KR Review #70: Todahr

The character I'm reviewing today is one of those one-episode wonders that I didn’t know I've been looking forward to getting until I received the figure. For some reason, when Todahr^TM first appeared in the penultimate KR comic issue, I wasn’t overly impressed with the illustrations.

Now, I'm really glad to hold this 54^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys and to see one of the few remaining Destructomorph slots filled by a new monstrous member.

Details

Name: Todahr

Subtitle: tentacular warrior

Classification: mollusc

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: commandant of the Belemnians^TM, a barbarian clan.

Background

Todahr's only appearance is in the 12^th KR comic issue Dawn of a new past. The history of Tahron is flecked with many barbarian figures, few of which are more savage and devious than the Belemnian chief Todahr. This unsightly creature from the eastern quagmires worked his way up the ranks throughout his youth and eventually became the commandant of his clan. When Deptilion arrived on his quest to change Tahron's past, the promises of wealth and power were enough to persuade Todahr to serve the Destructomorph leader in his evil plans. Todahr is a cunning fighter who uses his thrashing tentacles to capture his foes and crush their bodies into defeat.

Articulation

Standard, with four additional tentacles and two valves, which are ball hinged separate pieces. Each tentacle features two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description
Head: his head resembles the entirety of a Nautilus' body and is composed of a coiled pearlescent grey shell, from which the snout protrudes. The upper side of the shell is marked with irregular red stripes and equipped with a comb of shiny spikes running centrally. The snout is topped with an orange leathery hood marked with white spots and is characterised by two evil yellow glowing eyes with beady black pupils, as well as eight short grey arms and two fairly long outstretched grey tentacles (the latter ending in pads with suckers) arranged around his syphon-like mouth. Definitely this head has a lot of a Cthulhu feel!

Body: all his limbs, including two main arms, four tentacle-like arms and two legs, have a wrinkled grey skin and bear numerous suckers along their length. His anthropoid arms and legs carry webbed claw hands and feet, as well as fin-shaped extensions that project from the forearms and the calves through openings in his worn items. What really makes Todahr unique are the four large tentacles (each decorated with two studded golden armbands) and the two elongated, wing-like valves (smooth and painted in pearlescent grey on the underside, while cracked and of a darker colour on the upper side), all of which plug into six sockets in his back armour

Wearables: a yellow armour with silver details, two yellow leather gloves, two studded golden armbands around the biceps, two yellow leather boots, a large rhomboidal studded yellow belt and a scale armour (i.e., consisting of several overlapping silver plates laced together) loincloth (reused from Blomok). The belt and the boots display a modified version of the Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped blueish octopus whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face... who copied who?) on the buckle and the shafts respectively.

Todahr's stylised armour.

Action feature

Although the tentacles aren’t bendable, Todahr's fictional ability to seize his enemies with a powerful grip has been recreated by providing each tentacle with three points of articulation, including two swivels at the armbands. Also, when in danger, Todahr can retract into his bivalve shell, which acts as a shield against his foes. This feature is mimicked by disconnecting the two large valves from the figure and joining them to form the closed shell.

As an additional display option, the four tentacles can also be removed, to transform Todahr into a simple two-armed, shell-less warrior.

Finally, Todahr is able to eject a dark sticky liquid from his mouth as a response to attack. So, the figure comes with a glossy black spitting effect that plugs into the end of the snout snugly. This attachment is the sixth repaint of the same effect we've already seen with other figures.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the ink attachment, Todahr only comes with one accessory, which is a whip modelled after the sticky tentacle-like scourge seen in the comics. This weapon has a silver handle and a slimy-looking yellowish bendy lash ending in a rigid pad with suckers sculpted on the underside.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the 12^th and penultimate KR comic issue Dawn of a new past. Due to an accident, Geel-Ber, the savage leader of the Gunlar^TM tribe, absorbs a residue of Alterok’s devilry and transforms into a clone of Deptilion. He meets Demo-Rha and is informed that during the night a rare astronomical alignment (which looks like a lunar eclipse) will allow him to travel through a temporal gate and change Tahron’s history. The Deity summons Masq-Lor and his fellows, and tells them that Deptilion is in the past, working alongside two barbarian clans in a plot to prevent the construction of the multiversal walls. Because of the risk this could alter history significantly, the heroes use the Antikythron to open a portal to the past and travel back in time. There, they immediately meet and save Leutra^TM, a young member of the Kimarhan^TM tribe, from a barbarian’s attack. Teaming up with the Kimarhans, the heroes storm Deptilion's new fortress, which has been built in the future site of the multiversal walls. After several battles, Masq-Lor confronts Deptilion and during the fight he discovers that Geel-Ber, acting under Deptilion’s influence, is part of the evil plan as well. Geel-Ber, now powerless, separates himself from the demonic entity within, against whom Masq-Lor can't defend himself easily. Eventually, tapping into the energy of Lor-Drek’s medallion, which magically strengthens him, the hero changes into a reptilian warrior and fights the demon back, finally destroying him with his sword. Even though the powers of good have won this fight and the damage to the time stream has been undone, the Kimarhans talk about their plan to join the newly formed Theriom faction and take part to the even fiercer war against the reptilian forces. Masq-Lor can't just travel back to the present and, instead, decides to stay and have a hand in the conflict. Elykta explains to Masq-Lor that although this will unlikely interfere with history, he must hide his real identity, in order to avoid creating a time paradox.

Overall, Todahr is a fantastic figure that really stands out on the shelf. It’s just a pity that the giant tentacles and shell pieces, despite being ball hinged, interfere with each other a bit. But few articulation constraints aside, he does not disappoint and his appendages still make for a striking look posed with the other Destructomorphs.
About the comic, this was supposed to be the start of a spin-off series, of which only few ideas have been developed so far. The formerly planned next issue (The beginning) is not even in the making. Instead, we’ll get a new issue, where Masq-Lor returns to his own time to end the war against Deptilion. However, from the interesting concepts set up in this comic, one can say for sure that the expansion of this ancient era would be a worthy successor to the KR saga.