KR|Dimness Review #25: Qermetas

Toy prototype details

Name: Qermetas^TM

Subtitle: violent minion

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 21 in the line.

Character details

Name: Qermetas

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: first lieutenant.

Background

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

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, 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 Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including a one-armed and disfigured man named Qermetas, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Desiring to become a menacing warrior, Qermetas stole small amounts of stone and steel from the monastery's storage of construction materials and allowed the evil grand marshal to create a new armoured helmet and a reinforced prosthetic arm for him. As deadly as he was monstrous, Qermetas used his powerful punches and headbutts to get his wicked way. After Wordron's demise, he took over the former Dark Legion fortress in Ucamur, ruling it with a stone-metal fist.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: reddish sunburnt skin, solid blue glowing eyes with a prominent brow ridge and two evident under eye bags, a scar on the right cheek, two large sharp teeth protruding upwards from the lower jaw, and a prominent chin. He wears a metallic purple helmet with dark-blue details (including two large screws in the back to keep it firmly in place), whose edges seem to merge with his flesh in a sort of Frankenstein's monster fashion, and whose top bears a large, thick flat piece of grey stone reinforced with blueish-grey steel plates

Body: reddish sunburnt skin, spiky elbows, several scars. He has an oversized Hellboy-like right forearm and open hand made of grey stone reinforced with blueish-grey steel plates

Wearables: a thigh-length dark-blue garment with lune-shaped purple decorative patterns, two metallic dark-blue bracelets (the one on the right wrist is just a narrow band) and two metallic dark-blue boots with partially open shafts. The garment is a tubular cloth open on the left side of the body and gathered around the waist with a spiked metallic dark-blue belt; the top edge is fastened over the left shoulder by a blueish-grey steel fibula that kinda looks like a strange lock, while the right shoulder is left uncovered.

Action feature
In the comics, Qermetas has a powerful stone-metal fist that projects to a moderate extent for a super punching action, which he uses to hit his enemies and knock them out. This telescoping feature works by popping the forearm off just below the elbow and attaching an extended version of it with a harsh clench of the fist. That’s wonderful!

Additionally, the original concept of this character also featured an extending stone neck, which would allow his head to strike out and forcefully thrust with the heavy top of his helmet into his foes. I'm glad that this detail was removed from the comics and replaced with simple headbutts (yes, suspension of disbelief has its limits), but I'm also happy that a long, curved neck extension was included in the package. Besides its awesome stone design, I like the fact that it still works with the ball joint on the neck.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the arm and neck extensions, Qermetas includes a club-like weapon consisting of a spiked ball mounted on a shaft. The long, two-handed wooden shaft is reinforced with four metallic purple langets, while the attached wooden head (which is seemingly slipped over the top of the shaft and reinforced at the base with a metallic purple band) is adorned with metallic purple spikes nailed to the outside (a longer spike extending straight from the top and many smaller spikes around the particle of the head).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ He's not the most interesting character or figure in this line, but he's really well done

Articulation: ♥♥♥ This figure is sturdy and well articulated, and all of his joints are nice and tight

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is a mixture of new and reused parts, but everything goes well together. The limbs are covered with interesting marks and blemishes that show Qermetas' troubled history. The head sculpt is excellent and the torso overlay is very well executed too

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ I love his crazy mace weapon, it's massive and absolutely awesome. And that extended fist, oh boy! - not only it looks good, but it also really adds some character to the figure. He looks terrific with it, although due to the size it makes him a little likely to topple

Playability: ♪♪♪ He has all of the poseability and playability one could want. He is going to appeal to every potential KR collector

Overall: ☺☺☺ I think Qermetas is a pretty great figure. I'm honestly quite satisfied with this guy and find that I like him much more than I thought I would. He's very well sculpted, and his stone-metal forearm is not as ridiculously oversized as the comic book version, but large enough to be notable and... just bizarre.