KR|Horizon Review #4: Muvaran

Toy prototype details

Name: Muvaran^TM

Subtitle: wicked sorcerer

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure (dual figure) - Nº 4 in the line.

Character details

Name: Muvaran

Classification: the reanimated corpse of a human

Sex: male

Home: unknown

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: sorcerer priest.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: once an apprentice to a society of priests devoted to the God of the Sun, Muvaran hid a desire for authority from his mentors and eventually betrayed them by stealing magic from an enchanted solar disc under their protection and by trapping it in a mystical sceptre. He then led a savage sect that worshipped the God of the Storms, but perished fighting his original group. After stealing his corpse, the Storm Order tried to resurrect Muvaran and to transform him into a mighty immortal warrior using the power of the sceptre. The resurrection ritual was stopped by the members of the Sun Society, and the magical relic could not bring him back to life completely, making him instead a monstrous entity confined to another corner of the space-time. While he yearned for one day reclaiming leadership of his cult, to which he was still bound by the mystical sceptre, the mysterious creature was forced to make Tahron his new home. Possessing a strong and sharp intelligence and powerful supernatural abilities that included tracking the location of people or objects over great distances, Muvaran, by contrast, had a rotting and decrepit body that was shrouded by bandages, so his survival depended on him living inside a set of powered armours. Later, he joined forces with the dark sorcerers Mohrdax^TM and Psadimyr^TM, and, with his slyness and leaderly ambitions that had not faded, became the mastermind of the restored Destructomorph faction, helping the evil Nemhetra do her bidding in defeating the Therioms.

Articulation

Standard, except that the armoured form lacks the hinged abdomen, and the wrists of the mummy form are ball jointed.

Description

As it will be explained in the action feature section, this set includes two figures, which, despite representing the same character, render 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.

Armoured form

Head: he sports a shiny gold helmet with glossy dark-blue details, which is seemingly composed of a sculpted headcloth (covering the ears and the nape of the neck) and a Khepresh topped by the insignia of a vulture. His face is concealed under a devilish gold mask, which reminds me of the mask of Tutankhamun a bit, with dark-blue inlays, evil wadjet-like red glowing eyes and a spiky false beard; strangely, the mask doesn't appear to have a sculpted mouth

Body: his limbs are painted in a dull, flat golden-yellow colour, and are covered in hieroglyph-like ornamental inscriptions. He wears four bands, each made of small incised glossy dark-blue tiles laced together, around his upper arms and thighs

Wearables: a metallic dark-blue non-removable armour with shiny gold details (including a wesekh-like broad collar and two large spiked, reinforced spaulders), two metallic dark-blue bracelets with gold spikes sticking out of the sides, two metallic dark-blue boots with sculpted ornaments imitating sandal straps as well as fan-shaped tops, a studded dark-blue belt with a triangular gold buckle, and a short gold shendyt embossed with four-pointed stars all the way around.

Muvaran's stylised armour.

Mummy form

Head: reptile-like face with rotting out dark-taupe flesh wrapped in ecru bandages, evil solid red eyes, nose cavity peeking out just a bit

Body: ghoulish clawed hands and feet. The dark-taupe mummified muscle tissue that is visible underneath his bandages here and there looks decrepit and rotting

Wearables: the ecru bandage wrapping is sculpted to make it look like it has several layers, and the paint/wash over it gives it a dirty and worn look. The strips of bandage flare off from certain parts of his body, making him look like he's losing the wrapping.

Action feature

In the comics, the mummy form of Muvaran controls a human-sized armour made of metal. These are the two figures that we get with this set. Even if obviously it's not possible to place the former inside the latter, the armoured form's chest plate has a quadrangular central piece that can be removed, to reveal a sculpted detail of the mummy's torso within.

Moreover, each time he needs more power, Muvaran jumps into an additional larger coffin-like armour made of painted wood; for maximum-strength amplification, he can further enclose himself in an even larger sarcophagus-like armour made of carved granite. I really hope one day we'll see the large scale prototypes of those two additional forms. And maybe also the mummy's "unwrapped" bituminous inner body that in the comics is capable of shapeshifting powers, including the ability to form spikes or expand his size.

Weapons and accessories

The armoured form of Muvaran comes with a sceptre composed of a long straight gold staff with a hooked top and a forked end. The hook (with the point flared outwards and shaped like a snake head) surrounds a blueish-grey steel disc (with a greenish-blue glassy gem in the centre) and is topped by a large fan-shaped, polished granite blade (which is engraved with a stylised vulture head); the cross-shaped opposite end has an oval loop with a greenish-blue glassy scarab mounted in it and a pair of outstretched vulture wings that form the prongs of a fork. But there is a twist... literally. The other side of the sceptre is painted with alternative colours, to reflect the original concept design of this weapon: light-grey for the staff, shiny gold for the disc (without gem, but grooved with some light rays) and scarab, and blueish-grey for the blade. I like both colour schemes, but I think the default one looks more realistic.

The mummy form comes with an alternate gripping right hand (if you want him to hold the sceptre weapon) and with two seemingly stretched forearm extensions made of a dark-taupe bendy rubber and covered in loose, dangling strips of ecru bandage.

Furthermore, although I'll always remove them when the figures are on display, the package includes a set of additional accessories that are inspired by the concept art workflow for this character: a purple glowing gemstone that can replace the vulture insignia (tiny pieces meant to be lost easily) of the armoured form's headdress, and a triple-string necklace of bony beads with snake head terminals/clasps, a gold armband and a pair of gold clip-on shin guards, all ornamented with blueish Destructomorph symbols, for the mummy form (I think a belt also had to be included, but it has been cut for budget reasons).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Muvaran is an interesting choice for the line, and not only does he have some memorable appearances in the comic books of the Horizon series, but also has such a unique design that it’s hard not to love it

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Apart from the absence of the ab crunch in the armoured form (for a good reason!), both figures have all the articulation we’re used to with KR prototypes. Most of the limbs are pretty solid with nothing too loose, nor too tight

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The armoured form is an excellent figure with a superior likeness to the source material and fantastic sculpt and paint work. The mummy form is also one of the best sculpts I’ve seen under the KR|Horizon flag and I hope to see many more surprises like this down the road

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Although most of the accessories are awesome, only my armoured Muvaran will be posed with his sceptre on my shelf

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I really could not be any happier with Muvaran - since I always wanted an Egyptian-looking pharaoh/mummy character in the KR world, adding either figure to my shelf is a dream come true long in the making

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Muvaran is a perfect candidate to join Nemhetra's ranks, and the concept of an evil army of muscled-out nesting dolls works well for the Destructomorphs. Both his forms came out great, and I especially love the detail that went into these figures.

KR Review #82: Exabeast (NYTF 2020 Exclusive)

There are quite a few characters that did not make it to figure form during the various issues of the Key Raiders: Foundation comic book series.

One of the most fascinating characters is for sure the so-called Exabeast^TM, the giant creature formed by Denortos and his five fellows during the epic final battle of the Cereutian menace story (specifically, issue #9 - "The Cereutian menace: Part II – Salvation").

Now, I am really happy to finally review this large scale figure, officially the fifth in the KR|Foundation series. This is a 30-cm tall (around 12'') promotional figure that will be released at this year's New York Toy Fair (Saturday, Feb 22 – Tuesday, Feb 25, 2020).

I must say, the folks at PoliganToys did a wonderful job of creating a design that maximises play-factor while remaining true to the aesthetic of the Key Raiders line as a whole.

Details
Name: unknown (commonly referred to as "The Exabeast" or, alternatively, "The HexaBeast")

Subtitle: alien monstrosity

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Cereutis

Affiliation: independent

Rank: mercenary.

Articulation

For a bulky, beautiful behemoth of a figure, the articulation on this brute is terrific. He features a ball hinged head with a great range of motion (he has a fairly long, thick neck that pushes his head up and out from the body), upper torso ab crunch, double-ball hinged shoulders and hips, swivel biceps and thighs, ball hinged elbows, wrists, knees and ankles (with ankle rockers). Finally, he has a swivel-rocker waist joint that works very well, allowing him to tilt and turn with a pretty wide range of movement. The predominant ball hinge joint allows the joints to turn 360 degrees, as well as move forward and backward on the disc.

Could PoliganToys have implemented slightly more articulation, such as double-jointed elbows and knees? Yes, but to what end? For the size and bulk of this beast, the flexibility here works remarkably, and I don’t honestly believe that adding more points of articulation would have added much to the figure at all.

Description

PoliganToys has gone with a truly monstrous, savage head sculpt for this figure. The "bat wing"-shaped ears, solid yellow eyes and mismatched piranha-like whitish teeth on this figure make for a fantastically fun–but gross-looking–monster.

I like the body work, with plenty of detailing in the veins, tendons and wrinkles. The muscle definition seems appropriate, as do the body proportions such as the size of the hands and feet to the rest of the figure, and the scale to CoBoN's robot mode. The hands have been given interesting sculpts that can work in a variety of gestures, or can hold the included accessory.

The figure is cast in the appropriate colour (since he's predominately dark-blue/almost black, that's not too much of an issue, except for the slightly glossy look of the plastic) and the paint apps for the highlights and lowlights are stellar, no complaints at all. The detail work is great too, with not just the nasal skull cap (derived from Denortos' robotic arm) and body striations painted in shiny and dull silver respectively, but also the yellowish fingernails, toenails, external spine and spurs on the back of the arms and legs, along with some effective highlighting on the ridges of his exposed skeletal structure.

Quality-control on this figure is outstanding, with the Exabeast feeling nice and heavy despite being rotocast, and standing up stably on its own in various poses (even when holding up another figure!) with no problem whatsoever.

Weapons and accessories

The figure comes with one accessory. It's a hunk of metal girder with a couple of pipes attached, bent in the middle by his ferocious right hand. To be honest, I don't remember where this comes from, I need to re-read the comic book. The item breaks in half, but the pegs are a little too short and a little too soft. So, rather than popping apart when it strikes CoBoN, it's probably going to simply fall apart on the slightest touch, making it more frustrating than fun.

If you're attending NYTF 2020, then you might want to give the Exabeast a thorough look. He has a couple of minor issues, the biggest being the piece of metal falling apart (if you get a little too frustrated with it, you can always glue it), but this is actually a pretty solid toy. The bestial head is aesthetically compelling, and the great articulation and well built execution make this figure a lot of fun. Also, he can definitely fill in as another reasonably interesting villain in the KR world. In short, I like it.

KR|Horizon Review #3: Sei-Lha (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Sei-Lha^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: brave spellcaster

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 3 in the line.

Character details

Name: Sei-Lha

Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: daughter of Xonedar and Demo-Rha, wife of Desion (Masq-Lor), sister-in-law of Herrion and Rhadiel (Fai-Rha), half-sister of Nemhetra

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: enchantress.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: after learning of her mother’s identity as Demo-Rha and discovering to possess paranormal abilities unbeknown to her until then, Sei-Lha initially resisted her supernatural endowments and wished instead to carry on with her military career. Eventually, embracing her superhuman potential rather than rejecting it, she decided to exploit her newfound capabilities at last. Sei-Lha was taught to channel her unfledged powers through a magical staff by Elykta, who had transcended to a higher state of being for maintaining the balance between good and evil, and when she learnt how to control those faculties fully she was proposed to become the new enchantress at the service of the Therioms. After marrying Desion, in order not to harm her husband and their unborn son she took action with her father’s help by fashioning a special outfit that could contain her magic and protect herself as well as her loved ones. Now playing a vital role in the fight against the Destructomorphs, Sei-Lha helped guard the prodigious helmets from Nemhetra, who sought to use them for restoring her evil parents' threat after their defeat by the combined force of Masq-Lor and the Therioms.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: brown skin, blue eyes with smokey makeup; she wears a complex headgear composed of a nemes-like headcloth and a double crown. The striped light-blue cloth (whose individual strips are alternatively glossy and matt) covers the nape of the neck, extending a little way down the back, and has two large flaps hanging down behind the ears (which hold two elegant amber dangle earrings) and in front of both shoulders; an additional small V-shaped flap (similar to a widow’s peak) adorned with a purplish glowing gemstone hangs down on the centre of the forehead. The lower part of the double crown is silver and slightly resembles the "duck-billed" hadrosaurid's face (with two light-blue glowing gemstones representing the eyes) seen on Foundation Elykta's helmet, while the upper part is metallic light-blue and recalls the crest of the same helmet. Additionally, the lower part of the double crown extends down the back forming an interlaced silver structure ornamented with light-blue glowing gemstones, in which her long brown hair (emerging from under the headcloth and ending in a ponytail) is "caged"

Body: the exposed parts of her body (i.e., arms and part of the legs) show brown skin

Wearables: a sleeveless light-blue dress, a wide silver choker, two silver armbands (a wide one on the left arm and a narrow one on the right arm), two silver bracelets, two purple leather sandal-boots with silver trimming and oval silver knee guards, and a wide silver belt with a square light-blue gemstone buckle that holds a short strip of sheer purple fabric, two purplish gemstones that hold two small silver tassets and several amber gemstones that hold an equal number of orange tassels. The belt separates the fitted bandage bodice (which has criss-cross straps and whose individual strips of light-blue cloth are alternatively glossy and matt) above the waist from the ankle-length, diagonal-cut flouncy skirt below, allowing for the waist swivel. The bodice is equipped with a piece of silver armour consisting of a chest plate and a pair of shoulder pads, and displaying a complex ironwork-like spiral-line&leaf design. Like the belt, also the armour, the bracelets and the knee pads are adorned with various light-blue, amber and purplish glowing gemstones.

Action feature

In the comics, Sei-Lha is shown to possess a number of paranormal faculties, which she successfully converted into scientifically controlled magical powers that are similar to (and actually stronger than) those of Demo-Rha and Elykta. In particular, she can absorb and use powerful abilities of others and, in case, transfer them to her allies. To emulate the energy she gives off while absorbing or projecting powers, the figure comes with three translucent magic blast effects that can be attached to her left spell-casting hand: one flat and orange with individual blasts originating from the fingers, one globular/swirly and light-blue, and one jet-shaped and purple.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from her energy blast effects, Sei-Lha comes with a nice set of accessories. First up is her T-shaped silver staff with a light-blue gemstone at the junction between the vertical pole and the horizontal bar. The staff also works as a perch on which Lirek^TM, her loyal condor, can alight with its wings wide spread and transform into a translucent light-blue crystal form. You can make the staff into either its plain or bird-weaponized version by way of two swappable top pieces. Lirek is not included, but there's a brand new metallic light-blue collar (incorporating a long steel crest with a light-blue gemstone embedded in each side) for the old figure, which, by the way, can actually perch on the plain staff.

Additionally, the figure comes with a hooded, short-haired alternate head and a cloak, which will both appear in the third comic issue of the KR|Horizon series. The hood and the cape have the same strips of alternatively glossy and matt light-blue cloth seen on the standard headcloth and dress, but are moulded from a slightly see-through plastic - it still looks the same fabric, but the little bit of light that can shine through makes it look immaterial, like it's fading in or out from another reality. The matt portions are painted, as is the nice silver clasp that holds the cape closed a bit off-centre. The hood is permanently attached to the head, and it's large enough that it bunches up where it meets the shoulders, while the cape, complete with subtle angles and flowing ribbons, gives the illusion of hanging loosely in a graceful manner. A very nice look! While the non-articulated cape limits the movement of the body underneath, PoliganToys rigged these accessories up in a way that the head and standing cape can work separated from the body, with the former resting on top of the latter. That’s a neat trick to create an empty-like body appearance and to have another figure stepping out of that void, simulating Sei-Lha's teleportation powers.

Finally, I do really appreciate the inclusion of a baridronic bomb (we'll also see this in issue no. 3 of the comic book series) as an accessory here. It’s an expertly-sculpted unique mould, and has more paint deco on it than one might expect. Moreover, holding it in her open spell-casting hand proves to be one of Sei-Lha’s coolest poses.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ OK, she's got a different job in this series - not a soldier anymore, but an enchantress. However, Sei-Lha is still a strong, capable warrior and one of the toughest Therioms. This figure does a great job of balancing that status with an awesome look

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Like you’d expect, Sei-Lha doesn’t have a ton of useful movement with the cape on. You can manoeuvre the right hand to peek through, but she won’t be able to raise the left arm out to absorb the bad guys' powers

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Her regular head sculpt is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful female faces ever seen in this line. The paintjob is solid for the most part, especially the chest armour, where the silver paint app helps bring out the intricate line work

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The attachable blasts help create her magic powers and fit just fine, but I think they are a bit big and cumbersome, especially for a female figure. I don’t know what other options would have been available to achieve the effect, but maybe making them a bit smaller would have worked better

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ It’s definitely figures as enjoyable as this one that keep my interest in the line healthy

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This new version of Sei-Lha has a great sculpt with great accessories. I could lament the slight loss of articulation due to the huge hair and the long skirt, but I’m okay with it. There are figures that are good enough and there are ones where I want to turn to PoliganToys and say: “more like this, please”. Sei-Lha is one of those figures.