Skeleton Warriors was a blink-and-you-missed-it franchise from the mid ’90s that only managed to get one wave of Playmates figures before having the plug pulled. With five villains from the Skeleton Legion and three heroes from the Legion of Light, Skeleton Warriors delivered the goods for horror collectors looking for a fix. The skeletons were great! The heroes? Not so much.
Had the line continued, a second wave shown off at Toy Fair would have leaned into that even further. Five more skeletons with even more imaginative designs never managed to make it to production. Now that’s about to change as two of those unreleased figures are being brought to life.
If you’d have told me a month ago that a toy company would be rebooting Skeleton Warriors thirty years later, I would have assumed that toy company was Playmates. After losing the TMNT license, it would have made perfect sense for them to resurrect a franchise from their past. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us), Four Horsemen Studios announced recently that they were rebooting the franchise as part of their Infinite Legions line.
If you’re familiar with Four Horsemen’s work, your reaction to the news of them relaunching the Skeleton Warriors line is probably: Well, that makes sense. There’s no one on the market that’s making better skeleton figures than The Horsemen. Then you watch the documentary on the development of this line, and you realize how much of an influence Skeleton Warriors had on Four Horsemen Studios. This line is a bit of a full circle moment for the creators, and that passion shines through in the first four figures currently up for preorder.
Dr. Cyborn
Dr. Cyborn looks like he’s a pop and swap creation thrown together from a handful of Mythic and Cosmic Legions. His accuracy to the original design speaks to how much Skeleton Warriors influenced Four Horsemen Studios. It’s already in their DNA. The fact they’re doing the figures means we’re in for something special should we get to them creating original characters.
Aracula
Had I not known this was a Skeleton Warriors, I would have just assumed someone cobbled this together as a custom Mythic Legion. Aracula comes with six arms and a slighter bigger price tag as the lines only deluxe figure. With an imposing shelf presence and vac-metal armor pieces, he’s bound to stand out in your collection.
Bone-Zai
This is right in The Horsemen’s wheelhouse. You can see the lessons learned from figures like Sun Wu Kong and Ganesha; Bone-Zai steals the show for Wave 1. A skeleton samurai with Fu Manchu tusks? I didn’t know I needed it, and now somehow I absolutely have to have it. Bright and colourful appeared to be the theme of the ill-fated second wave. Bone-Zai delivers in that department. An absolutely gorgeous figure that immediately captures the imagination.
Claw
There’s always a Ringo… and if you’re a Ringo fan, Peace and Love.
Claw has… a mechanical Claw. In the Skeleton Warriors cartoon, he was supposed to be a Werewolf Skeleton? I don’t know, but if The Horsemen were looking to spice up any of the original designs, Claw could have benefitted from a bit more Werewolf and a little less mechanical claw. It’s not a bad figure at all, but if I could only afford three, Claw ain’t getting added to my cart
You can preorder each figure individually or get an All In pack with all four figures from Wave 1. While I never had Skeleton Warriors as a kid, these are tough to turn down. I don’t know if I’ll need any of the Legion of Light if they get there, but I could see being all in on undead Skeleton Warriors. Get your preorder in by August 23 to lock in discount pricing.
