KR Review #26: Bellius

He’s finally here! After months of waiting, Bellius^TM has finally arrived!

The waiting was due to the fact that this action figure prototype (the 20^th I have received from PoliganToys) features a huge chunk of new parts, in order to get its signature centaur look not only down, but thankfully improved with a few techno additions. The result is the mix of barbarian and cyber details that I enjoy greatly.

Details

Name: Bellius

Subtitle: ground-shaking leader

Classification: catlipomor* mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Independent Warriors group)

Rank: first lieutenant (formerly leader of the Independent Warriors).

*Catlipomors^TM are fictional rare intelligent hybrid mammals, composed of the parts of several animals.

Background

Bellius makes his first appearance in the fourth KR comic issue A fateful secret, where he's presented as a member of a race of centaur-like creatures. Growing up just outside the Northern Forest, Bellius lived in a village that was always under threat from the evil reptilian forces. During the frequent attacks, he gained several skills, such as the ability to wield a gigantic mace and to grow his neck to incredible length. Eventually, he found himself in the services of the Independent Warriors, a group of mammalian combatants who don't belong to any official affiliations, and was soon designated to lead them. Now, taking the role of Lieutenant, he serves the Republic's army as a core member of the Therioms, using his amazing abilities to spy on and ram into the enemies.

Articulation

Standard in the human upper body, with an additional hinged, pivoting lower abdomen; in the quadrupedal lower body, besides a ball jointed tail, each leg features three swivel-hinge joints: at the shoulder/hip, at the knee/hock and at the fetlock.

Description

Head: similar to a bighorn sheep, characterised by light brown hair, large curved horns, pale eyes with horizontal slit-shaped dark pupils and a fairly long beard. His mouth is slightly open, exposing the teeth in the lower jaw and suggesting that he is ready to attack

Body: centaur structure, light brown coat with a few dark blotches, the arms seem a bit longer than the average length. The quadrupedal part of the body shows features that are typical of different ungulates, e.g., a goat (even-toed hooves), a giraffe (blotched coat) and a horse (general shape)

Wearables: a white armour with red details, a white belt and a red leather-texture loincloth/peytral decorated with silver studs. The left arm bears a silver armband and a white glove, while the right arm has a silver shoulder armour and a white bracelet (with knuckle protector) that are connected by a sort of silver exoskeletal device. The front legs carry two silver cyber knee protectors (the left one has a little side-compartment, probably used to store some small item) and two white cannon bone protectors (the right one displays a sheath with a small silver dagger, which is not removable), while the hind legs show two black bondage-like strings on the gaskins and two white cannon bone protectors. When the armour is removed, his back shows a silver techno-mechanism (composed of gears, shafts and even a small display, supposedly for calibration purposes), by which power is transmitted to the right arm exoskeleton through the shoulder armour; this is really a cool detail, but apparently there is no way to understand where the power comes from and how the mechanism is attached to Bellius' body.

Bellius' stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics Bellius can stretch his neck considerably, getting a more giraffe-like look. This neck elongation skill has two purposes: either to give powerful headbutts and break through obstacles or to raise the head and see farther. So, the figure includes a number of accessories related to these action features. First of all we have two interchangeable neck extensions, one shorter (4 cm) and one longer (11 cm); besides their awesome blotched design, I like the fact that they still work with the ball-joint on the neck and can even be stacked. Then there is a removable silver helmet (which clips onto the figure's head thanks to two small notches on the horns) with two interchangeable pivoting add-ons: a protective face mask (or chanfron) and a magnifying visor. These accessories are fictionally produced by the helmet itself. The chanfron extends from the horns/ears to the muzzle, while the eyes receive no protection; it is worth noting that the hinged lower abdomen allows Bellius to pose like he is using his body as a battering ram. In contrast, the reflective glass visor (which looks a bit like a virtual reality display) just swings into place over the eyes.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the neck extensions and the helmet with its two add-ons, Bellius includes three other accessories, the most noticeable of which is his enormous boulder-mace. This is basically a long, thick reddish-brown wooden stick with a three-branched end that holds a large grey boulder. His slightly longer (compared to other figures) arms and his right arm exoskeleton allow him to hoist this mace high and slam it down, striking the boulder on the ground and producing a powerful quake. It could also cause serious hurt to anyone in its downward path.

The other accessories are a smashing axe and an alternative head. The axe is a sort of Independent Warriors' trademark, whose wooden handle and stone blade (with the cutting edge parallel to the handle) are made of the same materials as the boulder-mace. The alternative head is inspired by a comic issue in which Bellius' face is drawn in a slightly different way; this is characterised by a less menacing look, with no beard and a divided upper lip, and wears a helmet (not removable) with transparent binocular goggles. The interesting thing is that by looking through a window on the back of the helmet, it's possible to see what Bellius sees; or, alternatively, by using a torch, the light passes through the window and makes the goggles glow.
Potentially, Bellius is capable of carrying another figure into battle on his lower back and I know that the guys at PoliganToys initially had plans to include a saddle for this purpose. The idea was eventually discarded to cut production costs and, to be honest, I'm glad things went that way... can you picture it? It'd look a bit weird...

Overall, I’m very happy with Bellius. I can’t argue that this guy looks like he fits right in with the Theriom army. Once you put him among the ranks, he just impresses like he should. There is definitely a lot to love here, ranging from the tech details, to the vac metal on the visor, to the neck extensions, which are all fantastic elements.