KR Review #98: Vehicle Driver

Toy prototype details
Name: Vehicle Driver
Subtitle: mysterious vehicle maneuverer
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: action figure - Nº 61 in the line.

Character details
Name: unknown
Classification: uncertain
Sex: presumably male
Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: varying
Rank: maneuverer.

Background
The Vehicle Driver has the distinction of being the only figure in the entire KR line that doesn't correspond to any characters in the stories. The figure comes with a set of interchangeable heads, chest plates and weapons that match up with the eight vehicles included in the Foundation series.

Articulation
Standard.

Description

The basic look of the figure hails from the generic warrior design on the tokens of the Key Raiders board game. In terms of sculpt, the figure makes extensive re-use of previous moulds... there’s very little new here.

Body: the figure's torso and limbs use the same proportions seen in other KR human male figures. In addition, he wears a whole-body protective clothing of dark red-and-purple leather, while black leather is visible in the form of gloves and boots on the hands and feet

Wearables: a golden armour with black details, two golden wrist guards with knuckle protectors, two golden knee/shin guards, a golden belt and a black groin protector. The new, relatively simple armour features some great design elements such as raised edges, rivets, and circuitry details. The back of the armour shows off what are presumably some sort of air tanks, while the attached spaulders are softer and do move nicely when you pose the shoulders.

Action feature, weapons and accessories

The included heads are inspired by “made-up” background characters for the artwork on some large items packaging, promotional posters and comic books. To help tie each of these characters more closely to the vehicles they're identified with, PoliganToys have incorporated design elements from the rides into a number of unique chest plates and weapons. The interchangeable chest plates are separate pieces that merely plug into a socket in the armour. You can easily remove one and replace it with another.

Wheel-Wolf driver

Head: a bulbous silver space suit helmet with an orange visor, a trapezoidal breathing apparatus connected to two headphone-like devices on the sides by bundles of golden tubes, and lots of cyber details all over the dome at the top, which is reminiscent of the Theriom Trooper's helmet. The visor is nice and wide, and can be popped off to reveal the eyes of a beast-looking, brown-furred character inside

Chest plate: modelled after the silver armour on the Wheel-Wolf's hull front, which subtly resembles a wolf's head

Weapon: a shield modelled after one of the Wheel-Wolf's wheels, including the black off-the-road flotation tire and a silver central spike.

Aviotak driver

Head: a full-face golden helmet with a pair of blue-violet lenses and a breathing apparatus composed of three silver hoses (two smooth that are threaded horizontally through two loops on the sides of the head and one corrugated that extends vertically between the lenses, with all three hoses ending at the back of the helmet) and black O-rings

Chest plate: an electronic panel modelled after the Aviotak's high-tech silver dashboard and equipped with a blue-violet pliable hose that plugs into the figure's mouth piece

Weapon: a double-barrelled (side-by-side, with a substantial gap between the two barrels) red-and-silver gun modelled after the Aviotak's pair of turbojet engines.

Ceratank driver

Head: an off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that looks like tarnished silver) great helm consisting of a flat-topped (actually slightly curved) cylinder of metal that completely covers the head and has small openings for ventilation and vision. The helmet is also extended downward until it reaches the throat and has a cross-shaped shiny steel ornament riveted to the face portion

Chest plate: modelled after the ivory-white bony armour on the Ceratank's hull front, which strongly resembles a Centrosaurus skull (with some metallic dark-blue tech details and red glowing eye sockets)

Weapon: a club modelled after the Ceratank's wavy ivory-white bony tail ending with a head shaped like the tank's metallic dark-blue missile-launcher.

Pterajet driver

Head: a tech looking glossy black covering, which looks like a full face motorcycle helmet with an overall shape that is reminiscent of the Rexodon Troopers' robotic head. Instead of being covered by a visor, the large cut-out in the eye and snout area exposes a reptilian face underneath, characterised by an insanely wrinkled and orange-coloured skin, two yellow eyes with round black pupils and open jaws lined with sharp whitish teeth

Chest plate: modelled after the black-and-gold shape and outline of the Pterajet

Weapon: a double-bitted axe (similar to an onzil with a golden handle) whose glossy black blades are modelled after the Pterajet's bird head-shaped, red-eyed nose and one of the folded-wing structures mounted to the neck, respectively.

Pyrosaur driver

Head: a metallic purple helmet with three parallel ridges (or crests) raised from the top of the skull and running from front to rear (the two on the sides are smooth and sharp, while the keel-like, segmented one in the middle is made of silver laminar armour), a thin curved translucent red eye guard and a pointed, serrated flap of silver chain mail for mouth and throat protection. The visor plus curtain of mail can be detached to reveal a reptilian face underneath, which is characterised by scaly greenish skin, three white eyes with small round black pupils, a purplish proboscis-like nose and two large yellowish tusks pointing upward

Chest plate: modelled after the head of the Pyrosaur Siege Warfare cannon's battering ram, which looks like a robotic lizard's silver skull equipped with bronze tusks, chin spike and sagittal crest

Weapon: a large silver-grey gun modelled after the Pyrosaur's flamethrower.

Serpocraft driver

Head: characterised by slimy light-blueish skin, a pair of goggles with large oval glossy black lenses (or are they actually eyes?) and a segmented greyish bony nose/mouth guard that kind of resembles a trilobite's carapace. He wears a ceremonial Attic-like red-orange helmet that is very reminiscent of the Spektrosaur Troopers' helmet

Chest plate: modelled after the Serpocraft's dark-green cockpit that resembles the head of a cobra

Weapon: a double-sided sword whose slightly curved jagged-edged pearl-grey blades are modelled after the Serpocraft's rotor aerofoils.

Arkiopod driver

Head: human-like, characterised by a ghostly, pale blue-green skin, thick black eyebrows and dark-green face war paint on the forehead, around a pair of solid purple eyes, down the cheeks (somehow slightly extending beyond the jawline) and the top part of the nose. He wears a dark-red cowl that also covers the upper back, similarly to a short cape

Chest plate: modelled after the Arkiopod's reddish-brown copper hull front equipped with a pair of tech looking dark-grey arms (each split into three tentacles) and a pair of headlights (similar to two beady eyes)

Weapon: a wrist-mounted retractable whip modelled after one of the Arkiopod's tentacles ending with a sharp claw (the dark-grey whip portion is detachable from the tech looking reddish-brown portion that clips onto the wrist).

Rotakord driver

Head: warty purplish skin, two large light-blue eyes with slit-shaped dark vertical pupils, two small nostrils, and a wide mouth that is equipped with sharp dark-grey teeth and flanked by two pairs of arthropod-like dark-grey crushing mouthparts. He also wears a silver-horned golden-yellow helmet, whose design, combining barbaric and tech features, is very reminiscent of the Destructomorph Troopers' helmet

Chest plate: modelled after the Rotakord's metallic purple canopy with translucent yellow windscreen, which is shaped like two connected devilish eyes

Weapon: a purple staff with one end modelled after the Rotakord's boring/suction mechanism fitted with spinning steel saw blades, while the other end is shaped like the chainsaw/jackhammer-like silver tool mounted to the vehicle's nose.

Final thoughts

Overall: while the Vehicle Driver isn't really a fan-demanded character, the figure itself came out nicely despite having mostly reused parts. I know a lot of people don’t like these obscure characters, but this is the kind of thing that makes the line cool to me, so I am very glad to have him as well. PoliganToys was also smart to just call him a “vehicle driver”, so you could potentially army build him

Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5