Vorgus Vermillius, the Blood Armor

While the Mythic Legions figures were done via Kickstarter, there was still a FANtastic Exclusive vote going on. One of the first to receive Illithya's gift of eternal life as a vampire, the brutal knight Lord Edgard became one of the first generals in Illythya's Brood. As centuries passed and the tedium of immortality set in, Lord Edgard was no longer satisfied with the vast powers bequeathed to him as a vampire. Edgard's ambition drove him to seek out the dark sorcerers Azhar and Zazhar and strike a deal to obtain more power. He bartered the lives of one hundred of his men to the agents of Poxxus for an enchanted suit of armor that possessed immense power and near invulnerability. What Edgard did not know was that he had bgeen tricked into wearing a suit of armor infused with a parasitic spell that slowly consumed his lifeforce, causing him to vanish from inside the armor. The Blood Armor, known to the people as Vorgus Vermillius, now roams from victim to victim, leaving behind only the memory of the warriors it devours. Wow, that was a long bio with exceedingly tiny text! (And yes, it spells "Illythea" two different ways, neither of which matches what we were shown before.) In February and March of 2015, users of the Four Horsemen's message board were able to vote to create a special character for the Kickstarter. They could choose whether he'd be good or evil, which faction he would belong to, what bodyparts he'd have, what his armor would look like, what accessories he'd have... every facet of the character, basically. And this is what the fans came up with. His helmet was referred to in the voting as the "evil knight's helmet," though it has a very Grecian influence - small slit eyes, a line down the center, etc. This thing draws its influence from the same source as Boba Fett's distinctive headgear. There was a separate round of voting to decide on what sort of ornaments would decorate the sides of the helmet, which is how we ended up with these short, ribbed horns. They're packaged pointing upwards, like devil horns, but since they plug into the head via large circular pegs, you can turn them whichever direction you'd like (the original Kickstarter image showed them pointing down, for instance). The chest armor is the same breastplate seen on all the figures we've reviewed so far. In fact, other than the orc faulds and the pointy loin armor, every bit of his armor is the same that Attila Leossyr wore (well, them and the large scooped collar). Even the pauldrons are the same style (yes, that was another vote). The fans voted for an evil knight, and so an evil knight is what we got! There were two rounds of voting for what color the figure should be: the first round was for the general type of color (metallic, flat, or full body effect), while the second was for the specific effect to be applied. In the final tally, only seven votes separated Red Polished (aka "Blood of the Ancients") from Jade. And while the red we got does look quite smashing, the jade was pretty awesome as well. It's a shame we had to pick one or the other, really - both would have been terrific together. Maybe the secondary deco will show up in a future series of the figures, since the Four Horsemen keep releasing new sets in new colors. Vorgus' articulation is just as great as all the other figures. He has a balljointed head, swivel neck, 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. And as we mentioned, the horns can be turns, too. Pretty much every one of those joints can be pulled apart with only a modicum of force, allowing you to mix and match parts to create your own unique designs. You have to remember that the voting for this figure happened while the Kickstarter was still active, way before we knew what all the figures would be coming with and how many times we'd be seeing the same accessories, so the Blood Knight comes with a spear, a long sword (with the strap to keep it in), and the familiar battle axe with extra blade. By popular acclaim, this is also one of the figures that comes with a cape - solid black, to contrast with the red armor. The sword and axe also get red apps on their handles, so there's no question to whom they belong. Vorgus Vermillius, the Blood Armor, is a figure designed entirely by fans - and they/we did a good job. It's cool to see the Four Horsemen sticking to their FANtastic Exclusive roots even as they become Kickstarter superstars. Now, let's just hope we see the jade version of this guy some day, too. -- 08/14/16

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