Rumored to have been bewitched long ago, stories of strange happenings and distant voices on the air have long been told in Sleepy Hollow. The most dominant spirt that haunts this enchanted region is that of a headless, cloaked rider atop a great black steed – the Headless Horseman. Said to be the restless ghost of a Hessian Trooper who lost his head to a cannonball during some long-forgotten battle of the Revolutionary War, the Headless Horseman rides forth on the blackest of nights, desperately searching for his lost head. Any who are unfortunate enough to meet the Galloping Hessian on his ride are never to be seen again, the only proof of their encounter with the dread apparition being the shattered remains of the jack-o-lantern he often uses in place of his lost head
Thats how Four Horsemen introduce the second piece of theyr Figura Obscura collection. Yes, Four Horsemen....weird name, but is in fact a studio thats has been around for more than 20 years producing figures for different brand and creating theyr own for theyr Mythic Legion series, creating a big following of collectors over the years tough i never got any of theyr products, a few years ago they started theyr Figura Obscura collection, focusing on characters for the holidays.
A pretty strange concept that allows them to create some really unique figures no other studios produce and theyr second Figura Obscura was focused on Halloween - the best festivity of the year - and used one of the most iconic character of the sesons: the Headless Horseman. While the Tim Burton movie is one of my favorites, wath made this ghost soo iconic was the Disney animated movie from 1949, a movie that was seen every single year on Halloween season for many generations, fusing "Halloween" and "Sleepy Hollow" into a single concept.
The first time i saw this figure i was blown away, and it looked way too good to be real, one of those figures that make real a child dream in the most perfect way. It was pretty expensive and it sold out pretty quickly but Four Horsemen finally released a second version of this figure and i knew this was the only chance i would ever have to add him to my collection and i really dont regret nothing, since even the glow in the dark box full of amazing artwork make this figure worth the price.
The Horseman is in the standar scale of McFarlane and NECA soo he will fit with most modern action figures perfectly tough with no head, he looks a little bit smaller than the rest of the figures but that can be fixed once he find a suitable head. He is articulated on the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and ankles. All of them are ball joints soo they have a descent range of movement only limited by the sculpt: the shoulders dosnt go up too much and he only have a single joint on the elbows and the leg armor block his ankles movement a little bit as well.
Even with that, his articulation is good and manage to reproduce a handfull of poses with some patience. He cna stand in his own, in theory, since his feet are large enough but his legs artciulations are a little lose, thanks to all that horse riding!!!Soo make him stand is a little tricky at times and this is the only issue i have with the figure.
It seems Four Horusemen figures have a modular build since it seems they are made of peices of previews figures: the chest area is from "insert name of figure A" and the leg armor from "figure B", etc...i guess thats only important for those who collect Mytic Legions tough but i am impressed they build this figure using other figures pieces.
The torso piece have a pretty soft leatherish texture thats only visible up at very close look, and the metalic studs gives it a pretty medieval look (a hint this is build over a sword and sorcery figure), the gloves also share the same leather texture while the pants and sleeves have a cotton texture thats more evident that the leather one. All the wrinkles are pretty natural looking and both the end of the chest piece as well as the belts over them are made with soft plastic, soo he legs can be moved and the belts can be adjusted. Also the little begs and the design of the buckle are pretty cool looking.
The armor in the legs looks like something out of The Lord of the Rings, but somehow it suits the overall look of the character. The neck collar is huge and share the leather texture and the scarf in front really add the touch of the 1800s era.
The leg armor have a very good loking metalic grey paint while the pants and inner shirt are black, with some darker tones here and there to give deep to the wrinkles and make them more natural. The shoes, glvoes and chest piece are purple with some metalic grey on the studs and is in here the first difference with the first edition: the first edition of this figure was totally dressed in black and to be honest, i like this much more since the details can be seen much better and looks more regal.
His cape is made with with real fabric, cottong actually, a very thick cotton since it have two layers, ablack for the ourside and an orange for the inside. The tailoring is really exquisite and the cape is long enough to cover the whole Horeman and cover some ground around him. It have two metalic pics on the side and a chain to adjust on his neck, a real metalic chain.
The Horseman neck piece can be removed with a peg in the base of his back soo the cape can be put on his shoulders, then reattach the neck piece and the scarf and neck piece keep the cape in place. Is a pretty simple design but really effective since the cape stay in place perfectly.
And here is the second difference with the original release: the original version ave a red cape while this one is orange, also the original version have a wire soo it can be posed, while this one dont have it. But i dont think the wire is needed anyway, sicne the material of the cape is thick and pretty solid, soo it stays in shape most of the time and makes posing him more easy.
His accesorys are 3 sets of hands: open hands, hands to hold his weapon and an open palm to hold his pimpkin. The hands sculpt and paints are really good and can be switch pretty easy while the open palm comes with a black cone thingy with a ball on the top. The pummpkins can be put in there since the ball woorks like a ball joint soo the pumpkings dosnt fall over and can be moved to any angle posible. Also since this little cone thingy is black, is invisible to the eye!!! I love this!!!
His other accesory is his sword, the weapon he use to behead anyone on his way. The sword design is very generic and dosnt have anything speciall beyonf the black handle and silver blade. it fits perfectly on his hands and also in the belt on the Horseman belt, tough in here the sword really gets in the way of the cape, and makes him stand almost imposible.
Another accesory is his cut neck....a circular thin piece with a peg in one side and and ham on the other side. The peg can be inserted in a hole on his neck and the ham is in fact....the inside of his neck. Lots of meat and muscles, woth his closed troath and a circular ring that is in fact, his spinal cord. The paint is excelent...is not bloody, but pink and that makes it even more disgusting. Theres black in the identations soo the details of the muscular structure pop up even more.
This "cut neck" can be switched for another black cone with a ball on top that works like a neck for his pumpkins. This lets them be moved pretty good and since the items is totally black is, again, totally invisible to the eye!!
And like i mentioned earlyer, punpkins!! He comes with two pumpkins that can be attached to the ball joint on his open palm or the ball joint of the neck soo they can act as his head. And extremelly traditional Halloween pumpkin and the most permanent icon of Halloween, with the carved eyes and the big smile with pointy fangs the shape and texture are perfect as well as the orange paint with some brown in the identations and in the inside theres a ghostly texture that looks like flame, or supernatual ligth.
The second pumpkin is the same, except it have green flames coming out of his eyes as well as a huge glame curling behind it, this are made with tralsucent plastic in a venomus green that looks really supernatural and ghostly!! And this is another difference with the original release: the original one had yellow flames and inside, while this ones are green but also, they glow in the dark!!!
The box of this guy is pretty huge and heavy because a Horseman is not a horseman with no horse, soo theres a second figure in here: the black steed!! Thise horse is really big given the scale, and really impresive since standar action figure reach to his back soo he is a full head taller. He can stand on his own.....as long as he have his 4 legs on the floor thats it soo if you want to pose him runing, you need an incrediblly strong base and given his body shape, find a suitable base is a HUGE challengue.
He is articulated on the head, the base of his neck, his front legs, elbows and hooves, the back legs, knees (???) and hooves as well as his tail. The head cna be moved up and down only a little bit and the base of the neck also moves up and down but also to the sides, but not much, this two sections are pretty limited.
His front legs have a pretty standar one direction joints, soo he can move his legs front and back but cant open them and the hooves also only move up and down since the hair really limits them. The back legs tough have a giant ball joint, soo they have a huge range of movement and can be opened, to help standing i guess and gives him stability. The rest of the legs have the same range of movement of the front legs and the tail have a ball joint that make this the most articulated part of the whole figure.
This is the very first time i have the figure of a horse....soo i am not sure how to name each part (specially in english) and pose him is actually quiet a challengue given i am not well informed of horse anatomy or how his legs move soo i had to use anatomy charts to find out how to pose the legs to make them looks like he is runing or walking, and actually even with those guides its not easy at all.
The sculpt is really nice, with all the muscles of the nimal quiet visible, as well as veins on some of them and a very soft fur texture thats quiet difficult to see from a distance, its an extremelly realistic horse and i specially love the amazing and wild hair at the end of his legs and just covering his hooves, is really spectacular.
The face have a very fierce expression, with his nostril and mouth fully open. Actually, his huge protunding teeth in contrast with his tiny eyes is wath makes him looks very beastly and both the hair and the tail have a very nice hair sculpt, tough most f the detailing is on the saddle.
The whole saddle is build with different peices made of soft plastic and my guess is that it can be removed completelly. The attention to details here is amazing, since the girth even have some lamb skin around it soo the horse stomach is not damaged. The seat have a pretty impresive leather texture and this time is pretty evident from the distant. The skirt have a cotton texture and all the straos and belts are really really realistic. Also theres even a rolled cloth behind the cantle soo the hessian can camp.
The bridle is also made with soft plastic, the noseband, the brownband and the head piece are removable as well and they are painted in brown with lots of silver details in the buckles or the union sections. The seat also comes in a pretty greysh black that makes it looks full of dirt and dust and all the belts around it have the same aged touch.
The whole body of the horse have no paint at all, just a velvetish black with some dark greens on his hair, tail and the hair close to his hooves. His nostrils are very black tough and the paint on his mouth is really good, the teeth looks weet and yellowish and his gums and tongue are pink and that makes a nice contrast with the rest of the black body.
And another contrast are his hooves and eyes and here is the last difference with the original release: the original ones had red eyes and hooves, while this guy has venomus green for his hooves and eyes and they glow in the dark as well in a very spectacular way!!!
The horse seems a little simplistic, but once in close inspection is very realistic and more tha enough for the Headless Horseman since his sword can be hold on the billet straps aroudn the saddle and munt the Horseman is pretty easy, his feet fits perfectly on the soft plastic stirrup and his hands also can hold perfectly the reins. The horse is of course strong enough to keep the Horseman riding him soo this two works wonderfull to display together.
And lastly, the amazing glow in the dark box can be open like a 3 sides screen to reveal a background for the Horseman. The background is pretty thick and sturdy and the quality fo the imrpession is top nothc. The artwork on it is amazing and shows a painting of Sleepy Hollow, the woods, the houses, a windmill on the background behind the river dark clowds in the sky with a huge moon at the center.
All painted in purples and intense greensm withs lots of shadows but also richnes of details and theres even cues to the animated Disney movie with a tree with a hole and two glowing eyes in the center. At the other side theres an incredibly eerie tree with a fanged mouth, a giant nose and two hollow eyes reflecting putrple and green shadows and ligths.
The ilustration is really spectacular and while its kinda dark, it makes the figures stand out perfectly and makes them look just in home.
As a kid, having a figure like this in my hands would have been a dream come true, Four Horsemen really nailed perfection in here, more in this second edition of the character since the glow in the dark effect and ghsotly green mottif really enhance the look of this evil spirit. Some joints are kinda lose and i wish they give a base to the horse, but aside of that this is pure perfection.
This was an expensive figure, but in the end i felt like a bargain given the high quality of it and the amazing display option it gives, a perfect manifestation of the true spirit of Halloween.
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