and reattach the hand. The wrist hinge is now useless, but at least I saved the hand and it can still swivel. Poor QC for me or bad karma for her being a traitorous bitch? You decide!

Here is Lady Avarona out of the package, wrist surgery completed and with her shoulder armor pieces attached. I am a big sucker for the knights in this line so Avarona is right up my ally and the suit of armor here is absolutely gorgeous in an evil sort of way. You get that rough-hewn iron look with jagged edges, spikes, and sculpted pitting, which suits this dark knight so well. It definitely looks like she shops at the same armory as the Orcs. There are also hints of sculpted chainmail between some of the plates. The coloring is gorgeous with a deep gray-black finish and a bit of silver drybrush to give the armor a well-worn look. The plastic tabard is a deep red with a metallic purple breast plate over it and you get plenty of silver paint hits to the tiny buckles and rivets throughout the suit. She has a waist belt and a shoulder strap, both of which have some really impressive leather-like texture. There are some sculpted pouches on the belt and even a scrollwork pattern sculpted into the shoulder strap, which is an insane little bit of added detail.

Avarona comes with only one head, which has a permanent great bascinet to protect her evil noggin. The bascinet appears to be sculpted separately from the head, as there’s some gaps between the helmet and the face which adds a lot of great depth to this portrait. It also has a hinged visor, which gives you two display options. The face shows a woman overcome with evil, depicted by her blood red, pupil-less eyes surrounded by some dark shading. She’s got a very dour expression, with downturned lips and a bit of sag to her jowls. It’s a really great portrait and kind of a shame to cover it up with the visor, although that look is also fantastic, with a jutting hound-style design, pierced breathing holes and a gap so you can still see her wicked looking eyes.

You get two weapons with the figure, a pole axe and a sword, and both of them can be carried on her person. There’s a loop on the back of her shoulder strap to secure the axe, but this requires the opposite shoulder armor piece to be removed to allow it to sit well. You do get a standard issue brown sword belt with a loop for the sword, but I find it interferes with the belt that’s already on the figure, so I opted to just tuck the sword through that belt and I’ll give the sword belt to someone else.

The sword has a sickle type blade and we’ve seen this piece before, most recently here with Thwickk, but that was four years ago. This version has been repainted with a darker grip to match Avarona’s chest armor and a bit of a darker gray for the blade steel. The top and bottom of the hilt is painted in a deep gold finish. I really love this particular sword design, especially its sweeping curve and vicious looking clipped point. I think it’s best used for the more exotic characters, but I think it fits Avarona pretty well.

She also comes with a circular shield, which is also a piece we’ve seen more than a few times. It’s painted in a dark gray to match the suit of armor with a dark red ring circling the central boss and some brass painted rivets circling the ring. The shield is held with the angled grip that pegs into the back that we’ve been seeing all along, ever since TFH replaced the original clip design. I was worried her wrist repair wouldn’t hold up to carrying the shield, but it seems to work fine.

This particular pole axe was first introduced back in the Advent of Decay assortment, so it’s been around for a while, but it’s been used sparingly enough that I don’t mind seeing it again. It’s a rather beautiful weapon with some organic curves to the axe head, an almost serpentine quality to the straight grip, and a subtle blade making up the bottom end of the shaft. It definitely has the elven flavor to it, but I think it works well with Avarona. Besides, anyone who has played an RPG knows that battlefields are a great place to pick up upgrades for your weapons, so maybe Lady Avarona picked this one up off a dead elf.

Lastly, you do have an optional softgoods piece to replace the lower half of the plastic tabard and I’m really mixed on this idea. On the one hand, it’s cool that TFH are experimenting with more softgoods beyond simple capes and fur, but in this case, I don’t like the disconnect between the plastic upper half of the tabard and the bottom being cloth. Don’t get me wrong, they matched the colors remarkably well, and added wire to the edges so you can pose it, but that transition going from plastic to cloth just doesn’t work for me. It’s just not a piece that I will display on the figure, which is why I snuck it in here at the end.

I’m not going to lie, having a figure broken in the package is not a great experience at any time, but it’s extra discouraging when it happens on the first Mythic Legions figure I’ve opened in nearly four years. I actually opened this figure about a month ago and when I saw the break, I just cast the figure aside in frustration and it took me a while to come back to it. Luckily the repair turned out pretty OK, and I was ultimately able to enjoy the experience. She’s a really great looking figure and it’s cool to add an evil female knight to my Mythoss mix. And despite the QC issue, I was able to come away pretty pleased with her. Hopefully that QC problem isn’t a sign of things to come with future figures. I’ll find out this weekend when I really start to dig into opening the Poxxus Wave!

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.