*Scottish voice* "Beeeeaaaaars."
In the days before the House of the Noble Bear marched from the colds of Bjorngar towards inevitable war, Attlus the Conqueror returned to the home he once shared with his wife, Risha. Making his way to the tree under which he had buried her body, the tree whose desecration by orc raiders led to Attlus picking up his blades once again, the barbarian was greeted with an unexpected sight. A gigantic bear sat by the charred remains of the tree, its head bowed and eyes closed as if in silent prayer. Wary of alarming the bear, Attlus backed away quietly, but the bear opened his eyes and looked his way. Attlus felt his breath leave his body. He saw his wife's eyes reflected in the gaze of that beast, and the barbarian king knew that somehow, his wife had sent this creature to his side in his most desperate hour. Together, man and beast left Risha's Grove, as Attlus the Conqueror rode Bödvar towards the greatest battle the Realm of Mythoss had ever seen.
Ooooh, lore! No other sources have mentioned Risha, or any of that stuff about the orcs or even Attlus retiring for a while. Bodvar the bear potentially having a human spirit does have precedence in its namesake, but I don't think "Attlus rides his wife into battle" is something anyone would have predicted.
Our second Mytic Legions megafauna, Bodvar the bear has the same sort of modular construction as all the other toys;
not directly compatible, of course - you can't give Bodvar human legs any more than the humans or elves have the right to bear arms - but all the parts can pop apart at the many joints. In the moose's case, there were already horses to share the parts, but other than the upcoming polar bear, what is this ever going to be? What other animals can a fat, furry body be? Those big paws, that stumpy tail, the raised hump between the shoulders... it's all distinctly specific.
Unlike Alder and the various horses, Bodvar gets two different heads. Right out of the box we get a calm head, and its sculpt is
just as anatomically accurate as the body is. If you compare brown bears to black bears, the brown bear is not just larger, its head has a proportionally longer snout, and the way the head slopes creates a distinct "forehead" above the eyes rather than just moving smoothly into the rest of the head. Since bears mainly eat grubs and berries, their lips are highly dextrous (kind of like a rhino's) to help them pick out small things precisly - their lips are not attached to the gums, the way humans' are, which is why they seem to "droop" when they're at rest.
The second head is angry and roaring. The ears
on this one are sculpted sticking up, rather than folded back, proving that this is an expression of aggression, not fear. The interior of the mouth is very detailed, with even the uvula hanging separately from the throat behind it - that's not something you see very often! Although the heads swap via an extremely large balljoint, I had a heck of a time getting the alternate head onto the neck: I had to soak it in hot water for several minutes before I was able to get it swapped. Although in the interest of full transparency, at least part of that is detailed sculpt of the fur, which is pointy and surprisingly sharp when you're jamming it into your palm in an effort to force a fit.
Since Attlus us using Bodvar as a mount, it wouldn't do for them to just be a plain bear; that means the figure is wearing
a saddle and harness. The saddle of course has a seat where the rider can sit, and a large strap that runs under the bear's body, and it's sculpted with several layers of furs and blankets between the body and the actual saddle. Thinner straps connect the saddle contraption to a collar that fits around the bear's neck, sculpted with a nice leather texture. The reins are a real metal chain, because anything else would be too dainty for the barbarian king to use on his riding-bear.
Bodvar is articulated at the feet, elbows, shoulders, knees, hips, waist, neck, head, and tail, and all of those are either
swivel/hinge joints or large barbells. In order to have the best possible range of motion, the neck needs to sit pretty far away from the body; so we don't have to look at an ugly exposed post, there are two free-floating rings of fur that sit between the neck and body, shifting around as needed when you move the head around. The only thing the neck can't do is bend a full 90° to allow Bodvar to look straight down.
To allow Bodvar to look straight down, the set includes a second neck. This one is sculpted with a full bend, and doesn't need the fur rings to conceal it. Either of the heads can fit on it, naturally, but why
would you want to? Why would you want to have Bodvar looking straight down at the bround? Well, you wouldn't - but remember, this is a bear, and it has large ball-and-socket hip joints, meaning that, just like a real bear, this one can stand up entirely on their rear legs. This second neck isn't for looking at the ground, it's for looking straight ahead when vertical!
That's even more impressive than it sounds. Remember, Mythic Legions is done in a unique "6.75-inch" scale that doesn't really fit with most toylines, and the bear is perfectly in scale with the humans. And thus, when standing on its back legs, the toy ends up a good 13" tall! Seriously, I happened to have the old movie rotocast Hulk handy at the time this figure arrived, and Vertical Bodvar is as tall as that Hulk! The set even includes alternate front paws, posed at a slightly different angle to make them look like they're swiping.
I didn't buy the "Attlus 2.0" that came out in this same series, because I already had the original, and although the new one
looks tons cooler, with a lot more detail and accessories than before, I don't need two of him. Same goes for his evil counterpart, Skapular, who goes from simple Eastern knight to actual badass assassin. Badassassin. Updates are great, when you don't have the original, but Mythic Legions are too expensive to casually double-dip like you would, say, a $20 Spider-Man. Honestly, all those improved versions do is make me mad that I bought the earlier, inferior versions. Anyway, that's all just a long way of explaining why we don't have our own photo of Attlus riding Bodvar. Good thing the Four Horsemen and Trevor Williams have us covered.
Of course, anyone would look awesome riding a bear, so just because Series 1 Attlus isn't as good as "Rising Sons" Attlus, it doesn't mean those of us with only the original version will be missing out entirely. Even if you don't have either of them - even if you don't have any Mythic Legions at all - Bodvar is a great toy, and if nothing else can join some of your other action figure animals in your own private zoo.
-- 04/04/26
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