Toy prototype details
Name: Masq-LorTM (Dimness Edition)
Subtitle: predestined hero
Line: KR|Dimness
Item type: action figure (triple figure) - Nº 20 in the line.
Character details
Name: Masq-Lor (meaning "destined for victory")
Classification: human-primivod* hybrid (but he looks completely human)
Sex: male
Relationships: foundling discovered and cared for by the Forseha tribesmen; Xehrea's love interest
Home: Tahron
Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Forseha; Dark Legion (temporarily)
Rank: tribe bowman; temporarily, monstrous servant of Wordron.
*PrimivodsTM are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.
Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening
Brief bio: rescued from the waters of the river AtoggTM in his infancy by Dakun, who recognised the child as the hero prophesied to end the war between the mammalian and reptilian peoples of Tahron, Masq-Lor was taught to survive in the harsh jungle environment and to protect himself from the wrath of potential enemies. The boy, blessed with remarkable fighting skills, soon turned out to be crucial when the peace of the Forseha tribe was plagued by the vengeful Wordron and his army of Plant Creatures. Surrendering himself to the Dark Legion's leader in order to save his fellow hostages, Masq-Lor became the first victim of the dreaded Mother-Plant, the evil creature that coated its prey with a viscous resin enchanted with pure wickedness. The mutated form of Masq-Lor that burst from the hardened material became Wordron's menacing mind-controlled servant and was ordered to help subdue the Forseha tribesmen, until he was freed from the curse by his own will and by his companions' encouraging words. To turn the tides of the battle, Masq-Lor killed the Mother-Plant, setting free its other potential victims, and managed to eradicate the remnants of devilry that gave power to Wordron. After regaining his normal form, Masq-Lor at last single-handedly destroyed the demon, while the Forseha tribe defeated the rest of the Dark Legion once and for all.
Articulation
All three figures have the standard articulation, except that the normal form's right hand is especially engineered with a hinge to hold an arrow.
In the comics, our hero is transformed into a monstrous zombie-like creature after being subjected to one of the most gruesome and fascinating concepts in the Dimness line – the sticky, viscous resin exuded by the Mother-Plant's flower. Despite the two figures represent the same character, they render the two alternative forms and appear very different. Although it's not clear whether these figures will be released individually or in a multi-pack, I'm going to describe them separately.
Normal form
Description
Head: light brown skin, thick, long black hair, green eyes. He sports a band of dark-brown raffia fibre tied around the head and a lock of hair held by a loop of dark-brown raffia fibre on each side. He definitely looks like a teenage version of his Foundation counterpart
Body: slightly shorter than the adult characters (only 14 cm, around 5.5"), light brown skin, exposed torso, arms and legs
Wearables: a light-green necklace with a gold medallion resembling the Theriom symbol (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated, modelled after a small tattoo found by Dakun on the child's skin), two light-green bracelets (the left one is actually a bracer), two light-green gladiator sandal-boots, a light-green belt with a round golden buckle, and a diagonal-cut black leather skirt. The cross-strap bracelets and sandal-boots as well as the necklace and belt are made of woven grass, while the faux leather skirt is complete with some nice details that make it interesting to look at, such as scalloped edges, dark-brown stitching, and flaps folded over the top.
Weapons and accessories
In the comics, Masq-Lor is depicted as a very skilful archer and, of course, the figure comes with a bow, several separate arrows and a quiver with two belts. The dark-brown wooden bow is roughly carved with leaf-like motifs on the limbs and snake-head decorative designs on the tips, while the black leather quiver is ornamented with leaf-like light-green patterns and can be attached either to a loose fitting black leather waist belt (which carries a small bag on the opposite side) or to a black leather shoulder belt.
Additionally, the package includes slightly smaller versions of two weapons that came with Foundation Masq-Lor: the sword (with silver blade and wooden hilt) and the oval wooden shield (embellished with a big golden Theriom symbol).
Finally, to recreate the battle seen at the end of the second comic issue Masq-Lor's quest, we get two extra heads, both wearing the helmet that belongs to Wordron and Barkos: one for the younger Dimness Masq-Lor (with the inactive helmet) and one for the older Foundation Masq-Lor (with the activated helmet).
Mutated form
Description
Head: anthracite (i.e., near-black or very dark grey) skin, untied rust hair, white glowing eyes (surrounded by red edges). His mouth and nose are just a series of red glowing rips and slits in the centre of the face
Body: anthracite skin, red tribal tattoos around the biceps, claw hands and feet
Wearables: a big silver necklace with a medallion resembling the Dark Legion symbol (i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face), dark wash fluo-yellow cross-strap bracelets, cross-strap shin guards and belt (the latter has a round silver buckle), and a two-tone (matte and glossy) black skirt.
Weapons and accessories
This extremely agile creature comes with matching black and dark wash fluo-yellow decos of the standard sword and shield, as well as a brand new shield that sports a complex heraldic design (an evil dragon head in front of two crossed swords on a web-like background). The diversity of shades and tones of the blacks and yellows from the figure are carried over here as well.
Amber form
In addition to the normal and mutated forms, the Dimness edition of Masq-Lor will also include an "amber statue" variant, since such a form is briefly shown as a mid-transformation stage in the third comic issue Into dimness: Part II – Escape.
I’m not getting into the specifics of this figure, since it's just the normal form version with a few differences that I'm going to list below:
- The whole figure has been cast in a nice translucent amber plastic that also contains numerous tiny bubbles (which give it a slight cloudy opacity) and a number of indistinct dark inclusions
- His head is characterised by the hair of a dark wash yellow-brown colour (like that of a butterscotch candy) and solid red eyes. A darker, brownish airbrushing around the eyes makes the head appear translucent at the bottom and then get opaque as you go up the face
- The medallion and belt buckle have a bronze colour and a bit of glimmer to them (to help sell the idea that they might be embedded in solid resin, but they are still made of metal), while the necklace, bracelets, boots and belt are orange, but also have metallic qualities to them. The skirt is yellow-brown with different tones and sheen in different areas
- The figure comes with the standard sword and shield, which are also cast in translucent amber plastic with a metallic orange paint on the blade and symbol.
Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ It’s just like the old times, you know? Sure, Masq-Lor might also be an inanimate amber statue as well as a hideous and mindless monster of Wordron's in this representation, but even after all these years, there are few things better as a KR prototype reviewer than getting a new version of our hero
Articulation: ♥♥♥ The engineering on the three figures' joints is wonderful, so everything is stable and tight, but not at all limiting in terms of ease of posing; the only exception is that there’s no slit in the skirt piece, which would allow for deeper bends of the legs
Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ PoliganToys have done a great job of capturing the essence of a young woodland fighter in the standard form, while the mutated form looks really evil, with the blackish and reddish tones making the basic body very imposing. On top of that, the translucent statue is nice and solid, all of the plastic feels strong and not at all brittle
Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The set comes with a LOT of weaponry, and while no version of Masq-Lor can handle all of them at once, it is nice to have the option. I wish they had included an amber version of the bow and arrow, but that is not a deal breaker for me
Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I’m a sucker for both translucent toys and all-black evil palette swaps, so naturally when I got this set in my hands I felt such a lust for enjoyment
Overall: ☺☺☺☺ These are very nicely executed figures - the design, materials and engineering all came together for a very strong set. Kudos to PoliganToys for really knocking this one out. I had been waiting on this guy in the KR|Dimness series and I'm quite pleased with these prototypes.
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