Four Horsemen Studios Mythic Legions

Holy crap, I went from no shipping info to my All Stars arriving TOMORROW. Psyched.
 
Damien said:
You can definitely have a good debate over what approach is better. I think people that defend the 'who cares, these figures are just meant to do your own thing with' are drastically under-estimating the power of franchises that are able to sell you on characters you don't care about the design of, because you care about the character. I've never bought a Luke Skywalker or even a Cobra Commander figure because I thought the figure itself just looked too awesome not to own. There's absolutely power in getting people to care about your characters.

On the other hand, that can absolutely be stifling and, weirdly, I've definitely spoken to people that don't feel right buying a 'bad guy' figure to put with their 'good guys' or whatever. So you can create arbitrary barriers by having lore that anyone actually cares about following.
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There's a massive difference between Star Wars character names and Mythic Legions, despite them both often being word and mouth puzzles. Star Wars, and most franchises, started as media. So of course you grow to like the characters, as the characters and their story is what they're selling. Merchandise is ancillary. Mythic Legions is the complete opposite. Started as a toyline, and the media is ancillary. It's fine if people really like the character text and comic book and whatever they've dripped out. Maybe some people need that kind of structure to like something. But I think it's a weird restriction people can put on themselves regarding what to like, as opposed to just getting something which appeals to you visually. Personally, I've only read a few Mythic Legions bios. If the story and world helps inspire the 4H with their creations, more power to them. I do like that waves are often themed even if only a few figures are visually linked together (ie a couple of vikings), so you can at least get a few figures in a wave to support each other. Overall, I just like the figures. The bios and story will never get me to buy a Mythic Legions figure I don't find visually appealing. Frankly I think that applies with all toylines.
 
Ashtalon said:
There's a massive difference between Star Wars character names and Mythic Legions, despite them both often being word and mouth puzzles. Star Wars, and most franchises, started as media. So of course you grow to like the characters, as the characters and their story is what they're selling. Merchandise is ancillary. Mythic Legions is the complete opposite. Started as a toyline, and the media is ancillary. It's fine if people really like the character text and comic book and whatever they've dripped out. Maybe some people need that kind of structure to like something. But I think it's a weird restriction people can put on themselves regarding what to like, as opposed to just getting something which appeals to you visually. Personally, I've only read a few Mythic Legions bios. If the story and world helps inspire the 4H with their creations, more power to them. I do like that waves are often themed even if only a few figures are visually linked together (ie a couple of vikings), so you can at least get a few figures in a wave to support each other. Overall, I just like the figures. The bios and story will never get me to buy a Mythic Legions figure I don't find visually appealing. Frankly I think that applies with all toylines.
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I agree that it's an arbitrary and entirely self-imposed wall on your imagination, and your collecting, to need or care about backstories for toys. But I also think there's some middle area, because I don't want to be a hypocrite on this: I've bought Joes solely because of a cool bio. G.I. Joe is actually a great example of a brand that straddles a lot of the lines we're talking about because it had media, but for at least the early part of its run it really was primarily a toyline sold through a little box of text on the card.

The cartoon only really existed because people liked the toys. And toys continued to sell themselves despite being characters/looks that never appeared in the comics or cartoons. A lot of that was thanks to Hama's incredible work.

So .. it's a grey area, I think. Stories for your toyline can be good and bad. I think generally they're a net positive, but only if you do them well. The 4H, however, I think have largely made a ridiculous storyline that barely anyone can follow and even fewer people actually care about.
 
docsilence said:
Holy crap, I went from no shipping info to my All Stars arriving TOMORROW. Psyched.
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Same here except my arrival date is Saturday. We’re both in Mass, right? Can’t wait for this wave.


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Akatsuki said:
Same here except my arrival date is Saturday. We’re both in Mass, right? Can’t wait for this wave.


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Yep! I'm up in Salem. IIRC we tend to get their stuff fast, that New Jersey to Mass pipeline working in our favor.

Damien said:
So .. it's a grey area, I think. Stories for your toyline can be good and bad. I think generally they're a net positive, but only if you do them well. The 4H, however, I think have largely made a ridiculous storyline that barely anyone can follow and even fewer people actually care about.
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Mythic Legions really is an odd case - so many of the toy lines we all collect had actual storytelling teams and production budgets put into them, yeah, as marketing, but at the time story was marketing and how they've got a bunch of 40-60 year old men buying He-Man and GI Joe and MASK not just because the toys were cool but because there is an emotional, visceral attachment to the toys. I almost look at Legions as art pieces instead of toys. And there are absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, "villains" in my Legions collection who are always gonna be heroes and "heroes" who will always be villains in my mind because there wasn't enough coherent, well-crafted story to convince me otherwise. So the whole collection is just vibes. Heck my favorite figures right now are generic bodies with a head swap to make them into something I want instead of something I bought.
 
Yeah I still think the Army of Leodyssus is suspect because they remind me of the Lannisters from
Game of Thrones.


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Damien said:
I agree that it's an arbitrary and entirely self-imposed wall on your imagination, and your collecting, to need or care about backstories for toys. But I also think there's some middle area, because I don't want to be a hypocrite on this: I've bought Joes solely because of a cool bio. G.I. Joe is actually a great example of a brand that straddles a lot of the lines we're talking about because it had media, but for at least the early part of its run it really was primarily a toyline sold through a little box of text on the card.

The cartoon only really existed because people liked the toys. And toys continued to sell themselves despite being characters/looks that never appeared in the comics or cartoons. A lot of that was thanks to Hama's incredible work.

So .. it's a grey area, I think. Stories for your toyline can be good and bad. I think generally they're a net positive, but only if you do them well. The 4H, however, I think have largely made a ridiculous storyline that barely anyone can follow and even fewer people actually care about.
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This. So much this. Stuff like GI Joe and MOTU the background for the characters really added to the world building.

I have only a few Legions, but the story is completely irrelevant to me. I buy the cool looking characters to have my Conan or other types fighting them, so I don't give a flip if the badass skeleton has a backstory. On my shelf he's a reanimated ghoul, brought back by dark sorcery, to prevent Conan from stealing a mystical artifact. I don't remotely need to know that the Vampire Knight is Bluddraynor the Bold or some shit, or that he is in some super feared clan of the undead...he's a scary looking dude for Red Sonja to decapitate!
 
TheGillMan said:
I have only a few Legions, but the story is completely irrelevant to me. I buy the cool looking characters to have my Conan or other types fighting them, so I don't give a flip if the badass skeleton has a backstory. On my shelf he's a reanimated ghoul, brought back by dark sorcery, to prevent Conan from stealing a mystical artifact. I don't remotely need to know that the Vampire Knight is Bluddraynor the Bold or some shit, or that he is in some super feared clan of the undead...he's a scary looking dude for Red Sonja to decapitate!
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I think what's interesting about this is that it means the success of these lines actually hinges on story and character connections; because you don't need Buddraynor the Bold if you don't already own and care about Conan. Ultimately, these ancillary lines can only exist because we have connections to characters that make us want to buy toys of them, even if the connection and characters isn't specifically about -these- figures.
 
Speaking of telling your own story with these figures - got my All Star wave figures today and while I love, and at times prefer, characters with decades of backstory (watch me never shut up in the Joes threads), the way these cipher characters with almost nothing to grasp but their look tell their own story really is Legions' greatest strength. I instantly hear Enoch trying to pass the torch as some sort of honored Templar Messenger when I see these two side by side. And there's this odd solemnity to Sir Andrew that, with his magic effects, makes me think of him as someone who should have been a magician's apprentice, but had to pick up the sword, and he's this stranger between two worlds, someone who can speak to the wizards of the world and all of this plate-wearing knights. Even the fact that he's got this brownish armor nobody else has makes him feel like a character whose story sits outside everyone else's and he's become an instant favorite of mine.

I know nothing about Sir Ignatius and I usually like characters with visible faces (SEE ABOVE) but I see this white-armored, faceless knight and instantly he's some kind of paladin version of Snake Eyes to me. Deadly, mute, honorable, but terrifying.

Glad I caved and got Enoch's horse from BBTS a few months back. I know they won't ship him for a couple of months, I assume, but I'm glad I reserved a copy that'll get here eventually. Old man needs his steed.
 
Yeah Sir Ignatius is still one of the coolest looking knights. I’m looking forward to Iosef because he has a similar Paladin white knight look.


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I have not bothered to read the bios or story to ANY of the figures I've gotten from these lines, or any of the 4H's previous lines, all inhabit the same world for me.
 
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