Toy prototype details
Name: KratokTM
Subtitle: brutal gladiator
Line: KR|Dimness
Item type: action figure - Nº 17 in the line.
Character details
Name: Kratok
Classification: mutant human
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Dark Legion
Rank: lieutenant colonel.
Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape
Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-KinTM, the kingdom's population suffered the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed by Bi-Harr for psychological manipulation. A small percentage of the inhabitants who emerged were born with defects, and while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk MohrdaxTM into the shelter of his monastery near the UcamurTM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including a malformed and disfigured man named Kratok, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Like his loyal friend Terebror, Kratok was tricked by Wordron into entering his laboratory, where he was transformed and grafted with a vicious weapon and a pair of cybernetic legs, allowing him to leap long distances and with great force. Towering over most of his opponents, Kratok reached new incredible heights when he was confronted by the Forseha warriors, and fought as a nearly unstoppable gladiator of immeasurable power.
Articulation
Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed, the knees are swivel-hinged, the ankles are only hinged and there's an additional double hinged point of articulation at the midtarsal joint of each foot.
Description
Head: Kratok sports an off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that resembles tarnished silver) helmet with gold details, including a pair of long, curved horns emerging from the sides and a series of five spikes running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the helmet. His face is concealed under a demonic bronze mask, which reminds me of a traditional Japanese mask, with completely black eye holes and a sculpted beard. While the helmet shows some cyber details here and there, the mask looks like it can be detached - I initially thought that was just an illusion created by the great sculpt, but it is actually removable... unfortunately there's no face underneath, just a socket
Body: the exposed parts of his body (i.e., arms and abdomen) show white skin. The left forearm has a mechanical golden bracer with a few black wires extending to the upper arm
Wearables: a laminar golden armour with off-white details and bolts around the edges, a bronze armband and a laminar golden gauntlet with a spiked cuff on the right arm, a spiked golden belt with two little side-compartments, and a pair of knee-long pearl white pants. Apart from two off-white spikes protruding from each spaulder and two criss-crossed black leather strings that join the two sides of the vertical opening on the front, the armour bears, like the helmet, a few sparse cyber details as well as three black tubes that run from the right side of the lower back to the left shoulder. Despite Kratok mainly relies on the viciousness of his bionic body parts, he is also briefly shown to use a melee weapon (more on this later) and two bronze daggers, which are two included separate pieces that are stowed in two small lamellar black leather scabbards integrated with his pants.
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| Kratok's stylised helmet with full-face mask. |
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| Kratok's stylised armour. |
Action feature
In the comics, Kratok is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, highly trained in armed and unarmed combat. He has a pair of blade-like cybernetic lower legs, which provide him with superhuman strength and agility, a bionic left forearm that holds a high-tech swivelling crossbow-cannon, and, judging by their ability to glow occasionally, bionic eyes.
His below-knee bionic legs display a huge amount of tech-mech details and are connected to the upper legs via two steel sockets, to the back of which two golden "blades" are attached; these prostheses are really cool, because they resemble large mechanical theropod lower legs with nasty steel cleats on the soles of the feet. Moreover, each socket is connected to the top of the corresponding foot via two ball joints by a steel damper with a black coil spring encircling it. Although unfortunately there's no spring action in the figure, in the comics these spring-loaded attack legs allow Kratok to leap great distances and to strike with powerful kicks.
Additionally, Kratok's left arm is equipped with an ivory bolt that can be fictionally shot from his golden crossbow-cannon. This piece has a head in the form of a carved demon's face that is very similar to Kratok's mask, and can attach to and detach from the weapon, but there is no spring-loaded mechanism for shooting action.
Weapons and accessories
Apart from the crossbow-cannon bolt and the two daggers, Kratok comes with a few extra pieces and first up is his above-mentioned melee weapon - a double-bitted off-white battle axe with one of the two blades connected by a chain to a spiked golden wrecking ball. Even if it's a bit over exaggerated, I really like this weapon: it's nice and solid, fits well in the figure's hand and even has a beautiful coat of arms design, featuring a cross and dragons, engraved on the unchained blade.
Additionally, the figure includes a gauntleted left hand that can replace the entire crossbow-cannon, so we can make a two-handed version of the character, even if this never appears in the comic book. The two hands are especially practical for grasping the two daggers housed in the thighs.
Finally, there are two alternate face masks, which are identical to the standard one except for some paint differences: one has bright glow-in-the-dark eyes, while the other has reptile-like blueish eyes with vertical orange pupils and a red mouth. I get the necessity of the former, but I have no idea where the latter comes from... perhaps it acts as a sort of painted Daruma doll.
Comic
Together with the action figure we get the third and final comic issue Into dimness: Part II – Escape. Wordron recruits Mohrdax, the wicked chief monk of a nearby monastery, in a grand scheme to make the Forseha people undo themselves. The tribe learns that Wordron has enslaved the cloisterers of the monastery and decides to confront the villain, but the dispute reaches a deadlock. Frustrated, Masq-Lor shoots an arrow to distract Wordron, but the dart hits a disguised Mohrdax, who protects himself with a force-field. Masq-Lor is devastated when he sees the seemingly lifeless body lying on the ground. Convinced he has killed a man, he walks away consoled by his friends. In exchange for Mohrdax's collaboration, Wordron uses his knowledge to build an army for the evil monk. At the same time, he also discovers a new power of the Plant Creatures', which he wishes to test, and sends out his minions to capture some members of the Forseha tribe. A beautiful woman introduces herself as the inhabitant of a village that has been overrun by hideous creatures and asks for the tribesmen's help to liberate her people. The heroes are initially suspicious of her story, but, blinded by the woman's beauty, they decide to follow her anyway, ending up being met and overpowered by the Dark Legion soon after. It turns out the woman was in fact Modi-Rha in disguise, sent to lure the Forseha people into Wordron's trap. Alerted by Xehrea, the other heroes, including Masq-Lor, rush to help their fellows and, while Wordron is actually waiting for them, they burst into the villain's fortress, making the struggle between them and the members of the Dark Legion begin. Wordron gets the upper hand and when he's just about to use the Plant Creatures for torturing his victims, Masq-Lor offers himself as a replacement for his friends. Immediately, the boy is turned into a monster and Wordron orders him to kill his former companions, but in the very last moment Masq-Lor is freed from the curse by his own will and by Xehrea's encouraging words. The hero rushes back to Wordron and turns the tides of the battle single-handedly by killing the demon, while the other tribesmen free the remaining prisoners and defeat the Dark Legion once and for all.
Overall, if you look at the story from the logical point of view, the question will be: why doesn't Wordron capture his enemies in the first meeting? The answer is that he's planning to overcome Masq-Lor with grief, in order to eventually use the boy's potential for his evil plans. The story gives the new characters plenty of exposure and the advancement of plot details, such as Masq-Lor questioning his worthiness to fight and the definitive vanquishment of Wordron and his Dark Legion, makes it be worthy of a great series finale.
Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦ While Kratok may not be the most interesting character for many, he sure does add presence to the line-up among the more familiar characters
Articulation: ♥♥♥ Since he’s not overly armoured, he doesn’t have much to hinder his articulation in the upper body, so he moves quite well. However, I find that due to their peculiar design, his legs are less articulated than I’d like
Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Kratok looks appropriately vicious with his face mask and bionic parts. The colours of the figure look good to me, although they aren’t 100% comic book-accurate
Accessories: ♠♠♠ All the extra items are neat additions and their inclusion adds enormously to the overall package. I do notice and appreciate the metallic shine given off from some of the paint
Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I have a lot of fun with this figure, he looks super cool posed with the rest of the KR|Dimness guys, because he has such a unique look and colour scheme. The attachments are also great fun to swap out and pose
Overall: ☺☺☺ While Kratok may not be a figure that will stand out for many potential KR fans, I’m glad to have him on my shelf.
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