Tomb Wraith

What's better than an awesome super-articulated skeleton? That same skeleton, painted black, with the fires of hell in his eyes!!!! So, you're minding your own business, raiding this perfectly nice little ancient tomb, when you suddenly realize that there's an odd sort of mumbly, whispering sound coming from somewhere out there in the dark. What on Zeotopia could that be? Hang on partner, cuz you are about to get up close and personal with a Tomb Wraith, and it ain't gonna be pretty. Cousin to the Grim Skull, with a more solitary nature and bones fossillized to the strength of headstone granite, these ghouls are known to delight in the mild climate and pleasing airs of dungeons and tombs. Like you, they are wildly covetous of magical weapons, armor and scrolls. Only difference: you are probably not willing to stay in this particular dark, sepulchral place forever. Tactical advice: run, don't walk. Once you see those glowing red eyes, it's probably too late. Part of Series 3, the Tomb Wraith is mostly a repaint of my beloved Series 1 Skull Jack, which means that at his core, he's just a plain ~5" stylised skeleton with lots of fun articulation. His bony stylised body features balljointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, legs and ankles, as well as a balljoint at the neck and pelvis. This time his bones are a super spooky black, for reasons given in that official bio up above that are definitely not racist. Well, maybe not "given," since there's no explanation for why they fossilised and turned black, but at least hinted at while peering around from behind your sofa. "He's scary heywhynot, now go play and make up your own bloody tales of adventure you right little clacker! Adventures that don't involve stealing your TV!" The core body truly is a direct repaint of Skull Jack, so the sculpt is the same. Really, that word is a bit misleading, isn't it? "Repaint." It's not like they literally put a new coat of paint on existing figures, is it? He may use the same molds, but he's cast in black plastic - the only paint on his body proper is the red on his eye-lumps. About half his accessories come from Skull Jack, as well. He has the chest armor, the backpack thing, one flat metal show, random bits of armor, a hook, and a tentacle. He's even got the alternate armored head, though this time the skull is silver, suggesting it's metal rather than bone (probably because they were already making all the armor bits black). He does not have Skull Jack's peg leg or any of the same weapons, but that's okay. In place of those, we get lots of pieces to turn Tomb Wraith into a flaming hell demon! Instead of battle flags, the backpack now supports a pair of translucent orange wings, which are perfect to give to your Firedrake. He also has large gauntlets (with opposable thumbs!) that have clear orange flames shooting out of them, because that's scary! His weapon is a simple silver sword with, again, fire on it, and he gets a second alternate head - this set's "joke" piece, a happy jack o'lantern. He came out late enough that he doesn't include an Ev-Ac, but he does have a Drain Attack piece: a little burst of flame. And no television. The Battle Helix gives us names for the Tomb Wraith's various "Power Parts" on its Power Glyphs: his sword is the Firebrand, his forearms are Fire Gauntlets, his drain attack is the Slow Burn, the wings are Flame Forged, his hands are the Knucklebuster, his foot is the Pyre Iron, and because you can never make something too silly, the second alternate head is the Jack O'Laughter. And of course, there's a sheet of fiery stickers you can put on him to up his spooky quotient. The Xevoz line didn't have a lot of repaints, but the few they did showed a better deal of innovation and inventiveness than a lot of companies do. The change in tone alongside the entirely new wings transforms the toy into an entirely new character, one with his own backstory and abilities. This guy's a must-own in your Xevoz collection!! All of the Xevoz are must-own in your Xevoz collection!! -- 10/25/15

Tweet