KR Review #55: Steel-Monster Loghar

I know, I haven't been very active this month. I'm actually trying to enjoy a bit of summer holidays, but I still want to get a review up for the end of July.

Since this variant includes shared parts with both the regular version and a bunch of robotic figures, I guess Steel-Monster Loghar^TM has the potential to be one of the most debatable inclusions in the KR line.

Anyway, this 42^nd action figure prototype from PoliganToys also features some noticeable differences, such as a few paint variations, a set of newly sculpted attachments and, above all, a re-tooled chest piece with a surprising action feature.

Details

Name: Steel-Monster Loghar

Real name: Unit ГЗК-Д

Subtitle: robotic impostor

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Rexodon

Rank: drone.

Background

Steel-Monster Loghar appears at the end of the sixth KR comic issue Reptiles reunited. After the Therioms have succeeded in rescuing several hostages held by Loghar (whose spirit possesses Herrion's body) and Lor-Drek, Masq-Lor is confronted by his demoniac twin brother. During their fight, Loghar, like Deptilion previously, reveals that he's in actual fact a droid, whose trunk enshrines a deadly worm-like drilling machine that can lash out at any enemy. The robot has been programmed by the real Deptilion, who also killed the real Loghar. While Masq-Lor appears surrounded and defenceless, Tir-Hing manages to help his son, allowing him to strike out at Loghar, thanks to a nearby Ceratank, in a final violent blow.

Articulation

Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed and there is no ab crunch.

Description

Head: black metallic reptile skull, showing a few mechanical and electrical components, the eyes emit a red glow. This head is essentially a reuse of the robot-mode Rexodon Trooper's head, which also came in different versions with the Destructomorph Troopers and Steel-Monster Deptilion. Its structure resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, the front part of the jaws ending in a beak, two horns projecting backwards from the back of the head and two additional horns below those pointing backwards and down. The only innovation in this variant's head is that it is topped with a silver blade crest

Body: arms and legs have a black metallic look, showing lots of machinery/circuitry patterns and few grey scaly artificial skin fragments on the right arm and the left leg. Like with the other Loghar variants, the right leg is equipped with a silver tripod instead of a claw foot and the left arm ends in a ball&socket connection. Additionally, his creepy and menacing cyborg-like clawed right hand has four little spikes sticking out of the knuckles

Wearables: a silver armour with black details (not removable), two silver cuffs, a silver boot (with a spike sticking out of the side) on the left leg, a silver belt and a black crotch piece that shows lots of cyber details. From a distance, this figure is basically a mix of Loghar's and Destructomorph Trooper's reused pieces, but side-by-side there are subtle differences, such as shinier silver parts with some glossy black trim here and there. The belt is the only completely new piece and displays a diamond-shaped buckle.

Steel-Monster Loghar's stylised armour.

Action feature

Unlike Loghar's previous versions, the left arm extremity is not the main feature of SML, since there is no mechanism attached to it. Instead, we find a black hook with a cog halfway down its length and some loppy wires, which is the remainder of his lost spinning incendiary device. The hook can still be detached to make the forearm look like a kind of cannon. SML also carries the same technological backpack seen on the other versions, with identical sculpted details, such as wires, panels, piping, tubes and dials. However, in this figure the insulated tube that usually runs to the left forearm is absent, except for a short leftover attached to the cuff.

So, nothing exciting... except for one big thing! Yes, because if this Loghar figure were just a collection of reused components with a new useless accessory, it would really suck. Thankfully, this variant gets an all new hollow chest. We lose the ab crunch articulation, but the front plate opens up to reveal SML's true heart, which nestles inside his upper body and looks like the rotating cutting wheel of a tunnel boring machine. This nicely designed silver drilling head has copper-coloured cutting bits, disc cutters and drag picks arranged in such a way that it resembles a demonic face. As another option, the cutter head can be pushed and attached into SML's chest (the chest plate that normally accommodates it can also be disconnected from the abdomen and snapped back into place at will) or connected to the arm-cannon when the hook is detached. In the comics, after Loghar's chest plate has popped open, the drilling-machine weapon flies out and becomes longer and longer, acquiring a mechanical worm-like appearance. So, the cutter head comes with a tubular articulated attachment that is composed of 12 ball jointed pieces. The complete form of this weapon, which is characterised by several intertwined flexible metal hoses and a number of curved spikes, looks amazing and bears some resemblance to Steel-Monster Deptilion's acid thrower.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the drilling weapon and the detachable hook, SML comes with a few cool accessories. The first accessory is Bi-Harr's stolen outward-curved-bladed halberd, which is identical to the original one, except from being painted with some subtle black shades here and there rather than plain silver.

In addition, there are four pivoting laser rifles that can clip on and off the elbow and knee joints, and a second cyborg-like hand that can replace the hook on the left arm.

Last but not least, we also get an alternative head. This is a battle damaged Loghar-possessed Herrion head, basically a Terminator-style shrunk version (i.e., with retracted beak, horns and blade crest) of SML regular head with some fake flesh and hair left on it.

Overall, I think this figure is actually really well executed. He’s just got a lot of little nice things that make him look sharp to me. Sure, because of the chest cavity hosting the surprising drilling-machine head, he loses the ab crunch, but at least now we understand why we didn't get a removable armour in his previous versions. About the (many) reused parts, I applaud the folks at PoliganToys for making the trimming different enough from other figures to be notable. His artificial skin remains are great and even the colours look better. I actually do like him!