Imagine my surprise last week when I opened a box from BossFightShop.com (I swear I’m getting one of these a week) and contained within were early samples from the upcoming Series 02 Wave 03 Fantasy figures!
After doing a few rounds of cartwheels around the house, I added them to the VitruvianFACTS Database, and then set to taking pictures for review, which I have to say was a pure and utter joy. As usual, these figures are fantastic and reviewing them is some of the best quality time I spent with my toy collection these days. The fact that folks I consider close friends are capable of this level of craftsmanship and design is something I still struggle to get my head around, and I’m someone with a creative streak myself.
These figures are still on pre-order, and initial orders should be arriving shortly, so if you want to make sure you get yours, hop over to BossFightShop.com and throw down a pre-order. Then while you wait, read my reviews at my Vitruvian HACKS review page, or click the direct links below.
Initially developed as a New Jersey Collectors’ Con exclusive the concept of the “Blasted Land Orc” quickly found it’s foothold within the mythology of the Vitruvian HACKS universe, becoming a critical piece of its history. It made sense once we saw that a female Orc Conqueror was being released that a Blasted Land version wouldn’t be too far behind.
Boss Fight utilized the same formula for this rendition of their female Orc as the standard Orc Conqueror, using great newly tooled female waist and legs, and incorporating a nice amount of Medusa armor from their Greek Mythology series. The Blasted Land Orc also comes with two separate heads, an uncovered head, and a head shielded with a bone helmet (awesome!).
As with every single one of their female figures, the articulation and stability of the female Orcs is astounding. I’m consistently surprised that they can sculpt and produce a figure as slim as this, with removable parts that all work, and retains an amazing amount of articulation. These are some of their greatest figures. I do have to mention that this figure does carry forward the issue of the smaller feet fitting on the foot pegs as well as the males, though. I’m not sure if there are any fixes for that in the works going forward, but most of my female figures have issues staying on the stands, which can be a bit frustrating as the display grows and I find myself picking them up off the shelf more often than their male counterparts.
As with the Orc Conqueror, the sculpting of this figure is terrific, and I really love the bone covering on the face, it adds an amazing level of detail. The paint applications all around are spectacular. This female version of the Blasted Land Orc is a slightly different shade of brown/red as the standard Orc is a different shade of green, and that change does make sense.
If I had any questions or complaints about the color pallets, I wish they had stayed a bit more consistent with their male counterparts. The male Orc Conqueror has a silver brushed metal look to his armor, while the Blasted Land Orc has a gold or bronze brushed metal look. The female versions, first of all, are not brushed metal, but are a very shiny, regal looking metal (which I figure is a representation of their higher stature in the Orc hierarchy) but the armor colors are swapped. The standard Orc Conqueror has a gold/bronze color pallet and the Blasted Land Orc has the silver/metal look. I’m not sure if there was a particular reason why those color schemes were shifted compared to the Males, but I think I’d like it better if they remained consistent. Of course the beautiful thing about the HACKS figures, is you can easily swap them around yourself!
Along these same lines, I still find the belt to be a little over ceremonial compared to the male Orc, though again, I suspect this is due to the rank and place of the female in the caste system.
Overall, the figure is fantastic. I had a bit of a tough time getting too excited considering its a relatively straight repaint of a figure we got in Wave 2, but even a repaint from Boss Fight brings me more joy than many other brand new figures from other brands.
Accessories
The Blasted Land Orc comes with most of the same accessories as the Orc Conqueror, only she also comes with the obsidian colored sword, which I love. I’m so glad they included that along with making the knife the darker black color as well. I find that color scheme really, really appealing and I’m psyched they retained that from the male.
She’s got a full compliment of the Medusa armor from the shoulder to the chest to both sides of arm bracers, with the belt and thigh armor from the previous female Orc. She’s got the trusty wooden shield, club, knife, and the aforementioned sword. All in all, a very robust and aggressive arsenal of weaponry!
The female Blasted Land Orc is truly a great figure, though one I’m not over the moon about simply because of the recent release of the green version. However, as usual, Paddy strings together an intriguing story, and considering how major a player the Blasted Lands are turning out to be, any time we get a figure that dovetails with that story line is a good time.
Blasted Land Orc
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.8
Summary
Every single figure that Boss Fight Studio produces has a level of excellence that’s difficult to find fault with, but ultimately the score depends on how exciting a figure or character is. The Female Blasted Land Orc is a gorgeous figure with a really rich skin tone, terrific accessories, and as excellent a level of articulation as one would expect. She’s not my favorite figure in this assortment because I think I feel like she brings the least “new” elements to the table, but she is built of really terrific design aesthetics and has a fascinating backstory. She’s a great figure, however compared to the rest of Wave 3, probably falls near the bottom of the list.
As the fantasy universe continues to evolve we’re getting more and more great figures adding to a roster of existing races and whenever we get elves, it’s something to celebrate. I’ve never been a real huge fantasy guy, but obviously through exposure in popular culture, I’m familiar with Elves, and the race of these woodland creatures has always fascinated me. The way Boss Fight has handled them so far has been very intriguing with the Autumn Elves, Spring Elves and the Withered Branch, and even without a whole lot of new tooling I find it really exciting when new versions of these figures make it out in an assortment.
Aspen is the third “repaint” of this standard elf figure, following up from Aiyana and Cerisier, and she’s another terrific addition to the growing group of these creatures. She’s got a great, very characteristic head sculpt with an awesome “high elf” alternate head sculpt that looks to be Cerisier only with a new hairpiece. This methodology of using separate heads and hairpieces to create new identities for these characters is a really great one and allows for some nice army building without too much repetition.
Where Aiyana (the Autumn elf) was very much fall based, using variations of brown for the leaf and grass on the outfit, Aspen is from the Spring branch, using a lot of green throughout. The differing shades of green on the various sets of leaves is applied to excellence and the colors look very rich and authentic. It actually looks like she’s wearing layered grass, which is no easy thing to achieve, especially at this scale.
With every female figure, you get nearly flawless articulation and Aspen is no different, achieving some great poses, even with the grass skirt on. Like Aiyana, she manages a wide array of really great archery poses using the bow and any number of arrows included with the figure.
Yes, for the most part, Aspen is a repaint of two previous figures, but with the drastic new color pallet and the great head sculpt, you have an exciting addition to the Elf cadre.
Accessories
Aspen comes with the same exact accessories as Aiyana, only in some different color schemes. The bow and arrows are fantastic, with knocking arrows that are small enough for the fingers to grasp, yet feel durable enough to mess with. The quiver holds most of the arrows, and the bow can slip into the loop on the back of the grass skirt. She also comes with the two Elven knives that look as if they were sculpted out of stone, and I like the two-tone color pallet used here.
Aspen is another fun Elf figure helping to add to the already impressive roster. Her green colors and alternate head sculpts provide some nice variety and she’s a great new figure for the Vitruvian HACKS universe.
Aspen
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.1
Summary
While the only new aspect of this figure is the color of her accessories and a pair of head sculpts, those changes do remarkable things for the figure. This new “Spring Elf” adds a nice new layer of backstory to the HACKS universe, and the main new head sculpt is character rich and realistic. The alternate sculpt with the long ears looks to be the Cerisier head, but with a different hairpiece, it looks like a whole new character. Love the archery accessories here as I have with each figure released, and it’s great to add more Elves to the HACKS roster. At its core, not a whole lot of new stuff here, but fantastic quality all the same.
For someone who isn’t really attached to the fantasy mythology or to medieval history I never expected to completely fall in love with the Knights of Accord, but the minute I got my hands on one of them, I knew I was in trouble. They are some of the finest action figures in the 4″ scale (or any scale for that matter) that I’ve ever seen, with construction, articulation, and paint applications that are second to none. The avenues for customization are nearly endless, even for guys like me who don’t really customize, and it’s way too easy to spiral into a full blown army building addiction, using subtle tweaks here and there to greatly expand your arsenal of fighters and warriors.
As if having that capacity with the standard Knights wasn’t enough, now we’ve got King Lance Steelblade, who is the leader of the Knights of Accord, and he comes with enough alternate heads, weapons, and armor configuration to tumble down this rabbit hole all over again.
While I love the knights, due to other recent releases, I hadn’t actually sat down and fiddled with one of my Knights of Accord very much recently, which is why it was such an immense and surprising pleasure to get my hands on one of those figures again. Obviously there were the amazing Knights of Asperity from Wave 2, but for some reason, the Accord knights have a different feel to them. King Lance Steelblade utilizes all of the great functionality of the normal knights, but is in a vibrant and gorgeous white, gold and purple color scheme that immediately stands him apart from the other soldiers. If you’d asked me ahead of time, I never would have pictured pure white armor working for one of these figures, however in execution it looks marvelous. He’s a nice bright color that looks regal in nature and stands apart from the normal Knights of Accord, even if he isn’t wearing his cape. That’s where some of the exceptional customizability with this figure comes in.
Not only can you use this to be King Lance Steelblade, but if you want to set up an honor guard or standard bearers, you can do it easily by swapping the cape out for a second included shoulder armor, and the two alternate head sculpts (not to mention helmets) that also come along for the ride.
The King only has a single face plate, but honestly that’s a tiny thing, especially when you consider the included cape and standard that more than make up for it. I also really love the color pallet on the alternate heads, giving us a standard knight head with blonde hair and the second alternate head with different facial hair color. So many different awesome combinations for a base figure that was amazing enough as it was.
Accessories
King Lance Steelblade comes with everything. Like, literally everything. Shoulder pads, cape, two alternate heads, thigh armor, the knight belt and cloth, sheath with sword, the standard knight axe, two alternate helmets and once face plate, shin and forearm armor, shield and the standard complete with the Knights of Accord crest. SO MUCH STUFF. Enough to equip an awesome king and to build out a few honor guard while you’re at it.
Using the framework of the original Knight of Accord but with a fantastic new paint scheme, Boss Fight Studio gives us a great leader for the group and a way to enhance an already impressive array of fantasy operatives. A fantastic figure.
King Lance Steelblade
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.9
Summary
Seriously, what’s not to love here? The nearly flawless base figure of the Knight of Accord, painted up in a spectacular vibrant white and gold color scheme, who comes with nearly every accessory the knight came with PLUS an additional cape and standard. Take that all together, and add the fact that this is a new character who is the leader of the Knights of Accord, and you have a recipe for perfection. Even though I’ve a bunch of knights already, getting King Lance Steelblade in hand was a joy, as if discovering the wonder of this figure for the first time. Excellent joints, accessories that look gorgeous and stay on the figure. I love, love, LOVE this figure and continue to love Series 02. Keep ’em coming, Boss Fight!
I may not know what all of the different classes of characters in Dungeons and Dragons mean, but when I hear about a new guy coming out who is a “Dragon Priest”? Yeah, I think I’m interested! And Lord Vehemous did NOT let me down. This is one of (if not the) best figure I’ve seen in the Vitruvian HACKS line to date, which when you look at all of the others, is really saying something.
Now, as others have mentioned, he does re-use the Spartan Warrior head sculpt, but honestly, with the gray hair and the scar on the left eye, it’s hardly noticeable. It’s a head sculpt with a ton of character and suits this guy perfectly. His upper torso is brand new, a similar style of armor to what the Knights of Accord have, but with a raised collar, and some different patterning in the armored plate. The coolest thing, though, is you can tell this guy has been through the ringer. The armor is dented and dinged and has been abused over the years, either in battles against other humans, or perhaps against battles with the dragons themselves.
He uses the Knight’s arms and lower body, though the lower body is covered with a great new skirt sort of thing that is exceptionally well designed. It’s sculpted and swept in just a way to not hinder much articulation and really adds some great flair and style to the overall figure. Even the parts that are existing are given a fantastic worn paint scheme that make them look completely different from the more solid, brushed metal look of the standard Knights of Accord.
The way the parts are used and the paint applications are, this looks like an old, beat up warrior, which is a fantastic representation of Lord Vehemous, and matches the excellent character bio perfectly.
Rather than the typical shoulder pads we’ve seen on other figures, Vehemous comes with a fur shoulder of sorts (the same one that looks to come with the upcoming Naga) but he comes with two of them, and they fit on his shoulders to give him an arctic appearance, especially when combined with the Orc fur cape. It’s almost like they were all designed together (and perhaps they were). The combination of fur collar and cape are one small element in this perfectly designed figure, and I hope we have more opportunities to get them down the line. Somehow, I foresee myself ending up with a few more Vehemous figures (his biography mentions that he has followers, after all), and the extra skull head that comes with the figure supports the idea that perhaps his followers are more paranormal in nature. Either that, or perhaps, just like the Knights of Asperity, some of Vehemous’ legion end up too close to the Blasted Land and come back… changed?
Regardless, I can see myself getting more of this figure and swapping out some shoulder pads and heads to add some nice variety to a whole group of Dragon Priests or Dragon Knights. Good stuff.
Accessories
Vehemous is loaded with new accessories. Along with the fur collars and skirting, he’s got the familiar Orc hammer handle, but with a chain link and mace, putting together a spectacular ball and chain. He has the Felonious’s Mage staff in white which can also fit the barbarian mace head to make a brutal cudgel of sorts. He has the sword from the Knight of Asperity and the knife from Felonious with a new knife sheath that fits at his hip (or can be swapped out with the closed magic book he comes with as well). His excellent Dragon Knight Helmet has seen release previously with the Evil Skeleton, the Mystery Box and Locker Toys’ Hidden Character, but that makes it no less cool here, and it adds a real sense of menace and evil.
This is a terrific figure, an awesome antagonist, and pretty close to my favorite Vitruvian HACKS figure of all time. There are a LOT of fantastic figures in the HACKS line, to be sure, and one that rises above the rest is one that you should pay close attention to. This guy is it.
Lord Vehemous
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
5
Summary
Lord Vehemous is everything I want in an action figure. Fantastic sculpting from the worn armor on his torso, to the sweep of his coat and the fur lined shoulder pads leading perfectly down to the Orc fur cape. Using a healthy helping of Knight parts, yet painting them in a way to look worn and almost completely different, this figure manages to stand out from a crowd of already spectacular figures. Wonderful accessories, including an actual metal chain to create the mace, a gray-bearded face only a mother could love (no I don’t mind that they reused the Spartan Warrior head, it looks terrific). I love the Dragon Helmet…everything about this figure is about as perfect as it gets. Buy this one. Buy this one and buy a dozen more to use as Dragon minions. You will NOT regret it.
