KR|Origin Review #12: Ki-Shudan

Let's keep the train of monthly KR|Origin items running and continue our journey to the exciting past of Tahron with Ki-Shudan^TM!

This 10^th action figure prototype in the form of an archetypal withered, old wizard/mentor takes its official place in the pantheon of the Therioms. The history of Key Raiders just got even more interesting.

Details

Name: Ki-Shudan

Subtitle: skillful trainer

Classification: human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: master of martial and magical arts; historian.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Brief bio: the oldest and wisest of the Therioms who served King Khon-Uhr^TM during the war against the Reptonoids, Ki-Shudan oversaw the forging of the Key in the days of the battle for Tahron. As the last keeper of ancient mystical abilities, this sage warrior and wizard had formerly used his skills as a member of King Tah-Ron's army and had been responsible for teaching many Therioms the secrets of combat and magic. Ultimately, after he had recognised her courage and determination, he agreed to train Kai-Xi, helping her to grow into a valiant soldier tasked to defeat Bi-Harr and free Tahron from his menace.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: elderly Asian features, wrinkled olive brown skin, hazel eyes (the left one is marked with a scar), and white bushy eyebrows and beard (a tuft of the latter is tied by a leather strip). He wears a very tall dark-green kabuto with metallic dark-blue details, including three pairs of horns protruding from the sides of the elongated dome and a neck guard composed of multiple overlapping lames. The kabuto can be removed to reveal an additional greenish open-top helmet (which works as a lining composed of cloth and several overlapping oxidised bronze plates laced together) with exposed white bun hair

Body: covered from neck to toe with a very elegant (even if a bit old) kimono. His hands show olive brown skin and are shielded by a pair of brown leather knuckle protectors

Wearables: a dark-blue robe with dark-green collar, lapels, cuffs and hem, a pair of dark-blue trousers with dark-green side bands, two dark-blue split-toe socks (showing tattered turn-down ochre lapels and fastened by pairs of brown laces that are tied at the calves) and two thonged wooden sandals. Both the robe and the trousers are decorated with white glow-in-the-dark symbols that are vaguely reminiscent of Asian characters and probably have a mystical significance. The robe, whose hem falls to the thigh, is wrapped around the upper body with the left side over the right, secured by a metallic dark-blue belt and open on the chest, exposing an ochre shirt with brown drawstrings near the neck. Under the torn long, wide sleeves it's possible to glimpse two metallic dark-blue wrist guards. The belt is chocked full of all sorts of little implements hanging from the sides and back, including a pair of silver talismans (one is round and holds a small ampoule containing a blueish liquid, while the other is triangular and surrounds an eye-shaped translucent purple gem; both are engraved with the same mysterious marks seen on the kimono), a booklet and a purse brimming with some kind of roots. The belt buckle looks like an elaborate gold&silver version of the Theriom emblem and holds a long strip of dark-green fabric that features white mystic symbols, orange tassels along the lower edge and two orange ropes hanging down in front.

Weapons and accessories

Although Ki-Shudan is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and a powerful wizard, his figure has no action feature apart from the GITD patterns on the kimono. However, it does come with some very interesting accessories. First up is a greenish oxidised bronze sceptre that can split down the middle to reveal two straight-bladed katanas (or chokutō), each with half staff as the handle and the other half as a scabbard. Additionally, the two swords can connect at their ends to create a vicious double bladed staff.

Next up is an accessory that is a total surprise for me. It's the yellow glow-in-the-dark stone from regular Elykta's staff. This is just great on every level, it looks exactly like it does on the weapon it comes from (or, rather, it will go to) and I love the fact that, in order to give it a more realistic gemstone quality, it sprouts up from a silvery matrix together with a cluster of other crystals cast in translucent green plastic. The figure can hold it perfectly in his left hand, which is another plus. Even if the history of this stone remains unexplained, I am always happy to get obscure relics from the KR universe.

Finally, Ki-Shudan comes with an alternative scar-less head for his younger warrior days, which, alongside an obvious advancing baldness, is characterised by long black hair partly arranged in a high ponytail and in a pair of braids at the sides. It also displays a black horseshoe moustache with a double-pointed chin tuft and the mouth slightly open to show the teeth as a sign of combativeness.

Overall, Ki-Shudan certainly has some very strong points. The paint and articulation are as good as the line has to offer and the sculpting is terrific all throughout the figure. The accessories are great too, but I wish the kabuto could have been engineered just a little bit better. I think he looks good with Kai-Xi, Myneran and Elkymor, and does a great job filling in the ancient Theriom squad. Focus now falls on King Khon-Uhr in terms of the Origin era, so hopefully we won’t be waiting for him too long.