KR|Dimness Review #19: Zorib

Toy prototype details

Name: Zorib^TM

Subtitle: ferocious warrior beast

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 15 in the line.

Character details

Name: Zorib

Classification: rodent mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: using the magic of the ancient spirits enshrined in Clavisaur's body, the evil Wordron transformed some of the most savage animals of the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region into his own beastly servants. Grown to a human-like size and endowed with enhanced strength, these monsters fought under the Dark Legion banner as mercenaries. Zorib was a severely injured small spiny rodent when he was magically mutated into a beastlike zombie. Often capable of swinging the advantage to his side, Zorib served Wordron and fought against the Forseha tribe with his vicious hair-mace until the Dark Legion's ultimate defeat, when he died miserably on the battlefield.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: zombie-ish rodent-like, characterised by purplish skin, heavy black brows, green eyes with soulless black pupils (the left eye is narrowed, while the right one is wide open, slightly bulging and with a bloodshot tint to it), a pug-like broad flat nose, and an asymmetrically open mouth with many crooked yellow-orange teeth (including a pair of powerful razor-sharp incisors) jutting out and looking like they're covered in plaque and blood. He also has long projecting spiny blueish bristles growing from his cheeks. Finally, a thick mane of cylindrical spines (which are marked with black and pale yellow bands, and resemble gnarly dreadlocks) hangs down along his neck and back; a part of the mane is arranged into a long, roughly braided ponytail, which is wrapped in engraved pale yellow bony cuffs at its base, middle and end, and is connected to a spiked golden-yellow wrecking ball by a short metal chain

Body: purplish skin (Zorib’s body was moulded in a purple colour and then was tinted with blue and black in various areas to give his skin more depth), claw hands and feet with long black nails on the fingers and toes (which are nicely sculpted with lines and chips in them). His torso is sculpted with the neck and shoulders hunched forward, which gives him a great menacing beastly look, while his biceps, forearms and calves are adorned with several blueish spines. The left side of his abdomen actually shows teeth marks and a half gnawed-off flank, suggesting that he was caught by the jaws of a large predator. He also displays a long segmented, bifurcated purplish tail emerging from under the loincloth, whose ends are covered in long thin blueish spines

Wearables: a brown leather armour with golden-yellow collar and shoulder guards as well as pale yellow bony details (including rivets, diamond-shaped studs and a rodent skull-shaped brooch), a narrow spiked bronze bracelet on the right arm, a large brown leather wrist guard on the left arm, a brown leather garter (ornamented with bronze studs) around the right thigh, two brown leather shin guards, a brown leather belt, and a tribal-looking loincloth made of black fur, grey leather and a bunch of dangling pale yellow bony items such as jawbones, claws and horns. The wrist guard, the shin guards and the belt are all embellished with bronze details such as studs and rodent skull-shaped ornaments.

Zorib's stylised armour; the circle at the side of the chest piece represents a skull-shaped brooch.

Action feature

In the comics, Zorib shows several abilities, such as using his prehensile tails (which are capable of regeneration if a part is broken off), shooting his venomous quills from various parts of his body to a considerable distance at an enemy, and whipping around with his hair-flail to hit or entangle his opponents and even stun them by a static shock. Of course, most of those abilities couldn't be recreated in the toy, but at least the figure makes a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds (similarly to a rattlesnake) when shaken, which is something that Zorib does with his tails when he's preparing to shoot his spines.

Additionally, the ponytail portion of his "hair" is cast in a very flexible and soft plastic, so it can have some leeway for posing options, and can actually be split in the middle, while the chained sphere at the end is removable. So, it's actually possible to adjust the length of the ponytail for long or short alternatives and have the mace piece attached to either look. I know that using rooted hair for the ponytail was considered as a possibility during design - although rooted hair is also a nice effect and makes for a fun gimmick, I think the current solution is a great piece of engineering that allows for different display options.

Weapons and accessories

Zorib only comes with one accessory, which is his melee weapon - a golden-yellow staff with a toothed mace end that is formed of two large pale yellow jawbones. The other end of the staff is also a weapon with a bladed edge. By default, the club is displayed with the halves of the toothed section pointing up and the fangs projecting outwards, but the jaws are articulated, and can pivot and swing up and down, so the weapon could also be used to bite an opponent.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I may not have cared about him before, but Zorib’s definitely getting a nice spot on my shelf

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ I'm happy the folks at PoliganToys added some ratty looking loincloth fur and leather to make him a bit more decent than in the comics. On the other hand, I was afraid this would affect the thigh swivels, which would have hurt his potential battle poses, but the result offers surprisingly good articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ His sculpt is very good and what I really like about his body is its posture. His face is expressive, appropriately harsh and very violence-prone. His outfit is nicely detailed and he overall has a pretty good amount of quality. Zorib’s paint is without complaint too, he has a combination of bronze, gold and ivory tones that sets him apart from nearly anybody in his faction

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ There is only one weapon, but it's so greatly executed, with sculpted scars and gouges from plenty of use, that makes any other accessories unnecessary

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ It’s kind of cool that he decided to turn his "hair" into a bludgeoning implement. The hair-mace is quite flexible and feels durable, and definitely makes it for a fun action feature

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Zorib has some good things going for. He looks vicious and martial, has the most fiendish weapon ever, and his costume just looks rugged. Honestly, he is pretty good, and his barbaric monstrous look helps him blend in with the other characters from the KR|Dimness line.

KR|Dimness Review #18: Dekerus

Toy prototype details

Name: Dekerus^TM

Subtitle: horned champion

Line: KR|Dimness

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

Character details

Name: Dekerus

Classification: perissodactyl mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: tribe fighter.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: when the Rexodon army assaulted several settlements outside the Northern Forest, the Independent Warriors of the nearby village of Erlokat^TM built a defensive wall to protect their people from Bi-Harr's attacks. Growing up within the bounds of this fortification, Dekerus felt constricted and dreamt of exploring the wilderness of Tahron, about which he had heard many stories from the village elders. Being born without the outgrowths that characterised his kinship group, he felt unfit for such adventures, but when he came of age he received a horned helmet from the Warriors' chief, which would allegedly give him special powers and allow him to overcome his fears. While traversing the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region, Dekerus helped the Forseha people oppose hostile clans during territorial disputes in the area and discovered that his helmet actually had no special power. Eventually, he returned briefly to his village and teamed up with Bellius^TM, the new leader of the Independent Warriors, when Nibeon^TM assisted Bi-Harr in attempting to breach Erlokat's walls and capture its inhabitants. After succeeding in driving away the evil enemy, the Independent Warriors applauded Dekerus' bravery and let him fulfil his wish to join the Forseha tribe for good.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a rhinoceros, characterised by grey skin, blue eyes and a broad, straight square-lipped mouth. He wears a dark-green leathery helmet with red details that features a half mask (this luchador-like style makes him kind of reminiscent of Rey Mysterio) and two massive horn-shaped dull&shiny ringed brass spikes (with the horn at the front larger than the other one) on the top

Body: cracked grey skin, shoulders and upper legs covered in wart-like bumps, three-toed hooves at the feet. His armour incorporates a rubbery piece that fits right on top of the body and mimics a hump below his neck, where the thick skin folds into the shoulder and back, giving him a brawny, armoured appearance (a feature that also characterises his limbs, where the skin wrinkles realistically around his joints). Additionally, he wears two spiked brass knuckledusters over the knuckles

Wearables: a red armour with dark-green details, two red leather wrist guards, two red leather shin guards (both the wrist- and shin guards are fastened with criss-crossed rope laces), a red leather belt with a large rectangular brass buckle, and dark-green shorts.

Dekerus' stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Dekerus is depicted as an experienced hand-to-hand combatant and is equipped with thick-layered skin, which is highly resistant to damage and seemingly unbreakable. His extreme levels of strength, stamina and resistance to injury, together with the use of his knuckledusters which significantly increase the effect of blows, make him a formidable opponent.

Furthermore, his razor-sharp horns are shown to be capable of penetrating extremely hard materials. So, the figure comes with an additional ball jointed neck extension that gives him a heavily hunched over look and allows him to pose like he is using his head as a battering ram.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the neck extension, Dekerus comes with a double-bladed axe from his Independent Warriors days. This weapon's fairly long greenish wooden handle bears a grey stone blade at each end; the two cutting edges are parallel to the handle and oriented towards opposite directions, so Dekerus can use this menacing battle axe for a range of spinning attacks.

Additionally, the package includes an extra head, which represents an early concept design (i.e., un-helmeted/masked, with a pointed upper lip and with two horn-like growths on his snout) of this character's face.

Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦ While he really doesn't have much of a role in the comics, Dekerus makes up for that by having the coolest helmet in the series

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ This figure is very well-made on the articulation front. His sculpt, neck extension and outfit do not limit him in any way, and in fact his armour (which include the hump) is thinner than most, thus giving him some great range

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Dekerus is an excellent figure, extremely well detailed and designed. All the new parts on him give him a lot great definition and he truly looks like the source material. PoliganToys did an incredible job with this one and there is nothing I would change about the figure

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Fortunately he didn't come light on the accessories, but his axe, although it's a nice piece, is made of slightly soft plastic, so it can bend and droop a little if heated

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Like nearly every other KR figure prototype, Dekerus feels very solid and durable. He has a good range of motion in most of his joints and there's nothing about the figure that feels fragile or breakable. This figure is absolutely made to be posed and played with

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I'd say that Dekerus is one of the best looking figures of the year. He's one of the most impressive sculpts seen in this line. There really is very little reuse as well - the only thing that seems reused is his torso, but of course that's covered by the armour, which even includes a body component. Is he perfect? Well, he is a little tall, but that’s accurate.