I was out doing some shopping today since I have the week off for vacation (yay vacation!
) and I hit a couple of big scores. I was at the local TrU and came across something I couldn't pass up: Xoromon the Scorpion Knight.
He hails from Schleich's Eldrador fantasy line, which is mainly about two rival kingdoms (the dragon knights and the griffin knights), but Xoromon himself is basically a wild card with no specific affiliation. He's an expert in poisons and presumably could fight for any side that wants to hire him, since nobody would want to argue with a giant scorpion.
The scorpion is pretty nicely detailed and has a fully articulated tail which can be positioned in a variety of ways. The claws are also articulated and can open (but have no way of staying open unfortunately) and can be rotated.
Xoromon himself doesn't offer much in the way of articulation, which is typical of Schleich knights. He can't stand all that well because he's molded in the riding position, but I think the amount of detailing and the paintwork is easily nice enough to make up for it. Both figures look pretty good, and although they're a bit pricy (mine cost about $50) they're a nice option if you've always wanted a badass giant scorpion rider in your collection.
I also picked up the complete Minicomic Collection for MOTU. For those of us who had the fun of growing up in the glorious '80s, MOTU was one of several major toylines that had very detailed minicomics packed in with figures and vehicles, and this book includes literally every comic made from the original line all the way up through some of the 2003 series comics. This includes the She-Ra minicomics, the ones from the 1990s series (which to their credit, are much closer in tone to the original 1980s comics and less like the cartoon's silly aspects), and some of the more unusual very early He-Man comics before some of the major elements were added in.
It also includes some interviews with the designers, artists, writers and others who helped to create the MOTU universe and define some of the traits that became iconic. It was first published in October and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves MOTU and/or fantasy comics in general.
