KR|Origin Review #1: Kai-Xi

We are BACK! And the fact that a new lineup of prototypes is ready to haunt my shelf only proves that the spirit of Key Raiders is certainly alive and well.

This is the first review of a bunch of figures that belong to a new Key Raiders series. Precisely, it's a prequel series titled Key Raiders: Origin (stylised as KR|Origin), which concerns events happening more than 500 years before Masq-Lor's adventures. So, this universe, which is characterised by a sort of medieval vibe, is the point of origin of the regular series that we have all come to know and love during the past two years.

Kai-Xi^TM, the future Deity, opens this new series of the KR line in the form of a dual-action figure, which makes me pretty excited. In the regular series, The Deity is quite a big deal - she is the one responsible for maintaining balance between the different factions. I have to say, with these figures the folk at PoliganToys really did her justice.

I have waited for long to know more about this rather obscure character that originated some time in the past of Tahron. Now, we learn that she actually comes from present China... and that Tahron is on Earth! This is the kind of cool backstory that we are getting with this line and makes it all the more rich.

Details

Name: Kai-Xi

Real name: Wēn Kǎi xī

Subtitle: phoenix amazon

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: China

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

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: service warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Origin #1 - An arduous venture

Brief bio: before she was The Deity, Wen Kai xi was a talented archaeologist and scientist from our time. Along with the heroic Cereutian knight Galamars^TM, she used the power of the Antikythron to travel back in time, in an attempt to give her home-world a peaceful history. Arriving on Tahron, the present continent of Antarctica, Kai-Xi became instrumental in trapping Bi-Harr's mental powers beyond the multiversal walls. After the death of her beloved king Khon-Uhr^TM, she took up the duty of guarding the remaining halberds and helmets she helped create, knowing that those prodigious artefacts were the key to unleash Bi-Harr's powers once again. Raising to a powerful divine form shortly after her own demise, Kai-Xi recognised in the renegade reptilian soldier Elykta a new guardian and passed on her role of seeking out brave warriors who can prevent the halberds from being combined by the hands of evil.

Articulation

Both figures have the standard articulation, excluding the hinged abdomen and with the addition of a swivel joint at each elbow in the enhanced form.

In the comics, as I'll explain later, Kai-Xi wears a magic helmet that in certain situations gives her incredible abilities and changes her look. Despite the two figures represent the same character, they render the two alternative forms and appear very different. Although it's not clear whether these figures will be released individually or in a 2-pack, I'm going to describe them separately.

Normal form

Description

Head: Asian features, cream white skin, long unbound black hair (with a small crown braid), hazel eyes. She wears two jade drop earrings

Body: cream white skin, exposed arms and legs

Wearables: a basque-like corset consisting of several square greenish pieces of jade laced together, two narrow dark-green jade bracelets, two studded light-green bronze (obviously oxidised) armbands around the biceps, a dark-green leather garter (decorated with light-green bronze studs) around the right thigh, two dark-green leather boots with white furry tops and a belt made of several light-green bronze discs laced together. The sleeveless jade bodysuit extends past the waistline over the hips and leaves the upper back exposed; it is characterised by a contoured fit, brassiere cups and shoulder straps, and features decorative front and back lace-up details and a series of light-green bronze discs laced together along each shoulder strap. The uneven hue of the jade pieces creates an arabesque pattern of dark and light green all over the bodice.

Action feature

Similarly to what we have seen with Apprentice Minister Masq-Lor, Apprentice Advisor Fai-Rha and Herrion, despite the figure doesn't have any real action feature, we still get something to complement Kai-Xi's look, presumably for highly formal occasions. This comes in the form of a set of extra pieces, which includes:

- An alternative head characterised by the face more heavily coated with cosmetics (i.e., eye shadow and dark-red lipstick), chandelier earrings, and the hair drawn back into a chignon and adorned with a simple studded light-green bronze headband that extends towards the forehead with a jade jewel

- A dress add-on consisting of a long strip of cloth and a cape, which are both red with decorative serrated leaf gold patterns (derived from Chinese styles) and are linked via a high standing collar made of a golden fabric in the upper part and dark-brown fur in the lower part. The strip of cloth covers the front of the body down to the knees and fastens round the waist thanks to a permanently attached golden belt embellished with a jade jewel

- A headdress/face mask that includes two additional geisha-style hair buns at the sides, a showy jewelled ornamental golden headband worn on the front of the hair and a dark-brown furry adornment that connects to the front of the dress collar by means of a big gold brooch topped with a jade jewel

- An additional long pliable red shawl with decorative serrated leaf gold patterns that can be worn under the cape and over the arms.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from her outfit add-ons, Kai-Xi comes with a few more accessories: a sword (plus a scabbard), a shield and a staff. The sword has a leaf-shaped light-green bronze hilt and a silver blade that can be inserted in a dark-green leather scabbard adorned with decorative light-green patterns and attached to a loose fitting belt (the scabbard can additionally connect to the garter on Kai-Xi's right leg).

The round light-green bronze shield is also decorated with dark-green arabesque patterns and clips on Kai-Xi's wrist.

Finally, the light-green wooden staff, topped with a pattern that resembles the Chinese character 凤 (phoenix), is a non-burning version of The Deity's staff and has a sharpened tip on the lower end, so it can also be used as a spear.

Enhanced form

Description

Head: similarly to the three siblings in the original series, Kai-Xi wears one of the silver magic helmets, which in certain circumstances produces a golden half mask (or visor) and gives her incredible physical and mental powers, changing her appearance significantly. The figure comes with an helmeted head, characterised by the golden visor activated, fierce eyes and vermilion scaly skin around the mouth. The helmet also features some subtle bird of prey-themed details (such as two eyes, a beak and a frontal golden decoration resembling a pair of "phoenix rising" wings) and a fairly long nape protector

Body: the exposed parts of her body (i.e., arms, legs and stomach) are covered with vermilion feathers

Wearables: a dark-green armour with light-green details (which bears a high neck and shoulder pads), two large dark-green bronze bracelets (with knuckle protectors, and decorated with light-green arabesque patterns and white jade jewels), two dark-green bronze calf protectors (with knee and instep guards, positioned over the regular boot shafts), a studded dark-green bronze belt and three light-green leather tassets (the central one of which is shaped like a large feather). Unlike the normal form, this version of Kai-Xi is barefoot.

Kai-Xi's stylised helmet with side and top crests.

Kai-Xi's stylised armour.

Action feature

Like with the three siblings of the regular series, a pair of brownish claws (or, rather, talons) can snap into each bracelet, to simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics.

Additionally, Kai-Xi has a pair of wings, made of orange and yellow feathers, attached to her triceps. A system of pegs allows for these wings to spread like fans when her arms are raised. The feature itself works really well, as the wings fall easily into place, and she can move her arms pretty freely. It is worth noting that in the comics these wings seem to have a cosmetic function only and don't give Kai-Xi the ability to fly.

Finally, the figure comes with two sets of accessories that can plug into the back of the shoulder pads. The first set is a pair of long sawtoothed golden "tail" feathers, which are made of a pliable plastic. In the comics, each of these feathers is composed of 15 sharp metal elements, which can be detached individually and used as weapons similar to shuriken. The second set includes two jagged golden "phoenix rising" wings, which are fictionally produced by the above mentioned tails and work as an adjunct to the arm wings.

Weapons and accessories

In addition to the snap-on talons, tail feathers and supplementary wings, Kai-Xi comes with a silver halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one with the S-shaped blade) and a shinier version of the halberd that belongs to Lor-Drek in the regular series.

Moreover, there is an alternative head that displays a daring expression and wears the inactive helmet, i.e., with neither the gold visor activated nor bird eyes/beak/wings details. This head works as the necessary bridge between the unhelmeted and the helmeted-with-visor heads.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the first comic issue An arduous venture. The heroic Cereutian knight Galamars is tasked to protect Wen Kai xi, a talented archaeologist and scientist destined to become the Deity, and persuade her to journey to Tahron, a mythical land set in Earth’s past. After following them on their expedition to retrieve the Antikythron from a long-sealed chamber, Denortos, in a desperate attempt to impede Kai xi’s destiny, jumps at the two heroes and they all travel back in time. Galamars fights his Cereutian enemy tenaciously, deciding the battle in his favour, while the spirit of the former king of Tahron advises Kai xi about how to give their home-world a peaceful history.

Overall, Kai-Xi opens this new lineup as a great dual-figure and a character that is really essential to the Key Raiders mythology. I find both versions to be extremely intriguing... and the halberd is looking good in her capable hands! The respected role of Theriom warrior got its start with a feminine touch and I think it is good to begin the Origin display in this way.
About the comic, this is the beginning of the Origin story. Not much good to say – the connection with Earth’s present makes little sense to me, but at least they tried with the few scenes set on Tahron.
This series goes miles to help diversify the KR-verse and, comic issue apart, with this start the odds seem to be favourable altogether.

Key Raiders 2016 Prototypes

This post features a check-list that includes all prototypes produced under the Key Raiders line in 2016. Items are categorised by their type and affiliation, and listed in order of review:

Type	Affiliation
	Theriom	Destructomorph	Rexodon	Spektrosaur
Action figure	Apprentice Minister Masq-Lor	Combat Deptilion	Li-Meh-Zor	Lor-Drek
	Possessed Sei-Lha	Steel-Monster Deptilion	Loghar	Blomok
	Bellius	Ultra Deptilion	Li-Gah-Tor	Aktahnor
	Fai-Rha	Tmohrr*	Alatryx	Nar-Aja
	Fire-Fists Masq-Lor	Mal-Ah-Kros	Nibeon	Volcrotran
	Ultra Masq-Lor	LoGoN*	Traark	Denortos
	The Xonatron*	Kinod	Staurok	Strictriss
	Koptros	Todahr	Kon-Rauan	Sphenorat
	Reptile Masq-Lor	Zektax	Loghar-poss.ed Herrion	Kelotur
	Apprentice Advisor Fai-Rha	Destructomorph Rider	Torp-Tor	Noctylius
	Combat Sei-Lha	Pleutron*	Steel-Monster Loghar	Cah-Mal
	Herrion
Multi-pack	Combat Masq-Lor & Ki-Wun°	Alterok & Zor-Kan°	The Tyrannoraptor	Spektrosaur Troopers
	CoBoN*/^	Geel-Ber & Arkiopod^		Spectral Sphenorat* & Serporcraft^
	Tornado Masq-Lor & Merados°
	CoBoN 2.0
	Magda-Lyn & Aviotak^

*Large scale figure.
°Creature.
^Vehicle.

KR Review #76: Spectral Sphenorat & Serporcraft

For better or for worse, PoliganToys has accomplished something that I couldn't have imagined possible when this blog started all the way back in August 2015 - the KR prototype lineup is now complete.

Yes, lurking out of the darkness from the Downfall episode, the Spectral variant of Sphenorat^TM joins the ranks of KR large scale figures as the last item of this amazing line. What is the future of Key Raiders, though, will be explained (or, rather, speculated) in an upcoming post.

As an added bonus, the Spektrosaur sorcerer comes in a multi-pack (the 14^th I have received) that includes an incredible, evil flying machine - the Serporcraft^TM. Wow!

Spectral Sphenorat

Details

Name: Spectral Sphenorat

Subtitle: dark-magical spectre

Classification: spirit of a lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: sorcerer.

Since the background story of the character has been covered before, this review is mainly focused on the appearance of the figure and the accessories that come with it.

Articulation

Standard for the neck and the arms; the rest of the body only features a ball joint at about half of its height.

Description

Head: similar to the regular Sphenorat's head with the completely exposed face, although bigger and with a much more detailed skeletal appearance. The face is supposed to resemble a tuatara, but it is flattened in order to acquire a more humanoid look. It has a blue-green skin, three yellow eyes with vertical slit-shaped red pupils (the third eye is on the forehead) and a wide open mouth that displays a number of sharp white teeth. He wears a large loose ragged cowl seemingly made of a coarse, rough dark-brown fabric. On the top, this hood bears three red lines forming an array of crescent-shaped markings, while on the back it tapers to a comb of tips that slightly resembles a spiny crest

Body: the figure is 23 cm tall (around 9'') and is cloaked from neck to toe. His arms are covered by long, wide torn dark-brown sleeves, while his hands, which are posed to cast spells, show a sickly clawed, skeletal appearance, blue-green skin and long black nails

Wearables: a long, loose torn dark-brown robe, a large red pendant (resembling the triple-crescent symbol on the hood) on a chain around the neck and a long, thick light-brown cord with a red tassel at either end (which in the regular figure is used to fit the garment around the waist, but here is untied and held by two loops on the back). The robe does a great job of blending in with the cowl and especially the hanging sleeves, under which we can clearly see two red bracelets. He also wears a tattered burgundy cape, which has a high standing collar, is fixed to the front by a light-brown string and is attached to the arms above the elbows via two pegs (it is soft enough not to hamper the arms movement too much). Unlike with the regular figure, this mantle is pretty short, doesn't fade to translucent towards the jagged bottom and is not removable.

Action feature

In this figure, Sphenorat's ghostly appearance has been significantly enhanced thanks to the bigger size and to the highly detailed cadaverous head, raw-boned hands and tattered robes. Furthermore, the cloak is open and pulled back, to reveal what lays beneath - an intricately sculpted nightmarish scene of ghost-snakes swirling as if in a vortex. All his exposed body parts, i.e., the face, hands and swirl of snakes, are cast in a translucent blue-green plastic that can glow in the dark (of course there are a few painted bits, such as the eyes, teeth, nails and some of the snakes' features), giving him an even eerier spectral feel.

Weapons and accessories

Spectral Sphenorat comes with a few accessories: two ghost-snake attachments and a clear stand. The snakes are cast in the same translucent blue-green GITD plastic used for his body and can be plugged into two sockets hidden inside the hanging sleeves, to look as though he is casting these creepy snaky weapons towards the enemies.

The stand, which has a ball joint on the end, helps render Sphenorat's ghost-like nature farther, so he can be displayed in a floating pose.

Serporcraft

Details

Name: Serporcraft

Subtitle: serpentine helicopter

Classification: aircraft

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: transport.

Description

The Serporcraft is a super-fast, armoured (and armed) snake-faced helicopter. This stealthy chopper is painted dark-green on top and pearl-grey on the bottom in a countershaded pattern, and has lots of tech-mech details all over the main body. Thanks to such features as twin auxiliary jet engines (visible at the roots of the landing gear sponsons and fitted with large air intakes), rotor blades that can be disengaged and a lifting body fuselage, it can fictionally perform incredible manoeuvres, including travelling at supersonic speeds and flying upside down or at very high altitudes. The cockpit resembles the head of a cobra, with a clear windscreen in place of the eyes. The canopy is hinged at the back, so it can open by folding up and backward. The interior is of a high-tech nature and shows tons of sculpted controls, including a joystick on each side of the single seat (in the comics the aircraft is proportionally bigger and can carry up to ten characters, while this toy version only fits one figure). The three rotor blades are slightly curved, have serrated edges and are topped with what looks like a radar dome. The tail boom is shaped like a ridged spine and includes horizontal and vertical stabilisers, but no tail rotor. The sponsons have seemingly retractable landing skids that are similar to monstrous feet.

Action feature

In the comics, the Serporcraft's giant propeller can be launched at the touch of a trigger by its pilot, spinning horribly in the face of the enemy. Thanks to the powerful jet engines, shooting the rip-rotor projectile doesn't affect the helicopter's flying ability at all. In the toy, the rotor can simply spin and detach, but not shoot, which is quite enough in my opinion. Furthermore, the craft is fitted with two spring-loaded missile launchers carried by pylons at the wingtips, which are mounted on the side of the landing skid sponsons. I really like the missiles, which are shaped like bundles of serpents. Plus, the snake's lower jaw (which is the underside of the cockpit) can open menacingly, revealing a retractable pilot's night vision device (which actually looks like a headlight and glows in the dark) coupled with a quick-firing, single-tube cannon.

Weapons and accessories

The Serporcraft comes with a small set of plug-in accessories, which unfortunately doesn't include a flight stand. First, we get three nicely sculpted blasting effects, which can be used for the nose cannon and the jet engines.

Additionally, there is a flexible hose with a nozzle at one end that is fictionally used for in-air refuel of other similar rotorcrafts. This is a reference to a comic strip in which Masq-Lor is shown to climb into a flying Serporcraft using the exact same hose. Nice touch.

Overall, I can only be happy with this 2-pack. Spectral Sphenorat is a cool reinterpretation of the regular figure, infused with a look that perfectly recreates the creepiest nature of the character. The end result is a figure which I believe would surely join the shelves of many collectors. I'm definitely impressed by the incredible level of detail on all sides of his ghostly "body", but I'm also a bit disappointed that an updated version of his sceptre hasn't been included.

About the Serporcraft, this ship's got it all... except for a flight stand! Thing is that the Aviotak's stand just made itself requisite and one would expect all the following flying machines to come with a flight stand. However, this vehicle left a mark on me when I placed Noctylius in the pilot seat and had the chopper "stare" at me. Really, it crept me out after a while.

KR Review #75: Magda-Lyn & Aviotak

With this year having to finish up the prototype line-up, I'd say that this 13^th multi-pack from PoliganToys was all but inevitable.

Even though Magda-Lyn^TM has never been under the spotlight in the comics, she is an integral part of the KR mythos. That’s one of the great things about a collector line – characters that may be considered too "dull" for storytelling criteria, can still fill out the collections on our shelves.

Also, the guys at PoliganToys have added another dimension to the KR line with the first ever aircraft, which was a most wanted item - the Aviotak^TM.

Magda-Lyn

Details

Name: Magda-Lyn
Family name: Norvyre^TM

Subtitle: zealous adviser

Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: wife of Tir-Hing, mother of Desion (Masq-Lor), Herrion and Rhadiel (Fai-Rha)

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: Senior Advisor.

Background

Magda-Lyn's initial appearance takes place in the first KR comic issue The hidden halberd. The only child in a humble family of farmers, Magda-Lyn enlisted in the Theriom army during her girlhood and was trained by Captain Tir-Hing to serve in times of war. Proving a heroic soldier in many battles, she eventually fell in love with Tir-Hing, became his wife and accepted to assist her husband as Senior Advisor soon after the republic of Tahron had been established. Admirably coping with the abduction of her children for many years, she was often assigned to diplomatic duties. Now, finally being reunited with her warrior sons and daughter, Magda-Lyn helps rule the free people of Tahron with her intelligence and good judgement.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair drawn back into a chignon. She wears an elaborate ivory tiara and a pair of gold earrings

Body: covered from neck to toe. Her hands show a white skin and her fingernails are painted with red varnish

Wearables: a long pink dress with an O-neck and long sleeves, two golden bracelets decorated with ivory stones, two golden boots and a golden belt. The Y-shaped belt separates the fitted part above the waist from the slightly flouncier skirt below, allowing for the waist swivel. Despite the skirt is made of a soft plastic, the fact that it has no slit blocks her articulation from the waist down.

Action feature

In the comics, Magda-Lyn is not exactly a major character and, apart from knowledge and wisdom, doesn't show any particular skills or powers. Luckily, the figure balances this lack of action with a couple of interesting features. First up is the ability of her ivory accessories, i.e., the tiara and the two stones on the bracers, to glow in the dark. Next is the presence of a removable white cape, which is probably my favourite part of her outfit. The cape, which is also GITD, fastens at the neck using a gold choker and incorporates two golden shoulder pads. Like her belt, those spaulders and the attached necklace add a unique touch to a mostly plain costume design. Each shoulder pad is decorated with a golden fleur-de-lis design (⚜) that is disconnectable and can be replaced by an identical symbol attached to the end of a wavy silver wire. In this way, it seems like the dagger-shaped stylised flowers can be shot from the spaulders towards the enemies and, thanks to two extensible cables (made of rigid plastic in reality), can eventually been drawn back.

Weapons and accessories

Magda-Lyn only comes with one accessory, which is her light sceptre. This is a golden staff topped with an ivory ornament that, besides being GITD, bears a striking resemblance to the launching fleur-de-lis seen on her shoulder pads. From the comics we learn that this sceptre used to belong to Par-Sya^TM, Tir-Hing's deceased mother and former queen of Tahron. It definitely looks a symbol of sovereignty, though more monarchical than republican, and I think it's actually a nice mother-in-law's gift.

Aviotak

Details

Name: Aviotak

Subtitle: whizzing flying scooter

Classification: aircraft

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: transport.

Description

The Aviotak is a small open-air, high-speed flying machine that uses a combination of rocket-powered propulsion and anti-gravitational lift. It only carries one rider (who is secured by a 2-point safety belt that goes over the waist) and is used for reconnaissance purposes, as well as rapid transportation in combat zones. Its streamlined red fairing subtly recalls the torpedo-shaped body of a dolphin, with an elongated nose, flipper-like wings, a small vertical stabiliser resembling a dorsal fin and a fairly long tail ending in a fluke-like structure that includes two large turbojet engines. A high-tech silver revolving dashboard/handlebar with tons of sculpted controls fits in a figure's grip and tapers forward above the nose into a laser cannon, which also works as a scanning device that allows the rider to navigate in a sort of augmented reality mode. Its tail can swing slightly left and right, a characteristic that fictionally gives the vehicle a great manoeuvrability and that I'm glad has been recreated in the toy. Although the Aviotak is a flying machine, the toy version can roll across smooth surfaces on two small wheels situated underneath the rear part of the vehicle and another one embedded in the circular counter-gravity field generator in the front.

Action feature

The Aviotak is characterised by a double configuration. When in speed-flight mode, the counter-gravity field generator is located under the nose of the vehicle and the rider lies on his/her stomach. When in attack-hover mode, the aircraft acquires a more vertical layout (but the nose and the tail swing to keep a horizontal position, while a kind of high-tech drive shaft pivots on a transverse axis, allowing the front anti-gravity thingy to remain at the level of the tail) and the rider is positioned nearly straight up. All the swinging parts have joints that are strong enough to hold the Aviotak in position with no problem.

Additionally, each wing incorporates a large silver missile launcher flanked by a small gun; each launcher fires one missile thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism. Also, the lower part of the nose can open in a jaw-like fashion to reveal a hidden silver cannon.

Weapons and accessories

The Aviotak comes with a small set of accessories. First up is a clear flight stand, which has a diameter large enough to be a very sturdy base, so the aircraft will not be falling over. It attaches to a hole in the bottom of the Aviotak and can be rotated forward and backward with a ratchet feature, allowing for a lot of dynamic aerial posing for both the speed and attack modes.

Furthermore, we get two nicely sculpted plug-in blasting effects, which can be used either for the firearms (i.e, the nose cannon and the handlebar laser cannon) or the jet engines.

Overall, I love this 2-pack. Magda-Lyn is a great character, important to the KR mythos and a much needed figure. The GITD and shooting parts add a ton of fun and an unexpected cool factor to this figure. I love that PoliganToys gave me exactly what I expected in a Magda-Lyn figure and even something more that I didn't know I wanted.

The Aviotak isn't perhaps the most fun item produced so far, but I'm still very much into it. This baby is like a tricked-out Ducati made in Tahron, it just does have it all. I think I'm gonna need a couple more, so I can display some Theriom Troopers on them. I'm just surprised that it came with probably the only figure that can't ride it due to the long dress...

KR Review #74: Pleutron

The Xonatron was a fantastic entry into the KR line a few months ago. At the time, I knew he wouldn't remain a one-of-a-kind entity. He is, in fact, an amalgamation of two characters: Xonedar, an old acquaintance of ours, and Pleutron^TM, a most wanted specimen that is finally in my hands.

Pleutron was supposed to come in a three-pack, which would also include his fellows Seutron^TM and Deutron^TM. Instead, probably for cost-saving reasons, he's come all alone. Apart from some simple part-swapping, the companion-less figure doesn't offer as many possibilities as a three-pack would have given. However, we can finally mix and match Pleutron's and Xonatron's components, to create innumerable different display options.

Incidentally, this fourth large scale figure prototype from PoliganToys gets us at the end of the Destructomorph faction and one step closer to a complete Key Raiders line.

Details

Name: Pleutron

Subtitle: multiform warrior

Classification: poriferan

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: sergeant major.

Background

Pleutron's only appearance takes place in the 13^th and final KR comic issue The ultimate curse. A gruesome giant from the eastern swamps, Pleutron was gifted with shape-shifting powers, which allowed him to separate his body cells, each endowed with its own evil sentience, and to reassemble himself in numberless different ways. His skills were observed by Deptilion and eventually he was enlisted as a sergeant major for the reestablished Destructomorph army. Serving his newly enrolled chief marshal Tmohrr on his quest to vanquish the Therioms, Pleutron and his fellow sergeants led a horde of dreadful invaders into the city of Ra-Hal. There, however, he was finally overpowered by Xonedar and destroyed by Sei-Lha along with the rest of the invading giants.

Articulation

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

Description

Head: characterised by an irregular flame-like shape, porous yellowish skin, pointy ears (with a silver ring located on the helix portion of the left one), deep set purple glowing eyes, boar-like nose, several sharp-pointed white teeth that protrude from the diabolical mouth and a prominent pointy chin

Body: the figure is 23 cm tall (around 9'') and displays a richly porous yellowish skin. The arms and the legs bear few spiny translucent white appendages at the shoulders/biceps and the thighs respectively. The left hand has two white claws that form a sort of pincer, while the right hand has three of them. Each leg shows some dark wash towards the thigh and a four-toed foot with white claws. Finally, he has a short, thick segmented (i.e., formed of a longitudinal series of similar parts) tail emerging from his trunks, which is painted in a more greenish colour on the upper side

Wearables: a dark-green armour with segmented (i.e., made of overlapping metal plates) silver details, two dark-green bracelets, two dark-green calf protectors, a dark-green belt and a segmented silver crotch piece; all the dark-green components display a bumpy texture, suggesting that they are fictionally made of a multitude of pointed mineral structures. Additionally, both the wrist and the shin guards are equipped with spiky ray fin-shaped ornaments protruding from the forearms and the calves respectively.

Pleutron's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Pleutron is depicted as a shape-shifting giant who can rearrange his cells to acquire countless monstrous forms, as well as stretch, squeeze and tear apart his jelly-like body, and then recover his original form. In the figure, Pleutron's transforming abilities are well recreated by a modular action feature that involves several snap-on body parts, namely his head, neck (double ball jointed), torso, pelvis, arms, legs and tail. The figure is not only fully modular with itself, but it's also fully modular with the Xonatron. As they all share the same ball&socket joints, parts can be swapped back and forth between them at random, and they can be combined into a vast array of creatures, including a single crazy enormous monster. Yes, I know, theoretically the Xonatron already comprises Pleutron, but the two figures provide enough body parts to swap around for hours, as one can try to find all the possible combinations. Now, that's great fun to play with!

Weapons and accessories

Aside from his own several rearrangeable pieces, Pleutron includes a few accessories, the first of which is a silver handheld trebuchet. I had no idea that such a ballistic device could actually exist, until I've come across this video. Although the weapon has no spring-loaded mechanism, it possesses a pivoting throwing arm, whose end holds (and fictionally hurls) a separate six-pointed translucent white caltrop. The butt of the trebuchet bears two slots that allow the weapon to connect to Xonatron's blaster.

Also, we get a number of additional body parts: one extra leg, an alternative tail and three Y-connector joints. The third leg looks identical to the other two and, after removing the tail, can plug into the socket on the backside of the crotch piece, to produce a three-legged monster. The alternative tail has a mixed mecha-spongy look, which matches both Pleutron's and Xonatron's appearances, and carries two sockets on the sides to hold additional legs. This piece functions as an extension to create four- or even six-legged monstrosities. Finally, the organic-looking (i.e., with a porous and segmented texture) yellowish&black Y-connector joints make it possible to form double shoulders, hips and neck, and generate, for example, amazing double-headed, four-armed creatures.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the 13^th and final KR comic issue The ultimate curse. The new Destructomorph army led by Tmohrr invades the city of Ra-Hal, in order to get possession of a powerful machine owned by its inhabitants. The evil leader uses the prodigious instrument to cause fierce storms and create great disarray on Tahron. Following an unsuccessful first attempt to free the city, Masq-Lor and the Therioms endeavour to battle Tmohrr and his army at a newly built fortress within Ra-Hal, but are trapped in an underground prison. Meanwhile, a disguised Demo-Rha sways some nearby villagers to occupy Theriom City, in order to trap the governing body. After regaining their freedom together with the inhabitants of Ra-Hal, Masq-Lor and the others head back to the surface and fight the Destructomorphs again, retaking control of the machine. Tmohrr is revealed to be a robotic suit used to envelope the decaying body of Deptilion, who is confronted by Masq-Lor. The two rivals engage in a spectacular mental battle and the hero finally manages to destroy Deptilion once and far all, saving Tahron. Demo-Rha is captured, but after a brief period of detention she succeeds in escaping.

Overall, Pleutron is, to me, everything right about a figure that allows us to make different configurations by moving the various parts around. The sculpt on this guy is fantastic, with tons of great detail texture on all the different surfaces, and the engineering is really good for the most part. I’m just sad that he’s the only one of his kind in the package. When you’ve got a concept so brilliant as a fully modular monster, one (or two, if we also include the Xonatron) just doesn’t seem like it’s enough. Luckily, the folk at PoliganToys will understand this, so they will go back to the modular idea for another go-round.

About the comic, I just love this one! My synopsis is intentionally kinda quick and dirty, to preserve surprise and suspense for first-time readers, but I have really enjoyed the issue since opening it. The plot and the solid artwork are particularly satisfactory... too bad that it's the last episode.

KR Review #73: Destructomorph Rider

Here's the thing with this figure. While in the comics the Destructomorph Riders^TM have their own colour and design, this 56^th action figure prototype from PoliganToys is almost an exact replica of the Destructomorph Trooper, not very different in colour and, except for a few obvious additions, not much in design.

On the one hand, something like this is not a deal-breaker for me and I still put him on the shelf feeling happy. After all, he's an upgraded Trooper, so why not repeat the black-red-yellow colour scheme? On the other hand, the fact that many of his components are coloured in red and yellow rather than the comic-accurate black is just very, very odd to me.

I wonder which one of the two versions should be considered the standard. The illustration or the toy? This would certainly cause an uproar among collectors.

Details

Name: Destructomorph Rider

Real name: Destructomorph Trooper Mark II

Subtitle: motorised trooper

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: drone.

Background

An army of Destructomorph Riders appears in the 13^th and final KR comic issue The ultimate curse. After Deptilion's defeat in the arena between the multiversal walls, the former robotic troopers of the Destructomorph forces were upgraded by their leader from simple androids to evil transforming pursuit machines. Now called Destructomorph Riders, these menacing drones in the service of Tmohrr can race at an incredible speed and threateningly chase their powerless victims.

Articulation

Standard, except that wrists and calves are ball jointed.

Description

Head: like with the regular Destructomorph Trooper, the black metallic head resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components (including new details on the nose that resemble a pair of gas mask filters), orange (instead of red) glowing eyes and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak. He also wears a horned yellow headgear, whose design is slightly different from the regular version and kinda recalls a motorcycle open-face helmet. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's silver horns

Body: the black metallic arms and legs are a reuse of the regular Destructomorph Trooper's electro-hydraulic limbs, which display lots of machinery/circuitry patterns. Under the removable armour, the torso is also the same tech-mech piece used for the original Troopers, with identical dials, sliders, buttons, knobs and rectangular lenticular sticker at the centre of the chest (which gives an illusion of coursing sound waves). Additionally, his arms and legs are equipped with four separate black&silver clip-on pieces, two elbow guards (each carrying a continuous track) and two thigh/knee guards (each carrying a fairly large wheel with a nicely patterned rubbery tyre) respectively

Wearables: a red armour with yellow details, two red gauntlets (instead of bracers), two red boots (instead of shin guards), a red belt and a yellow crotch piece; the last two elements show lots of cyber details. The armour is a slightly modified version of the original protective covering and bears, besides a Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped blueish spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face) on the chest plate, two black hoses that stretch onto the back. Speaking of the back, the Rider wears a rocket pack equipped with a massive black&silver turbojet engine.

Destructomorph Rider's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Destructomorph symbol.

Action feature

In the comics, the Destructomorph Riders are able to transform into dreadful pursuit machines. So, let's sum up the way this figure converts from the robotic form to the motorised configuration:

1) the regular head is replaced by an alternative head, which is equipped with a glossy black visor and a neck extension (the former has a vertical keel-like ridge running centrally, the latter allows the figure to look forward when it lies down)

2) the two wheels are detached from the knee guards and joined together to form a single piece

3) the feet are replaced by a black swing arm that holds the wheel in a Gizmoduck fashion

4) the hands are replaced by two black guns.

Once the arms and the head are pulled up and the figure is set in a horizontal position, the Rider can race across smooth surfaces on his rear wheel and front tank treads (each equipped with a small wheel underneath).

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternative head, swing arm and wrist mounted guns, the Destructomorph Rider comes with a yellow laser pistol, whose design is very similar to the above-mentioned guns. As an additional display option for the pursuit mode, both the guns and the pistol can alternatively be connected to the rocket pack. Also, there are three plug-in blasting effects for the wrist mounted guns and the jet engine.

Overall, the Destructomorph Rider looks good and is a fine addition to my shelf. The articulation was kept intact despite the transformation feature and I'm glad that the head can be made to look up while he’s dashing around. Accessories are fun too and, yeah, I love that big spinning wheel! However, I still feel a bit torn. I like the colours and the sculpt choices to make him be in harmony with the older Troopers. At the same time, I would have liked a total-black biker look to make him more comic accurate. Even if the use of a much darker shade of red helps the figure to reach an intermediate state between the two alternatives, perhaps an army-builder two-pack including both the options would have been the optimal compromise.