Tag Archives: the four horsemen

Dec 27 2021

Mythic Legions (All-Stars 4): Mephitor by The Four Horsemen

It was a rocky week leading up to Christmas, but I’m happy to put the Silly Season behind me and try to get things back to normal with another installment of Mythoss Monday! And today I’m digging into the newly shipped All-Stars Wave 4! I did not go too deep into this Wave, only picking up two regular figures and one Troll, so I’ll probably run through all of these figures in the next few weeks. So let’s jump right in and check out Mephitor!

Mephitor is one of two figures in this Wave which are essentially Masters of the Universe homages, and if you can’t tell from the packaged shot, this fellow is a very obvious nod to Snake Mountain’s smelliest of villains, Stinkor! Mephitor has his own backstory, which declares him to be something of a mercenary spy! He sniffs out information and sells it to whichever faction suits him. And while TFH didn’t make this figure actually stink (thank heavens for that!) he bio does disclose his ability to spray a deadly stink gas a this enemies!

Mephitor is built off the Goblin body, so that makes him just a little stinker. The armored bits have been repainted orange and given a bit of weathering, making them look a little drab and well worn. His gauntlets are maroon and he has black and silver under-armor exposed on his upper legs and biceps. The waist piece has been seen before on the Goblins as well, this time painted in orange and maroon. Instead of the crude Orc-style shoulders that most of the Goblins wear, Mephitor sports a pair of more civilized shoulder pieces, along with the a spiked collar. There isn’t a lot of detailed paintwork here, other than the painted straps holding on his leg armor, and the gold medallions on the shoulders. Still, all in all it’s a great looking deco.

The head sculpt is repainted from Thistlethorn, a figure released as part of the Advent of Decay, and one of the few releases in that Wave that I passed on due to budget crunch. I will say, that the repaint is quite striking and I had to go back and compare photos to confirm that it was indeed the same head. Mephitor has a overtly skunk-like appearance, with sculpted fur, pointed ears, and a mostly black face, with white circles around the eyes, a white nose, and a white stripe surrounding his crested ridge. It really works well as a Stinkor homage!

I was surprised to find a bonus head in there too, and I’m not sure if this was a new addition or if I just forgot it was included. This one is simply a Goblin head repainted black, with yellow eyes and bone-colored teeth. I doubt I’ll ever display it on this figure, but maybe I’ll use it on one of the Goblins. It’s awesome!

Moving onto his gear, Mephitor comes with the standard knightly sword, which we’ve seen many times before, and yes it’s still one of my favorites! The blade is painted silver and the hilt is a beautiful shade of electric blue, with the grip being matte and the cross-guard and pommel having a metallic finish. There’s some silver over-spray on the hilt, but it’s not too bad.

You also get a circular shield, which is painted in the same matte electric blue and with metallic blue used for the rivets. These colors really pop beautifully when displayed with the orange and maroon of the armor.

And last, but not least, Mephitor comes with a crossbow, which was introduced in Advent of Decay and seen here several times since. It has a real string, and it’s painted in silver and blue to match the rest of his gear. You have to get a little creative to get him to pose with it in a firing position, but he can get there!

Rather than get them all, I’ve been fairly selective when it comes to Mythic Legions‘ MOTU homage figures. Why? I don’t know. Initially they seemed kind of gimmicky, but I think some of them look original enough to fit in Mythoss. Mephitor was definitely one of those that I had to have as soon as I saw him. At this point, if I had it to do over, I probably would have grabbed them all. This is a great little figure, and adds a cool new race to the Mythoss melting pot. I also dig how his bio suggests him to be a loner and that’s why we’ll probably just get this one example of his race. But who knows? Next week, I’ll check out the other MOTU homage in this Wave… that is unless he leaves me at a moss for words.

Dec 13 2021

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Balius the Horse by The Four Horsemen

The Arethyr Wave not only introduced a gaggle of Demons to Mythoss, but it also gave us the first two horses as part of the Mythic Legions line. The showpiece horse of the wave was Aethon, companion steed of Arethyr himself, and I’ll get to them soon enough, but we also got Balius, a brown horse that’s perfect for carrying any Knight into battle!

Balius comes in a large window box, which is basically a landscape orientated version of what the large Trolls come in. It’s got some great artwork and a little Mythoss Lore printed on the back, but it’s mostly dominated by the giant window that shows you the horse and accessories. The box is collector friendly, although there are a lot of wire ties securing Balius to his tray, and I advise caution when clipping these, because I clipped one of Balius’ stirrups when getting him out!

Despite being a big fan of mounted knights and cowboys, I’m no horse enthusiast or equine expert, but from what I can tell T4H did a damn fine job on this sculpt and the proportions of the figure. And yes! Balius is indeed a fully articulated figure. The last time I had a horse figure close to this scale was when my Uncle gave me his old Gabriel Lone Ranger toys, and handling this guy is really bringing back memories! Balius has a chocolate brown coat, which turns black toward his hooves, as well as a black mane and black tail. The body is covered with a great looking fur texture and you also get some great detail in the various muscles, veins and sinew.

Balius is a solid and hefty steed with strong jointing, and as with the regular figures, his joints are all modular (mostly pegged hinges) so that they can be pulled apart and swapped out for easy customization. Each leg is jointed in three places, the tail is jointed at the base, and the neck and head are also articulated, but more on that later. The joints are smooth and easy to manipulate, but he has no difficulty holding up his weight as well as the weight of a figure. He can even hold gallop and a rearing pose on his back two legs with the tail serving as a sort of tripod support. Very nice!

The head sculpt is quite beautiful, and I’m really blown away by the realism in the face and how lifelike the eyes are. His ears stand straight up, and his bushy mane is sculpted as a separate piece, and he has a white stripe running down to his nose. The bridle is also sculpted separately from the horse, and features some great leather-like texturing and nickle-painted fixtures. What I did find disappointing is the articulation design for the head and neck. It allows for some movement, but if I try to tilt Balius’ head too far up, the joint just pops off the peg. The design was no doubt intended to avoid putting visible pins in the head, but I would have liked more range of motion there.

The saddle, includes more of that great leather texturing, as well as a sculpted strap securing it under Balius’ belly, and a red blanket with gold borders under the saddle. There’s a removable bedroll on the back of the saddle, and four looped straps which can be used to attach equipment. Balius even comes with a sword and a shield to place on him. These loops can also be used to secure a spear or halberd, but neither are included.

I am using the Red Shield Soldier, which I reviewed last Monday, to showcase how well Balius can carry a figure. I will note that I removed the groin armor piece when placing him on the saddle. Although strictly speaking it probably isn’t necessary, I just think it makes for a better fit, and it’s easy enough to pull off and tab back in again. The stirrups are made of soft plastic and are large enough to loop around the feet, but they don’t hold all that securely, especially the one that I cut getting the figure out!

I came really close to omitting Balius when I ordered my Arethyr figures, mainly because he’s so big and I’m trying to account for limited space. I was also worried about falling down a deep hole with how many horses, T4H are likely to pump out based on this mold. But in the end I threw him in there, and I’m glad I did. He’s a fantastic looking figure, and really the only thing I can nitpick is that I wish the neck articulation offered better range of motion.

Dec 6 2021

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Red Shield Soldier by The Four Horsemen

It’s a new week, and that means a new Mythoss Monday! Today I’m back to the recent Arethyr Wave, but instead of another Demon, it’s a long overdue return to the Knights… and a very classic looking Knight at that! Let’s check out The Red Shield Soldier!

As the name suggests, this fellow is an army builder, so if you want to give him a name and backstory, that’s all up to you. For brevity sake, I’ll just refer to him as The RSS! Originally formed to combat The Dark Riders, The Red Shield was an elite fighting force that was eventually absorbed into the Army of Leodysseus. But when the Demons came a knockin’ on Mythoss’ door, The Red Shield were called on again to beat back the Demon scum! These guys are some of the best of the best!

I’ve said it before, but I do love the Knights in this line. They remind me of the old Marx Knights that I had handed down to me as a kid. The RSS is a mix of new and recycled parts from previous figures. In fact, I think I’ve seen most everything before, with the exception of the torso, gorget, and helmet. The armor is painted with a deep, rich gray, which has a rich and satiny finish like well oiled iron. The only break in this color comes in the individually painted silver rivets, as well as the tiny brown straps with silver fixtures. He may not be the flashiest Knight in the realm, but I actually like that. He’s a no nonsense soldier out to do battle with evil.

And then there’s the helmet! I’m not ashamed to admit it, part of why I like reviewing these figures is I get to talk about swords and armor, which is another hobby of mine, and this new helmet is a real beauty. It’s a design that I most associate with Knights jousting in old films, and that’s appropriate since the Germans call it a Stechhelm, or Jousting Helmet. But it’s more familiarly known as the Frog Mouth Helmet, and for obvious reasons. The exaggerated front offers smooth surfaces bisected by a sharp angle, perfect for deflecting lances and other weapons. Once again, the rivets are painted silver, you also get some brown painted straps and bronze eyelets. And while this is the stand out helmet for me, you get two others to choose from!

There’s the Armet Helmet with visor that we first saw worn by Sir Owain in the initial Kickstarter Wave. Gosh, that was five years ago, already! I still love this sculpt, and it seems like TFH have used it sparingly over the years. Here it’s painted to match the armor, with silver paint for the rivets and a bright red plume, no doubt to signify The Order of the Red Shield!

The third helmet was seen on the Templar Legion Builder and it’s been kicking around a few times since. Sometimes known as a Crusader Great Helm, this is one of my favorite designs. It looks terribly intimidating and damn cool at the same time. The cruciform reinforcing strips are painted red with bright silver rivets and there’s a gold spike protruding from the top. All three of these helmets look great on the figure. You simply can’t go wrong with any one you choose!

Moving on to gear, The RSS comes packing a large two-handed sword, which is a straight repack of the one wielded by Gwendolyn Heavensbrand, but that’s cool because it hasn’t been repacked a lot. In fact, I think this might be the first time I’ve seen it since. I love the gold hilt with the red jewels, but I’d also like to see it repainted. I think a black or dark gray hilt would have looked cool for this particular Knight. It’s got a long blade, but it can still be worn decently on the waist, even if the parrying hooks keep it from sliding all the way through the loop.

Of course, there’s always the option to remove one of the shoulders and have him wear it on his back using the belt as a shoulder strap. I think this way looks better. And since he has a shield to protect that side, losing the shoulder isn’t so bad.

And speaking of the shield, we get the disk-type shield that we’ve seen a few times before. It uses the L-shaped grab bar, as opposed to the clip from the original Kickstarter Wave. I know, I say it all the time, but I still wish T4H would sell a bag of those clips. Yes, they ran the risk of stressing and snapping, but I think they worked better than these handles. I’ve yet to have one of those snap on me, but I did have one of these handles snap the peg off in one of the shields. Plus, if they sold the clips, I’d buy a couple bags so it wouldn’t be so bad if one did happen to snap. Anyway, I do like this shield, but I’m not as keen on the deco here. It’s got some black, silver, copper, and red. I gather the red is painted on as tradition, since the original Red Shield would paint their shields with the blood from the battlefield. There’s something that just feels kind of modern and out of place with the way it’s painted here. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.

And finally, The Soldier comes with a beautiful halberd, that we last saw with the aforementioned Templar Legion Builder. This time it has a beautiful silver shaft and blade, with a red and gold band near the top. I love this weapon, and I hope we’ll be seeing more of it in the future.

The Red Shield Soldier is a fantastic army builder, with great and varied display possibilities if you happen to pick up three of them. Unfortunately, I do very little army building in Mythic Legions, mainly because the figures ain’t cheap, but also because they tend to drop a bunch at at time and just buying one of each wave is enough to melt my wallet. From time to time, if the figures are offered again, I have been known to double-dip, and if this guy happens to turn up in a future All-Stars Wave, I’d be keen on picking up one more. Now, if only he had a horse to ride. Hmm…. Maybe I can find one for him by next Monday!

Nov 29 2021

Mythic Legions: Zazhar by The Four Horsemen

It’s another Mythoss Monday, and this time I’m going all the way back to that original Kickstarter! Well, sort of. Zazhar and Azhar were Demon brothers, which released as part of the initial Kickstarter, but neither made my original cut when I was tallying up the crazy amount of money I was spending on my Add-Ons. Seriously, it was a long night with a long list, and some very difficult choices… and I still wound up going over budget! Anyway… Zazhar eventually got a re-release in the third All-Stars Wave, so I grabbed him up and now we’re going to have a look!

Now, I say brothers, but in reality the two existed in The Netherrealm as the Demon King Azahzzar. But when he was summoned to Mythoss by the Poxxus (who we’re finally getting a figure of in the next wave!) the Demon King was split into two, with both Demons now serving The Circle of Poxxus!

From the neck down, Zazhar is almost a straight repaint of Belphegorr, the last Demon I looked at from this line. He’s got the same gauntlets and leg armor, the same belt and hip armor, and the same hooves. The only difference is TFH swapped out the furry-style loin cloth for this orange sash, which makes for a cleaner, simpler look. The armor pieces are all painted with a gorgeous metallic purple finish, which makes that pitted and nicked armor look a lot snappier. It also makes them look like they may be enchanted! Zazhar’s vibrant blue skin is beautifully painted, with some nice variations in tone and shading. I find this a lot more appealing than the yellow they used for his brother. You also get a slew of tattoo tendrils on his shoulders and snaking their way down his chest, along with some dots on his abs and arms. It makes for a tribal look that gives his demon bod lots of personality.

The figure comes with the same shoulders as we got with Belphegorr, again painted in that metallic purple finish. I’m a little torn on whether I’m going to display him with these or not. They look great, and make him more intimidating, but I also dig the bare shoulder look, as it shows off those tatts more.

The head sculpt here is phenomenal! I just love TFH’s unique take on their Demons, and this was the one that started it all. He sports a rather grim and determined expression, as opposed to the snarling evil cliche you might expect. I particularly dig how the horns are shaded the same color as his skin and look like just an extension of his skull. You get some really cool crevices running up his forehead and his two beady red eyes are framed by prominent sockets. And check out them ears!

Zazhar’s selection of weaponry is pretty standard stuff, making it rather obvious that he hails from the original Kickstarter. You get the usual brown belt, a cruciform sword with a gold hilt and silver blade, and a matching dagger. As usual, there’s only one loop on the belt, so you can use it for the sword or the dagger, but not really both.

I absolutely love this set of weapons, and I’m always happy to get more. These blades look great and still seem fairly utilitarian at the same time. But these knightly weapons really don’t feel like they belong with a Demon. Then again, this guy is supposed to be able to kill with a mere touch, so I’m not sure why he needs them at all. Maybe just for sport? I’d be tempted to give the sword and dagger to Cassia, and give her sabre to Zazhar, but mixing up weapons on these figures drives my OCD crazy!

And finally, Zazhar comes with the spear that every other figure got in that initial Kickstarter. It’s painted to match the sword and dagger, with a gold shaft and a silver blade. I think the spear suits him a bit better, but I would have preferred some more sinister colors.

Boy was I happy to see Zazhar make it into one of the All-Stars wave and allow me to have another crack at him without paying the insane prices these figures go for on Ebay. When I was placing my initial order, I was all about the Knights, Orcs, and Skeletons, and everyone else had to take a back seat. Now he’s in the collection, and the timing couldn’t be better, as Arethyr gave us a bunch of Demons, and Proxxus is up for pre-order in the next wave!

Nov 22 2021

Mythic Legions (Wasteland): Cassia by The Four Horsemen

It’s Mythoss Monday again, and I thought I’d let it roll with more of the Wasteland Wave! This was not a large assortment of figures, and since I skipped the Masters of the Universe homages, I’ve actually only got two more figures here to look at. Today we’ll check out Cassia!

According to her bio, Cassia is something of a disaffected wanderer, who abandoned her faction and is looking to hook up with the House of the Noble Bear. She’s praised as a veteran of some of Mythoss’ bloodiest battles, making her one dangerous warrior. Cassia’s got a lot going on with several display options, so let’s get started!

Here she is out of the box with her shoulders on, and repurposing a good deal of the body we last saw a while back on Juno, including that scalloped breast armor. From there on, her armor is a hodge-podge collection that looks like it’s been scavenged from piles of dead on the battlefield. She’s got something of a knightly belt with hip plates and a studded leather scale piece hanging down front and center, meanwhile her legs are armored from knee to toe in the rough and jagged Orc-type armor. What I find most distinctive is her use of two different style shoulder pieces, which sort of match the bracer on each opposite arm.

I’m not a huge fan of the mismatched shoulders, so I’ll likely just display her with one or the other, and use one of her three sword belts as a shoulder strap. And going with this option also allows her to wear her sword on her back, with the hilt peeking up over the bare shoulder. The rest of the armor looks great and offers a paint deco as diverse as the pieces themselves. The hips are silver with blue accents, the lower legs are black. Her left bracer is copper and her right is brown with copper studs and painted silver buckles.

Cassia comes out of the box with a sugar loaf style helmet, which we last saw on the female Templar, Delphina. I like the sculpt a lot, and here it’s recreated with a blackened iron look, copper reinforcing strips crossing at the eye slits, and silver painted rivets. It does, however feel a little out of place here. But then again, I think that’s the whole point. It’s just another piece of scavenged armor for her collection.

The alternate head suits her a lot more in my opinion, even if I’m not quite as fond of this sculpt as I am the full helmet. Oh, it’s not bad at all, but I think the exposed part of the face is a little soft. I do, however, like the copper finish on the helmet itself and the very realistic looking horns, which can be attached in a number of different ways. I also dig the ponytail that attaches to the helmet and spills out the back. How does she get all that hair tucked into the other helmet? It wonder!

If you’ve read my last couple of Mythic Legions reviews, you may remember me griping about how some of those figures didn’t feel like they came with as much stuff as I was used to getting. Well, Cassia here is an example of how some of these releases are loaded with accessories. I mean, we already got the extra head and three sword belts, but how about three weapons to go with her too! The first of which is a damn fine bearded ax. The graceful shaft has a sculpted wood finish, and the middle of the ax has a hammered copper look to it. This is a cool weapon, which she can wield either single or double-handed.

Next up, she has a rather crude looking scimitar, which we last saw with one of the Orcs. I’m happy to see this accessory again, because it’s just so damn distinctive. The grip and crossguard are sculpted to look like either claws or teeth, and the well-worn, nicked blade has a clipped point and a hole punched near the tip, perhaps to lighten the weight of the weapon. The swell in the blade makes it a little tough to pass through the loop on the belts, but it hangs pretty well if you just thrust it on the inside of the belt.

The final weapon in Cassia’s arsenal is the massive war hammer. This bruiser of a weapon turned up a lot in the initial assortment of Mythic Legions figures and while I may have been getting a bit tired of it back then, it’s cool to see it make an appearance. Cassia looks mighty and fierce wielding it, even if it does probably weigh almost as much as she does! The copper paint looks very nice, and matches some of her armor, and as always the sculpt on this piece is stellar.

And if all these goodies weren’t enough, Cassia also comes with a fur cape, which is an incredible little garment. I’m not sure how TFH made this look so damn good, but it genuinely looks like they shrunk down a bear pelt. It feels so soft and luxurious! It’s fitted with a hole to pass through the neck, so she can wear it sort of like cape, but it’s big enough to wrap all the way around her for those chilly Mythoss nights.

Cassia may be quite conspicuous as a mix-and-match figure, but I do enjoy how they leaned into it to make her look like someone who trades up armor as she finds it. I often imagine that your average warrior in a fantasy campaign would be constantly finding better gear to loot, and that this patchwork appearance would be the result, especially for a warrior like Cassia who has cast off her previous allegiances. She’s a great figure and comes with plenty of cool stuff! Indeed, there are enough display options here to create two distinct characters!

Nov 15 2021

Mythic Legions (Wasteland): Argemedes by The Four Horsemen

Welcome to the second installment of the still new and fresh Mythoss Monday! And it’s all the more timely, since The Four Horsemen just revealed pre-orders for yet another wave of Mythic Legions ready to girt on their swords and do battle with my bank account. I’m still far behind in my Mythic Legions reviews, picking through the now impressive history of releases, and today I’ve come up with Argemedes the Cyclops!

The Siege at Bjorngar assortment introduced the Ogre-sized figures to the realm of Mythoss. Not as large as the Trolls, but still standing tall above the regular-sized figures, we initially got three of these big bois: Kkurzog, The Ogre Legion Builder, and Bolthor the Tower. Argemedes followed soon after in the Wasteland assortment to round out the quartet. Unlike the regular Mythic Legions releases, these fellas come in window boxes, which are collector friendly and have some very nice wrap-around artwork!

Argemedes mixes things up a bit in that he is a Cyclops! Perhaps, he’s a smaller, distant cousin of the larger mono-eyed Brontus, The Arena Troll from The Coliseum Wave. Mythic Legions is a line that is built around mixing, matching, and repainting parts, and while it manages to achieve a pretty good amount of diversity, I think the parts sharing is probably most obvious in these Ogres sized figures. I’m not knocking them for it, but I just find it a lot more noticeable here if you gather them all together. If you stand Argemedes next to Kkurzog, you can see there are more differences in the paint scheme than the actual sculpt. They share the exact same bodies, hands, and feet, as well as the same wrist bracers. chest harnesses, and leg armor. The belts are nearly identical too, with only the disc in the center being different. Argemedes also has a much thicker and larger barbarian diaper to hide his trouser cyclops.

And while the recycled bodies really stand out here, I still think they did a nice job on the repainted bits for Argemedes. He’s given a sort of blue-gray skin with a paler shade in the chest. The armor bits are generally darker, emphasizing more blacks than browns, less silver, and mixing up some of the coppery bits. I have to say I’m still blown away by all the fine detail in the armore pieces. The texturing makes the leather bits look like real leather, and the hammered finish on the studs, plates, and buttons, is just so damn fantastic. There’s a little overspray of bone paint on the plates between his legs, but that’s the only place I can find fault in the paint quality. The rather ornate scrollwork pattern on the belt disc looks great, although this piece has now been used on three out of the four Ogres, making Kkurzog’s belt the most unique of the bunch. At least the wrist bracers are removable, so you can mix things up by removing one or both if you want to make these guys look different. Personally, I think they look too good to take off! I especially love how all the little straps, buckles, and fixtures are sculpted and painted.

Argemedes does have a brand new head, which makes him and his one big eye rather unique. The lower structure of his face is still very Ogre like, with the flat nose, broad mouth and prominent tusks. Maybe one of the Ogres got busy with Brontus and Argemedes was the result! He’s got craggy skin around his single blood-orange eyeball. The paintwork on the head is excellent, with some nice shading and the skin changing from blue to a creamy yellow around his nose and lower jaw. I also really dig the paint and sculpt that went into those tusks.

The helmet is a close fitting skullcap with thin cheek guards, which drop down in front of his pointed ears. The mohawk of boney spikes looks great and matches the bones that protrude from the arm and leg armor rather well. The helmet is removable, and it can even be worn by Kkurzog or the Ogre Legion Builder if you like. This was a nice surprise, I had expected it to be either part of the head sculpt or permanently attached. I prefer the figure with the helmet on, but the bald pate that can be seen with the helmet off also gives the portrait a lot of personality.

For me, the only real disappointing thing about Argemedes is that he comes with the same poleax that we’ve seen a few times with The Ogres already. It’s not a bad weapon, and I love how the shaft can be changed around to be different lengths, but when you’re reusing this much figure, it seems only fair to give him a brand new weapon. It’s not like any new weapon designed for this guy wouldn’t be used again and again further on down the line. It would have also been cool to give him some kind of crude shield. With that having been said, the ax head is still a beautiful sculpt and it does suit the big guy rather well.

I do love this figure class, and making one of them a cyclops was a great idea! Argemedes is another welcome addition to my Mythic Legions shelves, and he looks great in the back towering over some of the other figures. With that having been said, The Four Horsemen really need to invest in some new armor for this body if they’re still going to be making use of it. There just seems to be more of a variety of paint options with the smaller figures to make them work better with recycled parts. Not to mention these bigger guys cost more, so it would be nice to get some more bang for my buck. Based on some pictures, it looks like TFH are addressing this in future releases with new armor pieces and such, so it will be cool to see what they come up with.

Nov 8 2021

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Belphegorr by The Four Horsemen

Well, folks, November is off to a rough start, with only one new review last week. Then again, November tends to be my most challenging month when it comes to balancing my work and devoting time to this blog. But, I’m pressing on and we’ll see how things go. It’s the first Mythoss Monday, and for those of you missing the Marvel content, I’ll still have some this week, I promise!

Mythoss Mondays will, of course, be devoted to getting me caught up on reviewing all the Mythic Legions figures I have piled up around here. I’m not going in any specific order, but the one I grabbed today happens to be Belphegorr from the sorta recently shipped Arethyr Wave. He’s also the third Demon from the line that I’m checking out, with the first two being Xarria from Advent of Decay and Malephar from Arethyr. According to his bio, Belphegorr’s claim to fame is being rather adept at tearing portals in the fabric of reality to facilitate travel from one dimension to another… Like some kind of Etherial Uber Driver!

And Oh, boy do I love this guy! Belphegorr looks like he’d be right at home hurling fireballs at The DoomSlayer! This red-skinned slab of demon flesh goes around topless, just because he can. Not gonna lie, if I sported that kind of physique, I would too. He does, however have a pair of jagged Orc-style armored shoulders, which mesh perfectly with his collar to look like they are all one piece. This is the first time I’m seeing the collar, and it’s perfect for a Demon Lord. As always, I love the dark and weathered finish on the armor, which is accentuated by the pitting and nicks in the sculpt. He’s also got the traditional Orc armored belt and segmented thigh guards, bracers, as well as their knee and lower leg armor, which terminates in his powerful demonic hooves. The ensemble is finished off with a furry loin cloth to hide his undoubtedly massive demon junk. His exposed skin is a deep crimson with a bit of shading to bring out his muscles, and the paintwork on his hooves is absolutely fantastic!

By now The Four Horsemen are masters at sculpting portraits of the dark denizens of the deep, and Belphegorr here is a prime example of that fact! This beastie has all the trimmings of an iconic demon mug from the bottom of his dual pointed chin to the tips of his curling ribbed horns. His face evokes all the characteristics of a partially exposed skull with a full set of teeth, the human-like qualities of which make him all the more unsettling. The deep set eyes are little pools of yellow to pierce through the darkness, and his bulbous forehead is spiderwebbed with purple vein-like crevices. And wow, those glossy black horns look ominous as all hell!

Belphegorr isn’t terribly heavy on the accessories, but what he does have is pretty good. First, you get an extra set of hands to help him hold his weapons… and then you get the weapons! In this case, he wields a the twin Elf Swords that we have seen here before. My initial reaction was to think it a strange pairing, but I actually think they suit him surprisingly well. He also includes the standard issue sword belt with a loop that can secure both swords to his hip at once. Or, it can also serve as a shoulder strap so he can wear the weapons on his back, so long as you don’t mind giving up one of his shoulder armor pieces.

The twin blades have extra long braided grips for single or double-handed use. Hell, if there’s a demon down there with three hands, he could use them all on these babies! Plenty of room! The long hilts are countered with sweepingly curved blades, which are almost sickle-like in their design. And there are no cross-guards because cross-guards are for pussy Demons like Zaleos. Seriously, what’s up with that guy? I still would have liked to get a beefier weapon with Belphegorr, not only because I think he should have one, but because his arsenal feels a little lacking without it. But it’s not like I don’t have a bajillion big hammers or spears from other figures.

And as we’ve seen before, these swords can be joined together to form a single double-bladed pole-arm kinda thing, which is cool as hell and a great little bonus.

For a while, it seemed like the Demons were getting buried by all the Knights, Vampyres, Orcs, Elves, and Goblins. It’s nice to see them come to the forefront with this Arethyr Wave. There’s so much potential for creativity here and The Four Horsemen have demonstrated that with Belphegorr. It’s a testament to this design that it can feel both fresh and iconic at the same time. A lot of this figure is sold by the portrait, since the rest is basically a red-skinned Orc with hooves, but that’s the mixing and matching genius that is Mythic Legions. Plus, this is likely one of the first figures I’ll pull out when it comes time to check out some of the wings that T4H sold as extra accessories!

Jun 4 2021

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Malephar by The Four Horsemen

The latest assortment of Mythic Legions figures, Arethyr, arrived at my door a couple of weeks back and I’ve been chomping at the bit to start digging into them. I know, I haven’t finished reviewing the last couple of series, but I decided to push these to the head of the line and work backwards. So, let’s jump right in and have a look at Malephar!

Apparently Arethyr’s arrival in Mythoss opened all sorts of dimensional rifts and a bunch of horrible little demons spilled through. This swarm of lesser demons is commanded by our boy Malephar. I’ve said it before, but one of the things I love most about the ongoing waves of Mythic Legions is all the new races and factions that are being added. We started with basically knights, skeletons, orcs, and trolls, and now we’ve added vampires, elves, and demons. Mythoss is a virtual melting pot of fantasy tropes, and that really helps the line’s world building.

Malephar utilizes a Goblin body, making him one of the smaller inhabitants of Mythoss. There are a couple of ways to kit him out, but I started with your basic demon look, which means he’s got his wings and tail. The wings attach to the sockets where the shoulder armor usually mounts, that’s easy enough, but it took me some research to figure out that there’s a removable butt-plate that allows the tail to be plugged in. The armor features a dark finish, which, along with the sculpted nicks and pitted finish, makes it look old and battle worn. Still, the individual rivets are painted silver, and he’s got some gold chainmail showing through the gaps in his elbows and knees. The sculpted straps and buckles are also individually painted. Malephar has an armored neck protector piece with spikes, leather scale armor protects his tiny demon junk, and instead of Goblin feet, he has tiny hooves.

The blue wings are hinged where they socket into the body, allowing for some decent articulation. There are also articulated tips, and while these look fine from the front, they don’t look so great from the back. I would have rather they left these out, as that extra little tweak in articulation isn’t worth the trade-off in sculpt, at least not to me. The tail is bendy, but it doesn’t have a wire to hold it in different positions. It also falls out constantly, making it an annoyance when I’m playing around with him.

TFH have turned in some truly spectacular head sculpts for the monsters in this line, and Malephar is no different. His blue skin is gnarled and bumpy like a reptile, with down-swept ears and horns that curve down and away from his face at the tips. And boy, the iridescent purple paint used on the horns is magnificent! The nasty little portrait is rounded out with a wide mouth full of sharp, yellowed teeth. This head sculpt is just packed with portrait, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it turn up later on with red skin.

Malephar comes with shoulder armor, but you have to sacrifice his wings to attach them, so popping the shoulders on and plucking out the tail offers a second display option. The shoulders look great, but I don’t know that it’s worth nixing one of his more distinctive characteristics to put them on. Where do the wings go when he wears his shoulder armor? Magic? Sure, why not? Probably best not to think too hard about it.

And finally, Malephar comes with a helmeted head, and here’s where I think the figure works best with the shoulders and not the wings. Honestly, I wouldn’t even consider this to be the same character because there’s no way that big honkin’ demon head could fit into this helmet, so I’d say this guy is more of a demon foot soldier. Either way, the helmet is very cool and matches the armor quite well. Let’s move on to weapons!

For starters, Malephar comes with two weapons that he can wear on his standard-issue black belt. The first is a cool little short sword. This thing has a chunky, stout blade and not much of a crossguard. The blade has something like a clipped point and is painted in silver, while the grip is a deep coppery color.

Next up is his axe, which I think I’ve seen before in one of my previously reviewed figures. The handle is sculpted with a wood finish, but everything except the blade is painted in the same deep copper as the sword grips. The blade itself is painted in silver. It’s a beautiful weapon, and I think it compliments the sword nicely.

Finally, every demon needs his pitchfork, and Malephar does indeed come with a rather large one! Again, it feels like I’ve seen this one before, possibly with one of the Gladiator figures, but I think it suits this little guy quite well. Yeah, it’s really way too big for him, but maybe it’s more suited to wield when he’s flying about.

Every figure in Mythic Legions has been a treat, and Malephar certainly doesn’t buck that trend. My only gripe here is how easily the tail falls out. If I had bought more than one of these little guys, I would probably glue it into place on one of them, but for now I’ll likely just deal with it. The fully armored look is cool, and I’d love to see it return as a Legion Builder somewhere down the road, because I can’t see myself displaying Malephar any other way but with his wings and tail and exposed head.

Mar 26 2021

Mythic Legions (All-Stars 3): Lord Draguul by The Four Horsemen

Well, looky here, Toyhounds! It’s a three-review week! I dug deep to carve out enough time to make this happen, and I gotta say that it feels good. Probably won’t last, but let me savor the moment! OK, enough savoring… The Four Horsemen have sent out final address confirmation emails, and that means that a ton more Mythic Legions figures will be on their way soon, including some big horsies! And so I gotta shift into high gear and start opening some more of these beauties until the plastic flood hits. A little while ago I checked out Dorina Onoris from the third round of All-Stars figures. She was designed as an homage to She-Ra and you can’t have She-Ra without Hordak, right? Well, the same assortment of figures also gave us that very homage in the form of Lord Draguul.

Billed as an ancient hero from the Vampyric Wars and rival to Lucretia’s power, Draguul isn’t actually linked to Dorina in his bio, but he still sounds like quite the badass! When I first set eyes on him, I immediately connected him with Baron Volligar from the Covenant of Shadows assortment because of some familiar parts. And while there is certainly a lot that’s borrowed from that figure, there’s a nice mix of other bits and bobs to make this guy his quite distinctive. Give me a minute to get him opened and armored up and we’ll take a look!

Draguul’s armor makes for quite an intimidating visage. From Volligar, he borrows his shoulders, neck armor, waist and hip armor, as well as the gauntlets, grieves and boots, with the rest of the arms and legs left bare to expose his blue skin. But as we’ll soon see, that’s not really his skin, but more like some kind of body suit. T4H also made the bold choice to borrow the cuirass and helmet from heroic Sir Owain and mix it with Volligar’s dragon crest. Finally, the ensemble is completed with a barbaric loin Orc loincloth. It’s an interesting mix, and I think it comes together quite well! I also love how many sharp and jagged points the armor has. When I was swapping out the heads, this figure was poking at my hands left and right. Ouch!

Here, much of armor pieces borrowed from Volligar are left in black and gray, but you do get the addition of red trim in the channels of the cuirass, as well as some more on the grieves. And because T4H can’t help but go the extra mile, the tiny rivets on his hip armor are each painted silver, as are the fixtures on his loin cloth. The colors certainly all conspire to evoke the color palate of Hordak. Indeed, I think it’s the coloring that does it more then anything else with this figure. And even if I had no interest in the homage, I’d still have to admit that the mix of colors here is just gorgeous. Draguul also comes with a rather unique cape, which not only attaches via the shoulders, but also fit around his wrists. It’s shorter than most and creates something of a batwing motif. I dig it a lot!

Owain’s helmet is a rather traditional knightly design, which looks surprisingly great in these sinister colors. The same black and gray from the rest of the armor is mirrored here with similar red trim striping up the center of the helmet and meeting the crest. The visor is sculpted in the down position, but T4H did supply us with an unmasked head to swap out.

I’ve gushed and gushed about how much I love the Mythic Legions Vampyre design and here I’m going to do it all over again. The squished nose and long ears are clearly based off those of a bat. The sunken beady eyes are blood red, as are the two exposed fangs. And all of it is given a delightfully creepy light grey skin tone. This head is pure poetry in plastic!

Draguul comes with a couple of weapons and a shield. The first weapon is his hand ax, which is a mighty handsome bit of kit. The blade is sculpted to look like wood with an spiked end piece at the bottom of the handle, and a rather shapely single-bladed head at the top. The bits that are supposed to be metal are painted black and you get some silver painted rivets on the ax head and blade socket. It also comes with a tiny blue skull, which can be fitted on the top for decoration. It’s a cool bonus that points to Filmation Hordak, but I’m not sure if I will actually display him with it or not.

The shield is absolutely gorgeous, both in sculpt and paint. I believe this one comes from the Elf Weapons Pack and has been repainted in black, grey, and red to match Draguul’s armor. I didn’t pick up that Weapons Pack, and I do believe this is the first time having this shield in hand. I love it, and hope to see it bundled with some figures in the future.

And finally, Draguul comes with a crossbow, which makes sense, since pretty much all the Horde members had crossbows. We’ve seen this piece a few times already. It has a real string, the stock is painted brown, and the fixtures are painted silver. I would have preferred a black and grey deco to match his armor, especially since the Horde crossbows were very personalized, but it’s still a nice looking piece all the same.

As with Dorina, I think Draguul turned out fantastic and he certainly stands firm on his own merit for people who aren’t interested in his intended homage. Add to the fact that he’s a Vampyre War Hero and he quickly goes to the head of the list of favorites. I’d be hard pressed to decide whether the Vampyres or the Goblins are my favorite recent additions to Mythoss, but either way I think these guys are awesome. And with Draguul here waiting in the backdrop to challenge Lucretia’s power, I feel like I need a few more Vampyre Legion Builders for the coming Civil War!


Mar 5 2021

Mythic Legions (All-Stars 3): Dorina Onoris by The Four Horsemen

There’s been a lot of activity on the Mythic Legions front lately. I’ve still got two pre-orders in the pipe, All-Stars 4 just got announced, and All-Stars 3 arrived at my door a couple of weeks ago. And since I haven’t visited with this line since all the way back in May of last year, I’m at risk at being even more backlogged then I already am. I may have been a faithful fan when it comes to shelling out money, but not so much when it comes to giving this amazing line the attention that it deserves here. So, let’s get this juggernaut started up again with a review of one of those All-Stars 3 figures. The All-Stars Waves have been mostly populated by reissues based on fan polls, but they’ve also been peppered with some new figures, which are loving homages to Masters of the Universe. I haven’t been picking up too many of these, but I did grab the two that were in this assortment, which included the subject of today’s review: Dorina Onoris, an obvious nod to The Princess of Power herself, She-Ra!

I don’t always bother with packaged shots of Mythic Legions anymore, mainly because TFH have been using the same basic packaging ever since the beginning, with just minor changes to the backs of the cards. Also, I don’t keep these packages, because they’re mainly just generic and serviceable and not terribly flashy. So, sometimes I’ve already deep-sixed them before I get around to the review. One nice thing about the packaging is that you get a little bit of bio text on the insert, and Dorina’s bio hammers home the She-Ra homage by naming her as a legendary freedom fighter who led a rebellion against Lord Draguul, who serves as Mythoss’ version of Hordak. And yes, I’ll be looking at him next. Dorina came packaged with a helmeted head, but let’s start out with the one I’m most excited about.

I must say, TFH did a fine job on this one. While the visual cues are all certainly there, I think Dorina works just fine as an original character as well. Yes, Dorina is cobbled together from from pre-existing parts, but since I have yet to review all the figures that came before her, this is one of those instances where many of these parts are new to me. Indeed, I believe the armor comes from the fan poll figure, Ravaena, which is a figure I haven’t even opened yet. Everything has been given a fresh coat of paint, including the upper arms and upper legs, which have been repainted to look like bare skin. The main body armor consists of a form-fitting one-piece with scalloped breast plates, and hip plates. There’s a scale leather piece that protrudes down the front between her legs, and precious little to guard her mythic tuchus. The armor is mostly white, with some matte gold accents, and blue stones at the front of her belt. For an armor design that was not originally sculpted for this homage, the paint deco really makes it work, and I even if you aren’t in it for the She-Ra reference, I think the colors look fantastic.

Additional armor includes forearm bracers, full plate for her knees down to her feet, and segmented shoulder pieces, which are as always optional. All of these pieces use a satin gold finish, which is quite different from anything I’ve seen in the line before. It doesn’t have the same pop as the traditional gold leaf paint used in the past, but it looks quite nice, and perhaps was chosen to give the figure more of a flat, animated look. As usual, the tiniest details in the sculpt are painted, from the silver on miniscule rivets and buckles, to the brown on the sculpted belts that are meant to be securing her armor.

If you’re going for the armored shoulder look, than you can also make use of the red cloth cape that is included, which requires the shoulders to secure it in place. These are common display options to have with many Mythic Legions figures, although I’m a bit torn here on what I prefer. On the one hand, the bare shoulder look captures the Filmation look of She-Ra really well, even without the cape. On the other hand, I think the figure looks better with the cape and shoulders, and that’s probably the way I’ll display her the most.

As I mentioned earlier, you do get two heads with this figure, although only one of them is targeted at the She-Ra homage. Again, we’re seeing recycled parts, but this is the first appearance of this head in one of my reviews, so it’s new to me. The helmet is part of the head sculpt with the face guard permanently sculpted in the upward position and adorned with some beautiful scrollwork. The wings on the helmet are detachable, but removing them leaves two big empty sockets, so they really need to be swapped out with another pair of parts if you want to take them off. But why would you want to? They look great, even if they do clash with the shoulders sometimes when posing the head. The back of the head sculpt shows Dorina’s blonde hair flowing down her back, including three braids with golden ties. The face sculpt is excellent, and while she does have kind of a blank expression, maybe bordering on perturbed, the paint is applied sharply, and I dig the spray of purple eye makeup.

The other head is a standard helmeted female Elf, painted in mostly the same matte gold, but with some gold leaf added as well, and some long Elf ears are exposed on the sides. I really dig this helmet design and it looks OK on this figure, but it’s hard to imagine that it’s the same person under there with the cascade of hair being gone. I’ll likely repurpose this head elsewhere, as it will not be getting much display time using this body.

Unlike some Mythic Legions figures, you don’t get a whole hell of a lot of extras here, but Dorina does come with a standard issue sword belt as well as a sword and shield. The sword appears to be a repurposed Elf short sword. I’ve reviewed a few of the Elves from Advent of Decay, but I haven’t come across this elegant piece of cutlery yet. It’s an absolutely beautiful sculpt with a silver blade and hilt and a blue stone set in the crossguard to match the ones on Dorina’s belt and arm bracers. It’s also a pretty good stand in for She-Ra’s Power Sword. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing more of this sword as I open more figures, because it’s really damn cool.

Alas, they went with the simple disk shield, while I would have much preferred the more ornate Elf Shield. This one has been painted silver and gold to sort of match her armor, but not really. It’s not a bad shield, but it just feels out of place with this figure.

Ah, but shield notwithstanding, I absolutely love this figure and I’m glad I popped for her, despite not really collecting a lot of the Masters of the Universe homages. This one just works for me, and I think she’ll look great fighting alongside Gwendolyn Heavensbrand or perhaps defending the Honor of Silverhorn. She’s also a bit of a treat since I’m behind on opening the figures that she borrows most of her parts from, making her almost completely new to me. And since I’m going to make a concerted effort to catch up on Mythic Legions, I’ll try to revisit the line again next week with a look at Dorina’s arch nemesis, Lord Draguul.