KR|Dimness Review #26: Ycabie & Lava Sentinels

Toy prototype details
Name: Ycabie^TM & Lava Sentinels
Subtitle: gliding warrioress versus deadly volcanic monsters
Line: KR|Dimness
Item type: multi-pack (3-pack) - Nº 5 in the line.

Ycabie
Character details
Name: Ycabie
Classification: dermopteran mammal (but she looks mostly human)
Sex: female
Relationships: older sister of Dhermot
Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Forseha
Rank: flying tribeswoman.

Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape
Related character(s): Dhermot.

Articulation
Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Afro-American features, black skin, blue eyes. She seems to wear a close-fitting dark-brown furry garment (but it is probably her natural growth of hair, which looks cut straight around the head at approximately shoulder level with very short, blunt bangs at the front) covering the whole head and neck except for the face and the ears (which are rounder and slightly larger than normal)
Body: almost entirely covered with a growth of short, fine dark-brown hair. Her hands and feet show black skin, webbed spaces between the fingers and toes, and small sharp claws
Wearables: an extreme crop top made of off-white buckskin (this garment is long sleeved on the right and sleeveless on the left, and has a standing collar as well as a greenish decorative button on the right shoulder), a bandage bustier (which has a pointed hem and appears to be made from multiple strips of off-white leather sewn together, with the individual strips shaped like bandages), a long-cuff off-white leather bracelet on the left forearm, two knee-high off-white leather stirrup socks (each lacking toe and heel sections -instead having a loop that fits within the arch of the foot- and bearing a triplet of greenish decorative buttons on the front), an off-white leather belt with a greenish tortoise-shell buckle, and light-green tights of woven grass (with some gaps here and there exposing her covering of hair) that join the socks' cuffs (forming cut-outs that expose her knees) and incorporate a small brown leather purse attached to a loose fitting belt. Her bustier (which together with the extreme crop top forms a cut-out exposing her cleavage) is ornamented with light-green patterns (seemingly made of applied stone chips) that are reminiscent of "greek-key" meanders, while its pointed hem is fringed with a light-green featherwork.

Action feature
Similarly to her brother Dhermot, Ycabie has the ability to glide through the air from one tree to another or from higher to lower locations with the aid of a patagium, a wingsuit-like dark-brown furry membrane of extra skin that stretches from her shoulders to her wrists, from her wrists to her ankles, and between her legs. Like with Dhermot, PoliganToys included two plastic pieces that plug into the back of the figure and into the limbs. The plastic used for these pieces has some pliability, so they’re not rock solid. The first alternative allows for having the skin flaps in a folded position, with the option of having the arms and legs plugged into them, to give the figure a standing-at-ease look. However, even when the limbs aren’t plugged in, the figure still looks natural and the membrane works more like a cape attached to the back (although the pegs are visible). The second option is the extended look, where the limbs have to be plugged into the patagium, because it would just seem too odd to have the skin flaps open and not have the arms and legs matching. This solution looked pretty sharp on Dhermot's figure, but not so much on Ycabie, mostly due to the items of clothing that couldn't possibly be worn the way they appear.

Weapons and accessories
Aside from the two interchangeable patagia, Ycabie comes with two kunai-like, greenish oxidised bronze throwing knives (which we have also seen in the Enmity Expansion Kit for Tahron) and a pair of alternative grasping hands.

Lava Sentinels

Character details
Name: unknown
Classification: lavatic creature
Sex: uncertain
Home: Tahron
Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Dark Legion (indirectly)
Rank: guardian of Mount Atubion.

Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening
Related character(s): Tolaaf.

Articulation
Standard, except that each left wrist is ball jointed.

Description
Head: each figure's head looks like made of a wrinkled dark-grey rocky material carved with empty eye sockets that emit a faint orange glow, and a gaping mouth that exposes a number of sharp light-greyish teeth. It also sports a mane of long golden Pele's hair emerging from the seemingly empty, crater-like cranium
Body: each figure's body is made of a dark-grey rocky material criss-crossed by cracks that glow a bright orange colour (as a result of the lava that moves beneath the hardened surface of the body). The torso shows a small triangular bright orange gemstone embedded in the centre of the chest, while the hands and feet display sharp claws

Wearables: each figure wears a spiked collar, two gauntlets with spiked cuffs, and two boots with spiked tops, which are all made of a ropey golden-yellow material. The rocky waist/hips area is studded with golden-yellow nuggets, the central one of which is much larger and chiselled with some kind of demonic face design, while the "clothing" on the crotch piece has a sky-blueish, larimar colour.

Action feature
In the comics, the Lava Sentinels have the ability to generate powerful volcanic eruptions from the inside of their bodies, exhaling a blast of toxic gasses and lethal burning material. So, the package includes two eruption effects, seemingly made of smoke, ash and lapilli, that can be attached to the figure's mouths.

Weapons and accessories
Apart from the fire-breathing effects, the Lava Sentinels come with two sets of weapons, one for each figure. The first set includes a double-tang (i.e., with each blade held in the handle by two projections, leaving a cutout at the base of the blade) axe and a shield. The other set comprises a sword and a boulderstone covered in spiky rock fragments, which can be connected by an included swinging-looking, stiff red-hot faux chain to the left arm after removing the hand. All the above-mentioned weapons are made of a dark-grey rocky material criss-crossed by cracks that glow a bright orange colour, and show some sky-blueish details, i.e., the handle of the axe, a ring design on the shield, the hilt of the sword and the spikes on the striking boulder.

Final thoughts

Overall: what a fun set! This is what I am all about in terms of KR toys. The Lava Sentinels are absolutely crazy concepts made real as army builders for the first time, and Ycabie is literally the character we didn't know we wanted in (almost) perfect action figure form. I really hope we continue to get KR|Dimness prototypes somehow, some way. Update: PoliganToys' SDCC 2022 exclusive release will be Ycabie & Plant Creatures, basically this same 3-pack but with two Dark Legion Plant-Men instead of the Lava Sentinels!

Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Dimness Review #25: Qermetas

Toy prototype details

Name: Qermetas^TM

Subtitle: violent minion

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 21 in the line.

Character details

Name: Qermetas

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: first lieutenant.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, the kingdom's population suffered the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed by Bi-Harr for psychological manipulation. A small percentage of the inhabitants who emerged were born with defects, and while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including a one-armed and disfigured man named Qermetas, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Desiring to become a menacing warrior, Qermetas stole small amounts of stone and steel from the monastery's storage of construction materials and allowed the evil grand marshal to create a new armoured helmet and a reinforced prosthetic arm for him. As deadly as he was monstrous, Qermetas used his powerful punches and headbutts to get his wicked way. After Wordron's demise, he took over the former Dark Legion fortress in Ucamur, ruling it with a stone-metal fist.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: reddish sunburnt skin, solid blue glowing eyes with a prominent brow ridge and two evident under eye bags, a scar on the right cheek, two large sharp teeth protruding upwards from the lower jaw, and a prominent chin. He wears a metallic purple helmet with dark-blue details (including two large screws in the back to keep it firmly in place), whose edges seem to merge with his flesh in a sort of Frankenstein's monster fashion, and whose top bears a large, thick flat piece of grey stone reinforced with blueish-grey steel plates

Body: reddish sunburnt skin, spiky elbows, several scars. He has an oversized Hellboy-like right forearm and open hand made of grey stone reinforced with blueish-grey steel plates

Wearables: a thigh-length dark-blue garment with lune-shaped purple decorative patterns, two metallic dark-blue bracelets (the one on the right wrist is just a narrow band) and two metallic dark-blue boots with partially open shafts. The garment is a tubular cloth open on the left side of the body and gathered around the waist with a spiked metallic dark-blue belt; the top edge is fastened over the left shoulder by a blueish-grey steel fibula that kinda looks like a strange lock, while the right shoulder is left uncovered.

Action feature
In the comics, Qermetas has a powerful stone-metal fist that projects to a moderate extent for a super punching action, which he uses to hit his enemies and knock them out. This telescoping feature works by popping the forearm off just below the elbow and attaching an extended version of it with a harsh clench of the fist. That’s wonderful!

Additionally, the original concept of this character also featured an extending stone neck, which would allow his head to strike out and forcefully thrust with the heavy top of his helmet into his foes. I'm glad that this detail was removed from the comics and replaced with simple headbutts (yes, suspension of disbelief has its limits), but I'm also happy that a long, curved neck extension was included in the package. Besides its awesome stone design, I like the fact that it still works with the ball joint on the neck.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the arm and neck extensions, Qermetas includes a club-like weapon consisting of a spiked ball mounted on a shaft. The long, two-handed wooden shaft is reinforced with four metallic purple langets, while the attached wooden head (which is seemingly slipped over the top of the shaft and reinforced at the base with a metallic purple band) is adorned with metallic purple spikes nailed to the outside (a longer spike extending straight from the top and many smaller spikes around the particle of the head).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ He's not the most interesting character or figure in this line, but he's really well done

Articulation: ♥♥♥ This figure is sturdy and well articulated, and all of his joints are nice and tight

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is a mixture of new and reused parts, but everything goes well together. The limbs are covered with interesting marks and blemishes that show Qermetas' troubled history. The head sculpt is excellent and the torso overlay is very well executed too

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ I love his crazy mace weapon, it's massive and absolutely awesome. And that extended fist, oh boy! - not only it looks good, but it also really adds some character to the figure. He looks terrific with it, although due to the size it makes him a little likely to topple

Playability: ♪♪♪ He has all of the poseability and playability one could want. He is going to appeal to every potential KR collector

Overall: ☺☺☺ I think Qermetas is a pretty great figure. I'm honestly quite satisfied with this guy and find that I like him much more than I thought I would. He's very well sculpted, and his stone-metal forearm is not as ridiculously oversized as the comic book version, but large enough to be notable and... just bizarre.

KR|Dimness Review #24: Masq-Lor (Dimness Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Masq-Lor^TM (Dimness Edition)

Subtitle: predestined hero

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure (triple figure) - Nº 20 in the line.

Character details

Name: Masq-Lor (meaning "destined for victory")

Classification: human-primivod* hybrid (but he looks completely human)

Sex: male

Relationships: foundling discovered and cared for by the Forseha tribesmen; Xehrea's love interest

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha; Dark Legion (temporarily)

Rank: tribe bowman; temporarily, monstrous servant of Wordron.

*Primivods^TM are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: rescued from the waters of the river Atogg^TM in his infancy by Dakun, who recognised the child as the hero prophesied to end the war between the mammalian and reptilian peoples of Tahron, Masq-Lor was taught to survive in the harsh jungle environment and to protect himself from the wrath of potential enemies. The boy, blessed with remarkable fighting skills, soon turned out to be crucial when the peace of the Forseha tribe was plagued by the vengeful Wordron and his army of Plant Creatures. Surrendering himself to the Dark Legion's leader in order to save his fellow hostages, Masq-Lor became the first victim of the dreaded Mother-Plant, the evil creature that coated its prey with a viscous resin enchanted with pure wickedness. The mutated form of Masq-Lor that burst from the hardened material became Wordron's menacing mind-controlled servant and was ordered to help subdue the Forseha tribesmen, until he was freed from the curse by his own will and by his companions' encouraging words. To turn the tides of the battle, Masq-Lor killed the Mother-Plant, setting free its other potential victims, and managed to eradicate the remnants of devilry that gave power to Wordron. After regaining his normal form, Masq-Lor at last single-handedly destroyed the demon, while the Forseha tribe defeated the rest of the Dark Legion once and for all.

Articulation

All three figures have the standard articulation, except that the normal form's right hand is especially engineered with a hinge to hold an arrow.

In the comics, our hero is transformed into a monstrous zombie-like creature after being subjected to one of the most gruesome and fascinating concepts in the Dimness line – the sticky, viscous resin exuded by the Mother-Plant's flower. Despite the two figures represent the same character, they render the two alternative forms and appear very different. Although it's not clear whether these figures will be released individually or in a multi-pack, I'm going to describe them separately.

Normal form

Description

Head: light brown skin, thick, long black hair, green eyes. He sports a band of dark-brown raffia fibre tied around the head and a lock of hair held by a loop of dark-brown raffia fibre on each side. He definitely looks like a teenage version of his Foundation counterpart

Body: slightly shorter than the adult characters (only 14 cm, around 5.5"), light brown skin, exposed torso, arms and legs

Wearables: a light-green necklace with a gold medallion resembling the Theriom symbol (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated, modelled after a small tattoo found by Dakun on the child's skin), two light-green bracelets (the left one is actually a bracer), two light-green gladiator sandal-boots, a light-green belt with a round golden buckle, and a diagonal-cut black leather skirt. The cross-strap bracelets and sandal-boots as well as the necklace and belt are made of woven grass, while the faux leather skirt is complete with some nice details that make it interesting to look at, such as scalloped edges, dark-brown stitching, and flaps folded over the top.

Weapons and accessories

In the comics, Masq-Lor is depicted as a very skilful archer and, of course, the figure comes with a bow, several separate arrows and a quiver with two belts. The dark-brown wooden bow is roughly carved with leaf-like motifs on the limbs and snake-head decorative designs on the tips, while the black leather quiver is ornamented with leaf-like light-green patterns and can be attached either to a loose fitting black leather waist belt (which carries a small bag on the opposite side) or to a black leather shoulder belt.

Additionally, the package includes slightly smaller versions of two weapons that came with Foundation Masq-Lor: the sword (with silver blade and wooden hilt) and the oval wooden shield (embellished with a big golden Theriom symbol).

Finally, to recreate the battle seen at the end of the second comic issue Masq-Lor's quest, we get two extra heads, both wearing the helmet that belongs to Wordron and Barkos: one for the younger Dimness Masq-Lor (with the inactive helmet) and one for the older Foundation Masq-Lor (with the activated helmet).

Mutated form

Description

Head: anthracite (i.e., near-black or very dark grey) skin, untied rust hair, white glowing eyes (surrounded by red edges). His mouth and nose are just a series of red glowing rips and slits in the centre of the face

Body: anthracite skin, red tribal tattoos around the biceps, claw hands and feet

Wearables: a big silver necklace with a medallion resembling the Dark Legion symbol (i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face), dark wash fluo-yellow cross-strap bracelets, cross-strap shin guards and belt (the latter has a round silver buckle), and a two-tone (matte and glossy) black skirt.

Weapons and accessories

This extremely agile creature comes with matching black and dark wash fluo-yellow decos of the standard sword and shield, as well as a brand new shield that sports a complex heraldic design (an evil dragon head in front of two crossed swords on a web-like background). The diversity of shades and tones of the blacks and yellows from the figure are carried over here as well.

Amber form

In addition to the normal and mutated forms, the Dimness edition of Masq-Lor will also include an "amber statue" variant, since such a form is briefly shown as a mid-transformation stage in the third comic issue Into dimness: Part II – Escape.

I’m not getting into the specifics of this figure, since it's just the normal form version with a few differences that I'm going to list below:

- The whole figure has been cast in a nice translucent amber plastic that also contains numerous tiny bubbles (which give it a slight cloudy opacity) and a number of indistinct dark inclusions

- His head is characterised by the hair of a dark wash yellow-brown colour (like that of a butterscotch candy) and solid red eyes. A darker, brownish airbrushing around the eyes makes the head appear translucent at the bottom and then get opaque as you go up the face

- The medallion and belt buckle have a bronze colour and a bit of glimmer to them (to help sell the idea that they might be embedded in solid resin, but they are still made of metal), while the necklace, bracelets, boots and belt are orange, but also have metallic qualities to them. The skirt is yellow-brown with different tones and sheen in different areas

- The figure comes with the standard sword and shield, which are also cast in translucent amber plastic with a metallic orange paint on the blade and symbol.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ It’s just like the old times, you know? Sure, Masq-Lor might also be an inanimate amber statue as well as a hideous and mindless monster of Wordron's in this representation, but even after all these years, there are few things better as a KR prototype reviewer than getting a new version of our hero

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The engineering on the three figures' joints is wonderful, so everything is stable and tight, but not at all limiting in terms of ease of posing; the only exception is that there’s no slit in the skirt piece, which would allow for deeper bends of the legs

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ PoliganToys have done a great job of capturing the essence of a young woodland fighter in the standard form, while the mutated form looks really evil, with the blackish and reddish tones making the basic body very imposing. On top of that, the translucent statue is nice and solid, all of the plastic feels strong and not at all brittle

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The set comes with a LOT of weaponry, and while no version of Masq-Lor can handle all of them at once, it is nice to have the option. I wish they had included an amber version of the bow and arrow, but that is not a deal breaker for me

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I’m a sucker for both translucent toys and all-black evil palette swaps, so naturally when I got this set in my hands I felt such a lust for enjoyment

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ These are very nicely executed figures - the design, materials and engineering all came together for a very strong set. Kudos to PoliganToys for really knocking this one out. I had been waiting on this guy in the KR|Dimness series and I'm quite pleased with these prototypes.

KR|Dimness Review #23: Helimex

Toy prototype details

Name: Helimex^TM

Subtitle: shelled ravager

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 19 in the line.

Character details

Name: Helimex

Classification: mollusc

Sex: hermaphrodite (but he appears as male)

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: using the magic of the ancient spirits enshrined in Clavisaur's body, the evil Wordron transformed some of the most savage animals of the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region into his own beastly servants. Grown to a human-like size and endowed with enhanced strength, these monsters fought under the Dark Legion banner as mercenaries. Originally a tough-skinned terrestrial mollusc, Helimex was gifted with impressive speed and agility even before being possessed by Clavisaur's spirit. His augmented abilities made him an excellent fighter and caused a rivalry with the ferocious bounty hunter Anobiac. With exceptional reflexes capable of deflecting every thwack, Helimex used his vicious spiked shells to help Wordron fight the Forseha tribe.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a snail, characterised by a greenish skin with few black blotches, two sets of tentacles (the upper pair have two black eyes with vertical red pupils at the ends, while the lower pair are near the mouth), and a long Venom-like brown tongue covered in small curved whitish teeth protruding from his open mouth

Body: greenish skin with black blotches, claw hands and feet. He has two fin-shaped fleshy protrusions on the outer sides of his thighs and wears two studded steel armbands that bear a fin-shaped blade each. Some added glitter gives the impression that the skin secretes a slimy substance

Wearables: a red armour with metallic light-blue details (including a spiral design at the centre of the chest plate and a number of threaded motifs), two threaded red bracelets, two red boots with spiked tops, a studded red belt with a spiral-shaped buckle, and ridged light-blue shorts. Interestingly, several dribbles of translucent green slime hang from the bracelets and the belt.

Helimex's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the spiral design.

Action feature

In the comics, Helimex is equipped with two menacing large serrated "valves", which he holds in his hands and uses to crush opponents or, as he rotates wildly with his arms swung out, to knock down all enemies who dare get in his path. So, the figure comes with two ovate-conic shell-shields, which are rounded at the front and pointed at the back, and are held asymmetrically (i.e., one of the two shields is grasped with its tapering apex pointing forward). Each shield is spiny-edged, armoured with two long spikes projecting from the sides, and painted in pearlescent grey (with brownish, smudged dots and dashes spread unevenly over the surface) on the inside and in cream colour (with clouding of light-blue in four bands) on the outer surface.
Furthermore, when in danger, Helimex has the ability to withdraw his whole body into the shell-shields, which act as an armour against his foes. This feature is mimicked by disconnecting the two large shields from the figure's hands and joining them to form a single elongated, spirally coiled shell. The shields can also be attached to the figure's back, which makes for an interesting alternative display option.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the two shell-shields, Helimex comes with a dangerous looking, long shard of crystal as a weapon, which he can wield nicely in either hand. This tapering spear-like accessory is moulded in translucent light-blue plastic with white frosting.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I didn't find this character particularly interesting in the comic book, but I found myself enjoying the crazy weapons and showy look of this figure

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Luckily, the arm movement when holding the shields is unimpeded by the fin-blades on his arms. Also, each blade is attached on the biceps section while keeping it from touching the shoulder or forearm, thus retaining the full arm articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The inclusion of the slimy details adds a ton of value to what was, in my opinion, a fairly average sculpt, bringing it just above average. Paint was a big surprise on this figure - I was expecting it to look particularly toy-ish and plastic-looking, but they used some nice flat green plastic for the body, together with a darker green airbrush shading along the muscle striations that adds some depth to the sculpt

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The spear is a new sculpt, but the great addition is really the shell-shields. Not only can they be configured in a few different ways on Helimex's body for a variety of poses, but they can be removed and joined to form a cool snail shell

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I’ll admit I wasn’t that excited for Helimex, but after playing around with him for a bit, I came to really enjoy the shell-shields; they're what makes this figure fun

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Helimex is not a figure I was particularly looking forward to. Having the figure in hand, though, I’ve grown to appreciate his unique, if somewhat bold style. It’s further confirmation for me that even the characters I’m not particularly excited about can make for cool figures in hand.

KR|Enmity Review #26: Flail-Flinger & Dark Spirit Modi-Rha

As the race to the end of 2019 begins, I can announce that by this time next year I will be blogging about the last prototypes to be produced in the (supposed) final Key Raiders series, and a personal, seemingly unattainable milestone will be met. The realisation of that will be pretty powerful and will consolidate this creative undertaking as one of the longest in my life in terms of mission and dedication.

That being said, there is nothing like getting and reviewing a badass vehicle, along with a variant to the Dimness Edition of Modi-Rha bundled with it in a multi-pack, to look forward to that goal.

The Flail-Flinger^TM is the very first vehicle prototype produced for a KR series other than Foundation. This all-new long-demanded (by me) transport rolls into combat on real wheels, and features a big ass spinning flail as well as a self-powered single-seater module that takes off, sending the Dark Legion into battle.

Details

Name: Flail-Flinger

Subtitle: mobile demolisher with speed carrier

Classification: land vehicle

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: transport.

Description

The Flail-Flinger is the combination of two smaller combat vehicles, and is painted in metallic blue with raised golden panels and black wheels that can roll on smooth surfaces. Both units bear multiple coloured tech details such as air intakes, handle bars and dashboards with sculpted knobs, screens and buttons.

The three-wheeled speed carrier on the left side accepts most KR female figures in the driver seat (which has an optional seat belt) and features a fearsome golden eagle head design on the nose cone over the front wheel, two detachable handgrips equipped with dual projecting devices (i.e., each handgrip has a gun and a scanner that fit at the top and bottom of the hand respectively) and three turbojet engines on the tailfinned back.

The mobile demolisher sports six rolling wheels (four small on the front and middle, and two large on the back) equipped with vicious hubcap spikes, and can fit a figure on the rear cockpit, which comes complete with a footboard, a pair of handle grips and a HUD face shield. This tank-like unit is embellished with impact-resistant panels and exhaust pipes on the sides, a dragon-themed motif with eye-cannons on the hull front and a monster face (which is very reminiscent of Wordron's face in his enhanced form) embossed on the rear hatch (which cannot be open, unfortunately).

Action feature

The left half of the Flail-Flinger is a detachable (via a magnetic system) speed carrier with a futuristic design and three real rolling wheels: two on the back and one on the front. The vehicle is characterised by a double configuration: when in speed-drive mode, the driver sits with the back upright and the handlebars are set vertically; when in attack-hover mode, the driver lies on the stomach and is enveloped in the vehicle's framework (the nose cone swings open and shut to enfold the upper body, and the rear pod unfolds and encases the lower body), while the handlebars swivel forward to acquire a horizontal position (the scanners allow the driver to navigate in a kind of augmented reality mode), and the rear fenders and wheels swing down and spread out to transform into a pair of wing-shaped hover pads.

The tank-like main body of the Flail-Flinger is a mobile demolisher, which is equipped with a revolving turret for a gigantic extensible ball-and-chain flail that spins when the vehicle is rolled forward or backward (you have to pull the turret up first, to engage the mechanism). The rotating armoured tower is connected by a sort of roller chain to a roughly spherical striking end, which has great details and consists of a dark-grey boulder surrounded by silver chains and studded with a myriad of silver spikes. The extensibility feature is recreated with two different gunmetal rigid roller chain pieces that make it possible to adjust the length of the flail for long or short alternatives; the mace piece can also be directly attached to the turret for the fully retracted display option.

Weapons and accessories

The speed carrier features five blasters on the front (two pairs on the sides, in the lower parts of the nose cone, and a larger central cannon on the top), while two pairs of small missile launchers are revealed when the rear fenders swing down.

Also included is an all-new version of Modi-Rha that features a Dark Spirit-inspired look. This is basically a repaint of Dimness Modi-Rha, which resembles the shadowy black silhouette projected from her body as seen in the comics of the Dimness series. The figure is cast in a black plastic and shows bright violet lines on its surface, like if it had fractured without coming apart. Modi-Rha comes with no weapon, but she looks cool with the speed carrier's detached weaponised handles in her hands.

Overall, the Flail-Flinger is a marvel. It's not quite as big as the Ceratank (incidentally, my other favourite vehicle in the KR line), but it's still quite large. The painting/tampo work here is mostly good, and, along with the nice metallic blue and gold highlights, there's a dark wash over the vehicle to help bring out the sculpted detail. The wheels roll well, and the spinning gimmick, while a little on the slow side, works alright. The included Modi-Rha variant is pretty cool all on its own. Simply put, this set is an extremely impressive offering.

KR|Dimness Review #21: Kratok

Toy prototype details

Name: Kratok^TM

Subtitle: brutal gladiator

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 17 in the line.

Character details

Name: Kratok

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: lieutenant colonel.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, the kingdom's population suffered the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed by Bi-Harr for psychological manipulation. A small percentage of the inhabitants who emerged were born with defects, and while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including a malformed and disfigured man named Kratok, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Like his loyal friend Terebror, Kratok was tricked by Wordron into entering his laboratory, where he was transformed and grafted with a vicious weapon and a pair of cybernetic legs, allowing him to leap long distances and with great force. Towering over most of his opponents, Kratok reached new incredible heights when he was confronted by the Forseha warriors, and fought as a nearly unstoppable gladiator of immeasurable power.

Articulation

Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed, the knees are swivel-hinged, the ankles are only hinged and there's an additional double hinged point of articulation at the midtarsal joint of each foot.

Description

Head: Kratok sports an off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that resembles tarnished silver) helmet with gold details, including a pair of long, curved horns emerging from the sides and a series of five spikes running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the helmet. His face is concealed under a demonic bronze mask, which reminds me of a traditional Japanese mask, with completely black eye holes and a sculpted beard. While the helmet shows some cyber details here and there, the mask looks like it can be detached - I initially thought that was just an illusion created by the great sculpt, but it is actually removable... unfortunately there's no face underneath, just a socket

Body: the exposed parts of his body (i.e., arms and abdomen) show white skin. The left forearm has a mechanical golden bracer with a few black wires extending to the upper arm

Wearables: a laminar golden armour with off-white details and bolts around the edges, a bronze armband and a laminar golden gauntlet with a spiked cuff on the right arm, a spiked golden belt with two little side-compartments, and a pair of knee-long pearl white pants. Apart from two off-white spikes protruding from each spaulder and two criss-crossed black leather strings that join the two sides of the vertical opening on the front, the armour bears, like the helmet, a few sparse cyber details as well as three black tubes that run from the right side of the lower back to the left shoulder. Despite Kratok mainly relies on the viciousness of his bionic body parts, he is also briefly shown to use a melee weapon (more on this later) and two bronze daggers, which are two included separate pieces that are stowed in two small lamellar black leather scabbards integrated with his pants.

Kratok's stylised helmet with full-face mask.

Kratok's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Kratok is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, highly trained in armed and unarmed combat. He has a pair of blade-like cybernetic lower legs, which provide him with superhuman strength and agility, a bionic left forearm that holds a high-tech swivelling crossbow-cannon, and, judging by their ability to glow occasionally, bionic eyes.

His below-knee bionic legs display a huge amount of tech-mech details and are connected to the upper legs via two steel sockets, to the back of which two golden "blades" are attached; these prostheses are really cool, because they resemble large mechanical theropod lower legs with nasty steel cleats on the soles of the feet. Moreover, each socket is connected to the top of the corresponding foot via two ball joints by a steel damper with a black coil spring encircling it. Although unfortunately there's no spring action in the figure, in the comics these spring-loaded attack legs allow Kratok to leap great distances and to strike with powerful kicks.

Additionally, Kratok's left arm is equipped with an ivory bolt that can be fictionally shot from his golden crossbow-cannon. This piece has a head in the form of a carved demon's face that is very similar to Kratok's mask, and can attach to and detach from the weapon, but there is no spring-loaded mechanism for shooting action.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the crossbow-cannon bolt and the two daggers, Kratok comes with a few extra pieces and first up is his above-mentioned melee weapon - a double-bitted off-white battle axe with one of the two blades connected by a chain to a spiked golden wrecking ball. Even if it's a bit over exaggerated, I really like this weapon: it's nice and solid, fits well in the figure's hand and even has a beautiful coat of arms design, featuring a cross and dragons, engraved on the unchained blade.

Additionally, the figure includes a gauntleted left hand that can replace the entire crossbow-cannon, so we can make a two-handed version of the character, even if this never appears in the comic book. The two hands are especially practical for grasping the two daggers housed in the thighs.

Finally, there are two alternate face masks, which are identical to the standard one except for some paint differences: one has bright glow-in-the-dark eyes, while the other has reptile-like blueish eyes with vertical orange pupils and a red mouth. I get the necessity of the former, but I have no idea where the latter comes from... perhaps it acts as a sort of painted Daruma doll.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the third and final comic issue Into dimness: Part II – Escape. Wordron recruits Mohrdax, the wicked chief monk of a nearby monastery, in a grand scheme to make the Forseha people undo themselves. The tribe learns that Wordron has enslaved the cloisterers of the monastery and decides to confront the villain, but the dispute reaches a deadlock. Frustrated, Masq-Lor shoots an arrow to distract Wordron, but the dart hits a disguised Mohrdax, who protects himself with a force-field. Masq-Lor is devastated when he sees the seemingly lifeless body lying on the ground. Convinced he has killed a man, he walks away consoled by his friends. In exchange for Mohrdax's collaboration, Wordron uses his knowledge to build an army for the evil monk. At the same time, he also discovers a new power of the Plant Creatures', which he wishes to test, and sends out his minions to capture some members of the Forseha tribe. A beautiful woman introduces herself as the inhabitant of a village that has been overrun by hideous creatures and asks for the tribesmen's help to liberate her people. The heroes are initially suspicious of her story, but, blinded by the woman's beauty, they decide to follow her anyway, ending up being met and overpowered by the Dark Legion soon after. It turns out the woman was in fact Modi-Rha in disguise, sent to lure the Forseha people into Wordron's trap. Alerted by Xehrea, the other heroes, including Masq-Lor, rush to help their fellows and, while Wordron is actually waiting for them, they burst into the villain's fortress, making the struggle between them and the members of the Dark Legion begin. Wordron gets the upper hand and when he's just about to use the Plant Creatures for torturing his victims, Masq-Lor offers himself as a replacement for his friends. Immediately, the boy is turned into a monster and Wordron orders him to kill his former companions, but in the very last moment Masq-Lor is freed from the curse by his own will and by Xehrea's encouraging words. The hero rushes back to Wordron and turns the tides of the battle single-handedly by killing the demon, while the other tribesmen free the remaining prisoners and defeat the Dark Legion once and for all.

Overall, if you look at the story from the logical point of view, the question will be: why doesn't Wordron capture his enemies in the first meeting? The answer is that he's planning to overcome Masq-Lor with grief, in order to eventually use the boy's potential for his evil plans. The story gives the new characters plenty of exposure and the advancement of plot details, such as Masq-Lor questioning his worthiness to fight and the definitive vanquishment of Wordron and his Dark Legion, makes it be worthy of a great series finale.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ While Kratok may not be the most interesting character for many, he sure does add presence to the line-up among the more familiar characters

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Since he’s not overly armoured, he doesn’t have much to hinder his articulation in the upper body, so he moves quite well. However, I find that due to their peculiar design, his legs are less articulated than I’d like

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Kratok looks appropriately vicious with his face mask and bionic parts. The colours of the figure look good to me, although they aren’t 100% comic book-accurate

Accessories: ♠♠♠ All the extra items are neat additions and their inclusion adds enormously to the overall package. I do notice and appreciate the metallic shine given off from some of the paint

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I have a lot of fun with this figure, he looks super cool posed with the rest of the KR|Dimness guys, because he has such a unique look and colour scheme. The attachments are also great fun to swap out and pose

Overall: ☺☺☺ While Kratok may not be a figure that will stand out for many potential KR fans, I’m glad to have him on my shelf.

KR|Dimness Review #19: Zorib

Toy prototype details

Name: Zorib^TM

Subtitle: ferocious warrior beast

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 15 in the line.

Character details

Name: Zorib

Classification: rodent mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: using the magic of the ancient spirits enshrined in Clavisaur's body, the evil Wordron transformed some of the most savage animals of the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region into his own beastly servants. Grown to a human-like size and endowed with enhanced strength, these monsters fought under the Dark Legion banner as mercenaries. Zorib was a severely injured small spiny rodent when he was magically mutated into a beastlike zombie. Often capable of swinging the advantage to his side, Zorib served Wordron and fought against the Forseha tribe with his vicious hair-mace until the Dark Legion's ultimate defeat, when he died miserably on the battlefield.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: zombie-ish rodent-like, characterised by purplish skin, heavy black brows, green eyes with soulless black pupils (the left eye is narrowed, while the right one is wide open, slightly bulging and with a bloodshot tint to it), a pug-like broad flat nose, and an asymmetrically open mouth with many crooked yellow-orange teeth (including a pair of powerful razor-sharp incisors) jutting out and looking like they're covered in plaque and blood. He also has long projecting spiny blueish bristles growing from his cheeks. Finally, a thick mane of cylindrical spines (which are marked with black and pale yellow bands, and resemble gnarly dreadlocks) hangs down along his neck and back; a part of the mane is arranged into a long, roughly braided ponytail, which is wrapped in engraved pale yellow bony cuffs at its base, middle and end, and is connected to a spiked golden-yellow wrecking ball by a short metal chain

Body: purplish skin (Zorib’s body was moulded in a purple colour and then was tinted with blue and black in various areas to give his skin more depth), claw hands and feet with long black nails on the fingers and toes (which are nicely sculpted with lines and chips in them). His torso is sculpted with the neck and shoulders hunched forward, which gives him a great menacing beastly look, while his biceps, forearms and calves are adorned with several blueish spines. The left side of his abdomen actually shows teeth marks and a half gnawed-off flank, suggesting that he was caught by the jaws of a large predator. He also displays a long segmented, bifurcated purplish tail emerging from under the loincloth, whose ends are covered in long thin blueish spines

Wearables: a brown leather armour with golden-yellow collar and shoulder guards as well as pale yellow bony details (including rivets, diamond-shaped studs and a rodent skull-shaped brooch), a narrow spiked bronze bracelet on the right arm, a large brown leather wrist guard on the left arm, a brown leather garter (ornamented with bronze studs) around the right thigh, two brown leather shin guards, a brown leather belt, and a tribal-looking loincloth made of black fur, grey leather and a bunch of dangling pale yellow bony items such as jawbones, claws and horns. The wrist guard, the shin guards and the belt are all embellished with bronze details such as studs and rodent skull-shaped ornaments.

Zorib's stylised armour; the circle at the side of the chest piece represents a skull-shaped brooch.

Action feature

In the comics, Zorib shows several abilities, such as using his prehensile tails (which are capable of regeneration if a part is broken off), shooting his venomous quills from various parts of his body to a considerable distance at an enemy, and whipping around with his hair-flail to hit or entangle his opponents and even stun them by a static shock. Of course, most of those abilities couldn't be recreated in the toy, but at least the figure makes a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds (similarly to a rattlesnake) when shaken, which is something that Zorib does with his tails when he's preparing to shoot his spines.

Additionally, the ponytail portion of his "hair" is cast in a very flexible and soft plastic, so it can have some leeway for posing options, and can actually be split in the middle, while the chained sphere at the end is removable. So, it's actually possible to adjust the length of the ponytail for long or short alternatives and have the mace piece attached to either look. I know that using rooted hair for the ponytail was considered as a possibility during design - although rooted hair is also a nice effect and makes for a fun gimmick, I think the current solution is a great piece of engineering that allows for different display options.

Weapons and accessories

Zorib only comes with one accessory, which is his melee weapon - a golden-yellow staff with a toothed mace end that is formed of two large pale yellow jawbones. The other end of the staff is also a weapon with a bladed edge. By default, the club is displayed with the halves of the toothed section pointing up and the fangs projecting outwards, but the jaws are articulated, and can pivot and swing up and down, so the weapon could also be used to bite an opponent.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I may not have cared about him before, but Zorib’s definitely getting a nice spot on my shelf

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ I'm happy the folks at PoliganToys added some ratty looking loincloth fur and leather to make him a bit more decent than in the comics. On the other hand, I was afraid this would affect the thigh swivels, which would have hurt his potential battle poses, but the result offers surprisingly good articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ His sculpt is very good and what I really like about his body is its posture. His face is expressive, appropriately harsh and very violence-prone. His outfit is nicely detailed and he overall has a pretty good amount of quality. Zorib’s paint is without complaint too, he has a combination of bronze, gold and ivory tones that sets him apart from nearly anybody in his faction

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ There is only one weapon, but it's so greatly executed, with sculpted scars and gouges from plenty of use, that makes any other accessories unnecessary

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ It’s kind of cool that he decided to turn his "hair" into a bludgeoning implement. The hair-mace is quite flexible and feels durable, and definitely makes it for a fun action feature

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Zorib has some good things going for. He looks vicious and martial, has the most fiendish weapon ever, and his costume just looks rugged. Honestly, he is pretty good, and his barbaric monstrous look helps him blend in with the other characters from the KR|Dimness line.

KR|Dimness Review #17: Terebror

Toy prototype details

Name: Terebror^TM

Subtitle: baleful destroyer

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 13 in the line.

Character details

Name: Terebror

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: lieutenant commander.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, the kingdom's population suffered the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed by Bi-Harr for psychological manipulation. A small percentage of the inhabitants who emerged were born with defects, and while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including an armless and disfigured man named Terebror, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Terebror's desire to become a skillful warrior allowed Wordron to lure him into his laboratory with promises of fame and glory, but instead he was transformed into an insane cybernetically-enhanced minion. Half-man half-machine, Terebror relentlessly fought his enemies by shooting vicious chisel-like projectiles with his robotic arms.

Articulation
Standard, except that the "wrists" are ball jointed.

Description

Head: he wears a tech biter mask (which features two upwards curved rostra on the chin, as well as some rivets, grooves and tubes, making him look like a weird mash-up of Hannibal Lecter and Bane from The Dark Knight Rises) and a side-crested helmet topped with a spike (similarly to a Pickelhaube) that resembles a fairly large conical drill bit; both items are painted in metallic light-blue with shiny purple details. While not much of his face is exposed here (only his dark-brown eyes surrounded by taupe skin are visible), his furrowed brow suggests a fierce expression. The top part of the helmet can be removed, exposing Terebror's bald and disturbingly scarred scalp, while the biter mask extends over the ears with a kind of headphone-like device (to which the two side crests are actually attached) and buckles at the nape

Body: the only exposed parts of his body are the shoulders, which are the remnants of his human arms and show taupe skin, although they are mostly concealed under two purple shoulder pads that are embellished with metallic light-blue bolts and attached via a rubber “hinge” to the armour. His torso seems to be wearing a sleeveless black shirt, while his legs are covered with sturdy light-blue trousers (is he wearing blue jeans?) that bear black leather knee pads and two large side pockets, from which two sculpted chisel-looking metallic light-blue implements peek out

Wearables: a purple bulletproof vest with metallic light-blue details, two purple leather combat boots that buckle up at the sides and a purple leather belt with a four-bladed gunmetal shuriken as a buckle. A gunmetal compressor-backpack is placed on his back, and is attached to two criss-crossed purple armoured straps that run around his shoulders and chest over the vest.

Terebror's stylised helmet with side crests.

Terebror's stylised harness over bulletproof vest.

Action feature

Terebror displays his iconic huge robotic arms that he is most dreaded for in the comics. These are essentially replacements for his human arms, and sport functioning pistons and connected wiring/tubing above the "elbows". The design of these cybernetic limbs just generally gives them a martial, weapon-ish look and makes them reminiscent of other crazy concepts such as Power Arm Terminator and Dutch Schaefer from the Alien vs Predator arcade game. Instead of traditional hands, Terebror fictionally carries several tools that release, and often shoot, from his mechanical forearms (which bear blade-like shiny purple spikes sticking out the sides), and that he uses to demolish enemy structures and generate earth tremors. The jackhammer-like gunmetal arms are connected via two black pliable tubes to the two ends of a cylinder placed horizontally at the bottom of his backpack; the backpack, in turn, is connected to a slot of the biter mask on Terebror's nape with the aid of an additional black tube departing from its top.

The figure comes with a nice set of metallic-light blue add-ons that plug into his wrist-chucks: two pairs of large chisel-bits and a pair of piledriver pistons. The bits include a pair of flat blades and a pair of pointy, cross-shaped tips, while the piston-like parts (which feature a sort of release mechanism, as you can slide the shafts out) transform his arms into powerful piledrivers that, when pounded against the ground, can cause violent earthquakes.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his tools/projectiles, Terebror comes with two pairs of metallic light-blue robotic hands and a pair of translucent orange firing effects. The cyber hands plug into the same chuck-like sockets used for the tools, and each open hand can swap out with a closed-fisted one.

Additionally, each mechanical arm can be equipped with a flamethrower effect that attaches to another slot just below the chuck.
Finally, to deal with a slightly inconsistent design in the comic book, there's an alternate unhelmeted head, which is identical to the standard one except for a black leather strap that runs centrally over the head from the biter mask to the nape.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ After some really cool, imaginative designs through the first half of 2019, this one still shines as a solid figure and will fit in nicely with the rest of the KR|Dimness lineup

Articulation: ♥♥ The overall articulation is as outstanding as ever, but the torso and waist are a little restricted by the armour+backpack this time around. It's not terrible, but considering how good this base body is, that's a bit disappointing

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ As I said, there are a couple of different themes going on here - a bit of Bane or Hannibal with the mouth mask and a bit of Terminator vs Predator (how cool would that be!) with the arms. The detailing on both the head sculpt and the arms looks terrific; the paint work is solid, but metallic paints are always tough ones to work with. There are a few slops here and there, and some of the edges are off by a bit. Update: PoliganToys informed me that some details such as the face mask and the bolts on the shoulder guards will probably be repainted in gunmetal colour if and when the figure is released

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The sculpts are solid here too, although the paintjob on the piston pieces is pretty skimpy

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This is a very fun action figure. Actually, with the general bionic man-like theme, one might not even realise he is a bad guy, and could have him playing either side of the field

Overall: ☺☺☺ Despite a few nitpicks, Terebror is a pretty sharp figure. The limbs sculpt is incredible, the head looks great, and it’s nice to have a cyber-themed action figure in this barbarian-filled series.

KR|Dimness Review #15: Anobiac

Toy prototype details

Name: Anobiac^TM

Subtitle: insectoid bounty hunter

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 11 in the line.

Character details

Name: Anobiac

Classification: insect

Sex: uncertain (the character was originally conceived as a male, but the figure's body frame size suggests that it might have been changed into a female during production)

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: using the magic of the ancient spirits enshrined in Clavisaur's body, the evil Wordron transformed some of the most savage animals of the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region into his own beastly servants. Grown to a human-like size and endowed with enhanced strength, these monsters fought under the Dark Legion banner as mercenaries. Anobiac was just a flying insect when one of the spirits possessed it and transmuted it into a ferocious warrior, who savoured destruction and death. Even after the Dark Legion's ultimate defeat, Anobiac continued to act proudly as a fearsome and deadly bounty hunter in his old master's name.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen, and with the addition of two ball hinged arms and four ball hinged wings.

Description

Head: insect-like, characterised by a segmented light-blueish hood that surrounds and merges with a black snout. It displays a pair of long, thin light-blueish antennae pointing forward, a pair of fairly large bulbous silvery compound eyes, three smaller yellow eye spots on the forehead and a whitish-jawed Predator-like mouth composed of a two-fanged upper labrum, two mandibles and two maxillae with cutting edges (the latter are flanked by two short black segmented appendages or palps), and a finely serrated lower labium (also flanked by palps)

Body: all her body is characterised by a segmented black appearance and is protected by a number of light-blueish chitinous exoskeletal plates, which act as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards (we can even get a glimpse of a similar harness-shaped structure on her torso, under the armour), and bear numerous details on their surfaces, such as cracks, spines, small porous warts and tiny hair-shaped appendages. Her slender arms and legs sport three-clawed black hands and feet, with the third claw of each foot pointing backward and down, and functioning as a sort of high heel. An additional pair of arthropod-like light-blueish arms, each terminating in a long bifurcated claw, project from her lower back

Wearables: an orange armour with red details (including a furry collar and a pair of spines projecting from the top of the shoulder guards), two scaly (with some of the scales developing a bit more into spines) orange wrist guards, two scaly/spiny orange shin guards, a spiked orange belt and a red furry loincloth.

Anobiac's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Anobiac can protrude a vicious dental plate at great speed from her mouth. This whitish chitinous structure lies in a horizontal position and has a row of curved, piranha-like teeth along the edge, resembling a circular saw blade; it also folds bilaterally, helping with the extending/retracting motion she uses to attack her opponents. So, the figure comes with a spectacular alternative head, which displays the open mouth armed with the threatening dental plate out.

Additionally, her back plate carries two sets of posable wings. The leaf-shaped iridescent silvery outer wings function as a menacing pair of sharp blades and, when folded, as a shield for the reduced club-shaped inner wings, which are light-blueish and carry a pair of toothed whitish chitinous structures at their ends. These parts are quite different from the dental plate, each having a series of five vibrating curved blades that in concerted sequential motion resembles a circular saw; although these organs do not fictionally rotate, they actually do in toy form.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternate head, Anobiac includes an intimidating "corkscrew" spear, which consists of a long reddish wooden shaft with a metallic red handle and a pointed, spiral whitish chitinous tip. This weapon is actually never shown in the comics, but it's a quite cool addition in my opinion.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ As a collector of the KR|Foundation line prototypes, Zektax was probably my favourite figure. Another insect character has been on my personal most-wanted lists for several years and now it's finally here

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ The range of motion on the extra appendages is great and Anobiac looks awesome in a variety of flying poses

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ I know this was a pet project for the folks at PoliganToys, and, indeed, they delivered a figure that makes for a visually stunning addition to the line

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The frightening add-ons she comes with should make everybody learn it may not be worth the trouble of fighting with this creature

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This figure not only gives the Dark Legion a new monster amongst their ranks, but also further fleshes out Tahron's complex biology and perhaps provides a friendly foil for the Murmirians descendants

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This is another triumphant concept-design made into action figure. I have often thought about how there really weren’t enough insectoid characters produced in the KR line. That's now changed with Anobiac being successfully produced in the Dimness series.

KR|Dimness Review #13: Dark Legion Plant Creatures

Toy prototype details

Name: Dark Legion Plant Creatures^TM

Subtitle: deadly vegetal monsters

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: multi-pack (3-pack) - Nº 4 in the line.

Character details

Name: Dark Legion Plant Creature

Classification: plant

Sex: male, female or hermaphrodite

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: footman, steed or queen.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: when the ancient Reptonoid^TM warrior Rabidriss^TM was killed during a fierce battle against King Khon-Uhr^TM and his Theriom^TM armies, the deadly pits produced by his parasitic plant sank in the swamps of Ucamur and remained confined for many centuries. The seeds were eventually discovered by Wordron, whose wicked intentions led him to use them in an attempt to revive the mystical golem Clavisaur. The seeds transformed into voracious crawling critters and their hunger for life force was viciously tested on the Forseha people. Once Clavisaur reawakened, he transformed the parasites into a demonic army of soldiers and steeds, and enhanced them with new powers that allowed them to fight using toxic vines and to manipulate plant life according to Wordron's cruel will. The reclusive warrior Moh-Qi^TM, who initially refused Solamya's offer of an alliance, helped the heroes stop the evil monsters from becoming an even bigger threat for the entire tribe. Together, they used a powerful antidote to end the Plant Creatures' ruthless war upon the brave tribesmen, but couldn't prevent them from becoming a menace to all people of Tahron through their proliferation and spread.

The set includes three figures: a Plant-Man, a Plant-Beast and a Mother-Plant, which I'm going to describe separately.

Plant-Man

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a ball jointed extra neck piece, two fully articulated arms with hinged pincers, and one fully articulated leg.

Description

Head: roughened brown appearance, two stacked pairs of devilish deep set red eyes. The top and lower jaws (between which a subtle dark-green, seemingly muscular membrane stretches) end in serrated edges fringed by tooth-like white protrusions, which make the mouth resemble the snap trap leaf of a carnivorous plant and look like displaying an evil grin. A cabbage-like black washed magenta structure on the top of its head recalls an unopened flower bud or seed pod. The decidedly creepy design of its head is completed by an extension piece that represents its forward-bent, branch-like knotty wooden neck

Body: its knotty brown wooden body comprises a trunk-like torso, four branch-like arms with spiny shoulders and forearms (the bottom arms have clawed, snap trap leaf-like hands, while the topmost arms carry woody pincers) and three root-like radially arranged legs+feet with spiny knees and calves

Wearables: a torso covering made of veined dark-green leaves and trimmed with dark-brown woody vines; a Dark Legion symbol (i.e., a diamond-shaped gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face) is placed at the centre. A number of spiny and ivy-leaved dark-green vines wrap around the forearms, lower legs and waist; these vines are also loosely connected to the upper arms, thighs and hips respectively, preserving the full range of motion. The design includes leaf-shaped details such as a tall collar, two shoulder pads and a loincloth, which are dark-green on the underside and dark-brown on the upper side.

Dark Legion Plant-Man's stylised covering; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Dark Legion symbol.

Action feature

The Dark legion Plant-Man has slightly longer arms compared to the standard figure, which allow for a menacing enemy-crunching action pose.

Weapons and accessories

The figure comes with two vine-based accessories, both with slender ivy-leaved dark-green tendrils that twine round larger spiny dark-brown woody stems. One is a tangled cluster of such vines that attaches snugly to the Plant-Man's claw-fingered right hand and looks like the monster is growing it straight out of its body. The other piece is a single vine that ends with a small carnivorous plant-like mouth ready to attack the Forseha people. This piece is bendy and can wrap around any one of the Plant-Man's arms or around other figures to ensnare them; when the monster is not using it, there are two little bumps on its back that can act like a weapon clip. While these pieces may have been even better with a lighter brown paint application, to match the Plant-Man's body colour, I’m not going to complain because they work so well with the figure and are easy to attach and pose.

Plant-Beast

Articulation

The Dark Legion Plant-Beast's articulation includes a ball jointed upper neck, a hinged lower neck, a swivel-hinged tail and eight swivel-hinged legs (each featuring two additional swivel-hinged joints at about one-third and two-thirds of its length).

Description

The roughened brown top and lower jaws (between which a dark-green, seemingly muscular membrane stretches) of this horrifying creature's head end in serrated edges (fringed by tooth-like white protrusions with trickles of resin-like drool) and have two pairs of devilish deep set red eyes each. Its crustacean-like knotty brown wooden body has four branch-like, spiny front legs (the frontmost of which don't touch the ground and carry a pair of mantis-like woody pincers), four root-like, spiny hind legs and a root-like tail.

Action feature

The Plant-Beast has two powerful raptorial legs on the front, each terminating in a large woody claw-blade curved downward and a cleft appendage curved upward. Aside from catching and holding a foe securely, these arms can alternatively lift the prey using their terminal appendages as hooks.

Accessories

The figure comes with a removable bridle, consisting of an arrangement of spiny and ivy-leaved dark-green tendrils that twine round larger dark-brown woody stems (which develop into a pair of reins), as well as a saddle, which has a button closure on the bottom and is characterised by a dark-green leafy texture with dark-brown woody details (incorporating a pair of stirrups).

Mother-Plant

Articulation

The Dark Legion Mother-Plant's neck is a ball joint with a swivel-hinge at the base of the neck-peg, which gives it a full range of motion, wile her unique hip system accommodates five swivel-hinged legs in fantastic fashion; her shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles share the same swivel-hinge joint, allowing for excellent motion and play.

Description

The Mother-Plant is basically a larger-scale (roughly 38 cm tall, around 15''), less articulated version of the Plant-Man. Her roughened brown head is a hybrid of the Plant-Man's and Plant-Beast's heads, and carries a complex and bizarrely shaped bloomed flower on the top. The flower resembles that of Rafflesia arnoldii and has a few leafy green fronds surrounding its base, four fleshy maroon petals covered with whitish warts and poisonous spines, as well as a bowl-like central structure from which a number of lime filaments emerge. Additionally, a fifth, enlarged and highly modified petal on the front functions as a specialised lip and is divided into three lobes: the side lobes are erect and form a spur-like tubular projection that seemingly extends from the base of the bowl-shaped central structure, while the middle lobe has wavy lime ridges on the upper surface and a pair of slender whitish appendages that resemble fangs pointing upward.

Her knotty brown wooden body comprises a trunk-like torso, four branch-like arms with spiny shoulders and forearms (the bottom arms have large claw hands, while the topmost arms carry woody pincers) and five root-like radially arranged legs+feet with spiny knees and calves. Even if her leg articulation works pretty well and allows her to get into a standing pose, the Mother-Plant is meant to be displayed in a crouched/sitting pose with her knees bent.

There are leafy/woody/viny embellishments here and there, which recall the Plant-Man's design, such as a torso covering as well as a number of stalks that wrap around the limbs and the lower trunk.

Action feature

In the comics, the small animated vine creatures produced by the Plant-Men are eventually coated by a sticky, viscous resin exuded by the Mother-Plant's flower, transforming them into new, fully developed Plant-Men. At some point, Wordron has the intuition to use this process on his enemies, converting the Mother-Plant into a torture chamber of sorts. After the victim has been bound to the monster's trunk-like torso by her woody claws, and slimed over with the awful ooze of resin from the flower, the gruesome goop quickly solidifies and transforms the captive into a mindless zombie, who bursts from the translucent hardened material and shows total loyalty to Wordron. In the toy, the articulated arms can trap an action figure securely and, after filling the flower with a slime-like fluid (it's necessary to remove a cap hidden in the central bowl structure) and tilting the Mother-Plant's head forward, the slimy resin is dumped from the flower's lip onto the figure's head, slowly coating it completely.

Accessories

The figure comes with a 180 cc (approximately 6 fl. oz.) plastic container made to resemble a cauldron that contains a honey-orange oozy material. I'm not sure we can call this substance Slime, since that was a toy product manufactured by Mattel and introduced in the winter of 1976, but the main components of the material released by PoliganToys are the same polysaccharide guar gum and sodium tetraborate. Though not originally manufactured for the Key Raiders line, I'm happy that it found it's way into the series alongside the Mother-Plant prototype.

Additionally, the figure includes a base, onto which an unfortunate figure can be posed. This stand is fully sculpted and painted in beautiful grey stone detail.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ PoliganToys continues to find exciting ways to breathe life into the KR|Dimness series. It's been almost six months, and prototypes are still pouring into my mailbox. This multi-pack, comprised of an action figure, a creature and a large scale figure, is the best possible addition to the Dark Legion's ranks, although it is probably going to be so pricey that it'll be very unlikely to use it as an army builder

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Most of the usual KR articulation for anthropomorphic and animal-like creatures is here, even though it can be a bit restricted by different add-ons

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The design of these creatures matches up with their comic book representations nicely, and incorporates an insanely large number of newly tooled pieces. There's a hit of red tints with the eyes and flower pieces, but the rest of these monsters is painted in various shades of brown and green. I can totally live with that, as they're plants after all

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ All the accessories (including the slimy resin material) are great, but my favourite piece is the snake-like chunk of vine (complete with open mouth) for the Plant-Man; it's a weapon of sorts, since it could bite an opponent, but it's also the monster's offspring... how creepy is that!

Playability: ♪♪♪♪♪ These items truly pop on the shelf and are a ton of fun. The articulation and accessories allowed me to have a really good time posing and... sliming them :)

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ These guys are characterised by a few issues here and there, such as lack of army-building potential and some odd decisions in the articulation and paint application departments, but nothing major or compelling. I love their head sculpts, and their overall design does a great job of using many new parts to create a unique look. This set would definitely be a solid release for the KR|Dimness line.