Mr Devil Bat

While I've been a fan of the arena/prog rock band Styx for some time, I'd never heard of Dragonriders of the Styx when I first stumbled across one in a mixed bag; the figure looked almost Gothic in appearance, like a gargoyle and was well constructed with seven points of articulation and a vibrant paint job.  My research led me into the realm of the Styx, and the discovery of a baker's dozen action figure line (inclusive of the true colour variants).  Demon Warrior was the specimen in question, and though I had to locate his accessories subsequently (a pair of soft plastic wings and a brace of weapons), I soon discovered that the Dragonriders (let's abbrev. to DOTS) were reasonably plentiful and available at a reasonable price (e.g. loose examples with some minor paint loss, $5-15).

Demon Warrior is one of the more common in the line, his bat-like features leaving no doubt as to his intentions, a mace and wave blade keris reinforcing his desire for pain and blood loss.  He's a truly grotesque looking creature, which is exactly the kind of concept that makes a great action figure.  The wing-span is mighty and pleasingly, the construction of the wing pad is sensible with a soft, malleable plastic insert that will endure before it fails.  The weapons also are resilient, again, softer, pliable plastic allows them to bend and contort, so you can knife Ragnar or The Wizard as many times as you want, and repeat the frenzy the very next day with psychotic abandon.  Your blade will be sharp as a tack.

Despite their relative availability on the secondary market (and which includes plenty of new, old stock MOC), I never see much written about the DOTS or used in medieval settings, castle dioramas etc.  If you're into that sort of thing, this line is perfect for a middle-ages war scene, and there's plenty of characters to occupy the supporting roles.  Weapons are harder to source, but then, you could improvise to cover that gap.  Perhaps I've just got "too much time on my hands" (that's a Styx reference, maybe a little esoteric).  

I wasn't expecting DOTS to join my collection so late in life, especially given I'd neither heard of nor owned any as a child, but I'm glad I found that first Demon Warrior among those other random figures, as they're now one of my firm favourite action figure lines.

Demon Warrior | 1984 | DFC | Dragonriders of the Styx