Fire! I'm a lot into variants of KR characters, I like them as much as I like the standard looks of most figures. The latest addition to the variant crew comes in the form of a most wanted piece - Fire-Fists Masq-LorTM!
This 25th action figure prototype from PoliganToys offers quite a few surprises and is pretty striking.
Details
Name: Fire-Fists Masq-Lor
Real name: Desion
Subtitle: powerful sabre-toothed warrior
Classification: human-primivod hybrid (but he looks completely human)
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Theriom
Rank: leading warrior.
Background
Masq-Lor's first appearance with his Fire-Fists gear takes place in the third KR comic issue Clash of the leaders, where he uses the power of his helmet to push his strength further than ever and defend Theriom City from the newly jointed Destructomorph and Rexodon forces. With such a challenging battle ahead, in order to combat his enemies Masq-Lor must enhance his armour to a more advanced stage, giving it a new pair of powerful Fire-Fists.
Articulation
Standard, except that the wrists are ball jointed.
Description
Head: identical to the helmeted head included in Masq-Lor's regular release, characterised by the sabre-toothed visor activated, metal cat ears, fierce feline eyes and light brown skin around the mouth. However, since this is the third head of this type we get, the guys at PoliganToys decided to add a small detail to make it a bit different from the previous versions - on the back we can see a short black ponytail coming out from the base of the helmet, which is a peculiar, but still nice, addition
Body: the arms and part of the torso are exposed and show the light brown skin with black-tawny ocelot stripes (like with Combat Masq-Lor, there is no colour change feature), while the legs are covered with tiger-striped light-blue trousers
Wearables: a silver harness with black details, two silver bracelets, two silver boots, a silver belt and a medieval-style black armoured loincloth. The harness features vac-metal silver on the front; the bracelets, the boots and the belt have a different design compared to the previous releases and show a sort of feathery motif with a tinge of technology. On the back of the harness, FFM carries a backpack, which bears a circular transparent window at the centre and two cords that run to the two bracelets; we have already seen something similar with the Theriom Troopers. Moreover, the figure wears a silver cape, whose hole for the neck is quite large, so it doesn't interfere with the backpack. I have to say, I love the cape, its look matches with the figure greatly, but my FFM will probably go without more often than not.
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| Fire-Fists Masq-Lor's stylised harness; the oval at the centre of the chest piece represents a silver version of the Theriom symbol. |
Action feature
In the comics FFM's bracelets transform into two large techno-gauntlets. So, the figure comes with a pair of silver snap-on armoured gloves, which can replace the original hands and are, of course, characterised by a closed fist pose. Like with Tauton, the gauntlets are exceptionally large and work both as ironclad gloves and sleeve armours.
Right, but wait a second... they're called Fire-Fists! In fact, every time FFM unleashes his fists to punch his enemies, the two gauntlets become fiery. Similarly to what we've seen with the Theriom Troopers, the backpack under the cape fictionally works as a portable power unit that supplies those gauntlets with energy by means of two tubes. Thus, each figure's glove connects to one cord (which unplugs from the bracelet easily) and has its own snap-on fire attachment, which is pretty damn cool.
Weapons and accessories
Besides the gauntlets and their snap-on fire effects, the figure includes a few more accessories. Firstly, the backpack is working, meaning that it can open and hold the first accessory - the power disc. This is basically a ring made of glow-in-the-dark plastic, which can be inserted inside the pack; when the backpack is closed, the power disc glows through the transparent window and, thanks to a knob, can also turn while producing a ticking sound. The turning-tick-tocking feature doesn't really have any function, by the way, and is a bit silly in my opinion.
The second accessory is Masq-Lor's enhanced sword. Like the head, this is the third version of such weapon and I'm pleased with the way the Poligan guys injected some variety; the sword has an asymmetric black hilt (curved on one side and angular on the other) and an innovative translucent yellow blade placed between the two usual halves of the silver blade.
Last but not least, we get a brand new shield. Its shape is a reinterpretation of the Theriom symbol, i.e., a seven-pointed star, with the elongation this time running lengthwise rather than across. The shield is composed of two layers: the front side is vac-metallised silver, while the rear side is translucent yellow and bears a black wrist-clip. The cool thing is that the front layer can extend in a "Y"-shaped pattern (i.e., three sections move further away from the centre according to a tri-radial symmetry), to reveal the translucent yellow layer behind. The even cooler thing is that thanks to this spreading out feature, the shield doubles as a case for stowing the sword and/or the power disc. The gimmick works great - simply by sliding one of the three sections, the shield becomes wider (which is always useful), holds a sword and even "beams" some energy. Additionally, the translucent reverse side allows us to get a sight of the clockwork that makes all this possible.
Overall, FFM turned out to be a real highlight. I am much happier with this figure than I thought I would be. However, I must admit that most of my appreciation of him comes with the desire to give his spectacular shield and sword to the regular Masq-Lor and make them into the default weaponry for that figure.
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