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.