So, would he be the "evil ghost of Keltuss"?
When truly gifted magic users are killed and reborn by Necronominus' hand, their power seeps into their bones staining them with spiritual remnants of their past life. Brimming with foul magic, these cursed
skeletons have little control over their power, making them unpredictable time bombs of magical energy. Often thrown into a fight just to lay waste to all who surround them, some learn to master their unstable talents. The most accomplished of these mystical masters is Scaphoid. Chosen to represent Necrominus at The Covenant of Shadow, Scaphoid has been tasked with unleashing his dark power on all present if the proceedings go awry.
Between the first and second Mythic Legions Kickstarters, the Four Horsemen released an eight-figure series known as "Covenant of Shadow." It was the first to have its own little story, all about the the four main villain factions (sorry, Red Star, you weren't invited) getting together to plan their assault on the forces of good. So basically, like the Republican National Convention. But with more diversity. Anyway, fitting the story, each of those factions got one new character, and Scaphoid was the Congregation of Necronominus's.
We've had no shortage of skeleton warriors in the Mythic Legions line so far, so you pretty much know what to expect. Straight
off the card, this one gets the skull with the articulated jaw, though the set also includes the more solid version if that's what you prefer. We're not really sure why you'd bother with that difference, really - like, if you want a skull that doesn't have its mouth open, wouldn't you just close the mouth? The missing tooth isn't that significant a difference, and this isn't an armybuilder figure, so why make both his heads so similar?
Scaphoid is a bone in your thumb named after the Greek word for "boat"
a skeleton man, so naturally he uses the skeleton man parts: the long thighbones, the elbows, the upper arms with the armor apparently bolted on, and the neck vertebrae. He also uses the jagged orc armor gloves and boots most of the skeletons have worn. His belt is the armored one with the flaps on the sides, and he gets a long loincloth to match his tunic. Yep, no breastplate for Scaphoid! The large, armored collar he wears is the smoother one, the one designed to blend in with the standard breastplate instead of the one with the big spikes in front. Not bad!
"Covenant of Shadow" came out after "Series 1.5," the series that introduced Unkann the Orc, but we did not yet realize that the MotU homages were going to be an ongoing thing - which is why no one realized at the time that Scaphoid could be considered the Mythic Legions version of Scareglow! His robes are a deep purple, like Scareglow's cape, and his bones are a pale, mottled green. Now, yes, Scareglow's bones are white... but only until the lights go out. Then they turn that same green all glow-in-the-dark stuff turns; a green that looks so much like the green of these bones! All he's missing is the green halberd.
There's been a halberd mold available since the first series, where it appeared in one of the weapons packs (and has appeared with several figures since). But Scaphoid doesn't come with that, he instead has a different weapon that originated
in the same pack: the mace. This one gets the angular head, rather than the studded ball, and there's a green tint on the dark grey metal of the topper - a similar patina to that seen on the included dagger. There's the usual leather chest strap, though how well would that work when you've just got a short dagger to put in it? Since his weaons skew green, it makes sense that his plain shield would be purple, for thematic balance. His pauldrons are the small ones, since he's already got some armor on his arms. The accent color in the details of the armor is green, slightly darker than the body but still on-message.
By virtue of being named after a bone instead of some sort of etymylogical joke relating to fear or luminescence, we can tell that Scaphoid isn't really a Scareglow homage, but come on: bones that are glow-in-the-dark green and purple clothes? He's either Scareglow or he represents FedEx Ground. Which, frankly... isn't that how the Horsemen mail these things? It's entirely possible they decided to base a toy's colors on the logo on all those shipping boxes. Way to fulfill that Purple Promise, Scaphoid! It doesn't matter if he was meant to be Scareglow, though, because whether he was or not, that's the reason I bought him when he was available as part of All-Stars Series 4.
-- 01/15/22
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