KR|Horizon Review #20: Eldogrum

Toy prototype details

Name: Eldogrum^TM

Subtitle: sand-blasting thug

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 17 in the line.

Character details

Name: Eldogrum

Classification: reptile-like pinniped mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

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

Brief bio: a member of a grouping of nomadic pinnipeds who acquired reptile-like features to adapt to the extreme desert, Eldogrum was enlisted into the Destructomorph army when Deptilion's forces invaded his home sandplain. A heavily built creature with a disproportionately small head and a huge barrel-shaped body, he was turned into a thoughtless enforcer by Demo-Rha. Although he was physically strong, his limited intelligence and his vulnerability to high pitched shrieks, which would cause him to panic, led his wicked mentor to dismiss him as a mere foot soldier. Unfit for command, Eldogrum soon came to the service of the greedy adjutant Agledas, who recognised not only his strength, but also his skills at creating violent whirlwinds using his powerful lungs. Following Deptilion's demise during his final battle with the Therioms, Agledas enhanced and exploited Eldogrum's abilities to subjugate whole villages, by terrorising the local folks with gigantic sandstorms if they did not comply with their rule of law. When years later Nemhetra learnt of the existence of the enchanted helmet that had been disassembled and hidden by her cousin Barkos, Eldogrum was ordered to retrieve one of its fragments, which was enshrined in a temple in the dry, pebble-strewn valleys of Harir^TM, and he accepted the task, hungering for more rivals to perish by his destructive exhalations.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: vaguely similar to a walrus, characterised by cinnamon-coloured (i.e., orange-tinged brown) warty skin, seemingly empty dark eye sockets, and a wide open mouth displaying many sharp ivory teeth as well as two long downward-pointing tusks. The eyes actually look to be of a bright yellow reptile type to stand out a bit, but that detail is almost impossible to see with the too dark eye sockets, which are surrounded by rough, yellowish calcified outgrowths that form a prominent brow ridge. Roofing the upper lip is a broad mat of stiff yellowish bristles, giving him a whiskered appearance. A growth of long, stiff yellowish bristles on his spike-crested head is kept off the face by a steel diadem bearing an ovoid purplish gemstone in its centre as well as two side crests (each crest is composed of a silver horn and a large pointy ear-like golden-yellow ornament)

Body: he exhibits a brand new bulky sculpt, whose exposed limbs show highly wrinkled, cinnamon-coloured skin that is sparsely covered with warts and fur, as well as claw hands and feet with long dark-brown nails. The skin appears especially thick around the neck, thanks to an extra air sac piece that fits right on top of the body and shows significant nodules. Each thigh is equipped with a pair of broad, flat radially-arranged (i.e., one directed towards the front and one towards the back) flashy flaps similar to fins, whose surfaces are patterned with veins. Finally, he wears a pair of steel armbands that extend upwards forming two shoulder guards, each equipped with a pair of flattened projecting surfaces similar to the leg-fins

Wearables: a high-tech golden-yellow armour with dark-purple details (including a number of tubes that seemingly connect a backpack to his throat sac, and a weapon holster/carrier on the back), two yellowish-brown bracelets, two yellowish-brown calf protectors with knee guards, a yellowish-brown belt (displaying a high-tech golden-yellow buckle) and a badly torn dark-purple loincloth. The bracelets, shin guards and belt are made of a light tan plastic with a pale brown dry brushing, which gives these items an interesting peach-beige sandstone look.

Eldogrum's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Eldogrum has the ability to exhale giant vortexes of violently rotating air, which can generate powerful whirlwinds and even create an entire army of evil creatures made out of sand. For achieving this destructive effect, Eldogrum's strange pan flute-shaped compressor-backpack is connected via two dark-purple pliable tubes to two vents on the abdominal area of his tech armour; the armour, in turn, is seemingly connected to the air sac under his throat with the aid of additional tubing. More details about this feature in the following section.

Weapons and accessories

Eldogrum comes with an incredible weapon, which is a combination of a crossbow, a double-bitted axe and a blowgun, and can be stored on his back thanks to an included dark-purple carrier equipped with two snaps. The weapon has a metallic dark-purple main frame (which also serves as a tech-mech blowgun for creating the above-mentioned air vortexes), two golden-yellow pivoting limbs (which also act as axe blades when they are in a "flexed" position) and a separate silver quarrel. The foregrip on the bottom of the main frame allows the figure to hold the accessory like a crossbow (it's even got an extra rotating handle sticking off one side for two-handed firing), while the blowgun's mouthpiece (which fits perfectly in the figure's mouth) functions as an additional handle, so the accessory can be displayed as a melee weapon.

Additionally, there is a yellowish-brown dust devil blast effect that plugs snugly into the blowgun's muzzle or, alternatively, into Eldogrum's mouth.

Finally, the figure includes an open reliquary, on which one of the three fragments of the lost helmet is displayed for veneration by the local community. The reliquary resembles a tree stub (with ornamented metal hoops round it) supporting the helmet piece (which comprises part of the skull and the right side). In theory, the three pieces that come with Eldogrum, Agledas and Hadjti can be fitted together to produce the complete helmet.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ The three Destructomorph auxiliary warriors are the definition of dark horse characters, in that they were only created so their eventual disappearance would be something that nobody would care about, but they have a huge potential to become fan favourites. So, here they are, getting toy prototypes. And this toy, like the previous two, is insanely good

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Eldogrum is articulated just the same as any KR figure. Thankfully, his bulky armour doesn’t impede his articulation much (perhaps only a little around the shoulders)

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ His sculpt is awesome! Seriously, Eldogrum is one of the best looking KR|Horizon figures I've seen. The head-sculpt is incredible and really gives him a fearful, stern demeanour. The tech details on his chest and belt buckle nicely tie him in with Nemhetra's army, despite not having a typical Destructomorph look. There are also paint highlights and accents all over, which are brought out by some subtle colour differentiations - it is small, but it helps bring out a lot of detail

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ I love his weapon. It features some great sculpting and looks really, really brutal, definitely making him appear like a bloodthirsty warrior

Playability: ♪♪♪ This really is a fantastic figure – he’s big, sturdy, detailed, and certainly fun to play with

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Even in light of the really strong prototypes that have been produced recently, Eldogrum still stands out. It will be tough for the subsequent figures to live up to him, but I am positive the folks at PoliganToys are up to the challenge. After all, the whole series has been characterised by utterly exceeding expectations. If the remaining characters can be like this epic figure, then we’re in luck.