KR|Enmity Review #27: Enmity Expansion Kit for Tahron

PoliganToys sent me their prototype of the second expansion kit for the epic Tahron playset/game. This kit is inspired by the KR|Enmity line, which was presented back in 2018. The O-Kin Fortress makes its debut in playset form for a new great playing experience!

Description
The KR|Enmity Expansion Kit features:
• 24 booster tokens for the game
• An additional O-Kin Fortress playset with many accessories
• A bag with 75 translucent yellow chips that are shaped like Antikythron crystals (or rather SpawnCrystals shards, as they are now referred to).

Except for giving an exhaustive description of the O-Kin Fortress playset, I'm not going to detail these components and the game rules with the expansion pieces. You can find all this information in my post about the Origin Expansion Kit. I only need to remark that besides the usual properties, i.e., class, faction, strength, agility, and in some cases a special ability or limitation, each expansion piece is also characterised by a particular era (in this case Enmity) and a number of accumulable credits. The credit-chips included in this expansion kit are translucent yellow, and spending 20 of them allows a player to collect one token in the Reinforcement Area, with no need for him to invade the opponent’s Frontline. In limited cases (i.e., primary era variants), expansion pieces present no credit, but are characterised by additional strength values and/or different agility patterns compared to their primary counterparts.

List of Enmity expansion pieces and their properties.

List of possible primary pieces variants in the Enmity Expansion Kit (only one piece is included in the kit).

O-Kin Fortress
This playset represents a walled, stony burg located on a rocky mountaintop, and displays a nice post-sunset orange/pink glow. The two parts of the fortress are attached via sturdy hinges, which allow you to open up and display the fully assembled playset with the two sections side by side, or to fold it up, lock the opening sides securely in place with swivelling latches, and carry the whole thing by an included handle.

Section 1 (left) - exterior: the lower level looks like a slightly receding, rocky slope of a mountain dotted with sculpted scrub vegetation. The upper level is characterised by a projecting vestibule that includes two independently barred doors with a small in-between space (in which a figure can stand), to delay enemy penetration. This controlled entryway to the fortress has an outer wooden door strengthened with riveted metal bands, an inner yett made of latticed metal bars, two grated windows in the flanks, and a murder hole in the ceiling of the passageway. The two hinged parts of the wooden door are ornamented with O-Kin's Golden Eagle emblem (i.e., an eagle with two crossed axes) in the centre and have a latch that can be raised and lowered. While the yett is hinged in the manner of a traditional gate, its frame is hinged at the bottom edge, so that in the lowered position the grille is flush against the internal floor, mimicking a breaching action. The rooftop features a watchtower equipped with a brattice. The latter has a floor opening through which the defenders can fire, throw or pour harmful objects or substances such as arrows, rocks and boiling liquids down on attackers standing under the murder hole; the set comes with a small boulderstone as well as a tilted bucket from which an amber liquid (hot oil?) flows in a stream. The brattice can collapse (i.e., swing down) by hitting a stone-shaped button on the outside wall of the fortress, causing a figure to fall and the upper parapet (a separate wooden piece strengthened with riveted metal bands, and equipped with upward spikes and a smaller version of the Golden Eagle emblem) to detach.
Section 1 - interior: the inner side of the mountain slope is carved with a number of blind arcades, which are an obvious reference to the appearance of O-Kin's training/combat tiltyard shown in Flares of enmity. This rather barren sector does have a play feature, though. The central part of the wall is a lose piece that just slides out or in - the idea is that you can have an attacker burst in through the wall beneath the entryway or a prisoner break free from the inside of the fortress. It's a bit tricky to get it to work properly, but it's kind of fun. Optionally, in this room you can place a nicely sculpted small model of Theriom City, for planning attacks on the Dark Legion's enemies. The upper level features a grandiose room decorated with engaged columns, which acts as a throne hall, although instead of a throne there's a sort of podium; this movable structure consists of three adjacent platforms of different heights, on which the ruler of O-Kin may stand flanked by two additional characters (e.g., guards), and displays steps on the front as well as an elaborate pomp-like background. The rooftop presents a battlement-like parapet and a peg for placing a flag. The latter is a sturdy plastic piece that has an ornamented golden spear-pole and a sticker on each side of the flag: one side shows the fortress is governed by O-Kin's legitimate ruler, the other side shows that things are administered by the Dark Legion. You can fly the proper colours for whomever happens to be in control at the time.

Section 2 (right) - exterior: the front surface of the lower level has an opening that looks like a large cave entrance, but is actually a prison gateway. The upper level shows a grated window flanked by two arrowslits; a raised portcullis, consisting of a latticed grille made of a combination of wood and metal, stands in front of those apertures. The top is characterised by a bartizan armed with a wrecking ball hung from a projecting wooden beam. This revolving arm is furnished with dual handgrips and a wooden face shield (strengthened with riveted metal bands, and equipped with upward spikes and a narrow T-shaped slit for looking through), and can be used to knock down attackers attempting to scale the defensive wall with the aid of an included grappling ladder. The main play feature of this section is that the metal ball is attached to a string, which runs down to the vertically-closing gate; the string, whose length is adjustable, is placed over the projecting arm on the bartizan and is snapped into place thanks to a blocking mechanism. When the turret's blocking mechanism is released by means of a lever, the string retracts completely and the prison's gate slides down and slams shut, capturing any figure inside the dungeon. Additionally, when the portcullis is lowered, the grated window (plus frame) on the upper level can swing down (the presence of a slit prevents the string from getting in the way) and reveal a weapon (more on this later). This section also features a cascade of water falling from the top part near the hinges. In front of the waterfall, there is a narrow suspension footbridge (with rope fences) that connects two stairways (which lead from the prison gateway to the fortress entryway, and are equipped with stumble steps) on the two sections. The bridge is the only part that must be removed in order to fold up the playset.

Section 2 - interior: the lower level features a prison equipped with a pair of real chains and hinged manacles to shackle a captive, which can be attached to the side wall, as well as a creepy torture rack. The upper level functions as both a workshop and an armoury, and is characterised by the presence of a beautifully designed workbench for Wordron's crazy experiments, which doubles as a weapons rack - on one side, the piece features a frame made out of wooden bars on which a number of included weapons can lay on horizontal slats or hang on steel bolts and be available for quick accessibility. This rack enables multiple ways to hold the different weapons in place, and there are also cool wooden pegs on the side that allow a shield to clip on. Additionally, the weapons can be mounted to several slots on the wooden gratings on the walls of the room as an alternative display/storage option, or to the parapets using swivelling/hinged plastic clips. The 16 weapons include: two silver derringers (for some cool akimbo action); a silver halberd-like weapon in the form of a combined adze, spear and kama; a bronze sword that doubles as a gun; two kunai-like bronze throwing knives; two golden battle-axes (reminiscent of the Golden Eagle emblem, although they're repaints of Herrion's single-bladed axe); a bronze staff (identical to Fai-Rha's jō, but in a different colour); a golden carbine with a scope and a flashy magazine; a silver bazooka (which doubles as a cannon when attached to the inner side of the swinging window), a bronze mace whose head looks like a large, elaborate pyramidal spear head; a tech-looking golden slingshot; a large trapezoidal wooden shield (strengthened with a riveted metal rim, and equipped with spiked studs and a narrow T-shaped slit for looking through); and two golden longbows that double as crossbows. Like with the other section, the rooftop has a peg for placing a second flag identical to the one described previously. In addition, there are two slots for attaching an optional arch-shaped carrying handle.


The KR|Enmity Expansion Kit is fully compatible with the previous Tahron board game sets, including the KR|Origin Expansion Kit. Overall, the O-Kin Fortress is a fantastic playset that both fans who play with the game, as well as those who only enjoy the toys will love. The sculpt, accessories, features, and altogether display and appearance make this a great set.

Happy holidays!!!

KR|Emergence Review #26: Wog-Rauan

Toy prototype details
Name: Wog-Rauan^TM, aka Kon-Rauan^TM (Emergence Edition)
Subtitle: amphibious warrior
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 23 in the line.

Character details
Name: Wog-Rauan (later known as Kon-Rauan II)
Classification: amphibian
Sex: male
Relationships: son of the original Kon-Rauan (Kon-Rauan I)
Home: Tahron

Era: 3 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Rexodon
Rank: warrant officer.

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #1 - The cradle of evil
Brief bio: originally members of a lacustrine ethnic group, Kon-Rauan and his son Wog-Rauan were among the Reptonoid army's last recruits. More openly fiendish than most of their reptilian fellows, Kon-Rauan often aimed at poisoning his foes with his highly toxic gasses, while Wog-Rauan took a sadistic pleasure in flogging them with his long tail. When, after the splitting of the reptilian forces into two factions, Kon-Rauan allied himself with Lor-Drek and took several former Reptonoid soldiers prisoner, Wog-Rauan betrayed him by freeing his comrades-in-arms. During the ensuing battle with his father and the Unnamed Clan, Wog-Rauan suffered grave injuries when he bravely shielded his fellow soldier Traark from Kelotur's deadly spinning blades. Although he appeared to die, his body only entered into a process of transformation, which not only healed him and helped him develop powerful lungs, but also erased his memory. He soon re-emerged as Kon-Rauan II, an extremely brutal creature who would serve as an amphibious scout for the Rexodons. Armed with strong legs that allowed him to quickly reach enemies in battle, Kon-Rauan II, unaware of his true parentage, killed his father by shooting him with a poison arrow. Later, after Bi-Harr's death, he acted as a double agent within the Spektrosaurs and, although he was loyal to his faction, he was tempted to serve Lor-Drek temporarily.

Articulation
Standard, except that the right hand is especially engineered with a hinge to hold an arrow.

Description
Head: somewhat reminiscent of the Gill-man, characterised by warty greenish skin, a jagged lighter green sagittal crest that seemingly runs down the middle of the upper back (thanks to an extra neck piece that fits right on top of the body), two large external gills protruding from the sides of the head, two large bulging purple eyes surrounded by whitish calcified rings (most prominently on the brow ridge and on the "nasal" bridge; similar smaller outgrowths are also visible in some other spots), two drooping skin flaps flanking the slightly open mouth, and two short, slender tendril-like appendages projecting from the chin

Body: warty greenish (a very shiny green neither light nor dark) skin with whitish calcified outgrowths here and there, webbed hands and large webbed feet; each finger (three per hand) and each toe (four per foot) bears a long black claw. His bare chest displays a red tattoo that resembles the strange symbol seen on Kon-Rauan's breastplate; smaller versions of this tattoo (which looks like a sort of upside down crown, but it may represent a webbed three-toed foot with pads) are also present on his shoulders and knees. The torso features two matt lines running down each side, from the armpits to the waist; this is probably a reference to the lateral line sensory organ that we've also seen on Aktahnor's body. Moreover, the right arm carries a studded silver armband, while a long, laterally compressed green tail with a lighter green ridge emerges from under his skirt

Wearables: a double string of wooden prayer beads worn as a necklace, two studded metallic red bracers (worn over red leather boxing hand wraps), two armoured metallic red toeless boots (with studs around the tops and near the claws, tubular coverings made out of reddish pondweed that envelop the shafts, and a pair of chest-tattoo symbols sculpted on the soles), a red leather belt with a golden buckle showing the chest-tattoo symbol, and a tattered scale armour golden skirt. The belt secures a large loop of wrinkled, white-striped green skin trimmed with reddish pondweed and worn round the waist, and is equipped with a red leather sheath for the blade of a non-removable dagger, whose golden hilt resembles an elongated, narrower variation of the chest-tattoo symbol. Additionally, he wears a golden quiver, which contains four wooden arrows (which are all removable!) and is secured to his back by a red leather baldric.

Wog-Rauan's stylised emblem.

Action feature

In the comics, Wog-Rauan's main feature is his powerful whip-like flexible tail, which can be used to deliver painful strikes and, in the figure, is made of bendable plastic.
Furthermore, when attacking his opponents, he reveals a grossly oversized open structure of his mouth - similarly to a secret toadhead agama and to a sarcastic fringehead, the head flaps that distinguish his face spread out and become very apparent. So, the figure comes with an alternative head, in which his laterally-splayed jawbones and sail-like scaly cheek membranes reveal a purple tongue, two rows of sharp white teeth (including two upper fangs), a fluorescent green mouth rim and a bright pink colour on the inside used as a warning.

Weapons and accessories
Aside from the swappable head, Wog-Rauan comes with his nicely sculpted golden bow and wooden poison arrow. Both pieces are exact replicas of Kon-Rauan's weapons, except that this version of the bow is equipped with a taut string, while the arrow, which can be held by the special right hand, has a greenish paint application that represents its toxic, rather than fiery, head.

Additionally, the package includes a new head, a harness and an axe, for transforming the Foundation version of Kon-Rauan (Kon-Rauan II, the metamorphosed form of Wog-Rauan) into his Emergence version (Kon-Rauan I, father of Wog-Rauan). The frog-like head is very similar to the Foundation portrait (characterised by a wide shape, green skin marked with white stripes and a large protruding purple left eye), but its ragged look and the presence of an eye patch worn to protect the right eye definitely help the figure appear older. The black eye patch is attached around the head by a double black string, and has a golden rim and a cross pattée red design with a small golden plate at its centre. The harness looks like a short, sleeveless red leather vest ornamented with golden edges, golden shoulder pads and two large golden studs (plus one smaller) on each front panel, which is completely open and has a loose closure (formed of two golden clasps connected with a golden gas cylinder) near the stomach. On the back, the harness features four red-and-gold pipes designed to release poison gas and fed by a number of black tubes departing from the front cylinder; the pipes are arranged like two stacked vees (V) and each has a plume of greenish smoke spreading from the end. The bearded axe shows a golden blade held in a wooden handle by two projections, leaving a cut-out at the base of the blade. The neat thing is that Wog-Rauan's bow and old Kon-Rauan's axe can combine to create a weapon that resembles the crossbow used by Wog-Rauan in the comics. The crossbow is formed by placing the bow horizontally within an indentation near the bottom part of the axe's handle, while any one of his five arrows can be placed on top of the weapon thanks to a notch at its butt end for grasping the bowstring. The cut-out on the blade and an additional small handle at right angles to the axe's haft serve as the rear grip and fore grip, respectively.

If the possibility to build a second figure isn’t enough for you, a cool great bonus is that Wog-Rauan comes with an additional soft good wrap and a set of weapons, so you can have an Emergence-kinda-accurate display option for Tauton. While Foundation Tauton was wearing black and gold, his Emergence counterpart is decked out in white and blueish-grey. You can remove all the plastic pieces on the figure and put on a newly created fabric shirt that covers his face, torso and groin. It's a padded white tunic with a screen-printed emblem in grey and blue on the chest, held tight by a simple Velcro belt that wraps around the waist. You know what? It's kind of cool! I'm not sure I like it as much as I'd like a completely new Tauton figure in his short-sleeved, all-white attire, but I do appreciate the effort to offer up something new for the figure. The piece is easy to put on and I love how the crested (i.e., with a longitudinal raised band) balaclava covers the whole head and neck except for the eyes. The printing on the cloth is super clean and pops out thanks to the colours used, and represents a new symbol that looks like a hybrid of a Theriom insignia and a throwing star. The included weapons are the same wakizashi, stick and nunchaku that came with Tauton, just redone in the new white-and-steel colour scheme. Tauton can actually tote these weapons around thanks to the built in sheathes on his tunic - there's a small loop on the back right of his belt, which can hold the nunchaku, while the slot on his back can hold either the sword or the stick (or both).

Final thoughts
Overall: as a hardcore KR fan, I'm really glad to have this prototype to finish off the proposed Emergence line, which we don't know yet if it'll ever come to fruition. Wog-Rauan is another fine entry into the series, he's just a lot of fun! Although he's not one of my favourite characters, he's indeed a great figure with excellent weapons and the ability to hold them all. The extra head and harness give us the opportunity to update an old figure while retaining the original aesthetics - the addition of the eye patch and toxic tubes definitely makes Kon-Rauan seem like a bit of an improvement over the original figure. Plus, while we're missing the chance to see a younger, whiter version of the Theriom fighting officer in this line, the included vest and weapons make it possible to get an Emergence-styled Tauton at a reasonable price. As I said, I’m happy with Wog-Rauan, but it’s a bit sad in the sense that this may be the last Emergence figure we ever see
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Emergence Review #25: Kelotur (Emergence Edition)

Toy prototype details
Name: Kelotur^TM (Emergence Edition), aka Ironback Kelotur
Subtitle: blade-wielding warrior
Line: KR|Emergence
Item type: action figure - Nº 22 in the line.

Character details
Name: Kelotur
Classification: chelonian reptile
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: 3 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Unnamed Clan
Rank: ensign.

Background
First appearance: KR|Emergence #1 - The cradle of evil
Brief bio: a feared former vandal from the Tahlapos^TM estuary region, Kelotur was initially a threatening trooper under contract to Bi-Harr, who dispatched him to whirl flails and jagged blades while destroying villages and terrorise their inhabitants. Impressed by his mentor Lor-Drek's ambition to conquer Tahron by himself, he became one of the Unnamed Clan's first and strongest members as soon as the new faction had been formed. Kelotur offered his own services in exchange for a more important role among the reptilian soldiers, and was key in helping convince several Rexodon warriors to side with Lor-Drek against their double-headed general. Lacking a bony shell and only having thick, leathery skin, he eventually enhanced his fighting skills by wearing high-tech watertight armour and wielding vicious saw-toothed discs to burst out in a spike-spinning action into battle. Thanks to his devastating gyration powers and fearsome chain-weapons, Kelotur was a pure fury swinging into the battlefield and ploughing over his foes. His only weakness in combat was that he often neglected Lor-Drek's orders when confronting Wog-Rauan^TM, wishing to kill his archenemy before all other duties.

Articulation
Standard, with the addition of a hinged carapace-like back plate.

Description
Head: similar to a turtle, characterised by a short snout, olive-green skin with a scattering of yellow-green spots on the bald scalp, a pair of nostrils and a partly open beak-like mouth. He wears glasses (or rather, two monocles) with roundish shaded lenses, which give out a purple glow from their centres and are attached around the head by two black vertical wires that plug into the back of his cranium
Body: olive-green scaly skin, flipper-like hands (which also have clawed fingers à la Ponda Baba), a short sturdy tail. He carries an extra neck piece that fits right on top of the body (it is glued on, but it might be possible to pry it off if one had will to do so), while his limbs are characterised by the presence of blocky orange copper powered exoskeleton components, which are embellished with a number of black cables, and run from the upper arms down to the forearms and from the thighs down to the calves. I especially like the elbow and knee guards that bear small buzz saw-like toothed metallic light-blue discs on the sides
Wearables: an orange copper armour with metallic light-blue details, two orange copper bracelets, two orange copper armoured boots with individual (i.e., non-webbed) claws, a spiked orange copper belt with a metallic light-blue buckle that resembles a buzz saw-like toothed disc and holds an elaborate saw-toothed, notched pointy metallic light-blue codpiece. All these items show a kind of tortoiseshell-like texture and plenty of tech-mech details. The massive shoulder armour has a wide metallic light-blue collar that slightly rises on the back, forming a sort of cowl, and is connected to the breast and back plates via one and two blueish-grey pliable tubes, respectively; the breast plate resembles a plastron made up of nine imbricate scute-like orange copper lames and displays two metallic light-blue decorative items with rows of small pyramid-shaped elements in the chest area, while the back plate looks like a large dome-shaped carapace formed of five central orange copper scutes and four pairs of lateral scutes, each armoured with a metallic light-blue spike to form three dorsal ridges. The armour also includes two laminar orange copper pauldrons ornamented with curved metallic light-blue spikes that run from front to back over the shoulders, and equipped with blueish-grey pliable tubes that attach to the bracers.

Kelotur's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, when Kelotur engages in underwater combat, he shows the ability to retract his head into his armour, while a helmet swings forward and closes over the neck ring. So, the figure comes with a large metallic light-blue helmet that is a spitting image of the comic book design and it can be attached to the figure via a quick head swap. That is to say, the helmet does not fit over his head, it is simply a piece that sits over the armour's collar after the head has been removed. Its defining features are a T-shaped copper-framed purple glowing visor (which is fictionally linked to Kelotur's goggles), and two thin blueish-grey breathing tubes connecting to an armoured mouth guard and leading into the sides of the helmet. It also sports an orange frontal copper crest (whose shape slightly resembles that of the codpiece) above the visor, which is flanked by two additional zigzagging side crests. Interestingly, the combination of the helmet and "cowl" produces a false face when seen from the back, thanks to three orange glowing elements that give the illusion of a Juggernaut-like face with slits for the eyes (on the helmet) and mouth (on the collar).

Additionally, Kelotur includes his two distinctive, rapidly spinning toothed discs. These rotating blades have metallic light-blue inner circles, orange copper outer rings and sharp, curved blueish-grey teeth on the edges (each tooth is even equipped with a biconical spike that extends perpendicularly to it). Kelotur normally walks around with these vicious blades attached to his shoulders, but when he gets battle-ready, the two toothed discs slide towards the wrists and fasten to the bracers. Thus, the figure has clamp-shaped sockets on both the pauldrons and the wrist guards, allowing the spinning blades to be placed in either position.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the helmet and spinning blades, Kelotur comes with a three-headed meteor hammer, consisting of a handle connected to three striking heads by a rope. The metallic light-blue handle has a serrated knuckle-guard for combat that gets too close, while the black (rigid) rope is equipped with nasty thorny spikes. Each striking head is made of a short length of blueish-grey (rigid) chain with a spherical greyish weight attached to the end. Each weight is made of stone and a half of it is furnished with orange copper plates, resembling the upper shell of a tortoise. The weapon can separate into three sections (the handle, the rope and the three-headed striking end), which may be complemented or replaced by additional pieces: the handle can be augmented by an included metallic light-blue shaft to create a long, two-handed haft, while the rigid rope can be substituted with a non-spiked black flexible string. You can even attach the striking end directly to the handle, to make a retracted version of the weapon. Additionally, the figure has a hinged, opening "shell" feature, meaning that his armoured carapace is on a very sturdy hinge and can open like a door; the inside has slots and pegs to store the additional shaft and whip, but it could actually hold more than that if you had a spare sword or gun.
Finally, the package includes a new head sculpt and a large rubbery torso covering that make it possible to transform Gax-Uhr into his more placid and furrier post-Enmity versions. The new helmetless, non-screaming head matches this usually light-hearted character better, while the torso piece features the same dark-red harness that came as an alternate outfit more in line with the Foundation design. The difference is that this time the harness is sculpted over a thick deep-black fur piece that gives him some substantial bulk as well as a fuzzier, less barbered appearance (whether it's his natural coat or a tunic is up for debate). The sculpted fur features a high level of detail, while the harness has a weathered leathery texture and is equipped with shoulder pads, jagged edges, painted rivets, diamond-shaped studs and a heptagonal light-blue, white-veined gemstone at the centre of the breast plate.

Final thoughts
Overall: I really like Kelotur, much more than I thought I would. He's fun, well accessorised, and nicely modelled after the comic book depiction. He is a great figure and should please fans of the character and of this series. Another accessory or artefact for updating Gax-Uhr would have been welcome, but I'm still content with what I got
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5