KR|Horizon Review #17: Kiroah

Toy prototype details

Name: Kiroah^TM

Subtitle: ravening chimera

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: creature - Nº 1 in the line.

Character details

Name: Kiroah

Classification: bionic insect-reptile hybrid

Sex: hermaphrodite

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: steed.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #2 - In the eye of the storm

Brief bio: while conducting her horrific bio-engineering experiments to forge the new Destructomorph army, Nemhetra accidentally created a hideous beast, which she called Kiroah. Made out of an assortment of animal body parts and machine components, Kiroah became so violently out of control, Nemhetra had to add computer-integrated brain implants to control it, until it had no will of its own except to obey its mistress. Wishing to claw and maul any enemies who stood in her way, Nemhetra unleashed and rode this fiercely loyal, ultra-evil creature into battle with Masq-Lor. Initially underestimated by the Therioms, Kiroah proved a true menace to Tahron and one of the heroes' deadlier foes.

Articulation

The figure has nearly 40 points of articulation: multiple hinged jaws, ball jointed upper necks, swivel-plus-double hinged mid necks, double-ball hinged lower necks, swivel-hinged shoulders, hips, elbows, feet and extra head, hinged knees, "hocks" and telson, ball hinged front appendages (i.e., two grasping pedipalps with hinged claws, and two wings), and ball jointed abdomen.

Description

Heads: each head of this double-headed creature is characterised by a scaly glossy black hood that surrounds and merges with a silver snout; it displays a pair of pointed dark-orange scaly ears, a pair of large shiny purple compound eyes, three smaller blue eye spots on the forehead and a complex copper-jawed grasshopper-like mouth composed of a finely serrated upper labrum, two heavily toothed mandibles, two maxillae with cutting edges and a number of small teeth (flanked by two pairs of black segmented appendages or palps), and a two-fanged lower labium (also flanked by a pair of short palps). Because each mandible-plus-maxilla mouthpart and the labium are independently hinged, the mouth opens and reveals a forked reddish tongue that can extend outwards. Additionally, each head is connected to the rest of the body by a fairly long snake-like dark-orange scaly neck with lozenge-shaped black markings; each neck features a double-ball hinged joint at its base, a swivel-plus-double hinged joint halfway down its length and a ball joint at the end, where the head attaches

Body: characterised by a slender, segmented black chitinous appearance (bearing numerous details such as cracks, bumps and dark-orange scaly stripes), except for the abdomen, which is covered with a longitudinal series of large orange scales that received a nice dark-red wash. A number of body parts, especially in the forelegs and the hind digitigrade legs, are protected by silver metallic plates, which show some spikes and machinery/circuitry patterns. Each foreleg ends in a leaf-toed dark-orange scaly foot, which shows five large toe pads equipped with curved, pointed black horny nails. Each hind leg is characterised by a robust thigh, and ends in a five-toed webbed dark-orange scaly foot with massive black claws. The body terminates in a hinged telson, which is characterised by silver metallic segments that are joined by seemingly flexible black membranes, and two long dark-orange bendable appendages, each resembling a lizard tail and ending in a silver pinching weapon for grabbing and crushing foes

Wearables: a removable battle barding characterised by an orange copper chain mail texture with silver trim, which includes a saddle (with a Destructomorph emblem-shaped copper button closure on the bottom) as well as additional multiple plates and lames riveted to it, such as two flanchards protecting the flanks (equipped with integrated stirrups) and a croupiere protecting the hind quarters. The pommel/handlebar of the saddle seemingly extends forward forming a silver structure, which resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, and is characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components, evil-looking bulbous black eyes (each featuring a yellow/green glowing horizontal slit plus a beady-eye spot in the centre) and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak. Two silver horns project backwards and down from the back of this structure, right below an additional pair of larger horns pointing backwards and up; also, a pair of long silver robotic pedipalps featuring pincer-like grasping organs (each composed of two hinged black claws, the longest of which is spiky, while the shortest is toothed) as well as two pairs of large silver posable wings (each hind wing, which is patterned with dark-orange veins, is connected to the fore wing, which is covered in ridges where different metallic surfaces join, forming a single structure that shows several tech-mech details on the underside) emerge from its sides.

Action feature

Apart from featuring jaw-smashing and claw-ripping actions thanks to its hinged jaws and claws, and being capable of carrying a warrior into battle on its back, this beast also has the ability to stand on its hind legs, and use its forelegs, two heads and grasping appendages as multiple pairs of brawling arms. Also, in this upright configuration, the tech-skull swings forward to become the new creature's head, while the telson folds up. The nice and tight articulation allows for displaying the figure in such a pose without too many problems.

Weapons and accessories

The figure comes with an impressive set of removable weaponry, which includes:

• A long, lance-shaped silver side-mounted missile launcher that attaches to the rear-right of the saddle, can pivot up and down and is equipped with a spring loaded triggering system for a barbed copper stinger-rocket
• A rear-mounted silver gun that can pivot left and right
• A weapon storage that attaches to the rear-left of the saddle and is equipped with holsters for an included spare stinger-rocket (slightly differently shaped and more similar to a scorpion's stinger) and for Nemhetra's halberd and wand
• Two copper battle chanfrons for the two insect-reptile heads, each with four claw-like serrated steel spikes sticking out from the brow
• A gunmetal (i.e., a grey colour that has a blueish-purplish tinge) overhead cannon, which plugs onto the tech-skull (but is fictionally produced by the skull itself) and is equipped with a separate five-warhead copper missile

Additionally, the package includes two tail attachments, which are designed to replace the pinching weapons and make each tail end in a black stinger that resembles a scorpion's tailpiece.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ Kiroah is only seen fleetingly in the second episode of the KR|Horizon comic book series. By reworking the sculpts for previous creatures and for the Destructomorph Goblins, and adding some awesome new pieces, the greatly skilled folks at PoliganToys were able to create a brand new mount for Nemhetra, which stands out not only as a magnificent KR toy, but one that would appeal to other collectors as well, as a spectacular sci-fi/fantasy beast formed from parts of various animals and machinery, and brought to life in plastic

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ What really sets this prototype apart from previous creatures is the articulation. This guy is articulated everywhere and most of the articulation is excellent. The two lizard necks feature double ball-jointed bases... not every figure’s sculpt can work with that kind of joints, but combined with the other points of articulation, theses necks can pose pretty much anyway you want them, which is especially great when they become arms in the upright configuration

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The detail is amazing throughout the figure. I love the bendy tails, they are absolutely essential to making this figure work, but I do worry about the wear and tear where they connect to the body. Oh, and there are those nasty little slide-out tongues! The dark wash on the orange parts affords the figure some slop here and there, but you just wouldn’t really notice it along with everything else

Accessories: ♠♠♠ While it is great to get all those weapons as add-on extras, I still miss a bit a pair of inactive, total-black alternative eyes for the tech-skull when the figure is in a quadrupedal mode

Playability: ♪♪♪ Yes, the articulation is fantastic, but I occasionally have a hard time keeping the figure standing upright. Perhaps I don’t know where the figure’s centre of gravity is, but it’s mostly due to the knees, I think. You’ll just have to work a little to get the poses you want out of the figure

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I love every creature prototype produced this year, but if I had to choose one, I’m pretty sure this would be the one to have. I’d like the legs to be a little stronger, but otherwise the sculpt and articulation are superb.

KR Review #83: Queen Holopodian (SDCC 2020 Exclusive)

In a tweet directed at potential attendees, the organisers of San Diego Comic-Con gave the impression that this year’s convention (scheduled for July 23 – 26, 2020) could still happen. This despite warnings that the Covid-19 pandemic could last well into summer. Update: soon after I had drafted this post, the organisers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced with deep regret that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020.

If that “show must go on” approach is serious, PoliganToys' SDCC 2020 exclusive release will be the Queen Holopodian^TM!

Now, this large scale figure, officially the sixth in the KR|Foundation series, really makes for a visually stunning addition to the line.

Details

Name: Queen Holopodian

Subtitle: thorny protector

Classification: holopodian*

Relationships: creature venerated by the inhabitants of the island city-state of Semhadar^TM; holopodian mutants' biological mother

Sex: female

Home: the depths of the sea between Tahron and the island of Semhadar

Affiliation: Theriom (temporarily)

Rank: ally.

*Holopodians are fictional large-sized echinoderms with some characteristics that are shared with crustaceans.

Articulation

The Queen Holopodian's articulation includes a ball jointed upper neck, a hinged lower neck, a swivel-hinged tail (the end of the tail is made of bendy rubber with a sturdy wire inside for posing) and 14 swivel-hinged legs (four of which feature two additional swivel-hinged joints at the elbows/knees and at the wrists/ankles, plus double hinged fingers/toes parts).

Description

Holopodians are marine, crawling/swimming creatures, though capable of dwelling on land and standing upright over short distances. When upright, the Queen is bipedal in form and her most prominent feature is her greater size compared to other characters, standing around 23 cm (around 9") in height, one and a half times the height of a normal KR figure and double the height of most other holopodian creatures seen in the comics. However, most of the time she either adopts a more hunched stance or remains vaguely "quadrupedal" when walking or sprinting.

The creature's head at first glance appears to be enclosed within a double, roughly spherical black hinged shell covered with long, thick sharp glossy-black spines and partially open, which seems to lack facial features (apart from a pair of green glowing eyes that peek through the serrated opening), until it unfurls like a flower to reveal a star-shaped, bumpy blueish face. When spread out, her head is larger than those of other individuals of the same species and is protected by a broad, crown-shaped carapace, which is composed of spiny, black bony plates derived from the above-mentioned shell. The five "face arms" radiate from a central disc that has a single round nostril, and are connected by a blueish, seemingly muscular membrane. The two top arms exhibit a pair of menacing pinkish eyes (they change colour to adapt to different light intensities), each surrounded by rough, brownish calcified outgrowths, and bear two flat membranous lobes resembling "bat wing"-shaped ears. Below the eyes on either side of the head are tentacle-like fleshy tubes, which inflate when breathing. The bottom arm is a snout-shaped mouth, which can open extremely wide, revealing a threatening upper jaw and four other side/lower mandibles, which are lined with several large, fang-like sharp whitish teeth in the front, followed by circular rows of many small dreadfully jagged teeth. The monster’s complex, large segmented maw is powerful enough to smash through bone and metal and is filled with a black prehensile tongue that can extend from it. The figure is packaged with the spread out head (with mouth closed) as the standard portrait.

With the exception of her face, which is blueish (although you can see some pink flesh on the back of each arm), and underside, which is covered by a series of overlapping, articulated brownish calcified plates that give protection while also providing flexibility, her skin is pinkish and slimy, and bears a number of projections in the form of porous warts. Her back displays four dorsal ridges that run down its length and bear comb-like bands of seemingly vibrating translucent light-blue hairs (which are probably gills), and is equipped with unconnected black armoured shell fragments, which have the same spiny, bony appearance of the head piece and are the remainder of her egg-form's shell (the "eggs" are actually inactive immature forms of adult individuals). An extra Y-shaped, light-blueish chitinous shell on her chest is present in the form of another armoured carapace, which is fictionally so resilient that it's even capable of repelling sustained gunfire. Similar chitinous outer cases protect the penultimate segments of her elongated limbs, which comprise three pairs of forelimbs (one digitigrade and two insect-like) and four pairs of hind limbs (one digitigrade and three insect-like). The two primary arms are long and thin compared to the body core and have webbed, six-fingered hands with four long skeletal middle fingers and a pair of stubbier opposable thumbs. The two primary legs are stocky and end in five-digit webbed feet, with three toes in front (the middle toe has a much longer claw than the other two) and two in back. In addition to her primary limbs, four secondary, much smaller arms and six secondary legs, each ending in a claw-like finger/toe, extend from the centre of her underbelly and tail, respectively. Each primary limb is equipped with three feathery, tendril-like pinkish prehensile appendages fringed with little filaments and terminating in bony teeth-like talons, which are fictionally sticky and can be used for offensive attacks. Finally, she has a long segmented, blade-tipped prehensile tail; the blade design closely resembles a bifurcated telson and acts as a slashing weapon. The tail also has a flat ridge of spines at the base of the telson, which helps the creature swim efficiently.

Action feature

Aside from having great physical strength, holopodians are equipped with wide, armoured carapaces on their heads, into which they are able to withdraw their face and mouth as a means of protection. This structure is also thought to serve as a sort of sensory antenna, allowing the creatures to detect thermal, bioelectric and biochemical signals with great sensitivity. The Queen figure comes with three interchangeable heads: furled, spread out with a closed mouth and spread out with a gaping mouth.

Additionally, these creatures have a fluid maintained under pressure in a water vascular system between a double layer of tissue: an internal layer of bony plates and an external layer of skin. This system is connected to their facial tubes, through which powerful jets of water are expelled from the vascular interspace by alternately contracting their muscles. So, the Queen comes with two spurting water effects that plug into the ends of her muscular siphons snugly.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the three alternate portraits and the water attachments, the Queen Holopodian only includes two accessories, one of which is another head. However, this head is meant to be used with Kinod in his generic holopodian mutant form. We know that, thanks to a few additional pieces, Kinod can also be displayed as one of his soldiers; these pieces include an alternative head that consists of a spherical bivalve black shell covered with spines and partially open, whose serrated opening allows a pair of evil green glowing eyes to peek through. In the first issue of the KR|Horizon comic book series, we meet Tenophar^TM, the last surviving member of Kinod's army and unauthorised guardian of Dekropolis, who shows that, like the bestial holopodians, he can spread out his head-shell to reveal a star-shaped, bumpy face. This unfurled version of the head looks different from both Kinod's and the Queen's heads. While its back is still protected by a spiny black carapace, the five "arms" are connected by a pinkish, seemingly muscular membrane and radiate from a central disc that has an anthropoid brownish calcified nose. The two blueish top arms exhibit a pair of evil pinkish eyes, which are topped by rough, brownish brow ridges and bear two elongated lobes resembling sensory appendages. Below the eyes on either side of the head are bunches of tendril-like pinkish filaments, which look like the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish. The blueish bottom arm is similar to a protruding chin and carries a humanoid mouth, which is slightly open and reveals several sharp whitish teeth. It's interesting to note that this head was originally depicted as similar to the entirety of a shell-less, green-eyed pink jellyfish, with a number of tentacles surrounding its supposed mouth; this concept design was finally discarded because considered too similar to Cthulhu.

The other accessory is a repaint of Xehrea's trident, which has been retooled slightly in order to be grasped by Tenophar. This weapon is a metallic dark-blue staff that has a trishula-like trident at one end and a swordbreaker blade at the other end, and features a translucent light-blue gem at the base of the central prong.

PoliganToys usually excels in the sculpting category, and the Holopodian Queen is no exception. Every little crevice of bony carapace is rendered beautifully, and as far as I can tell, looks exactly like the comic book version. Some might argue that the Queen, though big, is still too small; I'd say that compared to the standard figure, the scale looks right. The paintjob really brings out the intricate sculpt, displaying an appropriate salmon-pink skin tone with washes of shiny slime and brownish sand all over her. Apart from several heads, there's not many accessories here - you don't get much in quantity, but the quality is there. In the comics, the egg-laying queen possesses a large brood chamber attached to her lower torso; the inclusion of this egg sack would have definitely been great. The figure is only hurt by use of soft rubber pieces in several areas of articulation to allow movement, which may decay over time. Even with these minor problems, it's edging extremely close to a 10/10 rating, and really has the potential to be a crown jewel for any collector of KR figures. This is (hopefully) popping up at SDCC 2020, so be sure to check it out if you're attending.

KR Review #82: Exabeast (NYTF 2020 Exclusive)

There are quite a few characters that did not make it to figure form during the various issues of the Key Raiders: Foundation comic book series.

One of the most fascinating characters is for sure the so-called Exabeast^TM, the giant creature formed by Denortos and his five fellows during the epic final battle of the Cereutian menace story (specifically, issue #9 - "The Cereutian menace: Part II – Salvation").

Now, I am really happy to finally review this large scale figure, officially the fifth in the KR|Foundation series. This is a 30-cm tall (around 12'') promotional figure that will be released at this year's New York Toy Fair (Saturday, Feb 22 – Tuesday, Feb 25, 2020).

I must say, the folks at PoliganToys did a wonderful job of creating a design that maximises play-factor while remaining true to the aesthetic of the Key Raiders line as a whole.

Details
Name: unknown (commonly referred to as "The Exabeast" or, alternatively, "The HexaBeast")

Subtitle: alien monstrosity

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Cereutis

Affiliation: independent

Rank: mercenary.

Articulation

For a bulky, beautiful behemoth of a figure, the articulation on this brute is terrific. He features a ball hinged head with a great range of motion (he has a fairly long, thick neck that pushes his head up and out from the body), upper torso ab crunch, double-ball hinged shoulders and hips, swivel biceps and thighs, ball hinged elbows, wrists, knees and ankles (with ankle rockers). Finally, he has a swivel-rocker waist joint that works very well, allowing him to tilt and turn with a pretty wide range of movement. The predominant ball hinge joint allows the joints to turn 360 degrees, as well as move forward and backward on the disc.

Could PoliganToys have implemented slightly more articulation, such as double-jointed elbows and knees? Yes, but to what end? For the size and bulk of this beast, the flexibility here works remarkably, and I don’t honestly believe that adding more points of articulation would have added much to the figure at all.

Description

PoliganToys has gone with a truly monstrous, savage head sculpt for this figure. The "bat wing"-shaped ears, solid yellow eyes and mismatched piranha-like whitish teeth on this figure make for a fantastically fun–but gross-looking–monster.

I like the body work, with plenty of detailing in the veins, tendons and wrinkles. The muscle definition seems appropriate, as do the body proportions such as the size of the hands and feet to the rest of the figure, and the scale to CoBoN's robot mode. The hands have been given interesting sculpts that can work in a variety of gestures, or can hold the included accessory.

The figure is cast in the appropriate colour (since he's predominately dark-blue/almost black, that's not too much of an issue, except for the slightly glossy look of the plastic) and the paint apps for the highlights and lowlights are stellar, no complaints at all. The detail work is great too, with not just the nasal skull cap (derived from Denortos' robotic arm) and body striations painted in shiny and dull silver respectively, but also the yellowish fingernails, toenails, external spine and spurs on the back of the arms and legs, along with some effective highlighting on the ridges of his exposed skeletal structure.

Quality-control on this figure is outstanding, with the Exabeast feeling nice and heavy despite being rotocast, and standing up stably on its own in various poses (even when holding up another figure!) with no problem whatsoever.

Weapons and accessories

The figure comes with one accessory. It's a hunk of metal girder with a couple of pipes attached, bent in the middle by his ferocious right hand. To be honest, I don't remember where this comes from, I need to re-read the comic book. The item breaks in half, but the pegs are a little too short and a little too soft. So, rather than popping apart when it strikes CoBoN, it's probably going to simply fall apart on the slightest touch, making it more frustrating than fun.

If you're attending NYTF 2020, then you might want to give the Exabeast a thorough look. He has a couple of minor issues, the biggest being the piece of metal falling apart (if you get a little too frustrated with it, you can always glue it), but this is actually a pretty solid toy. The bestial head is aesthetically compelling, and the great articulation and well built execution make this figure a lot of fun. Also, he can definitely fill in as another reasonably interesting villain in the KR world. In short, I like it.

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.

KR|Dimness Review #2: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor

Toy prototype details

Name: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor^TM

Subtitle: fiendish duke's true identity and beastly steed

Line: KR|Dimness (although Sondakor belongs to the KR|Enmity line)

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 2 in the line.

Wordron

Character details

Name: Wordron

Real name: Silef^TM

Classification: reincarnation of a reptile of uncertain group

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: grand marshal; archaeologist.

Background

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

Brief bio: once the powerful leader of an ancient reptilian kinship group, Silef perished while fighting a rival mammalian clan in the age before King Tah-Ron^TM. To ensure a glorious future for the reptilian people and the annihilation of their enemies, a mysterious saurian wizard attempted to resurrect Silef with magic, but instead channelled the essence of the deceased chieftain into himself, increasing his abilities ten-fold. Yet, even his new powers could not prevent the transformed wizard from being controlled by the former headman's psyche. Centuries later, the wizard acted on his desire to remove the spirit of Silef from his body, passing on his life force into a wounded mercenary called Nemhisto^TM, giving all of his wickedness to the young soldier of fortune. When after a few years Nemhisto and a noblewoman of O-Kin had an affair, the spirit was transferred to their illegitimate child, Wordron, who eventually gained control of the demon inside him and exploited it to lead his ruthless Dark Legion until his exile at Ucamur^TM.

Articulation

Standard, plus a hinged lower jaw, two swivelling horns, two pairs of ball hinged "wing-bones" and a tail that features two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a Spinosaurus skull, but with a more dragon-ish look, characterised by a long and narrow snout, a creamy-white ivory colour, a large cranial crest, a pair of long curved, pointy horns (whose colour fades from grey-brown to creamy-white), large eye sockets with small amber eyeballs (each with a vertical black pupil) and large sharp steel-coated teeth along the edges of the jaws. Interestingly, the inside of the mouth is painted in a pinkish colour

Body: anthropomorphic creamy-white ivory skeleton (whose shoulder, elbow and knee joints slightly -and strangely- resemble human skulls), hands and feet with large steel-coated claws. On the back, a comb of extended neural spines and two additional pairs of large bony limbs (probably meant to support wings) project from his backbone. Also, a long, bony tail extends from the bottom of his spine and stretches downwards, ending with a zigzagged steel-coated point (which, like with Lor-Drek, personally reminds me of Pikachu)

Wearables: two narrow spiked bronze bracelets, two brown furry calf protectors with turndown tops (which show a paler shade of brown on the inside) and a bronze belt that is decorated with a large Dark Legion emblem (i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face) and holds a short strip of silver chain mail hanging down in front. The breastbone running down the centre of the chest, to which the ribs are attached, sports a large bony brooch, which bears a complex heraldic design (a dragon skull with two pointed bones crossed behind it on a web-like background) and holds what looks like a brown fur tail hanging down in front. However, this additional decorative detail, which is never shown in the comics, can be detached (exposing a socket) and is meant to be replaced with a much more meaningful piece that will be included with another prototype.

Action feature

In the comics, Wordron has the ability to shoot a hail of sharp steel-coated claws at his enemies as well as to form back together after getting blown up into a pile of bones. The figure is characterised by the new articulation scheme, in which every point of articulation is a ball&socket joint that allows for part swapping. This not only sort of works like having an appropriate action feature, but also makes it possible to remove the bracelets, shin guards and belt for recreating a more comic book accurate bare-bones look. Still, I wish there were a trigger to make his body burst apart, with the bones flying around.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his removable items of "clothing", Wordron comes with an interesting sceptre, which is composed of an arrangement of two pointed creamy-white bones crossed around the base of a silver blade and tied with a length of brown rope to the top of a long wooden staff. While the crossbones recall the shape of his bony wings, the blade and the staff are the remainders of Duke Wordron's dagger and spade from his days in O-Kin.

Additionally, the figure includes a head, a piece of armour, a hand and an arm that can be used to update the Enmity version of Wordron's normal form and make it more similar to his human(ish) appearance in the Dimness series. The head is almost identical to the regular one, except that it looks a bit older (e.g., all the three mohawks are whitish with greyish roots and the right eyebrow is greyish), lacks the ponytail and wears a more traditional eye patch instead of the monocle-like covering over his left eye (the black patch has a silvery rim and is attached around the head by a black string).

The attire is a combo piece comprising a bronze chest armour with silver details (which kinda resemble a ribcage), two brown leather shoulder pads ornamented with silver skulls, a high standing collar (which is split into two parts and looks like a pair of dragon wings), a cowl edged with bone-looking silver details and a 3-part cape (whose bottom is jagged and tattered). The collar, cowl and central part of his cape seem to be made of a brown fabric and are all one piece with the chest armour, while the shoulder pads are moulded with the side pieces of the cape and are separate parts that are attached via a rubber “hinge” to the shoulder armour, so they retain a little movement in the shoulders. The whole assemblage is pretty heavy, but balance has not been much of an issue for me so far.

The new grasping left hand is meant to hold the above-mentioned piece that will come with another figure. I don’t mind the overly detailed sculpt of this hand, but it looks a little odd with nothing to hold. So, this is another opportunity where the line benefits of swappable hands.

Finally, the alternate right arm can be attached to Duke Wordron's figure by popping the regular arm off at the elbow. This new limb features the skeletal head of Wordron's draconic form emerging forcibly from the forearm of his human host. The head corresponds exactly to the full-body form's head and has identical hinged lower jaw and swivelling horns, as well as one point of articulation that makes it turn around on a swivel.

Sondakor

Character details

Name: Sondakor

Classification: xenarthran mammal

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: steed.

Articulation

Sondakor's articulation features a ball jointed head, swivel shoulders/hips, swivel-hinged elbows/knees, swivel-hinged wrists/ankles and a tail on a swivel. It isn’t great, but it’s adequate enough to achieve a few nice poses.

Description

Sondakor resembles a Megatherium (i.e., a giant ground sloth) with a shaggy grey-brown fur and five large curved claws on each foot. However, similarly to a nodosaurid (e.g., Edmontonia), she is also adorned with rows of ridged ivory-coloured bony deposits on her head and back, as well as several sharp spines along her back and tail. Additionally, she possesses a large mace-like spiked tail like that of a glyptodont (e.g., Doedicurus).

Sondakor's head armour presents a large flat ossification on the skull roof, while her tank-like body is covered with bony plates and bordered by spikes on both sides. The four largest projections jut out from over the shoulders on each side: one spine pointing obliquely towards the front, a very large forward-pointing spike that is bifurcated, another large spike behind it pointing more sideways and a smaller fourth one that is directed obliquely to behind. The row of side spikes is continued to the rear, but there the spines are smaller and curving strongly to behind.

Action feature / Weapons and accessories

This heavily armoured giant is further covered in a large tortoise-like metallic shell of individual steel plates that can open up to reveal an armament of guns (including two large central cannons) and ambush unsuspecting foes. Such body shield is removable (it straps across her belly) and is topped by a sort of howdah, i.e., a seat for riding on the back of this deadly beast, which can accommodate a figure and is equipped with two additional removable guns: a Gatling-type cannon and a laser blaster with sight.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ The first figure in this set is a rather obscure version of Wordron that only makes its full appearance in the last KR|Dimness story. The thing that I don't like about this inclusion is that, damn it, I want multiples of this figure, but since it will probably come at a high price point, that makes army building pretty much impossible. Sondakor is not a figure I needed to complete the Enmity line, but she came out really nice, and I know plenty of fans would want this creature to carry Duke Wordron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Wordron's articulation is consistent with the rest of the reptilian guys of his kind, such as Lor-Drek and Reptile Masq-Lor. The joints are tight, with very thick, high quality pins. On the other hand, I have to say, Sondakor’s articulation is not great. Most of her joints don’t feel like they have all the movement they should, but, still, without the armour she can take the poses that matter, including various ways of mauling her foes

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ I can’t really think of any major complaints about Wordron's sculpt... well, those teeth and claws could have been slightly sharper. He’s an intimidating monster, though, especially thanks to some very well done paint work that creates a realistic skeletal appearance. Sondakor? Oh, she's huge! But in the the comics she is even more ridiculously large, so this isn’t exactly accurate to the comic book design, but I’m glad they changed that up a bit to fit in more with the KR style

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Wordron's terrific new staff fits great in his hands and looks extremely threatening. The extra arm piece to update the regular figure has a very creative, imaginative nature and adds a ton to the value of this prototype, but I really miss the cloak thing that in the comics hangs loosely from the right shoulder to cover his deformed arm. Sondakor's armour feels a bit awkward at first, too far down her back; it also slides and tips easily, and might toss her rider. If a figure has a non-removable robe or cape, he or she will have trouble riding, though a lot of KR toys are just fine

Playability: ♪♪♪ The tradition of including in one 2-pack a figure and a large scale item that don't fit each other continues. However, pretty much everything about Wordron is enjoyable, while Sondakor is a big, mean beast, but she really does need her master from the Enmity series

Overall: ☺☺☺ I found myself liking this multi-pack more than I had expected.

Special thanks to Alec Karfonta for allowing us to use the name Wordron.

KR|Dimness Review #1: Solamya & Dhar-Wun

Happy new year!! We start 2019 with a brand new line in the world of Key Raiders!

The upcoming reviews will be about recently developed prototypes that belong to the latest Key Raiders wave. Like Origin and Enmity, this is a prequel series, which will be titled Key Raiders: Dimness (stylised as KR|Dimness) and concern a universe characterised by a barbarian vibe, recounting events happening 5 years before the adventures of the KR|Foundation series:

à			Timeline (intervals in years)			à
		500		15		5
	Origin		Enmity		Dimness		Foundation

So, let's start with the first prototype review of this new series!

Toy prototype details

Name: Solamya^TM & Dhar-Wun^TM

Subtitle: prophetic guide with her catlike companion

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 1 in the line.

Solamya

Character details

Name: Solamya

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha^TM

Rank: prophetess.

Background

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

Brief bio: a wise and dauntless inhabitant of the Forseha terramare settlement near the Ucamur^TM region, Solamya was the daughter of the tribal chief Dakun^TM and held the blood of the great ancient warrior Myneran^TM in her veins. Her father himself had been a valiant hero entrusted with keeping their tribe safe from villains who learnt of their valuable legacy. Solamya's link to the powers of the ancient champion gave her a number of supernatural abilities and made her particularly hard to subdue when the evil Wordron set his sights on exploiting powerful warriors after his exile to Ucamur. With the help of her father and the other tribespeople, Solamya defended her clan and helped defeat the wicked rival.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Indigenous Brazilian features, olive brown skin, bald scalp (except for a tuft of brown hair gathered by a red band on the top of her head), brown eyebrows (which extend much beyond the eyes), hazel eyes. She has two sickle-shaped, glow-in-the-dark blemishes located under the eyes and wears a pair of long beaded dangle earrings

Body: the exposed parts of her body show olive brown skin

Wearables: a body-length garment made from dark-brown linen with ring-shaped red decorative patterns, a large dark-brown leather wrist guard (ornamented with a red gemstone and two silver bands) on the left arm, a narrow dark-brown leather bracelet and a light-brown bark armband on the right arm, and two dark-brown leather boots with wide flat light-brown laces and furry turndown lapels. The garment is a long, tubular cloth open on the left side of the body, with the top edge folded down about halfway (so that the top of the tube is draped below the waist), while the bottom edge is at the ankle; the tube is gathered around the waist with a light-brown raffia fibre belt (equipped with a large bronze buckle bearing the Forseha emblem, i.e., a seven-petalled flower that vaguely recalls a Plumeria, and two lamellar red leather tassets) and the folded top edge is fastened over the left shoulder by a silver fibula (while the right shoulder is left uncovered). I like that the folded-down top of the tube provides the appearance of a second piece of clothing and even shows a different texture. The garment is sewn together along the left side, from the armpit to the thigh, while there is a slit on the right side of the skirt.

Action feature

In the comics, Solamya is shown to possess a range of supernatural faculties, such as precognitive and telekinetic powers, as well as the ability to communicate telepathically with animals for controlling their behaviour. Whenever she uses any of these powers, the marks situated on her cheekbones glow; so, the only action feature for Solamya is her GITD facial markings. What I can't tell is if this is meant to represent some sort of bio-luminescent marking, or some traditional makeup or tattoo.

Weapons and accessories

Solamya only comes with a kind of sceptre made of a knobbly reddish-brown wooden staff that ends in a loop and has a number of greenish vines twining around its length.

Dhar-Wun

Character details

Name: Dhar-Wun

Classification: ormurid* mammal

Sex: female

Relationship: mother of Ki-Wun^TM

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: steed.

*Ormurids^TM are fictional carnivorans.

Background

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

Brief bio: before Ki-Wun loyally carried Masq-Lor^TM into combat, the Forseha tribe members rode into battle on top of their mighty ormurid mounts, an ancient lineage of formidable carnivorans, during the conflict against the invasion forces of the Dark Legion. Saved as a cub by a young Dakun from a rival clan of savage hunters, one of these indomitable beasts, Dhar-Wun, grew up with her master's daughter Solamya, faithfully protecting their tribe during Wordron's exile from O-Kin. Her offspring included Ki-Wun, who eventually became Masq-Lor's heroic steed.

Overall description

The sculpt is mostly re-used from Ki-Wun, except for a unique head, as well as new front paws and tail. Like her "cub", this seemingly ferocious beast resembles a large cougar, but has a new amazingly realistic cream-coloured flocked fur darkly marked with both large blotchy spots and wide stripes. Apart from the two paws with more extended claws and the tail with a hairy tuft at its end, her head is the only newly sculpted piece on the figure. Even though it shares almost all of her details (such as the round shape and the yellow eyes) with her whelp's head, her ears, whiskers, canine teeth and fur on the sides extend out further than Ki-Wun’s do. The most obvious difference, however, is the pair of large pointed, curved and spiralling dark-brown horns projecting from her forehead, a typical female feature that definitively makes her distinguishable from her single horned offspring.

Dhar-Wun's articulation benefits from Ki-Wun’s body with joints all over the place: hinged jaw, ball jointed upper neck, hinged lower neck, swivel-hinged shoulders, hips, elbows, paws and tail, hinged knees and hocks, and a final ball jointed abdomen. Surprisingly, most of the joints don't disrupt the sculpt as much as it might sound like they do.

In the comics, Dhar-Wun is occasionally shown to stand on her hind legs, in order to fight with her front claws; the nice and tight articulation allows for displaying the figure in such a pose with no problem. And I like that they added the new front paws for a great mauling action!

This mighty creature comes with no accessory (but she can wear the removable saddle and claws that came with Ki-Wun) and can fit most KR figures on her back (not Solamya though).

Comic

Together with the multi-pack we get the first comic issue Into dimness: Part I – Awakening. Fifteen years after the beginning of their exile to the region of Ucamur, Wordron, Modi-Rha and Barkos excavate a swampy site in search of the magical helmet that was once in their possession. Instead, they discover a number of lethal seeds, formerly belonging to the Reptonoid warrior Rabidriss^TM, and the ancient mystical being Clavisaur^TM. Wordron plots to use those resources to retrieve the lost helmet. To obtain the life force that is required to revive Clavisaur, Wordron attacks the nearby Forseha settlement with his new army of demonic parasites, and several tribespeople are put into an unconscious state. Solamya, whose father Dakun is among the victims, tells her fellows that they must find an enchanted fungus, which grows on the slopes of Mount Atubion^TM and can produce a powerful antidote. After the heroes have reached the volcano and found the fungus with much difficulty, Solamya fashions its decoction into an ointment that will neutralise the parasites' poison and make the wicked creatures life-giving. The Dark Legion attacks the settlement again, hoping to extract more life force from the tribespeople, but the heroes rub the ointment on their weapons and counterattack the evil army, reversing the effect of their stings. This time, Wordron's minions bring everyone back to life. After finally retrieving the helmet, Wordron gives Barkos the prodigious relic and sends him to stop the tribe's retaliation, but the shield-maiden Yla-Nha^TM defeats him and forces the Dark Legion to retreat.

Overall, all the ingredients for a good story are here, but they hardly seem to get together. Barkos himself is entirely pointless - all he does is walk to the tribe's settlement and then get beaten by a girl. The quest to gather the enchanted fungus begins and finishes too quickly, and Wordron spends too much time senselessly attacking people instead of actually looking for the helmet. Finally, the way the antidote is used to counteract the Plant-Men's poison is just too complex. The premise of the series is good, but I think I’ll rank this episode towards the lower end of the scale.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Solamya is a very important character in the KR|Dimness series, being the heir to the leadership of the Forseha tribe, the source of Masq-Lor's boldness. Dhar-Wun is also the mother of Masq-Lor's steed Ki-Wun and is considered one of the most powerful animals on Tahron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ You can get plenty of poses from both figures, even if they're not meant for interacting with each other. They still have great base bodies that work very well for the female human and ormurid KR figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ All the sculpting work is great here; there is very good detail work on Solamya's outfit, and Dhar-Wun's head sculpt, besides its flocking, is one of the many high points of this multi-pack. The paint on Solamya is mainly limited to highlights or shadowing - there appears to be dark washes over the brown cloth parts and dry brushing on the red details that adorn the dress and the belt

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ We get a small accessory with Solamya, which is her staff. It looks excellent, but is made from a very soft plastic, so it comes out of the packaging a little warped. Dhar-Wun could almost be considered an accessory and is also very cool, helping round out Solamya pretty well

Playability: ♪♪♪ Apart from the fact that Solamya can't actually ride Dhar-Wun due to her skirt, there are hardly any problems I can think of with this set

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I really don’t have too many issues with this multi-pack: Solamya looks great and can be posed well, even if her "pet", which also looks awesome, isn't appropriate. Being two important characters in the Dimness series, they will fit perfectly in the collection.

KR|Origin Review #16: Zhongat & Kilorapt

SDCC 2017 wrapped last week and was a blast. A part of the fun at the con was seeing the impressive lineup of Key Raiders figures that PoliganToys displayed in their booth. What a view!

Today I'm looking at one of the most interesting 2-packs in the KR|Origin line - Zhongat^TM + Kilorapt^TM. Interesting because this third multi-pack prototype of the series is the first that includes two figures belonging to two different factions... sort of.

Considering that Zhongat is a kind of dwarf action figure due to his small stature, the folks at PoliganToys decided to give him a package upgrade and, I have to say, having it packed with another character was a pretty good idea. Especially because the second item is a creature and a quite imposing addition to the collection.

Ready for a closer look at this 2-pack? Then let's go.

Zhongat

Details

Name: Zhongat

Subtitle: former mentor

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: commandant of the Theriom Knights.

Background

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

Brief bio: the shrewdest and most venerable of the reptilian trainers, Zhongat mentored Bi-Harr in potentiating both his body and his intellect, to help overcome the difficulties due to his dual nature and to prepare him for a military career. When the self-appointed Reptonoid leader decided to undertake an uprising against the increasing mammalian predominance, he felt frightened by and partially responsible for the growing insanity of his pupil, and decided to put his experience at the service of the Therioms. Zhongat provided King Tah-Ron's forces with valuable training alongside Ki-Shudan, but only after proving he had not only great strength, but sharp powers of judgement as well. As one of the brawniest fighters on Tahron, he possessed such an extraordinary might that even his former disciple dared not challenge him.

Articulation

Zhongat'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)

- hip (hinged, x2)

- knee (swivel, x2)

- ankle (double hinged -for both front-to-back and rocking movements-, x2)

- tail (swivel)

Description

Head: similar to a Komodo dragon, characterised by ochre skin, a long scaly snout, light-blue eyes (the right one is pupil-less), closely spaced serrated teeth along the edges of the jaws, a long, deeply forked yellow tongue and a gular fold

Body: shorter than most characters (only 12 cm, almost 5"), bulky. His rugged hide is reinforced with bony armoured scales, which function as a sort of natural chain-mail, and shows crazes, warts and an ochre drybrush that brings out all the amazing detail in the sculpt. His hands and feet display long black claws, while a thick pointy tail as long as the rest of his body emerges from under his skirt

Wearables: a light-green crocodile leather robe (with orange collar, lapels, cuffs and hem, all decorated with copper studs), an orange hakama (with a middle slit to allow for leg movement) and a pair of thonged light-green sandals. The robe, whose hem falls to the hip, is completely open and has a loose closure (which is formed of two copper clasps connected with an orange string) near the neck, while the skirt is secured by a metallic light-green belt. The detail of the patterning in the hakama is pretty stunning and Zhongat has a lot of little silver work (e.g., chains and awls) stored in its pockets. The belt displays a crocodile leather sheath, which is used to store the blade of his dagger (more on this later), and a copper purse respectively near the left and the right side of the buckle. The sleeves are short enough to expose two metallic light-green wrist guards decorated with spines; similar metallic spines, a couple of which have even been broken off, are also attached to the robe, running all down the back.

Action feature

Although the comics portray Zhongat as a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and mention that he has a venomous bite, his figure has no action feature.

Weapons and accessories

Zhongat comes with two nice accessories: a janbiya and a shield. The janbiya is a dagger with a copper hilt and a short curved steel blade that has a medial ridge, while the shield is made of a wooden oval to which two intertwined copper dragons (one looking European, the other Chinese), symmetrically biting one another's tail, are fixed. The design of the shield reminds me a bit of the Auryn, the talisman seen in The Neverending Story.

Kilorapt

Details

Name: Kilorapt

Subtitle: ghoulish dinosaur

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Reptonoid/Rexodon

Rank: steed.

Articulation

Kilorapt’s articulation isn’t fantastic, but it’s decent enough to accomplish a few nice poses. His ball jointed head has a really wide range of movement, while the tail is only on a swivel. Each limb features three points of articulation: swivel shoulder/hip, ball hinged elbow/knee and ball hinged wrist/ankle. Fortunately, the legs are strong enough to support his body weight for long periods.

Description

Kilorapt resembles a bipedal maniraptor with a long tail. Like other KR creatures, he's pretty big, but even with his large size the folks at PoliganToys didn’t skimp at all on the detail work. Kilorapt is covered head to tail in craggy looking mauvish scales and wrinkles. His abdomen is covered with a longitudinal series of larger orange scales, which also run all along the underside of the tail (giving him a segmented appearance) and received a nice dark-red wash. His head is characterised by large, slightly forward facing amber eyes and partially open jaws that are lined with widely spaced blade-like white teeth, while his limbs are long and slender, and terminate in three-fingered/toed hands and feet that display large curved pearlescent claws.

The patterns on his skin are broken up even more with scars and cracks due to the incorporation of cybernetic enhancements, such as a sighting device on his left eye (for looking in on targets) and a pair of robotic mechanisms with circuits, pistons and cogs mounted to the legs (for movement with increased strength and endurance).

Kilorapt carries a removable armoured saddle, which has a button closure on the bottom and whose front and rear extend into a neck guard and a tail guard respectively. The seat is characterised by a brown leather scale armour texture, and is equipped with a pair of horn-like black appendages attached to the pommel and two gold&red escutcheons (one with the Reptonoid eye symbol and the other with the Rexodon skull emblem) at the sides of the cantle. The steel neck and tail guards show lots of cyber details, as well as various golden ornaments, such as studs, crests and claw-shaped decorations. The underside of the saddle is cushioned by some dark-brown lining, which bears few orange strings with tassels at their ends and covers the shoulders and the hips partially. The rider is secured by a 2-point safety belt that goes over the waist, but, curiously, there are no stirrups.

Action feature

Kilorapt includes a set of accessories that are used to display him in the way he appears briefly in the comics of the Origin series. First up is a steel head armour with gold details (i.e., eyes and upper and lower crests) that resembles the head of a Tyrannosaurus. The armour is made of a collar and two hinged jaws, and can be worn by temporarily disconnecting Kilorapt's head. It simulates a techno-bite action and, when it's closed, conceals the steed's real head completely.

Additionally, there are two pairs of raptor hands and feet attachments, both made of steel with long curved, sickle-shaped golden claws (two for each hand and three for each foot). The slashing front claws clip on the wrists and carry posable wing-shaped blades that are attached to the bracers via ball-hinged joints, while the hind claws connect to the feet in a shoe fashion.

Weapons and accessories

Kilorapt comes with a large pivoting cannon that is mounted to the armoured saddle and rests over his right shoulder. The gold&silver cannon is shaped like a dinosaur head and can fire a flame-ball projectile thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism.

Overall, while there is a problem with the limited articulation here and there, these two figures still turned out to be incredible thanks to their flawless sculpting and paintwork. These are truly the kind of figures that deliver a visual punch to anyone who sees them. I like Zhongat's character a lot (rogue reptilians, oh yeah!), so it’s great to get a figure of him, especially considering his unusual shape and size. Kilorapt is another creature in the KR mythology that I really wanted, so it’s nice to see him finally get a figure that can easily fit into both the regular and the Origin lines; he's just an impressive and dominating presence, and really gives me something to build a display with my collection of prototypes around.