2016 is giving us one exciting addition after another, and this is no exception. KeloturTM finally comes spinning into battle!
The Spektrosaur line-up keeps trucking along and this 46th action figure prototype from PoliganToys is a nice addition.
Details
Name: Kelotur
Subtitle: spinning-blade warrior
Classification: chelonian reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Spektrosaur
Rank: ensign.
Background
Kelotur's only brief appearance is in the eighth KR comic issue The Cereutian menace: Part I – Downfall. A feared former vandal from the TahlaposTM estuary region, Kelotur was a pure fury, who enjoyed nothing more than whirling flails and blades to deliberately destroy villages and terrorise their inhabitants. He eventually developed the ability to enhance his fighting skills by protruding a jagged sawtooth edge from his carapace and bursting out in a spinning action into battle. Thanks to his threatening claws, violent spin powers and fearsome chain-weapons, which he now uses in service to Lor-Drek, Kelotur swings into the battlefield and ploughs over his foes.
Articulation
Standard, except that the waist is ball jointed.
Description
Head: similar to a turtle, characterised by a short snout, olive-green skin, purple eyes, a pair of nostrils and a partly closed beak-like mouth
Body: olive-green scaly skin, webbed hands and feet with long claws. His torso is encased in a shell that is composed of a plastron on the front and a carapace on the back, each made up of a number of imbricate scutes. The dark-yellow plastron has nine scutes, while the large dome-shaped dark-brown carapace has five central scutes and four pairs of lateral scutes, each armoured with a dark-orange spike to form three dorsal ridges. The carapace and plastron are joined together on Kelotur's shoulders and flanks by bony-like tabs. He also has a short sturdy tail emerging from the bottom edge of the carapace
Wearables: an orange copper chest plate with light-blue details, two orange leather fingerless gloves and two orange leather toeless boots. The chest plate is permanently attached to the plastron, while both the gloves and boots have a palmate structure, to match the webbed hands and feet, and have turndown lapels.
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| Kelotur's stylised chest plate. |
Action feature
In the comics, Kelotur has the ability to withdraw his head, limbs and tail into his shell, which acts as a shield against his enemies. So, the figure comes with an alternative retracted body that can be enclosed inside the shell, after this has been removed from the regular body. At first, I was worried about switching the bodies, because the tabs that hold the shell together seemed a bit brittle to me. However, once I tried, I've realised that there shouldn't be any problem, the plastic is strong enough. While the shell-less extended body has all it needs to stand on its own, including a regular olive-green scaly torso, a mottled orange&brown tortoiseshell belt and light-blue trunks, the retracted form, although being very detailed, looks kind of funny, but I guess it is not supposed to be used without the shell.
Additionally, when retracted, Kelotur can project several sharp dark-yellow teeth from all around his carapace, as well as from the keel down its centre. This ability has been brought to reality by providing the figure with an alternative serrated, spiky-edged carapace, which makes it possible to transform this evil turtle-man into a sort of whirling saw blade. Also, this additional carapace has a spiny keel, a part of which can be detached from the inside of the shell, allowing Kelotur's shell-less extended upper body to plug into a socket in the retracted body's back and form the weirdest monster you can imagine - a double cog-wheel turtle, with one body withdrawn inside the shell and another one emerging from the top of the carapace. Even though it is never shown in the comics, this feature gives us a fun bonus display option, which is always nice. The sawtooth carapace could also be used on the extended body, if one had will to display the figure in such a way, but it's worth noting that the spiky edge hampers the head and limbs movements considerably.
Weapons and accessories
Apart from the retracted body and spiny carapace, Kelotur comes with his trademark chigiriki. This menacing flail weapon consists of a long light-blue metal staff, an equally long silver chain and a cylindrical wooden weight covered with copper spikes.
In addition, the figure includes a clear plastic stand to hold the fictionally flying/spinning retracted form above the ground.
Overall, Kelotur turned out far better than I ever hoped he could be. He's not only an excellent figure, but also a really funky character... and I love funky characters! I was really excited to see his prototype in the KR line and, since we are going to finish up the Spektrosaur squad soon, this guy was a must have. Sure, it is not recommended to make him fly and spin like in the comics, but the added flight stand is kind of cool. And even though the opening carapace for the torso plug-in feature is just not for me personally, I still think it's a nice touch.
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