KR Review #12: Destructomorph Troopers

Deptilion finally gets his army builder set this month... I have been so impressed by Xonedar few days ago, that I almost forgot about this!

This is the second multi-pack (a 2-pack, to be precise) prototype I've received from PoliganToys, so let’s take a look at Desptilion’s Destructomorph Troopers^TM!

Details

Name: Destructomorph Troopers
Subtitle: robotic troopers
Classification: robots
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Destructomorph (originally a Rexodon^TM project)
Rank: drones.

Background

The Destructomorph Troopers are a frequent presence in the KR universe and appear since the first issue The hidden halberd. During his offensives against the Therioms, Deptilion often utilises these robotic drones to carry out his evil plans. Based on a project that Deptilion stole from his long-time rival Loghar^TM, the Troopers have been reprogrammed to serve the Destructomorphs and equipped with several innovations, such as a built in 3D scan/projection system to impersonate their opponents and a counter-gravity field generator to increase their mobility. They also carry a variety of weapons, including laser pistols and back-mounted blasters. Often on the front lines of conflict, the Destructomorph Troopers challenge their antagonists in inexhaustible fighting.

Articulation

Standard, except that waist and wrists are ball jointed.

Description

Since the two figures are identical and have matching sets of accessories, from this point forward I'm going to describe a single Trooper and the description will apply to both of them.

Head: black metallic reptile skull, showing a few mechanical and electrical components, the eyes emit a red glow. The head structure resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull and its look is definitely evil; the shape is wide and low, and the front part of the jaws ends in a beak. It also wears a horned yellow helmet, whose extremely simple design, combining barbarian and robotic features, is very nice looking to me. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's silver horns

Body: black metallic arms and legs, showing lots of machinery/circuitry patterns; despite the description may sound similar to the one I used for Xonedar, this case is actually very different: while Xonedar's limbs are cyborg/android-like, i.e., robotic but still with a human shape, the Destructomorph Trooper's ones look more like an electro-hydraulic endoskeleton, with tubes, wires, pistons and hinges. Such features are also present under the armour, but with a surprise - once I'd uncovered it for the first time, the torso looked kind of familiar to me and it took not long to understand why... it is structured like a DJ controller, no kidding! I'm a DJ in my spare time, so I know what I'm seeing: the pecs look like two jog dials, the abdomen bears sliders, buttons and knobs, and at the centre of the chest there's a rectangular lenticular sticker, which gives an illusion of two sound waves coursing across that panel. Nice Easter egg!

Wearables: a red armour with yellow details, two red cuffs, two red shin protectors, a red belt and a yellow crotch piece; the last two elements show lots of cyber details. Once again, I feel there is too much red in the Destructomorph characters... I really hope this issue will be addressed with the upcoming colour-scheme changes.

Destructomorph Trooper's stylised helmet with 3D scanner deployed.

Action feature

In the comics, the Destructomorph Troopers have the ability to perform 3D scans of their opponents via stereoscopic cameras that come out of their helmets; afterwards, thanks to several holographic projectors embedded in their body, they can take on the appearances of the people they have scanned. So, each Trooper can be equipped with a nicely detailed 3D scanner, which snaps on the rear part of the helmet. Regarding the projectors, I guess their replication in an action figure was much more challenging, but anyway we get a sheet of small three-dimensional glow-in-the-dark stickers, which are a smart idea to add the illusion of light spots embedded in the figure. It is possible to see the outline of the 3D-GITD stickers pretty clearly up close, but they work well at a distance and, in case, they can be removed without leaving any glue residues.

Additionally, the front piece of the armour can be replaced by an alternative chest piece. The latter is identical to the former, except that has two large holes (one on the right side of the breast and one on the left side of the abdomen), through which the mech-tech framework underneath is visible, plus a couple of minor battle damages. I find this damaged armour very well designed, it really gives the feeling that the Trooper has been hit by a major blast. On the other hand, I'm a bit disappointed not to find also a damaged head, which I would definitely expect after such a shock. The armour back piece is not replaceable, but is equipped with two black guns mounted on two adjustable armatures, so that they can be set in either a vertical rest position or a horizontal (just over the Trooper's shoulders) attack position.

Finally, thanks to the presence of a few ad hoc ball&socket connection points, some of the Trooper's body parts, i.e., head, torso and hands, can be easily disconnected. I'll get more into the details in the accessories section.

Destructomorph Trooper's stylised armour.

Weapons and accessories
Each Trooper comes with a great deal of accessories. Apart from the already mentioned 3D scanner for the helmet, holo-projectors stickers and alternative chest piece, we also get two blasting effects for the back mounted guns. This is interesting, because it seems that PoliganToys is testing a new approach in respect of shooters; so far we have seen either spring-loaded mechanisms or totally passive guns, but this time we get a nicely sculpted pair of plug-in explosion effects instead, which I really like. Furthermore, there is a laser pistol, whose design is very similar to the back mounted guns, except that the colour is yellow and not black. The pistol can be inserted in a holster attached to the back of the belt; I find that position pretty uncomfortable for the Trooper, because of both limiting the waist rotation and making it difficult to reach out for the pistol when it's needed, so I can't understand why the holster wasn't placed at one side of the belt instead.
Earlier I have mentioned a few particular ball&socket connection points. These include the wrists, which allow the hands to be replaced; we get a set of four hands: one for holding the pistol, one in a fist pose and (another great surprise!) two with a circular saw coming out partially from the side of each palm. The alternate hands pop in and out of the arms easily, but are nice and solid. The lower body, from the waist down, can also be replaced with an alternative piece, which looks a bit like a rocket engine. This is a reference to a comic strip in which the Destructomorph Troopers are shown to disconnect their legs and fly away by using a counter-gravity field generator. The flying configuration works fine as it is, but in case we want to add a bit of a floating feel to the posing, we also get a translucent stand, which plugs solidly into the bottom of the "rocket" piece via a ball&socket joint.
Last but not least, there are two sets of alternative repainted heads and weapons, one for each Trooper, which is the only case of non-matching accessories. Since the Destructomorph Troopers can get the resemblance to anybody, PoliganToys has decided to add Masq-Lor's and Sei-Lha's repainted unhelmeted heads, which are similar to the originals on the right side, but show slightly livid skin (with hints of mech-tech components on the cheek), a black eye (with red pupil) and reddish hair on the left side, almost to suggest that the holo-projectors are not working properly in that spot. It's up to you to decide whether these heads should snap on the Troopers' (it doesn't make much sense, since the rest of their body is robotic) or on Masq-Lor's and Sei-Lha's bodies. I chose the second option, so I can pretend that those two heroes are actually Destructomorph Troopers in disguise. The set is completed with yellow and silver versions of Masq-Lor's normal sword and Sei-Lha's rotating shield.

Overall, this 2-pack makes for a great addition to the Destructomorph faction. Since I’m a big fan of army building, if this set ever goes on the market, I think I’ll buy two more, to make a nice little army. The only disappointment is about the missing damaged heads, which I would have liked much better than the two fake heads.