Whatever you do, don't insult his fat queen!
Natives of the hive-like planet of B-Gonn:84, the Davophiliar are distantly related to the more common Sphexxians. The Davophiliar have prevented the same planet-wide resource depletion that has plagued the Sphexxians' homeworld of V'zapir by remaining largely isolated with very little contact outside of their own planet. This isolation includes strict travel restrictions to B-Gonn:84, restrictions which are enforced by the soldiers that guard the skies above the hive-world, constantly on the lookout for unwanted visitors.
Anthophilees is one of the Davophiliar guardians of B-Gonn:84. Assigned to Zone-A, the warmest part of the planet, Anthophilees leads those under his command with a steady hand, calm demeanor, and warm personality that is rare amongst his species.
"Antho" is the Greek word for "flower," so anthophile means "flower loving," but in zoological terms it's applied to insects
that feed on flowers - bees and wasps are both apian, but only one of them is anthophilious. We're guessing that's the same "-phile" suffix in the character's species name, with the "Davo-" part coming from the fact this release was inspired by customizer David Williams. And of course, the name of the planet is pretty blatant: asking someone to be gone is just a nicer way of telling them to buzz off.
We haven't had a MotU homage in Mythic Legions in three full years, with the updates now favoring the sister line, Cosmic Legions. And while, yes, Anthophilees is a Cosmic legionnaire
(an Unaffiliated Citizen of Cosmerrium in the fifth series, "OxKrewe: Book Two, Harrow Zone"), the majority of his pieces are Mythic in origin. The breastplate has been seen on any number of barbarians and dwarves after being introduced in the "Arethyr" series, his bracers are the jagged orc style, he's wearing a furry barbarian loincloth and belt, etc. In fact, the only clothing that comes from Cosmic Legions are the boots, big mechanical clompers that have two large toes in the front and a bit of a bend at the top of the shin that makes them minorly digitigrade.
But that's just the armor; the anatomy is newer.
While the arms and legs are pretty standard, he gets new insectoid-claw hands that have only been used in Cosmic Legions. They have a slightyly spiky carapace covering the back of each hand, and like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, they each get two large fingers and a thumb. There are three pairs, each with a slightly different pose. To further the bug theming, he reuses the wings from Poxxus. Here they just plug into the standard "wing stud" backpack, not a special one, and let me tell you how much I hurt my fingers trying to get them both in! So painful! But worth it, because how can you have a giant bee without giant wings?
As per usual, the figure includes two heads. Right in the tray,
he's got a six-eyed alien head, a muted yellow piece (despite his limbs being tan) with two vertical rows of beady blue dots stacked up the front of his face. The mouth area is a normal size, while the upper half is more bulbous. It's sculpted with a big frown, and deep wrinkles on the upper lip that make it look dried and drained. Unlike a lot of the alternate heads on the homage figures, this one actually suits the character it's meant to be.
Of course, doing alternate heads makes particular sense in this case,
because one of Buzz-Off's memorable features back in the day was a removable helmet/cap thing that covered his eyes and gave him two distinct looks. Fittingly, Anthophilees' alternate head is big enough to look like the normal head could fit inside it! This one is very much an insect, wider than it is tall and featuring two large compound eyes in the front. Those are metalluc blue, like Buzz-Off's normal eyes, and it has a yellow face surrounded by brown. There are a pair of long antennae growing back off the scalp, and slots in the cheeks where mandibles can plug in: we get one pair that points straight ahead, and a second that's spread wider, like he's ready to take a bite of something. Of the two heads, I like the "alien" one better, but honestly they both work great.
The figure has most of the usual Legions articulation,
but he does get the improved neck with a hinge added to the balljoint for a better range of motion, something you'll really appreciate when you start to move that big bug head around. The weight of the wings keeps them from holding any pose, instead just swinging freely into whatever position gravity decides. Plus, the way the joint is designed means you'll never be able to point the wings fully backward, only out to the sides.
Even the accessories are from Mythic Legions rather than Cosmic Legions! 1980s Buzz-Off had a small hand axe, and 2000s Buzz-Off turned that into a tall halberd, so this figure includes both those things! The little axe is the one with a skull on it, just without including the skull on it (and now you know why that piece was separate and not just part of the mold). We've seen the polearm with figures like Calavius or Gryshaa, but the paint apps are more complex here, putting some nice yellow accents on the blades to tie them in with the character's overall look. He's got medieval pauldrons, as well, and though they're the sort we've been seeing since the start of the line, making them brown and painting the stripes in them yellow makes them work here.
With all those fantasy-styled parts, it really is weird that Anthophilees is being released as a Cosmic Legions figure. Was getting mechanical shins really that important? At the end of things it really doesn't matter much, he's just going to hang out with the rest of the Mythics of the Cosmos characters, no matter what parts he uses. The fact he's based on a fan custom is pretty awesome, as well, and has us looking forward to what the Horsemen bring us next.
-- 04/18/26
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