Dark Warriors of the Grocery Store

I briefly contemplated posting the stuff I got during my Australia/New Zealand trip in the order I got them, but then I decided that some stuff is too cool to wait.  Case in point: Darkness Warrior!

I found these guys in a grocery store in Auckland, New Zealand.  They're intended to be cheap toys (and they are), and their packaging is hilariously unimpressive.  Made by "homeliving", these seem to come from a company that makes all sorts of easy, impulse-buy ready products to add on to your average grocery store aisle.  I can't say for sure, but I bet they also make scrubbing brushes, bendy straws, those plastic lids to reseal tin cans, and the like.  And apparently someone at that company said they also needed some Darkness Warriors, but that's okay!  I'm glad they did, because it doesn't take too long to realize that these simple figures are actually pretty awesome.

I'm not sure if these molds have been recycled from other toy lines, but it wouldn't surprise me (maybe Chap Mei or something).  The sculpts are pretty simple, but they're effective.  They have your basic five points of articulation at the neck, shoulders, and hips, and they all come equipped for battle.  Their paint-jobs are simple as well (just metallic colored paint washed over black plastic), but it gives them a glowing, power-from-within-the-darkness kind of feel.  Or iridescence.  I've always appreciated some nice iridescence.  The heads, arms, and legs are made of a softer plastic, so they can grip their weapons tightly without you having to worry about breaking their thumbs off.  Oh yeah!  They're also in the 3.75" scale, which in my opinion is the ideal toy size.

The Darkness Warriors have no names, no backstory, nothing but your imagination to give them something to do.  I took the basic route and named them Darkness Warrior Knight (the green one), Darkness Warrior Viking (this blue one), and Darkness Warrior Skeleton (the, uh, skeleton).  I think the Viking is my favorite.  His proportions are probably the weirdest of the three, but they do add to his beefy barbarian look.  He's got a massive golden axe that nicely compliments his blue and black paint scheme, and speaking of paint, mine has a neat quirk:  See how there's a little bit of blue paint in the left-hand corner of his visor?  It looks like he's got one eye glowing through the inside of his helmet!  He's either got some battle scarring under there and is missing an eye, or it's just a stylish effect.  Either way, it's another little something for my imagination to grab hold of and play with.

I was originally only going to get one Darkness Warrior (we were supposed to be shopping for food, after all) and if I had only gotten one, it would have probably been the Skeleton.  I'm glad I caved in and bought all three, because they each compliment each other so well (and the Viking ended up being my favorite).  The Skeleton is appropriately smaller than the other two figures, but he's also the only one that comes with two accessories (a scythe, and a big shield to protect his bony body).  Despite their grim appearances, I can't help thinking of the Darkness Warriors as heroes.  I've always been fond of the good-guys-that-look-like-bad-guys, and I can see these three as heroes that come from the darkness to battle some kind of all-powerful evil, then fading back into the shadows when their task is complete.  That's just me, of course, they'd easily serve as villains as well.  You could have the Knight and Viking battling hordes of skeleton legionaries, or you could just have them all trying to kill each other.  It's all good.  They're a free-for-all for the imagination, and I love that kind of stuff!

I don't know how hard these guys will be to come by.  I had to go to the other side of the world to find them, but they could easily show up in any grocery or dollar store.  I also don't know if there are more than three to be found, but you can bet I'd have gotten them if I could.  Homeliving's motto is "if you need it, we've got it".  Well, apparently I needed some Darkness Warriors!