KR|Emergence Review #24: Staurok (Emergence Edition)

Toy prototype details
Name: Staurok^TM (Emergence Edition), aka Metal-Prongs Staurok
Subtitle: multi-horned warrior
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 21 in the line.

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

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #2 - The war of all against all: Part I – Breach
Brief bio: before Bi-Harr created his reptilian army and confronted the mammalian people, a young Staurok, following his father's untimely death, became the tribal chief of his ceratopsian clan, which often conducted raids and loots in neighbouring villages. Despite supporting the Reptonoid's cause, he saw few reasons to fear the threats of the mammalian forces due to the labyrinthine corridors that surrounded and hid his hamlet from the rest of Tahron. However, one day Staurok met a young warrior named Khon-Uhr^TM trying to cross one of such pathways and challenged him to a duel, but quickly discovered the boy's agility surpassed his own speed and finally suffered a serious injury to his left eye. Eventually, after Bi-Harr's soldiers had killed two Theriom kings consecutively, the reptilian leader enlisted Staurok to track down pockets of resistance around Tahron. Over time, thanks to his dreaded crown of metal horns, Staurok proved a ruthless hunter and a fearsome foe. He remained one of Bi-Harr's most menacing lieutenants even after Lor-Drek's defection and continued to serve the Rexodons loyally, attacking their enemies again many times with his armoured battle horns and trashing whip.

Articulation
Standard, with the addition of a ball jointed extra neck piece and a hinged upper jaw.

Description
Head: similar to a Protoceratops, characterised by bumpy blueish skin with a few orange blotches, a pair of yellow eyes (one is squinting and crossed by a visible scar down the left side of his face), and a large bony neck frill at the back of his skull, which lacks well-developed horns. The hinged upper jaw allows his frontal beak to open and reveal the inside of the mouth packed with dozens of teeth. His neck extension is covered in tawny fur
Body: blueish (a blue neither light nor dark) scaly skin with orange blotches, massive Popeye-like forearms, hands terminating in huge claws, and large hoofed feet. His shoulders, forearms and calves are equipped with tawny fur (at the shoulder joints, wrists and ankles, respectively) as well as several bony protuberances covered in skin, which, where needed, project through openings in his worn items
Wearables: a dark-blue armour with golden-yellow details, two pairs of studded dark-blue bracelets (each pair is worn over a blueish-grey chain mail wrist guard that has a loop for the middle finger ending in a large serrated blueish-grey claw guard), two blueish-grey chain mail shin guards loosely wrapped in golden-yellow chains and equipped with spiked dark-blue knee guards, a dark-blue leather belt that holds a number of scale armour golden-yellow lappets as well as two golden-yellow tassets, and a blueish-grey chain mail skirt. The chest plate shows a bunch of tubes, wires and chains seemingly running to the back as well as a sort of mechanical device at its centre, while the golden-yellow back armour is adorned with a number of spikes. The belt has a large buckle bearing the Rexodon emblem, i.e., a red reptile skull, while each tasset displays a "crossed horns" insignia. His outfit is complemented by an additional piece of armour that sits on the figure's shoulders; it is formed of two layers (a blueish-grey chain mail lower layer and a worn out, golden-yellow upper layer) and is characterised by a wide keeled collar and broad shoulder guards. His legs also wear a pair of golden-yellow armoured thigh pads with a pair of leg boosters that project backwards and down from the back, and show blue-purple glowing propulsion effects.

Staurok's stylised armour (excluding shoulder guard).

Action feature
In the comics, Staurok has the ability to propel himself forwards with his powerful legs and to knock opponents or obstacles down with the giant horns sticking out of his super-hard helmet. To achieve this, a winch-like mechanism on his breast plate makes two chains wind round a rotating drum and hoists the set of spikes on his back, which then expands and swings over his head, covering the face almost completely (there are slits for the eyes and mouth). Such feature can be reproduced simply by detaching the spiked back armour (which reveals another back plate underneath with some cool hydraulics and wiring details, a sort of rail and a socket that can be disguised as a hook thanks to an included plug-in piece) and clipping an additional imposing golden-yellow helmet adorned with massive horns onto the figure's head. The helmet displays several battle dents and marks, numerous rivets and of course a rack of nine battle horns, two of which are fictionally electrified (and come with two translucent blue-purple lightning bolt attachments) and two look like missile launchers. Both his head and neck extension are on ball joints, which, apart from adding to the feel that Staurok is hunched over, gives him an extended range - he can look in all directions and, in particular, he can bend his head forward in order to crush his opponents with a head-butting action.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his multi-pronged helmet, shoulder armour and a few extra pieces, Staurok comes with a golden-yellow trashing whip. This weapon combines a chain whip (consisting of nine metal rods, which are joined end-to-end by rings) and a flying claw (featuring a metal three-legged spider-like claw on the end of the chain). The whip has a dark-blue handle at one end, while the claw at the other end can fictionally close and open when the chain is pulled or released, and has a metal dart at its centre. Aside from being used for slashing, piercing or ensnaring a foe and throwing them off balance, the weapon also has the ability to store up large amounts of energy and then burst out in an electrocuting action, knocking down a trapped opponent. So, the figure includes a flexible translucent blue-purple electric effect that can wrap around the whip.

Final thoughts
Overall: did I have high hopes for Staurok? I don't know, he was never really a major character for me, though I had hoped that this figure would do him justice. And to an extent, it does. The sculptural details are there, everything is in the right colour and he comes with his weapon, but… each detail comes off as “okay” rather than the level of awesomeness I have gotten in other KR prototypes this year. His outfit is weird, the paint has a few problems here and there, and he doesn't include any bonus accessory. But nothing is really that terrible, just not super-super special. This makes Staurok kind of mediocre, though necessary for a full KR|Emergence collection
Rating: ☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Emergence Review #23: Cah-Mal (Emergence Edition)

Toy prototype details
Name: Cah-Mal^TM (Emergence Edition), aka Stealth-Suit Cah-Mal
Subtitle: camouflage-expert warrior
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 20 in the line.

Character details
Name: Cah-Mal
Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 3 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Unnamed Clan
Rank: petty officer.

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #3 - The war of all against all: Part II – Rise
Brief bio: evolved from an ancient species of lizard-like warriors, Cah-Mal was recruited by Bi-Harr after displaying his exceptional acrobatic skills as well as the ability to stun his foes with his long quick lashing tongue and tail. Like many other reptilian soldiers, he eventually became a member of the Unnamed Clan after Lor-Drek's defection. Lacking the camouflage powers that allowed the individuals of his species to change their overall colouration and blend into the surrounding environment, Cah-Mal was given a hi-tech battle-suit by Ophidok, which enabled him to become invisible by bending light around himself, so that he could cast no shadow and produce no reflection. During the Cereutian invasion, despite his loyalty to Lor-Drek he was brainwashed by Noctylius into allying with Denortos. Defeated by the Therioms, Cah-Mal was then abandoned in the former Spektrosaur stronghold, where he patiently awaited for the next master to serve.

Articulation
Standard, with the addition of a ball jointed extra neck piece, hinged fingers and toes, and a tail, which is composed of 12 ball jointed pieces and can work as an auxiliary limb.

Description
Head: a chameleon's head-shaped helmet made of thick metal protects his entire head. The helmet is metallic black with tech-looking orange copper details (including a T-shaped bridge connecting the eyes area to the snout, three jagged sawtooth crests along the top and the sides, as well as three large horns, one protruding from his snout and two from his brow), while two dark-blue eye-lenses bulge out of the sides of it. Both his head and armoured neck extension are on ball joints, which definitively gives him a hunched over look and an extended range without hindering the movements at all. Actually, one may debate whether this is a cybernetic helmet or a freaky robotic head. It’s very obvious from the detail of the sculpt that the black portion of his head is definitely supposed to be a mask over his face as opposed to his actual face. Looking at it closely, this really does seem to be what they were going for, since the exposed bumpy, wrinkled purple-coloured underside of his head seemingly fits into the mask versus being a part of it

Body: Cah-Mal's Foundation version used to look very organic, but now he's 100% mechanical - again, whether it's a hardsuit or his actual body is up for debate. The bio clearly says that he's a lizard guy in an exoframe, but this character is such a blank slate that you can consider him mostly robotic, with just a real brain and some other organs and muscles. It's up to you. The level of detail is above what I've seen in most other prototypes in this line. Cah-Mal's got lots of orange (mostly) and black metal plates on him, and it's not any of that generic laminar-style stuff, the plates actually form the outlines of his anatomy. The surface of his suit also shows evidence of wear such as pits and scratches, while the little gaps here and there reveal a lightweight and stretchable purple fabric lining beneath the armour. He also displays an amazing curled mechanical prehensile tail attached to the base of his crested back armour

Wearables: three irregular green glowing reactor-like elements on his chest armour form a motif that is much more reminiscent of the Spektrosaur's flame insignia rather than the Unnamed Clan emblem, but I might be wrong. In any case, these are sculpted well and really pop against the metallic paint. His hands and feet are now covered by orange copper gauntlets and boots, each featuring five digits that are divided in two groups of two and three long, thick claws respectively, giving each extremity a pincers-like appearance. His gloves and boots have the same ridged look as the old prototype's wrist and shin guards, but it's just been done better here. He also wears an orange copper belt (which is inspired by the original figure's jockstrap, as is the silver buckle with the strange fanged reptile's skull insignia, mirrored on his left shoulder) and a metallic black crotch shell.

Cah-Mal's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Cah-Mal possesses powered armour that gives him a broad range of abilities and an array of weapons. The helmet has highly sensitive microphones within its ear portions, allowing Cah-Mal to hear noises and frequencies an opponent wouldn't be able to hear, while the goggles are made of anti-glare material and can detect heat sources, granting him thermal vision. It also has a built-in radio-like system to communicate with others at a distance as well as to intercept, tamper with, or silence the enemy's radio signals.

The suit's bulletproof and near-indestructible composition enhances Cah-Mal's durability significantly, making him able to withstand explosions and gunfire, as well as strikes from physically stronger opponents. However, due to the lightweight properties of the metal, the suit doesn't inhibit his spectacular acrobatic skills in the slightest. In the figure, the only elements related to his gymnastic mastery are his articulated pincers-like hands and feet, and prehensile tail.

Another prominent feature of this suit is its ability to redistribute stored energy, greatly enhancing its offensive capabilities. The armour can absorb energy from any incoming external sources such as attacks from enemies, which can be kept in reserve for later release; the suit gives off a purple glow from its accumulated energy, which Cah-Mal can use either by releasing it all at once, or to charge his strikes during combat, further augmenting the force behind them. In the figure, a colour change feature can be achieved using something warm - simply by rubbing him with a cloth that has been wet with tepid water, his armour will develop purple glowing outlines and circuit traces. In addition, the suit is outfitted to harness a powerful force field that enables Cah-Mal to bend light and turn himself invisible.
His gauntlets and boots are also characterised by a number of abilities, all well represented by beautifully sculpted details in the figure. The gauntlets contain a wrist-mounted blowtorch-like tool on the right arm and a wrist-mounted grappling line on the left one, which anchors and tethers Cah-Mal to any surface he has fired at. Moreover, he wears sound absorbing boots, enabling his footsteps to be completely masked and making it easy for him to be stealthy. The boots also have small jet attachments that can rotate in any direction and can be used to propel him through the air at great speed, though they do not allow for sustained flight but only for long leaps. Four sets of deployable steel claws embedded in the tips of the gauntlets' fingers and the boots' toes serve as his primary weapon during hand-to-hand combat. These claws are exceptionally strong and razor-sharp, and are able to cut through almost anything.
Finally, the comics show that the helmet can retract the lenses and the mouth portion, revealing Cah-Mal's eyes and snout, and allowing him to rapidly project his long sticky tongue from his mouth. Thus, the figure comes with an alternative head, which displays a partially exposed bumpy, wrinkled purple face with black dotted striping on either side, large green eyes with beady black pupils (which are articulated and can move separately from each other, fictionally to achieve an extremely wide visual field and detect enemies on the opposite sides), the slightly open mouth armed with two rows of small sharp teeth and the club-tipped tongue out (whose colour fades from green to orange-pink), as well as a small maroon crest on the underside of his chin.

Weapons and accessories
Apart from the alternate head, Cah-Mal comes with a very nice looking weapon - a lizard-faced crossbow that can fit tightly on either wrist thanks to the included clip. This weapon is never shown in the comics and looks more suitable for Cah-Mal's Foundation version. It has an ebony main frame ornamented with copper inlays, whose front part bears a taxidermied fanged, orange-skinned reptile's head. A pair of strange branched dark brown wings (or fins? antlers?) attached to the lizard's temples form the limbs of the weapon. It doesn't fire anything, but it does have a sculpted bony bolt loaded, protruding from the creature's mouth.

Final thoughts
Overall: Cah-Mal doesn’t blow me away like some of this line's other recent offerings, but he’s certainly a solid effort and a worthy addition to my growing clutch of evil reptile men. He’s a unique looking figure, and I love all the new sculpting and design choices he carries. Excellent articulation, paint and accessories just combine with the sculpting to make this one of the most fun prototypes I've received this year. I put him up there with Lor-Drek as a cool update of a Foundation design, and a toy that does the original character justice by taking a departure from its previous version, and then making it look good
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5