Rehgar Earthfury, Orc Shaman

After nearly a decade of producing nothing but in-house properties, DC Direct has finally decided to branch out under the "DC Unlimited" name. This is a bit of a gamble, so it makes sense that the debut line was based on Blizzard Entertainment's own little license to print money, World of Warcraft. The savage, green-skinned orcs are one of the most prolific races of Azeroth. They are commonly believed to be brutal and mindless, possessing no humanity or empathy for other races. Born on the hellish world of Draenor, the orcs were brought into the kingdom of Stormwind through the dimensional gateway known as the Dark Portal and forced to wage war on the Humans. Tragically, the once-proud orc clans were corrupted by the Burning Legion and used as pawns in the Legion's invasion of Azeroth. The orcs managed to rebel, however, and they were ultimately able to help turn the tide against their demon masters. Led by the young Warchief, Thrall, the orcs have reclaimed their strength and honor. Now, the orcs stand ready to fight not for the sake of conquest, but for their right to survive in their adopted world. Orcs aren't native to the land of Azeroth, but were instead used as pawns in the interdimensional invasion by the Burning Legion. They eventually rebelled against their demon masters and began to rebuild their society on this new world. A noble, shamanistic people, the orcs are now one of the most prolific races on Azeroth. To their enemies, they are brutal and fearsome opponents, without parallel in their ferocity and cunning. To their allies, they are noble and honorable, following the traditions of a rediscovered past. Some orcs still hang on to the arcane practices of the past, but their time is fading. While SOTA's WoW figures were based on generic race and class types, DC's represent specific characters from the current WoW comicbook. This isn't just an orc shaman, it's Rehgar Earthfury, a specific guy with a specific history. But of course, if you don't care about that, no one's forcing you to accept it. Rehgar stands 7¾" tall, despite his wide-legged stance and the fact that his head is thrown back in an apparent rage. Since he's a shaman, he's not wearing full armor, but is dressed rather simply: he's bare-chested, but wears a wolf's pelt as a hood and shawl; he has armored pauldrons (which are taken directly from a design available in the game), fur wraps on his forearms, and some kind of bladed fist weapon on his left wrist; he's wearing a simple skirt, but a stupendously ornate belt; on his feet he has plain sandals. The WoW figures were sculpted by Jean St. Jean, and he did a wonderful job on the orc shaman, here. Rehgar is bellowing at the sky, and his torso shows a slight twist to the side. His skin has a fine texture, and there's scarring on his chest: some of it evidence of battle, but some is a ritualistic design. His skirt looks like thick leather, and has large, uneven stiching all the way around. His belt is doubled chain, with two large loops of bundled material hanging off each side. The "buckle" - or whatever you want to call the thing in the front - is a complex affair, with a metal wolf's head crest, two braids of fur, a bird skull with two feathers, and a pair of horns. A lot of that would be separate pieces on a real belt, though it's molded as one here - only the skull and feathers are separate. And though it's almost impossible to spot unless you know to look for it, the orcs' racial symbol is branded on the back of the wolf-pelt cloak. Even the figure's paint is good. Rehgar's flesh is a light green, with a darker color for the shadows. His armor is silver, with black in the recesses and just a hint of brown tarnish on the surface. His teeth are yellowing and the interior of his mouth is a dark magenta. His eyes are clear, with tiny red irises. The detailing on the skirt is excellent, fading from "natural color" red to "I've been walking in mud" brown. The paint apps on the belt are clean, with no spill - the blue cloth is tied with yellow ropes, providing some colorful contrast to the design. The paint on his feet is one of the few weak points on this figure: there's a very heavy brown wash, making them look appropriately dirty, but the app ends abruptly on his shins. Like, in a perfectly straight line. It looks like he was washing his legs but decided to stop for no reason - maybe it's supposed to imply he was standing calf-deep in a mud puddle? It's not something you'll notice unless you're looking under his skirt, but if they didn't think anyone was going to look there, why does he have shading on his legs and little brown underpants? DC Direct is renowned for its nigh-useless articulation, and the DC Unlimited WoW figures aren't doing any better. Rehgar Earthfury the Orc Shaman moves at the right bicep and the left... bicep. Yeah. That's it. No neck, no waist, not even anything in the legs under the skirt. We've said it about McFarlane and we're saying it about DC: a videogame figure deserves tons of articulation. Characters don't just stand around, they run and jump and move. Sure, the skirt would impede the legs a bit, but is there a reason we didn't get wrists? Elbows? Anything? The cloak and the wolfshead blade are removable, but that doesn't really change the look of the figure, much. How is he supposed to defeat Quagmirran in the Slave Pens of Coilfang Reservoir if he can't even dual-wield from his Enhancement tree? Skip the pulls? As if! Snort! rofl! (Yeah, I have no idea what I'm talking about here.) Rehgar Earthfury is one of the best figures in WoW Series 1 - he doesn't have the problems that his gladiatorial slave, Valeera Sanguinar, had, and though his articulation is terrible he looks okay in his single pose. I don't really know anything about shamans in World of Warcraft, but between Rehgar and Tauren Shaman, I can safely assume they wear animal pelts on their shoulders. The point is, you don't need to be a huge WoW fanatic to dig these figures - of course, Rehgar would be a lot better if he could actually move.

Tweet