Baron Vollligar

There are nearly 200 Mythic Legions characters as of this count, but only four of them have ever gotten a double-dip: a more casual Artemyss Silverchord, a two-pack with Attila Leossyr and Gorgo Aetherblade, and Baron Volligar. Though Illythia's return is reason to rejoice for the entirety of her Brood, for Baron Volligar, the significance of her homecoming goes far deeper. Volligar has spent ages tirelessly scheming not only to bring back his faction's goddess, but of even more personal significance, to see his mother again. Relentlessly carving a bloody path through Mythoss, he has stopped at nothing to hasten her return. Now that he and his daughter Lucretia have been reunited with Illythia, Baron Volligar and his family will bring great suffering the like of which has been hitherto unknown in the Realm of Mythoss. The first Baron Volligar appeared in the Covenant of Shadows series, when all the bad guys got together to re-summon their founding gods. His bio back then revealed he was the first pure-born vampire, and most knowledgable and powerful among them. Back then he just looked like a plain knight in black armor, which was boring, but this one is way, way cooler. Looking at him in the package, Volligar doesn't look very impressive. He does get quite a few new pieces, a relative rarity in this line: the rising spikes on his collar look like sharp finger bones and there's a spinal column up the back; his breastplate has the sculpted visage of Illythia in the center; his wide belt has sculpted fur behind it, a rosette buckle in the center and similar discs at the top of the hip armor. The rest of him is reused, but the Horsemen are skilled at making old and new pieces look like they all came together at the same time. But we're not limited to having him look the way he looks in the package. We get a purple cape for him to wear, with actual holes punched in that are large enough for the pegs on the pauldrons to fit through without ripping them. Nice adjustment! There are still no instructions on how you're supposed to attach them, we'll just have to wait for that another day. Baby steps. The pauldrons themselves are new, quite large, and in addition to the bony designs running along the ridge of them, each have a single large bat wing to fit with his vampiric theme. The wing on my left one got bent over by its time bagged behind the tray, but it actually doesn't look too bad. If they both matched, I'd have been fine with it. Just going to have to get some warm water to make them both the same shape. And then it turns out they both got warped: the right one was straight, when they're both meant to have a slight curve. Just dropped them into some hot water and they naturally curled to their intended positions in moments, no effort needed. Took longer to bring the water to a boil, honestly. But we're not done accessorizing his outfit yet. Included in its own little bag is a big triangle of fur. No, it's not a merkin, though it does look similar; this is meant to drape over Baron Volligar's shoulders, making him look even more regal than he already did. It's definitely giving off big Ned Stark/"winter is coming" vibes. It's not a perfectly symmetrical shape, which helps it look more like a real item than something manufactured for a toy. It's good that this toy has the massive shoulder pads and the fur to increase the visual size of his shoulders, because without them the head would look way too large on the body. Of course, it's entirely possible the head was sculpted this large because they already knew they were giving him all this stuff, and didn't want it to look small. The first Baron Volligar just had a bucket helmet; this one's face is exposed, showing us the nosferatunine face and the giant ears that are evidence of vampires' origins as a cross between Illythia and the elves. Confirming that he is not just a leader from the rear, he's got a clean scar cutting up from his left cheek to the center of his forehead; usually villains only get ugly jagged scars, not straight thin lines, so it's interesting to see the Horsemen buck the trend. Mythic Legions have modular construction, which means reused bodyparts and standard articulation: a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders and elbows, swivel forearms, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, and swivel/hinge/swivel ankles. Moving Baron Volligar around (or even attempting to attach his accessories) can be a painful proposition, because the new armor has so many small points on it and will absolutely jab your fingers. Since so much of this figure's budget went to his clothes, he doesn't go overboard with the weaponry. There's the long sword from the Vampire/​Shadow Weapons pack, same as Lucretia carries, and an ornately shaped black shield. He also gets the big zweihänder sword, which really adds to the Ned Stark comparison. The original Baron Volligar was an interesting character, but not an interesting toy. Baron Volligar 2 really fixes that! This isn't some rank-and-file soldier, it's a true vampire lord. -- 10/08/22

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