I was surprised to see this large "ogre-scale" body debut in the launch of Cosmic Legions, and then shortly after this figure was leaked (though, I felt like it there was almost a year between the figures)! The wait was worth it though, both because this figure turned out so well but also because the infamously long waits between pre-orders and delivery of Four Horsemen product; which mean that I've lost all semblance of relative time for the line. So maybe I've had this guy for a couple months or maybe a decade... who really knows? Toy pre-orders... the only thing that makes me almost "get" the scam that was NFTs. A lot of times it feels like we're just paying hundreds of dollars for freely available pictures.
But I, if you can believe it, digress!
The ancient Dragons of Mythoss are legendary creatures that are revered and even worshiped in some circles. Over the centuries there have been countless subraces and offshoots of these ancient beasts, with the Dragosyr being the most renowned. Like their Dragon cousins, these mystical beings have close ties to otherworldly energies which often steer these towering warriors toward magical practices. Like many of his noble brethren before him, the valiant champion Aracagorr has pledged his fiery sword to the Convocation of Bassylia in hopes of eradicating the threat of Poxxus.
This figure takes that scaly ogre body and introduces scaly shoulder-blade plugs (to hide the back ball sockets for Kraggnar's doubled arms), much needed and very stylish new armor, and a great new dragon head! I liked, but didn't love, the blue colorscheme when it was revealed - but the need for a "dragon" outweighed that quibble. Plus, it's a nice aesthetic counter-balance to Kraggnar's orange colors. Any complaints I had, though, completely disappeared when I opened this guy up.
I don't remember the last time I was so impressed by a figure once I had it in hand!
The first thing that really shines is the sculpt -
which, of course, shouldn't surprise one since that's always been the Horsemen's calling card, but the details are stunningly crisp in person! It's almost next-level how realistic and in-world both the scales and the armor look. As if there was zero loss between the original sculpts and the final production! It really shows what some other companies are leaving on the table with their product. But the sculpt is not the most impressive element here... it's the paint!
The paintwork on this figure is, effectively, what I would expect from an above average customizer - not from a mass production factory! Marveling at the work here left me with three overwhelming thoughts:
1: We know this already, but how crucial paint is to the perceived
value and quality of a figure. The layers and different techniques here make a world of difference. It makes me realize it could swallow a price jump on other, more mainstream lines, if it meant those figures could get at least a paint wash to really bring out the sculpt and "lived in"-ness of each figure.
2: In filmmaking they talk about being able to "see every dollar on screen" with some movies. With Aracagorr, I see every dollar and every delay on this figure! The Horsemen squeezed every ounce of quality possible into this final product. I see the care. I see the attention. I SEE THE VALUE.
3: Human beings made this. That is astounding. Yes, there are absolutely a variety of machines and computers involved, but look at this paint work. Machines can dye plastic, tampo and inkjet print, but they can't wash. And I find it hard to believe the nuance of the various sprays weren't done by in-hand airbrushes as well. If this looks like a customizer painted this - that's because a factory worker of that comparable skill level did.
The figure is basecoated in a beautiful somewhere-between-turquoise-and-sky blue. There's then a spray of a lighter blue on the belly and "soft bits." The back, heavier scales get a gradient of dark blues (almost to a purple).
And then a lot of the figure has a great (but hard to photograph) pearlescent overspray that truly kicks the figure to the next level. The head gets horns of different colors, also with some washes. The eyes are a crisp throwback to years before inkjets dot-matrixing their "photo real" prints onto the face shapes. The mouth, though, is really impressive! Fully painted fleshy interior and bone colored teeth, and both get washes in different colors to really add to the realism! I don't feel like I've seen paintwork like this on a this sort of figure since the golden era of the late '90s/early '00s. Photos simply can't capture how stellar this looks in person.
Sculpturally, as mentioned, this figure is absolutely gorgeous as well. The only sort of critique I might make, though, is that there is something a bit proportionally "off" about the upper torso and neck. Perhaps that plays to the alien origins of the design, but it feels just a bit too elongated; at least with the armor off.
While this is an ogre-scale figure it is actually a bit taller than the ogre body (thanks to the longer neck) and is an entirely new sculpt. I was shocked to find that the forearms are fully sculpted with scales (though sadly lacking the darker blue paint along the back)
so that armor simply slides over it. I had expected the forearms to be the armor, like on the other Mythic Legions figures, so this (like Kalizirr) is a very welcome improvement to the line. However, That is still the case for the lower legs, though, as they are armor. That feels like a bummer because (A) "in for a penny, in for a pound" and (B) that would have opened the door for this sculpt to eventually become like a beast-dragon! That does feels a bit inevitable, especially since the back has ports for wings (though these plugs are in so tightly I don't dare try to remove them). Were that to happen, it would also need a new waist/crotch piece since this one is detail-less, and leaves a big gap to accommodate the waist dressing and armor.
I really, really love this new armor.
I had thought about swapping it over to the ogre vampire figure, but alas this new armor is meant more for the dragon shoulders so it doesn't really sit right on the older ogre body/sculpt. Accessory-wise, we get three sets of hands (fists, gripping, open) and an awesome, and much needed, new sword! The sword also comes with a removable translucent flame or magic effect. Very very cool stuff!
Like a lot of my Mythic Legions collection, I pre-ordered this figure 'cause it "scratched an itch" rather than "filled a need." But once I got it in hand it completely rejuvenated my passion for not only Mythic Legions but what the Four Horseman are doing, as well collecting action figures in general. At their best, figures are both toys and art! And Aracagorr is precisely that!
-- 01/11/26
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