T.U.5.C.C. Phantom Trooper

For our US readers, when you think "offline shopping," you think Walmart and Target, but it turns out there are actually more than two stores where you could theoretically buy things! Amazingly, the same thing is true on the internet, where buying toys always means Entertainment Earth or BigBadToyStore; but again, there are more than two retailers online, as well, even if you've never heard of them. In February of 2025, the Four Horsemen offered a "retailer appreciation" series of figures. Apparently this is something they've done for a few years now, but this time they decided to promote it, so people could actually know about it. The series included four Figura Obscura repaints, plus two all-new figures: one from Mythic Legions, and one from Cosmic Legions. They weren't available directly from the Horsemen's website, like most Legions figures are, and won't be offered at conventions or anything else - it's just for various other stores, to help those drum up business. Fortunately, the Horsemen have a list on their site of dozens of participating retailers all around the world. And so here we are, 363 days on from when I placed my order, reviewing the one figure I got. While the Traders Union of the 5 Circles of Cosmerrium maintain numerous facilities throughout the Universe, their primary headquarters are located in Mmessos as part of the high-economic district of the 3rd Ring. Discreetly providing security to the vast complex that is the center of the Union's strength are the soldiers known as the T.U.5.C.C. Phantom Troopers. Despite the fact that the Traders Union officially maintains that the Phantom Troopers DO NOT EXIST, there are countless records of these coldly efficient soldiers in action. Rumor has it that their ranks are comprised of both organic soldiers in heavy armor, as well fully mechanized drones outfitted with the same gear. Completely indistinguishable from each other, the organic soldiers provide strategic direction as unit commanders, using the mechanical troopers to quickly, and violently, quell any threats to the T.U.5.C.C.'s complex. Hey, that's real neat! I got this because it's a Horde Trooper. The Evil Horde's cannon fodder troopers were originally just going to be wearing armor, but (like the TMNT Foot Soldiers a few years later) turning them into robots meant the heroes could be more violent against them - thus, the nod in this toy's bio about the ranks being a mix of both prganic and mechanical members. And the Cosmic Legions' style of armor works a lot better for this update than medieval Mythics would, especially since Cosmic favors multi-layered pieces that you can strip down to really change the look. Like, the big chestplate/collar combo he's wearing in the tray can come off, and there's still another fully sculpted set of srmor underneath it, with an entirely different design yet one that still somehow carries forward the Horde Trooper homage just as well as out the outer layer did. We also get two heads, which provide even more potential variety than that simple number implies. Since this is technically a TU5CC agent, he gets a standard TU5CC helmet, just like Opor-A-Tiv83 included, the one that's thin in the cheeks and bulbous on top, with a removable canopy running from front to back. The set includes two canopies, in fact: they're both red, but one is translucent and the other solid. The second head is similar, but it's even wider at the top than the first was, shaped to cover a head that's more inhuman. Because it's such a different shape, it needs a different canopy to cover it, though done in the same two styles of red. Since the translucent one will allow the gray plastic beneath it to show through, its color better matches the painted red on the large breastplate, while the solid canopy is just molded in-color, so it goes better with the similarly molded emblem on the internal chest. Was that intentional on the Horsemen's part, or just lucky? Either way, it's certainly handy! But there's still more here. The character archive on the official site lists them as "face shields," broad, flat curves of armor that sort of resemble the pointed helmet racing bicyclists wear to make them more aerodynamic. Those (theoretically) attach to the smaller head by plugging into the same slot as the canopy piece does, but in practice the connection is kind of weak, so they tend to fall off too easily. As we said, there are two face shields. They both have a black panel painted on the front, suggesting that's the viewport where the wearer would see out. One is blank black, and there are red stripes running back along the length of the shield, while the second shows a stronger connection to the Horde Trooper by having a sharp, shallow, yellow shape painted right in the center, matching the Horde Trooper's traditional eye slit. Horde Trooper armor was gray, with black for the flexible parts and a red Evil Horde symbol right in the center of the chest; so naturally, the TU5CC Phantom Trooper's armor is gray with some darker grey accents, a black undersuit, and parts of the armor on the chest (as wella s the backs of the hands) painted red. The center of the belt is even gold, another Horder feature carried over! The helmet is the same light gray as the rest, and we already told you about the red visor covering it, but that is outlined by black for better contrast. The colors make sense for the secretive police force the story showed them to be, but put this near Dorina Onoris and Lord Draguul and there will be no mistaking what the real intention was. The Four Horsemen are updating their articulation, but those changes don't apply to this body yet, so the Phantom Trooper moves like most Legions figures have: a balljointed head, swivel neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel forearms, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljointed waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, and swivel/hinge/swivel ankles. This is the same body Opor-A-Tiv83 used, though the different paint and clothing accessories make that really hard to recognize at a glance, but that does mean he has the same giant gap at the waist that will expose the post of the balljoint holing his two halves together, a fact not helped by it being gang-molded with all the solid red pieces and thus being quite blatant to notice. The Phantom Trooper costs a little more than other Legions figures do, but it's not a case of all those retailers conspiring to raise the price: rather, it includes a whole bunch of accessories! Like, you'll remember that Opor-A-Tiv83 had three heads and a helmet, but also only a single pistol and two pairs of hands; the Phantom Trooper has one fewer head, but there are also a lot more add-ons of those heads (the canopies and the face shields), four pairs of hands, a large rifle, a staff or club with electricity crackling in the end of it, a pair of hoses that can plug in to various spots on the armor to make it look even cooler than it already does, shoulder pads designed to sit seamlessly against the sides of the fuller chest armor, and a large riot shield that itself has two swappable front plates, one being armored with a viewport and the other a single piece of translucent red plastic, like it's an energy barrier. Oh, and those two front plates? They each attach in a different way, so the shield has to have a removable plug in the center that can also swap out to accommodate each version. A lot of these "Mythics of the Cosmos" figures had a problem where the alternate pieces they included were trying too hard to not be MotU homages - like, what value does Mephitor's all-black goblin head provide? Or Purrrplor's orc head? With the Phantom Trooper, the consistent colors mean that no matter which configuration of parts you want to use, it's still going to look like a Horde Trooper: change helmets, change chests, change weapons, and it'll still look like part of Hordak's army. Buy a dozen, make them all look different, and they'll all still look like they belong together. You just can't go wrong! Like I said, of the dozens of retailers who were carrying these figures, I'd only ever heard of one before. So after scrolling through all the listings and checking the various stores, I chose to go with Project Action Figure, mainly because they offered free shipping on it. Obviously they turned out to be reliable, or else you wouldn't be reading this review today, and so now I know if I need something in the future, that's a site worth looking at. -- 03/07/26 Could you have named a third store in either real life or online? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.