The Key Raiders line is marking the beginning of summer (or winter, depending on your location) with the figure representing one of the most interesting characters in the whole saga - DenortosTM!
The ranks of the Spektrosaurs are slowly growing and, while not exactly a member of this faction, I think Denortos is my new favourite. This 40th action figure prototype from PoliganToys bats a thousand in terms of impressive look.
Details
Name: Denortos
Subtitle: alien menace
Classification: uncertain
Sex: male
Home: Cereutis
Affiliation: Spektrosaur (temporarily)
Rank: mercenary.
Background (with spoilers)
Denortos appears in the thrilling KR comic double-issue The Cereutian menace. A dangerous criminal from the extra dimension of Cereutis, Denortos lost his left arm and parts of his face during an ancient battle on Tahron, before being deported back to his dimension and imprisoned. He was then freed and armed with new face components and a powerful shooting arm by Deptilion, who offered promises of power and wealth in exchange for aid to take his revenge on the Therioms. Denortos returned to Tahron and, while secretly serving Deptilion, allied himself with Lor-Drek. Eventually, he grew ambitious and, reneging on his deal, raised an army of his own to fight both the Therioms and the Spektrosaurs. But a surprising alliance between the two factions proved to be too challenging for Denortos and, at last, he was forced out of Tahron once again.
Articulation
Standard, with the addition of a hinged lower jaw, a diagonal swivel across the chest and a ball joint at the left elbow.
Description
Head: elongated shape, dark-blue (almost black) skin, a strip of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales (similarly to Merados' stripes) running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the head (developing into a spiny cranial crest), two short tentacle-like dark-blue antennas, two pairs of curved dark-blue spines pointing backwards where one would expect to find the ears, yellow right eye (with a horizontal slit-shaped dark pupil resembling a series of four small holes, similarly to a Tokay gecko eye) topped with a jagged brow ridge, electronic left eye (this reminds me of HAL 9000's camera eye) mounted on a steel plate that covers part of the face, two large nostrils and chunky steel electromechanical jaws with sharp teeth. The lower jaw is movable and allows us to see very cool details sculpted on the inside of the mouth, such as two half-rows of sharp whitish teeth and some exposed flesh. It really looks like his face suffered a serious battle injury and some parts had to be replaced with bionic components
Body: his dark-blue (almost black) skin is stretched over a series of bony plates with spine-like tubercles, which are arranged in rings throughout his body, giving a general segmented, armoured appearance. His legs and right arm sport claw extremities and large strips of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales running down the sides. The left arm has a great steel robotic look, showing some little details, such as rivets and cables, but not as many as, for example, Loghar's or Xonedar's cybernetic limbs. Finally, he has a short pointy tail emerging from his trunks and protected by a leaf-shaped, spiny-edged dark-blue tail shield
Wearables: a black armour with light-green details (the two colours alternate clockwise), one black gauntlet, two black boots, a black belt (displaying a small horizontal pocket on the back) and a ridged light-green crotch piece. The armour is not removable and shows some tech details, tubes, battle marks and a mysterious silver symbol (resembling a four-pointed throwing star with what looks like a trilobite embossed in the middle) on the front. Its two furthest-apart components are connected diagonally via a strap that also holds a pouch on the back. The exposed part of the abdomen displays a surgical suture closed with stitches by means of a metal wire.
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| Denortos' stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a Cereutian symbol. |
Action feature
In the comics Denortos is shown to possess extremely accurate senses thanks to his antennas. Well, this is probably the only faculty that couldn't be recreated in the figure, because regarding all his other abilities, there's so much going on here.
Let's start with his powerful mechanical mouth that can inflict ferocious bites through nearly anything; this feature is wonderfully rendered thanks to the spring-loaded lower jaw, which can swing open and then suddenly snap shut like a bear trap.
Denortos also has a long-range punching feature that is reproduced in two ways. First, by posing his torso, thanks to the unique diagonal swivel articulation, either to wind up or to follow through before and after the punch respectively. Second, by popping the cybernetic arm off at the elbow and attaching an alternative split arm. That’s wonderful too, it really looks like the fist has been propelled with force through the air by his strong swinging movement and, owing to an extensible cable (a simple string in reality) attached to the forearm, can eventually been drawn back.
Finally, this evil guy has the ability to exhale a gas that knocks his enemies unconscious. Since his appearance changes slightly when doing that, the figure comes with an alternative head. In this head the four spines of the cranial crest are set upright, forming a sort of spiky mohawk, while each pair of side spines is swung forward and spread out, forming a "bat wing"-shaped ear with a number of fissures, through which the gas is sprayed. His bionic components look different too: the eye is green rather than red, in order to see through the mist, while the jaws are converted into a breathing mask that also covers the nose. This mask is permanently connected via two pliable corrugated hoses to a twin-cylinders set (equipped with a pivoting control lever and a pressure gauge) that snaps into a socket on the back. Apparently, after his injury he lost the capacity to withstand his own toxic fumes. Oh, this head stinks... I mean, literally! I don't know what the guys at PoliganToys added to the plastic to make it smell like wet soil, but if the intention was to replicate the knockout gas, well, they perfectly succeeded.
Weapons and accessories
Denortos comes with a great deal of accessories. Apart from the already mentioned alternative arm and head-plus-cylinders, we also get two weapons and a blasting effect for the bionic eye. The first weapon is his light-green petrifaction-beam gun. This is beautifully sculpted and has a barrel equipped with two "stag beetle mandible"-shaped silver blades at the sides. The raygun has an additional handle, so it can also be displayed as a melee weapon. In addition, it has a small hook on its top, which allows it to be hung from a loop on the side of a supplementary large glossy black removable belt adorned with silver rivets and spikes.
The second weapon (sort of) is a silver shield. This is quite bulky and has a strange trapezoidal shape with intricate tech patterns. But here's the thing - both surfaces are made of hinged fold-out pieces (one on the back and three on the front) that allow us to convert the shield into a hovering jet-board. The feature really works great: when shrunk, the shield attaches securely either at the figure's robotic wrist or at the back armour (plugging into the same socket that can be used to stow the air tanks, which are also fictionally produced by the shield itself) via one peg; when spread out, the jet-board fastens snugly under his feet (with the figure standing on it). Additionally, Denortos' standard head bears a small hole in the cranial crest that can be used to make him glide on his jet-board by means of a string from one point to another (similarly to a zip line).
Finally, the translucent red blasting effect can replace the red bionic eye, to simulate the emission of a lethal laser beam.
There's more! In the comics, when travelling from Cereutis to Tahron, Denortos possesses the ability to transform into a falling body of matter, like a meteor. So, the figure also comes with his meteoric form, which looks like a coarse-grained, banded, porous dark-blue stone with hints of a red glow coming from its inside.
Comic
Together with the action figure we get the eighth comic issue The Cereutian menace: Part I – Downfall. On Tahron, a monstrous warrior named Denortos is sent from the extra dimension of Cereutis to pursue an alliance with Lor-Drek. Denortos explains that he can bring him Deptilion's halberd in exchange for help to retrieve an ancient machine that can save Cereutis from destruction. Lor-Drek agrees and sends his soldiers to break into Theriom City's understructure, where the machine is supposedly hidden. Once the incursion is discovered, the Therioms try to fend the attackers off, but Denortos, before fleeing, turns Sei-Lha and Elykta into stone with his petrifaction weapon. At Koptros' suggestion, Masq-Lor and Fai-Rha travel to Artelon, to reach a compromise with Lor-Drek, who may have a remedy. After some struggle with a few Spektrosaur soldiers, the two siblings make it to the leader's command post. Lor-Drek agrees to provide them with an antidote to free their fellows from the curse, only if in return Fai-Rha reunites with his army. Fai-Rha accepts generously, but Masq-Lor eventually regrets and, while keeping the cure to save Sei-Lha's and Elykta's lives, goes back to rescue his sister. Using the element of surprise, the hero confronts the Spektrosaurs, but Lor-Drek stops the fight and proclaims that it was all just a test of Masq-Lor's love for his sister, in which he succeeded. In the meantime, Denortos attempts a new attack on Theriom City and manages to find and activate the machine. This creates an inter-dimensional bridge that brings Denortos' sidekicks on Tahron. Masq-Lor, Fai-Rha and Lor-Drek realise that the only way to overcome this new threat is to form a coalition.
Overall, Denortos is such a fun figure and, in my opinion, the most detailed in the entire KR line yet. The bionic parts are fantastic, they really look sharp. The torso even gets him an extra articulation point, which helps open up the poses for his body greatly. He is solid from top to bottom and has a very unique look to help set him apart from the reptilian guys he will be standing with. Yes, I am thrilled to add him to my Spektrosaur display, even if he has to stand off to the side due to his ambiguous background. And I should have no problem to find a configuration that fits my needs with all of the accessories included. Let’s hope that his critter form (right, he can also transform into a beast) shows up sooner rather than later, to make him even more complete.
The comic is very nice too, despite having one of those silly morals. One may object that the story doesn't make much sense - why would Masq-Lor first agree to 'abandon' his sister, but then go back on his word? Well, as Koptros (a new interesting character, by the way) explains, all the trouble was due to evil and selfish moves from others, which makes it legitimate to break a promise, if this can counteract those actions. Good point!
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