KR|Dimness Review #2: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor

Toy prototype details

Name: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor^TM

Subtitle: fiendish duke's true identity and beastly steed

Line: KR|Dimness (although Sondakor belongs to the KR|Enmity line)

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 2 in the line.

Wordron

Character details

Name: Wordron

Real name: Silef^TM

Classification: reincarnation of a reptile of uncertain group

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: grand marshal; archaeologist.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: once the powerful leader of an ancient reptilian kinship group, Silef perished while fighting a rival mammalian clan in the age before King Tah-Ron^TM. To ensure a glorious future for the reptilian people and the annihilation of their enemies, a mysterious saurian wizard attempted to resurrect Silef with magic, but instead channelled the essence of the deceased chieftain into himself, increasing his abilities ten-fold. Yet, even his new powers could not prevent the transformed wizard from being controlled by the former headman's psyche. Centuries later, the wizard acted on his desire to remove the spirit of Silef from his body, passing on his life force into a wounded mercenary called Nemhisto^TM, giving all of his wickedness to the young soldier of fortune. When after a few years Nemhisto and a noblewoman of O-Kin had an affair, the spirit was transferred to their illegitimate child, Wordron, who eventually gained control of the demon inside him and exploited it to lead his ruthless Dark Legion until his exile at Ucamur^TM.

Articulation

Standard, plus a hinged lower jaw, two swivelling horns, two pairs of ball hinged "wing-bones" and a tail that features two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a Spinosaurus skull, but with a more dragon-ish look, characterised by a long and narrow snout, a creamy-white ivory colour, a large cranial crest, a pair of long curved, pointy horns, large eye sockets with small amber eyeballs (each with a vertical black pupil) and large sharp steel-coated teeth along the edges of the jaws. Interestingly, the inside of the mouth is painted in a pinkish colour

Body: anthropomorphic creamy-white ivory skeleton (whose shoulder, elbow and knee joints slightly -and strangely- resemble human skulls), hands and feet with large steel-coated claws. On the back, a comb of extended neural spines and two additional pairs of large bony limbs (probably meant to support wings) project from his backbone. Also, a long, bony tail extends from the bottom of his spine and stretches downwards, ending with a zigzagged steel-coated point (which, like with Lor-Drek, personally reminds me of Pikachu)

Wearables: two narrow spiked bronze bracelets, two brown furry calf protectors with turndown tops (which show a paler shade of brown on the inside) and a bronze belt that is decorated with a large 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 holds a short strip of silver chain mail hanging down in front. The breastbone running down the centre of the chest, to which the ribs are attached, sports a large bony brooch, which bears a complex heraldic design (a dragon skull with two pointed bones crossed below it on a web-like background) and holds what looks like a brown fur tail hanging down in front. However, this additional decorative detail, which is never shown in the comics, can be detached (exposing a socket) and is meant to be replaced with a much more meaningful piece that will be included with another prototype.

Action feature

In the comics, Wordron has the ability to shoot a hail of sharp steel-coated claws at his enemies as well as to form back together after getting blown up into a pile of bones. The figure is characterised by the new articulation scheme, in which every point of articulation is a ball&socket joint that allows for part swapping. This not only sort of works like having an appropriate action feature, but also makes it possible to remove the bracelets, shin guards and belt for recreating a more comic book accurate bare-bones look. Still, I wish there were a trigger to make his body burst apart, with the bones flying around.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his removable items of "clothing", Wordron comes with an interesting sceptre, which is composed of an arrangement of two pointed creamy-white bones crossed around the base of a silver blade and tied with a length of brown rope to the top of a long wooden staff. While the crossbones recall the shape of his bony wings, the blade and the staff are the remainders of Duke Wordron's dagger and spade from his days in O-Kin.

Additionally, the figure includes a head, a piece of armour, a hand and an arm that can be used to update the Enmity version of Wordron's normal form and make it more similar to his human(ish) appearance in the Dimness series. The head is almost identical to the regular one, except that it looks a bit older (e.g., all the three mohawks are whitish with greyish roots and the right eyebrow is greyish), lacks the ponytail and wears a more traditional eye patch instead of the monocle-like covering over his left eye (the black patch has a silvery rim and is attached around the head by a black string).

The attire is a combo piece comprising a bronze chest armour with silver details (which kinda resemble a ribcage), two brown leather shoulder pads ornamented with silver skulls, a high standing collar (which is split into two parts and looks like a pair of dragon wings), a cowl edged with bone-looking silver details and a 3-part cape (whose bottom is jagged and tattered). The collar, cowl and central part of his cape seem to be made of a brown fabric and are all one piece with the chest armour, while the shoulder pads are moulded with the side pieces of the cape and are separate parts that are attached via a rubber “hinge” to the shoulder armour, so they retain a little movement in the shoulders. The whole assemblage is pretty heavy, but balance has not been much of an issue for me so far.

The new grasping left hand is meant to hold the above-mentioned piece that will come with another figure. I don’t mind the overly detailed sculpt of this hand, but it looks a little odd with nothing to hold. So, this is another opportunity where the line benefits of swappable hands.

Finally, the alternate right arm can be attached to Duke Wordron's figure by popping the regular arm off at the elbow. This new limb features the skeletal head of Wordron's draconic form emerging forcibly from the forearm of his human host. The head corresponds exactly to the full-body form's head and has identical hinged lower jaw and swivelling horns, as well as one point of articulation that makes it turn around on a swivel.

Sondakor

Character details

Name: Sondakor

Classification: xenarthran mammal

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: steed.

Articulation

Sondakor's articulation features a ball jointed head, swivel shoulders/hips, swivel-hinged elbows/knees, swivel-hinged wrists/ankles and a tail on a swivel. It isn’t great, but it’s adequate enough to achieve a few nice poses.

Description

Sondakor resembles a Megatherium (i.e., a giant ground sloth) with a shaggy grey-brown fur and five large curved claws on each foot. However, similarly to a nodosaurid (e.g., Edmontonia), she is also adorned with rows of ridged ivory-coloured bony deposits on her head and back, as well as several sharp spines along her back and tail. Additionally, she possesses a large mace-like spiked tail like that of a glyptodont (e.g., Doedicurus).

Sondakor's head armour presents a large flat ossification on the skull roof, while her tank-like body is covered with bony plates and bordered by spikes on both sides. The four largest projections jut out from over the shoulders on each side: one spine pointing obliquely towards the front, a very large forward-pointing spike that is bifurcated, another large spike behind it pointing more sideways and a smaller fourth one that is directed obliquely to behind. The row of side spikes is continued to the rear, but there the spines are smaller and curving strongly to behind.

Action feature / Weapons and accessories

This heavily armoured giant is further covered in a large tortoise-like metallic shell of individual steel plates that can open up to reveal an armament of guns (including two large central cannons) and ambush unsuspecting foes. Such body shield is removable (it straps across her belly) and is topped by a sort of howdah, i.e., a seat for riding on the back of this deadly beast, which can accommodate a figure and is equipped with two additional removable guns: a Gatling-type cannon and a laser blaster with sight.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ The first figure in this set is a rather obscure version of Wordron that only makes its full appearance in the last KR|Dimness story. The thing that I don't like about this inclusion is that, damn it, I want multiples of this figure, but since it will probably come at a high price point, that makes army building pretty much impossible. Sondakor is not a figure I needed to complete the Enmity line, but she came out really nice, and I know plenty of fans would want this creature to carry Duke Wordron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Wordron's articulation is consistent with the rest of the reptilian guys of his kind, such as Lor-Drek and Reptile Masq-Lor. The joints are tight, with very thick, high quality pins. On the other hand, I have to say, Sondakor’s articulation is not great. Most of her joints don’t feel like they have all the movement they should, but, still, without the armour she can take the poses that matter, including various ways of mauling her foes

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ I can’t really think of any major complaints about Wordron's sculpt... well, those teeth and claws could have been slightly sharper. He’s an intimidating monster, though, especially thanks to some very well done paint work that creates a realistic skeletal appearance. Sondakor? Oh, she's huge! But in the the comics she is even more ridiculously large, so this isn’t exactly accurate to the comic book design, but I’m glad they changed that up a bit to fit in more with the KR style

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Wordron's terrific new staff fits great in his hands and looks extremely threatening. The extra arm piece to update the regular figure has a very creative, imaginative nature and adds a ton to the value of this prototype, but I really miss the cloak thing that in the comics hangs loosely from the right shoulder to cover his deformed arm. Sondakor's armour feels a bit awkward at first, too far down her back; it also slides and tips easily, and might toss her rider. If a figure has a non-removable robe or cape, he or she will have trouble riding, though a lot of KR toys are just fine

Playability: ♪♪♪ The tradition of including in one 2-pack a figure and a large scale item that don't fit each other continues. However, pretty much everything about Wordron is enjoyable, while Sondakor is a big, mean beast, but she really does need her master from the Enmity series

Overall: ☺☺☺ I found myself liking this multi-pack more than I had expected.

Special thanks to Alec Karfonta for allowing us to use the name Wordron.

KR|Dimness Review #1: Solamya & Dhar-Wun

Happy new year!! We start 2019 with a brand new line in the world of Key Raiders!

The upcoming reviews will be about recently developed prototypes that belong to the latest Key Raiders wave. Like Origin and Enmity, this is a prequel series, which will be titled Key Raiders: Dimness (stylised as KR|Dimness) and concern a universe characterised by a barbarian vibe, recounting events happening 5 years before the adventures of the KR|Foundation series:

à			Timeline (intervals in years)			à
		500		15		5
	Origin		Enmity		Dimness		Foundation

So, let's start with the first prototype review of this new series!

Toy prototype details

Name: Solamya^TM & Dhar-Wun^TM

Subtitle: prophetic guide with her catlike companion

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 1 in the line.

Solamya

Character details

Name: Solamya

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha^TM

Rank: prophetess.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: a wise and dauntless inhabitant of the Forseha terramare settlement near the Ucamur^TM region, Solamya was the daughter of the tribal chief Dakun^TM and held the blood of the great ancient warrior Myneran^TM in her veins. Her father himself had been a valiant hero entrusted with keeping their tribe safe from villains who learnt of their valuable legacy. Solamya's link to the powers of the ancient champion gave her a number of supernatural abilities and made her particularly hard to subdue when the evil Wordron set his sights on exploiting powerful warriors after his exile to Ucamur. With the help of her father and the other tribespeople, Solamya defended her clan and helped defeat the wicked rival.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Indigenous Brazilian features, olive brown skin, bald scalp (except for a tuft of brown hair gathered by a red band on the top of her head), brown eyebrows (which extend much beyond the eyes), hazel eyes. She has two sickle-shaped, glow-in-the-dark blemishes located under the eyes and wears a pair of long beaded dangle earrings

Body: the exposed parts of her body show olive brown skin

Wearables: a body-length garment made from dark-brown linen with ring-shaped red decorative patterns, a large dark-brown leather wrist guard (ornamented with a red gemstone and two silver bands) on the left arm, a narrow dark-brown leather bracelet and a light-brown bark armband on the right arm, and two dark-brown leather boots with wide flat light-brown laces and furry turndown lapels. The garment is a long, tubular cloth open on the left side of the body, with the top edge folded down about halfway (so that the top of the tube is draped below the waist), while the bottom edge is at the ankle; the tube is gathered around the waist with a light-brown raffia fibre belt (equipped with a large bronze buckle bearing the Forseha emblem, i.e., a seven-petalled flower that vaguely recalls a Plumeria, and two lamellar red leather tassets) and the folded top edge is fastened over the left shoulder by a silver fibula (while the right shoulder is left uncovered). I like that the folded-down top of the tube provides the appearance of a second piece of clothing and even shows a different texture. The garment is sewn together along the left side, from the armpit to the thigh, while there is a slit on the right side of the skirt.

Action feature

In the comics, Solamya is shown to possess a range of supernatural faculties, such as precognitive and telekinetic powers, as well as the ability to communicate telepathically with animals for controlling their behaviour. Whenever she uses any of these powers, the marks situated on her cheekbones glow; so, the only action feature for Solamya is her GITD facial markings. What I can't tell is if this is meant to represent some sort of bio-luminescent marking, or some traditional makeup or tattoo.

Weapons and accessories

Solamya only comes with a kind of sceptre made of a knobbly reddish-brown wooden staff that ends in a loop and has a number of greenish vines twining around its length.

Dhar-Wun

Character details

Name: Dhar-Wun

Classification: ormurid* mammal

Sex: female

Relationship: mother of Ki-Wun^TM

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: steed.

*Ormurids^TM are fictional carnivorans.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: before Ki-Wun loyally carried Masq-Lor^TM into combat, the Forseha tribe members rode into battle on top of their mighty ormurid mounts, an ancient lineage of formidable carnivorans, during the conflict against the invasion forces of the Dark Legion. Saved as a cub by a young Dakun from a rival clan of savage hunters, one of these indomitable beasts, Dhar-Wun, grew up with her master's daughter Solamya, faithfully protecting their tribe during Wordron's exile from O-Kin. Her offspring included Ki-Wun, who eventually became Masq-Lor's heroic steed.

Overall description

The sculpt is mostly re-used from Ki-Wun, except for a unique head, as well as new front paws and tail. Like her "cub", this seemingly ferocious beast resembles a large cougar, but has a new amazingly realistic cream-coloured flocked fur darkly marked with both large blotchy spots and wide stripes. Apart from the two paws with more extended claws and the tail with a hairy tuft at its end, her head is the only newly sculpted piece on the figure. Even though it shares almost all of her details (such as the round shape and the yellow eyes) with her whelp's head, her ears, whiskers, canine teeth and fur on the sides extend out further than Ki-Wun’s do. The most obvious difference, however, is the pair of large pointed, curved and spiralling dark-brown horns projecting from her forehead, a typical female feature that definitively makes her distinguishable from her single horned offspring.

Dhar-Wun's articulation benefits from Ki-Wun’s body with joints all over the place: hinged jaw, ball jointed upper neck, hinged lower neck, swivel-hinged shoulders, hips, elbows, paws and tail, hinged knees and hocks, and a final ball jointed abdomen. Surprisingly, most of the joints don't disrupt the sculpt as much as it might sound like they do.

In the comics, Dhar-Wun is occasionally shown to stand on her hind legs, in order to fight with her front claws; the nice and tight articulation allows for displaying the figure in such a pose with no problem. And I like that they added the new front paws for a great mauling action!

This mighty creature comes with no accessory (but she can wear the removable saddle and claws that came with Ki-Wun) and can fit most KR figures on her back (not Solamya though).

Comic

Together with the multi-pack we get the first comic issue Into dimness: Part I – Awakening. Fifteen years after the beginning of their exile to the region of Ucamur, Wordron, Modi-Rha and Barkos excavate a swampy site in search of the magical helmet that was once in their possession. Instead, they discover a number of lethal seeds, formerly belonging to the Reptonoid warrior Rabidriss^TM, and the ancient mystical being Clavisaur^TM. Wordron plots to use those resources to retrieve the lost helmet. To obtain the life force that is required to revive Clavisaur, Wordron attacks the nearby Forseha settlement with his new army of demonic parasites, and several tribespeople are put into an unconscious state. Solamya, whose father Dakun is among the victims, tells her fellows that they must find an enchanted fungus, which grows on the slopes of Mount Atubion^TM and can produce a powerful antidote. After the heroes have reached the volcano and found the fungus with much difficulty, Solamya fashions its decoction into an ointment that will neutralise the parasites' poison and make the wicked creatures life-giving. The Dark Legion attacks the settlement again, hoping to extract more life force from the tribespeople, but the heroes rub the ointment on their weapons and counterattack the evil army, reversing the effect of their stings. This time, Wordron's minions bring everyone back to life. After finally retrieving the helmet, Wordron gives Barkos the prodigious relic and sends him to stop the tribe's retaliation, but the shield-maiden Yla-Nha^TM defeats him and forces the Dark Legion to retreat.

Overall, all the ingredients for a good story are here, but they hardly seem to get together. Barkos himself is entirely pointless - all he does is walk to the tribe's settlement and then get beaten by a girl. The quest to gather the enchanted fungus begins and finishes too quickly, and Wordron spends too much time senselessly attacking people instead of actually looking for the helmet. Finally, the way the antidote is used to counteract the Plant-Men's poison is just too complex. The premise of the series is good, but I think I’ll rank this episode towards the lower end of the scale.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Solamya is a very important character in the KR|Dimness series, being the heir to the leadership of the Forseha tribe, the source of Masq-Lor's boldness. Dhar-Wun is also the mother of Masq-Lor's steed Ki-Wun and is considered one of the most powerful animals on Tahron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ You can get plenty of poses from both figures, even if they're not meant for interacting with each other. They still have great base bodies that work very well for the female human and ormurid KR figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ All the sculpting work is great here; there is very good detail work on Solamya's outfit, and Dhar-Wun's head sculpt, besides its flocking, is one of the many high points of this multi-pack. The paint on Solamya is mainly limited to highlights or shadowing - there appears to be dark washes over the brown cloth parts and dry brushing on the red details that adorn the dress and the belt

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ We get a small accessory with Solamya, which is her staff. It looks excellent, but is made from a very soft plastic, so it comes out of the packaging a little warped. Dhar-Wun could almost be considered an accessory and is also very cool, helping round out Solamya pretty well

Playability: ♪♪♪ Apart from the fact that Solamya can't actually ride Dhar-Wun due to her skirt, there are hardly any problems I can think of with this set

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I really don’t have too many issues with this multi-pack: Solamya looks great and can be posed well, even if her "pet", which also looks awesome, isn't appropriate. Being two important characters in the Dimness series, they will fit perfectly in the collection.