KR Review #73: Destructomorph Rider

Here's the thing with this figure. While in the comics the Destructomorph Riders^TM have their own colour and design, this 56^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys is almost an exact replica of the Destructomorph Trooper, not very different in colour and, except for a few obvious additions, not much in design.

On the one hand, something like this is not a deal-breaker for me and I still put him on the shelf feeling happy. After all, he's an upgraded Trooper, so why not repeat the black-red-yellow colour scheme? On the other hand, the fact that many of his components are coloured in red and yellow rather than the comic-accurate black is just very, very odd to me.

I wonder which one of the two versions should be considered the standard. The illustration or the toy? This would certainly cause an uproar among collectors.

Details

Name: Destructomorph Rider

Real name: Destructomorph Trooper Mark II

Subtitle: motorised trooper

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: drone.

Background

An army of Destructomorph Riders appears in the 13^th and final KR comic issue The ultimate curse. After Deptilion's defeat in the arena between the multiversal walls, the former robotic troopers of the Destructomorph forces were upgraded by their leader from simple androids to evil transforming pursuit machines. Now called Destructomorph Riders, these menacing drones in the service of Tmohrr can race at an incredible speed and threateningly chase their powerless victims.

Articulation

Standard, except that wrists and calves are ball jointed.

Description

Head: like with the regular Destructomorph Trooper, the black metallic head resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components (including new details on the nose that resemble a pair of gas mask filters), orange (instead of red) glowing eyes and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak. He also wears a horned yellow headgear, whose design is slightly different from the regular version and kinda recalls a motorcycle open-face helmet. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's silver horns

Body: the black metallic arms and legs are a reuse of the regular Destructomorph Trooper's electro-hydraulic limbs, which display lots of machinery/circuitry patterns. Under the removable armour, the torso is also the same tech-mech piece used for the original Troopers, with identical dials, sliders, buttons, knobs and rectangular lenticular sticker at the centre of the chest (which gives an illusion of coursing sound waves). Additionally, his arms and legs are equipped with four separate black&silver clip-on pieces, two elbow guards (each carrying a continuous track) and two thigh/knee guards (each carrying a fairly large wheel with a nicely patterned rubbery tyre) respectively

Wearables: a red armour with yellow details, two red gauntlets (instead of bracers), two red boots (instead of shin guards), a red belt and a yellow crotch piece; the last two elements show lots of cyber details. The armour is a slightly modified version of the original protective covering and bears, besides a Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped blueish spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face) on the chest plate, two black hoses that stretch onto the back. Speaking of the back, the Rider wears a rocket pack equipped with a massive black&silver turbojet engine.

Destructomorph Rider's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Destructomorph symbol.

Action feature

In the comics, the Destructomorph Riders are able to transform into dreadful pursuit machines. So, let's sum up the way this figure converts from the robotic form to the motorised configuration:

1) the regular head is replaced by an alternative head, which is equipped with a glossy black visor and a neck extension (the former has a vertical keel-like ridge running centrally, the latter allows the figure to look forward when it lies down)

2) the two wheels are detached from the knee guards and joined together to form a single piece

3) the feet are replaced by a black swing arm that holds the wheel in a Gizmoduck fashion

4) the hands are replaced by two black guns.

Once the arms and the head are pulled up and the figure is set in a horizontal position, the Rider can race across smooth surfaces on his rear wheel and front tank treads (each equipped with a small wheel underneath).

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternative head, swing arm and wrist mounted guns, the Destructomorph Rider comes with a yellow laser pistol, whose design is very similar to the above-mentioned guns. As an additional display option for the pursuit mode, both the guns and the pistol can alternatively be connected to the rocket pack. Also, there are three plug-in blasting effects for the wrist mounted guns and the jet engine.

Overall, the Destructomorph Rider looks good and is a fine addition to my shelf. The articulation was kept intact despite the transformation feature and I'm glad that the head can be made to look up while he’s dashing around. Accessories are fun too and, yeah, I love that big spinning wheel! However, I still feel a bit torn. I like the colours and the sculpt choices to make him be in harmony with the older Troopers. At the same time, I would have liked a total-black biker look to make him more comic accurate. Even if the use of a much darker shade of red helps the figure to reach an intermediate state between the two alternatives, perhaps an army-builder two-pack including both the options would have been the optimal compromise.