KR Review #4: Ah-Rak

I love Deptilion, he's probably my favourite KR evil character so far... Yes, I know, he's also the only one we've got. Well, not anymore, since his henchman is now standing on my shelf as well and is ready to challenge Deptilion for the "coolest villain" title. His name is Ah-Rak^TM!

Ah-Rak is the fourth action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Ah-Rak

Subtitle: hideous warrior

Classification: arachnid

Sex: male

Home: unknown

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: rear marshal.

Background

Ah-Rak appears in the first KR comic issue The hidden halberd and briefly in the second issue Hunt for the energy stone, where he is presented as the last remaining member of an ancient army of alien invaders. Centuries before, at the end of a period of his race's dominance on Tahron, Ah-Rak was driven away by the Therioms. Deptilion, together with his assistant and lover Demo-Rha, magically resurrected Ah-Rak and hired him to bolster his forces against the mammalian enemies.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a tail, which is a ball jointed separate piece (it features two articulation points, two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length), and four ball hinged arms.

Description

Head: the head resembles the entirety of an arachnid's body and is composed of two parts: the upper part is a black cracked shell/helmet, which carries four red eyes in the front (two quite large lateral compound eyes and two smaller central eye spots; there are three more structures that look like eye spots, but they are completely black, so they might be different organs, such as chemoreceptors, or just bulges), a dark blue crest on the top and four pairs of dark blue spines (curved downward) on the sides; the lower part is dark blue with a bumpy texture and presents two chelicerae, which terminate in white venomous fangs, near the small mouth and two pretty large pedipalps, which terminate in scorpion pincers, more externally... damn, he looks frightening!

Body: dark blue and black striped fur (I love the hairy texture, it makes him very "spidery"), 2-clawed hands and feet. He also carries an extra furry neck piece that fits right on top of the body; this piece is glued on, but it might be possible to pry it off, if one had will to do so

Wearables: a red armour with black details (including a modified version of the Destructomorph symbol, i.e., a square-shaped black spider whose back slightly resembles a human skull, at the centre), two red bracelets, two red calf protectors (with armoured trimming on the bottom and top edges), a studded red belt and a black furry loincloth (which has a really cool off-white wash that totally brings to mind spiderwebs with its colouring). To be honest, so much red kinda annoys me. Not because it reminds me to Spider Man, but because red is already the dominant colour in Deptilion's equipment and when they're displayed together... well, it's simply too red.

Ah-Rak's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a modified version of the Destructomorph symbol.

Action feature

Most of Ah-Rak's action is strictly related to his body structure, especially his back, which is covered by a black carapace. I like the cracked and bumpy texture of this shell and how it blends with the black edges of the armour in the figure. The lower part of the carapace ends with an articulated scorpion tail, which terminates in a bulbous structure and an arched poisonous sting. The middle part exhibits a reddish hourglass-shaped marking (typical of black widows) and hosts two pairs of additional arthropod-like limbs, each terminating in a single claw. The uppermost part of the carapace ends with a sort of cannon that shoots spider-webs, which Ah-Rak uses for climbing or capturing his enemies; this is perhaps the detail of the figure that I like the least, since it's rendered using a silvery string, which bears a plug-in element at one end (this connects to the web-cannon) and a pliable plastic web at the other end. I don't know how this could have been made better, maybe a retractable mechanism together with a suction cup would have done the job, but I understand that it's not the best cost-saving solution. The carapace can be removed together with the armour and used with most other KR figures, which is a cool display option.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the above-mentioned plug-in gossamer/web, Ah-Rak comes with a nicely designed large scimitar, whose silver blade is ornately engraved, while the black hilt resembles the spider/skull symbol on the chest plate; unfortunately there's no scabbard or attachment to place the scimitar when it's not in Ah-Rak's hand (which, by the way, manages to hold the weapon firmly despite only featuring two claws), that would have been a nice touch. Update: there's actually a little longitudinal slit in the middle of the carapace, where the scimitar's blade can plug into.

Overall, I really like Ah-Rak, he just looks dreadful! I would improve some action feature details, but anyway I think he's going to replace Deptilion as my favourite KR villain, at least for a while.

This is my last review for September. I'll receive more prototypes next month and hopefully I'll be quick in keeping you updated with new reviews. Talk soon!

KR Review #3: Elykta

Time for another entry on our list - Elykta^TM. She's the first KR figure to be both female and reptilian... wow!

Elykta is the third action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details
Name: Elykta

Subtitle: magic keeper

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to a reptilian faction)

Rank: enchantress.

Background
Elykta appears in the very first KR comic issue The hidden halberd, where she is presented as a reptilian sorceress who long time ago, disgusted by the cruel behaviour of her former leader, betrayed her ancient evil faction and joined the Therioms. Recognised for her courage and wisdom, the Deity chose Elykta to safeguard three prodigious helmets for the future generations. After a five-century wait for worthy heirs to be found, she finally meets a heroic warrior who may wear one of those helmets. Thanks to Elykta, the brave combatant named Masq-Lor is now ready to become the protector of Tahron.

Articulation
Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description
Head: Elykta's face slightly resembles the visage of Dale Russel's Dinosauroid, with greenish skin and pink eyes, even though she looks fairly more pleasant; she wears a helmet which is shaped like a complete head of Parasaurolophus (or a similar "duck-billed" hadrosaurid) - it's difficult to figure out whether this helmet is a real head or is artificial, since some details, such as the eyes and part of the muzzle and of the crest, look like made of copper, while other details, especially the nape/cheek protector, look like made of real yellowish scaly skin

Body: arms and legs covered with a tight black uniform, greenish scaly 3-claw hands

Wearables: an orange armour with yellow details, two orange bracelets, two orange boots, an orange belt (whose buckle is a seven-pointed star with the two bottom points elongated) and a long yellow fabric loincloth.

Elykta's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics Elykta is equipped with a luminous cape, which, once spread out, allows her to turn into a sort of flying light sphere, like a star or a comet. This feature is brought to real life by equipping the figure with a cape consisting of a flexible synthetic fabric. The cape is decorated on the two sides with a complex line-design, partly made of silver and gold reflective material and partly of orange and yellow fluorescent material; also, its sides are connected to Elykta's cuffs, so that it will be completely unfolded when she raises her arms. I'm not sure whether I like this solution or I'd have preferred a spreading-out rigid plastic alternative, although I have no idea about how the glittery/fluo effect could be achieved in that case... Stickers? Translucent plastic? Glow-in-the-dark plastic? Perhaps none of those would have looked nice.

Elykta is also able to reconstruct the past and even future history of objects and people just by touching them. So, the figure includes a translucent yellow magical effect attachment for her left hand, to emulate her using this power.

Weapons and accessories
Elykta comes with a wooden staff topped with a fork-like ramification that holds a yellow glow-in-the-dark stone (it could be a yellow sapphire), a 3D translucent-glittering star (with a clear stand to display it), which represents Elykta's converted form, and Masq-Lor's helmet. Elykta's star-form is a bit too small in my opinion, but it'll come handy when I decorate my Christmas tree, while the helmet cannot be worn by the helmetless Masq-Lor's head, due to his hair, so I guess it just has a collecting purpose. Update: Fai-Rha's and Herrion's helmets will also be included.

KR Review #2: Deptilion

Time to get another Key Raiders figure out of the way and today I'm going with the very first villain of the story - Deptilion^TM!

Deptilion is the second action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Deptilion

Real name: ***SPOILER WARNING (to read, select the following text)*** Ir-Ash

Subtitle: monstrous leader

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: chief marshal.

Background

Deptilion appears in the first KR comic issue The hidden halberd, where he is presented as a fearsome monster who has a mysterious origin and leads an army of outcasts against both the Therioms and the reptilian forces. His quest is to gain entry into an ancient construction, the Quartz Tower, and obtain what he believes will make him equal to the leaders of the other factions - the fourth halberd.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: dried-out livid skin (in some spots, especially on the left side of the face, the flesh is worn-out and the whitish skull underneath is visible), empty eye sockets which emit a faint red glow, two whitish tusks that look like a sort of handlebar moustache, several orange teeth which protrude from the diabolical mouth; he wears a dark-blue helmet, out of which two whitish horns emerge

Body: livid skin (in some spots, especially on the left side of the body, the flesh is worn-out and the whitish skeleton underneath is visible, giving a general bony deteriorated, half-rotten appearance), claw hands and feet. He has two dark-green snakes, which are coiled around his right leg and left arm respectively; this has been made pretty well, since the two snakes are only attached to the bracelet and the calf protector, while the remaining parts of their bodies are wrapped around but not connected to the biceps and thigh. Such a trick, together with a moderate flexibility of the snakes' bodies, allows the limbs to move and bend quite freely. One more detail: in the comics sometimes those two snakes appear with their heads near Deptilion's hand and foot respectively, sometimes near his shoulder and hip; to solve this orientation issue, each snake's head and tail are detachable and their positions can be exchanged. I like this solution, but I'd have liked it even better if the two snakes had been completely removable from Deptilion's body and their positioning had just been up to us, with far more possibilities

Wearables: a maroon harness with the Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped blueish spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face) at the centre, two red bracelets, two red calf protectors, a red belt and a Roman-style dark-blue leather loincloth decorated with metal studs.

Deptilion's stylised helmet; two whitish horns sprout from the sides.

Deptilion's stylised harness; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Destructomorph symbol.

Action feature

In the comics Deptilion has the ability to summon eldritch snakes from several parts of his body, e.g., eyes, mouth, neck and abdomen; he uses these snakes, which are probably living inside his body, to entangle and possibly strangle his enemies. The action figure comes with an alternative head that shows the hidden snakes within... it actually looks pretty scary! In addition, when the harness is taken off, we discover that four sockets are present behind the two lower straps. These sockets can be used to plug in two pairs of additional snakes; once the harness is re-worn, the illusion is that the four snakes emerge from some undefined parts of Deptilion's torso and make their way under the harness to come out. Nice cool touch, especially because the sockets are placed on the inside of the harness instead of Deptilion's body, which makes it possible, in case, to display the naked figure with no visible hollow.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the already mentioned second head and four plug-in snakes, Deptilion comes with a sabre (whose blade is silver and slightly curved, and the dark-blue hilt resembles the Destructomorph symbol; the sabre blade can be inserted in a silver scabbard attached to a loose fitting belt, a separate piece that can be repositioned to one's liking), which he uses to fight before he gets the fourth halberd... ooops, I spoiled it... yes, at the end he does manage to get the halberd, which is also the second weapon supplied with the figure (it's the one with the sawtooth blade curved inward).

Comic

Like in Masq-Lor's case, together with the action figure we get the first comic issue The hidden halberd. Here we see Masq-Lor leaving his forest tribe to join the war against the evil reptilian forces. Elykta, a member of the heroic Therioms, recognises him as Desion, the lost child of Tir-Hing (the Senior Minister of the Republic of Tahron), and equips him with a prodigious helmet. Masq-Lor joins his family and finds out that a mysterious warlord, not belonging to the reptilian factions, is threatening the stability of the Republic. Deptilion, this is the name of the feared enemy, kidnaps the brave Theriom soldier Sei-Lha and blackmails Tir-Hing, in order to know where the Therioms have hidden the fourth halberd. This weapon, once put together with the other three halberds owned by the Therioms and the reptilian forces, would form the key to reach incredible power. After painful negotiations and bluffs, Deptilion succeeds in gaining entry into the halberd hiding place - the ancient Quartz Tower. Masq-Lor, with the Therioms' help, courageously fights and (apparently) kills Deptilion, but doesn't manage to retrieve the halberd before the Quartz Tower is completely destroyed.

WallBreach - paving the road for Key Raiders to the board gaming universe.

This might look not relevant to the purpose of this blog, but actually it is.

My friend TonyStark (he wants me to use his "stage" name only...) has designed a cool board game named WallBreach^TM. You can find more info about it at this page on BoardGameGeek or you can watch the below demo video.

But what does WallBreach have to do with Key Raiders^TM? Well, as I mentioned in my first posts on this blog, the idea of Key Raiders was born in the form of a board game, which generated a set of characters, which generated a story. Alright, WallBreach is a simplified version of the original Key Raiders board game. This is pretty important, because if WallBreach succeeds in breaking through the gaming world, it will definitely pave the road for the actual Key Raiders board game.

So, KR fans, let's support WallBreach and we may also get a Key Raiders game in the near future!

KR Review #1: Masq-Lor

I'm super-excited! Finally the first Key Raiders review!! And it couldn't be about anyone but the hero of the story - Masq-Lor^TM!

(Sorry this took forever, but I hadn't realised how difficult it is to put together a review without posting any pictures!)

Masq-Lor is the very first action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Masq-Lor

Real name: Desion

Subtitle: sabre-toothed warrior

Classification: human-primivod* hybrid (but he looks completely human)

Sex: male

Home: Tahron, a vast land surrounded by an ocean on an (at the moment) unknown planet

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: leading warrior.

*Primivods^TM are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.

Background

Masq-Lor appears in the very first KR comic issue The hidden halberd, where he is presented as a brave warrior who decides to leave his forest tribe to join the war against the evil reptilian forces. Eventually he discovers to be one of the lost children of Tir-Hing, the wise ruler of the Republic of Tahron, and is chosen to protect his threatened homeland. At first Masq-Lor is not sure about his suitability for such a demanding role, but soon he learns using a prodigious helmet to channel an ancient power and become the hero that everybody needs. He then guards the safety of Tahron alongside the courageous Therioms.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: light brown skin, thick black hair, green eyes, daring expression, it personally reminds me of Conan the Barbarian
Body: light brown skin, exposed torso, arms and legs

Wearables: a big gold necklace with a medallion resembling the Theriom symbol, i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated, two golden bracelets, two golden boots, a golden belt and a furry brown loincloth.

Masq-Lor's stylised helmet with top crest.

Action feature

In the comics Masq-Lor wears a silver magic helmet, which in certain circumstances produces a tiger-like half mask (or visor) and gives him incredible physical and mental powers, changing his appearance slightly. The action figure comes with an alternative helmeted head... and here I feel a bit disappointed. Because in addition to the version with the sabre-toothed visor activated, fierce feline eyes and metal cat ears, which by the way looks very cool, I would have liked to get an "inactive" helmeted head or at least a removable visor. I understand that three heads would be too much in terms of costs, but it's a pity not to get the whole head spectrum: helmet-less / helmeted / helmeted-with-visor.

When the helmet is activated, various Masq-Lor's accessories become different: bracelets, boots and belt become more showy, and the medallion transforms into a harness made of leather and gold (with the right shoulder-strap enhanced into a shoulder-protector). These fictional improvements are brought to reality by means of clip-on bracelet, boot and belt pieces, while the harness can be worn easily. Two details are interesting: a pair of long brownish claws can be attached to each enhanced-bracelet, to simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics, and the harness, once worn, covers completely the necklace, to simulate the transformation of the latter into the former.

OK, but something is still missing... during his transformation, Masq-Lor's skin also gets a few black-tawny ocelot stripes. And here is the magic: the skin changes its colour in warm water! Simply by immersing the action figure in a bowl with warm water, the stripes will appear on his arms, legs and torso. I honestly think this is a nice touch, but I'm not a big fan of it. First, because the stripes disappear as soon as the figure reaches room temperature again, which happens after a rather short time; second, because I'm not very keen to soak my action figure too often, as it might cause some damages in the long term, e.g., discolouration and lime-scale in the articulation points. So, I tried it, I enjoyed it, but I'm not going to do it again any soon.

Masq-Lor's stylised harness. It is mainly made of leather with gold details; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Theriom symbol.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the above-mentioned second head, clip-on pieces, claws and harness, Masq-Lor comes with two swords (or rather, one sword in two versions: normal, with silver blade and wooden hilt, and enhanced, with silver&gold blade and bronze hilt; only the normal sword can have its blade inserted in a reddish leather scabbard attached to a loose fitting belt, a separate piece that can be repositioned to one's liking), a clip-on leather sheath with a dagger (which can be attached to one boot) and an oval wooden shield decorated with a big golden Theriom symbol. I'm sorry that the bow seen at the beginning of The hidden halberd is missing, but after all he loses it very soon during a fight, so its absence kinda makes sense. I'm also wondering if we'll ever get another version of Masq-Lor wearing his "formal" outfit, since this figure only features tribal and warrior gears.

Comic

Yes, together with the action figure we also get the very first comic issue The hidden halberd. The story sums up what the whole Key Raiders universe is about. However, I'm not going to talk about it here, I'll do it during my next review, since the same comic comes with another very important character in the series. Stay tuned!