Figure Available at BossFightShop.com!
When the Vitruvian BASICS were first revealed, I immediately fell in love with the Castle Guard and the Archer of Molpadia, but the Nocturnal Hunter didn’t really knock my socks off. I was a huge fan of the Orcs being these huge behemoths in spiked shoulder pads and massive armor, so seeing one in his skivvies (more or less) felt a little off.
Now that I’ve got him in hand?
Yeah, I didn’t know what I was talking about. This figure is much more fun than I gave it credit for.
The idea that the Nocturnal Hunter is somewhat more savage, uncivilized Orc that stalks its pray at night is a great concept and suits the figure well, for being relatively unprotected. At the same time, Boss Fight gives us enough of a template to build from if you so desire, with the armored torso, the fur belt and the Orc sword. That’s the balance of the Basics figures right there – they want to give us figures that add to the mythology, while also giving us figures to act as foundations for customs. The Nocturnal Hunter achieves both of these goals swimmingly.
The beauty of it is, with the new Character Creator Kits as well, it becomes even easier to take a figure like this and enhance it, adding shoulder pads, armor, and other things, taking one of these Nocturnal Hunters and making it an awesome, fully equipped Orc warrior. Or you can be like me, and fall in love with the concept so much that you just end up with a few nekkid Orc’s to add to your already large horde.
One thing that really separates this figure, too, is the paint scheme. The different variations of green skin color inject some additional personality into any Orc horde, and I love what looks to be the manually applied “warpaint”. The different colors applied throughout the skin go a long way towards isolating this figure as something apart from the other Orcs with a great sense of savagery and style.
Accessories
Like the other Basics, the Nocturnal Hunter is somewhat bare bones as designed. He’s got the Orc fur belt, the Orc sword and the tooth necklace that is destined to be released with the Naga in the future (at least by all appearances). Just enough accessories to keep him valuable, but not enough to drive the price up. A great balance, all told.
This figure is a lot more fun than I initially thought, and it makes for a great addition to the Basics line. I find myself really looking forward to seeing what they do next.
Nocturnal Hunter
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Accessories
Summary
A surprisingly fun and effective addition to the Orc army, the Nocturnal Hunter offers great customizability options as well as a flat out cool new character for the non-customizers. I’d argue it’s the perfect balance – cheaper cost, great figure, excellent base for customs. It accomplishes pretty much everything.
Figure available at BossFightShop.com!