KR|Enmity Review #25: Kerdhokk

Toy prototype details

Name: Kerdhokk^TM

Subtitle: destructive robot

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: large scale figure - Nº 1 in the line.

Character details

Name: Kerdhokk
Real name: Kerdhokk-upgraded Dark Legion Trooper

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: Dark Legion Troopers' first lieutenant.

Background

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

Brief bio: after Wordron had appointed Ignitrys as his lead Dark Legion engineer, the evil Cereutian android combined her technological powers with Modi-Rha's paranormal faculties, in order to create a beastly biotech virus -the Kerdhokk strain- through which science and magic could contaminate each other. Once unleashed, this plague infected the evil duke's cybernetic army of troopers, allowing the robots to exceed their programming and posses a cunning of their own as well as the ability to reassemble their component parts in countless different ways. When Gax-Uhr and Ir-Ash travelled to O-Kin hoping to save the abducted Princess Sih-Len, two Dark Legion Troopers attacked the heroes, but, in an attempt to protect his brother, Gax-Uhr managed to force the two machines into colliding violently with each other. Despite the two robots were badly damaged and their chassis ripped apart, they magically initiated their own upgrade by fusing together the separate pieces. Aiming at preventing the heroes from accomplishing their mission, the pile of debris transformed into a hulking robotic menace equipped with a fearsome bladed weapon ready to burst from its chest. Although the droid's increased techno-power made it more than a match for the two brothers, Gax-Uhr and Ir-Ash ultimately succeeded in overpowering it once for all.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen. The feet are swivel-hinged and able to slide forward or backward. Also, there are two additional pivoting shoulder pieces placed between the arms and the torso.

Description

Head: composed of a double bladed piece, which is similar to the weapon that came with the Dark Legion Troopers and is fictionally produced by connecting the two wide wheels (with nicely patterned black rubbery studded tyres) from the vehicle configuration side-by-side, imagining that the rims of the wheels retracted and the tyres got taller and narrower, allowing the tread patterns to separate and reveal series of silver blades. The difference here is that the double blade is set horizontally and the space between the two stacked wheels shows two ominous triangular eyes that emit a red glow

Body: the figure is 23 cm tall (around 9'') and shows a very bulky sculpt that incorporates various parts from the two original DL Troopers. The arms and legs are generated by the four three-wheeled rear tank treads mixed with elements of the Troopers' black metallic electro-hydraulic limbs, while the four two-wheeled front tank treads form the two pivoting shoulder pieces and the two rotating feet respectively. Besides the black metallic wheels and the bands of dark-green metal plates, all the continuous track parts show many techno-embellishments, such as tubes, wires, pistons and hinges. Each clawed steel hand is made up of two circular saws (split in such a way that they create four claws), while each foot is connected to the leg by a truncated silver cone derived from one drill bit

Wearables: a metallic black armour with bronze details, a metallic black belt and a bronze crotch piece (everything shows lots of cyber details). The chest plate has a hole that reveals a second double blade, this time set vertically, stored inside the torso, while the back carries a wide wing-like, spiky structure composed of several exhaust pipes and two removable scythe-like silver blades.

Kerdhokk's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Kerdhokk is equipped with two large mechanical feet derived from a pair of two-wheeled tank treads. Depending on the position of its hinged "ankle", each foot can rotate in two ways: either round a horizontal axis (i.e., flip-flopping end-over-end) to crush enemies, or round a vertical axis (i.e., sideways, clockwise or counterclockwise) to kick obstacles.

Additionally, the destructive robot has a chest plate that pops open to let a vicious double blade "fly" out (fictionally, this spinning saw-blade that launches from Kerdhokk's upper body is also a sort of bouncing bomb). The inside of the chest panel contains a small ledge for the blade, which lets it rest out in the open.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the chest double blade, Kerdhokk comes with some very interesting accessories. First up is a mace-like weapon consisting of a bronze shaft with an attached spiked ball (which is adorned with a number of small spikes similar to drilling bits) on one end, and a silver head (which is made up of the remaining four circular saws, vertically aligned side-by-side, and of the two drill bit conical tips extending outward from the sides) on the other end. 

Additionally, the two DL Troopers' black plasma-rifles (each with a detachable silver hose that runs to the wing-like structure on the back) can be plugged into two spots on the shoulder pieces, forming a pair of swinging/pivoting cannons. Interestingly, instead of the translucent plasma burst effects that came with the original Troopers, the figure includes two large-calibre projectiles that can plug into the muzzles of the rifles. Also, there are two plug-in plumes of greyish smoke seemingly spreading from the largest exhaust pipes.

Excitingly, many parts of these accessories can be switched around - for example, the mace silver head can also work as an alternate head for the figure, either plasma rifle can connect to the top of the standard head, the placings of the grenades and of the plumes of smoke can be exchanged, and either the rifles or the scythe blades can be attached to the sides of the chest double blade, transforming it into an even more menacing weapon. The possibilities are almost countless.
Update: the full-vehicle configuration of a Dark Legion Trooper with a tilting drill bit will also be included with the figure!

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I have mixed feelings about this robot. On the one hand, it’s a kind of pointless, large scale variant of a Dark Legion Trooper, but on the other, PoliganToys went the extra mile in making it a unique character

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The figure can take a lot of poses, although its arms are hindered somewhat by the additional shoulder pieces. And, sure, because of the chest cavity we lose the ab crunch articulation, which sometimes can make achieving a decent pose a bit frustrating. However, I like the fact that its hinged ankles are pretty tight

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Despite Kerdhokk is essentially a rearrangement of Dark Legion Troopers' pieces, this figure certainly has one of the more original sculpts in the series. Its paint is almost identical to the original Troopers, but it has bronze trim instead of dark-green on some parts of its components

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The great thing about getting multiple accessories is the freedom of choice - one feels free to use some and to discard some others according to their personal taste

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I was pleasantly surprised to see the chest panel open smoothly and fit seamlessly when closed

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Kerdhokk is actually quite great and definitely has a place on the shelf of my prototype collection.