KR|Dimness Review #23: Helimex

Toy prototype details

Name: Helimex^TM

Subtitle: shelled ravager

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 19 in the line.

Character details

Name: Helimex

Classification: mollusc

Sex: hermaphrodite (but he appears as 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. Originally a tough-skinned terrestrial mollusc, Helimex was gifted with impressive speed and agility even before being possessed by Clavisaur's spirit. His augmented abilities made him an excellent fighter and caused a rivalry with the ferocious bounty hunter Anobiac. With exceptional reflexes capable of deflecting every thwack, Helimex used his vicious spiked shells to help Wordron fight the Forseha tribe.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a snail, characterised by a greenish skin with few black blotches, two sets of tentacles (the upper pair have two black eyes with vertical red pupils at the ends, while the lower pair are near the mouth), and a long Venom-like brown tongue covered in small curved whitish teeth protruding from his open mouth

Body: greenish skin with black blotches, claw hands and feet. He has two fin-shaped fleshy protrusions on the outer sides of his thighs and wears two studded steel armbands that bear a fin-shaped blade each. Some added glitter gives the impression that the skin secretes a slimy substance

Wearables: a red armour with metallic light-blue details (including a spiral design at the centre of the chest plate and a number of threaded motifs), two threaded red bracelets, two red boots with spiked tops, a studded red belt with a spiral-shaped buckle, and ridged light-blue shorts. Interestingly, several dribbles of translucent green slime hang from the bracelets and the belt.

Helimex's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the spiral design.

Action feature

In the comics, Helimex is equipped with two menacing large serrated "valves", which he holds in his hands and uses to crush opponents or, as he rotates wildly with his arms swung out, to knock down all enemies who dare get in his path. So, the figure comes with two ovate-conic shell-shields, which are rounded at the front and pointed at the back, and are held asymmetrically (i.e., one of the two shields is grasped with its tapering apex pointing forward). Each shield is spiny-edged, armoured with two long spikes projecting from the sides, and painted in pearlescent grey (with brownish, smudged dots and dashes spread unevenly over the surface) on the inside and in cream colour (with clouding of light-blue in four bands) on the outer surface.
Furthermore, when in danger, Helimex has the ability to withdraw his whole body into the shell-shields, which act as an armour against his foes. This feature is mimicked by disconnecting the two large shields from the figure's hands and joining them to form a single elongated, spirally coiled shell. The shields can also be attached to the figure's back, which makes for an interesting alternative display option.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the two shell-shields, Helimex comes with a dangerous looking, long shard of crystal as a weapon, which he can wield nicely in either hand. This tapering spear-like accessory is moulded in translucent light-blue plastic with white frosting.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I didn't find this character particularly interesting in the comic book, but I found myself enjoying the crazy weapons and showy look of this figure

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Luckily, the arm movement when holding the shields is unimpeded by the fin-blades on his arms. Also, each blade is attached on the biceps section while keeping it from touching the shoulder or forearm, thus retaining the full arm articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The inclusion of the slimy details adds a ton of value to what was, in my opinion, a fairly average sculpt, bringing it just above average. Paint was a big surprise on this figure - I was expecting it to look particularly toy-ish and plastic-looking, but they used some nice flat green plastic for the body, together with a darker green airbrush shading along the muscle striations that adds some depth to the sculpt

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The spear is a new sculpt, but the great addition is really the shell-shields. Not only can they be configured in a few different ways on Helimex's body for a variety of poses, but they can be removed and joined to form a cool snail shell

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I’ll admit I wasn’t that excited for Helimex, but after playing around with him for a bit, I came to really enjoy the shell-shields; they're what makes this figure fun

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Helimex is not a figure I was particularly looking forward to. Having the figure in hand, though, I’ve grown to appreciate his unique, if somewhat bold style. It’s further confirmation for me that even the characters I’m not particularly excited about can make for cool figures in hand.

KR|Enmity Review #26: Flail-Flinger & Dark Spirit Modi-Rha

As the race to the end of 2019 begins, I can announce that by this time next year I will be blogging about the last prototypes to be produced in the (supposed) final Key Raiders series, and a personal, seemingly unattainable milestone will be met. The realisation of that will be pretty powerful and will consolidate this creative undertaking as one of the longest in my life in terms of mission and dedication.

That being said, there is nothing like getting and reviewing a badass vehicle, along with a variant to the Dimness Edition of Modi-Rha bundled with it in a multi-pack, to look forward to that goal.

The Flail-Flinger^TM is the very first vehicle prototype produced for a KR series other than Foundation. This all-new long-demanded (by me) transport rolls into combat on real wheels, and features a big ass spinning flail as well as a self-powered single-seater module that takes off, sending the Dark Legion into battle.

Details

Name: Flail-Flinger

Subtitle: mobile demolisher with speed carrier

Classification: land vehicle

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: transport.

Description

The Flail-Flinger is the combination of two smaller combat vehicles, and is painted in metallic blue with raised golden panels and black wheels that can roll on smooth surfaces. Both units bear multiple coloured tech details such as air intakes, handle bars and dashboards with sculpted knobs, screens and buttons.

The three-wheeled speed carrier on the left side accepts most KR female figures in the driver seat (which has an optional seat belt) and features a fearsome golden eagle head design on the nose cone over the front wheel, two detachable handgrips equipped with dual projecting devices (i.e., each handgrip has a gun and a scanner that fit at the top and bottom of the hand respectively) and three turbojet engines on the tailfinned back.

The mobile demolisher sports six rolling wheels (four small on the front and middle, and two large on the back) equipped with vicious hubcap spikes, and can fit a figure on the rear cockpit, which comes complete with a footboard, a pair of handle grips and a HUD face shield. This tank-like unit is embellished with impact-resistant panels and exhaust pipes on the sides, a dragon-themed motif with eye-cannons on the hull front and a monster face (which is very reminiscent of Wordron's face in his enhanced form) embossed on the rear hatch (which cannot be open, unfortunately).

Action feature

The left half of the Flail-Flinger is a detachable (via a magnetic system) speed carrier with a futuristic design and three real rolling wheels: two on the back and one on the front. The vehicle is characterised by a double configuration: when in speed-drive mode, the driver sits with the back upright and the handlebars are set vertically; when in attack-hover mode, the driver lies on the stomach and is enveloped in the vehicle's framework (the nose cone swings open and shut to enfold the upper body, and the rear pod unfolds and encases the lower body), while the handlebars swivel forward to acquire a horizontal position (the scanners allow the driver to navigate in a kind of augmented reality mode), and the rear fenders and wheels swing down and spread out to transform into a pair of wing-shaped hover pads.

The tank-like main body of the Flail-Flinger is a mobile demolisher, which is equipped with a revolving turret for a gigantic extensible ball-and-chain flail that spins when the vehicle is rolled forward or backward (you have to pull the turret up first, to engage the mechanism). The rotating armoured tower is connected by a sort of roller chain to a roughly spherical striking end, which has great details and consists of a dark-grey boulder surrounded by silver chains and studded with a myriad of silver spikes. The extensibility feature is recreated with two different gunmetal rigid roller chain pieces that make it possible to adjust the length of the flail for long or short alternatives; the mace piece can also be directly attached to the turret for the fully retracted display option.

Weapons and accessories

The speed carrier features five blasters on the front (two pairs on the sides, in the lower parts of the nose cone, and a larger central cannon on the top), while two pairs of small missile launchers are revealed when the rear fenders swing down.

Also included is an all-new version of Modi-Rha that features a Dark Spirit-inspired look. This is basically a repaint of Dimness Modi-Rha, which resembles the shadowy black silhouette projected from her body as seen in the comics of the Dimness series. The figure is cast in a black plastic and shows bright violet lines on its surface, like if it had fractured without coming apart. Modi-Rha comes with no weapon, but she looks cool with the speed carrier's detached weaponised handles in her hands.

Overall, the Flail-Flinger is a marvel. It's not quite as big as the Ceratank (incidentally, my other favourite vehicle in the KR line), but it's still quite large. The painting/tampo work here is mostly good, and, along with the nice metallic blue and gold highlights, there's a dark wash over the vehicle to help bring out the sculpted detail. The wheels roll well, and the spinning gimmick, while a little on the slow side, works alright. The included Modi-Rha variant is pretty cool all on its own. Simply put, this set is an extremely impressive offering.

KR|Dimness Review #22: Dhermot

Toy prototype details

Name: Dhermot^TM

Subtitle: gliding warrior

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 18 in the line.

Character details

Name: Dhermot

Classification: dermopteran mammal (but he looks mostly human)

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: flying tribesman.

Background

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

Brief bio: Dhermot and his sister Ycabie^TM grew up with Solamya after their parents were killed by a devastating storm that struck their home in the Northern Forest. While his sister acquired special powers to communicate with animals thanks to Solamya's training, he was uncertain whether he would ever develop skills of his own aside from his exceptional gliding abilities. When the evil Wordron attacked the tribe's terramare settlement along with a horde of wicked Plant Creatures, Dhermot spared no effort in joining the ranks of the Forseha Defenders. His determination to fight the dreaded Dark Legion and to impress Dakun and Solamya both helped and hampered his noble actions, since he had yet to understand if his aim was to serve the greater good or to seek his own glory.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: Afro-American features, black skin, blue eyes. He seems to wear a close-fitting dark-brown furry garment (but it is probably his natural growth of hair and facial hair), which is topped with a long crew cut and covers the whole head and neck except for the face and the ears (which are rounder and slightly larger than normal)

Body: almost entirely covered with a growth of short, fine dark-brown hair. His hands and feet show black skin, webbed spaces between the fingers and toes, and small sharp claws. Despite Dhermot displays a relatively light build in the comics, his figure uses the regular KR male body

Wearables: a poncho-like garment made of a piece of off-white buckskin with a hole in the middle for the head, two off-white leather bracelets, two off-white leather calf protectors (which buckle up at the back and bear triplets of greenish decorative buttons on the front), an off-white leather belt with a greenish tortoise-shell buckle, and a light-green loincloth of woven grass that incorporates a small brown leather purse attached to a loose fitting belt. His outfit is ornamented with light-green patterns (seemingly made of applied stone chips) that are reminiscent of "greek-key" meanders, and is fringed with a light-green featherwork.

Action feature

In the comics, Dhermot has the ability to glide through the air from one tree to another or from higher to lower locations with the aid of a patagium, a wingsuit-like dark-brown furry membrane of extra skin that stretches from his shoulders to his wrists, from his wrists to his ankles, and between his legs. For those wondering how Dhermot's patagium was executed, PoliganToys decided to include two plastic pieces that incorporate the poncho and plug into the back of the figure and into its limbs. The plastic used for these pieces has some pliability, so they’re not rock solid. The first alternative allows for having the skin flaps in a folded position, with the option of having the arms and legs plugged into them, to give the figure a standing-at-ease look. However, even when the limbs aren’t plugged in, the figure still looks natural and the membrane works more like a cape attached to the back (although the pegs are visible). The second option is the extended look, where the limbs have to be plugged into the patagium, because it would just seem too odd to have the skin flaps open and not have the arms and legs matching. I think this was a smart move by PoliganToys and is way better than the soft and rigid pieces used for the Reptonoid Troopers. I understand the approach that was taken on those figures, but the translation did not quite ring as true, especially with the rigid skin flaps. The solution used here looks pretty sharp on the figure, at least to me.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the two interchangeable patagia+ponchos, Dhermot only comes with one accessory, which is his Chīmalli-like wooden shield. This piece is very nicely sculpted and looks like a greenish log with some pale-straw vines growing on it and a curtain of off-white feathers attached to the bottom portion. The reverse is equipped with a wrist-clip resembling a leather strap, which is used for carrying the shield.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦ Dhermot is not a primary character at all, but his figure is one prototype I have been wanting for some time

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Some of the posing is still limited when the skin membrane pieces are on (for example, he is not going to be able to sit on his patagium), but I do like the way these work. The rest of the figure functions well

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt and the paint job are fantastic, fairly true to the look and feel of his appearance in the comics. The figure has lots of nice details like the moulded fur and feathers on the character's headpiece, skin and outfit

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Even if it can kind of be a trick to get the clip to stay on the forearm, including a nicely sculpted shield was a good idea from the folks at PoliganToys

Playability: ♪♪ A cool tree-branch playset for him to glide from would be the only thing that would make this figure more fun

Overall: ☺☺☺ The best way to describe my opinion of Dhermot is enjoyment. The inspired patagium design (which is a massive improvement over the Reptonoid Troopers) and the inclusion of a nice accessory enhance the final product. This should have been at best a mediocre addition to the line; instead, it’s a figure I am excited to get.