It’s been one of those days, folks. Meetings ran long at work and here I am getting home late with content left undone. What can you do? It’s those long meetings that pay for toys! I was tempted to take the day off of bloggery, but it’s Mythic Legions Wednesday and I can’t let the day go un-celebrated, so I decided to look at a figure today that wouldn’t require a whole lot of time…

Behold… Vorgus Vermillius and the ubiquitous in-package shot. Nope, there’s nothing new to say about the package. I will, however, do something I haven’t really done with these figures before and give a shout out to this guy’s bio, because it’s just so damn awesome. To make a long story short, the brutal vampyric Knight Lord Edgard got himself some kick ass enchanted armor, but it turned out to be a trap that slowly consumed the life force of its wearer. In that regard, this isn’t necessarily a figure of Lord Edgard, but rather The Vorgus Vermillius, or Blood Armor, that roams the land looking for new victims to wear it so it can be fueled by their goddamn souls. Holy crap, that’s metal! Let’s check him out…

Does he look familiar? The reason this figure won’t take a lot of time is because he’s the closest I’ve come so far to looking at a straight repaint in this line. The Blood Armor is Gorgo Aetherblade, only with horns instead of antlers, and a diffent cape. The figure comes packaged with the shoulders off and the cape comes in a plastic baggie. The repaint is done mostly in one color and it is a very deep and rich red. So deep and rich that it looks brown under certain light. You do get some black wash as well, which adds a certain look of antiquity to the figure. I mentioned last time, when I looked at the Knight Legion Builders, how amazing these sculpts look even with simple paint jobs, and that’s the case here as well. I can still make out all of those beautifully sculpted details in his full suit of armor. As always the figure is modular in design and articulation is constant across the board in this line, so I’ll just refer you back to the Feature on Gorgo if you need to get up to speed. Now, stare into the grim face of death…

Damn, he’s gorgeous! Normally, the shoulders are completely optional, but I can’t imagine displaying this guy without them. They add a lot of menace to his stature, and they’re also instrumental in attaching his black cape. The cape has holes cut in it that you pass the peg through to secure it and as with Gorgo’s red cape, this one really adds to the figure. Every Dread Lord needs a flowing black cape! And yes, you also get the now familiar brown belt, which can be worn on the waist or as a shoulder strap to carry his sword.

Sword, you say? Yes, The Blood Armor comes with the usual array of killing instruments, all of which are repaints of weapons we’ve seen before. The sword is the same one we saw packed in with Gorgo, and several other figures since. It features a vaguely leaf-shaped blade, a two handed grip, and a stylish crossguard that really evokes the style of Tolkien weaponry for me. The blade is painted silver and the hilt is painted to match the armor itself.

You also get a repaint of the same axe that was bundled with Gorgo. It’s painted in the same colors to match the sword and as we’ve seen before, it can be converted from a single-blade to a far more formidable looking double-bladed weapon.

And finally, The Blood Armor comes with a spear. This spear has been recycled time and time again, but that’s not really a sticking point with me. Heh. Heh Heh. Ahem…

Whatever you do, do not mistake my brevity today as any slight on this figure. The Vorgus Vermillius is another absolutely outstanding figure in the Mythic Legions line and one with a damn cool backstory too! Indeed, when I was picking out which figures to get while remaining in my budget, I expressly tried to avoid any that were close to straight repaints. And yet, this guy still wound up on my list. It was quite simply the amazing paint job on the already fantastic sculpt that sold me, and I’ve had no regrets since I have had him in hand. And let me tell you, there is no better reward after a long, hard day at work than to pour a tall Jameson and sit down to admire and write about a magnificent figure like this one.

If there was ever any doubt that the runaway success of the Mythic Legions Kickstarter wasn’t just a flash in the pan, the pre-orders for Wave 1.5, 1.75 and a selection of All-Stars from Wave 1 have been going like gangbusters. Indeed, this is a line that has me seriously re-evaluating my collecting habits in an effort to divert funds to the amazing figures that have been revealed for Wave 2.0. But I’m getting ahead of myself, as I’m barely at the halfway mark of my ongoing look at the figures that I picked up from the initial Kickstarter, so let’s press onward! Today I’m going to delve into the Legion Builders and I’m looking at not one, but two of the knights!

The term “Legion Builder” refers to the figures that featured fewer paint applications than the regular releases. While the regular figures were in the $33 range at the initial offering, these originally sold for only $18 a pop. The idea here is that you could stock up on these guys as troop builders, or if you have customizing skills, you could use them to make your own unique creations. I only bought three of these, two of which are the Silver and Gold Knights that I’m checking out today. The packaging is right in line with what we’ve been seeing all along. The only difference here is that the bubble inserts are the same for both figures, as there are no bios on the side panels, nor is there anything distinguishing whether the package contains the Silver or Gold figure.

As always, these figures are packaged without wearing their shoulder armor, and despite some unsightly notches in the back, they display just fine without the extra armor pieces. From the neck down, these sculpts are identical to each other, as well as two other figures I’ve already looked at: Sir Owain and Gorgo. You get straight silver paint on one and straight gold on the other. The paint on both figures is gorgeous and really brings out the detail in the sculpt, particularly some of the ornate scroll work. They still look great, but it’s easy to see how the extra paint applications make the regular figures in this line look all the more special. I can’t help but think that these resemble what Mythic Legions might have looked like if it went through a major toy manufacturer and had to cost out for regular retail sale. It seems like the paint apps are always the first to go! Even so, these would still be the best looking figures in the toy aisles.

As we’ve seen these bodies before, there’s no surprises with the articulation. You get a hearty dose of rotating hinges, appearing in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles, swivels in the thighs, and ball joints in the waist and neck. As the figures are modular in design, all the articulation points can be separated, making it easy to swap just about any part on the figure with any of the other figures in the line.

Each figure comes with a different pair of shoulder armor. Goldy has repaints of the same shoulders that were bundled with Sir Gideon and Sir Silver has the repaints of the pair bundled with Gorgo. And yes, we’ve seen these pieces many times since! They simply peg into the sockets in the back of the shoulders.

We’ve also seen these head sculpts before too! Goldy’s helmet was last seen way back in my first Mythic Legions Feature as the alternate head for Sir Gideon, while Sir Silver’s was last seen as recently as last week on top of Sir Owain’s shoulders. Both helmets have plumes that feature the only variation in paint on the figures. The Gold Knight sports a vibrant blue plume while The Silver Knight has a red one.

Both figures come with the same assortment of accessories, but T4H did a palate swap on them, so the Gold Knight got the silver and gray accessories and the Silver Knight got the gold ones. They each come with the usual brown belt, which can hold the sword and be worn on the waist or as a shoulder strap. The shield and spear should be very familiar, and the sword is the one that was included with Sir Gideon. I’m not totally sold on the gold painted accessories that came with The Silver Knight. They are stunningly beautiful, but they seem a garish for troop builders.

I think the Gold Knight made out better. The sword is left as unpainted gray plastic and it looks like a mass produced weapon that a rank-and-file soldier might have. The spear has a silver painted tip and the shaft is left unpainted. Ironically, I like this unfinished look better than the all silver painted spears we’ve seen with other figures. I just like having the different color to separate the spear head and the shaft. The shield here looks like it does have some paint work on the surface simulating wear. Like the sword, I think this works really well as just a utilitarian shield that your average troops might carry. Goldy’s weapons look like the tools of war, whereas The Silver Knights’ look like they’re ceremonial.

It’s amazing how great these figures look even without that extra paint work that T4H has invested in the regular figures in this line. I’m sure I’ve made mention to the old vintage Knights figures by Marx before and these single color figures remind me a whole lot of those older toys. In hindsight, I’m tempted to say that I should have passed on these and poured that money into one of the other figures that I skipped while trying to budget my selections. But that would suggest regret at buying these, and the truth is I have no regrets. These look great flanking behind the Hero Knights of the line like Gideon or Owain, and while I probably would have preferred both figures came with the gray weapons, I can’t deny that those gold accessories are an eye catcher!

It’s Wednesday and time for another look into The Four Horsemen’s Kickstartered line of amazing 6-inch scale fantasy figures. I began my look at the Mythic Legions line two months ago with the brave knight, Sir Gideon, and after nearly ten figures, today I’m returning to the knights of the line and checking out Sir Owain!

Here is a quick, obligatory look at the figure in his packaging. You get a generic card with a little of the line’s fiction on the back. The bubble insert has “Mythic Legions” printed across the front and a little bio of the character on the right panel. The card is designed to slide out of the plastic bubble front, so everything is collector friendly!

Oh yes, Sir Owain is as classic a knight as you can get. This guy really takes me back to those wonderful Marx Knights that I used to play with at my Uncle’s house way back when. We’re almost ten figures in and by now we’re going to start seeing a lot more familiar parts, but this is as close to a straight repaint as I’ve shown thus far. From the neck down, Sir Owain is just a recolor of Gorgo Aetherblade. The sinister black and red deco has been replaced with a simple yet gorgeous silver and gold color scheme, keeping just a little bit of black. The resulting transformation from evil bastard to noble and heroic knight is impressive. Seriously, the quality of paint on this figure is just breathtaking.

As always, the shoulder armor arrives off the figure in the package. Owain looks totally complete without these pieces, but pegging them into the shoulders gives him some lovely bulk. As with the rest of the body, these shoulder pieces are also repaints from Gorgo. You also get the ubiquitous brown belt, which can be worn around the waist or as a shoulder strap.

While the bulk of this figure is recycled, this is the first time we’re seeing this head sculpt. Known as a Burgonet and popular in the 16th Century, this helmet really captures that classical romantic feel of the chivalrous knight as depicted in the Renaissance Period. The silver, black, and gold deco matches the rest of the armor and he does have a large burgundy plume spilling out the top from behind the crest.

Just in case this is your first of my Mythic Legion Features, I’ll give a quick run down on the articulation for the line. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, as well as lateral rockers in the ankles to steady him for those wide stances. The waist is ball jointed, as is the neck. The neck guard is soft plastic and is designed to shift if need be to accommodate movement in the neck. Truth be told, Sir Owain is probably a little more limber than a dude in full plate armor should be, but that’s what helps make him such a fun action figure. Also remember, these figures are designed to be modular, so if there’s a joint, then chances are that joint can be separated and another part swapped in for easy customization.

Like Sir Owain’s body, we’ve seen his weapons before. First off, he comes with a sword and shield. All the shields we’ve seen in the line so far have been the same basic accessory, but with a unique coat of arms painted on the front. In the case of Sir Owain you get a large bird with a sword in the center set against a black backdrop. The shield clips onto the figure’s wrist and the clip is pegged into the shield. The sword is the same one that came with Sir Gideon. It’s a single handed weapon with a newly painted deco for the hilt.

He also comes with the silver spear that we’ve seen several times.

You will no doubt have noticed that most of this Feature is pointing out how much of this figure is based on reused parts and accessories. Keep in mind, that is in no way intended as criticism. The fact is that T4H developed this line based on a selection ofparts that could be interchanged into different combinations to create new figures. And in this case, they show that even the right repaint can turn the same body into a figure that still feels fresh when standing next to the original. The repaint here is so well done and each figure owns it so well, that Owain doesn’t at all feel like a rehash of Gorgo to me. With all that having been said, anyone looking for just a beautiful 6-inch scale classical knight would be well served hunting this guy down. He’s a gorgeous figure even as a stand alone piece.

In the past five weeks of Mythic Legions Wednesdays I’ve delved into the Skeletons, Knights, Orcs, and Dwarves, but today I’m checking out one of the figures that doesn’t fit into any of the more conventional classifications. His name is Vitus and he is a lone warrior, the last survivor of his people, and an overall scourge of all evil!

Here’s a quick obligatory in-package shot. Once again, they are collector friendly, but I still haven’t decided if I’m keeping the cards and bubbles. Space is always a concern and I may just wind up saving the inserts with the names and bios.

Vitus is obviously themed off a Spartan warrior and he’s one of the best examples so far of how clever T4H are on the reuse of parts. Vitus uses the lower legs, boots, and gauntlets we saw on Sir Gideon and Gorgo. the torso and groin armor from Gorgo, the upper arms, upper legs, and belt from Urkku. This figure should look like a cobbled together mess, but this combination of parts and all new paint makes him look like a unique design that was build from scratch from the ground up.

New paint features smooth and even flesh tones on the arms and legs and a rather striking combination of metallic red and gold for the armor. The intricately sculpted belt, which looked old and tribal on Urkku looks flashy and ornamental on Vitus. The new deco just transforms it into something new. It’s amazing! It’s also worth noting that Vitus is the only figure I’ve looked at so far that does not include shoulder pieces, although the sockets are still there if you want to borrow someone else’s for him.

Vitus’ head sculpt features an intricately sculpted Greek-style helmet with a high crest comb. There’s some lovely raised scrollwork and all the details are painted gold against the metallic red backdrop.

The modular nature of Mythic Legions means the figures feature identical articulation straight across the board. Vitus features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, as well as lateral rockers in the ankles. There are also ball joints in the waist and neck. Seven figures in and I have not had any issues with stuck or funky joints. These guys are rock solid and oh, so fun to pose.

Vitus comes with the sword we last saw with Sir Gideon. This time it features a simple gold painted grip. You also get the brown belt we’ve seen with almost all the figures thus far. Since Vitus lacks the shoulder pieces, I like to use it as a shoulder strap and have him wear his sword behind his back. I also discovered that the belt has a loop so he can wear the sword on his right hip. This was present in Urkku too, as it’s the same belt, but I didn’t notice it back then. There’s always a sense of discovery around these figures, which is pretty exciting.

The shield is the same mold we’ve seen with almost all the figures so far, but with a new crest painted on the face. It’s a gold lion motif against a metallic red background to match the coloring of his armor. Once again, the arm clip pegs into the shield, which means you can orientate it any way you want no matter what position the arm is in.

Finally, Vitus comes with a spear that definitely suits his hoplite theme. The spears remain my only quibble with this line. Some paint on the shaft would have been nice.

Vitus is not only a gorgeous figure, but he’s a shining example of how well thought out and successful the parts sharing in this line is. Nothing about him looks out of place and I’d be hard pressed to tell you which parts were intended for him and which were borrowed from another design. I also like how T4H have worked some more unique designs into the line by producing characters that don’t fall into the knights, orcs, skeleton, dwarf demographic. Next time, we’ll check out another somewhat unique character in this initial line based off The Minotaur!

It’s the fifth week of Mythic Legions Wednesdays and today I’m turning my attention to the Dwarves… two Dwarves to be specific, Thord Ironjaw and Bothar Shadowhorn. While I have and will continue to showcase most of these figures individually, these two share enough similarities, that I feel I can safely do them both justice in one Feature. And besides, I still have a lot of figures to cover before the new ones arrive!

Once again, the packaging is attractive, serviceable, and collector friendly. You just slide the out the cardback and you can get at the goods. The inserts even have the character names and bios visible on the left sides of the bubbles. I also dig how T4H shakes things up with the weapon that is displayed in the tray. While both Dwarves come with repaints of the same sword and axe, Thord has the axe beside him in the tray and Bothar showcases the sword. The rest of the accessories come trapped behind the tray. Let’s start off with Thord Ironjaw…

As always, the figure comes out of the package sans shoulder armor, but he still looks totally complete without it and it’s definitely a worthwhile display option if you want to give him a little better range of movement in the shoulders. The torsos are interchangeable with the full size figures and only the arms and legs are scaled down for the Dwarves. Thord boasts a full set of plate armor, featuring that same amazing degree of sculpted detail that we saw in the knights. Every rivet, plate, and bit of edging is present, along with exposed chain mail between the plates and a scaled “leather” loincloth hanging down the front. There’s no doubt by now that T4H are experts at sculpting convincing and exciting suits of armor, even in the slightly diminished Dwarven scale. This one is a nice combination of functionality and just the right touch of flashy ornamentation.

The paint here is as superb as always. The bulk of the armor has a rich, matte metallic finish, embellished with individually painted copper rivets and borders. The plate mail skirt is copper with silver painted rivets and edging and some rather striking blue accents. You get more blue accents on the chest plate and gauntlets and the areas of exposed chain mail are painted copper. The paintwork here is as tight and precise as I could possibly want.

The shoulders peg into the holes on the back and they are full sized pieces. In fact, these are repaints of the shoulders used on Sir Gideon. They not only add a little more bulk to the armor, but also more color. They are painted to match the hip armor with copper plates, silver fringe, and blue accents. Beautiful! You also get the standard brown belt, which can be worn around the waist, or used as a shoulder strap. As always, just about all the articulation points are designed to come apart, creating a mix-and-match modular system throughout the line.

If you’ve been following my Mythic Legions Features up until now, you should have a good idea of what the articulation is like. It is standard throughout the line, and yes that includes the wee little Dwarves. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, as well as lateral rockers in the ankles. The waist and neck are both ball jointed. Nearly all the joints are designed to easily come apart, creating a fun mix-and-match modular system throughout the line.

While the armor design feels distinctive and original, I can’t help but get a strong Gimli vibe off this head sculpt, and that ain’t at all a bad thing. The broad, bulbous nose and the pronounced cheekbones are a pretty good likeness to John Rhys Davies under his make-up in the Lord of the Rings films. The lower half of the face is covered by a copious red beard, which is sculpted with a loads of detail and adds some more color to the figure’s palate. The helmet is copper, silver, and blue and features a set of large black bull horns coming up from the sides. I believe here we’re getting a deliberate nod back to LJN’s Dwarf, Elkhorn from their 1980’s AD&D action figure line. The horns are articulated at the bases, so they can be angled forward or back, removed, or swapped out with other helmet pieces from the line. Let’s talk weapons…

Thord comes with a long sword, which at first seemed like a strange choice for a Dwarf, but it actually suits him quite well. This is the same sword we saw originally with Gorgo Aetherblade, but with a somewhat worn and rusty finish to the blade and crossguard and a grip painted blue to match the accents of Thord’s armor. While the sword is as tall as the Dwarf himself, it can be worn at an angle in the waist belt, or if you are willing to sacrifice one of the shoulder pieces, you can have angle it across his back.

To go with his sword, Thord also comes with a shield. This is the same type we’ve seen all along so far, only this time with a new crest on it. The face is painted gold and features a black bear coat of arms. If you turn my figure’s shield in the light just right I can see some abrasions in the paint, which is so far the only QC issue I’ve run into here. It’s a minor one, and it actually just looks like the shield has been well used, so I don’t mind it. It wasn’t enough of an issue for me to try to get a replacement. As with the sword, the shield works quite well, despite being designed for the full sized figures.

Of course, sometimes a Dwarf has to really make a statement, and that’s when you whip out the gigantic axe! Yup, we’ve seen this baby a few times before and it still features the ability to convert from a single head to a double-head. This is a brand new deco with a rather dull gray finish and blue accents to match Thord’s armor. This weapon is large even for the full-sized figures, and yet I think it works pretty well with the Dwarves too.

I’m in love with the classical look of this figure. It hits all the right points in my mind when I think of a D&D style Dwarven Warrior. Plus, the sculpt and paint are right up there with what we’ve been seeing out of this series all along. If I had one nitpick, it would be that I would have liked to see some weapons designed expressly for the Dwarves, but I’m still perfectly happy with what we got. But, I’m not done yet, let’s take a quick look at his chum, Bothar Shadowhorn…

Bothar features the exact same body sculpt as Thord, but with a slightly more subdued color scheme to his armor. The plates are a little darker gray and the rivets, edging, and all the accents are painted copper. Bothar’s armor may not be as flashy as Thord’s, but it’s still a nice deco and makes him look like more of a rank-and-file warrior to me. The shoulders are also different from Thord’s, and are repaints of the ones included with Gorgo Aetherblade. While, Bothar sports a darker version of the same long beard as Thord, the rest of his face is covered by his helmet. It features some copper colored accents to match his armor and a pair of horns, which can be interchanged with Thord’s horns if you like. Bothar also comes with the same standard belt, as well, in this case it’s perfect for holding his dagger.

In addition to the dagger, you get the same sword as Thord, this time with a cleaner blade and a copper painted hilt, which matches the hilt of the dagger.

And yes, you get the same battle axe, this time with copper painted fixtures on the head and a copper colored handle. This line gets a lot of mileage out of its weapons molds, and quite frankly, I have no problem with that, especially when you’re getting several weapons with each figure.

The Dwarves of Mythic Legions are fantastic little figures, and I would be hard pressed to choose which one of these I like more. The paintwork and portrait on Thord are very appealing, but I also really dig the all-business look of Bothar. What I don’t dig is the fact that I had to sit out some of the other Dwarves in this line for lack of funds. I do still have the Bronze Dwarf Legion Builder coming my way via the post-Kickstarter Pre-Orders, but I could kick myself for not picking up Orn Steelhide, Jorund Runeshaper, or Sir Valgard. For some reason I decided to use that money to eat and pay my phone bill that month. Stupid bills!

It’s the fourth week of what has become Mythic Legions Wednesday here at FFZ. So far we’ve seen some good and evil knights and a skeleton warrior, and today I’m busting out one of the Orcs… let’s have a look at Urkku!

Here’s a quick look at the figure in packaging. You get a generic, yet attractive card with the character’s name on the right side of the bubble insert. The card slides out from the bubble, making everything completely collector friendly. Unlike most of the non-Legion builders, Urkku appears to be a generic name for these warriors and not a specific character. Damn, I wish I got more of him! And since I only have one I’m still going to just call him Urkku. I hope that’s not racist.

As usual, the figure comes packaged without its shoulder armor, which allows for a good look at the first bare chested buck I’ve covered. Indeed, if you’ve been following along from the beginning than you’ll likely note that all the sculpting on this guy is fresh and new, introducing us to some more parts that we’ll see again in the future. The chest, most of the arms, and the upper legs are bare and cast in a very nice shade of green. The musculature and veins are very well defined and we even get some Orc Nipples, if that sort of thing floats your boat. Not judging! Urkku wears a rather large and intricate belt suggesting that he’s the Champion of some kind of Mythic Fighting Legion. Seriously, though, there’s some beautiful sculpting on that belt and it extends to the strips of leather that make up the skirt and the clump of animal fur that forms his loin cloth to protect the modesty of his private Orc bits. All the details on the belt are beautifully painted. The gauntlets and boots are made up of some seriously chunky and vicious-looking segmented plate armor with a particularly satisfying patina of rust and some nicks and scratches in the sculpt. Urkku comes with the same style sword belt as Gideon and Skapular, but you’ll note that I opted to put his on as a shoulder strap.

From the rear, you can see the two peg holes for the shoulder armor as well as the giant tab hole, which hopefully will get put to use someday. You can also get a better look at more of the “leather” straps that hang down from the back of his belt. There’s some nice texturing in all those straps as well as sculpted frayed edges.

The shoulders on this guy are also pieces that we have not seen before, but will most definitely see again. They’re nasty, angular looking pieces that match the boots and gauntlets both in style and in paint finish. Apparently Orcs don’t polish their armor often, which in this case is a good thing, because this is a wonderfully convincing wash of rust and grime.

I’ll note here that Urkku is a figure that I’ve chosen to display using only one piece of shoulder armor. This allows for the chest strap to hold his large sword across his back without any interference. If I keep the right shoulder on, it bumps up against the hilt. I also dig how it looks like the cross strap is holding the shoulder piece in place.

The head sculpt instantly reminds me of Lord of the Rings. The helmet looks like a crudely made piece of armor, as if hundreds of them were beaten out in mass production to quickly equip a disposable army of man-beasts. It only covers the top half of the face, allowing for the mouth and giant bottom teeth to protrude upward. It also displays his giant pointed ears quite nicely. The finish matches the worn and rusted patina of the rest of the armor and there are some nice bits of wear and pitting in the sculpt, as well as a nasty cut in the crest.

Articulation is identical on these figures straight across the board, but just in case this is your first time reading one of these Mythic Legions Features, I’ll still provide a rundown… Urkku features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. There are also ample rockers in the ankles to steady him for those wide stances. The waist is ball jointed, as is the neck. I had no issues with painted over joints, stuck joints, loose joints or anything of the kind. As always these figures are tons of fun to play with.

Like any good Orc, Urkku comes with plenty of implements to dismember his enemies. For starters, he features this long sword, which is the same sculpted accessory we saw with Gorgo Aetherblade. This one is all painted silver and has that same beautiful rusty finish as the armor. I’ve got a modest collection of real swords, and I have to say they really recreated an authentic looking finish on an antique blade.

Next up, we have the same spear that came with both Gorgo and Skapular. It’s silver with more of that rust finish.

And finally, Urkku wields the same giant axe as Gorgo, repainted in a uniform silver with a rusty finish and with black grips. Once again, you can convert the axe to a double-bladed weapon if you want to give this guy a little more cutting power. I’ll go on record and say that I really dig this version of the axe a lot more than the flashier painted one that came with Gorgo. It just looks like more of an everyday weapon.

Urkku is another beautiful figure and one that I’m especially glad I included in my order. The Tolkien influence is undeniable to me and I’m especially impressed at the coloring and paint on this figure. The green skin is just so vibrant and perfect, and I’m sure I’ve gushed enough about how much I dig the finish on the armor and weapons. I would have loved to have picked up just a couple more of him for troop builders, although there is also a Deluxe Orc, which I’ll get to sooner or later. As I run through the initial crop of Mythic Legions, I’m trying to choose the figures that offer the widest range of characters and newly sculpted parts to give an idea of what a diverse range this is. We’ve now seen representatives from the Knights, Skeletons, and Orcs, next Wednesday we’ll check out the first of the Dwarves.

It’s the third installment of Mythic Legions Wednesdays here on FFZ and today I’m busting out one of the skeletons in the line, the awesomely named Skapular The Cryptbreaker and I’m going to on on record right now by saying this will likely end up as one of my favorite figures in the entire line.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. It’s simple, attractive, and collector friendly. The card is generic, but you get a bubble insert with a blurb about the character. I’m probably not going to tap too deeply into the fiction for this line, but I think it’s great that T4H supplied stories and background for the people who want it.

As we’ll continue to see with this line, Skapular comes out of the package without his shoulders, and looks totally complete without them. The design on this guy is absolutely killer. He looks like he just stepped out of the pages of a TSR manual, and I’m sure that in the distant days of my role-playing game youth, I painted some AD&D miniatures that looked exactly like this guy. Simply fantastic! There’s a lot of parts recycled from the two figures I’ve already looked at (Sir Gideon and Gorgo), but it’s done so splendidly well that it’s not something that jumps out and the figure still feels totally fresh to me. The gauntlets and lower legs are the same used for those two figures, the torso and hanging tabard are pulled from Sir Gideon, and the neck guard is from Gorgo. Obviously the skeleton bits are new and the upper arms have some segmented armor plates.

The shoulder armor is the same pair worn by Gorgo and they peg in to the back in the same fashion. Again, you get some nice customization options here as to whether or not to leave them off, just give him a right or a left, or load him up with both. The paint on this figure is as exquisite as what we saw on the first two. The armor has a nice steel finish to it with rivets and fringe all meticulously done up in a coppery gold paint and the crimson tabard features a bit of wash and looks great. The bone parts are yellowed to show a little wear and rot.

The head sculpt gives us a grim skull face with vacant, blackened out eye sockets and a rictus grin. I love the definition of the bones in the sculpt, particularly the cheeks, and there’s just the right amount of cracks and wear. Skapular’s face is colored with the same yellowed finish to match his arms and legs and there’s some nice black wash to bring out the detail in the teeth. The skull is nestled in a a crimson hood, which matches the tabard and the skull is capped off with an armored cap that ends in a deadly point. For a skull face, Skapular’s portrait packs plenty of personality.

Despite being a skeleton, Skapular’s articulation is identical to the figures we saw on the two earlier figures. There are rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, and satisfying lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint in the waist as well as the neck. The neck guard is soft plastic and doesn’t inhibit the neck movement at all. As always, the figure is designed to be disassembled at pretty much any articulation point so if you like to swap parts, you can go nuts!

Moving on to accessories, Skapular comes with a belt, which is a standard for most figures in this line. It has a loop to hold a sword, or in this case the dagger he comes with. The belt is long enough so that it can be worn as a cross strap, which really only works well when using just one of the pieces of shoulder armor, otherwise it can just hang loose around his waist. The dagger is pretty simple, with a uniform silver paint.

The spear is a piece that we didn’t see included with Gideon or Gorgo, but will be seen again in several upcoming figures. Like the dagger, it’s all done up in silver with no additional paint apps. It has a simple shaft with a barbed tip and he looks great holding it. I’ll confess, I would have liked to see the spear shaft painted brown, especially since the unpainted weapons were supposed to be relegated to the Legion Builders, but it’s not a terribly big deal to me.

The shield is the same mold we saw both Gideon and Gorgo carry only with yet another new coat of arms painted on the front. This is my favorite of the three shields, partly because the weathering on the white half of the deco is done so well, and partly because it’s just an interesting design that looks quite distinct from the other two. Once again, the shield features a clip that goes around the wrist and allows for rotation of the shield so you can orientate it however you want, no matter what position the figure’s arm is posed in.

There’s no doubt about it, this is my favorite figure so far, and that’s an incredible statement considering how great Gideon and Gorgo are. Granted, a lot of that has to do with my unending love for armored up skeleton warriors and T4H really nailed every aspect of this commonly used AD&D trope with this figure. He just feels so iconic to me and just the sort of figure I would have loved to have had in with my old LJN AD&D figures. Hell, even though I’m six months away from compiling my list of Favorites for 2016, I find it difficult to believe that this guy isn’t going to score a high spot on that list. Then again, I do still have 14 more of these figures to open up! Next week, we’ll sample some Orc flesh!

In case you missed last week’s memo, Wednesdays are going to be all about Mythic Legions figures for the foreseeable future. I have a lot of figures to get through and by the time I’m close to getting through all of them, I’m hoping my additional pre-orders will be shipping. My first venture into the line featured the lead hero, Sir Gideon Heavensbrand, so it seemed only right to go to the lead villain next, Gorgo Aetherblade!

I’ve said most of what I need to say about the packaging last time, so we’ll just take a quick look. It’s collector friendly and most of the accessories come baggied behind the tray. The cards are generic, but there’s an insert with a little profile about the characters on the bottom right panel of the bubble. It’s worth noting that the trays are not designed to hold the figures with their shoulder armor on, which becomes annoying for caped figures like Gorgo if you want to keep putting them back into the package when you’re done with him. For the time being, I’m keeping these packages, but they may eventually suffer a purge when I get tired of them taking up space.

Gorgo has a full suit of plate armor and uses the same arms and legs as Sir Gideon, but his drastically different deco hides it well. This dude is dark and sinister and invokes a feeling of intimidation and instant dread. The armor is black with some gorgeous red and gold accents. The paint on this guy is absolutely luxurious. From the detailed border work down to the tiny rivets, everything is crisp and clean. As mentioned, he comes without his shoulders attached, and while he looks totally complete without them in place, they do add a lot of impressive bulk and also allow for him to don his cape.

As with all the figures in this line, the shoulders peg into the holes in the back. In this case, you take the cape and fold the edges so the holes each match up with the respective shoulder peg before popping them on. It took me a while to figure out exactly how the capes on these figures work. They have a natural, narrow profile, but can be puffed out with a little futzing. Gorgo’s is a nice, soft red cloth, which definitely adds to the majesty of the figure.

Gorgo’s head is nested in the center of a copious neck guard, which makes him a lot less susceptible to having his noggin lobbed off. The helmet features some beautiful contours, which curve in at the cheeks and give his diagonal eye slits a more prominent and sinister feel. You also get more of the same beautiful gold, red, and black deco on display. In fact, the only part of the figure that deviates from this color palate are the realistic looking antlers, which protrude from the sides of his helmet. As with Gideon’s wings, these are not only articulated, but also removable and can be swapped out with the side elements from any of the other helmets in the line.

The articulation for Mythic Legions is mostly uniform across the board, so what we get here is identical to Sir Gideon. That includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, as well as ample rockers in the ankles to steady him for those wide stances. The waist is ball jointed, as is the neck. The neck guard is soft plastic and is designed to shift if need be to accommodate the neck movement. You can get some lovely wide stances and rather dramatic action poses with these guys, despite the complex and heavy look of the armor. And once again, if there’s a joint, the figure can be easily disassembled at that joint for mix-and-match customization.

Gorgo doesn’t come with as wide an assortment of goodies as Sir Gideon, which is a little odd seeing as he was the other Backer Reward offering at the $45 level. Still, you do get some cool stuff with him. For starters, he comes with his sword and shield. The sword features an elongated grip and a leaf-type blade that swells a little toward the point. The hilt is painted black and red to match his armor and the blade features some nice silver metallic paint. Both the blade and cross guard give it a very Tolkien look to me, which is something I dig a lot. The shield is the same basic accessory that came with Gideon only with a new coat of arms painted on it. It clips onto the figure’s wrist and the clip can pivot 360-degrees.

Gorgo’s other weapon is his his giant axe. This can be configured with either a single or double-sided blade. It has some black and red to match his armor motif, but also introduces silver to brighten up his arsenal. There’s something about the coloring on this weapon that makes it look a little too modern for my taste. It just strikes me as something you might see in a sci-fi flick. It’s OK, but we’ll see this axe again several times bundled with other figures, and with decos that I like a lot more.

Lord Aetherblade makes a fantastic adversary for Gideon and is a remarkably striking figure. The recycled parts feel appropriate and are especially well concealed by the dynamic new paint scheme. This is exactly the kind of dude I could be caught doodling on my Trapper Keeper back in Middle School while day-dreaming about getting out of class and playing some Dungeons & Dragons. And it’s nice to see that Sir Gideon wasn’t a one-hit-wonder when it comes to the high quality of these figures. Gorgo just feels fantastic in hand and he’s super fun to play with and pose. While my faith in this line was never really in question, now that I’ve had some serious time to play around with the two main characters, I can already tell that I’m in love with what these figures have to offer. Next Wednesday, I’ll take a break from the knights and check out one of the Skeletons!

Starting today I’m locking down Wednesdays to begin covering the big boxes of Mythic Legions figures that arrived. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a line of 6-inch fantasy figures designed and produced by The Four Horsemen Studios and funded via Kickstarter. I’m starting with Sir Gideon who was the figure I chose as my Backer Reward before I kept piling on more and more and more. I still question whether I should have gone all in, but I’m very glad that I at least bought as many figures as I did, especially after seeing how quickly the pre-orders sold out. I’ve heard more than a few backers refer to the arrival day as being like Christmas and that’s a damn good analogy. I’m going to take my time opening these and relish every moment!

Before getting to the meat of the Feature, I’ll toss out some props to T4H and the way they ran this Kickstarter. Yes, it technically missed the target ship date, but not by a lot, and their communication along the way was absolutely impeccable. I don’t want to slag any other recent Kickstarters, but when it came to this one, my confidence never wavered. They really had their act together, they didn’t send out signals promoting false shipping expectations, and from start to finish it was a professional operation. Oh yeah, and the figures they produced easily met if not exceeded what they promised. Let’s start with a quick look at the packaging!

The figures come in packaging that is quite similar to past figures from T4H. You get a bubble that wraps around the edges of a card. This makes for a nice carded presentation, while still being collector friendly. You just bend back the tabs on the bottom edge and slide the card out to get at the figure. The card back is generic for all the figures, but it features some nice background art on the front and back. The back of the card also shows some head shots of other figures and has a little story about the fiction behind the line.

The packaging is customized for each character through an insert at the bottom of the bubble. The left side panel has a faction emblem and the right side panel has a head shot of the character along with his name and a brief bio. I’ve got to admit, I was not expecting that! The figure is secured to the tray with a simple twist tie. His sword is mounted beside him and all the other accessories are baggied behind the tray.

In the bags you get a dagger, a shield, two pieces of shoulder armor, a belt, and an extra head featuring a different style of helmet. The shoulders simply peg into holes in the back of the figure. The belt is probably actually a shoulder strap, but I find it a little snug, so I opted to use it as a waist belt. To put it on you pull the figure apart at the waist. Seriously, it’s all right! A big feature of these figures centers around their ability to mix and match parts. Nearly every part of articulation on the figure can be detached and while swapping parts wasn’t one of the features that motivated me to get in on this line, I can’t deny it opens up some amazing possibilities.

The figure itself is absolutely gorgeous. Sir Gideon features a sculpted white tabard and a suitably heroic set of gold and silver armor. The details include tons of scalloped overlapping plates, tiny rivets, and all the belts and straps that “hold” everything on. It’s such a remarkably detailed sculpt that it’s hard to believe it’s mostly part of the buck. Layered soft plastic extras like the previously mentioned shoulders, and the “skirt” serve to further add some depth and complexity to the armor without impairing the articulation. The only possible nitpick I have about the figure’s sculpt is the tab hole in his back. This is supposedly to allow for future customization pieces, but for now it’s just there. A great idea would have been to include a tab with a connector that would hold the shield. For now, we’ll have to see what T4H come up with.

The paint consists mostly of a sumptuous gold that gives off the right balance of brilliant luster and realistic battle gear. The trim is touched up with an equally pleasing silver. The quality of the paint is superb, with very little bleeding or slop to speak of.

The stock head features a form fitting helmet with a raised visor so you can get a good look at Sir Gideon’s heroic face and manly ‘stache. It’s a great portrait and certainly one befitting of the hero of this line. I’d be hard pressed to believe that Strongheart from LJN’s AD&D line didn’t help shape the look of this noble knight, and that’s an homage I can get behind. The paint on his blue eyes is straight and the mustache and eyebrows are clean and sharp. The helmet features some rather extravagant decor in the form of two mighty wings protruding from the sides and a beautiful silver eagle crest jutting up off the top. All three pieces are articulated and can even be removed if you so desire. The visor pegs into the forehead of the helmet, and there are pegs for two positions…

…so you can display the figure with the visor up or down. It’s a really cool option, especially since you can still see his eyes and the underlying face sculpt through the slits in the visor. Of course, if you prefer a different helmet, you can pop this one off and pop on the secondary head…

This one is a fully enclosed Crusader-style Great Helm and as you can see, the eagle standard pops off the other helmet and onto this one so that the other warriors on the battlefield recognize Sir Gideon even with a different helmet. Although, granted it would be hard to miss him in that armor! Despite spending the better part of a year drooling over the pictures and details and waiting for my figures to come in, I never once remember seeing anything about Gideon having a spare head, so this was another great surprise. It’s going to be hard to decide which helmet to display the figure with, I really do dig them both!

Articulation on this guy is all about ball joints and rotating hinges. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. There are also ample rockers in the ankles to steady him for those wide stances. The waist is ball jointed, as is the neck. I had no issues with painted over joints, stuck joints, loose joints or anything of the kind. Posing this figure feels fantastic and while it looks like a collectible piece, it’s a figure that begs to be played with.

I’ve already given a rundown on his accessories, so let’s take a quick look at each. His large curved shield features a gold face with a black griffon or dragon on the front and a silver border, making for a very attractive piece. The grip is a simple clip that pegs into the shield and clips around the figure’s wrist. I was a little apprehensive about the clip for fear that it would rub the paint off the arm, but it seems like so long as it’s clipped around the wrist joint and not the upper arm, things will be fine. The fact that the clip pegs into the shield is a pretty big deal to me, because that means it can swivel and so you can angle the shield however way you want it, no matter which way the arm is holding it.

The sword and dagger have matching hilts. These are stout and simple looking weapons, which I prefer over super ornate accessories. The grips are painted red and they fit perfectly in his hands. The belt has a single loop to hold the either the sword or the dagger, but not really both at once. Again, I believe the intended purpose for this piece is as a shoulder strap, but I’m just not thrilled with the way it fits across the chest.

If you’re curious about scale, at 6-inches tall these figures are compatible with a number of other lines. The most obvious would be Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics, one of the more high profile lines sculpted by T4H. While they are fairly different stylistically, they can certainly interact with each other comfortably and Gideon is easily able to mount any of the MOTUC beasts as well. They also scale very well with NECA’s “Heroes of the Storm” line, which should make for some pretty fun Legions-Warcraft crossovers.

As a Backer Reward for a $45 buy-in, Gideon is the most expensive of the initial assortment, but I think he’s still worth every penny. Subsequent figures that were added on were between $18 and $33, so if I spread his extra cost among the 18 other figures I bought, it all works out pretty well in the end. If you can’t already tell, I’m beyond satisfied with the quality of this figure and I can happily say it was well worth the wait. I’ve got a lot of these figures to go through in the weeks ahead and I’ve also got some of the figures from Wave 1.5 coming, so there will be plenty of Mythic Legions love to go around!