We have had the Sabre-Toothed Warrior since I started receiving KR prototypes from PoliganToys back in October, so finally, after a full four-month wait, we can add the Black-Tailed Amazon to the Theriom ranks - Fai-RhaTM is here!
She is also the second Independent Warrior we have in-hand and up for review (the first was Bellius), which makes her a kind of borderline character. Anyway, let’s take a look at Masq-Lor’s little sister, to see how this 24th action figure prototype stacks up.
Details
Name: Fai-Rha
Real name: Rhadiel
Subtitle: black-tailed amazon
Classification: human-primivod* hybrid (but she looks completely human)
Sex: female
Relationships: daughter of Tir-Hing, younger sister of Desion (Masq-Lor)
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Independent Warriors group)
Rank: service warrior (formerly deputy leader of the Independent Warriors).
*Primivods are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.
Background
Fai-Rha first appears in the fourth KR comic issue A fateful secret, where she is presented as a member of the Independent Warriors, helping her leader Bellius to fight against the evil reptilian forces. Elykta recognises she is, like Masq-Lor, one of Tir-Hing's abducted children. Eventually, Fai-Rha also learns using a prodigious helmet to channel an ancient power and acquire incredible abilities. She then joins forces with the Therioms, who without Masq-Lor are struggling to overcome Bi-Harr's subversive actions.
Articulation
Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.
Description
Head: light brown skin, long black hair arranged into a ponytail (although not all her hair is pulled back), green eyes, daring expression; I think she's the prettiest female figure we've got so far
Body: light brown skin, exposed arms and legs
Wearables: a short, sleeveless red vest-dress with golden V-neckline, armholes, lapels and hem, two golden cuffs, two golden bracelets decorated with red gemstones around the biceps, two golden boots and a golden belt. The belt separates the fitted vest above the waist from the flouncy skirt below.
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| Fai-Rha's stylised helmet with side and top crests. |
Action feature
Like her brother, Fai-Rha wears a silver magic helmet, which in certain circumstances produces a panther-like half mask (or visor) and gives her incredible physical and mental powers, changing her appearance slightly. The action figure comes with an alternative helmeted head, characterised by the black-panther visor activated, fierce feline eyes and metal cat ears. The helmet allows for her long ponytail to come through the back. There is no "inactive" helmeted head, but I'm pretty sure we'll get one with some future variants of this character.
When the helmet is activated, various accessories of Fai-Rha's become different: cuffs, boots and belt become more showy, and the vest-dress transforms into an armour. Like with Masq-Lor, most of these fictional improvements are brought to reality by means of clip-on bracelet and boot (with knee protector) pieces, while the outfit replacement takes a little more work. First, the dress, which is a whole solid removable piece including the vest, the belt and the skirt, must be taken off by unplugging a number of little fasteners on the back and slipping it off the figure. She looks kind of funny underneath, but that's because the female waist and hip articulation that is normally hidden, is now exposed. Oh, and since you were probably wondering, NO, she's not topless, there is a layer of red paint, which gives the impression that she's wearing a sports bra. Afterwards, the alternative armour, which is painted in gold with red details and includes the golden belt and a black furry skirt with red fabric frills, wraps around her body and connects on the back the same way as the vest-dress piece. Even though the tabs on the back must be plugged in one by one, the process works ok, but I'm wondering if there might be a better and simpler way to accomplish the same result. Nevertheless, both pieces are made of a soft plastic, so they don't block her articulation from the waist down.
During her transformation, Fai-Rha also grows a long black tail, which in the figure is connected to the back of the armoured belt/skirt via a ball joint and is made of flexible plastic. Additionally, a pair of long brownish claws can be attached to each enhanced-bracelet, to simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics.
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| Fai-Rha's stylised armour. |
Weapons and accessories
Apart from the already mentioned second head, clip-on pieces, claws and alternative outfit, Fai-Rha comes with a few accessories. First up are two jō/bō sticks, or better, one stick in two versions: normal, made of a reddish-brown wood and adorned with relatively simply designed silver ends, and enhanced, with bronze grip and stripes along the wooden rod and equipped with flower-shaped, spiked silver&gold ends. Only the normal stick can be inserted in a holster on the back of the vest-dress.
The other accessories are her Independent Warrior axe, whose handle (parallel to the cutting edge) is made of the same wood as the stick and bears a few sharp teeth opposite the stone blade, and a triangular wooden shield carved with what looks like a big cat face.
Comic
Together with Fai-Rha's action figure we get the fourth comic issue A fateful secret, which has already been discussed in Li-Gah-Tor's review.
Overall, Fai-Rha, with her two heads, three weapons and several add-ons, is one of the better 2016 prototypes so far. The only real issue I have with her is the outfit change functionality, which I expected less tricky. I like the look of the figure; in particular, the heads are executed near perfectly, but I have to wonder how long it’s going to take to get a Fai-Rha variant wearing her "formal" outfit and including the mid-helmeted head.
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