I can still remember how blown away I was when I got Storm Collectibles’ Ax Battler and the Red Dragon Mount figures in my hands. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever get action figures based on one of my favorite SEGA games, let alone anything so nice. And I sure as hell didn’t dare hope that they would spin it into an entire line of figures that just keeps on going. Not long ago pre-orders dropped for the Bad Brothers, and today for Heninger and Long Moan. So, it’s long overdue that I wrap up my look at the three playable characters of Golden Axe with the mighty Dwarf Gilius and his Chickenleg Mount!

Gilius has been with me for a little while now, but it’s been a struggle to find enough time to sit down and do him proper justice. To be fair, I rarely ever play as Gilius in the game. Instead I tend to alternate between the brute force of Ax Battler or the nimble magic of Tyris Flare. But I was still super excited to get his figure in hand. The packaging is the same style window box we saw with the other two characters, but the quality of the cardboard doesn’t seem as flimsy as that initial Ax Battler release. The window allows you a good look at Gilius, with Chickenleg on a plastic tray behind him. I removed Chickenleg’s back tray for the packaged shot to better show the character select graphic printed behind the tray. Let’s drop in a quarter and get started!

Here’s Gilius out of the box and ready for action! He may be a Dwarf, but he is still a very substantial figure. He’s also wearing more clothes than either of his peers, and that’s probably a good thing. The green tunic is cast in soft plastic and features a coarse texture and ragged cut edges along the arm holes and the skirt. It’s cinched around his waist with a black sculpted belt and a gold belt buckle. And if I squint a little bit, I can imagine the belt buckle is a “G” for Gilius… but not really. The outfit is rounded out by a pair of brown boots and white wrist wrappings. And while Gilius doesn’t show as much skin as Ax Battler or Tyris, you still get plenty of burly muscles on display in his bare arms and legs. This guy looks like a powerhouse!

Once again, you get two head sculpts to choose from, although I hope you like your Dwarves pissed off , because that’s the expression you get with both of them! Both are excellent sculpts, with the first one conveying an “I’m determined to kick every ass in this game with just one credit” expression and boy is it bone chilling! This is by far the best portrait of the three warriors and it just oozes character and personality. The contours of the face are wonderfully realized and the detail in the sculpted beard is just phenomenal. Gilius’ horned skull cap features some nice silver dry brushing to give the green paint a weathered look, and the horns are given a metallic silver sheen.

The second portrait really is more of the same, only this time his teeth are bared a little, which I think makes this the head to go for when posing him in the heat of battle. There is, unfortunately, a little dribble of silver paint on this head’s helmet, just above his right eyebrow. It’s not cataclysmic, but I will try to remove it.

The articulation shares most of the same points as the other two heroes. You get a wonderful range of motion in those double-hinged knees and elbows, swivels in the biceps, and the hinges in his feet. I’m not sure what’s buried under the soft plastic of the tunic, but most of the articulation in his torso seems to come from a ball joint in the waist. Despite his stout stature, Gilius is just as much fun to play around with as the other figures. You get a total of three sets of hands with the figure: A pair of fists, a pair of clutching hands, and a pair of weapon-holding hands.

Gilius comes with one accessory, and that’s his trusty Battleax! It’s a no-nonsense chopper and yet it still makes for a beautiful double-bladed weapon with a satin-silver finish, and some scrapes and nicks to the blade. The holding-hands do a great job of clutching it tightly, so he can wield it one-handed or with both and cut a swath through the legions of Skeleton Warriors that I have been amassing! OK, now let’s have a look at Chickenleg!

Of course, only his friends call him that! Technically this weirdo is a pink-purplish Cockatrice, or Biblical chicken-dragon if you prefer, and if you know your way around SEGA coin-ops you may have first met him in Altered Beast. While I love the Dragon Mounts, Chickenleg is the one I tend to associate with the game the most. That’s probably because back when I was a noob, I got to ride him the most as he appears early on in the first level. I also quickly learned the fine art of tail-slap-spamming to juggle The Bad Brothers to defeat.

And Storm surely did Chickenleg proud with this figure! The sculpt is just beautiful from the poultry-like bumps of his skin to the feathered flame-like tip of his tail. His beautiful beaked maw is stuck in a permanent open position, flashing his tongue, but he has plenty of articulation in his legs, starting at the body and working down to the single talons he has for toes. His tail swivels so it can be made to drag on the floor, or rear up for a downward slap. It helps to balance him, although he is capable of standing up on his feet without the tail support.

Naturally, Chickenleg comes with a saddle for Gilius, or any of the other players, to ride him. Chickenleg doesn’t have stirrups or reins like the Dragons, but he does have horns coming off his saddle, which can be held by the hero riding him. I didn’t have any problems with him falling off, and he looks great in the saddle!

And here are some shots of Ax Battler and Tyris riding Chickenleg too!

And Gilius can also mount either of the Dragons perfectly fine, so long as you don’t want his legs to reach the stirrups!

It’s funny, but while Gilius is the character I select the least often in the game, I think his figure may be my favorite of this trio. Sure, it’s tough to choose as they are all great, but I had a hell of a lot of fun playing around with Gilius and I think Storm outdid themselves with this sculpt! And even now that I’ve given each the spotlight and put them on the shelf along with all the skeletons and Death Adder and Death Adder Jr, it’s still hard for me to believe that these are real. Even if Storm stops the line now, I’d be more than content with this marvelous plastic pixel bounty, but as long as they keep going, I’ll continue to be All In!