KR|Origin Review #1: Kai-Xi

We are BACK! And the fact that a new lineup of prototypes is ready to haunt my shelf only proves that the spirit of Key Raiders is certainly alive and well.

This is the first review of a bunch of figures that belong to a new Key Raiders series. Precisely, it's a prequel series titled Key Raiders: Origin (stylised as KR|Origin), which concerns events happening more than 500 years before Masq-Lor's adventures. So, this universe, which is characterised by a sort of medieval vibe, is the point of origin of the regular series that we have all come to know and love during the past two years.

Kai-Xi^TM, the future Deity, opens this new series of the KR line in the form of a dual-action figure, which makes me pretty excited. In the regular series, The Deity is quite a big deal - she is the one responsible for maintaining balance between the different factions. I have to say, with these figures the folk at PoliganToys really did her justice.

I have waited for long to know more about this rather obscure character that originated some time in the past of Tahron. Now, we learn that she actually comes from present China... and that Tahron is on Earth! This is the kind of cool backstory that we are getting with this line and makes it all the more rich.

Details

Name: Kai-Xi

Real name: Wēn Kǎi xī

Subtitle: phoenix amazon

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: China

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: service warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #1 - An arduous venture

Brief bio: before she was The Deity, Wen Kai xi was a talented archaeologist and scientist from our time. Along with the heroic Cereutian knight Galamars^TM, she used the power of the Antikythron to travel back in time, in an attempt to give her home-world a peaceful history. Arriving on Tahron, the present continent of Antarctica, Kai-Xi became instrumental in trapping Bi-Harr's mental powers beyond the multiversal walls. After the death of her beloved king Khon-Uhr^TM, she took up the duty of guarding the remaining halberds and helmets she helped create, knowing that those prodigious artefacts were the key to unleash Bi-Harr's powers once again. Raising to a powerful divine form shortly after her own demise, Kai-Xi recognised in the renegade reptilian soldier Elykta a new guardian and passed on her role of seeking out brave warriors who can prevent the halberds from being combined by the hands of evil.

Articulation

Both figures have the standard articulation, excluding the hinged abdomen and with the addition of a swivel joint at each elbow in the enhanced form.

In the comics, as I'll explain later, Kai-Xi wears a magic helmet that in certain situations gives her incredible abilities and changes her look. Despite the two figures represent the same character, they render the two alternative forms and appear very different. Although it's not clear whether these figures will be released individually or in a 2-pack, I'm going to describe them separately.

Normal form

Description

Head: Asian features, cream white skin, long unbound black hair (with a small crown braid), hazel eyes. She wears two jade drop earrings

Body: cream white skin, exposed arms and legs

Wearables: a basque-like corset consisting of several square greenish pieces of jade laced together, two narrow dark-green jade bracelets, two studded light-green bronze (obviously oxidised) armbands around the biceps, a dark-green leather garter (decorated with light-green bronze studs) around the right thigh, two dark-green leather boots with white furry tops and a belt made of several light-green bronze discs laced together. The sleeveless jade bodysuit extends past the waistline over the hips and leaves the upper back exposed; it is characterised by a contoured fit, brassiere cups and shoulder straps, and features decorative front and back lace-up details and a series of light-green bronze discs laced together along each shoulder strap. The uneven hue of the jade pieces creates an arabesque pattern of dark and light green all over the bodice.

Action feature

Similarly to what we have seen with Apprentice Minister Masq-Lor, Apprentice Advisor Fai-Rha and Herrion, despite the figure doesn't have any real action feature, we still get something to complement Kai-Xi's look, presumably for highly formal occasions. This comes in the form of a set of extra pieces, which includes:

- An alternative head characterised by the face more heavily coated with cosmetics (i.e., eye shadow and dark-red lipstick), chandelier earrings, and the hair drawn back into a chignon and adorned with a simple studded light-green bronze headband that extends towards the forehead with a jade jewel

- A dress add-on consisting of a long strip of cloth and a cape, which are both red with decorative serrated leaf gold patterns (derived from Chinese styles) and are linked via a high standing collar made of a golden fabric in the upper part and dark-brown fur in the lower part. The strip of cloth covers the front of the body down to the knees and fastens round the waist thanks to a permanently attached golden belt embellished with a jade jewel

- A headdress/face mask that includes two additional geisha-style hair buns at the sides, a showy jewelled ornamental golden headband worn on the front of the hair and a dark-brown furry adornment that connects to the front of the dress collar by means of a big gold brooch topped with a jade jewel

- An additional long pliable red shawl with decorative serrated leaf gold patterns that can be worn under the cape and over the arms.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from her outfit add-ons, Kai-Xi comes with a few more accessories: a sword (plus a scabbard), a shield and a staff. The sword has a leaf-shaped light-green bronze hilt and a silver blade that can be inserted in a dark-green leather scabbard adorned with decorative light-green patterns and attached to a loose fitting belt (the scabbard can additionally connect to the garter on Kai-Xi's right leg).

The round light-green bronze shield is also decorated with dark-green arabesque patterns and clips on Kai-Xi's wrist.

Finally, the light-green wooden staff, topped with a pattern that resembles the Chinese character 凤 (phoenix), is a non-burning version of The Deity's staff and has a sharpened tip on the lower end, so it can also be used as a spear.

Enhanced form

Description

Head: similarly to the three siblings in the original series, Kai-Xi wears one of the silver magic helmets, which in certain circumstances produces a golden half mask (or visor) and gives her incredible physical and mental powers, changing her appearance significantly. The figure comes with an helmeted head, characterised by the golden visor activated, fierce eyes and vermilion scaly skin around the mouth. The helmet also features some subtle bird of prey-themed details (such as two eyes, a beak and a frontal golden decoration resembling a pair of "phoenix rising" wings) and a fairly long nape protector

Body: the exposed parts of her body (i.e., arms, legs and stomach) are covered with vermilion feathers

Wearables: a dark-green armour with light-green details (which bears a high neck and shoulder pads), two large dark-green bronze bracelets (with knuckle protectors, and decorated with light-green arabesque patterns and white jade jewels), two dark-green bronze calf protectors (with knee and instep guards, positioned over the regular boot shafts), a studded dark-green bronze belt and three light-green leather tassets (the central one of which is shaped like a large feather). Unlike the normal form, this version of Kai-Xi is barefoot.

Kai-Xi's stylised helmet with side and top crests.

Kai-Xi's stylised armour.

Action feature

Like with the three siblings of the regular series, a pair of brownish claws (or, rather, talons) can snap into each bracelet, to simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics.

Additionally, Kai-Xi has a pair of wings, made of orange and yellow feathers, attached to her triceps. A system of pegs allows for these wings to spread like fans when her arms are raised. The feature itself works really well, as the wings fall easily into place, and she can move her arms pretty freely. It is worth noting that in the comics these wings seem to have a cosmetic function only and don't give Kai-Xi the ability to fly.

Finally, the figure comes with two sets of accessories that can plug into the back of the shoulder pads. The first set is a pair of long sawtoothed golden "tail" feathers, which are made of a pliable plastic. In the comics, each of these feathers is composed of 15 sharp metal elements, which can be detached individually and used as weapons similar to shuriken. The second set includes two jagged golden "phoenix rising" wings, which are fictionally produced by the above mentioned tails and work as an adjunct to the arm wings.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the snap-on talons, tail feathers and supplementary wings, Kai-Xi comes with a silver halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one with the S-shaped blade) and a shinier version of the halberd that belongs to Lor-Drek in the regular series.

Moreover, there is an alternative head that displays a daring expression and wears the inactive helmet, i.e., with neither the gold visor activated nor bird eyes/beak/wings details. This head works as the necessary bridge between the unhelmeted and the helmeted-with-visor heads.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the first comic issue An arduous venture. The heroic Cereutian knight Galamars is tasked to protect Wen Kai xi, a talented archaeologist and scientist destined to become the Deity, and persuade her to journey to Tahron, a mythical land set in Earth’s past. After following them on their expedition to retrieve the Antikythron from a long-sealed chamber, Denortos, in a desperate attempt to impede Kai xi’s destiny, jumps at the two heroes and they all travel back in time. Galamars fights his Cereutian enemy tenaciously, deciding the battle in his favour, while the spirit of the former king of Tahron advises Kai xi about how to give their home-world a peaceful history.

Overall, Kai-Xi opens this new lineup as a great dual-figure and a character that is really essential to the Key Raiders mythology. I find both versions to be extremely intriguing... and the halberd is looking good in her capable hands! The respected role of Theriom warrior got its start with a feminine touch and I think it is good to begin the Origin display in this way.
About the comic, this is the beginning of the Origin story. Not much good to say – the connection with Earth’s present makes little sense to me, but at least they tried with the few scenes set on Tahron.
This series goes miles to help diversify the KR-verse and, comic issue apart, with this start the odds seem to be favourable altogether.