The final figure I picked up on my birthday. (It really takes me awhile to get to these blog entries. Sorry if you are a regular reader, Hub City Geeks.)
I didn’t know this character’s name was Balthor the Tower Ogre. I used Google Image Search.
He was loose on the counter at the Toy Federation, pretty much exactly like this. It didn’t take me long to realize this was something really special, even if it was used. Why would someone offload this? He is HUGE!
My first thought was that he would be a great enemy for Vikor, and the Conan the Barbarian Ultimates that I should have in hand before June. (That’s a long wait. And why I am no longer going to pre-order from Super7. I’ll buy stuff in-stock if I shop from their online store).
But these two look way too much like brothers! Or father and son. So…probably going to be on the same team. You can see how big he is.
He is a nine-inch scale figure. In fact, “Ogre Scale” according to the Four Horsemen.
It seems my figure is almost complete…almost. He came with this extra section of pole for the axe.
He has two holes on his back for accessories…(likely wings…I don’t have a picture, but I removed the wings from The Redeemer (from Spawn), and plugged those into his back. This looks great, somehow like a Led Zeppelin album cover).
For this review picture, I just stabbed that small pole in there…it fit just fine for a murder scene. The reason why I know there is a missing piece is because there is nowhere for this section to fit to. You can use it to make a shorter axe, and that’s about it.
Besides his tremendous scale and wonderful sculpt, he is also as modular as the other two Mythic Legions that I have.
I promise that every piece of him can come apart just as well as the skeletons.
And the horns on the side of his helmet…I don’t know if you picked up on it, but they are removable and adjustable also. Without the horns, he looks a bit like Batman. If the whole helmet was removable, that would be cool. You can tell where the face is glued in.
I really appreciate that he has plastic armor with some fur details. There is fur padding under the harness straps, and also a furry loin cloth beneath his belt armor. I love how there are horns sculpted onto his boots, and those boots have sharp fin-like pieces on them. I know his title is “Tower Ogre,” but I would like to think of him as a large human. Like Goliath or someone. Ogre as a nickname. But these boots might suggest otherwise. I don’t know much about Mythic Legions lore.
So there is someone bigger in my collection…
Well how do I rate this figure? According to the internet, Balthor is around ten years old. He isn’t brittle in any way, and stands perfectly. I am missing the piece of pole, but can that be a reason to downgrade the product? Now when I bought it loose. The paint looks terrific…the sculpt is the Four Horsemen at their best. He is posable, has cool armor. He is exactly the kind of barbarian figure I am into! So 5/5. Fight me over this rating, Hub City Geeks!
What is on December 21? The darkest day of the year? The Winter Solstice?
Nope. The SpartanNerd’s birthday!
So I went to the Toy Federation in Greer. I intended to pick up a Mythic Legion or two. Instead, I picked up two MASTERVERSE figures, and one Mythic Legion. So here is my review of Tri-Klops.
This figure is of the Revelations design for the figure. I got him for $20, specifically because I had a lonely Trap Jaw at the house that seemed to need a Tri-Klops.
Tri-Klops came in the package you would expect. It is blue and boring around the window. There is artwork of the character on the side, and some information and art on the back.
I think it worthy to mention that they have the figure in the vintage style armor…with the priest of the techno cult clothes and armor beside him. Mattel knew they couldn’t sell this toy if he was in that robe.
Here he is out of the package…
As you could see in the box clearly, he came with this armor and sword, an alternate “pope hat” head, alternate “praying” hands, armor with a cape, and a robe. The cape and robe are soft goods.
I almost lost my temper, though. It took me awhile to get the visor on both heads to spin. I thought, “surely they didn’t sculpt this without that specific action feature!” It seemed like it, but then, with enough force, I got the visor to move. And I feel better about it now. The eyes should turn more freely than they do. But at least they DO move.
This sword…
It is the only accessory besides the alternate hands and costume. I am underwhelmed. I prefer this extra sword from the MOTUC weapons pack. What do you think, Hub City Geeks?
Tri-Klops’ sword…the thing about this sword was that as a kid, when I rarely lost He-Man’s sword, I gave Tri-Klop’s sword up to him. While traditionally it was green, it was bigger and perhaps cooler designed.
Check out this little comparison…just for fun!
This is a Super-Deformed, a Mega Bloks (Ok, MEGA,) and the MASTERVERSE Tri-Klops.
As just this…the MASTERVERSE figure is in fact just fine. He is is a bounty hunter, after all.
And he fits right in with this lot…(The only characters I am missing are Whiplash and Evil-Lyn.)
But there is this…
Yep. Tri-Klops has been ordained to the ministry! ”Reverend T.E. Scope,” I presume! We hope he turned over a new leaf…
So this was actually Kevin Smith’s doing. Both Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw are devoted to a goddess they call “Motherboard.” There is a figure for sale of Motherboard, but I probably won’t be picking that up. Essentially, it is a giant robotic woman with techno-angel wings. And she is apparently the herald of the Evil Horde. We saw this in the final scene of the Revelations cartoon, and this figure is set up to prominently drive the “Revolutions” sequal season.
Am I a fan of this story? I never figured Tri-Klops to be a religious kind of guy. Kevin Smith has lined it up so that it is team magic vs. team technology. Which is different, I guess.
I guess I wish there was another accessory here. Maybe the chalice from the cartoon?
To me, this is the bonus character. I would trade this dumb head sculpt and costume for 200x drones, or a maybe a Grayskull ring accessory, or something else. A shield. A ray gun.
As a costume, it is OK. The robe covers the whole figure, even if you keep the green armor on underneath. The rubber of the ribbons on the vestment wants to curl. If you pay close attention, you can see that the shapes on the ribbons are the same ones from Tri-Klops’ eyes. Just this Pastor ‘Klops don’t do it for me.
I am rating this figure 3/5. It loses a point because of how tight it is to turn the visor. THE ACTION FEATURE for Tri-Klops. The other point because of the priest costume. Maybe I am looking at it wrong…now I have the robe to put on someone else. For instance the inner robe reminds me of what “Hamburgler” He-Man might wear. Couldn’t they have made the Pope hat into an accessory somehow? Then it could maybe go on anyone’s head!
Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!
Halloween always has been a good day, except for exactly one time out of 43. (SpartanNerd is 44…). That one time is enough to throw a wet blanket on the whole celebration. Without me getting to specific, Hub City Geeks, some years since this personal tragedy, I don’t do anything. One year I bought a new iPad with my mom. One year I paid some taxes and bought some donuts. This year I got my alignment tuned and then drove to the Toy Federation in Greer, South Carolina.
I am feeling a little burned on the Super7 Conan the Barbarian situation. I have five figures on order, and none of them set to ship until the Summer of 2024. Yep. King Conan and the throne were ordered on Christmas 2022, and won’t arrive until June 2024. This is irksome. And the Battle of the Mounds collection which I ordered earlier this year is set to ship at the same time. But I have a barbarian itch that needs to be scratched. So on October 30 I looked into it, and there are new Mythic Legions out there.
If you didn’t know, Mythic Legions is the Four Horsemen toy sculpture studios own line. I’ve never bought any because they are all a little bit generic to me, besides also they are quite pricey, and finally hard to find. For instance, I really want the Bird warriors that they came out with. They rarely appear on the secondary market, and when they do, you are looking at $200. Used. Opened. Played with. Etc. But they are so awesome!
What I found was on the Toy Federation Facebook page that they got in a ton of new Mythic Legion product. New at retail will definitely be an option on sad Halloween. So off I went.
Here is $40 worth of skeleton warrior. A simple package…or is it? What attracted me here was that big axe! And so shiny. Since I was in the market for barbarians, I could envision Conan taking out this guy, or him sneaking up behind him with that axe held up.
Examining the package, you can see a polybag on the inside. Mystery accessories? The box seems to be a card with DND style graphics. The bottom says Mythic Legions. (Just so you know, there are some sub-lines. Seventh Kingdom (animals), Gothitropolis, Cosmic Legions, and Figura Obscura (real-life)) But Mythic Legions is their main property.
Here is the back. This image looks like something from Elden RIng. (I am about to finish my first play through!). And one more thing, see how the plastic window wraps around. YES THIS IS COLLECTOR FRIENDLY PACKAGING!
You just flip out the bottom plastic tabs, and the cardboard back slides right out!
We got this message..
A good warning. I hate breaking my figures.
So what do we get in the polybag? shoulder pauldrons, a strap with a holder loop for the sword. The sword. The dagger, and another hunk of axe. What?
This axe is very modular! Outstanding! It turns out, that the figure is ALSO. I had no idea. Every part of the figure can be swapped with other parts from other figures in the Mythic Legions line. WOW! As for the axe, you can go with executioner style, barbarian style, or just style…the spike at the bottom is even swappable.
Here he is, completely decked out. He stands just fine. I had no problem getting him out of the blister. I decided to toss the blister…the collector friendly box will do just fine without it. The weapon fits nicely in his hands.
This is a big sword.
Time to get Vikor.
Vikor is my favorite subject to photograph. And this is great…the image to shine a little light on my Halloween.
So how does the Mythic Legion stuff work with other property.
First off, the head swap.
Vikor is a Masters of the Universe Classics figure, and his head joint is a little smaller than Mythic Legion skeleton army builder. It just sits loosely. But it does look very cool.
Masterverse Movie He-Man didn’t come with a battle axe. This axe fills that purpose terrifically. It didn’t stretch the hands either.
How hard is it to separate the pieces of the Mythic Legion Skeleton? Well, I had to apply some force. The neck joint is a separate piece, which was why I was first surprised at how each figure is meant to be completely swappable with other. Getting the torso off takes a good bit of pressure. I haven’t felt that I was about to break a piece. And after playing with it for awhile, the joints have become pleasant rather than stiff.
I also got some other figures…Raven Spawn and Anti-Spawn (Redeemer).
As I began to leave Toy Federation, I just glanced around for something else. And in the glass case they had several tall off-card figures, and one caught my eye.
The Anti-Spawn, also known a Redeemer is the subject of Spawn issue 16. I just read this a few days earlier, and that’s why I was drawn to it. $10. BOOM.
(Let’s be clear…Redeemer is the title, like Hellspawn is the title. Anti-Spawn is the name of this Redeemer. Spawn is the name of Al Simmons, the Hellspawn. Not confusing at all!)
I mean this is a used figure. The left wing is a little bit loose. He came with a stand, but he doesn’t really need it. (It is a just a round disc with the word Spawn on it and a foot peg.)
The man behind the counter incorrectly labeled Raven Spawn as Curse. Curse is a cyborg cult leader. Raven Spawn is someone forgettable from the comics. But…I didn’t even know it was a Spawn figure. I just thought it looked awesome! (Also $10!)
All the chains and the scythe. And the spikes. He doesn’t scream “bird” at all. The only color here, green necrogenic eyes.
These two figures are articulated like Marvel Legends figures.
Yep…He ripped the wing off…
These are both highly posable and well detailed. But taller than the other figures I have. The Marvel Legends I have…comic book Thor is terrible. Thanos is great. Deadpool (I can’t find him) is one of the top figures I have ever had. These are just like Deadpool, with less accessories.
Even after that paragraph…look how creepy Raven Spawn is in the shadow. Anti-Spawn looks exactly like he was ripped out of Spawn #16.
I believe These two were sold at Target or GameStop originally. I saw some Spawn figures there before, but felt they were too pricey or I wanted something different.
So what does the SpartanNerd rate all of this?
Mythic Legions Skeleton Army builder. 5/5. I mean the packaging graphically is a little weak, but it more than makes up for that shortfall with the collector friendly features. The figure is great, and I can totally be hooked on Mythic Legions. I am planning on what I will get next from that line!
The two extras I picked up. Anti-Spawn gets 4/5 on account of the weak wing. Raven Spawn is perfect. 5/5.
Do you have these figures, Hub City Geeks? What would you rate this Mythic Legion? Let me know in the comments!
spartannerd 