Seventh Kingdom Anitherian Nine
The Seventh Kingdom is the name of a line of exclusive figures conceived of, designed, and produced by the Four Horsemen as part of their FANtastic Exclusive initiative. Essentially, the 4H dream up some cool characters and inventive fantasy worlds then poll fans to see which of their musings they’d most like to see done up in action figure form. The latest of these FANtastic figs are the Anitherian Nine of the Seventh Kingdom. These huge anthropomorphic animal warriors are freakin’ amazing! If you’re a fan of superarticulated action figures, then you really need to check these guys out!
GAUNTLET OF VASKKH
The first of these figs that I’ve been able to get my hands on is the ActionFigureExpress exclusive Gauntlet of Vaskkh. He’s basically a big rhino bad-ass in ceremonial armor. How can you not love that?!Sculpt & Detail - There’s too much to say about the detail on these figures. The sculpt is amazing. I tried to capture it in the pics but it doesn’t show through as well as he looks in hand. The little grooves and lines of his hide and skin are amazing. His head is mind-blowing with his little glossy “weary” eyes and his deep wet nostrils and the little scar in his left ear… and that’s not to mention all the pips and diamonds and rivets and segments on his armor pieces! And the paint apps totally do the sculpt justice. The armor features eight or nine different colors on the various segments and belts and pads and medallions. It’s incredible! And he gets a light brownish dry brush over his hide to pull out the details there and make him look a little dirty and weathered. Really amazing looking figure.
Articulation - w00t! Here’s where I get REALLY excited. These 7K figs get Marvel Legends style treatment in the artic department. Ball shoulders and hips, hinge and twist wrists, a ball joint at mid torso along with a waist swivel, single elbows and knees, and hinge ankles with side-to-side pivot. Plus, his head is double-ball jointed, like a barbell connecting into the bottom of the head on one end and the top of the neck on the other. It allows him to really cock his head around and adds a lot of “character” to his posing. Outstanding!
Accessories - Vaskkh comes with two big axes/hatchets that he holds really well. They also fit into a carrier on his back, which is a neat bonus.
Quality/Value - The only place he gets negative marks is in his quality. That isn’t to say he isn’t made of solid plastic - it’s very sturdy and thick. Almost like SOTA Street Fighter figs, if you’ve ever handled those. But… Vaskkh in particular suffers from major loose jointage. He’s so floppy in the hips and ankles that it’s a real struggle to stand him up. This isn’t problematic for the entire line, though. The 4H had trouble with the Chinese factory that manufactured the line and Vaskkh (and the green mutant) were the only ones to make it out of the “bad” factory and they suffered from loose joints. The other figures were produced in a new factory and I haven’t heard of them having any quality problems at all.
As far as value goes, these things run about 25-30 bucks each, depending on where you find them. I’d say they’re worth the money, but I can understand how the price tag would be off-putting to the casual collector. You can find Vaskkh at BBTS.com or at ShopAFX.com.
CLUB OF THRAUGNN
The Club of Thraugnn is the TheFwoosh.com exclusive red elephant. Like the rhino above he uses the same body and armor sculpt as the other figures in this series. The paint job, though, does plenty to distinguish one animal from the next.
The red elephant gets hooked up with the same accoutrements as the other elephants - a removable helm, a mace, and a cool spear. He also has larger, more elaborate shoulder armor pieces than the rhino. He lacks the hip guards and wrap-around rear belt piece that the rhino has, though, and there’s a noticeable hole on the back of him where that piece would have attached. Kind of a bummer that he didn’t get that additional little armor sash. But it doesn’t really do much to detract from the figure’s overall aesthetic.
The quality on my red elephant is solid. His paints are great - no slop anywhere - and his joints are all tight and well-fitted. He holds his weapons well and poses really nicely. At 25 bucks, he’s a pricey fig, but I’m pretty satisfied with my purchase.
HELM OF XAANM
The Warthog is the BBTS exclusive and gets hooked up with a pole-axe and a cool bladed spear type weapon. His color scheme and the sculpt of the warthog head make him my fave of the bunch. Scope the pics!
THE ANITHERIAN NINE
I’m going to try to get a few more of these, but being that they’re all exclusives and run 30 bucks a pop, don’t expect too much out of me!
Tags: anitherian nine, fantastic exclusive, four horsemen, seventh kingdom
Hey man, nice site!
As for your Gauntlet of Vaskkh, did you end up with the defective first run (the first series was cursed with insanely loose joints)? If you did, I would suggest contacting the Horsemen directly, as they have been handling replacement figures. If you’re unsure, I would contact AFX or whomever you bought it from.
The newer figures definitely have tighter joints, but they will still tend to have trouble standing without assistance, just because they’re so friggin’ heavy.