KR|Horizon Review #13: Destructomorph Goblins

Toy prototype details

Name: Destructomorph Goblins^TM

Subtitle: bionic troopers

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 2 in the line.

Character details

Name: Destructomorph Goblin

Classification: bio-robotic hybrid

Sex: undefined (due to its ability to lay eggs via parthenogenetic reproduction, it is probably female)

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: drone.

Background

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

Brief bio: after the defeat of most of Kinod's army during Demo-Rha's attempt to overtake Tahron alongside Alterok, the surviving holopodian mutants became outcasts who wandered along the borders of Tahron. However, a small group managed to avoid their banishment and became unauthorised guardians of Dekropolis. Years later, Tenophar^TM, the last surviving member of that squad, informed Nemhetra of the existence of the prodigious helmet that had been disassembled by her cousin Barkos, and helped her retrieve it before being double-crossed and killed. Mistrustful of the robot enforcers that once served her parents, Nemhetra nonetheless saw value in those powerful minions and agreed with her spiritual advisers that their use could prove beneficial. Using a combination of sorcery and science, she repaired the troopers’ cybernetics and cloned Tenophar into numberless replicants, who were stripped of their bodies and left with only their heads. Each clone's disembodied head was permanently encased in a domed cockpit, which was filled with the mystic water from Dekropolis' understructure and mounted to the torso of a restored android body. Outfitted in insect-derived bionic armour using a complex symbiotic interaction, these cyborg soldiers were also connected to the central computer-brain of Nemhetra's headquarters. That way, she augmented the old troopers and mass produced a deadly army of advanced, surgically enhanced soldiers capable of self-repairing battle damages, reshaping their design for combat versatility and efficiency, and overpowering all enemies, which came to symbolise the frightening return of the Destructomorphs.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a hinged extra tail/abdomen piece, two ball hinged arms (fully articulated in the orthopteran type) and, in the hemipteran type, two pairs of ball hinged rear appendages (wings and tentacles).

Description

In the comics, the Destructomorph Goblins appear as bio-robotic androids (part organic, part technological) that can transform into armed insectoid drones. Although the two figures are characterised by the same basic conformation, they belong to two different categories and look slightly different. So, I'm going to describe the two Goblins separately.

Orthopteran type

Head: like with the original Destructomorph Trooper, the silver (instead of black) metallic head resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components (including three new small blue LEDs on the forehead, which resemble eye spots), evil-looking shiny green (instead of glowing red) compound eyes and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak (here flanked by two additional side mandibles). He also wears a horned golden-yellow headgear, whose design is slightly different from the original version and kinda recalls a segmented hood. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's antenna-shaped silver horns

Body: all his limbs (including two main arms, two mole cricket-like arms and two legs) are characterised by a slender, segmented black chitinous appearance (bearing numerous details along their length, such as cracks, bumps and dark-brown stripes) and is protected by a number of silver metallic plates, which show some spikes and machinery/circuitry patterns, and act as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards. The main arms feature a pair of pincer-like grasping hands; each gripping hand is composed of two claw-like black fingers, the longest of which is spiky, while the shortest is toothed. The secondary, slightly smaller arms extend from the sides of his abdomen and end in a pair of shovel-like dark-brown hands; each hand is broad and flattened, and shows a series of tooth-like black structures. The elongated digitigrade legs are fictionally powerful and adapted for jumping; each thigh looks robust, while each knee is bent to accommodate the foot portion with the heel section high up. The legs end in four-digit dark-brown feet, with three massive claw-like black toes in front and one in back. The back armour carries two sets of narrow, blade-like silver vestigial wings pointing backwards. An extra insect-like abdomen piece is attached to the back of the crotch and is characterised by silver metallic segments that are ring-shaped and joined by seemingly flexible black membranes. Under the removable armour, the torso is the same tech-mech piece used for the original Troopers, with identical dials, sliders, buttons, knobs and rectangular lenticular sticker at the centre of the chest (which gives an illusion of coursing sound waves)

Wearables: a metallic red armour with golden-yellow details, two metallic red bracers, two metallic red calf protectors, a grooved metallic red belt with a buckle that looks like the Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face), and a laminar golden-yellow crotch piece. However, most of the torso is concealed by a cockpit for the holopodian mutant head, whose primary purpose is for mobility and protection as the head is vulnerable outside of this compartment. Apart from some differences in the colour scheme, this head is very similar to Tenophar's head, which came with the Queen Holopodian: the five "arms" are connected by a reddish, seemingly muscular membrane and radiate from a central disc that has an anthropoid dark-brown calcified nose; the two purplish top arms exhibit a pair of evil reddish eyes, which are topped by rough, dark-brown brow ridges and bear two elongated lobes resembling sensory appendages; below the eyes on either side of the head are bunches of tendril-like reddish filaments, which look like the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish; the purplish bottom arm is similar to a protruding chin and carries a humanoid mouth, which is slightly open and reveals several sharp yellowish teeth. The cockpit has a transparent protective covering through which the head can see, as well as holes for it to extend its tentacles through, so that it could manipulate objects. The head is built into the cockpit and while the entire portion is actually removable from the armour, the head itself is not accessible on its own; this choice was made so that the cockpit would be fully sealed and water could be added to create an interesting effect (the back of the cockpit has a little spot with a removable plug for this purpose). Each bracer and calf protector bear a double row of spines and a silver spur near the upper and lower end respectively.

Hemipteran type

The second figure is identical to the first one except for the following details:

• The secondary mole cricket-like arms are replaced by small arthropod-like dark-brown arms, each terminating in a black claw
• The feet are completely black and much simpler compared to the Orthopteran type's complex digitigrade feet
• The upper back is equipped with two pairs of large silver posable wings; each hind wing (which is patterned with dull dark-brown veins) is connected to the fore wing (covered in ridges where different metallic surfaces join), forming a single structure that shows several tech-mech details (including a counter-gravity field generator) on the underside. At rest, the wings are held folded overlapping the back
• The lower back features a pair of long silver bendy appendages, which resemble two mechanical tentacles and end in dark-brown pinching weapons for grabbing and crushing foes.

Destructomorph Goblin's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a peg, to which the head-cockpit or other accessories connect.

Action feature

Both figures can be posed in either an anthropoid mode or an insectoid mode. It's interesting to sum up the way the former configuration transforms into the latter, both fictionally and in reality, to appreciate all the cool details:

1. Two insect head halves slide over and unite using a sort of nano-engineering technology, to conceal the cockpit of the holopodian mutant head on the chest. In the toy, it's necessary to remove the cockpit portion from the armour and replace it with an additional insect head, which is held vertically parallel to the torso, with the mouth at the bottom. This head is characterised by a scaly glossy black hood that surrounds and merges with a silver snout. It displays a pair of long, thread-like black antennae with multiple joints (each antenna can pivot, so it can point towards any direction, and ends in a stinger that resembles a scorpion's tail), a pair of large bulbous black eyes which give all-round vision (each featuring a red glowing horizontal slit plus a beady-eye spot in the centre), seven smaller blue eye spots arranged in a star-shape on the forehead and a complex golden-jawed grasshopper-like mouth composed of a finely serrated upper labrum, two heavily toothed mandibles, two maxillae with cutting edges and a number of small teeth (flanked by two pairs of black segmented appendages or palps), and a two-fanged lower labium (also flanked by a pair of short palps)
2. The insect head on the chest folds up to conceal the robot's head. In the toy, the insect head is simply detached from the torso (exposing a peg on the chest plate that can be hidden with an additional triangular, reactor-like yellow glowing piece) and attached to the neck ball joint in place of the standard head, lying at an angle to the body (the sockets that connect to the chest and to the neck are different)
3. The six limbs of the anthropoid mode also work as the six legs of the insectoid mode (the feet swing to align with the lower legs)
4. The "tail" piece folds down to become the insect abdomen
5. In the hemipteran type, the wings spread out to a flapping position.

Additionally, in the comics the insectoid Goblins have the ability to combine and create larger armoured robots; these range from a three-unit droid (with one Goblin forming the legs, another one forming the torso and the arms, and another one forming the horned head), to a massive mecha with two "stag beetle mandible"-shaped wings, which is the combination of approximately hundred Goblins. Ten selected Goblins are also able to merge with Nemhetra's robatar, to form her evil super-robatar. Obviously, none of these features can be recreated with the toys.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the insect head and chest reactor piece, each Destructomorph Goblin comes with a golden-yellow laser pistol, whose design is very similar to the previous Destructomorph soldiers' (Troopers and Riders) guns.

Additionally, each Goblin has an alternative head that is equipped with a black overhead cannon (which fictionally comes out of the helmet) and shows green glowing eyes.

Also, the package includes a pair of barbed silver stinger-missiles, which can optionally plug into the figures' "tails", insects' mouths, pistols or overhead cannons.

Finally, there is a stone nest in which two separate "eggs" are laid. In the comics, these eggs, which are actually parasitised pupae of giant insects called poligavoids, are used by Nemhetra to produce the monstrous bionic Goblins who serve her: the bio-robotic androids, composed of the former Troopers' bodies and the holopodian mutants' heads, parasitise the larvae of the poligavoids; each android germinates in the living larva, kills and mummifies it, and then an insect-looking cyborg body emerges from the egg-like corpse of the poligavoid. Each chrysalis piece is enclosed in a hard brownish, black-spotted shell (this outer case is cracked in certain parts, exposing a greenish-yellow leathery glowing membrane) and twined in a silver cable (the link with Dekropolis' central computer).

Destructomorph Goblin's stylised helmet with overhead cannon deployed.

Destructomorph Goblin's life cycle.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Since the Goblins showed up in the KR|Horizon comics in all three episodes, they are definitely characters that jump out at me as a must-have in the line

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ They move just like most figures in the line and feel quite similar to previous insect-themed figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The Goblins are great looking figures that definitely stand out on display thanks to their badass appearance and vibrant colour scheme. I really like their head sculpts... all of them! They have a neat, clean paint job and a great silhouette thanks to their many appendages

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ They've got some excellent accessories, including interchangeable heads, which is a really nice feature. Seriously, I wish more figures in this line had different options for interchangeable heads. The stinger is also a cool and rather wicked looking accessory that the figures can even hold better than their standard guns

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ These are probably going to become my favourite evil warriors in this series and will always be a part of the group of figures I will be playing with. I mean, they're semi-robotic reptile-insect-holopodian hybrids! How could you not like figures like these?

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I was surprised by how impressive the Goblins turned out. Being main KR|Horizon characters, they have definitely got an awesome design and they make for a great looking multi-pack. They are pretty epic and really make me feel like I'd be getting a lot for my money here.

KR|Horizon Review #12: Elykta (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Elykta^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: magic arbiter

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 11 in the line.

Character details

Name: Elykta, aka The Deity

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: neutral (formerly belonging to the Theriom faction)

Rank: divinity.

Background

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

Brief bio: a reptilian sorceress once affiliated with the Reptonoids, Elykta learnt to master many forms of witchcraft, including dark magic and clairvoyance, from the black-hearted wizard Sphenorat^TM. Becoming gradually disgusted by Bi-Harr's cruel methods of conquest, she eventually betrayed her evil faction and set out to join the Therioms. After acquiring additional mystic secrets and relics, including the stone of deterrence from Ki-Shudan^TM, Elykta spent decades learning to control her new magical abilities. Recognised for her courage and wisdom, she was chosen by Kai-Xi to become the latest guardian of the three prodigious helmets forged by Galamars^TM, for the future generations. After a five-century wait for worthy heirs to be found, Elykta finally encountered Tir-Hing's three missing children, who became the new protectors of the Key. Following her heroic death to save her fellows' lives, she raised to a powerful divine form and chose to be tasked with maintaining neutrality throughout Tahron, replacing the Deity who preceded her. Although she could no longer take part to any conflicts, the revived struggle over supremacy called her to preserve the balance between good and evil forces, and her guidance allowed the three brave siblings to harness even more power against their enemy. After the Therioms had ultimately subdued Nemhetra and banished the Destructomorphs, Elykta preserved her ageless spirit inside Theriom City, where she continued to advise and watch over her former companions.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Elykta's head is cast in a translucent greenish plastic and her face slightly resembles the visage of Dale Russel's Dinosauroid, even though she looks fairly more pleasant. Her head sculpt is quite similar to the Origin and Enmity versions, displaying a bald look, two very subtle cranial crests, a dark-greenish wash above her solid pink glowing eyes and two curved linear dark marks below. Additionally, she wears a tiara-like golden-yellow headpiece with a blueish glowing gemstone in the centre, from which four draping golden chains elegantly fall to cover the cheeks and connect to the earphone-shaped sides of the diadem (which in turn hold two copper dangle "earrings")

Body: the exposed portions of her scaly body (parts of the arms, of the legs and of the lower torso) are also cast in a translucent greenish plastic and include 3-claw hands and feet; like her Origin counterpart, this edition of Elykta is barefoot and has large sickle-shaped claws on the second toes

Wearables: an orange feathery crop top with golden-yellow arabesque patterns and jagged cap sleeves, two coiled snake-shaped orange copper bracelets (each ornamented with yellow sapphire gemstones and a loop for the middle finger), two studded orange copper armbands around the upper arms (the right one is connected to the bracelet via a loose fitting yellow silk sleeve) and two orange leather-and-rope calf protectors (each ornamented with a coiled snake-shaped orange copper shin/knee guard and a loop for the middle toe). The centre of the crop top's U-neck is connected to a copper choker by a reptile eye-shaped purple jewel, while its bottom hem is shaped like the three-spiked motif of Elykta's previous versions' armours. Additionally, she wears a sari, i.e., a very long strip of "dyed cloth", which is draped in the Nivi style: one end (yellow coloured) is wrapped around the waist (forming a knee-length, diagonal-cut skirt) and gathered into pleats just below the abdomen, while the other end (orange coloured) is draped diagonally across the right hip, in front of the torso (partly baring the midriff) and over the left shoulder. The lower part of the sari is decorated with copper spangles and is secured around the waist by a belt made of several orange copper discs laced together (the central one of which is a large buckle ornamented with a star-shaped yellow sapphire), while the long end hanging from the back of the shoulder is intricately decorated with golden-yellow arabesque patterns.

Action feature

Like with the many versions of The Deity, Elykta doesn't have any particular action features, apart from the fact that she comes with a display stand. This 2-piece clear plastic stand rests under Elykta's crotch, to give her the illusion of hovering. It's not the best design for a stand, but it works quite well for a figure like this

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the figure stand, Elykta comes with a 2-pronged golden-yellow wand, which is topped with the stone of deterrence. Although the wand's sculpt is kinda reminiscent of the staves that were included with her previous editions, the stick is shorter and seemingly made of metal, while the stone is cast in a frosty, semi-translucent yellow plastic.

Furthermore, the figure includes a brand new version of Elykta's signature dinosaur helmet, which is removable and is shaped like a complete head of Parasaurolophus (or a similar "duck-billed" hadrosaurid). Like with its previous versions, it's difficult to figure out whether this head is real or artificial, since some details, such as the eyes and part of the muzzle (including the fangs) and of the crest, seem to be made of copper, while other details, especially the nape/cheek protector, look like made of real yellowish scaly skin. However, there are also some major differences. First of all, the nape guard extends down the back of the figure and expands into a slightly domed, horny shell. While the rim of the shell is embellished with bulb-like copper ornaments on the sides, its bottom tapers to a longish, slim tail that ends in a sort of rattle. Additionally, two large flaps extend from the cheek guards, hang down in front of both shoulders, entwine along the chest and continue to the abdomen with a wavy shape, ending in a single forward-facing, mouth-gaping snake head. The colour of this helmet/armour gradually fades from yellowish at the top to somewhat black at the bottom - the transition areas are marked with black spots and dashes over a yellow background on the shell's underside, with yellow lines radiating from the centre of each dark horny plate on the shell's upper surface, and with lozenge-shaped yellow markings on the snake-like front portion.
Additionally, a helmetless, episode-specific head/portrait for her Foundation edition is included, which is pretty awesome in its own right - in The Cereutian menace comic books, Denortos turns Elykta to a stony substance, so she looks immobile and hard solid. However, PoliganToys frustratingly neglected to add a pair of alternate hands to complete that look. Also included is the very KR|Enmity comic book-accurate edition of Zor-Kan - not only it sports a different colour scheme (with dark-red, blue tipped wings and a green ruff), but, for the first time ever, we get a version of Elykta's faithful bird of prey that is a solid piece of plastic in a perched position. There is even a golden-yellow perch, but you have to be a bit careful plugging the talons into the pegs... there seem to be potential of causing damage to the legs.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ The first female figure in the Key Raiders line I've ever reviewed was Elykta. I published her review on September 15th of 2015 and she has been the only female character for one month, until she was joined by Demo-Rha. She's a strong character that holds her own and she's involved in some story lines that deal with heavy issues such as guilt, defection and redemption. As the KR|Horizon line progresses, it's obvious that we needed an Elykta to complete the core characters

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The figure has most of the articulation that we’re used to with KR figures. The joints aren’t as tight as I’d like in some places, but it's not too bad. Of course, with the helmet/armour on, the head barely has any movement

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The outfit is a really good departure from the previous figures' style. The crop top on the chest, the sari, and the copper and golden paint applications on the details show that a lot of care went into the design of Elykta’s updated look. The paint pops and I love the translucent green plastic her body is moulded in, which gives the figure an ethereal, mystical look. It’s a nice touch

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Elykta comes loaded with accessories and, despite we’ve seen them all before in some form, I'm glad they are all newly tooled pieces. Although I like the new wand, I might display her with the staff that came with her Foundation edition. It just fits better for my tastes... I think

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Despite her complex outfit, this figure is uninhibited when it comes to joint mobility, allowing her to be placed in some great dynamic poses. I really had a ton of fun posing her, especially with all of her accessories

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This edition of Elykta stands out from her previous versions, while still fitting in with the integrity of the KR line. Her pile of accessories is a huge plus for this prototype as well as her paintjob and overall look. I think the Horizon line has set the bar very high, but considering Elykta was the pioneer of the she-figures, she had also set a very high standard for the rest of the female lineup. I'm glad these two benchmarks fitted together in this figure.

KR|Horizon Review #11: Elahdin

Toy prototype details

Name: Elahdin^TM

Subtitle: watchful companion

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 10 in the line.

Character details

Name: Elahdin

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: female

Relationships: Mor-Rak's fiancée

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: captain; espionage expert and master of capture weapons.

Background

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

Brief bio: the descendent of an ancient clan that had crucially helped bolster the Theriom cavalry during Tahron's pre-modern era, Elahdin was an incredibly skilled and resourceful warrior maiden with almost peerless agility thanks to her long prehensile tail. Aiming at mastering the most advanced techniques to seize outlaws and vandals, she joined the Theriom army and trained alongside Mor-Rak, for whom she eventually developed strong affection. Whilst she succeeded in becoming one of the most trusted chief trappers guarding Theriom City from potential attackers, Elahdin also gained the ability to deceive, infiltrate and spy on her adversaries by disguising herself during undercover operations. Despite taking her role as a captain of the Theriom Guardians very seriously, she sometimes bypassed her commander-in-chief's formalities and regulations, putting herself in harm's way. Yet, her determination was without equal and always enabled her to find solutions to difficult situations. After learning of Nemhetra's ambition to defeat the Therioms and unlock the multiversal walls' portals, Elahdin's only desire became to help free the people of Tahron from that evil menace.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen. The figure also has a ball jointed tail.

Description

Head: predominantly ape-like (similar to a black-and-gold howler, even if she's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by dainty features, short whitish to yellowish-buff fur, a pair of round ears with silver earrings, and big brown eyes. Her long hair, which is partly arranged in a ponytail and gradually fades to a reddish-brown colour towards the tips, has a fringe cut straight across the forehead

Body: the exposed portions of her body (i.e., arms and hands, legs and feet, parts of the torso and a long tail) show a short whitish to yellowish-buff fur. Bands of light-green leather are worn around her upper arms and left thigh

Wearables: a close-fitting one-piece leather armour, a silver shoulder guard composed of two spaulders and a collar, two metallic light-green bracelets, two metallic light-green shin guards, and a narrow metallic light-green belt. The armour, similarly to a leotard, covers her body from the shoulders to the top of the thighs, and displays a star-design (with a silver jewel in the centre) that separates the light-green upper part (covering the chest) from the red lower part (covering the abdomen and extending below the waist). The shin guards feature star-shaped knee guards (their design is similar to the armour motif) and are worn over a pair of tubular light-green leather garments (which have turndown tops and cover the legs from ankle to knee).

Elahdin's stylised armour (part above the waist).

Action feature

At the beginning of the Horizon comic book series, Elahdin is shown to disguise herself as an aristocratic woman during a sting operation, by using several fashion accessories that can turn into hi-tech capture weapons. Many of those accessories are included with the figure. The first weapon is a H-shaped silver tiara/mask that doubles as a boomerang/grabber. This removable accessory pegs into a hole in the forehead of an alternative head and, when it's worn, it vaguely resembles the cheek pads (or flanges) that characterise certain male apes. I think this piece turned out really nice: a red gemstone and a pair of bright, shimmering translucent red inlays adorn the centre and the sides of the mask respectively, while its metallic green backside looks delightfully techy with sculpted wires and gears. It is also designed to be reversible: you can fit it so that the eye slits either line up with her eyes (i.e., partially covering her face) or lie above her brow (i.e., showcasing her face); additionally, the peg serves as a handle, so she can hold the throwing weapon in her hand. If you cared about the hole in the head, you'd be happy there's an alternate tiara/grabber (without mask, and with slightly different design and colouration - the comics suggest that she has a huge collection of these items) that is held on the standard head by means of two clips. Unfortunately, I’m not with PoliganToys on this display option - the clips seem too fragile, and due to the bangs that are behind the tiara, she doesn't look good with this accessory.

The second weapon is a cape that transforms into a capture net by pulling a pair of hidden drawstrings. The separate cape piece is made of real fabric and is amazingly well tailored; it's also iridescent and double sided, so she can have a dark-red cape with dark-blue lining or a dark-blue cape with dark-red lining. This is a really stunning piece and it definitely changes the overall look of the figure, making her seem more regal. Its upper side has two pegs that plug into the spaulders, so it can be detached from the shoulder guard and be replaced by an alternative piece - a blue net-cape, also made out of fabric, which can be held by the two pegs in her hands when it's unattached.

The third weapon is a red stole, i.e., a narrow formal shawl, that can turn into a double-headed meteor hammer. The stole is a long piece of rubbery, pliable plastic that can be wrapped and carried about her shoulders and arms, with the two silver-lined ends trailing along the ground. The alternate version of the accessory is a weapon consisting of two spherical silver weights connected by a red rope, which, like the stole, is moulded from a very pliable material, meaning that it can actually be posed and moved around quite a bit.

The fourth and final weapon is a clawed light-green baton that doubles as a flying claw. Elahdin carries this baton on her left thigh (the handle has a peg that plugs into a hole in the thigh band) and conceals it using a belt-plus-sash additional piece; the Y-shaped green belt is adorned with a central tassel, while the long ends of the red sash below hang down on the left side in front of the weapon. When the piece is turned, causing the sash ends to move towards the front of the figure, it reveals the hidden weapon in the thigh band. The alternative version of the weapon consists of a light-green handle and a metallic light-green claw on the end of a wave-shaped, rigid silver wire.

Weapons and accessories

You might legitimately think I could skip this section, given the plethora of weapons I described in the action feature segment - let's summarise it:

• An alternative head with a removable tiara/mask-boomerang/grabber
• An alternate tiara-grabber for the standard head
• A reversible cape
• A net-cape
• A stole
• A meteor hammer
• A belt & sash piece
• A clawed baton
• A flying claw

However, in addition to this overabundance of accessories, the figure includes a loose fitting light-green leather belt, with an attached scabbard that connects to the thigh band. The sheath envelops the blade of a removable sword, which is done in a nice two-tone silver with a red handle and a seven-point star-shaped glittering, translucent red jewel embedded in the base of the blade. Actually, the whole sword vaguely resembles a seven-point star, with two silver points situated at the end of the handle, four forming the X-shaped cross guard, and one being the long, techy blade.

Finally, Elahdin comes with a circular, flute-like golden musical instrument, which she received from her mother-in-law-to-be Sih-Len. In the comics, she's highly skilled in playing this woodwind instrument, and the music from it is so mesmerising that Elahdin can use it to calm and sedate aggressive foes and even wild beasts.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the second comic issue In the eye of the storm. As every year, at the annual spring celebration, Masq-Lor visits the city of Ra-Hal, to commemorate the defeat of Deptilion 15 years ago as a symbol of a good harvest upcoming. Nemhetra observes the event from the sky and discovers that the townsfolk have a powerful machine with the ability to influence the local weather, which her parents utilised to cause huge storms on Tahron in the past. The Destructomorph leader decides to siege the city, and aims, this time, at using the machine to absorb energy from the atmosphere and concentrate it on her. After the Therioms have left, the Destructomorphs land on the town and activate the machine immediately. The Therioms receive a distress signal from Ra-Hal and Masq-Lor, understanding the danger, works towards preventing Nemhetra from using the machine’s power; so, he and his soldiers head back the city. On their way to Ra-Hal, they meet an army of Goblins, and the fierce fight that ensues drains CoBoN’s power sources. The heroes continue their journey by foot and, as they come nearer to the city, are attacked by Nemhetra’s soldiers. The Therioms can hardly handle the fight, but eventually succeed in getting the upper hand. In the meantime, Masq-Lor follows a mysterious figure, who is revealed to be Mohrdax. The two have a confrontation, during which the priestmonk uncovers Masq-Lor's secret (he is still convinced that he killed a man 20 years ago). Mohrdax blackmails Masq-Lor into becoming his secret accomplice, as part of his plan to outsmart Nemhetra, seize control of the Destructomorph army and dominate Tahron behind the scenes. Mohrdax hands the memory bank with the evidence that he has used to blackmail Masq-Lor to his soldiers and orders to destroy it. The Goblins are just about to bring the memory to an incinerating apparatus when Sajron, who was aboard CoBoN unbeknownst to everyone, shows up and is taken prisoner, but he subsequently manages to escape and to steal the memory bank. Back to the location where CoBoN is parked, he examines the content of the memory using the vehicle’s equipment and sees that his young father is shown to kill a man; however, after fast forwarding, he sees that it was a trick orchestrated by Mohrdax and Wordron. Finally, the heroes reach the centre of the village and approach Nemhetra, but, to everyone’s surprise, Masq-Lor helps the enemies resist the attack made on them. Soon after, Sajron arrives with CoBoN and reveals the truth to his father. Upon learning of his efforts to outjockey her, Nemhetra injuries Mohrdax. Then, the evil chief marshal channels the energy through the machine, which makes her nearly invincible, and nobody seems strong enough to oppose her with that fierce power. Even so, the two factions face each other for the final fight. It doesn't look too good at first, but while the heroes manage to get rid of all the opponents, Masq-Lor rips the machine’s control panel apart, causing all the power to flow back to its origins and thus saving Ra-Hal once more. The threat has ended and the evil guys fly away, while the Therioms return the machine to the cheering townspeople. Suddenly, the machine crumbles and falls apart, and the inhabitants of Ra-Hal decide that from that moment onward they will only rely on natural farming.
Overall, the idea of someone being doubtful of their own status amongst the heroes isn't new, but it's nicely done here. The secret that Masq-Lor has been carrying for two decades gives the story a lot of tension, and the solution is pretty spectacular. The artwork is also of top class and the whole thing has a fine, gloomy atmosphere.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ Although I never clamoured for a figure of Elahdin, when she got announced to be prototyped instead of an unspecified Horizon CoBoN figure that was originally planned but is too difficult to produce, I thought it was a decent choice

Articulation: ♥♥♥ All the articulation is the standard stuff found on all KR female figures (plus the tail) and most of the POA are solid. However, giving a figure swappable heads that are still ball jointed is a challenge and something went amiss on Elahdin. The heads are very difficult to swap, particularly in getting them onto the peg. The easiest solution is to use a hair dryer to heat up the socket of the head before planting it on

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is done really well, especially on the heads, armour, and shin guards. The paint applications on the armour is nice and clean, with just a little unevenness around the tips of the star. The work on the faces is good - both heads look great and capture the look of the character

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠♠ Definitely PoliganToys didn't skimp on the accessories for Elahdin. Among them, I think the cloth cape/net pieces look really good on the figure and help her stand out from the other characters. On the other end of the spectrum, the tiara for the standard head has those big ugly clips that help ruin the figure's aesthetic look

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ What makes me happy is how much I like this figure after playing around with it. I thought this would be one of the figures I’d look at just to get through my review, and I’d be done with it. Thankfully, I was wrong

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I wasn't that excited for Elahdin. I thought I wouldn’t care about it so much, but now that this figure is in-hand, she's much more interesting and appealing than I imagined.