KR|Enmity Review #15: Kah-Sya

Toy prototype details

Name: Kah-Sya^TM

Subtitle: mutant amazon

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure - Nº 14 in the line.

Character details

Name: Kah-Sya

Classification: mutant human

Sex: female

Relationships: Labramar's partner
Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: colonel.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: after Duke Wordron had invaded O-Kin and become its illegitimate ruler, he selected potential recruits for his army among the most remarkable outliers. Befriending Labramar, the evil duke enlisted him and his longtime girlfriend Kah-Sya in the Dark Legion, to help him conquer Tahron. Born without the use of her arms and left leg due to the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed during the Reptonoid domination, Kah-Sya grew up knowing that she could never serve in O-Kin's Golden Eagle armed force despite her long family's history of service. So afflicted by her genetic mutation that she required special devices remotely connected to her brain, she aimed at becoming one of Wordron's deftest fighters. Kah-Sya trained in her master's arena, where, using her steel-bladed grappling hooks and long trapping braids, she became known for her ability to single-handedly overpower the most skilled gladiators.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: she wears a kendo-style brown leather protective headgear with a frontal metallic dark-blue crest (whose shape is very similar to that of Xonedar's helmet), a face mask (formed of several spiked horizontal steel bars running the entire width of the face, from the chin to the top of the head), a throat protector attached to the bottom of the metal grille (bearing a small Dark Legion emblem, i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face) and two flaps (each ornamented with a different texture) to protect the sides of the neck and the shoulders. This headgear is held in place with a pair of woven cords that wrap around the head and whose windblown-looking ends are tied at the back

Body: entirely covered with a suit of silver chain mail

Wearables: a metallic dark-blue armour with lamellar brown leather details and a V-neck (which exposes part of the chain mail suit when the helmeted head is removed), two double-layered shoulder/arm defences (the lower layers are made of brown leather lames, while the upper layers are metallic dark-blue and sport diamond-shaped steel studs), two laminar dark-blue gauntlets, two thigh-high laminar dark-blue boots (whose turn-down tops sport diamond-shaped steel studs), a diamond-shaped dark-blue belt with a "horned" steel buckle (whose shape recalls the frontal crest) and little steel implements hanging from the sides, and three brown leather vertical flaps for protecting the upper legs and groin (the centre flap looks like an extension of the armour's central strip, while each of the the two side flaps is ornamented with a different texture). It's interesting that all the metallic parts are made of the shiniest dark-blue in all of the KR universe. Kah-Sya also wears three cyber-looking steel bands, two around her arms and one around her left ankle, which fictionally connect her brain to her limbs wirelessly; some circuitry details are also visible here and there on her armour, probably for the same purpose.

Kah-Sya's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Kah-Sya utilises two wrist-mounted, brain-controlled devices to produce a pair of extendable steel blades resembling tantōs. Besides slashing her targets, these blades can expand into shooting grappling hooks to help Kah-Sya navigate across the battlefield. So, the figure comes with two pairs of interchangeable accessories that can attach to the gauntlets: two blades and two grapnels. Each grappling hook has three claws (with their inner edges partially serrated) and is attached to a string that bears a peg at the opposite end (which plugs into the wrist-mounted piece).

Also, since during her fight against Ir-Ash in O-Kin's arena Kah-Sya loses her helmet, revealing her face, the figure includes an alternative head that can replace the standard helmeted one. This head is characterised by Romani traits, light-green skin, blue eyes and several piercings in her right eyebrow, left nostril and right side of the lower lip. The most obvious feature in this head is her long, flowing purple hair, which sports bangs (slightly parted in the centre by a brown leather, silver-jewelled headband worn around the forehead) and two pigtails at the sides. The pigtails are partly arranged in braids and have steel bands twisted around their lengths. In the comics, these bands are also brain-controlled cyber devices that allow Kah-Sya to ensnare her adversaries in her long strands and can even protrude smaller versions of the wrist-blades from the gathered hanks of hair at the ends. Each pigtail has a ball joint at the base and another one near the end; the latter allows for switching the curled hank (so it can grasp items and foes) with the bladed one.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the wrist-mounted blades and grapnels, and the alternative head with curled and bladed hanks of hair, Kah-Sya comes with a stick made up of four brown bamboo slats, which are held together by dark-blue leather fittings. The wrist-blades are also designed to be fitted on each end, in order to transform the stick into a dual-blade stave that combines (and doubles) the scope of a spear with the cutting edge of a sword. In her capable hands, this bladed staff weapon is most devastating!

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ O-Kin's arena is getting crowded and, if Kah-Sya is any indication, the rest of the Dark Legion is going to be great

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ The addition of ball joints at the base and the end of Kah-Sya’s pigtails in the alternative head is a nice touch

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Everything is fine here, with the standout feature of some nicely metallic detail paint. I especially like the helmeted head sculpt, with that badass face mask

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The staff did come a little warped in the package, but I was able to straighten it properly

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Kah-Sya might split some people with her peculiar slashing/climbing/trapping abilities, but all of them came together really well for me, so I really dig playing with this figure a lot

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Kah-Sya is pretty great. She was not a figure I have been desperate for, but she is very well executed.

KR|Enmity Review #14: Li-Khon

Toy prototype details

Name: Li-Khon^TM

Subtitle: last king of Tahron

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure - Nº 13 in the line.

Character details

Name: King Li-Khon

Family name: Amhalgaard^TM

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: King Tah-Ron's direct descendant; father of Ir-Ash, Tir-Hing and Gax-Uhr

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: king of Tahron; supreme commander of the Theriom Armed Forces (formerly general).

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: before been crowned king of Tahron, Li-Khon served as an elite soldier in the heavy infantry of the Theriom army and later as their general. Together with his sons, he admirably fought the Dark Legion and forced Duke Wordron to reside in the shadows of the peaks in the Ucamur^TM region. Wishing to alleviate the devastating effects of the revived reptilian threat, King Li-Khon pondered Tir-Hing's proposal of a new political system that would allow the people of Tahron to choose their ruler. Eventually, after hiding half of his dual-halberd for safety in the ancient Quartz Tower, he agreed to set aside the monarchy and gave his son the permission to transform the kingdom into a democratic republic.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: predominantly ursine (even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by a thick cinereous fur (with a double-pointed "beard") that covers most of the face, including a cranial crest and a pair of subtly pointy ears, and surrounds the light brown-skinned mouth. He has blue eyes with jagged eyebrows and a large dark nose, while the slightly open mouth exposes a number of sharp whitish teeth. Compared to Li-Khon's head that came with Tah-Ron, this head shows a much younger look and suggests that this guy is definitely in charge. He also wears a silver crown decorated with eight prongs all the way around; each prong is shaped in a similar fashion to a fleur-de-lis (⚜) and bears a red gemstone at its centre

Body: thick cinereous fur (but, like the mouth, his breast, and most parts of his hands are bald and light brown-skinned), black nails

Wearables: a red robe with silver lapels, cuffs and hem, two red leather boots with turn-down blueish-grey tops and studded silver shin guards, and a silver chain mail skirt. The robe, whose hem falls to the knee, is completely open and has a high standing silver-lined red collar, while the skirt is secured by a red leather belt, whose buckle looks like an elaborate silver version of the Theriom emblem (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated) with a red gemstone in the centre, and holds a long strip of blueish-grey fabric. Also, the robe features a pair of rather short sleeves, which expose two metallic red bracelets decorated with arabesque patterns and silver studs, and a silver necklace, from which a pendant very similar to the belt buckle hangs down in front.

Action feature

In the comics, Li-Khon is portrayed as both a sage ruler and a skilled combatant. Since fighting whilst wearing a robe and a crown must be pretty uncomfortable, PoliganToys gives us the possibility to display the figure in two different configurations: an institutional look and a combat look. The former has been described above, while the latter is obtained by detaching the head and the arms, and allowing the robe, which is a one-piece component including the necklace, to slip off the torso. Then, a chest harness (composed of a metallic blueish-grey breast plate with silver details plus a golden Theriom emblem at its centre, and four silver&red-leather straps) must be worn by securing two little fasteners on the sides. Finally, a pair of alternative arms must be plugged in and the head reattached (the crown is a clip-on piece that can be easily removed). The arms show a thick cinereous fur and two red leather gloves that are reused from Khon-Uhr (each with a large studded silver wrist guard that has four small claws projecting forward); additionally, the right arm sports a blueish-grey pauldron with silver details. This combat look basically renders a younger version of the Li-Khon figure that could be produced using the add-ons packaged with Tah-Ron, and now we can finally use the robe+necklace piece to create a more accurate Foundation Li-Khon variant.

Li-Khon's stylised combat harness; the oval at the centre of the chest plate represents the Theriom symbol.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the the alternative arms and armour, Li-Khon comes with three accessories: two pairs of silver halberds, which encompass all the four components of the Key, and a non-removable sheathed sword. The first pair of halberds belongs to him (as the legacy from his Origin ancestors) and is formed by the weapons that used to be held by Myneran and Elkymor (whose blades have four tips and a sawtooth inward-curved cutting edge, respectively) five centuries ago. The two halberds are fused together (as a matter of fact, they are cast as one piece) and they actually look cool this way. The other pair is a very similar piece composed of the two remaining halberds (whose blades have an "S" shape and an outward-curved cutting edge, respectively) that were stolen from Kai-Xi and Khon-Uhr; this dual-halberd weapon is meant to be clasped by Bi-Harr, who is shown to wield it at the end of the third Enmity comic book.

The only visible part of the sword is an interesting Theriom emblem-shaped red hilt, while its blade is permanently inserted in a beautifully ornamented silver scabbard; this sheath is connected to a brown leather loose fitting belt that can be repositioned to one's liking.

Additionally, the figure includes a Baryanoid, which serves as the third instalment of the Build-a-Figure plan that will lead to the completion of the Baryanoid-Cart. Everything related to this topic has already been covered extensively in Ir-Ash's review.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I think I like him even more than I would with any proper Foundation variant, because this version actually plays a pretty prominent role in the Enmity story

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ The inclusion of the alternative arms that easily allow me to make a battle-ready variant is exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for in my KR figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ He looks perfect from crown to toe and I’d still like to see PoliganToys re-release him in his Foundation whitish fur colours

Accessories: ♠♠♠ I'm happy with everything he comes with, but I wish the double rhino-horned helmet that he's briefly shown wearing during the final battle in the third comic issue were included

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ It might sound crazy, but I think this figure could also be a perfect army builder. I could end up buying one or two more and customise them a bit. That way, I could have a nice army of these furry guys without them all looking exactly the same

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This is actually a really great figure and I wouldn't regret buying it.