KR Review #55: Steel-Monster Loghar

I know, I haven't been very active this month. I'm actually trying to enjoy a bit of summer holidays, but I still want to get a review up for the end of July.

Since this variant includes shared parts with both the regular version and a bunch of robotic figures, I guess Steel-Monster Loghar^TM has the potential to be one of the most debatable inclusions in the KR line.

Anyway, this 42^nd action figure prototype from PoliganToys also features some noticeable differences, such as a few paint variations, a set of newly sculpted attachments and, above all, a re-tooled chest piece with a surprising action feature.

Details

Name: Steel-Monster Loghar

Real name: Unit ГЗК-Д

Subtitle: robotic impostor

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Rexodon

Rank: drone.

Background

Steel-Monster Loghar appears at the end of the sixth KR comic issue Reptiles reunited. After the Therioms have succeeded in rescuing several hostages held by Loghar (whose spirit possesses Herrion's body) and Lor-Drek, Masq-Lor is confronted by his demoniac twin brother. During their fight, Loghar, like Deptilion previously, reveals that he's in actual fact a droid, whose trunk enshrines a deadly worm-like drilling machine that can lash out at any enemy. The robot has been programmed by the real Deptilion, who also killed the real Loghar. While Masq-Lor appears surrounded and defenceless, Tir-Hing manages to help his son, allowing him to strike out at Loghar, thanks to a nearby Ceratank, in a final violent blow.

Articulation

Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed and there is no ab crunch.

Description

Head: black metallic reptile skull, showing a few mechanical and electrical components, the eyes emit a red glow. This head is essentially a reuse of the robot-mode Rexodon Trooper's head, which also came in different versions with the Destructomorph Troopers and Steel-Monster Deptilion. Its structure resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, the front part of the jaws ending in a beak, two horns projecting backwards from the back of the head and two additional horns below those pointing backwards and down. The only innovation in this variant's head is that it is topped with a silver blade crest

Body: arms and legs have a black metallic look, showing lots of machinery/circuitry patterns and few grey scaly artificial skin fragments on the right arm and the left leg. Like with the other Loghar variants, the right leg is equipped with a silver tripod instead of a claw foot and the left arm ends in a ball&socket connection. Additionally, his creepy and menacing cyborg-like clawed right hand has four little spikes sticking out of the knuckles

Wearables: a silver armour with black details (not removable), two silver cuffs, a silver boot (with a spike sticking out of the side) on the left leg, a silver belt and a black crotch piece that shows lots of cyber details. From a distance, this figure is basically a mix of Loghar's and Destructomorph Trooper's reused pieces, but side-by-side there are subtle differences, such as shinier silver parts with some glossy black trim here and there. The belt is the only completely new piece and displays a diamond-shaped buckle.

Steel-Monster Loghar's stylised armour.

Action feature

Unlike Loghar's previous versions, the left arm extremity is not the main feature of SML, since there is no mechanism attached to it. Instead, we find a black hook with a cog halfway down its length and some loppy wires, which is the remainder of his lost spinning incendiary device. The hook can still be detached to make the forearm look like a kind of cannon. SML also carries the same technological backpack seen on the other versions, with identical sculpted details, such as wires, panels, piping, tubes and dials. However, in this figure the insulated tube that usually runs to the left forearm is absent, except for a short leftover attached to the cuff.

So, nothing exciting... except for one big thing! Yes, because if this Loghar figure were just a collection of reused components with a new useless accessory, it would really suck. Thankfully, this variant gets an all new hollow chest. We lose the ab crunch articulation, but the front plate opens up to reveal SML's true heart, which nestles inside his upper body and looks like the rotating cutting wheel of a tunnel boring machine. This nicely designed silver drilling head has copper-coloured cutting bits, disc cutters and drag picks arranged in such a way that it resembles a demonic face. As another option, the cutter head can be pushed and attached into SML's chest (the chest plate that normally accommodates it can also be disconnected from the abdomen and snapped back into place at will) or connected to the arm-cannon when the hook is detached. In the comics, after Loghar's chest plate has popped open, the drilling-machine weapon flies out and becomes longer and longer, acquiring a mechanical worm-like appearance. So, the cutter head comes with a tubular articulated attachment that is composed of 12 ball jointed pieces. The complete form of this weapon, which is characterised by several intertwined flexible metal hoses and a number of curved spikes, looks amazing and bears some resemblance to Steel-Monster Deptilion's acid thrower.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the drilling weapon and the detachable hook, SML comes with a few cool accessories. The first accessory is Bi-Harr's stolen outward-curved-bladed halberd, which is identical to the original one, except from being painted with some subtle black shades here and there rather than plain silver.

In addition, there are four pivoting laser rifles that can clip on and off the elbow and knee joints, and a second cyborg-like hand that can replace the hook on the left arm.

Last but not least, we also get an alternative head. This is a battle damaged Loghar-possessed Herrion head, basically a Terminator-style shrunk version (i.e., with retracted beak, horns and blade crest) of SML regular head with some fake flesh and hair left on it.

Overall, I think this figure is actually really well executed. He’s just got a lot of little nice things that make him look sharp to me. Sure, because of the chest cavity hosting the surprising drilling-machine head, he loses the ab crunch, but at least now we understand why we didn't get a removable armour in his previous versions. About the (many) reused parts, I applaud the folks at PoliganToys for making the trimming different enough from other figures to be notable. His artificial skin remains are great and even the colours look better. I actually do like him!

KR Review #54: Strictriss

If you think that Bi-Harr is weird, well, what to say about this guy? In a line already filled with a great deal of uncanny monsters, Strictriss^TM still manages to be a standout for a very simple reason - he's got three heads!

After Nar-Aja and Volcrotran, this 41^st action figure prototype from PoliganToys is the final addition to the small snake group in the Spektrosaur army and gets us one step closer to completing that faction.

Details

Name: Strictriss

Subtitle: constrictor warrior

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: officer.

Background

Strictriss is shown fleetingly in the eighth KR comic issue The Cereutian menace: Part I – Downfall, where he seems to be better known to his enemies as "triple trouble", due to his distinctive three-headed appearance. The son of a snake chief officer who served Lor-Drek during the rise of the Spektrosaurs, Strictriss soon took the same position in the faction's army thanks to his ferocity in battle. Strictriss continues to serve his master in the quest for dominating Tahron, making it impossible for his foes to escape his powerful long constrictor snake-necks.

Articulation

Standard, plus two additional necks.

Description

Heads: each one is similar to a Boa constrictor's head, characterised by an arrow shape, bluish scaly skin with a cross-shaped dark mark on the back and yellow eyes. The central head has a partially open mouth, showing two rows of sharp, curved teeth of about the same size (no fangs) and a long forked tongue. The two side heads seem to project from the back of the shoulders and each displays a more open mouth with the tongue sculpted on the inside

Body: bluish skin, claw hands; the torso and the outer sides of his limbs look scaly, while the inner sides have a segmented appearance. He sports three short, thin tails emerging from under his loincloth

Wearables: a harness (whose upper straps are two steel chains, while the single lower strap is made of the sloughed dark-blotched, light-green skin of a python or an anaconda), two light-green bracelets, two light-green boots, a light-green belt and a segmented loincloth made of overlapping steel plates. Each leather boot is fastened with criss-crossed laces that partially expose a segmented steel shin guard. Similar overlapping-plate protections (even equipped with sharp, curved spikes that resemble Strictriss' teeth) are also present on the biceps and on the thighs.

Strictriss' stylised harness; the oval at the centre represents the upper side of a snake head.

Action feature

In the comics, Strictriss has the ability to extend his three necks many times their original length, in order to tie up his foes and asphyxiate them. So, the figure comes with three neck extensions: one quite short and rigid, and two very long and bendy. Although the rigid extension is meant to go with the middle head and the flexible ones with the side heads, their positions are totally interchangeable. All of the pieces are sculpted nicely and reflect the scaly/segmented texture of the limbs. The bendy necks are great and long enough (25 cm -around 10”- each!) to coil round three standard figures at once or to wrap Strictriss' own body for giving him a more intimidating look. The only downside is that the figure will fall over if the heads protrude forwards (or backwards) too much.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the three neck extensions, Strictriss includes two accessories, which are two badass weapons. The first is a triple ball-and-chain flail, which is composed of a greenish snake-shaft partially wrapping around Strictriss' forearm and a spinning triplet of silver chain maces held in the snake's mouth. The chains are not real, but each one is cast in a nice wave-like shape, while it's difficult to judge whether the snake is supposed to be alive or artificial.

The second weapon is a manriki, which consists of a long chain (this time real) with a greenish snake-shaped, studded weight attached to each end of the chain. The two weights can be clasped by the mouths of Strictriss' side heads (which are slightly more pliable than the central head), so that the weapon can be fictionally used like a freaky mouth-held nunchaku.

Overall, Strictriss has turned out to be a really great figure. I’m glad that we did get the option to display him with regular necks, just because my shelves are a bit tight at this point and I need to use less bulky figures. The bendy necks are fantastic and a lot of fun. For a non-venomous snake warrior, his three heads couldn't be more menacing and definitely make him stand out among the Spektrosaurs.

KR Review #53: The Xonatron

Jumping back in with a Key Raiders review of a particularly fun figure - The Xonatron!

The Xonatron is officially the first large scale figure in the KR line, even if we have already seen figures of this size (or larger) with the Titanic Fighter variant of Mor-Rak and the robot configuration of CoBoN.

This Xonedar variant has never been on the top of my want list, but the guys at PoliganToys did an impressive work with the prototype of this mixed creature. Let’s take a closer look!

Details

Name: The Xonatron

Real name: no name is actually mentioned for this character in the comics; at PoliganToys he has informally been referred to as "Monster Xonedar"

Subtitle: mutated form of Xonedar

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: lieutenant commander.

Background

There's not much to say about the Xonatron, except that he only appears briefly in the not-yet-printed final KR comic issue. In the story, we'll see a horde of mysterious invaders besieging the city of Ra-Hal. This new army includes three shape-shifting giants, who are unleashed by their leader upon the Therioms. During a fight, Xonedar overpowers one of them, Pleutron, by combining with him to form the Xonatron, a giant cyborg-like creature. Despite the double-edged nature of this merged life-form, Xonedar's mind manages to manipulate Pleutron into battling against the other two giants. Eventually, Xonedar frees himself just seconds before the three giants are brought down by Sei-Lha, who uses the power of her techno-armour to literally tear them apart piece by piece.

Articulation

Standard, except that the connection points at the waist, shoulders and hips are ball&socket (but the shoulders and hips are also hinged), and the neck features a double ball joint.

Description

Head: the Xonatron wears a dark-blue cyber helmet with silver details that is very reminiscent of Xonedar's mouth-shielded headgear. Besides the larger size, other differences are the absence of the dark visor and the presence of a squared opening in the mouth shield. The former exposes the deep set solid dark-purple eyes topped with thick black eyebrows, while the latter reveals the slightly open mouth (with the human-looking front teeth shown as a sign of anger), both surrounded by yellowish skin

Body: the figure is 23 cm tall (around 9'') and shows a very bulky sculpt. Wherever exposed, the skin displays a porous texture and a yellowish colour. Each hand is actually a large silver&blue 2-jaw articulated claw, very similar to one of Xonedar's signature snap-on tools

Wearables: a dark-blue armour with dark-green details, two silver wrist guards, two booster rocket-shaped silver boots, a dark-blue belt and a silver crotch piece that kinda looks like an engine. The tech armour shows tons of circuitry and panelling silver embellishments, and also has the same power reactor/lenticular sticker (whose design animates and colour shifts from red to green as it is viewed from different angles) seen with Xonedar, though there's no spinning feature here. An additional broad silver armour covering the back of the shoulders extends into two armholes and bears two hoses that stretch onto the chest plate. Each arm is equipped with a dark-blue shoulder pad that is connected to the wrist guard via a silver exoskeletal device; as a result, only the biceps and part of the forearms are left exposed. Each leg displays a dark-blue thigh/knee protector that carries, besides a number of silver details such as tubes, wires, pistons and gears, what looks like a tank tread on the front.

Xonatron's stylised armour and neck/shoulder guard; the circle at the base of the chest plate represents the power reactor.

Action feature

In the comics, the Xonatron is generated by the fusion of Xonedar and Pleutron (one of three transforming giants) during an intense fight. In the 1980s, the advertising of a line of flexible, sticky action figures called Manglors promoted that the figures could be stretched, squashed, torn apart and then reassembled to their original form. The packaging of the toys even encouraged children to mix and match the parts of the various figures. The line was very controversial, because those advertising claims were proved untrue, since it was impossible to get the many pieces to hold together. Well, I wish such a technology could exist, because it would be very suitable for uniting Xonedar and Pleutron into the Xonatron. Instead, we get a preformed Xonatron figure that has a modular action feature with many snap-on body parts: head, neck (double ball-jointed), torso, pelvis, arms and legs. Apart from some silly part-swapping, so that for example a leg replaces an arm or the head connects to the butt, at the moment there's not much to play with, unless we get more Xonatron figures to create some weird combinations. The real fun will start when the three giants figures are also available. Those and the Xonatron will provide enough body parts to create countless different creatures or to amalgamate into a crazy enormous monster.

Additionally, similarly to Xonedar, the Xonatron's wrists and calves are extensible. However, in this case the extension feature is executed not by means of snap-on pieces but by real telescoping extremities. The range is obviously quite short, but the amount of cyber detail to those extensions is huge.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from his own several rearrangeable pieces, the Xonatron includes a few accessories. First is a silver&blue blaster that resembles Xonedar's snap-on cannon, although it is handheld (thanks to a hole in either pincer's joint that can accommodate for the weapon's handle) and has no spring-loaded missile (which is a shame). The butt of the blaster bears two plugs that, I guess, will allow the gun to connect to some other weapons from the three upcoming giants.

Also, we get a number of additional body parts: an alternative head, one extra leg, a pelvis extension and two Y-connector joints. The head is a fun piece, it's just the rendering of an early Xonatron's head sketch. It has a very blocky structure and a metallic blue colour, with an upside-down triangular glossy dark-purple visor, a W-shaped yellow strip in place of the mouth, and two horn-shaped silver projections emerging from the sides and pointing outwards and slightly up. The third leg looks different from the other two and can be plugged into the socket on the backside of the crotch piece, to make a three-legged creature. This leg has a monstrous appearance, with a porous yellowish skin (plus some dark wash and few translucent white spiny appendages towards the thigh), a clawed foot (with four white claws) and a dark-green shin guard that is equipped with a spiky ray fin-shaped ornament protruding from the calf. The silver pelvis extension has the same engine-like look of the crotch piece, into the back of which it plugs similarly to the leg. This piece really has no function now, but it carries two sockets on the sides and will probably be useful to hold additional legs when we have the other figures. Finally, the techno-looking silver Y-connector joints make it possible to create double shoulders, hips and neck. Again, not very instrumental now (it's a pity they didn't include an extra neck piece to produce a double-headed chap), but they'll come handy soon.

Overall, the Xonatron could have a few improvements, like a missile-firing blaster or an additional neck piece, but the final product is definitely satisfactory. I love interchangeable systems in toys, there is something special about part-swapping and being able to have this kind of fun with a 9” figure is rare. The only thing that’s going to make this better is more pieces... shape-shifting giants, Xonatron's waiting for you!

Special thanks to Matthew "Xonatron" Doucette of Xona Games for allowing us to use the name Xonatron.

KR Review #52: Denortos

The Key Raiders line is marking the beginning of summer (or winter, depending on your location) with the figure representing one of the most interesting characters in the whole saga - Denortos^TM!

The ranks of the Spektrosaurs are slowly growing and, while not exactly a member of this faction, I think Denortos is my new favourite. This 40^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys bats a thousand in terms of impressive look.

Details

Name: Denortos

Subtitle: alien menace

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Cereutis

Affiliation: Spektrosaur (temporarily)

Rank: mercenary.

Background (with spoilers)

Denortos appears in the thrilling KR comic double-issue The Cereutian menace. A dangerous criminal from the extra dimension of Cereutis, Denortos lost his left arm and parts of his face during an ancient battle on Tahron, before being deported back to his dimension and imprisoned. He was then freed and armed with new face components and a powerful shooting arm by Deptilion, who offered promises of power and wealth in exchange for aid to take his revenge on the Therioms. Denortos returned to Tahron and, while secretly serving Deptilion, allied himself with Lor-Drek. Eventually, he grew ambitious and, reneging on his deal, raised an army of his own to fight both the Therioms and the Spektrosaurs. But a surprising alliance between the two factions proved to be too challenging for Denortos and, at last, he was forced out of Tahron once again.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a hinged lower jaw, a diagonal swivel across the chest and a ball joint at the left elbow.

Description

Head: elongated shape, dark-blue (almost black) skin, a strip of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales (similarly to Merados' stripes) running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the head (developing into a spiny cranial crest), two short tentacle-like dark-blue antennas, two pairs of curved dark-blue spines pointing backwards where one would expect to find the ears, yellow right eye (with a horizontal slit-shaped dark pupil resembling a series of four small holes, similarly to a Tokay gecko eye) topped with a jagged brow ridge, electronic left eye (this reminds me of HAL 9000's camera eye) mounted on a steel plate that covers part of the face, two large nostrils and chunky steel electromechanical jaws with sharp teeth. The lower jaw is movable and allows us to see very cool details sculpted on the inside of the mouth, such as two half-rows of sharp whitish teeth and some exposed flesh. It really looks like his face suffered a serious battle injury and some parts had to be replaced with bionic components

Body: his dark-blue (almost black) skin is stretched over a series of bony plates with spine-like tubercles, which are arranged in rings throughout his body, giving a general segmented, armoured appearance. His legs and right arm sport claw extremities and large strips of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales running down the sides. The left arm has a great steel robotic look, showing some little details, such as rivets and cables, but not as many as, for example, Loghar's or Xonedar's cybernetic limbs. Finally, he has a short pointy tail emerging from his trunks and protected by a leaf-shaped, spiny-edged dark-blue tail shield

Wearables: a black armour with light-green details (the two colours alternate clockwise), one black gauntlet, two black boots, a black belt (displaying a small horizontal pocket on the back) and a ridged light-green crotch piece. The armour is not removable and shows some tech details, tubes, battle marks and a mysterious silver symbol (resembling a four-pointed throwing star with what looks like a trilobite embossed in the middle) on the front. Its two furthest-apart components are connected diagonally via a strap that also holds a pouch on the back. The exposed part of the abdomen displays a surgical suture closed with stitches by means of a metal wire.

Denortos' stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a Cereutian symbol.

Action feature

In the comics Denortos is shown to possess extremely accurate senses thanks to his antennas. Well, this is probably the only faculty that couldn't be recreated in the figure, because regarding all his other abilities, there's so much going on here.

Let's start with his powerful mechanical mouth that can inflict ferocious bites through nearly anything; this feature is wonderfully rendered thanks to the spring-loaded lower jaw, which can swing open and then suddenly snap shut like a bear trap.

Denortos also has a long-range punching feature that is reproduced in two ways. First, by posing his torso, thanks to the unique diagonal swivel articulation, either to wind up or to follow through before and after the punch respectively. Second, by popping the cybernetic arm off at the elbow and attaching an alternative split arm. That’s wonderful too, it really looks like the fist has been propelled with force through the air by his strong swinging movement and, owing to an extensible cable (a simple string in reality) attached to the forearm, can eventually been drawn back.

Finally, this evil guy has the ability to exhale a gas that knocks his enemies unconscious. Since his appearance changes slightly when doing that, the figure comes with an alternative head. In this head the four spines of the cranial crest are set upright, forming a sort of spiky mohawk, while each pair of side spines is swung forward and spread out, forming a "bat wing"-shaped ear with a number of fissures, through which the gas is sprayed. His bionic components look different too: the eye is green rather than red, in order to see through the mist, while the jaws are converted into a breathing mask that also covers the nose. This mask is permanently connected via two pliable corrugated hoses to a twin-cylinders set (equipped with a pivoting control lever and a pressure gauge) that snaps into a socket on the back. Apparently, after his injury he lost the capacity to withstand his own toxic fumes. Oh, this head stinks... I mean, literally! I don't know what the guys at PoliganToys added to the plastic to make it smell like wet soil, but if the intention was to replicate the knockout gas, well, they perfectly succeeded.

Weapons and accessories

Denortos comes with a great deal of accessories. Apart from the already mentioned alternative arm and head-plus-cylinders, we also get two weapons and a blasting effect for the bionic eye. The first weapon is his light-green petrifaction-beam gun. This is beautifully sculpted and has a barrel equipped with two "stag beetle mandible"-shaped silver blades at the sides. The raygun has an additional handle, so it can also be displayed as a melee weapon. In addition, it has a small hook on its top, which allows it to be hung from a loop on the side of a supplementary large glossy black removable belt adorned with silver rivets and spikes.

The second weapon (sort of) is a silver shield. This is quite bulky and has a strange trapezoidal shape with intricate tech patterns. But here's the thing - both surfaces are made of hinged fold-out pieces (one on the back and three on the front) that allow us to convert the shield into a hovering jet-board. The feature really works great: when shrunk, the shield attaches securely either at the figure's robotic wrist or at the back armour (plugging into the same socket that can be used to stow the air tanks, which are also fictionally produced by the shield itself) via one peg; when spread out, the jet-board fastens snugly under his feet (with the figure standing on it). Additionally, Denortos' standard head bears a small hole in the cranial crest that can be used to make him glide on his jet-board by means of a string from one point to another (similarly to a zip line).

Finally, the translucent red blasting effect can replace the red bionic eye, to simulate the emission of a lethal laser beam.

There's more! In the comics, when travelling from Cereutis to Tahron, Denortos possesses the ability to transform into a falling body of matter, like a meteor. So, the figure also comes with his meteoric form, which looks like a coarse-grained, banded, porous dark-blue stone with hints of a red glow coming from its inside.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the eighth comic issue The Cereutian menace: Part I – Downfall. On Tahron, a monstrous warrior named Denortos is sent from the extra dimension of Cereutis to pursue an alliance with Lor-Drek. Denortos explains that he can bring him Deptilion's halberd in exchange for help to retrieve an ancient machine that can save Cereutis from destruction. Lor-Drek agrees and sends his soldiers to break into Theriom City's understructure, where the machine is supposedly hidden. Once the incursion is discovered, the Therioms try to fend the attackers off, but Denortos, before fleeing, turns Sei-Lha and Elykta into stone with his petrifaction weapon. At Koptros' suggestion, Masq-Lor and Fai-Rha travel to Artelon, to reach a compromise with Lor-Drek, who may have a remedy. After some struggle with a few Spektrosaur soldiers, the two siblings make it to the leader's command post. Lor-Drek agrees to provide them with an antidote to free their fellows from the curse, only if in return Fai-Rha reunites with his army. Fai-Rha accepts generously, but Masq-Lor eventually regrets and, while keeping the cure to save Sei-Lha's and Elykta's lives, goes back to rescue his sister. Using the element of surprise, the hero confronts the Spektrosaurs, but Lor-Drek stops the fight and proclaims that it was all just a test of Masq-Lor's love for his sister, in which he succeeded. In the meantime, Denortos attempts a new attack on Theriom City and manages to find and activate the machine. This creates an inter-dimensional bridge that brings Denortos' sidekicks on Tahron. Masq-Lor, Fai-Rha and Lor-Drek realise that the only way to overcome this new threat is to form a coalition.

Overall, Denortos is such a fun figure and, in my opinion, the most detailed in the entire KR line yet. The bionic parts are fantastic, they really look sharp. The torso even gets him an extra articulation point, which helps open up the poses for his body greatly. He is solid from top to bottom and has a very unique look to help set him apart from the reptilian guys he will be standing with. Yes, I am thrilled to add him to my Spektrosaur display, even if he has to stand off to the side due to his ambiguous background. And I should have no problem to find a configuration that fits my needs with all of the accessories included. Let’s hope that his critter form (right, he can also transform into a beast) shows up sooner rather than later, to make him even more complete.

The comic is very nice too, despite having one of those silly morals. One may object that the story doesn't make much sense - why would Masq-Lor first agree to 'abandon' his sister, but then go back on his word? Well, as Koptros (a new interesting character, by the way) explains, all the trouble was due to evil and selfish moves from others, which makes it legitimate to break a promise, if this can counteract those actions. Good point!

KR Review #51: Volcrotran

What good is an army without their commanding leader? In the interest of keeping things well ordered, Lor-Drek delegates his vice-marshal to lead the charge in his absence. Yes, Volcrotran^TM has come and just about two weeks after Nar-Aja's arrival I have another evil snake fighter to add to my shelf.

We are finally starting to fill out the ranks of the Spektrosaur army and this 39^th action figure prototype form PoliganToys will make this faction a force to take into serious consideration.

Details

Name: Volcrotran

Subtitle: snake warrior

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Relationships: husband of Nar-Aja

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: vice-marshal.

Background

Volcrotran makes his only appearance in the seventh KR comic issue The siege of Erlokat, where he is presented as Lor-Drek’s loyal right-hand man. He was the first of Bi-Harr's soldiers to defect to the newly born Spektrosaur faction and worked with Lor-Drek to enlist as many warriors as possible. Once strong enough, the Spektrosaur army began a three-way war against the Therioms and the Rexodons, with Volcrotran leading many battles. Eventually, he was nominated second in command for his cunning military skills and married his fellow soldier Nar-Aja. After sounding his threatening rattle, Volcrotran wickedly poisons his enemies with dreadful snake bites.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a neck extension and a tail, both of which are ball jointed separate pieces. The tail features two articulation points, two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a viper, characterised by a triangular shape, dark-orange scaly skin, blue-green eyes with slit-shaped pupils and a closed mouth. He has a horned silver diadem adorned with a snake skull on the top of his head, and a snake-shaped silver ornament coiled around his neck, appearing to lengthen it. This neck ring is actually an extension piece that can be removed if one has will to display the figure without. Originally, Volcrotran was intended to have a scaly neck extension, but later he was equipped with the neck-ring instead, simply because it looked a more innovative element

Body: multicoloured scaly skin, claw hands and feet. His limbs are covered with keeled, imbricate dark-orange, dark-green and blueish scales arranged in a complex geometric pattern, similarly to an Atheris squamigera. Also, he has a long, slim dark-green (except for the underside that is blueish) tail, which is a separate piece emerging from the bottom edge of the armour and ends in a glossy turquoise rattle

Wearables: a golden armour with dark-blue details (the chest piece displays the Spektrosaur symbol, i.e., a greenish flame, at its centre), two golden bracelets, two golden calf protectors, a golden belt (whose large buckle resembles a viper head) and a dark-blue loincloth. The wrist guards are reused from Lor-Drek and are shaped to resemble a reptile head, while the shin guards and the loincloth look like made of large overlapping scales.

Volcrotran's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Spektrosaur symbol.

Action feature

In the comics, Volcrotran is equipped with two enormous retractable fangs, which are almost as long as half the length of his body. These are normally concealed in his mouth and swing into biting position when his jaws open, to allow them to penetrate deep into an unfortunate enemy's body and inject large quantities of venom. So, the figure comes with an alternative head, whose jaws are wide open and bear few small sharp white teeth, except for a pair of substantially enlarged fangs pointing downwards. Interestingly, each fang shows a small forward-facing orifice near the tip, suggesting that the tooth is actually a hollow venom channel. Of course, there is also a forked tongue sculpted on the inside of the mouth.

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

Weapon and accessories

Aside from the alternative head, Volcrotran comes with a sword. This is going to be my favourite sword in the entire line, the guys at PoliganToys did a great job designing it. I love the dark-blue viper-head hilt and the long curvy, jagged silver blade. I don't know whether the shape of the blade (a combination of a falcata, a zulfiqar, and a harpe) is supposed to be reminiscent of a snake body or a reptile tongue; however, for me, it evokes a flash of lightning.

Overall, among all of the new prototypes that arrived this months, I think Volcrotran has been executed in the most spectacular fashion. Yes, he does have an unpronounceable name, but he is certainly one of those rare figures that hits on every level. The body sculpt is impressive and the paint deco absolutely stunning. He's just standout and pops on the shelf.

KR Review #50: Alterok & Zor-Kan

Since this is my 50^th review regarding the Key Raiders line (can you believe I have written that many already?), I think I have discussed the rich KR mythos on several occasions. That being said, the set I'm going to review connects to a part of the story that I have not had the chance to reveal yet. And I'm not doing it here, I'll wait for the relevant comic issue to come out.

This 10^th multi-pack (technically a 2-pack, but actually a 3-pack... I'll clear this up) from PoliganToys is the third set that includes an action figure packaged with a creature - Alterok^TM and Zor-Kan^TM!

It is strange though, Alterok is the second Herrion's variant I'm reviewing before the regular Herrion figure even shows up. The prototype run is going in some crazy cool directions... and I am just glad to be a part of the ride!

Alterok

Details

Name: Alterok

Real name: Herrion

Subtitle: monstrous alter ego

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Relationships: supposed son of Tir-Hing, twin brother of Desion (Masq-Lor), older brother of Rhadiel (Fai-Rha)

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: interim chief marshal.

Background

Alterok's only appearance takes place in a KR comic issue that hasn't been printed yet, but I had the chance to preview. Like I said, I cannot reveal much about his backstory here; I can just anticipate that Herrion, once rescued from a long-lasting segregation, receives the third prodigious helmet from Elykta, in order to channel the same ancient power that Masq-Lor and Fai-Rha use to acquire incredible abilities. However, due to a reason related to his personal history that I can't explain now, something goes wrong and instead Herrion transforms into an evil monstrosity, Alterok, who teams up with Demo-Rha.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: he wears a silver helmet with a hideous red-orange visor, which displays two diamond-shaped solid light-blue plaques covering the eyes. This Deadpool-like design creates an interesting effect for me... I know where his eyes are supposed to be, but they’re not quite there. The exposed part of the face shows red skin around the diabolical mouth, from which two sharp whitish teeth protrude upward. The helmet has a circular opening on the upper rear that allows a long white ponytail to come through

Body: red skin, exposed torso, arms and legs, claw hands. He has a dark blue-green serpent coiled around his trunk, with the reptile's head emerging over his left shoulder. This snake-like creature is characterised by warty/scaly skin, a pair of purple eyes, a pair of small ears, a beak-shaped, orange-tipped muzzle, and a sequence of grey-brown spikes projecting from the upper side and spanning almost the body's entire length. Only the serpent's tail and neck are attached to Alterok's lower and upper back respectively, while the rest of its body crosses the front of the figure's torso diagonally, without being glued on it. Such a trick, together with a moderate flexibility of the snake's body, allows the abdomen to bend freely

Wearables: two golden bracelets, two golden boots, a golden belt and a medieval-style black armoured loincloth. His torso is split diagonally by the serpent - while the top-left part is bare, the bottom-right part is covered with a brown spiderweb-like vine net, which extends towards the back and ends in being absorbed by his skin.

Alterok's stylised helmet with frontal crests.

Action feature

In the comics, Alterok is equipped with a pair of retractile pincers produced by his wrist guards. So, the figure comes with two long brownish grasping claws that can snap into the bracelets.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the pincers attachments, Alterok comes with a menacing scythe, which has a large semicircular toothed silver blade at the end of a long black shaft.

Additionally (and surprisingly), we also get Herrion's head wearing the inactive helmet, i.e., without visor. There are a couple of interesting things to say about this accessory. First, this head basically combines Masq-Lor's face with a new helmet; it makes sense, after all they are identical twins, even if Herrion's skin colour, in my opinion, is slightly lighter. Second, this head doesn't really match Alterok's body; rather, it likely functions as an alternative head for Herrion's future regular release. Update: this alternative head will be probably included with Herrion's figure and replaced here with a mid-transformation head.

Zor-Kan

Details

Name: Zor-Kan

Subtitle: four-winged fighting bird

Classification: pseriform* bird

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to a reptilian faction)

Rank: military animal.

*Pseriforms^TM are fictional birds of prey.

Background

Zor-Kan makes several brief appearances throughout most of the KR comics series, but it's in the very same issue where Alterok also appears that she gets the spotlight. A bird of prey originally trained by Bi-Harr for hunting the mammalian enemies, Zor-Kan served as a fearsome fighter alongside Elykta, until the enchantress set out to end her own allegiance to the reptilian army. Elykta tried to convince Zor-Kan to follow her and join the fight to protect Tahron rather than destroy it, but the bird's thinking had been severely twisted by the reptilian influence. With time, Elykta' gentleness helped to heal Zor-Kan's mind, who eventually became a loyal member of the Theriom air force.

Action feature

In the comics, besides being described as having an excellent long distance vision, Zor-Kan is showed to absorb part of the power of Alterok/Herrion's helmet via a sort of panther spirit, acquiring various enhanced features. Unlike Ki-Wun and Merados though, such improvements are not included with the figure as add-ons, even if this possibility was actually explored and eventually discarded. Instead, we get two different figures, one for Zor-Kan's normal form and one for her enhanced appearance, which I'm going to describe separately with regard to sculpt, paint and articulation.

Normal form

In her normal form, Zor-Kan essentially resembles a multicoloured eagle. Her dark-red head displays a pair of green beady eyes and a hooked yellow beak, and the ruff (i.e., a ring of feathers round the neck) has light-orange and black stripes. The upper back has a great green to black fade across its length, while the lower back and rump are golden-yellow. She also has a scarlet breast, flanks and underparts, including the upper legs, but the lower legs and feet are covered with dull yellow scales. The feet have black talons (three of which point forward and one goes backward) that can grip a perching surface, but they are also designed to stand on their own. The tail has black feathers spotted with reddish-brown marks and includes two much longer black feathers, each ending in a reddish-brown fan (in the comics it is explained that this unique twin tail is used for balancing her body weight as she hunts or lands). She may look like a common bird until one notices that she has four wide blue, dark-red tipped wings, two on either side. Articulation-wise, she can look down and to the sides thanks to the ball jointed neck, while each leg features two points of articulation: a hinged hip and a swivel ankle. Each wing is connected to the body via a ball-hinged joint, which allows the wing to fold, spread and flap.

Enhanced form

Zor-Kan's enhanced form has a heron-like appearance and, although similar to the normal form in terms of texture and paint job, her great multicoloured feathery body is larger and has longer neck and legs. Her head has a very nice sculpt, characterised by a metallic red-orange-brown (I'm going to call this colour/material "rust" from now onward) headpiece or face-mask (which includes a magnificent white crest with a rust wing emblem embedded in each side) and a large, long arcuate beak with a hinged lower jaw. An S-shaped neck extension with light-orange and black stripes connects the head to the body. The back is equipped with a rust harness, which carries a white saddle and a pair of tail-mounted white booster rockets, to help speed her in flight. The upper legs are muscular and feathery, while the lower legs are slim and mostly covered with a rust scale armour. The feet have long sharp steel talons in an open pose and the peacock-like tail has nine feathers spotted with glowing-translucent orange "eyes". But it's the two pairs of broad rust, flaming wings that steal the show. With an impressive wingspan of nearly 45 cm (18"), this baby is going to take up so much space on my shelf! However, the gap between the front and hind wings allows the saddle to accommodate for Alterok (or another figure) with no problem. Also, for being "just" a bird, the articulation is quite impressive. She can look in any direction thanks to the ball jointed upper neck and the hinged lower neck, each wing has a ball-hinged joint and the nine-tipped tail is simply hinged. Additionally, each leg features four points of articulation: ball-hinged hips, hinged knee and ankle, and swivel-hinged talons.

Weapons and accessories

Zor-Kan comes with a small set of accessories. First up is a translucent crystal perch, onto which the bird's normal form can alight; this perch can turn into a flight stand for Zor-Kan's enhanced form by replacing the horizontal bar with a large clip.

The other accessories are two white pivoting side guns, which can plug into the headpiece, and two propulsion-blast effects for either the booster rockets or the side cannons.

In addition, we get the small translucent blue panther spirit (a wrong repaint of Merados' one—it should actually be orange!) that allows Zor-Kan's enhancement.

Overall, this multi-pack makes a stunning entrance into the KR world. Alterok is certainly a winner, I love the look of this figure and I am very happy to get him. Even though my evil-side shelf already has a lot of weird monsters, this guy breaks up the leaders clan and surely increases the evilness; he's most definitely in my villains top five. Also, the fact that he's a Herrion variant makes me want to see the definitive incarnation of this character coming into the line even more; so, bring that missing brother figure on soon! I also think Zor-Kan is a complete knockout in the looks department and does a wonderful job in fitting in with the creatures club. She's beautiful and strong in both versions, but I think the double-figure solution will make people feel very split on her final construction. Personally, I like the idea of having a Zor-Kan for each Herrion version: normal and... altered.

KR Review #49: Nar-Aja

Is there finally a snake fighter in the KR line, or are my eyes deceiving me? After almost nine months full of dinosaurs, crocodiles and lizards, I am ecstatic to see a snake-woman making her way into the reptilian ranks.

I’m also overjoyed that this 38^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys has come out so well. You can bet Nar-Aja^TM has a well-earned front spot on my KR shelf.

Details

Name: Nar-Aja

Subtitle: snake amazon

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: colonel.

Background

Nar-Aja makes her only appearance in the seventh KR comic issue The siege of Erlokat, where she is presented as a descendant of an ancient lineage of mystical snakes created by the reptilian wizard Sphenorat^TM. Nar-Aja became fascinated with Lor-Drek's audacity and decided to join forces with him soon after the newly Spektrosaur army had been formed. Believing in the cause of exterminating all the mammalian opposition, she often had a crucial role in storming the enemies' territories with overwhelming terror. Loyally devoted to serve her fearsome master, Nar-Aja deprives her rivals of the ability to escape by the power of a gaze and then kills them with her evil venomous spit.

Articulation

Standard (excluding the hinged abdomen), with the addition of a tail, which is a ball jointed separate piece. It features two articulation points, two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a cobra, characterised by reddish scaly skin (except on the lower jaw and on the throat, where the skin is yellowish), light-blue eyes, two large fangs and a forked tongue sculpted on the pinkish inside of the open mouth. Her neck is spread to form a flattened, widened hood, whose dorsal surface is reddish and exhibits two circular patterns connected by a curved line, while the underside is yellowish and displays a hypnotic eye-shaped reddish mark on either side. Although the neck-hood hampers the head movement a little bit, good poses are still possible

Body: yellowish scaly skin, claw hands and feet; her limbs sport large reddish bands that run down the sides. Also, she has a long, slim reddish (except for two yellowish crossbands) tail, which is a separate piece emerging from under the loincloth and ends with a pointy triangular (or spade-shaped) yellowish tip

Wearables: a brown armour with light-green details, two brown bracelets, two brown calf protectors, a brown belt (whose buckle resembles a cobra head) and a light-green loincloth. The cuffs, the shin guards and the loincloth look like made of large overlapping scales.

Nar-Aja's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics Nar-Aja has the ability to squirt venom from her fangs in self-defence. As you may guess, the figure comes with a translucent yellow plug-in spitting effect for her mouth. With this attachment, we get the fifth (!) repaint of the same effect we've already seen with Nibeon, Steel-Monster Deptilion, Blomok and Aktahnor. Please, PoliganToys, sculpt a new effect!

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the venom attachment, Nar-Aja comes with her frightening multi-bladed whirling scythe. This cool weapon has five long curved silver blades forming a rotating piece, which is attached at the end of a long light-green pole and spins when is given a flick.

In addition, a really fun and unexpected accessory comes in the form of Nar-Aja’s snake collaborator. I am not going to question why a snake woman has a snake as a pet, I just go with it. Anyway, this little greenish pal clips right on Nar-Aja’s left wrist, giving the illusion of wrapping around her forearm. Moreover, the 5-blade wheel can detach from the scythe shaft and clip into the snake's mouth, to form an intimidating wrist mounted buzzsaw.

Overall, Nar-Aja is a figure with all the points in her favour: a new sculpt, a unique weapon and two extra accessories to complete her equipment. However, an articulated jaw or a closed mouth head might have been nice, but their absence doesn't diminish the worth of the figure for me. Similarly, I’d have loved to get a newly sculpted attachment to simulate the venom spitting feature, but again it’s not a big issue.