With MCFARLANE'S FANTASY: LEGEND OF THE BLADEHUNTERS, I find two of my favorite offerings from McFarlane this year, and two of my least, in terms of "been there, done that."

Seemingly paring off of the success of McFarlane’s multiple Dragon offerings comes something of a bridge line, where the Dragon mythos gives way to a broader fantasy bent, complete with half human characters and full-on creatures with a direct correlation to the generally accepted fabric of Western mythology, that of the ogre (as well as goblins and griffins in series 2).

Both dragons in this series fair about as well as past dragon sculpts in that they're suitably scaly and fierce. However, and most notably with ETERNAL DRAGON , I feel we've already seen these dragons in some iteration. They are by no means bad sculpts, but I feel they don't really belong in the same line as TYR (DRAGON RIDER) and the OGRE.

Still, most collectors, like myself, are completist, so picking up the set of four figures is pretty much a given.

Now, as mentioned before, both Tyr and Ogre are flat out fantastic sculpts. From the sly menace on Tyr's face to his hooves, he easily fits into the broad pantheon of McFarlane's fantasy lines.

The same goes for Ogre, who carries enough minute details and overall heft to make him a perfect stand alone figure or, if you are so inclined, an army builder. That he comes with a removable mask seemingly fashioned out of human skin, gives him (or them) multiple options in terms of looks.

Both Tyr and Ogre surprised me in their cleverly concealed articulation; there is JUST enough range of movement on both figures to actually consider them more than just plastic statues.

This line a line I am very excited about. Series two looks to be shaping up to be a complete home-run and from the preliminary shots (available now at spawn.com) even more articulation is being added.

Look for my review of Warriors of the Zodiac, series 1 in a couple of days.

Till them, happy hunting.

click on any image for high resolution