Time to get the weekend started off right. This time I'm reviewing the figure of a character that I feel is one of the more menacing Spektrosaur members - SphenoratTM!
With his face hidden by shadows, aside from three freaky glowing eyes, this 45th action figure prototype from PoliganToys really looks surrounded by a halo of mystery.
Details
Name: Sphenorat
Subtitle: dark-magical ghost
Classification: spirit of a lepidosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Spektrosaur
Rank: sorcerer.
Background
Sphenorat's first appearance is in the sixth KR comic issue Reptiles reunited. In life, Sphenorat served as a wizard-priest to Bi-Harr alongside his fellow sorcerer Loghar. The fierce competition between the two warlocks led to Sphenorat's death, after which he raised to a bursting spectral form through a black magic spell. When Lor-Drek left the reptilian army to form his own faction, he promised Sphenorat great power in return for mystic secrets and help in overthrowing both Bi-Harr and the Therioms. The wraith-like wizard agreed to betray the reptilian general and joined forces with Lor-Drek. Using his mastery of witchcraft and his ghostly enhanced abilities, Sphenorat strikes terror into his enemies.
Articulation
Standard down to the waist; due to his robe piece, there is no leg articulation.
Description
Head: covered with a large loose ragged headdress seemingly made of a coarse, rough dark-brown fabric. This cowl also covers the neck and face, only allowing three yellow eyes (the third eye is on the forehead) to be seen on a dark background. On the top, the hood bears three red lines forming an array of crescent-shaped markings, while on the back it tapers to a comb of tips that slightly resembles a spiny crest
Body: cloaked from neck to toe. His arms are covered by long, wide torn dark-brown sleeves, while his hands show a sickly clawed, skeletal appearance, blue-green skin and black nails
Wearables: a long, loose torn dark-brown sackcloth, a large red pendant (resembling the triple-crescent symbol on the hood) on a chain around the neck and a long, thick light-brown cord (with a red tassel at either end) used to fit the garment around the waist. The robe does a great job of blending in with the cowl and especially the sleeves, under which we can glimpse two red bracelets. He also wears a tattered dark-red (I would call this colour "burgundy") cape, which has a high standing collar and is fixed to the front by a light-brown string. This mantle fades to translucent towards the jagged bottom and is removable.
Action feature
In the comics, Sphenorat, being a spectre, has several ghostly powers, such as appearing and disappearing at will and passing through solid obstacles thanks to his impalpable consistence. Of course those abilities couldn't be recreated in the figure, but at least his hands can glow in the dark, giving him a bit of a spectral feel. Additionally, there is an alternative head that is also GITD. This head is similar to the regular one, except that the face is completely exposed and the cowl is removable. The face looks amazing - I think it is supposed to resemble a tuatara, but it's flattened in order to acquire a more humanoid appearance. It has a blue-green GITD skin, three yellow eyes with vertical slit-shaped red pupils and a slightly open mouth that displays a number of sharp white teeth. By removing the hood, two small pointy ears and a large wound (perhaps the cause of his death?) in his wrinkled, bumpy scalp are revealed.
To render his ghost-like nature farther, Sphenorat also comes with a clear stand, so he can be displayed in a floating pose. The stand works great and, similarly to The Deity, has a ball joint on the end.
Weapons and accessories
Apart from the alternative head and the stand, Sphenorat comes with two accessories. First is his mystical sceptre, which has an impressive design. It is a wooden staff topped with a horned reptile eye. The eyeball has a similar appearance to Sphenorat's eyes and is made of a translucent amber plastic with a tinge of red here and there. The whitish horns feature some great detail work and glow in the dark.
The second accessory is a spell book. I’m not sure whether this book actually shows up anywhere in the comics, but I love its design. It's pretty detailed with a small metal plate on the front cover and some neat sculpted symbols (including the triple crescent seen on the hood and pendant) running along the front and back.
Overall, Sphenorat is surely a pretty good figure. I had some reservations before I received it, but they melted when I saw him in person. I can see that the guys at PoliganToys gave him a lot of love and attention. The two heads and the accessories are beautiful, and everything, from sculpt to paintwork, almost perfectly duplicates the add-ons that came with Koptros. In short, I couldn't have a better opinion about this figure.
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