KR|Origin Review #29: Varadria

Toy prototype details

Name: Varadria^TM

Subtitle: faithful spouse

Line: KR|Origin

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 5 in the line (this figure will likely be packed with a re-release of Zhongat).

Character details

Name: Varadria

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Relationships: wife of Zhongat

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: ally.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Related character(s): Zhongat.

Articulation
Varadria's articulation scheme differs from the standard one significantly and is the following:
- neck (ball jointed)
- shoulder (ball hinged, x2)
- elbow (ball hinged, x2)
- wrist (swivel + hinged -for left wrist front-to-back movement and right wrist side-to-side movement-, x2)
- mid-torso (ball jointed)
- tail (swivel)

Description
Head: similar to a Komodo dragon, characterised by ochre skin, a long scaly snout with a closed mouth, light-blue eyes, and a gular fold
Body: shorter than most characters (only 12 cm, almost 5"), bulky. Her body is covered from neck to toe except for the hands and a tail. Her hands display long black claws, while the thick pointy tail, which is as long as the rest of her body, emerges from under her skirt. Her exposed body parts, especially the tail, display a rugged hide reinforced with bony armoured scales, and show crazes, warts and an ochre drybrush that brings out all the amazing detail in the sculpt

Wearables: a floor length, long-sleeved light-green crocodile leather dress (with yellow cuffs and hem, all showing a tortoiseshell-like texture and decorated with golden studs). A broad collar/necklace is wrapped around and supported by her neck and shoulders; from the inside to the outside, the collar is made of closely placed rows of teardrop yellow stone beads, tubular golden yellow pieces and large scute-like golden plates, and is connected with clasps of gold. The dress is secured by a Y-shaped belt made of several metallic light-green rings laced together (except for the forked tongue-shaped, tortoiseshell-patterned studded yellow vertical element that includes a purple-gemmed golden buckle resembling a neural spine sail). Finally, she wears a dark-green fabric removable cape characterised by a wide collar that slightly rises on the back, forming a sort of cowl, and a hem trimmed with light-green crocodile leather.

Action feature

In the comics, Varadria is depicted as an incredibly wise creature, and such a quality is well rendered by the standard portrait of this figure. However, a second head, showing a slightly open mouth with closely spaced serrated teeth along the edges of the jaws as well as a long, deeply forked yellow tongue flowing out, is also included. I like that although the sculpt is very reminiscent of Zhongat's face, it still has a feminine appearance.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from her alternative head, Varadria comes with a wooden stick around which two intertwined golden dragons (one looking European, the other Chinese) are coiled; the two dragons' heads emerge over the end of the stick, which is topped by a purple glassy orb, while the other end is adorned with a metallic light-green point.

Final thoughts
Overall: I think Varadria is perfect. The sculpt, colouring and paint-job are spot-on. I am also very happy with this figure being packed with a re-release of her beloved husband's figure. If you’re not a fan of their scaled down aesthetic, I can see how they wouldn’t be appealing, but since I’m a completist type of guy, I want as many characters as I can

Rating: ☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Origin Review #28: Galamùs & DeNardo

Toy prototype details
Name: Galamùs & DeNardo
Subtitle: disguised Cereutian antagonists
Line: KR|Origin
Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 4 in the line.

Characters details
Names: Prof. Georges Galamùs and Dr. Nicholas DeNardo

Real names: Galamars and Denortos
Classification: uncertain
Sex: males
Home: Cereutis
Era: Earth's 21^st century (later transported to ancient Tahron - 520 years before Foundation)
Affiliation: independent (later enlisted in the Theriom and the Reptonoid armies, respectively)
Ranks: multiversal knight and mercenary, respectively.

Background
First appearance: KR|Origin #1 - An arduous venture
Related character(s): Galamars, Denortos.

Articulation
Standard.

Description
Heads: Prof. Galamùs looks a bit like a mix of Samuel L. Jackson and Laurence Fishburne, sporting black skin, a shaved scalp, a stubbly grizzled ducktail beard, and a pair of big, teardrop-shaped glasses. Dr. DeNardo resembles Raoul Bova, displaying white skin, curly black hair, grey-blue eyes and a five o'clock shadow on the chin and face
Bodies: both figures are covered from neck to toe, except for the hands

Wearables: each figure wears a suit jacket, which is designed with notched lapels, a single vent at back, side pockets with pocket flaps, and a single-breasted two-button fastening, as well as suit trousers, which feature straight pockets at front, two pockets at back and a leather dress belt matching the shoes colour. Galamùs's suit is middle-grey with a classic check pattern, while DeNardo's outfit is navy. Additionally, Galamùs wears black shoes as well as a waistcoat under the suit jacket together with a pink-striped white shirt, a brown tie and a colourful pocket square for a classy, high-end look. DeNardo's slim fit suit is characterised by the unbuttoned jacket worn with a white shirt, brown shoes and without a tie.

Action feature

In the comics, both Galamars and Denortos show the ability to alter their voices and appearances, and thereby assume the form of other humans, in order to go unnoticed in modern-day Earth. They also have the power to create the appearance of clothes and other materials. While Galamars does that via electromagnetic energy manipulation, creating an optical effect that gives him a different look, Denortos can actually shift the formation of his cells at will (an ability that he loses after being injured during his desperate attempt to follow Kai-Xi and Galamars on their journey to Tahron). So, each figure comes with an alternative head that simulates a mid-transformation phase. Both portraits look really cool and Denortos's one is especially spooky.

Weapons and accessories

While Prof. Galamùs comes with a brown fedora and a black leather briefcase, Dr. DeNardo only includes two small accessories: a charcoal grey wallet and a cell phone.

Final thoughts
Overall: while the accessories are pretty disappointing (except for the two alternate heads), the figures themselves are solid. Nothing terribly exciting or indispensable, but it's always good to get unconventional versions of well-known characters
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5

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

Yes, after one year of waiting and sheer anticipation since my review of the epic Tahron playset/game, the prototype of the very first expansion kit for that grand theatre of war has finally arrived to my home!

Description

The KR|Origin Expansion Kit features:

• 24 booster tokens for the game
• Two additional sections and several accessories for Theriom City Tower

• A bag with 75 translucent red chips that are shaped like Antikythron crystals

I'm going to describe these components separately.

Booster Tokens
The primary tokens comprise the basic complement of pieces that can be used to play the game; this may be expanded with booster tokens from expansion kits, which contain 24 pieces of varying qualities. One of these tokens is usually a rare piece that is much harder to obtain than the remaining pieces.

Similarly to the primary tokens, each booster token is composed of a hollow cylindrical sandy taupe base and a double mini staction figure - the latter can be reversed and half-inserted into the former, in order to show, in accordance with the progress of the game, either a generic warrior piece (face down token) or a specific one (face up token), which can represent either a completely new character or a new version of a primary piece. The cylindrical base bears a pointer, which is used to indicate the player who owns the piece.

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 Origin) and a number of accumulable credits. 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 Origin expansion pieces and their properties.

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

Theriom City Tower additional sections

Like with the original tower, the red&gold frontages of these two sections are loosely modelled after Beijing's Forbidden City. These two parts attach to the two sides of Theriom City Tower via sturdy hinges, which allow you to open up the fully assembled playset and display it with the three sections side by side, or to fold it up with each additional section positioned at a 90 degree angle to the original tower.

Section 1 (placed to the left of Theriom Tower) - exterior: the lower level features a Colosseum-like façade with a semi-decagonal plan, flanked externally by a short bridge carrying a flag-lined path across a river (yes, there's even a small sculpted piece of river), which connects an arch-shaped secondary gateway (ornamented with a large gilded Theriom emblem and holding an elaborate bronze symbolic cistern that contains a massive egg-shaped opalescent blue-white gemstone) to an elevator shaft. The upper level is characterised by the presence of a couple of small translucent blue windows (one of which can be opened) and a ledge holding a white marble sundial. The elevator shaft (ending with futuristic slender spires, and enclosing a moving chair driven by a string and held by a hook) leads to a rooftop featuring a slot for a flight stand (on which an Aviotak can perch, but I wish this space were used for the Gyrocarrier's domed heliport with elevated runway!) and a small watchtower equipped with a parapet and a rigid Theriom flag (whose pole looks like a sort of antenna).

Section 1 - interior: the inner side of the semi-decagonal wall presents a training facility, with sculpted weapons and combat-related equipment. Next to it (behind the elevator shaft), there is a bricky prison cell with a translucent blue opening door. The upper level features a room that acts both as a library and a gallery, containing shelves with collections of books and artefacts, and an array of paintings (mostly portraits of members of the Amhalgaard family). This chamber is modelled after the Amber Room and is furnished with a cloth-covered chair (equipped with two golden clips and a pillow) and a book stand; it is worth noting that due to the low ceiling, this level cannot accommodate for a standing figure. The rooftop presents several parapets and a space for parking more Aviotak aircrafts (which don't actually fit). There are also two slots for attaching an optional carrying handle - more on this later.

Section 2 (placed to the right of Theriom Tower) - exterior: the front wall of the lower level has an opening overhead door, which is (hardly) large enough to accommodate a vehicle like CoBoN. The upper level has a ledge served by stairways from both the lower level and the rooftop, and features small parapets at different levels. The top is characterised by a pyramidal roof, and a large watchtower equipped with a parapet and a rigid Theriom flag (whose pole, also in this case, looks like a sort of antenna). All the parapet pieces included in this playset are removable and can be re-positioned in different spots.

Section 2 - interior: the lower level features a garage/workshop for housing and repairing a vehicle, which is equipped with a mechanically elevating car lift, a workbench full of sculpted maintenance tools (such as a meter of some sort and a welding gun), a control panel on which instruments and controls for machinery and communication are fixed, and a lab shelf with glass containers for chemicals. Next to it, there is a small garden with sculpted shrubs and flowers, which is seemingly an outdoor space separated from the garage by a wall and an upright pillar (the latter being an obvious reference to a gazebo—furnished with table, seats, benches and sculptures—that is missing in this playset). The upper level is dominated by a dining room (sometimes used as a music room) with large mirror stickers, which is modelled after the Hall of Mirrors. It contains a table with sculpted cutlery, bowls of food, fruit baskets and two separate goblets of wine (these cups are chromed with gold, have a nice design patterned around the outside, and hold a dark-purple “liquid”), an elaborate chandelier hanging from a caisson ceiling, and a fireplace with a flame-like lenticular sticker and a removable grate; six chairs are also included, but they can't really fit in the room when the table is present.

Additionally, the set comes with a throne that has a permanently attached red fur rug, which is meant to replace the conference table in the council room of Theriom City Tower, in order to match the Origin (and also the Enmity) series' throne hall look. Every intricate detail of this throne, crafted with the utmost care, radiates an aura of majesty and authority.

There is also a set of optional swivelling latches and a carrying handle, which allow you to safely lock the opening sides of the assembled playset and to carry this by the handle.

Game rules with expansion pieces

Setup
The setup of a game with booster tokens is identical to the one of the original game, with the only difference that each player may have an optional side-set of up to 15 booster tokens of his choice (but he may not have more than two primary era variant pieces). Each player must present his side-set of face down booster tokens to the rival before a battle, and allow the rival to count and record the number of pieces upon request. The booster tokens of each side-set are put aside (where the opponent cannot see them) and turned up before the primary tokens are shuffled, and those pieces are considered being temporarily outside the game.

Declaration
The declaration process may be influenced by knowledge of the identity of the booster tokens in each player’s own side-set.

Game play
A player may exchange any number of pieces between the side-set and the playing set during each battle, but the number of pieces in the side-set after the exchange must be the same as the number of pieces before the exchange. The exchange enables a player to modify the playing pieces in order to gain new abilities and suit a game strategy against the opponent.

Exchange is only allowed:
• Between two pieces that have both identical faction colour (for example yellow, red or brown) and identical ID letter (X, A, B, C, …, K)
• By a player who has just played a primary piece
• Immediately after that primary piece has been played.

For example, if a player moves the piece Masq-Lor from his Frontline to his Battlefield on the gameboard, the same player will be allowed in that moment to exchange that piece with a piece belonging to a yellow faction and with ID letter “D” from his side-set, if any is available. Moving exposed Second Line tokens one leap straight and turning them up are not considered actions that allow players to exchange pieces. After an exchange, the game continues with the original rules.

Use of credits and end of battle
Credits in the form of coloured chips may only be collected if the exchanged piece eventually conquers one of the two walls. Other abilities provided by variants, such as increased strength and/or different agility, may be used at the most convenient moment during a single fight.

Immediately after a fight and before the start of the following one, a player who has accumulated enough credits may decide to make use of them. Only one player may use his credits after each fight; if both players decide to use their credits after the same fight, the player who has the highest total number of credits will have the priority, but will not be allowed to spend more credits at the end of the next fight (he will be allowed to spend more credits at the end of the fight after next).

Depending on the colour of the accumulated credits, these may be spent to gain certain abilities with pre-defined costs.

The chips included in the Origin expansion kit are translucent red, and spending 10 of them allows a player to decide which player leads on the next fight and whether the play continues with the lead from the trench or the frontline, avoiding a roll of the die.

After each battle, each player must recollect any booster tokens he used from his side-set. The side-set can be modified before the next battle, and any accumulated credits can be kept for use during the following battles.

Overall, this set is fantastic, and really channels the sense of wonder and greatness of last year's Tahron playset/board game prototype. I'm going to abstain from making any claims about the game play enhancements, because I just haven't spent enough time playing with it. The additional playset sections are quite well designed though, with only a few questionable decisions (the many horizontal surfaces that are way too narrow, and the too low ceiling in the library/gallery room), and come with lots of nice, fun accessories.

Happy holidays!!!

KR|Origin Review #26: Origin Weapons Pack

In my final review for the KR|Origin series, I'm taking a look at a brand new type of unit to the line – a Weapons Pack!

I've never reviewed any KR item that can be classified as an accessory before, but after this one, I really hope the tradition continues.

And bear in mind that this is not just any weapons pack. This is mostly the Origin Edition of a pair of devices that we already saw in the regular series, the Trinergon^TM weapons!

Within this set we also get repaints of the halberds that already came with several figures in the line (made different to mimic the final act of the Origin story) and even an assortment of new pieces.

That is my say for the introduction, short and sweet. Let’s run down the items in ascending order of preference, so I can end with what I consider to be the best piece in the set.

Elykta's light-cape

While the Origin Edition of Elykta came with the shadow-cape, in the regular series her figure was equipped with a luminous mantle that, once spread out, fictionally allowed her to turn into a flying light sphere. So far, Elykta's regular version has been the only figure provided with a real fabric accessory and I always wondered how it would be to replace that cloth piece with a rigid plastic component. Well, here we get the opportunity to display Elykta with a rigid spreading-out cape. And even if this piece is actually intended as a way to transform Origin Elykta into a new version of her future self, there's no reason we can't use it with the regular figure. The cape, which clips at the wrists and flips open, is made of a translucent glow-in-the-dark plastic and is ornamented on the two sides with a combination of silver/gold reflective stickers and orange/yellow fluorescent decals that form a complex line-design.

Loghar's hand effects

The pack includes a pair of alternate spell-casting hands for the Origin Edition of Loghar along with an update of the magic effect pieces. When plugged into the hands' palms, the effect pieces allow us to recreate Loghar's powers in a more credible way than with the original shield-like effects.

Reptonoid Troopers' skin-flaps

Originally, the Reptonoid Troopers came with two pairs of soft "wings" that connect to the back of the figures. When opened by raising the arms, these membranous structures create a sort of wingsuit that fictionally allows each trooper to glide long distances. If you are not a fan of soft, pliable plastic, then you'll be happy to find in this pack a rigid version of those skin flaps. Each of those pieces is formed of a curved element, which attaches to the belt on the back of the Trooper, and two flaps that seemingly extend between the arms and the sides of the body.

Trinergon devices

The first items in the top three are two faithful replicas of the trinergon gears that came with Ultra Masq-Lor and Ultra Deptilion, and that in the Origin comics are worn and handled by Galamars and Dark Flash. Each two-piece snap-on harness comes in black and features some vac-metalised details (silver in one case, copper in the other), including a shiny Key-inspired symbol on the front, while the back consists of a technological backpack, which has a ton of small sculpted embellishments. The right side of the pack has a holster to store the trinergon weapon, which looks a bit like a rifle (again, silver or copper) with two translucent blades (respectively yellow or blue) at the end of two opposite sides of the barrel. The blades, like the harness symbol, resemble two of the four components of the Key. The weapon has a cord that runs to the backpack where it is permanently attached.

There are a few differences between this variant and the original version of this accessory. First of all, there's no battery-operated feature, which I don't mind at all due to my allergy to batteries. Second, no clip-on armour for protecting the right arm of the wearer is included, which I mind a little bit. Finally, the pieces that in the original gear formed the IR transmitter and receiver, and were located over the figure's shoulders, here are detached, although they're still connected to the backpack via some sort of technological tendrils (which are flexible, but not bendy). Additionally, those "IR" pieces look like "blown-up", in such a way that they show the components of a mechanism similar to a lock. Here's where the action feature kicks in. In the comics, the trinergon weapons are activated by the halberds that compose the Key - each of the four halberds is inserted into one of those "locks" (two per backpack) and turned to energise the weapons. The inserting/turning feature works with the halberds that came with a number of figures belonging either to the Origin series or even to the regular series, and each halberd fits the wards of one particular lock.

After the trinergon weapons are activated, these are shown to shoot absorbing streams towards Bi-Harr's heads. The two streams come in the form of effects made of rigid, translucent (yellow and blue) plastic cast in a wave-like shape, and can be snapped onto the ends of the weapons' barrels.

Stylised Trinergon harnesses.

Powered halberds

In the comics, Bi-Harr's mental powers are drained by the absorbing streams from his heads into the trinergon weapons. Then, each power travels along the cord, reaches the backpack and finally splits and flows through the techno-tendrils towards the two halberds, where it's stored. I really like the sparkling look of the halberds after Bi-Harr's powers are trapped, it reminds me of a night sky filled with stars. So, the pack contains four beautiful halberd repaints, made of translucent black plastic with glitter mixed in. Like with the traditional halberds from both the regular and the Origin series, these four pieces can be combined to form the Key; this is done by joining the weapons two by two via small tabs between them and then fitting the two pairs of halberds together via two small slit-shaped recesses.

Key and pillar-lock

At the end of the Origin story, the heroes reach a building at the centre of the multiversal walls site, where King Khon-Uhr assembles the Key from the four powered halberds and thrusts it into a slot on the top of a short pillar. The Key turns in the slot and is slightly pulled inside the pillar, releasing the powers it contains. The powers travel across the ground, making the stones of which it is composed glow, and reach the two trinergon gears, which in the meantime have been plugged into two niches in the building's walls by means of their techno-locks. More radiant energy emanates from the trinergon blasters and flows through the walls (again making the stones glow) towards two ball-shaped structures on top of the building. A lightning-like flow of energy is created between the two spheres and intercepted by a rod in the middle. A machine in Theriom City (supposedly supplied with energy by crystals similar to those that power the antykytron) produces a ray in the direction of the rod, subsequently generating two beams toward the two multiversal walls; these beams open two inter-dimensional portals and send the mental powers to two alternate dimensions. Once the powers are transferred completely, all the machinery stops functioning and the gates of the two walls shut, closing the inter-dimensional portals. Afterwards, the Key is extracted from the pillar and the central building begins to sink. Wow, I wish all this could be made in toy form. But no, we "only" get a new assembled Key and a pillar.

The Key is one solid piece (i.e., it cannot be separated into the four halberds) and is done in a new hybrid deco, with the classic silver colour transitioning into the powered Key look, to mimic the transfer of the powers into the pillar. However, the powered part, which matches the four halberds included in this pack, is not translucent and filled with glitter, but painted black and sparkled with grey paint.

The pillar has an amazing design and is, in my opinion, the highlight of this pack. It's got plenty of realistic detailing and a superb paint wash on; its rock surface shows a variety of textures, from the slate tiles to the granite substrate, giving the piece depth and detail. The trademark Theriom emblem over the face has a wonderful wood grain and metal texture. Plus, you can slide the Key (any assembled Key) into the slot in the top part, where it turns and drops down a bit.

Overall, the Trinergon devices, the hybrid Key and the pillar-lock really make this set, but there are some nice retool options too. I love that PoliganToys listened to some of my complaints, and used some of the pieces to give the characters diversity and option to be displayed in alternative styles. Of course, the downside to getting big accessories in the pack is that those took up most of the budget for this set and several other smaller weapons had to be left out. It is a trade-off, and I think they made the right choices on what to include and what not to include, because, in the end, the Trinergon weapons are worth it. I really hope there will be other packs of this kind in the future. Oh, yes, the future... stay tuned, because we'll be back soon to present a completely new KR series!

KR|Origin Review #25: Shaurus

While this year I've reviewed a fairly respectable brood of reptilian beings, there's always room for one more. Enter Shaurus^TM, the most gruesome of the Reptonoids and the KR|Origin final figure!

This 21^st action figure prototype of the Origin series is one of the best I’ve reviewed in 2017, up there with Galamars, Denortos and Gollyop. He’s got an excellent look, he’s just creepy and menacing all around, and really stands out on the shelf.

Besides, the idea of a dead mammalian creature, revived and transformed into a hideous monster by infesting snakes, and destined to participate in the creation of the main villain in the regular series, well, seems really awesome to me!

Details

Name: Shaurus

Subtitle: gruesome warmaster

Classification: the reanimated corpse of a catlipomor* that was turned into an irrational zombie-like creature by snaky parasites

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Reptonoid

Rank: officer.

*Catlipomors^TM are fictional rare intelligent hybrid mammals, composed of the parts of several animals.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #3 - Battle for Tahron: Part II – Bi-Harr’s retribution

Brief bio: a nonspeaking, blood-thirsty undead beast from the Northern Forest, Shaurus drew Bi-Harr's attention after he showed his ability to cruelly stalk mammalian creatures, entangle them with his powerful long arms and torture them with the many snakes parasitising his body. Quickly enlisted into the Reptonoid troops, Shaurus often acted as a thoughtless, heartless enforcer during the war against the Therioms. While this made many heroic warriors perish through his brutality, it also drove him yet more insane, leading Bi-Harr to dismiss him because unfit for combat and imprison him in a dungeon beneath Rokang Tar for several centuries, waiting to find a way to tame him. He was at long last released by his master, to serve in battle once again, after a new generation of enemies threatened Bi-Harr's dream of conquest. During an epic conflict between several factions, the sorcerer Sphenorat merged an injured rogue Theriom member named Ir-Ash^TM with the monster, saving the defector's life and transforming him in an even crueller monstrosity, one of the most dangerous ever appeared on Tahron.

Articulation

Standard in the humanoid upper body; in the quadrupedal lower body, besides a ball jointed triple-tail, each leg features three hinge joints: at the shoulder/hip, at the knee/hock and at the fetlock.

Description

Head: vaguely similar to a horse skull, characterised by a yellowish-ivory colour, a mane composed of a multitude of dark-green living snakes and a strip of light-brown hair (the latter running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the neck, where it develops into a fairly long ponytail made of four rattlesnake tails), a pair of bull-like horns (displaying growth rings typical of goats), evil large hollow eye sockets that emit a faint red glow, a beak-shaped nose, two whitish tusks that split apart at the ends, several sharp orange teeth that protrude from the mouth and short tufts of light-brown hair on the chin and cheeks. The larger snakes in his "serpent-hair" are bendy, whereas the smaller ones are not (but they are flexible)

Body: centaur structure, grey skin partly covered in scales and partly in warts. The upper body is composed of a cadaverous torso and a pair of long snake-like arms that end with large black-clawed hands. The quadrupedal part of the body shows lizard-like features, long slender legs with subtle fin-like ridges down the sides, three-toed black-hoofed feet, and three long slim tails partly covered with light-brown hair and ending in rattles. His body shows several yellowish-ivory bony details, such as the upper rib cage and spine, rings and ridges along the arms, an obvious quadrupedal spine ridge (with a pair of processes that look like tiny, ragged wings, which help him seem a little demonic), and spikes sticking out of the front knees and of the back of the hind light-brown hairy cannon bones. Additionally, three dark-green snakes are coiled around the left arm, the right front leg and the left hind leg; however, these snakes are bendy and fully removable, and allow for a number of display options

Wearables: a brown armour with dark-green details (including elements similar to eyes and fangs, giving the armour a subtle snake face look), two brown studded bracelets (with a slithering snake pattern between the studs), two front brown cannon bone protectors (with a gem-eyed, gaping-mouthed snake face design; the feet are coloured in brown like the greaves, suggesting that they might actually be toeless boots), two hind brown gaskin protectors (similar in design to the front greaves, but much simpler), a brown studded belt (whose buckle recalls the Reptonoid symbol, i.e., a reptile red eye) and a dark-green furry loincloth/peytral accompanied by two scaly tassets decorated with fang motifs.

Shaurus' stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Shaurus has the ability to use his lengthy, strong arms to get hold of his foes. The figure's bendable arms are beautifully sculpted and long enough (25 cm -around 10”- each!) to coil round three standard figures at once. The great thing is that, owing to its centaur body structure, the figure won't fall over because of the arms' weight. It is also worth noting that all the bendy parts in this figure feel sturdy and flexible, and are really good, easily some of the better I’ve dealt with in this line.

Moreover, Shaurus is able to use the snakes that infest his body for further entangling his enemies. So, the figure can be displayed in a sort of snake-attack mode thanks to a set of alternative/additional pieces. First of all, his head can be replaced with an alternate one, which features a metallic dark-green helmet (very similar in shape to Deptilion's helmet, equipped with two holes for allowing the horns to emerge and ornamented with a wavy bronze snake on the top) and a number of snakes projecting from several parts of his cranium: two dark-green pythons from the eye sockets, one large blue-green anaconda from his mouth and four light-brown vipers from under the nape protector (supposedly derived from his ponytail). Four additional reddish cobras can be plugged into four sockets on the back of Shaurus' armour, near his shoulders and flanks. Furthermore, each hand can be replaced with an articulated serpent head, which is characterised by an arrow shape, grey scaly skin, a yellowish-ivory bony sagittal crest, a pair of yellow eyes with thin slit-shaped red pupils, a hinged upper jaw and black spikes (reminiscent of the standard hand's claws) sticking out from the brow ridges (four) and from the chin (one). To be honest, I find this a bit confusing, since both the standard hands and the snake heads are quite different from what is shown in the comics, where Shaurus' arms appear to end in something similar to tentacles.

Finally, the figure makes a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds when shaken, similarly to a rattlesnake.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternative head and hands, and the additional plug-in snakes, Shaurus comes with a vicious war club. This heavy wooden weapon is made of a brown core with a thick end, around which two intertwined greenish snakes are coiled. I like this accessory quite a lot, it has tons of detail and, surprisingly, two different plastics in its make up, despite it is supposed to be a one-piece carved stick.

Overall, although I have not decided if I like him or Gollyop more yet, as the final addition to this line I think Shaurus is a definite winner. For the most part, all consideration was given to this badass member of the Reptonoid faction - well-executed sculpting and paint, as well as great looking alternate parts and extra accessories really make him shine. I’m very happy to add him to my collection. Shaurus also makes me remember all the excitement and happiness with the KR line over the last two and half years and what, in terms of prototype production, has been accomplished so far. Wow, so yeah, I look back on the moment, almost a year ago, Kai-Xi stood lonesome on my Origin shelf; now, I'm looking how many of her fellows and enemies I have gotten in my collection during the past 11 months! Again, thanks to PoliganToys for sending me their KR prototypes for this blog. We will be back soon for something completely different in terms of new KR items. Stay tuned!

KR|Origin Review #24: Dark Flash

While I had a ton of fun celebrating my first Thanksgiving in New York City (loved it!), it caused some KR reviews to be delayed. Today, I’ll look at one of the two (but they may be three... we'll see) KR|Origin items for December - Dark Flash!

One of the advantages of writing this blog is that I am given a chance to own figures that I never expected I'd add to my shelf. This 20^th action figure prototype of the Origin series is a great example of this, even if I know that, despite looking like a bit of a Masq-Lor variant, Dark Flash is actually a crucial character at some point of the story.

Details

Name: Dark Flash

Real name: Desion, aka Masq-Lor

Subtitle: disguised hero

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

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: warrant officer.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Brief bio: using the power of the Antikythron, The Deity sent Masq-Lor and his heroic companions through a portal to the past of Tahron, back in a time when the newly formed Theriom faction fought for freedom against the Reptonoids. After accomplishing a dangerous mission, Masq-Lor decided not to travel back to the present and, instead, to stay and have a hand in the fierce conflict between the mammalian and reptilian forces. Although his actions would unlikely interfere with the history of Tahron on an overall scale, he was forced to hide his true identity and powers to his own ancestors, in order to avoid creating a time paradox. Armed with special bow and arrows, and disguised in a suit and mask borrowed from his fellow Tauton, Masq-Lor, under the alias Dark Flash, swiftly allied himself with King Khon-Uhr and his knights, assisting them in many battles and even turning the tide of the events in few occasions. During such battles, he acquired the knowledge of several ancient fighting secrets and eventually returned with this mastery to his own time, to finally defeat his archenemy Deptilion once and for all.

Articulation

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

Description

Head: well, it is Masq-Lor wearing a black helmet with a half mask and gold details; a pair of green eyes is visible through the eye-holes, while the mouth, which suggests a daring expression, is surrounded by light brown skin. On the back we can see short tufts of black hair coming out from the base of the helmet

Body: covered from neck to toe with a glossy&matte black armour, whose components are in many instances reused from Myneran's and Elkymor's suits

Wearables: a glossy&matte black cuirass, two black wrist guards, two black leather-and-rope boots with black knee guards and shin guards, a studded black belt and two medieval-style black armoured tassets. Besides these basic components, he wears various glossy&matte black pieces of armour to protect the rest of his body, such as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards. There is an impressive amount of intricate decorative features all around the various components of this protective covering; I especially like the fine riveted golden edges of the wrist and knee guards, and the little gaps here and there that reveal black-coloured chain mail details beneath the armour. The cuirass displays a vac-metallised golden Theriom emblem on the breastplate, while the belt sports a buckle with a golden bow (and a lightning-shaped arrow) design as well as a few spare arrowheads all the way around. He also carries a black cape that is permanently attached to the cuirass.

Dark Flash's stylised helmet.

Dark Flash's stylised cuirass.

Weapons and accessories

Although Dark Flash is portrayed as a highly skilled archer and swordsman, his figure has no action feature, but it does come with a few great accessories: a dual-arrow bow, a quiver, a sword and a scabbard. The bow is incredible - it's basically a combination of two black recurve bows arranged in an "X"-shape, with two stacked barrel-shaped arrow rests and an additional piece that works as a grip, aiming aid and stabiliser. Conveying the complex construction of this bow with words is quite difficult, but you can get an idea by looking at this crossbow, which is the closest thing to it I found on the web. The two black trick arrows (with golden heads that fictionally possess some specialised functions, such as explosive or drilling) are separate pieces that can be held (one at a time) by the figure's special right hand and can detach from the bow, but there is no spring-loaded mechanism. The black quiver contains several arrows (not removable) and is attached to a loose fitting belt, a separate piece that can be repositioned to one's liking.

The sword, a repainted version of Masq-Lor's basic weapon, has a black hilt and a golden blade, while its black leather scabbard is another separate piece that, like the quiver, is connected to a loose fitting belt.

Overall, despite being a fairly marginal member in the ranks of King Khon-Uhr's servicemen, Dark Flash has got a decent (and extensively reused) sculpt and great accessories. There is a lot to like here and even though we know it is, in fact, Mask-Lor hiding under that suit of armour, the figure has a very unique look to him and if we want, we can easily pretend that he is a completely different character.

KR|Origin Review #23: Nar-Apsya

I love getting marginal characters in the KR|Origin line. So, November is actually a kinda exciting month for me - not only I was able to review a heroic cyclops that makes two or three brief appearances in the comics, but I also got a pretty obscure villain with Nar-Apsya^TM!

Aside from liking the idea behind the nature of the character, I’m a fan of how this 19^th action figure prototype in the line looks. It (she... he...?) has got this fantastically odd style to its body that makes you take notice. With its mix of biological and stony elements, when you first see it, you can’t help but wonder what it is exactly.

Details

Name: Nar-Apsya

Subtitle: life-giving snake

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: female (although the sculptural warrior that she animates has masculine features)

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Reptonoid

Rank: ensign.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #3 - Battle for Tahron: Part II – Bi-Harr’s retribution

Brief bio: as a core member of Sphenorat's serpentine horde, which was made up of the most threatening snakes from across Tahron, Nar-Apsya was endowed with the ability to tap into her master's evil magical powers. Entrusted by Bi-Harr to guard his throne hall in Rokang Tar, she merged with a marmoreal statue during a memorable battle against the Therioms, to generate a diabolical warrior who could challenge the mammalian enemies. By doing so, she was also stripped of her reptilian nature, condemned to never leave the warrior's body and forced to fight using physical strength instead of serpent-like skills. Eventually, Nar-Apsya asked the sorcerer-engineer Loghar to use his magic and technology to clone her, hoping to live again in the form of a snake. However, he could only isolate a few of her mutated cells, which in the future would generate new gruesome reptilian creatures, including the snake warrior Volcrotran^TM.

Articulation

Standard, except that waist, wrists and calves are ball jointed, and the neck is double ball jointed.

Description

Head: resembling a mamba, whose jaws are wide open and reveal the head of a statue inside the mouth. The snake's head is characterised by a coffin-like shape, purplish scaly skin (except on the lower jaw, where the skin is yellowish), solid blue-green eyes with somewhat pronounced brow ridges and four sharp fangs, while the inner marmoreal head has no recognisable facial feature apart from a pair of evil deep-set black eyes

Body: the sculpture is made of a white marble with subtle coloured swirls and veins, and has kind of cube-like, unfinished features. The mamba (which is coiled three times around the statue's trunk, from the hips up to the armpits, with her tail wrapped around the left thigh and her head emerging from the back onto the neck) displays purplish scaly skin on the upper side and yellowish skin on the underside. The figure's torso suffers a bit from looking puffed up, which is not too troublesome to me, because I knew that such an overlay could hardly be executed without this side effect

Wearables: two dark-blue gloves, two dark-blue boots with knee guards, a belt made of dark-blue plates laced together and a black crotch piece.

Action feature

In the comics, by wrapping her fairly large body around the trunk of a headless marble statue that decorates Bi-Harr's throne hall, Nar-Apsya can bring the sculpture to life, transforming it into a fearsome warrior. By default, the figure comes in the snake-plus-statue configuration, but the transformation from combined to separate form is pretty simple, although it takes a little work. First, it's necessary to detach the head, or I should say heads, since there are two of them - the marble one placed inside the gaping mouth of the snake one; the mamba's slightly bendable neck makes this operation easy, while the removable double ball joint allows the sculpture not to show the peg coming out from its neck when headless. Then, the snake's tail, which is also bendable, must be unwrapped from around the statue's thigh. Afterwards, the sculpture's lower body, from the waist down, has to be detached, allowing the snake's rubbery (but not really flexible) coil to slip off its torso. The gloves and the boots must be replaced with marble forearms+hands and lower legs+feet, which match the overall body sculpt and paintjob. Finally, a marble-like skirt piece (which is composed of a flashy belt and a series of bendy flaps decorated with fang-shaped patterns, and is designed to conceal the coloured belt and crotch piece) must be slid around the statue's hips before reconnecting the lower and upper body halves.

Additionally, the snake's head(s) can also be detached and replaced with an alternative mamba head that has a closed mouth and a protruding forked tongue. This is the second version of Nar-Apsya's snake form in the line, after the stand-up variant that came with Origin Sphenorat.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the limb attachments, skirt and alternative snake head, Nar-Apsya comes with an amazing weapon, which is a black cat-o'-nine-tails. This multi-tailed whip is made up of nine knotted thongs of leather, each resembling a snake and helping give the weapon an overall resemblance to a Hydra (indeed, in the comics, when the warrior drops its whip, this splits into nine living snakes).

Overall, I really dig this figure, I think it came out with a nice design that truly wows me. The snake "armour" works pretty well as a translation of the comic book design into the KR figures style. Yes, perhaps the folks at PoliganToys could have tried harder to adapt the inner shape of the coil to the statue's torso, in order to make it look less puffy, but, honestly, I thought it was going to be worse based on what I had seen in the comics, and in hand it is not really that bad.

KR|Origin Review #22: Gollyop

November starts in a large note with my first KR|Origin review of the month giving you Gollyop^TM!

This first large scale figure in the Origin line gets a prototype in the form of a giant who now fights for peace, but used to be the evilest rampaging monster on Tahron.

Details

Name: Gollyop

Subtitle: cyclopean craftsman and guardian

Classification: reptile of uncertain group

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: lieutenant.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Brief bio: an odd one-eyed reptilian creature originally from the mountains of southern Tahron, Gollyop was taught to make honest choices in life by his family, in order to gain respect despite his physical abnormality. He trained as an artisan during his boyhood, but was later forced to leave his home after his body had begun growing to an unusual largeness. Frustrated with the treatment he received from his people, Gollyop was recruited to help bolster the Reptonoid ranks after claiming that he belonged to a race of savage giants. In service to Bi-Harr, he aided the reptilian troops in marauding many villages, but was eventually injured on the battlefield when King Tah-Ron was killed. Expelled from the Reptonoid faction because of his unfitness, Gollyop travelled across Tahron to seek help and, ultimately, forgiveness from the mammalian people. As a result, he joined the Therioms, fighting for peace alongside King Khon-Uhr, and using his great strength and know-how to help construct the two multiversal walls. Soon after Khon-Uhr’s death, Gollyop fell during a battle against his former comrades-in-arms, heroically sacrificing his life to protect the walls he had been guarding.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: he sports a hemispherical, close-fitting brown skull-cap bordered with a number of spikes and worn over a loose dark-blue hood with a single large eye-hole cutout in the centre. On the front, the hood is short enough to expose the wrinkled light-green face partially, including a bit of the broad flat nose and the slightly open mouth, which resembles that of a gorilla and has large sharp canine teeth. On the back, several long rope-like strands of matted black hair emerge from under the hood. The helmet leather straps seemingly run down his cheeks, underneath the hood, and fasten under his chin

Body: Gollyop stands 46 cm (around 18'') tall, only equalling the size of one previous figure in the whole KR universe, which is Tmohrr. His body has been rotationally moulded in a light-green colour and then tinted with a darker green in various areas to give his porous skin more depth. His chest has been sculpted with his neck and shoulders hunched forward, giving him a great menacing ogre-like look. He has a fuzz of black hairs on the back of each hand and on the instep of each foot, as well as long black nails (which are nicely sculpted with lines and chips in them) on his fingers and toes

Wearables: a dark-green leather armour with brown details, two studded metallic dark-green bracelets, two metallic dark-green calf protectors, a spiked metallic dark-green belt and a brown furry loincloth. Some of these components show a nice chain mail texture, e.g., the chest plate that joins the four armour straps, and the parts around the neck, on the calves and on the hips. The amour is a particular highlight and, due to its big size, has tons of little details, including zigzag patterns, braided edges, diamond-shaped studs, buckles (for fastening the ends of the straps), rivets, and an interesting dark-blue eye symbol that looks pretty different from the standard Reptonoid emblem and resembles a more human eye. On the back, the armour bears three mason tools sculpted on (a trowel, a chisel and a hammer... I kinda wish they were removable!) and a loop for storing Gollyop's mace. Finally, each wrist/shin guard is ornamented with a triangular dark-blue gemstone.

Gollyop's stylised armour.

Action feature

The centrepiece of this figure is the head, particularly the eye. It has one of the most proper action features in a KR figure, since it's not simply based on part swapping, but involves an actual change in Gollyop's eye appearance (and, to some extent, in his personality) by turning the skull-cap. The funny thing is that I can't pick a favourite among the three options: the daytime eye (with a slit-like pupil and an amber-yellow iris) has to be respected as Gollyop's standard, in my opinion, but the night-time (with a widened, round black pupil) and evil-days (with a slit-like pupil and a heavily bloodshot iris) eyes are equally exciting.

Additionally, the figure gives us a little more fun in the guise of two alternative rotating eye-drums. The top of Gollyop's head (including the skull-cap and the hood) is removable, allowing us to pop it off and place another drum with three new amusing eyes onto the figure. One drum shows a human-looking green eye with heavy eyeliner and villainous lashes (reminiscent of the main character of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange), a blank glow-in-the-dark eye that can be painted at will (like with a Daruma doll) and HAL 9000's signature camera eye. The second drum displays Leela's eye (with a blue iris), an unsettling clown-like fiery eye and an empty bony eye socket.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the two alternate eye-drums, Gollyop comes with his enormous mace. This is basically a long, thick knotty wooden shaft with a heavy head on the end, which is also made of wood and is reinforced with a number of flat greenish slabs of stone. Although beautifully sculpted with gashes and pockmarks from plenty of use, there is a bit of an issue with this weapon on my prototype, as the handle is made of a softer plastic and was a bit warped in the package. I think I straightened it out, but I would have preferred to get this mace in a stiffer plastic.

Overall, Gollyop is one of the nicest large rotocast figures I own and I consider him essential to my KR collection. He received a nicely sculpted figure with a cool bonus feature. Every single part of him is so interesting in terms of detail and I really love how fierce he looks coupled with his bloodshot eye. Plus, his articulation matches the line’s standards. On top of that, from a characterisation standpoint Gollyop is one of my new favourite characters - he used to be a big bad reptilian guy, so he is automatically cool.

KR|Origin Review #21: Sphenorat (Origin Edition)

The Origin Edition of Sphenorat^TM was one of my most anticipated prototypes of the year after the KR|Origin series got announced last January.

This 18^th action figure prototype in the line has a ghostly counterpart (plus a variant) in the regular series and I think he is another character that truly benefits from having his backstory explored a bit further. Because until we read the final comic issue, we probably don't have a clear idea about his spectral origin.

Details

Name: Sphenorat

Subtitle: dark-magical sorcerer

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Reptonoid

Rank: deputy marshal.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Brief bio: once a valuable preceptor of dark magic in an ancient monastery, where troubled reptilian youngsters were recruited to learn the ways of the black arts, Sphenorat broke faith with his compeers and pledged his devotion to Bi-Harr when he embarked on assembling his army to challenge the mammalian people. Serving as a wizard-priest to his master for many years, he created deadly snake-charming spells, with the aim of helping the Reptonoids defeat the Therioms and rise to power on Tahron. When his fellow sorcerer Loghar began mastering technomancy instead of old magic, the fierce competition between the two warlocks led to Sphenorat's death, but his powers were great enough to raise to a bursting spectral form that would spread fear for a long time to come.

Articulation

Standard, except that the elbows and the knees are ball hinged, and the lower body, between the waist and the knees, is one big skirt piece (i.e., there are no hips and thighs).

Description

Head: his face is supposed to resemble a tuatara, but it is flattened in order to acquire a more humanoid look. It has blue-green skin, a pair of small pointy ears with bronze earrings, three yellow eyes with vertical slit-shaped red pupils (the third eye is on the forehead) and a slightly open mouth that displays a number of sharp white teeth. He wears a bronze crowned helmet, i.e., a helmet with a crown riveted on. On the front, this headdress is decorated with a figure representing a stylised standing Egyptian cobra and bearing a number of red gemstones (one resembling the Reptonoid eye symbol on the front of its hood and three forming an array of crescent-shaped markings over its head), while on the back it tapers to a comb of tips similar to a spiny crest. At first, I thought the snake head ornament mounted on his helmet was a button for an action feature, but no. Maybe the guys at PoliganToys originally intended it to be so?

Body: wrinkled blue-green skin, claw hands and feet with black nails. He has a short, thick spiny-plated tail emerging from under his skirt (and actually attached to it)

Wearables: a long dark-brown robe made of a coarse, rough fabric, which is open on the chest and tied at the waist with a red sash. Its sleeves are embroidered with snake-shaped red embellishments and are short enough to expose the forearms equipped with two spiked metallic red bracelets (reused from Origin Loghar), while the hem, also with snake-themed red adornments, falls approximately to the ankles revealing a pair of metallic red thong sandals with shin guards (reused from Origin Lor-Drek). Over his robe, he wears a separate armour that includes a chest plate, a pair of shoulder pads, a long, narrow piece hanging down on the front and a cape. The shoulder/chest armour is mostly metallic red with a few bronze details, including the triple-crescent symbol seen on the headdress, the Reptonoid eye emblem (with a red gemstone at the centre) and several fang-shaped decorations. The attached burgundy cape has a high standing collar (which is split into two parts and looks like a pair of dragon wings), a jagged bottom (whose points resemble small snake heads) and two strips (also resembling snakes) seemingly wafting forward.

Sphenorat's stylised shoulder/chest armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Sphenorat is portrayed as a skilled snake charmer, who magically tames a throng of evil snakes. So, the figure comes with a brown basket that has a removable lid. The inside of the basket shows a beautifully sculpted tangle of multicoloured snakes with a hollow at the centre, into which an additional emerging purple&yellow mamba can be plugged. I can't spoil it now, but keep this snake in mind, because it'll come back in some other reviews.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from his mamba and basket of snakes, Sphenorat comes with a new all-bronze mystical sceptre - a staff equipped with a cupped handle and tipped with an ogival redented ornament. The bud-like decoration on the top recalls the towers of Rokang Tar and features some great detail work (with some difficulties, you can make out a reptile skull in its pattern). The end of the long shaft (which looks like a bottle-shaped tube with a few holes, echoing the appearance of a pungi, i.e., a wind instrument typically played by snake charmers) is connected to Sphenorat's wrist via a real metal chain and a removable cuff, while the top part of the ogival ornament can be detached to reveal a small reddish snake inside. The staff can "shoot" (I guess similarly to a crossbow) the snake thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism.

In addition, Sphenorat comes with an alternative head for his dark-magic teacher days, which differs from the standard head in that it shows a dark-brown covering similar to both a hood and a turban, and two long locks of grey hair emerging from the sides.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the third comic issue Battle for Tahron: Part II – Bi-Harr’s retribution. After winning a brief battle against a couple of reptilian soldiers thanks to the power of their magic helmets, the Therioms head off to Rokang Tar, where they aim at stealing Bi-Harr’s dangerous mental faculties utilising their newly built prodigious weapons. At the Reptonoid home base, the Therioms are attacked by their foes, who, however, prove to be no match for the heroes' determination. The good guys accomplish their mission, but a Reptonoid warrior causes a cave-in by shooting magic blasts in an attempt to prevent his enemies from escaping. The heroes become trapped inside a collapsed structure and the Reptonoids decide to take advantage of the situation - led by a weakened Bi-Harr, they attack the remaining Therioms, who are completing the multiversal walls not far from Theriom City, and endeavour to take control of the construction site. In the meantime at Rokang Tar, a skirmish between Loghar and Sphenorat turns into a violent clash, and the heroes use the ensuing chaos to break through a weak point in the structure and flee. Khon-Uhr and his warriors arrive at the multiversal walls site, determined to defeat their enemies once and for all. As the battle rages, the king reaches a central pillar and thrusts the assembled Key into a slot on its face, succeeding in locking Bi-Harr's mental abilities behind the walls and saving Tahron from downfall. He's challenged by Bi-Harr once again and a fight ensues; it looks bad for the heroic king, but by calling on the power of his helmet, he remains victorious and delivers an inspiring speech to his people. Unexpectedly, Bi-Harr retrieves his fork and kills Khon-Uhr, shocking everyone there. After managing to steal two halberds from the Theriom's hands, the Reptonoid leader flies away vowing revenge.

Overall, well, Sphenorat is nearly perfect. There aren’t really any flaws and his accessories kick so much ass. Yes, he has a problematic time holding the staff due to its weight, but he's a very decent figure with nice shelf presence in a Reptonoid display.

About the comic, as the concluding episode with no more exposition (good thing that's over!), it has quite a lot of plot development and wraps the three issues up with plenty of action. As for the series on the whole, I'd say that it's rather well-done, but, on the other hand, not horribly exciting.

KR|Origin Review #20: Al-Mih-Tek

After taking a short review break, I’m back today with a look at the prototype of a figure that I'm sure a lot of people would love - Al-Mih-Tek^TM!

As the 17^th action figure (as a matter of fact, a dual-action figure) prototype in the Origin series, I gotta say I actually like the guy. He's another great addition to the Theriom faction and, even though I don't find him as appealing as Ki-Shudan or as novel as Galamars, I’m enjoying having him all the same. So, let’s take a look at Al-Mih-Tek.

Details

Name: Al-Mih-Tek

Subtitle: daring architect and inventor

Classification: human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 520 years before Masq-Lor's time (now renamed Foundation)

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: commander; chief science officer.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #2 - Battle for Tahron: Part I – The journey begins

Brief bio: a member of a grouping of nomadic peoples who historically inhabited the dry valleys of Harir^TM, Al-Mih-Tek stood out in his clan for his great intelligence and inquisitiveness. Sent to study under many great inventors, scientists and archaeologists, he was devastated when his eldest mentor was killed by Bi-Harr after stealing his immense knowledge and vowed revenge. Armed only with an interactive encyclopedia and a sophisticated head-mounted display, Al-Mih-Tek spent years scouring the desert regions of Tahron in search of legendary relics he had learnt about, until he arrived at a burning rift and discovered few of those prodigious crystalline artefacts. Eventually settling in Theriom City, he lived with single-minded determination planning Bi-Harr's defeat and created his greatest invention, an instrument that in the future would be known as the Antikythron^TM and that he initially conceived as a weapon but, unbeknown to him, could also harness energy to control the forces of nature. Later, when the Therioms decided to build the multiversal walls, Al-Mih-Tek was appointed head architect of this great task and also helped construct the Trinergon^TM devices. During an epic battle against the Reptonoids, the Antikythron, combined with Cereutian power, transformed him into a mighty warrior made of stone; hunted for his powerful creation, Al-Mih-Tek was forced to jettison the Antikythron, so that his life would no longer be in constant danger.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: Middle Eastern features, brown skin with a pale blue tinge, bald scalp, blue eyes and a five o'clock shadow on the chin and face. He wears a dark-blue (with glitter added to the plastic to achieve a silver-decorated look) removable headdress similar to a tagelmust, which consists of one piece that straps around the lower half of the head and a second piece that sits on top: the former represents a mouth veil, while the latter has the appearance of both a headscarf and a turban, and includes a cord-shaped silver headband seemingly keeping the headdress in place

Body: brown skin with a pale blue tinge

Wearables: a copper shoulder/chest armour with dark-blue details, two fingerless copper gauntlets with a few studs around the wrists, two armbands made of silver plates laced together, two copper boots fastened with criss-crossed leather laces, an orange sash tied in a knot (with the ends hanging down between the thighs) and a dark-blue skirt. The gauntlets and boots are reused from Koptros, while all the dark-blue parts have, like the headdress, a silver glittery effect.

Al-Mih-Tek's stylised shoulder/chest armour.

Action feature

In the comics, at some point Al-Mih-Tek discovers by accident an incredible power of his antikythron. This power allows him to transform into a giant warrior, who is made of the building material used to erect the multiversal walls. So, included with the daring architect and inventor is his post-transformation alter ego, a huge stone-made being.

This figure is nearly 23 cm (around 9") tall, which means that despite it "contains" an adult person, it's not larger than Titanic Fighter Mor-Rak. The body is designed to look like being composed of actual stones from the two walls, showing lots of details such as cracks and crevices, and has as much articulation as the standard figure. The paint is mostly black wash and highlights on the grey limestone and tan sandstone parts.

His torso, which somehow reminds me of a Greek temple, includes the hips made of a step-like component, the abdomen composed of vertical elements similar to pillars and the chest formed of a structure resembling an entablature. The legs are similar to two elaborate columns, while the arms look like circular stone towers. The head is topped with a dome-like golden structure, while the face, which bears a slight resemblance to Al-Mih-Tek's real visage, displays cube-like features and deep-set dark-brown eyes.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his enhanced form, Al-Mih-Tek comes with a plethora of accessories. First of all, the legendary antikythron, the instrument that Mor-Rak uses in the regular series to combine himself with the forces of nature and become a powerful warrior. Back then, its origin was unknown, but now we finally learn that it was engineered by Al-Mih-Tek several centuries ago. Like the version that came with Mor-Rak, this antikythron is a short metal staff characterised by an interesting technological design. However, it lacks the baldric (although the two loops, to which a strap could be tied, are still present) and shows a few other differences. The silver&metallic-blue handle is designed in such a way that the weapon can be held either vertically or horizontally (in the comics, Al-Mih-Tek mostly utilises it as a blaster). The part near the handle displays six large coloured buttons plus a few smaller copper switches and sliders all the way around. The top metallic-blue part is fictionally composed of five pieces that can open (in an upside-down umbrella fashion) to reveal the machinery inside; also in this case, this feature hasn't been reproduced in the toy accessory and instead we get three interchangeable snap-on top pieces, which are the closed, the open inactive and the open energised version respectively. The open inactive form shows the five sides spread out and a central axis, on which three short horizontal coaxial silver arms hold one vertical coloured crystal each (in the comics, depending on the orientation of these components, the device generates a different power); all these pieces, i.e., the whole top part, each coaxial arm and each crystal, spin vertically and individually via swivels. The energised version carries a well designed glow-in-the-dark energy vortex/blast at its centre and also spins.

In addition, the guys at PoliganToys tossed an alternative version of the antikythron in the package, which represents a prototype model of the instrument. This is slightly larger than the standard version and looks pretty different. It has a copper base instead of a handle, while the part near the base looks unfinished, leaving several wires and electronic components uncovered. The top part is in its open inactive form, showing the five copper sides spread out and a central silver axis, on which three short horizontal coaxial red arms hold one vertical coloured crystal each; again, all these pieces (i.e., the whole top part, each coaxial arm and each crystal) spin vertically and individually via swivels.

Moreover, the figure includes a few items related to Al-Mih-Tek's desert exploration days: a pair of close-fitting eyeglasses with side shields, for protecting his eyes from glare and dust, an alternative single-piece removable headdress and his scientific tome. The goggles are really well done, they fit on the head perfectly (with or without the regular headdress) and stay put thanks to two small notches on the figure’s temples. The alternative headdress incorporates the dark-blue veil (which has the same silvery glitter of the default headdress, but only covers the head and not the mouth) with a circular augmented-reality device that comprises a translucent visor covering the eyes and a pair of black earphones joined by a silver band placed around the head. Finally, thanks to its snake-like folded structure, the book snaps open from either side and can be held in the hands of the figure; the cover is worn but emblazoned with mysterious symbols on both sides, while the inside pages bear lenticular stickers and printed pictures of meaningful historical events along with a sculpted bookmark.

Overall, Al-Mih-Tek was very much on my radar for getting a figure in the KR|Origin line and now that I have him, I like him a lot. He makes for a great hero and really helps bolster my collection. Both his forms are sharp and very well constructed figures and, to me, they seem like they have some of the best engineering and quality that I have seen in a long time. All of the plastic is solid, the joints are tight, the colours are accurate throughout, the paint work is clean and the accessories are fun. In a word, awesome!