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It took them long enough, but Mattel finally figured out how to get a lot of my money: a MotU Classics mini-subscription based entirely on Mo2K characters. Hell yeah!
A Vebex rock man from the Tri-Solar system, Callix was recruited by the Horde Empire during his youth and quickly rose through
the ranks due to his insight and perspective into enemy strategy. Assigned as lead council to Hec-Tor Kur, Callix traveled with him to Eternia to ensure their foe He-Ro had been destroyed. He remained with the Horde army on Eternia fighting the Snake Men and King Grayskull for rule over the planet. His ability to crumble into pebbles and rebuild himself has made Callix a deadly enemy of all those who oppose Hordak and his evil minions!
Or has it? Callix was invented for the 2002 cartoon series, and only appeared in one episode - and in that episode, he was blown up by Hordak for being a traitor. But if he can rebuild himself from pebbles, was that really such a punishment? You can handwave it by saying Hordak's magic kept him from reforming.
Callix stands 7¼" tall, which isn't particularly
sizeable by Classics standards, but he'll still be able to integrate with your Mo2K collection - as seen on the cartoon, he was one of the bigger Horde soldiers, on par with the giants like Grizzlor and Leech (though not actual giants, because MotU has those, too). If he's a inch or so bigger than everyone else, so be it!
The figure is built from one of the plain MotUC bodies -
smooth arms, smooth legs, smooth torso, etc. Well, anatomical torso, not smooth smooth, but you get what we mean. The only thing that's out of the ordinary are the shoulders, which are molded with a few cracks on them. Not that it will actually matter, because you'll rarely see them.
To create Callix's stony body, Mattel gave him new hands and feet, then covered the forearms, shins, waist and upper torso with soft PVC armor. It works really well! The only "normal" parts we can see are really the biceps, the abs, and the thighs, which isn't much at all. The "stone" bits really do look like they've been chiseled from some great monolith. His chest cap has a tall, protective collar and big pads covering the shoulders.
He gets a new head, of course. If you look at the stones, you can see what sort of anatomical details they're duplicating. If he were human, he'd be bald and have a big beard - in fact, the beard was easy to miss in the animation, so nice work including it on the sculpt. He's got no ears, though; how does he hear Hordak's commands?
It doesn't look like Callix gets much in the way of paint, but there's actually more than you might think. His eyes are solid black, and obviously the Evil Horde symbols on his chest and belt are a sandy tan (beating the cartoon, where they were just a lighter gray). Rather than being one flat shade, there are some subtle washes and drybrushes to help accentuate the Four Horsemen's sculpt.
He has two accessories, a shield and an axe. The shield is surprisingly small, for a guy of his size, but isn't he mostly invulnerable anyway? There's a ring of sandstone
to keep it from looking dull, and the handle is offset slightly, so he can hold it naturally. The axe is particularly cool, because it's got an extra handle sticking off one side; if you have Callix hold it that way, it looks like a crossbow, the weapon of choice for the Evil Horde! And, like the mini-statues, it's designed to fit its owner rather than being a minor variation on a standard design. Such cool work.
Callix (who seems to be named after the Greek word for a shell or husk) may have been an original creation for the cartoon, but he's not without progenitors. Back in 1985, there was a Little Golden Book called The Rock Warriors, which, rather than being about Rokkon and Stondar, was about Skeletor finding a ray that could create mindless warriors out of solid stone. Callix is more distinctive (and less weak) than those guys were, but you can definitely imagine a common lineage. This is a fun figure and will look great with the rest of the Mo2K Evil Horde.
-- 07/27/15
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