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.