My second review about the newest faction in the KR line deals with another great army builder set that I was sure would come soon - the Spektrosaur TroopersTM!
This eighth multi-pack (a 2-pack, to be precise) prototype from PoliganToys gives me the chance to start assembling Lor-Drek's army, while waiting for the main characters.
Details
Name: Spektrosaur Troopers
Subtitle: creeping troopers
Classification: lepidosauromorph reptiles
Sex: male and female
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Spektrosaur
Rank: corporals.
Background
The Spektrosaur Troopers first appear in the sixth KR comic issue Reptiles reunited. These lizard-like warriors were originally selected to serve Bi-Harr as foot soldiers in his newly formed reptilian army. When centuries later Lor-Drek decided to live Bi-Harr's military force and to take up the fight for claiming Tahron on his own, several battalions of troopers chose to align with him. With their agility and thrashing tails, these corporals are now devoted members of the Spektrosaur faction and fight loyally in the armies of Lor-Drek against the heroic Therioms.
Articulation
Standard, except that wrists, calves and tails are ball jointed, and there is a hinged tongue in each open-mouthed head. The female figure lacks the hinged abdomen.
Description
Heads: both figures' heads have a similar appearance to a common iguana, characterised by scaly yellowish skin and purple eyes. While the male character has his mouth closed, the female one displays her mouth wide open, showing sharp teeth on the inner sides of the jawbones and a fairly long forked tongue that is actually articulated (it can move left and right on a little disk set at the back of the mouth), which is a very nice touch. Each of the two troopers wears a red helmet with purple details and has an extra dewlap piece that fits right on top of the body, around the neck (it is glued on)
Bodies: both figures show yellowish skin, but the body structures are very different. The male trooper is essentially Li-Gah-Tor in construction, with his scaly texture (except for the smooth abdomen, which is also painted in a more greenish colour) and large ridges that run down the sides of the limbs. The female trooper is very distinctive in appearance and has a lot of new parts that make up a more slender frame; she also displays a wrinkled skin, rather than scaly, and a more orange paint on the abdomen. I really like this new reptilian sculpt and I hope to see it again in future female figures. Each trooper has a row of extended brown spines, which support a sail, along their back; we have already seen something similar with Lor-Drek, but this spine sail is much larger and is a completely separate piece that snaps into a socket on the back. This structure helps to protect the troopers from attackers in battle, but I also like to imagine it as a means to regulate their body temperature... aren't they lizards after all? Also, each figure has a long, thin yellowish tail, which is a separate piece emerging from under the loincloth and is painted in a different colour on the underside (greenish for the male character, orange for the female one)
Wearables: each trooper wears a purple shoulder/chest armour with a diagonal scaly red strap (the size and shape of the armour are adapted to the type of torso and the female version is not removable), purple bracelets, purple calf protectors, a purple leather belt and a red fabric loincloth resembling a forked tongue. The armour displays the Spektrosaur symbol, i.e., a greenish flame, on the left side, while the strap gives the illusion of fastening on the base of the spine sail. Additionally, both are equipped with scaly green spaulders and wicker thigh pads.
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| Spektrosaur Trooper's stylised helmet. |
Action feature
The two figures in this multi-pack are actually representative of the two main kinds of Spektrosaur Troopers seen in the comics, which I'm going to call the gecko type and the basilisk type. The former has the ability to climb any kind of surfaces with extreme ease, while the latter is capable of running across water for significant distances. The difference between the two types lies in their hands and feet: the gecko kind has large finger and toe pads, which in this multi-pack are displayed by the male figure, while the basilisk kind has webbed claw hands and feet, which are carried by the female figure here. One of the coolest details is that the webbed hands/feet are cast in clear plastic, so the painted hand/foot is opaque, but the webbed portions are translucent. The great thing is that these figures' wrists and calves are ball jointed, so it is totally possible to mix and match their hands and feet, allowing for plenty of display options. By the way, the heads are also swappable and look great (and in no way disproportionate) on both figures.
Furthermore, their whip-like tails, which can be used to deliver painful strikes, are made of bendable plastic and make this pair even more intimidating. In the comics, when grabbed by the tail, a trooper can allow it to break, so he/she can escape (while the tail has a life of its own for a while) and eventually regenerate a new one. In fact, each figure's tail is detachable (a little flap on the loincloth was also created to cover the exposed hollow) and can be connected to a sort of handle, which is armoured with few spike-like projections that resemble the neural spines, in order to become a whip.
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| Spektrosaur Trooper's stylised armour; the circle at the side of the chest piece represents the Spektrosaur symbol. |
Weapons and accessories
Aside from the two whip-tail handles, the Spektrosaur Troopers come with two weapons accessories, two additional pieces of armour and two alternative heads.
The weapons are my favourite pieces of the bunch, the guys at PoliganToys did a great job designing these. Each weapon is an atlatl (or spear-thrower), which consists of a reddish wooden shaft and a white bony spear. The shaft resembles a snake coiled around a stick, whose head at the end of its bent up neck supports and propels the butt of the spear. I love the curvy, forked tongue-like spear coming out of the snake mouth. Conveying the atlatl mechanics with words is quite complicated, but you can get a clear idea by looking at this awesome visual description. Anyway, that's how the troopers use the weapon in the comics, while in reality the spear, though it's a separate piece, is not designed to be "fired", unfortunately. But, if it's any consolation, it glows in the dark.
The extra armour pieces are sturdy belts designed for displaying these guys as members of Bi-Harr's army. These belts are much larger than the standard non-removable ones and have a purple crocodile skin look. Each one is also decorated with silver studs and a red reptile-eye symbol at the centre. These two pieces have a really neat design and look great on both figures; my only complaint is that there’s no way to remove the Spektrosaur symbols on the chest plates, so it looks like the two troopers, when they wear the belts, belong to two factions at the same time, which doesn't make much sense.
As a good army builder, this 2-pack also comes with two alternative heads. While the faces are identical to the regular ones, the most noticeable difference that make these heads unique is the fact that they are unhelmeted. The open-mouthed one shows a flatter gecko-like head, while the closed-mouthed one has a high basilisk-like crest on its head.
Overall, the last troopers of the KR line finally got their due. I’m really happy with this 2-pack, both the figures look great on the shelf and are definitively cool characters to add. I love army builders in general, especially when they offer mix and match possibilities and I am so very pleased that this set does. If this toy line really goes to market, PoliganToys will have to do a higher production run on this one, because I guess a lot of fans will want multiple sets for building up their lizardy army.
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