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.