This spring’s New Jersey Collectors’ Con has come and gone, and there were a ton of great reveals from the folks at Boss Fight Studio. While we’ve already seen some sporadic images from the show floor itself, over on ToyArk they’ve posted some insane galleries featuring all of the new figures that were shown. I’ve mirrored a small selection of their images below, but you can hit up ToyArk directly to see over 100 images of these great looking items!
This includes figures tentatively scheduled for Series 02, Waves 04 and 05:
Naga Serpent
Barbarian
Gargoyle
Dragon Harvester
Half Orc Mage
Psionic Warrior
Along with this, several great images of Bucky O’Hare figures were shown as well, including the previously unknown Stealth Deadeye Duck and Aniverse Bucky O’Hare releases!
Some more details were shown about the upcoming Mighty Steed Kickstarter, scheduled to hit this month, including the apparent inclusion of Aspen’s Elk!
Finally, we got a nice look at the Hellhounds, an upcoming product release from Dream Concept Studios, the folks who brought us the Zombie Lab Kickstarter not so long ago.
Man, I’m really digging the looks of those Hellhounds!
Lots of cool stuff revealed at the show, and if this is what the independent toy scene is looking like these days, I’m cool with G.I. Joe being off retail shelves for a little while. Check out ToyArk.com for even more images than what I’ve shared above.
Happy Monday and I’m adding to the review queue today with a three pack of reviews for the Vitruvian Basics line from Boss Fight Studio! Designed as a less expensive alternative to facilitate army building and customizing, these Basics figures also manage to add some fantastic depth to the mythology and integrate real nicely with the Character Creator Kits as well.
Check out these three reviews at the Vitruvian Basics Review Page or click the links directly below. Also don’t forget that the VitruvianFACTS Wiki Page is out there, too for some more great detail on this fantastic toy line!
For the first time ever, Boss Fight Studio is mixing series within a single assortment, giving us fantasy figures and Greek mythology figures both in wave 1 of the Basics line. I’m really glad they did.
Alongside the Castle Guard and Nocturnal Hunter, they released the Archer of Molpadia, an Amazonian archer to further compliment your already impressive Amazon armies. To be honest, my love for the Amazon figures in the HACKS Series 01 line was completely unexpected, but that whole range of characters and figures are among my favorites in the entire line. From the unique armor to the leather combat skirts, the various weapons, and the character sculpted into each one, I really enjoy the Amazon figures and I’m truly excited to see an addition to their ranks.
With the Archer of Molpadia, they’ve added some long range weaponry capacity to an already excellent group of warriors and made a really terrific figure to go along with it. This archer uses the same female build as other figures, but with the head of the Tartarus Guard painted in Caucasian flesh tone with nicely hued blonde hair. Instead of the standard Amazon armor, she wears Medusa’s torso, shoulder, and arm bracers, which is an awesome, unique look.
To trim down on costs, she doesn’t have a ton of accessories, but the ones she has make perfect sense and work exceptionally well for the character. Her paint scheme is also minimal, with simple gold on the armor and weapons, and a red/brown leather for the skirt, which compliment each other to perfection.
All told, the Archer of Molpadia is a fantastic addition, even moreso when you consider the Basics format pricing and packaging.
Accessories
As mentioned the Archer of Molpadia comes with Medusa’s armor, an Amazon skirt, leg armor, a bow and four arrows. The bow that originally came with the Elven Archer works exceptionally well here, and the way the four arrows slide seamlessly into the hook on the back of the skirt is a stroke of genius.
A great, great figure, even if it wasn’t priced 20% less than the standard release options. I love the Archer of Molpadia and really look forward to more great Vitruvian Basics figures along the way.
Archer of Molpadia
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4
Summary
Even at the Basics price point, the Archer of Molpadia is near perfection. Fantastic sculpting and articulation using the default female buck with a truly original and intriguing accessory compliment to help her stand out from her sisters. Great, great figure.
Quickly becoming one of my favorite 4″ action figures ever, Boss Fight Studios Knight of Accord has a lot to love in a small scale. While the beauty of the figure includes all of the separate accessories it comes with, the base figure itself also has a lot to love with the terrific armored torso and cloth covered limbs.
When Boss Fight announced they’d be dipping their toes into lower priced Vitruvian BASICS figures with the idea of creating figures that are a bit more appealing from a price perspective, I wasn’t sure I’d be into them. I mean, the paint deco and accessory compliments are part of what makes their figures great. I should have known, they’re still able to make a figure that is impressive on several levels, even at a price point 20% cheaper than standard.
The Accord Castle Guard uses the same torso, head, legs, hands, and lower arms as the standard Knight, but with new unarmored upper arms. He also comes with less accessories, only including a cloth and armored belts, gauntlets, sword, spear and helmet. Honestly, though even with a somewhat smaller selection of weapons, the figure is amazingly enjoyable and fits in almost seamlessly to the existing Accord roster. Forgoing many of the elaborate paint applications, the Castle Guard simply is silver and black with some blue for the cloth. It’s a gorgeous, clean look and even without all the trimming and trappings, he remains a fantastic figure. Boss Fight used the Orc lower torso as well, which provides a somewhat lower tech look, making the Castle Guard really resemble a Knight that’s not so heavily “geared” up as the others.
It truly is a great effect, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on a whole lot, even though we’re paying 20% less for the figure overall. For some folks they may consider the additional gear worth the 20%, but even looking beyond the Castle Guard being a replacement of the knight, it just makes for a fantastic enhancement to it, and I find myself really enjoying the figure, not because it’s cheaper, but just because it’s a great figure.
These Basics come with simpler blister cards instead of the typical collector friendly packaging, but are also able to include a nice bio on the back regardless. All in all, I truly enjoy these Castle Guard figures, with vibrant color schemes, and interesting accessories to perfectly compliment the existing crew of Knights of the Accord.
Accessories
I really love what Boss Fight did here, giving the Castle Guard just enough accessories to fit in with the knights, without going overboard (and incurring rising costs). Including the helmet, sword, and spear from Series 01 was a stroke of genius as well, accenting the already impressive arsenal of Series 02 weapons without new tooling or sculpting. Very nice.
The Castle Guard is a lot of fun, even for a so called “budget” friendly figure. I can see him not only being perfect for troop building and customizing, but also just as natural enhancements to the standard knights. Regardless of the price point, the figure is really great.
Castle Guard
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.8
Summary
What a great compliment to the existing Knights of Accord! This relatively simple, but excellently crafted Castle Guard checks off all the right boxes and manages to come in 20% less cost-wise than the other HACKS figures, making for a great way to customize, troop build, or just bolster your existing Accord forces. Vibrant colors, great gear, and an all around fun figure.
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
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.8
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.
