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Monday 15 March 2021

KR|Emergence Review #6: Loghar (Emergence Edition)

Toy prototype details
Name: LogharTM (Emergence Edition), aka Fire-Vortex Loghar
Subtitle: ruthless sorcerer and engineer
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 5 in the line.

Character details
Name: Loghar
Classification: archosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 3 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Rexodon
Rank: lieutenant general.

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #1 - The cradle of evil
Brief bio: an evil reptilian warrior with skills in both sorcery and engineering, Loghar was one of the first acolytes of Bi-Harr, assisting the double-headed general in his ambition to rule Tahron for many years. He first beheld the glory and power of technology in the very early battles with the Therioms, whose more advanced military capability often prevented the Reptonoids from overpowering their mammalian enemies. Later, Loghar volunteered to assist the competing technomages Ophidok and Khronodon, so he could learn the art of tech-craft and explore the advantages of sophisticated armaments. Quickly becoming a mechanical expert, he readily recognised the superiority of high-tech weaponry to the primitive Reptonoid arsenal, which prompted him to design various devices for reinforcing the reptilian troops, including enhancements to his master as well as a horde of mech-soldiers that wouldn't be developed for several centuries. Loghar was eventually forced to upgrade his own body by the aid of bionic apparatuses of his own devising, after a fight with his fellow sorcerer and rival Sphenorat had left him severely injured. As good with the ways of dark magic as he was technically competent, Loghar continued to serve Bi-Harr (often in a scheming manner) in the Rexodon army, but made his greatest mistake when he attempted to kill a renegade Theriom member named Ir-AshTM using his flame-throwing techno-device; foolishly, he didn't ensure his mission was accomplished, never realising that doing so he set about a series of events, which years later would lead to the rise of Deptilion's menace.

Associated SpawnCrystal
Name: Unity Point (sometimes referred to as Conservation Point)
Shape: spherical cone (i.e., a cone with a spherical dome as its base; a spherical sector)
Colour: azure
Corresponding element: air
Powers and capabilities: providing acuity and accuracy
Creator: Multiversal Balancer YardakTM
History: while his fellow Multiversal Balancers sent their mystic artefacts to the land which became known as Tahron, aiming at creating a mass transformation process that would restore the original potential of the Earth's biological evolution, Yardak transmuted the Unity Point into a rarefied substance permeating the reality between Cereutis and Tahron, and used it as a medium for observation. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, a rogue Multiversal Balancer named ZesakhurTM fashioned a mystic worry stone-shaped Disc from the mythical seventh SpawnCrystal, a colourless cubic surface of concentrated power left over from the creation of the other crystals. Sent to Tahron, the Disc caused much chaos when it created an evil jötunn-like creature that would help Zesakhur eliminate all free will from Tahron and reshape the land into his own image. When the reptilian sorcerer Sphenorat fought and defeated the creature, he ripped the Disc from its body, to prevent its resurgence. While the mystic object was damaged in the battle, its detached fragments later grew into new enchanted relics wielded by various occult warriors trained by Sphenorat. Unexpectedly, Sphenorat's most promising student, the bad-tempered wizard Mohrdax, took over Zesakhur's vile cult and sought to use the damaged Disc in his own quest to revive the fiendish creature. Sensing the danger, Sphenorat intensified his magic with the incredible force of the interdimensional fluid produced by Yardak, and created a magical white orb -the Orb of Omens-, which he used to thwart and redeem his fallen fellow mage, and to seal the Disc into an eye-shaped lantern-like container -the Fiery Eye of Zesakhur-. From that moment, the two objects became linked with each other via a mystical bond: the Orb gained the ability to observe reality through the Eye, while the Eye used the energy supplied by the Orb to fly in the air and be virtually indestructible (it could instantly reform itself if shattered). Eventually, in the darkest moments of the conflict between the reptilian and the mammalian forces, when all hope seemed lost as many Reptonoids fell, Sphenorat used the Orb to conjure up demonic spirits and instil life into the wicked golem Clavisaur. Soon after, before Bi-Harr's mental abilities were trapped beyond the multiversal walls by the Therioms, Mohrdax betrayed his fellow reptilian warriors again and, using the combined magic of the Energy Stone and the Orb of Omens, unsuccessfully attempted to steal those cerebral powers for himself, although some of the magic of the two artefacts was infused into his twin swords. After the Reptonoid army had split into two factions, Bi-Harr hid the Orb and the Eye in his personal museum deep inside Rokang Tar, to prevent anyone who had defected to the Unnamed Clan from retrieving the two powerful relics; later, he allowed the evil warlock and scientist Khronodon (but neither an eager Loghar or a longing Duke Wordron) to experiment on them. Khronodon failed in his attempt to master the Eye, but succeeded in extracting the essence of the Unity Point from the Orb and producing the azure shards, just before Loghar secretly stole the Orb from its sacred altar and fused it to his mask for gaining access to the Eye's might. After a fierce three-way battle involving the Unnamed Clan as well as the Rexodon and Theriom armies, the Orb was destroyed for good by Elykta, but the Eye remained indestructible and found its way back into Sphenorat's hands.

Articulation
Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed.

Description
Head: like with his Foundation version, Loghar sports a black hood with a V-shaped point in the centre of the edge over the forehead, while his face is covered by a demonic, witch doctor-like golden mask. The eye holes emit a red glow, while whitish tendril-like beard and moustache emerge from the lower edge of the mask
Body: the right arm and the left leg display a grey (in this version with a blueish tinge) scaly skin with a black armband and a sort of black garter (both not removable) around the biceps and thigh, respectively; the left arm and the right leg have a black metallic look, but, being shaped into series of parallel ridges and grooves, appear quite different from the Foundation figure's high-tech artificial limbs and more similar to corrugated tubes. The reptilian limbs bear a clawed hand and a clawed foot, while the robotic leg is equipped with a silver tripod instead of a foot and the robotic arm ends in a ball&socket connection
Wearables: a silver armour with black details (not removable), a spiked silver bracelet and a silver boot (the latter with a single spike sticking out of the side and a reptile skull-shaped red knee guard) on the reptilian limbs, a silver cuff on the robotic arm, a silver belt with a diamond-shaped buckle, and a Roman-style black leather loincloth decorated with silver studs. While his armour's design kind of recalls the face mask style, his artificial limbs are characterised by the presence of a pair of silver powered exoskeletal devices, which show some machinery/circuitry patterns, and run from the shoulder down to the wrist and from the hip down to the foot, fastening to the cuff and to the tripod, respectively.

Loghar's stylised harness.

Action feature
Like in the Foundation series, Loghar's main feature is his robotic arm extremity, which is actually a silver mechanical device that holds a four-barrelled black spinning flamethrower. This weapon consists of a pivot with four forward-pointing, radially-arranged barrels attached; when flicked, the barrels spin around a rotation axis that is coincident with Loghar's arm. The whole weapon can be detached to make the forearm look like a sort of cannon. The figure also carries a technological backpack, which has a kind of insulated tube that runs to the cuff on the robotic forearm; this backpack works as a portable fuel tank engineered to feed the incendiary device, and is extremely detailed with plenty of sculpted wires, panels, piping, tubes and dials.
Additionally, in the comics Loghar learns to control and harness the Fiery Eye of Zesakhur's power by merging his mask with the Orb of Omens, which in turn, functions as a conduit to the Eye. Loghar's connection to the Eye gives him direct access to its immense mystical power, which he employs in a variety of ways. His command over the Eye gives him the ability to generate protective force fields around himself, cast illusions, project blasts of concussive force from his arm-mounted weapon and, mostly, possess acute senses. The last-mentioned ability includes the power to see objects with greater clarity and at much greater distances than any ordinary creatures. He is even able to see with this same level of clarity in almost complete darkness as well as in the infrared and ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and to instantly replicate the physical movements of his opponents after observing them, allowing him to predict their next attack. His senses of hearing and smell are also greatly enhanced. These faculties are symbolised by a couple of accessories that I'll describe in the next section.

Weapons and accessories
Loghar comes with three azure shards symbolising the essence of the Unity Point, as well as a plethora of other accessories. First up is his devastating four-bladed war scythe, which is composed of a long black shaft and two long, curved silver blades at two opposite sides of each end. Each blade displays a characteristic shape: one has a smooth cutting edge, one looks a bit like a khopesh, one is saw-toothed, and one is S-shaped. The shaft can also split in the middle, to produce two smaller double-bladed scythes.
The enhanced look that Loghar acquires after merging his mask to the Orb of Omens is achieved thanks to an alternative faceplate that can replace the standard one, which is of course detachable. This powered-up mask is characterised by a more fearsome, sort of robotic design as well as a cyan glow-in-the-dark paint work.
Additionally, the package contains three accessories for his robotic arm, including two plug-in blast effects for the flamethrower. The effects have the same amazing sculpt characterised by four flames merging into a massive whirling jet of fire, but one is translucent red-orange, while the other is translucent cyan, depending on whether we use it with Loghar's basic or enhanced form. The third accessory is a silver cyborg-like clawed hand (with four little spikes sticking out of the knuckles) that can be connected to the arm-cannon when the incendiary device is detached, which is a nice touch.
Also, we get the Fiery Eye of Zesakhur and the Orb of Omens, which is pretty awesome. The horned reptile eye looks somehow familiar, because we've already seen it heading Sphenorat's sceptre in the Foundation line. The eyeball recalls the Reptonoid symbol and is made of a translucent amber plastic with a slit-shaped fiery red pupil, while the snake-shaped dark-greyish horns have two small notches on the inner sides. The white GITD orb has two lightning-like cyan filaments that extend from its surface and fit into the two notches on the horns, giving the appearance of moving tendrils of coloured light linking the two artefacts. Both the items feature some amazing detail work, and there's even an included clear stand for them.
Finally, since the Horizon version of Elykta came with an episode-specific petrified head for her Foundation edition but PoliganToys frustratingly neglected to add a pair of alternate hands to complete that look, we finally find those hands here. There's also a cape for Foundation Elykta, which is the inactive version of her light-cape before it is used to carry the energy stone and becoming enchanted as a result. The cape is bicolour, orange at the top and yellow at the bottom, with the two colours separated by a jagged motif.

Final thoughts
Overall: Loghar is an excellent figure with a great likeness to the new comic book appearances and definitely true to the origin of his design. While his Foundation version did borrow a few details from this design, it's the overall build of Loghar here that makes him extra creepy. When it comes to sculpt and paint work, this is absolutely the greatest Loghar released and looks epic! Perhaps wearing a cape would have been a fitting look for someone of his stature, but I'm OK without it. The bonus accessories of Elykta's hands and mantle are great additions as well
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5

Monday 1 March 2021

KR|Emergence Review #5: Volcrotran (Emergence Edition)

Toy prototype details
Name: VolcrotranTM (Emergence Edition), aka Pre-Shed Volcrotran
Subtitle: snake warrior
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 4 in the line.

Character details
Name: Volcrotran
Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 3 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Unnamed Clan
Rank: vice-marshal.

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #3 - The war of all against all: Part II – Rise
Brief bio: Lor-Drek’s loyal right-hand man, Volcrotran was the first of Bi-Harr's soldiers to defect in dishonour to serve in the Unnamed Clan, and worked with his new master to enlist as many warriors as possible. Once strong enough, the newly born army began a three-way war against the Therioms and the Rexodons, with Volcrotran leading many battles while being married to his fellow soldier Nar-AjaTM. After Lor-Drek's military force had been renamed Spektrosaur, Volcrotran was nominated second in command for his cunning military skills as well as his keenness to wickedly poison his victims with dreadful snake bites, although shedding his skin made him lose the ability to lash out at enemies with his menacing extendable clawed limbs.

Articulation
Standard, with the addition of a neck extension and a tail, both of which are ball jointed separate pieces. The tail features two articulation points, two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description
Head: similar to a spider-tailed horned viper, characterised by a triangular shape, purplish scaly skin, yellow-green eyes with slit-shaped pupils and a closed mouth. The scales above his eyes rise up to give him a horned appearance, while a snake-shaped silver ornament is coiled around his neck, appearing to lengthen it. This neck ring is actually an extension piece that can be removed if one has will to display the figure without, and is slightly shorter than its Foundation version
Body: multicoloured scaly skin, cream-clawed hands. Each digitigrade leg ends in a four-digit foot with massive cream claws, while each knee is bent to accommodate the foot portion with the heel section high up. His body is covered with keeled, imbricate purplish, yellow and light-blue scales arranged in a complex geometric pattern, similarly to an Atheris squamigera. Also, he has a long, slim yellow (except for the underside that is light-blue) tail, which is a separate piece emerging from under the loincloth and has a bulb-like yellow-green (with a nice metallic shine) end that is bordered by long drooping scales, giving it the appearance of a spider. Finally, his right arm wears a silver armband resembling a coiled winged snake, which looks like a reference to Lor-Drek's alternative form in the Origin series
Wearables: a golden armour with dark-blue details (the chest piece displays the Unnamed Clan symbol, i.e., a light-green snake emerging from an upright, spirally coiled conic dark-green shell), two golden bracelets, two golden calf protectors with knee guards, a golden belt (whose large buckle resembles a viper head with long fangs) and a dark-blue loincloth. The armour has the distinctive feature of bearing four silver real chains attached and hanging from the breastplate and the shoulder plates, which can be connected to the neck ring via small hooked studs on the latter. Each wrist/shin guard is shaped to resemble a viper skull, while the loincloth looks like made of large overlapping scales.

Volcrotran's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Unnamed Clan symbol.

Action feature
In the comics, Volcrotran is equipped with an additional pair of snake-shaped retractable appendages sprouting from his neck, each nearly half as long as his body and ending in a pad with sharp horny claws (it reminds me of the displacer beast from Dungeons & Dragons). These tentacles are normally concealed under his neck ring and can shoot out at high speed when his neck stretches, allowing him to pierce an unfortunate enemy's armour and drag them towards his venomous fangs. So, the figure comes with alternative head and neck pieces, which are very easy to pop on and to mix and match - just take the four chains off the hooks of the neck ring, remove the default head and neck, put the new pieces on their respective joints, and then re-hang the chains on the hooks of the new neck piece. The elongated, nicely angled neck extension displays the loops of the neck ring (which are normally touching in the default position) not touching and allowing the two cream-clawed purplish bendy arms to extend forward, while the head's jaws are wide open and bear few small sharp white teeth, except for a pair of fairly larger (although not as large as their Foundation counterparts) fangs pointing downwards. Of course, the skin visible through the neck ring's loops (which is yellow and light-blue on the underside, and purplish on the upper side) and present on the retractile arms shows a scaly texture that matches his body's, while there is a forked tongue sculpted on the inside of the mouth.

Weapons and accessories
Aside from the alternative head and neck parts, Volcrotran comes with a double scythe sword. This weapon features two fierce-looking silver blades (one resembling a falx and one very similar to a khopesh) at both ends of a handle that is wrapped with dark-blue snake leather for a secure grip. Both blades recall the long curvy, jagged design of his Foundation weapon, and can pivot to allow for a number of display options.
Additionally, the package includes a new young, unhelmeted head sculpt for Tir-Hing, which is actually meant for his Enmity version rather than the Foundation one. I'm very glad I finally got this long-awaited alternate portrait for one of the most compelling characters in the Enmity series!

Final thoughts
Overall: I was really anticipating this figure and it didn’t let me down. Like with his Foundation version, Volcrotran’s sculpt and paint job are equal parts awesome. The level of detail in both departments is incredible and really shows off what the Key Raiders line is about. His articulation is standard and works great, and the accessories he comes with are amazing, especially his new neck attachment that helps recreate an insane action feature. Unfortunately, PoliganToys wasn't able to make his tail rattle in this case, which is a bit of a bummer - that would have made for an even better, truly great figure
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5