THE ORDER 1886 - THE ENDLESS DUEL

 By now is hard to belive there was a time where almost every game came with an Special or Collectors Edition packed with pretty cool items as well as high end figures just for $30 or $50 extra over the base game price. Rigth nos Special Editions are not that common and they cost the same as a PS5 console (and they comes with more digital content than physical items).....that was the golden age of Special Editions and those who lived them we manage to get a very impresive collection of big and really spectacular statues: Uncharted, Injustuce, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat, Batman, Aliens, Assassins Creed, Metal Gear Solid...

That era tough was still kicking in at the begining of the Playstation 4 life span soo we still got some really nice stuff, like The Order 1886 Deluxe Edition. The game itself was a kind of short affair that felt more like a movie with QTE than an actual game, very fun to look at thanks to very high production values but pretty forgettable to play with but Sony really belived on the project as the first exclusive for the Playstation 4 and give is not one, but two special editions: one was the Collectors Edition with a Grayson taking cover in some rubbles statue and the other one was the Deluxe Edition, more expensive and containing "The Endless Duel" statue.

The Endess Duel, a pretty fancy title for a figure that sound more like an art piece for a museum, but this figure is actually an art piece manufactured by Pure Arts, a brand that release very VERY expensive high end statues and 1/1 scale busts. I love theyr work and i never managed to afford one of theyr products except this figure and i am still surprised Sony commisioned them for an item of a Special Edition.

A battle scene between Grayson and a Lycan, this are two characters with a small piece of diorama that, going against al logic, stand itself pretty perfectly. The square base is really thuck and VERY heavy, soo despite Grayson being almost levitating at the side of everything, the base keep the whole scene in perfect balance and yes, a strong hit could detach Grayson from the base but soo far, after 8 years he his only connected leg to the base has resisted the time and keep him in position perfectly. This is testament of the high quality materials used here.

Where to start here? The whole scene is pretty good looking with Sir Galahad jumping backwards while aiming his weapon directly to the lycan, while the monster is launching himself agains Sir Galahad, read to cut him in half with his sharp claws while destroying a railing in the pricess as well as the floor with his weigth.

Theres no front side of back side here, every point of view reveals new details and every side you display shows an specuacular scene, being focused on Grayson or the Lycan attack. Is pretty rare to see a figure with no blind side tough, with soo many multiple display options and that needs an extremelly prices planing from the artists behind it. While the point of view wont be an issue to display this, the size will be....this statue is HUGE. The Lycan himself is the same size of a Hot Toys or Sideshow figure, plus his extended arm and the whole base and Grayson....this figure takes a whole lot of vertical and horizontal space.

The tiles of the base are perfectly sculpted, mixed with some broken tiles form the Lycan feet as well as wooden pieces  from the rail but the paint is also really perfect, with a pretty fot blue and white, the tiles but nly are full of scartches but they looks really really dirty with some yellows mixing with the white, they have an extremelly realistic floor look and the sides of the base is not just plastic either, but it have a cement texture in the four sides that flows perfectly with wath we see under the tiles.

The wodden rail is also perfectl, projecting the broken pieces with the power of the Lycan movement, not only the sculpt of the columns is really exquisite and the texture is realistic, but the paint in the broken sections also helps to make everything looks much more natural.

Sir Galahad is really handsome, with the material used for his skin having a soft transparency and texture that looks like real skin, while his mustache, sideburns and lips carefully painted as well as his yellow eyes. Theres not much of an expression on his face tough and thats weird given the intensity of the scene, but he is really good looking.

His uniform is also really good looking with the metalic chest plate having a tiny little red cross n the center. I emand, even the small buttons on his jacket are both sculpted and painted perfectly as well as the lions motif on his shoulders and other different ornaments on his complex outfit, most parts are sculpted on blue and brown plastic soo everything looks pretty clean and this lets each detail stand out nicelly.

His back side is really spectacular looking too with leather belts and straps and some red mottifs with golden ornaments but also theres a small dagger and a granade that can be detached from his belts. Sadlly, he cant exchange them for his main weapon, but is a nice detail to be able to detach this small weapons and see how perfect is theyr sculpt from every side as well as the paint.

And for me, the Lycan is really the central star here and is really beautifully horrible and disturbing. The face expression full of fury with the protunding yellow fangs is amazing but even more amazing sre the little wrinkles that forms around the muscles of hus jaw, checkbones, forehead, nose and the texture of almost rott meat on bis skin, the veins under his almost rransparent skin, a mastefull mix of sculpt and paint, the looks of this creature is terrifiying natural and realistic.

The whole body matches the quality of his fac as well since you can see the muscle structure barelly covered by very tigth skin, with the veins sculpted on his arms and legs as well as the bony structure on his hips and center of the abdomen, revealing a canin physical structure mixed with human features. Theres some flap and soft skin here and there mixing with some hairy sections.

For a werewolf he is not that hairy but he matches perfectly the concept of one of this crature: a fusion between beats and human that is not one or the other but something totally inuque, a monster, an aberration. The cool and very sharp claws as well as the big animal feet are deffinetly my favorite part, but the whole image is acentuated by the spray f blood coming from his mouth, driping on his shoulder as well as covering his claws, a pretty intense and vibrant red that stand out agains his brownish skin.

Some brown sections may need a softer transition, but over all the whole production of the lycan is pretty amazing with soo many different colors here, some browns, some grey, even some purple in the articulations mix to create a pretty unique skin look that almost looks like a corpse.

Again, i am pretty impresed Sony added this figure to the game since, sold as a stand alone figure from Pure Arts site this figure would cost a fortune and theres no way to complaing, since every part of this figure matches a 3 numbers price perfectly.

This is one of the most spectacular examples of the golden age of videogames collectors edition and while no one remember this game anymore, this peice is excelent for any horro themed display thanks to the powerfull scene it shows as well as his trully menacing and firghtning this lupin monster is.