KR|Enmity Review #29: Semhadrian Warriors

Toy prototype details

Name: Semhadrian^TM Warriors

Subtitle: armoured waterlords

Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: multi-pack (army builder 2-pack) - Nº 3 in the line (Sondakor and Flail-Flinger, each of which came with an additional action figure, are not considered multi-packs in the Enmity line).

Character details

Name: unknown

Classification: osteichthyan

Sex: hermaphrodite (but he appears as male)

Home: SemhadarTM

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Semhadar's maritime force (which is Theriom's ally)

Rank: seaman.

Background
First appearance: KR|Enmity #3 - Notes of vengeance
Related character(s): Aktahnor.

Articulation
Standard, plus a ball jointed tail and a pair of articulated (with a swivel joint at the base and a hinged joint in the middle) appendages attached to the wrists.

Description

Heads: each figure's head is similar to an arthrodire placoderm and is encased in an armoured shield made of broad flat, seemingly articulated bony plates. This armour, which is cast in grey-brown and is covered with a light-greenish wash, is characterised by large eye sockets (enclosing spherical pink eyes with dark pupils) protected by light-blueish bony rings as well as jaws lined with whitish bony structures similar to thick, sharp teeth. It also sports several short light-blueish spines projecting from the top of the head and from the face

Bodies: each figure's upper torso is protected by a thoracic shield made of armoured plates (its colour scheme –grey-brown plastic covered with a light-greenish wash, and light-blueish paint on the details– matches that of the head shield), whereas the rest of the body has a scaly texture from a covering of small diamond-shaped shiny blue-green (with a predominance of blue) horny plates, which fit together more like a jigsaw rather than overlapping one another. The figure also displays webbed hands and feet with grey-brown claws, a curved dorsal fin projecting from a slit in the thoracic shield, two pairs of fairly large lobe-like fins extending from the upper arms and the thighs, and a rather short, thin tail emerging from under the loincloth and ending in a sickle-shaped heterocercal caudal fin. Like with other aquatic characters in the KR line, two interesting details about each warrior's body are found under the removable (although it's supposed to be part of their body) chest armour. First, the torso features two glossier lines running down each side, from the armpits to the waist; this is probably a reference to the lateral line sensory organ usually present in aquatic vertebrates, which enables the Semhadrians to sense minute vibrations and electric fields produced by nearby enemies. Second, each figure 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) and shows a bony operculum on each side, behind which I guess the gills are hidden

Wearables: each figure carries some seagrass ribbon-like, light-green leaves twining round the lower legs, a light-green oxidised bronze belt with a triangular light-blue aquamarine gemstone as the buckle, and a lobe fin-shaped shiny light-blueish loincloth.

Semhadrian Warrior's stylised thoracic shield.

Action feature

In the comics, the Semhadrian Warriors are shown to be extremely strong fighters, and to have the ability to breathe both deep underwater and on the surface world. Moreover, they bear additional "arm fins" that are modified into caliper-like bony appendages resembling arthropod-like articulated limbs. So, each figure is equipped with a pair of long wrist-mounted armoured fins attached to two bony bracers, which are all cast in grey-brown and covered with a light-greenish wash. Each snap-on appendage has a swivel joint at the base, an elbow-like hinged joint between the two segments of which it is composed, and can also rotate together with the wrist/forearm piece, so that it can be posed in any direction.

Weapons and accessories

The Semhadrian Warriors come with an interesting assortment of weapons. First up is a polearm consisting of a long metallic light-blue shaft with two golden-pronged ends and light-green seagrass trim wrapped along the portion near each end. Each extremity is composed of a spearhead with protrusions on the sides, giving the weapon the look of a double trident. One end bears a double-edged pointed tip with two stacked crescent-shaped cross-hilts at its base, the individual barbed prongs on either side having a cutting edge and extending side by side with the central blade (its overall shape makes me think of a five-branched menorah... a "quindent"?) The opposite end has a broad, leaf-shaped spearhead with a diverging bladed projection on each side (kind of resembling Maserati's trident badge), and has a more elaborate appearance than the other - the segmented spear-tip holds a translucent light-blue aquamarine gem in the centre, while each side-blade is jagged and has a small curve to it. The shaft can also split in the middle, to produce two smaller trident weapons.

In addition, there's a fish skeleton-shaped shiny light-blueish shield, which, when flipped, reveals a slot for storing an included sword between the back of the protective surface and the light-green leather grip. The sword has two lobe fin-shaped shiny light-blueish quillons and a blade derived from a sawfish rostrum, which is a narrow, flattened yellow-orange bony projection, lined with a row of sharp whitish teeth on either side of it and ornamented with a blue-green stripe down the middle.

Finally, and I didn't really see this coming, we get a set of pieces for transforming either figure (after removing its head, chest shield and arm fins) into Semhadar's head of state and grand admiral Chief Rada^TM. The set consists of a head, two gemstones, a robe, an armour and a belt. The large head resembles that of a blobfish and is characterised by smooth blue-green skin (matching the colour of the scaly body), a pair of round pink eyes with dark pupils, a wide mouth and a cranial crest-shaped metallic yellow-green headdress, which I suppose is his crown. The two light-blue aquamarine gemstones are meant to cover the sockets in the bracers after removing the two armoured fins. His ceremonial outfit includes a nicely tailored, sleeveless light-blue soft goods robe (there's a Velcro strip to make it easier to put on the figure as well as a slit on the back for allowing his dorsal fin and tail to go through), a yellow&light-green armour that fits over the robe (its shape is vaguely reminiscent of Aktahnor's armour, but includes a pair of shoulder pads, a long central strip in the front, a stole with Semhadrian heraldic symbols, and a soft goods, permanently attached cape that is split into two parts down the middle) and a yellow belt made of flexible plastic that fits on the fully attired figure nicely.

Final thoughts
Overall: I really like these Semhadrian Warriors! They do look quite unique, and the armoured head, chest and fin pieces on the figures make for some very different fish-like characters. Their weapons are quite cool too, especially that double trident. Also, considering we have the option of getting another completely different look out of one of the two figures, I'm more than satisfied here
Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5