SDCC 2017 wrapped last week and was a blast. A part of the fun at the con was seeing the impressive lineup of Key Raiders figures that PoliganToys displayed in their booth. What a view!
Today I'm looking at one of the most interesting 2-packs in the KR|Origin line - ZhongatTM + KiloraptTM. Interesting because this third multi-pack prototype of the series is the first that includes two figures belonging to two different factions... sort of.
Considering that Zhongat is a kind of dwarf action figure due to his small stature, the folks at PoliganToys decided to give him a package upgrade and, I have to say, having it packed with another character was a pretty good idea. Especially because the second item is a creature and a quite imposing addition to the collection.
Ready for a closer look at this 2-pack? Then let's go.
Zhongat
Details
Name: Zhongat
Subtitle: former mentor
Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)
Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)
Rank: commandant of the Theriom Knights.
Background
First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins
Brief bio: the shrewdest and most venerable of the reptilian trainers, Zhongat mentored Bi-Harr in potentiating both his body and his intellect, to help overcome the difficulties due to his dual nature and to prepare him for a military career. When the self-appointed Reptonoid leader decided to undertake an uprising against the increasing mammalian predominance, he felt frightened by and partially responsible for the growing insanity of his pupil, and decided to put his experience at the service of the Therioms. Zhongat provided King Tah-Ron's forces with valuable training alongside Ki-Shudan, but only after proving he had not only great strength, but sharp powers of judgement as well. As one of the brawniest fighters on Tahron, he possessed such an extraordinary might that even his former disciple dared not challenge him.
Articulation
Zhongat's articulation scheme differs from the standard one significantly and is the following:
- neck (ball jointed)
- shoulder (ball hinged, x2)
- elbow (ball hinged, x2)
- wrist (swivel + hinged -for left wrist front-to-back movement and right wrist side-to-side movement-, x2)
- mid-torso (ball jointed)
- hip (hinged, x2)
- knee (swivel, x2)
- ankle (double hinged -for both front-to-back and rocking movements-, x2)
- tail (swivel)
Description
Head: similar to a Komodo dragon, characterised by ochre skin, a long scaly snout, light-blue eyes (the right one is pupil-less), closely spaced serrated teeth along the edges of the jaws, a long, deeply forked yellow tongue and a gular fold
Body: shorter than most characters (only 12 cm, almost 5"), bulky. His rugged hide is reinforced with bony armoured scales, which function as a sort of natural chain-mail, and shows crazes, warts and an ochre drybrush that brings out all the amazing detail in the sculpt. His hands and feet display long black claws, while a thick pointy tail as long as the rest of his body emerges from under his skirt
Wearables: a light-green crocodile leather robe (with orange collar, lapels, cuffs and hem, all decorated with copper studs), an orange hakama (with a middle slit to allow for leg movement) and a pair of thonged light-green sandals. The robe, whose hem falls to the hip, is completely open and has a loose closure (which is formed of two copper clasps connected with an orange string) near the neck, while the skirt is secured by a metallic light-green belt. The detail of the patterning in the hakama is pretty stunning and Zhongat has a lot of little silver work (e.g., chains and awls) stored in its pockets. The belt displays a crocodile leather sheath, which is used to store the blade of his dagger (more on this later), and a copper purse respectively near the left and the right side of the buckle. The sleeves are short enough to expose two metallic light-green wrist guards decorated with spines; similar metallic spines, a couple of which have even been broken off, are also attached to the robe, running all down the back.
Action feature
Although the comics portray Zhongat as a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and mention that he has a venomous bite, his figure has no action feature.
Weapons and accessories
Zhongat comes with two nice accessories: a janbiya and a shield. The janbiya is a dagger with a copper hilt and a short curved steel blade that has a medial ridge, while the shield is made of a wooden oval to which two intertwined copper dragons (one looking European, the other Chinese), symmetrically biting one another's tail, are fixed. The design of the shield reminds me a bit of the Auryn, the talisman seen in The Neverending Story.
Kilorapt
Details
Name: Kilorapt
Subtitle: ghoulish dinosaur
Classification: archosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)/Foundation
Affiliation: Reptonoid/Rexodon
Rank: steed.
Articulation
Kilorapt’s articulation isn’t fantastic, but it’s decent enough to accomplish a few nice poses. His ball jointed head has a really wide range of movement, while the tail is only on a swivel. Each limb features three points of articulation: swivel shoulder/hip, ball hinged elbow/knee and ball hinged wrist/ankle. Fortunately, the legs are strong enough to support his body weight for long periods.
Description
Kilorapt resembles a bipedal maniraptor with a long tail. Like other KR creatures, he's pretty big, but even with his large size the folks at PoliganToys didn’t skimp at all on the detail work. Kilorapt is covered head to tail in craggy looking mauvish scales and wrinkles. His abdomen is covered with a longitudinal series of larger orange scales, which also run all along the underside of the tail (giving him a segmented appearance) and received a nice dark-red wash. His head is characterised by large, slightly forward facing amber eyes and partially open jaws that are lined with widely spaced blade-like white teeth, while his limbs are long and slender, and terminate in three-fingered/toed hands and feet that display large curved pearlescent claws.
The patterns on his skin are broken up even more with scars and cracks due to the incorporation of cybernetic enhancements, such as a sighting device on his left eye (for looking in on targets) and a pair of robotic mechanisms with circuits, pistons and cogs mounted to the legs (for movement with increased strength and endurance).
Kilorapt carries a removable armoured saddle, which has a button closure on the bottom and whose front and rear extend into a neck guard and a tail guard respectively. The seat is characterised by a brown leather scale armour texture, and is equipped with a pair of horn-like black appendages attached to the pommel and two gold&red escutcheons (one with the Reptonoid eye symbol and the other with the Rexodon skull emblem) at the sides of the cantle. The steel neck and tail guards show lots of cyber details, as well as various golden ornaments, such as studs, crests and claw-shaped decorations. The underside of the saddle is cushioned by some dark-brown lining, which bears few orange strings with tassels at their ends and covers the shoulders and the hips partially. The rider is secured by a 2-point safety belt that goes over the waist, but, curiously, there are no stirrups.
Action feature
Kilorapt includes a set of accessories that are used to display him in the way he appears briefly in the comics of the Origin series. First up is a steel head armour with gold details (i.e., eyes and upper and lower crests) that resembles the head of a Tyrannosaurus. The armour is made of a collar and two hinged jaws, and can be worn by temporarily disconnecting Kilorapt's head. It simulates a techno-bite action and, when it's closed, conceals the steed's real head completely.
Additionally, there are two pairs of raptor hands and feet attachments, both made of steel with long curved, sickle-shaped golden claws (two for each hand and three for each foot). The slashing front claws clip on the wrists and carry posable wing-shaped blades that are attached to the bracers via ball-hinged joints, while the hind claws connect to the feet in a shoe fashion.
Weapons and accessories
Kilorapt comes with a large pivoting cannon that is mounted to the armoured saddle and rests over his right shoulder. The gold&silver cannon is shaped like a dinosaur head and can fire a flame-ball projectile thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism.
Overall, while there is a problem with the limited articulation here and there, these two figures still turned out to be incredible thanks to their flawless sculpting and paintwork. These are truly the kind of figures that deliver a visual punch to anyone who sees them. I like Zhongat's character a lot (rogue reptilians, oh yeah!), so it’s great to get a figure of him, especially considering his unusual shape and size. Kilorapt is another creature in the KR mythology that I really wanted, so it’s nice to see him finally get a figure that can easily fit into both the regular and the Origin lines; he's just an impressive and dominating presence, and really gives me something to build a display with my collection of prototypes around.
No comments:
Post a Comment