Xylona

Seven more of these and we'll be able to pull a sleigh! One of the four legendary beasts that destroyed and decimated the unholy evils that once plagued ancient Mythoss, Xylona now serves as a symbol of hope to her flock. Wielding the Silverchord, a stag horn longbow able to fire magically-charged elemental arrows, Xylona's elegant use of deadly force was much feared in battle. Once order was restored, her namesake army, Xylona's Flock, pledged to carry her legacy forward in the wake of her disappearance. No one would blame you for being surprised that Xylona is female - yes, the name ends in an A (typically a feminine indicator to English speakers), but her icon appears to show a buck with massive antlers. Correction: it definitely does show massive antlers, and we all just assumed they were on a buck, not a doe. [D'oh! --ed.] But as we post this review, that it's almost Christmas, so let's take a moment to remember the true meaning of the season: people forwarding that email that points out all Santa's reindeer are female. Plus, Xylona is a mystical being, so if she wants antlers, she can have antlers. And boy oh boy, antlers does she have! They're so big, they're packaged separately (each of them in their own plastic baggy) and you have to plug them in. They add 2" to her height, and have a span of 6". Gigantic! They're nicely symmetrical, with five points apiece, and a layer texture that makes them look like they grew in stages. Like an abalone shell. Xylona is a female deity, so she uses the female body. The mostly bare one, since what does a god have to fear from mortal weapons? Her armor is a different style than we've seen so far - it's not as jagged as the baddies wear, and has softer lines than the goods. It's not quite what you'd call "organic," but it's smooth and rounded and absolutely looks like something a nature-worshipper would wear. The bra is designed to look like leaves, and there's a new neck piece to make Xylona's head float high above the shoulders like an animal's would, and her feet are hooves. Remember the highly confusing capes the first series of Mythic Legions came with? Xylona has something similar. Hers is a skirt, with just a single small slit at the top to hint at how the toy is supposed to wear it: remove the upper torso and the waist armor, then slip the skirt onto the little armor plug on the figure's butt (where a tail would attach is she had one); when you put the waist armor back on, it will help hold the skirt in place and make it look like an actual garment she's wearing. Xylona's colors are white, gold and green. The choice to go with white makes her head look more like a sheep than a deer (at least until you put the antlers in), but there's a bit of brown shading on her shoulderblades and the back of her head, with airbrushed white speckles. Unfortunately, the painted white of the face and neck don't match the molded white of the rest of the body, so there's a bit of a disconnect there. Of course, the head and neck also have fur, while the body has smooth skin, so maybe that choice was intentional. One of the major complaints with Mythic Legions Series 1 was that all the figures had the same few weapons, and that that got boring pretty quickly. Well, the Four Horsemen listened. This time, instead of the Kickstarter's stretch goals only unlocking new characters, they also unlocked new weapons: as the money raised went up, more unique items were parcelled out to more toys. From the start, Xylona was planned to come with the Silverchord bow (though we didn't know it had a name at that time), but at $870,000, she also got a quiver and sword from the Elf Weapon Pack. Plus, she seems to have picked up a pair of elven scimitars at some point. The bow looks like it's been crafted from actual antlers, and it has an elastic string so you can pretend to fire it. Notches on both sides of the hand grip will hold the included silver arrow. The quiver sadly does not have an empty slot to hold that arrow, but the piece can be attached to the included strap and slung across her back. The swords have golden blades and green hilts; the big one has a crossguard that resembles stylized leaves, while the two smaller ones can plug together to form a larger weapon. Even if she weren't one of the primordial deities of the world of Mythoss, Xylona would be a good figure. The colorscheme is striking, the accessories are above-average, and even her skirt makes more sense than the capes did. -- 12/22/18

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