Sskur'ge

Oh, he's a big boy! Sskur'ge is a brutish thug whose only marketable skills are his incredible strength and nearly impenetrable scaley hide. This Duoderm tracker has made a career out of hunting down fugitives and returning them bruised and battered to those who have placed a price on their heads. Although not a full-time employee of the Traders Union of the Five Circles of Cosmerrium, Sskur'ge gets most of his work from that organization. This includes a recent bounty on a Bleeder's Guild spy who uncovered something he shouldn't have. Chasing the spy to a nearby transportation Outpost, Sskur'ge waits for his quarry to exit the safety of that facility. One swipe of his massive tail and the chase will be over, and he will be on his way to collect his fee for another capture. A while ago, the Four Horsemen introduced "ogre-scale" figures to Mythic Legions. I pick and choose which characters I get from every assortment, and so far none of the ogres have appealed to me, so my only reference for how large they are was that comparison photo in the Kalizirr review, and that was only a month ago. So when I preordered Sskur'ge, I didn't realize just what a monster he was going to be! At least 3½" taller than a normal figure. Dang, Gina! Whenever a new series of Legions goes up for sale, I've got a buddy who emails me and we talk about all the new designs. When Cosmic Legions 1 happened, I said the big, scaly, Kraggnar looked like he'd soon be reused in Mythic Legions as a half-dragon or something. Well, that was September 2021, and by the end of the year I was proven correct with Aracagorr in the Poxxus series. What I did not predict, by any stretch of the imagination, was that he'd also become the Whiplash in the line of MotU homage figures. In retrospect, it's unavoidably brilliant: the figure is huge, like Whiplash is supposed to be, and it's covered in thick scales, like Whiplash should be (sometimes Mattel likes to cheap out and make his limbs very smooth). He's got heads from both previous figures: straight out of the tray he's rocking the MyLe dragon head, with short horns, sharp teeth, and spikes all along the jawline; but you can also trade that for the CoLe alien head, which has offset eyes like a chameleon and two ridges of small spines running over the top of the scalp. The second head is definitely the more "Whiplash" of the two, but honestly they both look terriffic and suit the character extremely well. To help you blend this into any collection you prefer, the armor is drawn from both the fantasy and sci-fi sources. Like, Kraggnar wore bracers, but they looked like futuristic shackles rather than armor, so instead Sskur'ge wears the more traditional bracers Aracagorr sported. Greaves? Past. Chest harness? Future. They could have used the more "barbarian-ish" belt to better duplicate the Mo2K Whiplash's gladiator loincloth, but instead this is the one from the demon king Azahazzar (with a new center piece), which no one else has used yet, so that's nice. He has blue fur hanging from the belt, and a second skirt with a scale pattern behind that. Since this chest armor was originally something worn by a character in prison, there's a big ring rattling about at the back, where a chain could hold him in place. Like Whiplash, Sskur'ge's body is various shades of green, from a bright yellowish shade to a much darker, much cooler version. The green armor he wears on his chest is even darker still, and has a metallic sheen. His belt is orange, and the rest of his armor is blue - all Whiplash's classic colors. He has bare green feet, rather than wearing blue boots that come all the way down. The eyes on both heads are white with red slit pupils, and the dragon head also has white on the exposed teeth and red for the interior of the mouth. Sskur'ge really wouldn't be much of a Whiplash if he didn't have a tail, but thankfully Aracagorr introduced one he can use. You have to take the figure apart to attach it - it terminates in a C-shaped ring that fits around the waist peg - but hoo boy, is that ever difficult to do! Getting the two halves of the body apart is hard enough as it is, but then trying to get them back together is even worse. This is a sharp figure with a lot of very stiff scales, and my thumbs have viciously hurt all day after putting it on. Beware! There's a hole in the back of the fur, but it's nor sized for the tail to fit through, so why it's there isn't exactly clear. [one of our readers has suggested the scaly under-skirt Sskur'ge wears might be intended as a "stand-in" for times when you don't want to use the full tail, and that the halves of the body go together easier without it. Could be! Considering the difficulty in working with the pieces, it's worth a shot. --ed] The tail does add a little extra articulation, though. Most of the joints are the usual Legions style - feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, hips, waist, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and head - but there's an extra swivel in the middle of the tail. And you could wiggle it around a little where it meets the waist, but that doesn't really count. The dragon head also has an articulated jaw, opening wide to bite or roar or breathe fire. As is the way with these "Mythics of the Cosmos" figures, the weapons are chosen to reference the character's existing equipment. One thing I hadn't noticed until we were discussing the just-revealed "Ashes of Agbendor" figures was that all the ogre-scale figures have carried the same basic weapon, a long-handled axe/mace thing. Sskur'ge indeed includes that, with the mace head, and it's painted orange like Whiplash's vintage spear. It's molded as three pieces (the head, the middle of the staff, and the bottom half of the staff), so you might think you could customize it if you wanted to, but you really can't: the middle section of the staff has male connectors at both ends, so there's no way to plug the head into the distal half and create a shorter, more maneuverable weapon. Not good planning, guys. The second weapon is a real oddball. If you remember, the 2003 figure came with some sort of weird thing that had a fork on one end, and a curved blade sticking out and coming down past the hand; this was later adapted to Classics, making it a newly traditional part of Whiplash's gear. Cleverly, this figure comes with a weapon that combines a couple existing pieces, like half the twin elven blades and the trident tip (not irreprably deformed this time, hooray) to create as close an approximation as possible. After all, it's got a fork at one end and a curved blade pointing down, so it's filling the niche even if it's not a direct copy. It is both blue and orange, like the Classics piece, and has silve blades. Sskur'ge is at the opposite end of the size scale from itsy little Mephitor, and adds a wonderful bit of variety to the display. But honestly, now the good guys need to start displaying some variety in the physical department. When do we get an Orko or Extendar? While the other homage figure in this series, Opor-A-Tiv83, was definitely only futuristic, Sskur'ge could bridge the gap between Mythic and Cosmic legions easily. -- 07/27/24

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