If you’ve gotten any of the figures from the Advent of Decay wave, you very likely came across three grey plastic bits that were included in the package. If you are new to the line you may have wondered, "what are these plastic pieces and how do you use them?" These are the “wing adapters” that allow you to add wings to the figures in the line.
Two Kinds of Wings
Before we dive into these wing adapters and how to use them, let’s cover one important note on the wings themselves. There are actually two versions of the wings. The first versions are the ones that came out a number of years ago along with our “Gothitroplis Ravens” figures. The pegs on these wings are small as they were meant to fit into the back ports on those birds figure. The second set of wings are the ones that are available currently, starting with the Advent of Decay wave. These feature larger pegs that are the same size as the ones used by the pauldron armor on all Mythic Legions figures. This is the size that will be used going forward. This applies to both the “feathered” wings and the “bone” wings. Knowing which version wings you have will determine which of the back adapters you will use. See the pic below comparing the version 1 and version 2 wing pegs. The gold wing on the left is the new style, while the white wing shows the smaller, older style peg.
Using the Adapters
Because the “new” wings use the same size peg as the pauldron armor does, they can plug directly into the holes in the shoulders of the figures, but if you do use those ports for wings you lose the ability to also utilize that shoulder armor. This is where the wing adapters definately come in handy. These adapters plug into the middle port on the back of the figures and they allow you to insert the wings into that piece instead of the shoulder ports so you can display the figures with both wings and armor. There are two of these parts in each package. If you look closely, you will notice that the holes in them are different (see first pic below). The one with ‘small’ holes is compatible with the original wings. The adapter with the larger holes is for the new wings. So each figure comes with 2 wing adapters, one for the old style wings and one for the new style.
It is also worth pointing out that the Advent of Decay figures that used the larger 1.0-style body have adapters with a back peg that is a bit larger than the figures with the smaller 2.0 bodies. The back ports on the two body types differ, so you will have to use the right size adapter with the body you are working with. You can see the differences in the back ports and the corresponding adapters below in the second pic above, and you can also see them alongside the figure types they go with below.
To use these adapters, you simply plug the correct one into your figure and then pop in the wings. If the fit is too tight getting the wings into the adapter, try heating the holes in that adapater a bit. A short blast of hot air from a hair dryer should soften the plastic enought to make it much easier to insert the wings. The pics below show some examples of adding wings to both a 1.0 and a 2.0 style figure - and thanks to Skapular the Cryptbreaker and Knubnik for agreeing to be our "wing models" today.
That Extra Piece
Finally, there is one additional small part included in the mix – an extender. This piece can be used along with a wing adapter to push them even further away from the torso if you need to clear a figure’s hair or larger pauldrons. You plug this piece into the back first, and then you would use one of the 2.0 style wing adapters with the smaller back peg to plug into the extender. This configuration really pushes the wings pretty far back from the torso, but from the front view the figure will display great with both pauldrons and wings! The first pic below shows the extender plugged into Skapular while he is wearing his large pauldrons. The second pic shows the wing adapter added to the extender, and finally the wings added.
A Final Note on the Wings
As mentioned above, the "new" style wings can be plugged directly into a figure's shoulder armor holes. The old wings with the smaller pegs will not work this way on Mythic Legions figures, but those wings DO plug directly into the back holes of the Gothitropolis birds and the Eathyron's Dozen figures, as well as the older Scarabus figures. All of those toys came with smaller back ports that accomodate these wings. Conversly, the new wings which are now available do not fit on the birds. So if you've picked up a Decimus Hrabban raven or one his fellow avian warriors and you want to add some large wings to them, you will need to find some of the original style wings and not the new ones to make this happen. There are, of course, ways to make those new wings fit with the old figures, but it would require customization. You would either have to widen the holes on the figure or shave down the larger pegs on the new wings, but for a seemless fit, you do need that first style wings,
A Few Fun Variations
So how else can you use these pieces to add some cool variety to your figures? One idea is that you can also use this piece to hold shields and weapons. I've seen many people use the extender piece to plug a shield into so a figure can wear that piece on their back. The peg of the shield can be inserted into the extender.
From a customizing standpoint, I’ve even sneakily used extenders on a few of my custom figures by gluing it into a backpack or piece I wanted to attached to a figure’s back while still allowing it to be removable! You can even use the adpater with the small holes to plug into 2.0 style arms and create a 4-armed character as shown below!
So there you are – the answer to what those 3 pieces that mysteriously came in your Mythic Legions package are. If you are like me, and you bought lots of Advent of Decay figures, you probably have a TON of these lying around! If you are like Mythic Legions fan Eric Lebron, you may even have decided to use that pile of wing adapters to create something new. Check out his "wing adapter golem" build-a-figure, Bulldaron, below!
Published on 02.04.20