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.