Happy 2020!! As usual, we start the new year with a brand new line in the world of Key Raiders!
The upcoming reviews will be about recently developed prototypes that belong to the latest Key Raiders wave. Unlike Origin, Enmity and Dimness, this is a sequel (and not a prequel) series, which will be titled Key Raiders: Horizon (stylised as KR|Horizon) and will concern a universe characterised by a futuristic vibe, recounting events happening 15 years after the adventures of the KR|Foundation series:
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Timeline (intervals in years)
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500
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15
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5
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15
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Origin
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Enmity
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Dimness
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Foundation
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Horizon
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So, let's start with the first prototype review of this new series!
Toy prototype details
Name: Masq-LorTM (Horizon Edition)
Subtitle: powerful ruler
Line: KR|Horizon
Item type: action figure - Nº 1 in the line.
Character details
Name: Masq-Lor
Real name: Desion AmhalgaardTM
Classification: human-primivod* hybrid (but he looks completely human)
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 15 years after Foundation
Affiliation: Theriom
Rank: Senior Minister of the Republic of Tahron; commander-in-chief of the Theriom Armed Forces.
*PrimivodsTM are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.
Background
First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy
Brief bio: several years after triumphing over Deptilion and mourning the passing of Tir-Hing, Desion took his rightful place as his father's successor and was elected Senior Minister of the Republic. While ruling over all Tahron with his keen mental discernment and good judgement, he married Sei-Lha and together they trained their son SajronTM in the fighting and magical arts, so he could take over the chosen warriors' legacy as a new protector of the Key. But the threat of the Therioms' old enemy, the Destructomorphs, once more called Masq-Lor and his siblings to one final conflict. By wielding their halberds and recovering an ancient power hidden in their prodigious helmets, the three courageous warriors could at last return to their mission in a glorious new form. Through an arduous struggle across Tahron, the Therioms aimed at defeating the evil NemhetraTM and her army of dreadful creatures in an epic combat once and for all.
Articulation
Description
In the Horizon comics, it is revealed that each prodigious helmet holds a sample of liquid alloy, which was hidden by Galamars after forging the enchanted artefacts. When the liquid metal is combined with a tiny amount of the helmet wearer's blood, a small cyan ball lightning arises and creates a statue (called totem and made of the same material as the helmets and halberds) of an animal, behind which there is a sort of chair. When the helmet wearer introduces their halberd into a slot on the side of the totem, and sits in the chair with their hands and feet positioned on apposite rests, a connector automatically inserts into the helmet's socket, i.e., the hollow left after extracting the liquid alloy vial. The wearer appears to lose consciousness, when in fact their consciousness is relayed into a robotic avatar (called robatar) that forms from the totem moments later. Masq-Lor's totem is a sitting sabre-toothed cat and his robatar, which is the figure included in this pack, can be described as follows:
Head: very similar to the White Ranger's helmet, characterised by a silver outer shell with a pair of cat ears and a sabre-toothed mouth guard, a golden-yellow face shield with tiger-like black stripes, and a glossy black visor surrounded by a cyan glowing edge that is connected to two fierce feline eyes on the forehead
Body: protected by a vac-metal gold cuirass with bronze details, vac-metal gold gauntlets, boots (with knee guards) and belt, and a bronze crotch shell. Besides these basic components, there are various golden-yellow pieces of armour with tiger-like black stripes to protect the rest of the body, such as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards. There is an impressive amount of intricate decorative features all around the numerous components of this protective covering; I especially like the small Theriom emblems embossed on the wrist and knee guards, and the little gaps here and there that reveal steel tech-mech details beneath the armour.
Both the helmet and the cuirass display a few decorative details that recall Foundation Masq-Lor's outfit, including a vac-metal gold top crest and a Theriom emblem (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated) on the breastplate (see the images below - although they are not related to Masq-Lor's robatar, they still bear many similarities with it).
Action feature
To simulate the retractile laser-like claws seen in the comics, a pair of long cyan glowing blades (kind of reminiscent of ULTRAMAN's specium blades) can snap into each forearm armour. Additionally, two articulated flaps at the back of the armour on the calves can reveal a pair of leg boosters with cyan glowing propulsion effects.
Weapons and accessories
Masq-Lor's robatar comes with a set of accessories that are meant to update Apprentice Minister Masq-Lor for representing an older Desion in the role of Senior Minister. The set includes three heads, a cuirass with an attached cape and two weapons. The first head is characterised by light brown skin, thick black hair and beard with a touch of grey, green eyes and a very visible scar running down the left side of his face (I am sure he probably got it in the final battle with Deptilion); he wears a golden diadem bearing the Theriom emblem and a small, discoloured light-blue gemstone in its centre, which used to belong to his father Tir-Hing. The other two portraits are identical, except that they wear the silver magic helmet, one in its inactive form and one that displays the sabre-toothed visor activated.
The armour is painted in shiny gold with light-blue details (including a small triangular gemstone at the centre of the chest emblem) and incorporates a blue cape whose collar/hood and bottom are lined with white fur that is brownly marked with blotches and stripes.
The weapons include a halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one whose blade has four tips) and the same halberd that belongs to Tir-Hing in the Foundation series, except from being painted with some golden details here and there rather than plain silver. The other weapon is Masq-Lor's signature sword with silver blade and brown wooden hilt, but in a very worn condition, i.e., tarnished, dinged up, chipped and gouged; even part of the hilt seems to have been broken and given a light-blue metallic replacement.
Finally, the figure comes with two further surprising accessories, a cyber-steed and an extra cyber-head that serve as the first instalment of a new Build-a-Figure concept in the KR|Horizon series. Basically, some of the action figures in the line will come with a number of components needed to build an even larger figure, specifically a heroic super-robatar that is shown at the end of the KR|Horizon comic book series. The included creature is a robotic version of Ki-Wun, which in the comics also forms from the totem together with the robatar. This figure features joints all over the place: hinged jaw (revealing a slot inside the mouth, to which an included cyan-coloured energy blast effect can be attached), ball jointed upper neck, hinged lower neck, swivel-hinged shoulders, hips, elbows, paws and tail, hinged knees and hocks, and a final ball jointed abdomen. It is, of course, an all-new sculpt and, I have to say, the guys at PoliganToys have done an exemplary work here. It closely resembles Masq-Lor's original steed and has a detailed gold&bronze body, a single straight horn projecting from its forehead, a translucent red mane and tail tuft, and a pair of shoulder-mounted pivoting cannons with two separate missiles (which can be replaced with two included light-red laser beam effects). The extra head (which is supposed to form from the robatar's body when Masq-Lor's sabre-toothed visor is activated, and to become the head of the super-robatar) looks like a large scale, Voltron-like robot sabrecat head. Once I get all the necessary parts, I'll go into detail about this super-robatar formation.
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| Senior Minister Masq-Lor's stylised helmet with top crest. |
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| Senior Minister Masq-Lor's stylised armour; the oval at the centre of the chest plate represents the Theriom symbol. |
Comic
Together with the action figure we get the first comic issue The Destructomorph legacy. Thirty-five years ago, a warlord called Wordron tried to conquer Tahron using King Khon-Uhr's lost helmet as a weapon. He failed and the helmet was eventually split into three parts, which were scattered all across Tahron. Nemhetra, Demo-Rha's and Deptilion's daughter, now tries to assemble it again. She enters Dekropolis, tricks a creature who is guarding it to show her all the secrets and then imprisons him. Using a mystical device, the whole background about the helmet is revealed to her and she carries this information to her spiritual advisers, who each send a soldier to retrieve one part of the helmet. Elykta, the new Deity, alerts Masq-Lor, now Senior Minister of the Republic, to the danger. It turns out Nemhetra's campaign has already begun: several villages, where the helmet parts are enshrined, have been attacked and the Therioms hurry to battle, struggling fiercely with the new enemy. Meanwhile, Masq-Lor, Fai-Rha and Herrion travel to Dekropolis, where a mysterious source of negative energy seems to be located. Nemhetra summons the corpses of creatures brought back to life by her advisers' magic, and creates a new army of Destructomorph Goblins. The heroes are attacked by these monsters and are finally overpowered. Masq-Lor manages to free himself from the creatures' hold, but a group of Goblins eventually capture Fai-Rha and Herrion, and imprison them inside their stronghold. Within the heats of these battles, the evil spiritual advisers all touch their respective parts of the helmet, triggering the spell to combine it again. Using the power of this artifact, Nemhetra can now transform into an enhanced warrior. Masq-Lor returns to Theriom City to consult the Deity. He discovers a new power hidden in his helmet and activates a robot avatar, who, under his mental control, goes back to Dekropolis, allowing his siblings and fellows to break free and fight off the army of Goblins. While the new battle emerges, Masq-Lor's avatar tries to overpower Nemhetra. Everything seems lost for the Destructomorphs when Masq-Lor throws her off the roof of the shipyard's central building, but Nemhetra manages to escape when Dekropolis unexpectedly leaves the ground and becomes airborne. Tahron has been saved for now, but the Therioms must face a new threat.
Overall, this episode has the obvious advantage of being the beginning of an exciting story finale, so a comparison might be unfair. Still, even accounting for the additional thrill, The Destructomorph legacy is a lot better than some of the other comics of the previous series. This epic story is constructed very well, there are lots of well known major characters as well as many imaginative new entries. Definitely a good read!
Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦♦ This version of our hero represents a whole new realm of stories and the future of Key Raiders
Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ In terms of articulation, Horizon Masq-Lor isn’t anything special for a KR figure, being built on the standard articulated body that we’ve seen over and over in this line. The joints on my prototype are tight, with no floppiness or other quality control issues
Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is a real shining point here. The paint detail is also absolutely great, and the intricacies on the head and body make for a very tight figure. The vac-metal gold paint really stands out thanks to the sheen and gloss that are much higher than the other colours used on the figure
Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Believe or not, among all the amazing accessories the battle damaged sword is my favourite. The detail here is just remarkable
Playability: ♪♪♪ My only issue is with the additional armour - the attached cape looks pretty cool, but definitely gets in the way of the recipient figure's poses, and the weight can make it totter a bit on the shelf
Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This first prototype of the Horizon series is solid with nice articulation, fine details, astounding accessories, and great sculpting. Although not my favourite version of Masq-Lor, the figure is really well done and represents the very future of the property.
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