KR Review #13: Mor-Rak

I’m going to make this review shorter than usual. Just a compact article to shed a bit of light on what is probably the smallest-scale character in the KR universe - Mor-Rak^TM!

Mor-Rak is the 11^th action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Mor-Rak

Subtitle: young apprentice warrior

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: Tir-Hing's nephew and Masq-Lor's cousin

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: trainee.

Background

Mor-Rak appears briefly in the first KR comic issue The hidden halberd and more extensively in the second issue Hunt for the energy stone, where he's presented as the humorous son of Gax-Uhr^TM and Sih-Len^TM, and a young member of the Theriom elite. Mor-Rak stands out for his great resourcefulness, curiosity and acrobatic skills. After the rise of the Destructomorphs, evil outweighed the forces of good and Mor-Rak was recruited by his uncle Tir-Hing as a trainee, in order to fight for the Therioms and to serve them throughout Tahron’s future. Although he is not allowed to participate in an open conflict yet, he acquired incredible abilities from the Antikythron^TM, a device infused with mysterious power, that can harness energy from nature. By using these powers, Mor-Rak can loyally assist and watch over his fellows, often turning the tide in battle, or can move through time, allowing the Therioms to prevent historical dangers.

Articulation

Standard, except that elbows and knees are swivel/hinged, calves and tail are ball jointed, and there are no bicep, abdomen and thigh joints.

Description

Head: predominantly monkey-like (similar to a macaque, even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by a round shape, short brown/black fur, slightly prominent face with reddish skin and long white hair bundles at the cheeks, big green eyes and subtle smile. The face is very well sculpted and definitely fits the young age and the cuteness of the character. It's important to specify that the fur... is real! No, I don't mean that it comes from some real animals, but that it's made of short synthetic hairs instead of being sculpted (like in Tir-Hing's case, for example), a detail that adds further cuteness. I'm not sure it's only my impression, but I guess a particular painting technique has been used to give the feeling that the big bright eyes move as they are viewed from different angles

Body: smaller than the adult characters (only 12 cm, almost 5"), slim, brown (with black blotches) to white "real" fur, grey-green skin at the hands and the bare feet, very short tail. The fur on the torso is brown with black blotches on the back and white on the front, while the fur on the limbs (which, in my opinion, is slightly longer than on the rest of the body) is brown with black blotches on the outer parts and white on the inner parts. The short tail, which is a new entry in the Theriom characters and is also made of "real" fur, is ball-jointed; however, due to the short length of the tail, this joint is totally useless

Wearables: a light-green armour with brown details, two light-green bracelets, two light-green calf protectors, a light-green belt and a brown fabric loincloth with a small purse on the front.

Mor-Rak's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics Mor-Rak, thanks to his father's teachings, is a very skilled acrobat. This feature is transferred to the figure by delivering two alternative feet in a grasping pose, which can replace the ones used to make Mor-Rak stand. The hands don't need to be replaced, since they are already in the grasping position. This prehensility feature allows Mor-Rak to clasp a hand/foothold and swing to another one. Not much as an action feature, but still something.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternative feet, Mor-Rak comes with three accessories. The first is his rope that can be used either as a whip or a lasso. The rope is fastened to a brown handle at one end, while the other end bears a small hook; this is designed for catching hold of the middle of the rope itself, in order to turn the whip into a lasso by forming a noose. In such lasso configuration the hook works like a running knot, tightening the noose as the rope is pulled. The rope can also be inserted in a loop on the side of Mor-Rak's belt.

Then there is a stand, which looks a bit like a dry tree with three branches and is used by Mor-Rak for his acrobatics.

Finally, we have the antikythron, an instrument whose origin is unknown. Mor-Rak utilises the antikythron to combine himself with the forces of nature and become a powerful warrior. It is believed that this instrument was engineered in very ancient times, but how Mor-Rak has obtained it and how he has learnt using it is a mystery. The antikythron looks like a short silver staff characterised by an interesting technological design and has a baldric that can be worn by Mor-Rak for easy carry. The part near the handle displays six large coloured buttons plus a few smaller black switches and sliders all the way around. The top part is fictionally composed of five pieces that can open (in an upside-down umbrella fashion) to reveal the machinery inside; unfortunately, such a feature hasn't been reproduced in the toy accessory and instead we get three interchangeable snap-on top pieces, which are the closed, the open inactive and the open energised version respectively. The open inactive form shows the five sides spread out and a central axis, on which three short horizontal coaxial red arms hold one vertical coloured crystal each (in the comics, depending on the orientation of these components, the instrument generates a different power); all these pieces, i.e., the whole top part, each coaxial arm and each crystal, spin vertically and individually via swivels with a flick of your fingers. The energised version carries a well designed glow-in-the-dark energy vortex at its centre and also spins.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Mor-Rak. I love the character's enterprising personality and the idea that he can turn from a young boy to a supernatural giant thanks to an enigmatic device. On the other hand, I think very little of that character's concept has been put in the action figure. I'm not impressed by the acrobatic rendering and I'm even less impressed by the antikythron. I'd rather have seen its five sides snapping together by a peg and falling open after unlocking that peg, even if I understand that this would have required a bigger engineering effort. Also, with such a smaller scale figure, I would expect a larger counterpart to be included in the package - in the comics Mor-Rak transforms into a giant warrior who is made either of lava or ice or sand... I'd be very happy to get at least one of those!