Underworld Warrior

Who wants a hot stone massage? Oh, sorry, that should have read "who wants to get severely beaten by a living lava man?" The Gorgon sisters and their army have waged war on both man and the gods. Even the lord of the underworld, Hades himself, must prepare for their onslaught. Needing to produce an army that was capable of winning this hopeless battle, he turns to their stone victims and infuses them with mystical fire to animate a molten army of burning warriors. In all these Virtuvian HACKS reviews so far, we've quoted the "Historical Documentation" from the back of the card, just like we do with GI Joe and every other line we review. However, there's more text back there that we've never shared with you. It's called the "Temporal Log," and seems to be notes taken by some future observer, providing a story hook and asking questions about the characters. For instance, the Underworld Warrior's reads: These warriors were neither alive nor dead, but rather some state in between. They relentlessly pursued the Gorgon sisters' demise because only then could they release their mortal soul and join the underworld. If their goal was never met, then what became of these warriors? See? Isn't that neat? They've all got stuff like that, and it wasn't until 2016's Roll Out Roll Call convention in London that we learned there were story plans to introduce The Vitruvian, a time-hopping spaceship and its crew that would serve as the connecting story thread for the entire line. Fittingly, this figure uses the same armor as the Cursed Stone Spartan: the crested helmet, the breastplate with the attached skirt, and the greaves. The skirt looks like strips of leather hanging over cloth, and the greaves are sculpted to look like kneecaps. Obviously it can all be removed if you like, and he still looks just as good. The Underworld Warrior is molded in dark grey, then painted with stripes of orange to look like cooling lava. The cracks are even given yellow highlights where they flow together, suggesting spots that are glowing brighter than the rest. This really is the best way to have done it - they might have molded it in translucent orange, then painted the surface solid grey, but there's no way enough light would have made it through the body to accurately simulate the glow. The figure is built on the standard male body, and the fiery paint continues even under the armor. The crest of his helmet is done in orange as well, with a yellow drybrushing for accents. It makes him look like he's venting flames out the top of his head! The Underworld Warrior has a balljointed head and neck; swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows and wrists; a balljointed torso (limited realistically by the chest armor); balljointed hips; double-hinge knees; and swivel/hinge ankles. The set's accessories include an extra pair of hands with the hinge joint running the other direction, and a display base to help the figure stand in extreme poses. His weapons have all been seen before, but that's no surprise. He gets the large shield, two swords, a scabbard to sling over his shoulder, and a spear. The shield and sheath get their own lava apps, while the actual pointy weapony things are all solid grey. With the Underworld Warrior, Boss Fight Studio has created another fun toy with another fun backstory. As they do. -- 09/09/16

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