KR|Enmity Review #23: Ter-Ah-Sur

Toy prototype details

Name: Ter-Ah-Sur^TM

Subtitle: caustic warrior

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure - Nº 21 in the line.

Character details

Name: Ter-Ah-Sur

Real name: Kot

Classification: the reanimated corpse of a human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: commander (formerly lieutenant commander of O-Kin's Golden Eagle armed force).

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #3 - Notes of vengeance

Brief bio: a former Golden Eagle soldier, Kot was supposedly killed during the last Reptonoid invasion of the feudal territory of O-Kin, caught in a giant landslide when the young Princess Sih-Len played her enchanted flute to eliminate the reptilian enemy. Before his corpse could disintegrate, the underground chemical conditions hideously disfigured him and changed his body into a shell made of a stony material filled with a corrosive ooze. His miraculously reanimated remains were discovered years later by Duke Wordron, when Kot emerged from a pit as an insane and unpredictable living dead. Although he vaguely remembered his honourable life before the accident, he more clearly recalled his suffering and, driven mad by his condition, sought to share that pain with whom had caused it. Impressed, Wordron wanted him to serve on his Dark Legion, and created a device that would allow Kot to survive and harness the deadly substance he had become. Renamed Ter-Ah-Sur by his master, he fought against the Therioms during a great battle caused by a failed attempt to breach the multiversal walls, once again dying on the battlefield.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a statue made of a cracked brownish-red stony material, carved with deep-set devilish eyes and a wide mouth from which two large sharp teeth protrude upward. He wears a silver helmet with nice tarnished details, which looks like a reversed cup embellished with a white jade stone on the front and two large side-headpieces shaped like eagle wings; the helmet can be removed, revealing a blueish-green corrosive fluid oozing from his seemingly empty cranium

Body: made of a cracked brownish-red stony material. While he appears to wear laminar trousers on his legs, his arms only seem to be equipped with lamellar shoulder pads

Wearables: a dual-layer off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that resembles tarnished silver) protective covering, two off-white bracelets, two off-white boots (with studded tops and riveted sandal-like soles), a studded off-white belt accompanied by two silver tassets, and a Roman-style skirt made of white-studded silver lappets. The torso covering seems to be composed of what, before being petrified, were a fabric vest (presumably with furry armholes) and a lamellar cuirass consisting of several overlapping leather plates laced together. Additionally, the chest armour displays a silver Golden Eagle army emblem (i.e., an eagle with two crossed axes) at the centre; similar symbols are also shown on the bracelets, the belt buckle and the tassets.

Ter-Ah-Sur's stylised armour; the design at the centre of the chest piece represents the Golden Eagle armed force symbol.

Action feature

In the comics, Ter-Ah-Sur is equipped with a chest/back armour created by Wordron and Ignitrys, which functions as a sort of containment suit as well as an ammunition loading machine. So, the figure comes with an additional piece of armour that sits on the figure's shoulders, and incorporates a studded steel chest plate (with pointy shoulder guards) and a back-mounted tech-mech apparatus. A seemingly flexible tube connects a round spout on the chest plate to the device on the back, which in turn produces an ammunition belt that retains and feed special cartridges into Ter-Ah-Sur's firearm. We can imagine that the corrosive ooze pumped from the inside of his body flows along the hose (which is partly black and partly translucent blue-green) and reaches the top-left corner of the back-mounted equipment, while the bottom-right corner of the latter is connected to the drum magazine of the rifle (more on this later) through the ammo belt. Thanks to this arrangement, he can fictionally create a stream of vials containing the lethal blueish-green acidic ooze and then use his gun to fire them towards the enemies.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the shoulder armour with the attached ammunition loading equipment, Ter-Ah-Sur comes with the above-mentioned deadly firearm. This is a gunmetal (i.e., a dull bluish-grey colour) arquebus with two over-and-under barrels designed to shoot the vials of acid; it has a white drum magazine, into which the vials are fed via the ammo belt, an apparently complex firing mechanism and an axe-like shiny silver blade, which is fixed to the bell-shaped muzzle of the lower barrel in a bayonet fashion and is said to be the remainder of Kot's old weapon for use in hand-to-hand fighting.

Additionally, the figure includes an alternative head that bears a more human-looking countenance compared to the standard one, although it also appears to be made of the same cracked brownish-red stony material. This head shows, I believe, Asian traits and is carved with facial hair styled into a moustache and a beard. It also features the oozing fluid at the top and is compatible with the standard helmet.

Finally, there is a tattered brownish-red stony cape that can be worn by Ter-Ah-Sur once the chest/back armour is removed.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ I was super happy to see Ter-Ah-Sur get included in the KR|Enmity line and I’m extremely pleased with how he turned out

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ I’m quite surprised that those leg joints can hold the bulk of the figure when he wears that crazy equipment on his shoulders. Hopefully that will still be the case over time

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ He’s a unique character and, in a line full of crazy designs, he still manages to stand out in the crowd

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The alternate head is a kind of mystery to me, I don't really know what to make of it. It's a "nice to have" extra piece though

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I love how the acid-shooting gimmick has been recreated from his appearance in the comics. It’s a pretty cool play feature that allows you to come up with some neat poses

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ So far this line has scored a series of fine goals. During the next few weeks we’ll see if it can keep that record rolling, as I review the last two (or maybe three...) prototypes in the assortment.

KR|Enmity Review #22: Sih-Len

Toy prototype details

Name: Sih-Len^TM

Subtitle: enchanting princess

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure - Nº 20 in the line.

Character details

Name: Sih-Len

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: female

Relationships: Gax-Uhr's love interest

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: observer and royal musician (formerly Princess Sih-Len, next in line to rule the small Kingdom of O-Kin).

Background

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

Brief bio: as a child, Sih-Len, daughter of Lord Tafmohr^TM, witnessed the last Reptonoid invasion of her home, the feudal territory of O-Kin. Wishing to prevent a new fall of his domain alongside further exploitation and destruction at the hands of Bi-Harr, the monarch ordered Sih-Len to play a magical flute that was a family heirloom. The young princess, gifted with the power of controlling natural forces by playing beautiful melodies, caused a giant landslide that annihilated the reptilian enemies and forced their vile leader to retreat. Although her power was meant to be used for protecting O-Kin's terrorised people, it also seemingly killed a brave Golden Eagle soldier. Years later, after Duke Wordron's seizure of power, Sih-Len left the ruined rocks of her home to ask the Therioms for help. When Wordron learnt of Sih-Len's powers from the revived buried soldier, he kidnapped her and commanded Modi-Rha to force her into opening the multiversal portals, but King Li-Khon and his heroic allies stopped the evil plot and defeated the Dark Legion once for all. Though free to return to her home, Sih-Len decided to join the Therioms for good and married the king's youngest son Gax-Uhr.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen. The figure also has a ball jointed tail.

Description

Head: predominantly feline (even if she's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by dainty features, short magenta fur and green eyes. An upper tooth faintly jutting out from the right corner of her lips adds an element of cuteness to her face. She wears a divided hennin-like headdress accompanied by a veil; the golden veil is pulled forward over the silver hennin and falls onto Sih-Len's shoulders, making her, in my view, resemble Maid Marian from the Disney animated version of Robin Hood

Body: the exposed portions of her body (i.e., parts of the upper arms and forearms, hands, lower legs, claw feet and a cat-like tail) show a short magenta fur

Wearables: a silver jumpsuit composed of a sleeveless off-the-shoulder bodice (with a wide patterned golden neckline) and pantaloons (gathered by two gold bands below the knees), two silver detached sleeves (each held in place by two gold bands around the upper arm and the forearm), two silver chain mail fingerless gauntlets (which only have a loop for the middle finger), two silver ankle bracelets, and a shiny silver sash accompanied by a belt made of several round gemstones laced together that also holds two long strips of golden fabric on the front and back. Around her neck, she wears a separate piece that includes a shiny silver scarf and a gold choker with a long pendant hanging down on the front.

Action feature

In the final comic issue of the Enmity series, Sih-Len is shown to jump from an elevated position above the multiversal walls site, using her veil as a wind sail, while the hennin underneath is revealed to be a combat helmet. So, the figure comes with an alternative head that features a silver helmet with gold details, close to the sides of which two golden straps (i.e., risers, seemingly joining her dress to four shroud lines) are pulled in order to release and expand the veil, making it act as a canopy. The "parachute" piece, which is made of a pliable plastic, can be detached from two sockets on the sides of the helmet and replaced with two short "fins" that are supposed to be remainders of the risers. The helmet has a large curved projection that protects the nape of the neck, two pointed prongs (slightly resembling a pair of cat ears) on the top and two flaps hinged at the side edges; once the flaps are shut, the headgear covers the entire face (although there are slits for the eyes and the mouth), and looks like a mix of a Corinthian helmet and the helmet of Kinnikuman's Robin Mask.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from her alternative helmeted head and parachute pieces, Sih-Len comes with a gold transverse flute, which, in the comics, she skilfully plays and magically uses to cause masses of earth or rock to collapse.

Additionally, there is a techie staff weapon that fictionally derives from the flute. This enhanced version of her musical instrument consists of tubular gold sections that seemingly slid apart to reveal a silver grip in the centre as well as translucent purple laser-like segments near the ends, and is equipped with a five-clawed (each claw bearing a sharp steel blade) spinning component at either extremity.

Lastly, the figure includes a three-wheeled carriage, which serves as the fifth and final instalment of the Build-a-Figure plan that gives us a complete Baryanoid-Cart! Everything related to this topic has already been covered extensively in Ir-Ash's review, so I'm going to focus on the description of the carriage. This open vehicle is made of wood (with lots of nice worn out details) and trimmed with bronze, and is composed of a two-wheeled part at the back, which strongly recalls a chariot used in ancient racing and warfare, and a narrow one-wheeled part at the front. The bronze decorative additions include a large king cobra head on a spiderweb-looking background at the front of the waist-high guard (which extends with snake-like edgings along the sides), a studded tyre fitted around the rim of each wheel (as well as the wheel's spokes), and large spikes sticking out of the hubs of the rear wheels. The four baryanoids that draw the cart can be clipped side by side to the forepart (which also allows for a great slithering action when rolled) and hitched via their pliable reins to the chariot: the two front reins connect to the two rear bits, while the two rear reins are secured to the handlebar of the chariot. A removable bronze gun can be mounted in a spot along the front edge of the chariot and can turn; this is right from the comic design, but, awkwardly, it has a handle that is a new addition and can be gripped. Maybe Lor-Drek can grab it and run into battle if the cart has been rendered immobile. A rear platform with foot pegs can even be pulled out to pose a figure in such a way that it looks like getting on or off the vehicle. A wooden beam, with the end in the form of a carved lizard head covered with a laminar, spiked/horned bronze "helmet", can project from the front part and bend forward by means of a spring loaded mechanism, in order to breach the enemy's fortifications.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I think the future mother of Mor-Rak makes for a great addition to the line and also makes KR|Enmity the series with the highest percentage of female figure prototypes produced so far

Articulation: ♥♥♥ I'm pleased that the standard female articulation is not hindered by her peculiar outfit at all

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The highlight of the figure for me is the combat head sculpt, simply wonderful. She also has a bit of a dry brush on her coat, to bring out the fur details, and some glossy accents to the two-tone metal pieces in the costume. She reuses Par-Sya's basic body, but has new furry limbs with clothing parts that show some great design choices

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The flute is fantastic in both forms and she really looks cool wielding the enhanced version

Playability: ♪♪♪ Sih-Len is one of those toys that either speaks to you or she doesn’t. Like her or hate her

Overall: ☺☺☺ This sweet pinkish/purplish primivod is pretty much the embodiment of how outlandish things in the KR world can get. The figure turned out nicely in my opinion and, most of all, came with an essential accessory for my Spektrosaur army.