KR Review #34: Nibeon

I don’t know what it is about the guy I'm going to review that I enjoy so much. The bulkiness? The mammoth appearance? The fact that he's a mammalian who joined a reptilian army? Whatever it is, surely Nibeon^TM looks badass!

Due to his troubled affiliation history, this 26^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys has, like Elykta, the ability to be a binder in the KR universe, to make the good guys and the bad guys mix together. So, he can stand tall with the likes of Bellius and Bi-Harr.

Details

Name: Nibeon

Subtitle: proboscidean warrior

Classification: proboscidean mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Rank: captain.

Background

Nibeon only appears in the fifth KR comic issue The factory of doom. Originally one of the bravest Independent Warriors led by Bellius, Nibeon was lured by Bi-Harr with promises of renown and fortune, and eventually brainwashed to become an evil Rexodon soldier. After being injured during a battle against the Therioms, he was grafted with a cybernetic face mask, which gave him both amazing sight powers and an even more menacing appearance. When the Theriom army attacks, Nibeon is feared for his abilities to fight back with his enormous trunk and tusks.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a trunk, which is composed of 12 ball jointed pieces and can work as an auxiliary limb, and two tusks, each featuring two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a mammoth, characterised by a covering of grey-brown hair, a long muscular trunk and two long curved tusks (each decorated with two studded silver rings); his ears are relatively small compared to those of an elephant. His tusks fade from a slightly orange colour to a pale ivory near the tips, and have thick ridges where they emerge from his mouth, but the texture smooths out about halfway down, leaving just a few big rough notches. He also wears a technological face mask (a bit reminiscent of Kinnikuman Neptuneman's mask), which covers the eyes and slightly roofs the trunk and the tusks; the frame is silver and has two short orange fangs protruding upwards from the spaces between each tusk and the trunk, while the visor portion, which is cast in a glossy blue resin, has an horizontal glow-in-the-dark strip that fictionally allows Nibeon to see. Surprisingly, the mask can be removed, revealing a long scar across both Nibeon's eyes; although this disfigurement suggests a serious past battle injury, the eyes, which are never shown in the comics, still manage to be somehow expressive

Body: he exhibits the bulkier sculpt that has previously been used for Grabtrak and his limbs are equipped with a "woolly" coat of long grey-brown hair. Each of his massive bare feet has the typical broad, circular shape of an elephant four-toenailed foot as well as a fully sculpted sole

Wearables: an orange armour with silver details, and two orange calf protectors (each with a circle of silver studs along the upper edge). The left arm bears a studded silver armband and an orange glove, while the right arm has a studded silver shoulder pad and an orange bracelet with knuckle protector. The legs display two studded silver thigh/knee protectors that have a distinctly Indian look with rosettes, points and radial lines. His waist is wrapped up in orange cloth, and he's wearing a short silver chainmail skirt with a silver loincloth above that; the rectangular loincloth is composed of a series of square blocks with designs in their centres, and a row of copper beads with silver arrowheads below that. He also carries a techno-backpack, which shows some cool sculpted details, such as a cylinder, a side-compartment, a small computer and a couple of tubes; one of these tubes is fictionally connected to the face mask, supposedly for transmitting power to the visor.

Nibeon's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics Nibeon has the ability to shoot a powerful jet of water out of his nose-trunk. So, the figure comes with a spurting water effect that plugs into the end of the trunk snugly.

Also, the tusks can swivel at the metal rings, turning inward to capture an enemy. This feature is actually never shown in the comics, but it's a quite amusing addition in my opinion.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the water attachment, Nibeon includes two more accessories, the main of which is his large club. This weapon resembles a tree stump and has some great sculpting on the outside, to make its appearance similar to grey bark (there's even a little branch growing out from it). The top looks like the chopped off ringed end of a tree and a leather strip is wrapped around the "handle" for a more comfortable grip. To make the weapon even more menacing, there are five little tusks that can optionally be plugged onto the outer nodes.

The other accessory is the Independent Warriors' tomahawk pick head axe, whose fairly long handle is made of the same wood as the club, is parallel to the cutting edge of the stone blade and has two little tusks nailed to the lower end. The axe has a pick-shaped pointed poll opposite the cutting edge and can also separate into two pieces, so that the tusked half can become an additional small weapon.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the fifth comic issue The factory of doom. The Therioms are attempting to reach Rokang Tar, aiming to destroy the factory that mass produces the dangerous Rexodon Troopers, when they are suddenly attacked by reptilian soldiers led by an elephant-like creature. Despite being a mammalian, the creature looks evil, so they fight back. Bellius recognises him as Nibeon, a former Independent Warrior and manages to capture him. Nibeon turns out to be now a member of the Rexodon faction and, in exchange for his life, reveals the exact location of Bi-Harr's secret factory. There, the Rexodons are keeping a large group of mammalian people as slaves, who are being forced to work for the factory. The Therioms successfully free the slaves and set up to demolish the factory, but at last they are discovered. Masq-Lor is confronted by Bi-Harr, but Loghar suddenly kills his master. The hero is puzzled and Loghar reveals that he's actually his twin brother Herrion. He was also abducted when he was a child and now lives with the spirit of the real deceased Loghar imprisoned in his body and hungry for supremacy. The factory starts collapsing and Masq-Lor uses his powers to save his brother and himself by creating a powerful stream of water from a gigantic tank. The factory is destroyed, the Therioms are safe, but Herrion/Loghar has disappeared.

Overall, being a fan of Nibeon's character, I'm quite pleased with its rendition. The "former Independent Warrior gone rogue" background adds a lot of personality to the character and this is somehow reflected by the figure. I appreciate the removable mask very much, but maybe he should have also got the chance to come with an alternative pre-injury head.

About the comic, the story is quite original, with an interesting and unexpected development of events. And the illustrations are excellent, very dark, violent and imaginative. That's how we like it!