Toy prototype details
Name: StaurokTM (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-UhrTM 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.
Name: StaurokTM (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-UhrTM 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.
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| 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.
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
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
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