After almost two long years (if you don't count the Build-a-Figure plan that gave us a complete Baryanoid-Cart), the regular Key Raiders line (now renamed KR|Foundation) finally has a new vehicle!
This is the first review of a series that will be featured once every quarter of 2019. Since I primarily review action figures, I don’t end up reviewing too many vehicles. But I love vehicles (and playsets!) in toy lines, so I don’t really mind to make more of such write-ups. The only downside is that these items tend to take up a lot of space on my shelves.
When it was announced that the RotakordTM was going to be the first vehicle prototype presented in this quarterly sub-series, I was really excited! This machine has always held a fascination for me and I've always wanted it before any other KR transports. Don’t get me wrong, I was stoked when I got all the other vehicle prototypes, also because I knew that they would open the door to more, including this one!
Details
Name: Rotakord
Subtitle: subaerial and subterranean strike vehicle
Classification: aircraft and tunnelling machine
Home: Tahron
Affiliation: Destructomorph
Rank: transport.
Description
The Rotakord is a transport that is typically used as an air vehicle by Deptilion, but can also function as a tunnel boring machine (as seen in The Cereutian menace) and is equipped with a variety of deadly weapons. It has a mostly metallic purple paint and a somewhat fish-like, elongated shape, slightly flattened laterally and pointed at both ends, with the addition of a pair of nacelles on the sides and a double in-line tailfin on the aft end of the fuselage (the rearmost fin surrounds the pointed tail and can pivot a bit to work as rudder).
Two pairs of wings and one pair of mechanical arms are attached to the nacelles (on the sides and on the foremost parts, respectively); the wings (two main lifting surfaces and two slightly smaller tailplanes) and the arms show an interesting mix of organic and tech-mech embellishments, while the nacelles have metal panels that can be open for "maintenance", revealing nice details of the turbojet engines housed inside. Four nozzles are visible at the ends of the fuselage and of the nacelles, indicating the presence of two additional jet engines buried within the main body.
The fuselage features a mostly non-transparent canopy (with the exception of a translucent yellow windscreen that is shaped like two connected devilish eyes), which is hinged at the back, so it can open by folding up and backward to reveal a cockpit equipped with a 2-point seat belt, a sculpted dash board, four foot-operated levers and two movable handles at the sides; the canopy can also be fully removed if one likes to do so.
Like with other vehicles of this line, in the comics the Rotakord is proportionally bigger and can carry a large number of characters, while this toy version barely fits one figure.
Action feature
Rotakord's four wings and two mechanical arms are swivel-hinged, so they can fold and rotate in a convenient way. Each arm is also hinged at its midpoint and ends with a large chela-like pincer capable of both opening and closing, as well as extending forwards, to seize enemies and take them captive.
Obviously, the main feature of this vehicle is the large maw-like boring/suction mechanism that is located on the front-underside of the main body and is tilted at 45 degrees. A number of steel saw blades are fitted all around the inner circumference of this opening and spin when the vehicle is rolled forward or backward (it does have four wheels under the fuselage and nacelles), producing a threatening clicking and rattling sound. In the comics, using an artificial gravitational field source embedded in the main body, the Rotakord can suck in nearby objects, including excavated rock; once these materials reach its inner plasma core (which in the toy is recreated with a light-pipe feature on the top of the fuselage, making the suction cavity glow), they are disintegrated by the extreme temperatures.
Weapons and accessories
The Rotakord comes with two rotating laser cannons that, by default, are mounted to the sides of the "grinder" opening, but can also be re-positioned in other holes placed here and there along the nacelles. There is also a large gun that is combined with a sort of radar dish into a high-tech apparatus. This weapon can either be connected to a socket placed between the canopy and the front tailfin, working as a revolving armoured turret, or detach to act as a launchable unmanned flight drone. All of these firearms, along with the mechanical pincers, can be outfitted with two included supplementary blast effects.
Additionally, the foremost part of the vehicle's nose can be removed, revealing a hollow into which a kind of chainsaw/jackhammer-like silver projection can be plugged. I suppose this device is meant to cast a hole in the rock before enlarging it with the cutter head.
Finally, we get a clear flight stand that is similar to the one that came with the Aviotak, but is large enough to be a very sturdy base for the heavier Rotakord (and I just discovered that it can also be used with the Serporcraft, which didn't have a stand). It attaches to a hole in the bottom of the vehicle and can be rotated forward and backward with a ratchet feature, allowing for some nice dynamic aerial posing.
Overall, the latest KR vehicle is a smashing success in my opinion. At least from a design standpoint, the Rotakord is a slick toy and looks fantastic on the shelf (if you can fit it in there). I only wish they had added the option of making the blade spin when a trigger was pulled, so it could also have worked when the vehicle was airborne. The good news is that the Rotakord won't end up being the line’s last vehicle. The future of vehicles in this series is bright and you'll see more reviews like this during the next months.
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