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 (vaguely resembling the horn-shaped cephalic fins of a manta ray), 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|Horizon Review #9: Herrion (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Herrion^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: heroic counsellor

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 8 in the line.

Character details

Name: Herrion
Family name: Amhalgaard^TM

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

Sex: male

Relationships: non-identical twin brother of Desion (Masq-Lor), older brother of Rhadiel (Fai-Rha), cousin of Nemhetra

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: Senior Advisor.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: during his childhood, Herrion was abducted, together with his twin brother and younger sister, by his uncle Ir-Ash and sent through a mystic vortex created by Demo-Rha into the body of the future Destructomorph leader. Many years later, Masq-Lor succeeded in separating his brother from the defeated Deptilion, to whom Herrion had given much of his vital force unbeknown to everybody. Once rescued from his long-lasting segregation, he received the third prodigious helmet from Elykta, in order to channel the same ancient power that Masq-Lor and Fai-Rha had been using to acquire incredible abilities. After an arduous initial struggle due to a remainder of Deptilion's wickedness left in his inner-self, Herrion swore to defend the free people of Tahron alongside his siblings and ultimately helped vanquish the Destructomorphs. Eventually, while serving in the role of Senior Advisor, the threat of the Therioms' old enemy once more brought Herrion and his siblings to one final conflict with the evil Nemhetra and her army of dreadful creatures. By wielding their halberds and recovering an ancient power hidden in their magical helmets, the three courageous warriors could at last return to their mission in a glorious new form.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

In the Horizon comics, it is revealed that each prodigious helmet holds a sample of liquid alloy, which was hidden by Galamars after forging the enchanted artefacts. When the liquid metal is combined with a tiny amount of the helmet wearer's blood, a small cyan ball lightning arises and creates a statue (called totem and made of the same material as the helmets and halberds) of an animal, behind which there is a sort of chair. When the helmet wearer introduces their halberd into a slot on the side of the totem, and sits in the chair with their hands and feet positioned on apposite rests, a connector automatically inserts into the helmet's socket, i.e., the hollow left after extracting the liquid alloy vial. The wearer appears to lose consciousness, when in fact their consciousness is relayed into a robotic avatar (called robatar) that forms from the totem moments later. Herrion's totem is a sitting lynx and his robatar, which is the figure included in this pack, can be described as follows:

Head: similar to the White Ranger's helmet, characterised by a silver outer shell with a pair of cat ears and a sharp-toothed mouth guard, a golden-yellow face shield with cheetah-like blotchy black spots, and a glossy black visor surrounded by a cyan glowing edge that is connected to two fierce feline eyes on the forehead

Body: protected by a vac-metal gold cuirass with black details, vac-metal gold gauntlets, boots (with knee guards) and belt, and a black crotch shell. Besides these basic components, there are various golden-yellow pieces of armour with cheetah-like blotchy black spots to protect the rest of the body, such as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards. There is an impressive amount of intricate decorative features all around the numerous components of this protective covering; I especially like the small Theriom emblems engraved on the wrist and knee guards, and the little gaps here and there that reveal steel tech-mech details beneath the armour.

Both the helmet (with vac-metal gold frontal crests) and the cuirass (with added Theriom emblem, i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated) display a few decorative details that recall Foundation Herrion's outfit.

Herrion's robatar's stylised cuirass; the oval on the chest plate represents the Theriom symbol.

Action feature

To simulate the retractile laser-like claws seen in the comics, a pair of long cyan glowing blades (kind of reminiscent of ULTRAMAN's specium blades) can snap into each forearm armour. Additionally, two articulated flaps at the back of the armour on the calves can reveal a pair of leg boosters with cyan glowing propulsion effects.

Weapons and accessories

Herrion's robatar comes with a set of accessories that are meant to update Foundation Herrion, for representing his older version in the role of Senior Advisor. The set includes three heads, a piece of armour with attached shirt and cape, and two weapons. The first head, apart from having features that make him resemble Masq-Lor, is characterised by cream white skin, thick dark-brown hair and goatee with a touch of grey, green eyes and a thin gold headband (I'm glad they took the approach that they did with the minimal-yet-ornate circlet design). The other two portraits are identical, except that they wear the silver magic helmet, one in its inactive form and one that displays the bobcat visor activated.

The armour/harness is painted in shiny gold with black details (including a gold-studded leather strap) and incorporates some permanently attached items such as a burgundy shirt with glossy black buttons, and a burgundy cape with an elaborate golden ornament that works as a loop to store one of his weapons at the back.

The weapons include a halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one with the blade curved outward) and the same halberd that belongs to Bi-Harr in the Foundation series, except from being painted with some reddish-brown copper details here and there rather than plain silver. The other weapon is Herrion's signature battleaxe with a black haft and a broad silver blade; the blade's chipped cutting edge is parallel to the handle and its tarnished appearance has been rendered using black speckle added to the silver colour.

Finally, the figure comes with some great additional accessories: a cyber-flying steed, an extra cyber-head and two pairs of interchangeable hands that serve as the second instalment of the Build-a-Figure plan in the KR|Horizon series. As explained previously, some of the action figures in the line will come with a number of components needed to build an even larger figure, specifically a heroic super-robatar that is shown at the end of the KR|Horizon comic book series. The included creature is a robotic version of Zor-Kan, which in the comics also forms from the totem together with the robatar. This figure features joints all over the place: hinged beak, ball jointed upper neck, hinged lower neck, ball-hinged wings and hips, hinged knee, ankle and tail, and swivel-hinged talons. It is, of course, an all-new sculpt that resembles a mix between the Therioms' four-winged fighting bird and Jeeg's Big Shooter, and has a detailed metallic-red&silver body, a crest projecting from its head, translucent orange feathers/anti-shock bodies embellishing the two pairs of wings and the tail, and two overwing nacelles that encase a pair of podded jet engines on the back and a pair of cannons with two separate missiles on the front. The extra head (which is supposed to form from the robatar's body when Herrion's bobcat visor is activated, and to become the left wrist of the super-robatar) looks like a large scale, Voltron-like robot lynx head, while the four hands (two fisted, one weapon gripping and one splayed open) are painted in black with golden knuckles. It's worth noting that the two thruster panels on the back of the cyber-bird can flip down and the four hands can be stowed away for later use... or you can pretend to launch them for a devastating rear attack! As promised, once I get all the necessary parts, I'll go into detail about this super-robatar formation.

Senior Advisor Herrion's stylised helmet with frontal crests.

Senior Advisor Herrion's stylised armour (worn over a shirt); the circle on the chest plate represents the Theriom symbol.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ I make no bones about Herrion being my favourite of the three siblings, and one of my favourite KR characters overall. I love his characterization, and the fact that he rides a 4-winged bird in the comics and in my action figure adventures makes him the tops for me

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Herrion's robatar's articulation matches Masq-Lor's one. The joints also work extremely well, allowing for a ton of poses

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣ This is the same figure that was originally designed to be Masq-Lor's robatar. Keeping that in mind, there is a lot here that definitely feels like Horizon Masq-Lor and yet the figure has a very unique look to it. All around, the vac-metallizing on the figure looks fantastic, but there does seem to be a weird area where coverage is lacking on the top of the left boot. Hopefully this doesn't lead to any flaking over time

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The figure comes with what I would consider to be all of his required accessories. I like the little chips out of the axe blade - it adds a lot of character to the accessory

Playability: ♪♪♪ While there might be some issues with the paint for me, the decent articulation and great accessories make for an exceptional action figure with plenty of play potential

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Herrion's Horizon edition is certainly good enough to stand on his own, but I really hope that, given the current pandemic situation, things will turn out right in the end and that Fai-Rha's robatar will join her brothers' prototypes soon, so all of the Key protectors will finally be together on the battlefield.

KR|Horizon Review #8: Denortos (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Denortos^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: alien menace

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 7 in the line.

Character details

Name: Denortos

Classification: uncertain

Sex: male

Home: Cereutis

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph (temporarily)

Rank: mercenary.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #3 - The last horizon

Brief bio: a dangerous criminal from the surface of the extra dimension of Cereutis, Denortos lost his left arm and parts of his face during his desperate attempt to impede Wen Kai xi's destiny to become the Deity. Five centuries after being deported back to his dimension and imprisoned for his crimes, he was freed by Deptilion, who armed him with new face components and a powerful shooting arm. The Destructomorph chief marshal offered promises of power and wealth to Denortos in exchange for aid to create a trans-dimensional breach in the multiversal walls, which would allow him to absorb Bi-Harr's ancient mental powers. Under Deptilion's leadership, Denortos travelled to Tahron using a dimensional gateway, but eventually, growing ambitious and vengeful, he reneged on his deal and raised an army of his own to challenge the Therioms. In the end, he was banished from Tahron and forced into his native dimension once again. Despite he renewed his loyalty to Deptilion, the evil overlord punished Denortos by destroying his bionic implants and severing one of his legs from the body, leaving him nearly dead. After he had been found and healed by a mysterious Cereutian medical engineer, he transformed his old bionic arm into a deadly cannon and, returning to Tahron at last, allied himself with Nemhetra's army to determine rule of Tahron once and for all.

Articulation

Standard, except that the left arm has no articulation and the left leg only has a ball hinged knee.

Description

Head: elongated shape, dark-blue (almost black) skin, a strip of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales 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. A bronze guard covers his face partially and is composed of a scalene triangular eye patch (with a sculpted left eye, some fishbone-shaped circuitry, and one of the angles protruding outwards) and a chunky Hannibal Lecter-ish biter mask that protects parts of the two large nostrils and the mouth. This covering, which fits on the head perfectly and stays put thanks to two small notches on the figure’s TMJs, can be removed by gently pulling two truncated cone-shaped bolts on the sides, revealing the missing portion of his face; it looks both beautifully sculpted and rather graphic, showing two half-rows of sharp, piranha-like whitish teeth lining the remainder of his grinning jaws on the right side, and bloody exposed flesh on the left, which suggests the loss of an eye and of half mouth

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 right arm and leg sport claw extremities and large strips of spade-shaped imbricate shiny silver scales running down the sides (a similar stripe also extends from the nape of the neck, divides along the shoulder blades and continues along the back to the loin). He has a short pointy tail emerging from his trunks and protected by a leaf-shaped, spiny-edged dark-blue tail shield, while his abdomen and left pec display surgical sutures closed with stitches by means of metal wires. His organic limbs are characterised by the presence of bronze powered exoframes that allow for movement with increased strength and endurance; their components, which are embellished with a number of cables, run from the shoulder down to the hand and from the hip down to the foot, and fasten to the limbs at various spots, including the upper arm (via an armband bearing a single spike), fingers (via a cyber glove), upper leg (via a spiked thigh guard) and lower leg (via a spiked armoured shin/knee guard). Two bronze prostheses are fitted to the remaining stumps of his severed limbs; these artificial appendages are much simpler replacements compared to the more intricate, lifelike robotic arm he sported in the Foundation series. While the arm is just a short scalene triangular, inarticulate blade, the leg is composed of two parts connected by a flexible joint: a scalene triangular blade-like upper leg and a pegleg-like lower leg. Similarly to the face mask, the triangular bronze parts have some sculpted details such as fishbone-shaped circuitry and Cereutian symbols (each resembling a four-pointed throwing star with what looks like a trilobite embossed in the middle)

Wearables: a glossy black armour with porous light-green details (the two colours alternate clockwise), one black wrist guard (ornamented with studs, a light-green gemstone and a knuckle protector), one black leather boot with a turn-down top, a double black belt (composed of a larger glossy belt bearing a Destructomorph symbol, i.e., a square-shaped blueish spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face, as well as some cyber details, and a smaller loose fitting leather belt underneath) and an asymmetric light-green loincloth characterised by a fibrous texture. The armour is removable and shows some tech details, tubes, battle dents and marks, and a silver Cereutian symbol on the front; its two furthest-apart components are connected diagonally via a shoulder belt that also holds a pouch on the back. The right side of the armour also carries a light-green bronze pauldron, which has spiky bolts, rivets and a sort of antenna, and is attached to the armour via a rubber “hinge”.

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

Action feature

In the comics, Denortos appears with his former shooting arm refashioned into an extremely powerful and highly sophisticated missile weapon mounted on his right shoulder. So, the figure comes with a silver bronze backpack that snaps into a socket on the back of the armour, and has sculpted wiring, hoses, gauges as well as a gas tank equipped with a pivoting control lever. The right side of the backpack is armed with a rotating missile launcher derived from Denortos' old prosthetic arm; this can be set in either a vertical rest position or a horizontal attack position and is equipped with two projectiles that can be stored diagonally on the left side of the backpack. An additional 2-piece bronze armour is mounted onto the shoulder and the elbow of the outstretched bionic arm, converting it to a deadly weapon and enhancing an already awesome item (with a steel robotic look, showing some little details such as rivets and cables) that helped making Foundation Denortos one of the greatest KR prototypes ever. The butt armour is fastened around the whole shoulder part and is ornamented with bolts, while the side-gun shield is fixed to the elbow and bears some studs as well as a handle and a peg that holds the weapon in place on the backpack's horizontal revolving spindle. The two projectiles are also beautifully sculpted, each having a bronze body equipped with four "stag beetle mandible"-shaped silver blades all the way around. Either missile fits on front of the bazooka (where the wrist and hand used to be), but there's no spring-loaded mechanism to fire it. Apart from working as a mobile backpack launcher, the weapon can be detached and transformed into either a handheld blaster (using the peg as a second handle) or a stationary ground weapon (more on this later).

Weapons and accessories

Denortos comes with a nice assortment of accessories. Apart from the above-mentioned missile launcher backpack, we also get two weapons and two articles of clothing. The first weapon is a light-green toxic gun; this has a semicircular drum magazine that fits around his right forearm and is fictionally designed to shoot a gas that knocks his enemies unconscious (an ability that he used to possess himself).

Additionally, there is his signature silver shield. This is very similar to the bulky, trapezoidal shields that came with the Foundation and Origin figures, except that it's slightly smaller and without hinged fold-out parts. The shield, whose surfaces bear intricate tech patterns, attaches securely either at the figure's right wrist (after removing the green gemstone) or, like the gun, at the back armour (when the backpack is detached) via a peg. When the shield is used as a platform, the bazooka connects to it through an additional articulated piece, which makes it possible to convert the weapon into a stationary ground rocket launcher.

Furthermore, the figure includes a hood and a tattered cloak, both seemingly made of a coarse brown fabric, that can be used to update Denortos' Origin version and make it more similar to his wounded look in the KR|Origin comic books. The hood is meant to be used with the Horizon unmasked head and includes a scarf that covers his mouth and left eye; it snaps into the two small notches that also hold in place the face mask, and comes down over the head naturally. The cloak is pretty much perfect as it fits him well; while the "closed" left side conceals the missing arm completely (even though it's not necessary to remove the left arm), the flowing right side captures those panels from the Origin comic books in which his cloak is windswept. Moreover, there is at least another character that can easily make use of this mantle - to help complete his look, the human(ish) form of Dimness Wordron also needed a similar cloak. So, we are actually able to update two figures for the price of one with this accessory. The only issue with this solution is that since we're not getting two different capes (one with the hood up for Denortos, another with the hood down for Wordron), these were combined into one item, most likely due to cost; when it is worn by Denortos, we can see where the “up” hood is added as a separate piece and the “down” hood is still present on the back of the figure. I'm totally OK with it, since it still works to some degree as additional folds of a larger hood, but it might still look a little strange to someone else.

Finally, there is a fun small accessory - a small shape-shifting object, which possesses the ability to transform from a meteor-like shape into a Cereutian canine-like beast. The gimmick is fairly simple and doesn't require much effort to transform; it's all about pulling the rock halves apart, unfolding the head, tail and legs, and snapping the rock shut. It's perhaps a bit silly, but it's a welcome addition anyway.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ My favourite evil character gets a variant prototype that I had been wanting for quite a while - I find this version blends some of the detailing that I expected on the Origin prototype with some of the cyber look of the Foundation figure

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Even with all the new pieces (minus the artificial limbs), he has all the standard KR joints and nothing is prevented from moving how you want for posing. I’m unsure why PoliganToys couldn't add the articulation to his jaw. The other figures we have gotten had it, so I’m a bit disappointed that this edition doesn’t have it

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ This is one of the best figures of the line to date. Everything except the torso is first-time tooling. The head sculpt is spot on - there’s no doubt that this is the wounded head I was missing for displaying him in the way he appears after his battle injury. His mask is a separate piece to get the Horizon and Origin versions you desire

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ This figure comes with some accessories that push him into the "must-have" category. The cape used by the Origin version to cover his wounds is an excellent addition. Sure, the articulation is more inhibited with the cape on, but I wouldn't really expect Denortos to be in action poses with this one

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This figure is fun to pose and he looks great

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Is he better than the Foundation and Origin versions? I don’t care. He’s definitely the best Horizon version we could possibly get, and is currently in the running for my favourite prototype of the year.

KR|Horizon Review #7: Sajron

Toy prototype details

Name: Sajron^TM

Subtitle: young apprentice hero

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 6 in the line.

Character details

Name: Sajron

Family name: Amhalgaard^TM

Classification: human with one-quarter primivod genetic material

Sex: male

Relationships: son of Desion (Masq-Lor) and Sei-Lha

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: trainee.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: in the years following Deptilion’s defeat, Desion was elected Senior Minister of the Republic, and his wife Sei-Lha, the new enchantress at the service of the Therioms, gave birth to their son Sajron. The boy, blessed with paranormal abilities like his mother, grew up treated indulgently in Theriom City, knowing little of the past five hundred years' war between good and evil, until Nemhetra revived the Destructomorph threat. When Sajron's parents confronted Nemhetra's evil forces, he disobeyed their command to stay safe and instead set to fight alongside the Theriom army. His incredible potential was revealed to him the moment he wore his father’s helmet and, to everybody’s astonishment, successfully transformed into an enhanced warrior, helping turn the tide of the conflict. Because of his new-found passion for military combat, Masq-Lor trained Sajron in the ways of battle before greater evils could return to Tahron. Eventually, he made peace with Nemhetra and soon, together with his father's siblings, undertook the role of protecting the Key and the still-powerful multiversal walls from a fearsome and mysterious new menace. Though still young when first entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of defending Tahron from those baleful forces, Sajron followed in his father's footsteps by quickly growing into his role as a hero.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: olive brown skin, very short box-braided dark-brown hair; his left eye is green, while his right eye is blue. He definitely resembles both his parents

Body: slightly shorter than the adult characters (only 14 cm, around 5.5"), olive brown skin, exposed arms. His hands wear a pair of black leather fingerless gloves

Wearables: an open mustard-yellow vest with silver edges and armholes, two silver bracelets, two silver boots, a belt with an off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that looks like tarnished silver) buckle resembling the Theriom symbol (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated), and a pair of mustard-yellow trousers. The vest is worn over a short-sleeved frog-button black shirt (whose mandarin collar is open enough to reveal part of a gold necklace –similar, but not identical to his father's– underneath) accompanied by a shoulder belt. Both the shoulder and the waist belts are made of thick silver chain mail punctuated by braided black leather.

Action feature

To make up for being a bit smaller than average and for having few accessories, the figure comes with the materials needed for performing a magic trick, which relates to Sajron's passion for prestidigitation. In fact, in the comics he doesn't seem interested in developing his unfledged paranormal powers, except for performing magic tricks and making them more spectacular. The set includes:
•Two small, beautifully executed boxes, which resemble the two multiversal walls (one silvery/limestone-ish and one golden/sandstone-ish, with the two “portals” on their top sides) and open in a similar fashion to a match box

•Four pairs of cards (each identical pair representing one of the four KR|Foundation factions - Theriom, Destructomorph, Rexodon and Spektrosaur), which fit in either box

•A miniature version of the Key.

To perform the trick, you must open one of the two boxes, show that the drawer is empty, drop one of four different cards inside, close the drawer and lock the box using the small Key. You may want to shake the box, letting your audience hear the card rattle inside. Then, open the second box, show that the drawer is empty, close the drawer and lock the box. Make a big deal about the box being empty - shake it to prove there’s nothing inside. Do some tapping on the first box and say a few magic words, unlock the box, slide out the drawer and show that the box is now empty. Unlock the second box, open it and show that the card is inside it.

Here's how it works. When you lock the first box, you simply turn the Key clockwise (a sculpted curved arrow pointing towards a closed lock symbol will indicate the correct direction), without pushing it down; when you unlock it, you have to push the Key down while you turn it anti-clockwise (also in this case, a sculpted curved arrow pointing towards an open lock symbol will indicate the correct direction), in order to engage a mechanism that makes a hinged side-flap swing down and cover the card inside the box. When you lock the second box, you have to push the Key down while you turn clockwise, to engage an identical mechanism that makes a hinged flap swing up and uncover the card (hidden by you beforehand) inside the box; when you unlock it, you simply turn the Key anti-clockwise, to prevent the mechanism from working. There are little sculpted lines (one horizontal below the open lock and one vertical at the side of the closed lock) that indicate the position into which the flap will move when you push and turn the Key in a specific direction.

The trick has both advantages and disadvantages. The main benefit is that it can be repeated immediately (with the order of the boxes reversed) and with no need to move the flaps back into place before performing. The downsides are that you can't ask the audience to choose a card from the 4-piece deck (you have to choose and prepare it prior to the performance) and that the Key-turning action is a clear indication that some manoeuvring is going on. However, I think it is a quite nice addition, even if someone may see this trick as a rather pointless silly gimmick. Perhaps something that interacts with Sajron would be far more welcome. Update: the figure will include a pretty large, flat "magic burst" effect that fits over Sajron's left hand and shows off his magical powers in action. This yellow magic accessory is kind of opalescent and includes some white stars that are painted to give further depth to the effect.

Weapons and accessories

In the comics, aside from being a dexterous illusionist, Sajron is also depicted as a skilful flail-fighter. So, apart from his magic trick, Sajron comes with a magic wand composed of a relatively long golden-yellow staff that has a flanged silver top ornament on it. This wand has the ability to transform into a two-handed flail consisting of a cylindrical silver striking head attached to the golden-yellow handle by a short (no more than a few links to form a hinge) chain, so that the former swings from the latter. The cylindrical head of this weapon is shaped with seven knife-edged flanges, making it capable of penetrating the enemies' armours with no problem. You can make the staff into either its plain or weaponized version by way of two swappable top pieces.

The figure also comes with an alternative head that wears Masq-Lor's helmet (in its inactive form) as well as an alternate left hand that has sculpted coloured pellets and a plume of smoke emanating from them.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I was initially against the entire concept of a son of Masq-Lor, which prevented me from digging this character, but his bio eventually grew on me. I’m into the past, present, and future of Tahron, and it looks like Sajron is pretty much an integral part of the last-mentioned one

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Being a fairly simple figure, he doesn’t suffer any particular loss of the KR-standard articulation, meaning that he can pose much like any other figure

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The head sculpt, both with and without helmet, is what makes or breaks this figure. He certainly looks related to his parents, and the detail is quite strong, but he also honestly looks a bit older than the teen he is supposed to be. His paint is overall clean, without any really visible errors, and I like that his colour scheme contrasts nicely with his parents' tendencies toward gold, brown or light-blue

Accessories: ♠♠♠ He features a neat smoke bomb hand that’s an interesting effect, even more than the magic trick itself in my opinion

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Just judging him from a pure figure standpoint, Sajron can be a lot of fun. He can get into any number of battle-ready poses and looks great posing with his wand/flail

Overall: ☺☺☺ Basically, my least favourite figure in the series turns out to be a good toy. If you don’t like Sajron as a character, you will not want him. But if you don’t mind or even enjoy the concept, he’s actually a well-sculpted and decently-made part of the line. He doesn't stand out like some of the great prototypes produced so far in the Horizon series, but he’s a pretty good figure going by his own merits. On a different note - even if it only appears briefly in the comics, I hope one day we'll see the regular scale prototype of his enhanced form.

KR|Horizon Review #6: Mohrdax

Toy prototype details

Name: Mohrdax^TM

Subtitle: choleric monk

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 5 in the line.

Character details

Name: Mohrdax

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: priestmonk (formerly abbot of the Drojyo'Bhakma^TM Monastery near the Ucamur^TM region).

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: formerly a member of the baleful Reptonoid army, Mohrdax was a powerful and bad-tempered wizard, who betrayed his fellow reptilian warriors when, using the combined magic of the energy stone and the orb of omens, he attempted to steal Bi-Harr's mental powers for himself. While his plan failed, some of the magic of the two artefacts was infused into the twin swords that he used for his fightback before being banished to a remote location near the Ucamur region. During his exile, Mohrdax became the chief of an abbey of monks, into the shelter of which social outcasts from various parts of Tahron were welcomed. Eventually, he formed an alliance with the Dark Legion led by the evil grand marshal Wordron, who, in an effort to consolidate power for his revenge against the Therioms, aimed at using his technical knowledge to transform the monastery's cloisterers into an army of cold-blooded fighters. By using the magic of his twin swords, Mohrdax discovered a method of slowing down his heart rate to as low as being barely perceivable, and the two villains used this stratagem to trick Masq-Lor, a wonder teenage member of the Forseha tribe, into believing he killed an innocent man. Their wicked schemes were at last undone after the young tribesman, although still believing his own guilt, had confronted the ancient demon that possessed Wordron in single combat. Years later, the mysterious priestmonk Mohrdax, at that point spoken of only in legends and myth, was tasked to secretly raise the daughter of Deptilion and Demo-Rha, Nemhetra, in order to make her into the unrivalled enemy of the Therioms. Upon meeting an adult Masq-Lor, he blackmailed him into becoming his secret accomplice, to outsmart Nemhetra and seize control of the Destructomorph militia. Ultimately, while Masq-Lor became aware of his innocence, Nemhetra discovered Mohrdax’s plot and the priestmonk was slain by the very halberd that he yearned to hold as a symbol of his leadership.

Articulation

Standard down to the waist; due to his robe piece, there is no leg articulation.

Description

Head: he wears a metallic purple barbute characterised by a Y-shaped opening for the eyes and mouth, and two toothy forward extensions of the cheek pieces towards the mid-line, forming as a result a divided mouth guard. The edge of the Y-shaped opening is reinforced by a riveted-on silver rim extending to the lower edge of the helmet, and incorporates a distinct, seemingly hinged projection to guard the nose. The skull of the helmet has a tall mitre-like shape, tapering to a point at front and back with a cleft between, and features an additional arch-shaped, black-rimmed opening (which allows us to see an apparently empty space in the inside) flanked by spiked silver rivets on the front as well as a cool little Reptonoid emblem (i.e., a reptile red eye) on the forehead; additionally, the cleft is surmounted by a sharp, concave black&silver side-to-side crest, whose pointy ends project downwards. Finally, he wears a tattered purple scarf (with the long ends tied together and tossed over his back) to cover up his mouth, while his evil-looking yellow eyes almost appear to be glowing from the deep black of his face through the lower opening. The overall structure of his head gives the impression of it being in an odd position, as if sunken into his shoulders

Body: cloaked from neck to toe with a long torn purple robe. His arms are covered by wide tattered sleeves, while his hands show a sickly clawed, skeletal appearance, purplish skin and sharp black nails

Wearables: the robe does a great job of blending in with the sleeves, which are short enough to expose the forearms wrapped in black bandage straps. A wide black leather belt (which carries various pouches and bags, and even a studded sheath for a curved tantō) is used to fit the garment around the waist and to separate the uwagi-like jacket above from the hakama-like skirt below, allowing for the waist swivel. Over his robe, he wears a separate lamellar black cuirass, which consists of many overlapping leather plates laced together and sports two dual-layered shoulder pads (the lower layers are made of silver chain mail, while the upper layers are made of black leather lames) as well as an elaborate emblem that acts as a double sword chest scabbard; this symbol is a fully sculpted representation of a metallic purple dragon entwining two crossed silver sheaths. The removable cuirass piece also includes a stole consisting of a Y-shaped band of purple cloth with black ornamental trim, whose ends slightly broaden out. The center of the stole is seemingly worn around the back of the neck and the three fringed ends (which are decorated with silver shuriken designs) hang down loose - two parallel to each other in front and one behind.

Action feature

Mohrdax comes with a key piece that simulates the ability for his neck to quickly extend and his head to spring out at the enemy when he becomes angered. This alternative top piece is identical to the standard head, except that it carries an elongated neck emerging from the arch-shaped upper opening of the helmet (it is also visible through the Y-shaped lower opening) and reveals his reptilian screaming face. Both his long, rubbery (but not very bendy) neck and ball jointed head are characterised by wrinkled purplish skin with greenish stripes; while the former sports two parallel rows of tall bony neural spines, several orange gular folds and a number of blueish-grey torcs down its length, the latter resembles a sauropod head and shows a pair of evil solid yellow eyes as well as visible cavities in the inner teeth.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the alternate head with extended neck, Mohrdax comes with lots of awesome extra pieces. First up are the twin sai-like swords (each with its own metallic purple hilt, handle wrapped with black cord, and silver off-centre blade) that are magically linked to him and as such, only he can use them. One hilt is a horned reptile eye design and the other is a winged reptile skull motif, with both featuring a gemstone, light-blue and yellow respectively, embedded in the centre. The two sharp, prong-shaped metal blades are designed to fit in the two chest scabbards, with the handles pointing downwards. Since in the comics these swords can be combined into one broader sword with the two silver blades placed side by side, their toy counterparts are devised to attach and lock together nice and tight. Also in the comics, it is shown that a powered-up mode can be accessed, wherein both gemstones become ruby-red, the prong-like side guards of the hilt rotate downwards, and the two blades split in the middle and open to reveal another dagger blade-like glowing beam of energy inside. This beam of energy is subsequently ignited, projecting a full-sized sword blade of fire that can deflect other energy attacks, cut through nearly anything, and disrupt magical spells. So, the package includes a non-separable activated sword (with a central glow-in-the-dark beam of energy) and a flame attachment (a translucent yellow and orange piece of plastic that fits between the two silver blades and over the central beam), which, together with the two above-mentioned swords, are meant to depict the multiple forms of the same weapon: from its dormant state to awakened to full powered state.

Additionally, the figure comes with a clear stand that plugs securely into his base via a swivel joint, and holds him up well enough to mimic his floating poses during combat. However, this is probably my biggest disappointment with Mohrdax, since a ball jointed stand would definitely have given him a greater range and expression. It should also have had a wider base, because it can be a little unstable when you load him up with his extended neck and flaming sword. Still, it’s OK for what it needs to be.

Finally, the package includes a set of accessories to recreate Mohrdax's appearance as shown in the comics of the KR|Dimness series. The set is composed of a hooded head, a cloak and a sort of muff. The extra portrait has a much simpler look compared to the two Horizon heads, with a tattered purple cowl that covers most of his head and tapers to a point on the back. His indistinct, shadowy face is completely black, but those evil yellow eyes still glare out. The cowl also has an additional piece in the front, as there is a laminar, studded silver brow guard covering his forehead. The ripped black cloak is meant to replace the cuirass and incorporates a torn black stole (with purple ornamental trim) worn around the neck, with two ends of equal length hanging down in front and with the two adjacent sides roughly sewn together using purple stitches up the centre. The muff-like thingy is actually a black-trimmed extension for the sleeves, to recreate the iconic pose with his hands folded.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦ One of the major players in Masq-Lor's struggle for inner peace is revealed to be a reptilian wizard. In a way, his existence diminishes the role of many other bad guys in the KR continuity (and I don’t love that), but I can’t really blame this figure for that, since the idea has probably been around for long

Articulation: ♥♥ It’s about what I would expect for this kind of skirted character. The only thing I feel like it’s missing is the ball-jointed connector to the flight stand, which would have made him a bit more stable

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ I really do love the character design here. Paint is also pretty nice on this figure, with some washes for the metallic sections and mostly sharp detail lines with little slop

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ With the neck extended or a standard look, Mohrdax looks menacing and absolutely fantastic with his swords in-hand. I cannot imagine that these could have been done any better, and they will surely be loved by most KR collectors. I love them

Playability: ♪♪♪ Excluding the limited personality of the poses we can get with the figure on the stand, I think Mohrdax is a great toy, and I’m glad to add him to my shelves

Overall: ☺☺☺ I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m judging this figure mostly based on the sculpt, and I actually like this sculpt quite a lot. I also like to see new characters and designs, so even a new take on the reptilian villain concept is cool in my book, and the execution here is very nice.

KR|Horizon Review #5: Theriom Exo-Guardians

Toy prototype details

Name: Theriom Exo-Guardians^TM

Subtitle: heroic sentries

Line: KR|Horizon

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

Character details

Name: Theriom Exo-Guardian*

Classification: mammal (various species)

Sex: male or female

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: heavy infantryman.
*Original ideas for the name of these characters included Robo-Guards and Exo-Guards, but these have been dropped to avoid trademark infringement.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: after all the opposing armies had permanently been defeated by the Therioms, a small group of remaining Theriom Troopers stepped in as the official body guards to the newly elected Senior Minister Desion. Eventually, because of the shock induced by the unexpected re-emergence of the Destructomorph faction, Masq-Lor found himself in great need of new soldiery. Hailing even from the far reaches of Tahron, a large number of new recruits enlisted in the Theriom Armed Forces, ready to become expert marksmen and to perfect the art of capturing enemies. With skills such as superior sight and hearing, exceptional hand-to-hand combat and extensive knowledge of almost every capture weapon, these privates had a lot more to offer than just being strong, stealthy troopers and soon proved their worth to their commander-in-chief. With the help of these capable service men and women, who knew how to get the drop on their foes and seize them, and had the ability to transform from normal soldiers into magnificent arsenals of military equipment, the Therioms grew stronger and stronger in their battle against evil. Although Masq-Lor promised to aid them back to their families as soon as the Destructomorph forces would weaken enough, the brave Exo-Guardians continued to lead the heroic infantry all the way to the final battle with Nemhetra.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen for the female figure.

Description

The set includes two figures: a male and a female.

Heads: both figures' standard heads have human features, showing dark brown skin and dark eyes (with Aboriginal Australian traits for the male figure, who also sports a black beard, and Pacific Islander features for the female figure), and wear silver helmets with gold details, whose size and shape are adapted to the type of head. Each helmet has a mixed samurai/sci-fi vibe, and is equipped with a pair of air inlets on the top

Bodies: the figures' sculpts use the same proportions seen in other KR human male and female figures. In addition, both wear military uniforms that are grey on the front and blue on the back, and are composed of tank tops (which leave their dark brown-skinned arms exposed) and pairs of trousers. Much of their bodies is characterised by the presence of silver powered exoskeletons that allow for limb movement with increased strength and endurance. Each exoskeleton, which includes a chest harness and limb components that run from the shoulders down to the hands and from the waist down to the feet, is embellished with a number of cables, and fastens to their body at various spots, including their upper arms, forearms, thighs and calves; the chest harness bears a fan-shaped, seemingly rotating piece on the front and a bright circle on the back, which are fictionally reactor components engineered to power the exoskeleton

Wearables: both characters wear gold shoulder armours with silver details, laminar golden gauntlets, laminar golden boots with knee guards, golden belts with pincer-shaped buckles pointing downwards, and silver groin protectors, all showing some cyber-details here and there.

Theriom Exo-Guardians' stylised helmet.

Action feature

Each removable shoulder armour fits onto a figure and includes a pivoting dual-gun backpack. While the front of the armour shows some asymmetric circuitry ornaments and sculpted tubing, the back is equipped with two silver shoulder guns mounted on two adjustable armatures (so that they can be set in either a vertical rest position or a horizontal attack position) and a storage slot to hold a weapon.

In addition, their wrist and shin guards can fictionally produce high-tech manacles to restrain their foes; so, each figure comes with four golden clip-on pieces with attached silver handcuffs and leg irons.

Moreover, in the comics the brave Guardians are equipped with powered suits designed to enhance the capabilities of their exoskeletons, which allow them to stalk evil goons on the battlefield, engage in close range battle with rivals and even carry out low altitude reconnaissance patrols to defend the Theriom's territory. The package includes one of such power armours, which fits over either figure and is composed of a torso protective canopy (including a clear face shield with sculpted embellishments such as breathing hoses departing from an air tank on the chest, and crosshair sighting), two mechanical arms (choke-full with tech-mech details like circuits, pistons, cogs, chains and ammo tubes that run from the lower back) and two mechanical stilts (which are outfitted with dampers and mounted on two foot-shaped bases). This Exosquad-like powered body armour is painted in gold, silver, flat grey and blue, displays some bullet holes here and there, and almost has as much articulation as the standard KR figure, even though most of the points of articulation have a rather limited range of movement. To place a figure in the pilot position inside the hardsuit, it's necessary to open all the hinged pieces (i.e., the protective canopy on the front, the two upper leg panels and the two lower leg panels), secure the figure's feet into the stirrups, snap the waist into the clip, attach the hands to the joysticks on the mechanical arms, close all the hinged leg panels and lower the canopy. The exoframe features multiple weapons that are mounted to the arms, chest and legs, as well as a flip over blaster/jet-pack. Two hand-clamps are attached to the mechanical arms; each clamp can extend and fictionally grab an opponent, hoist them overhead and twirl them around by means of four green gripping jaws arranged in an oblong X shape (the clamp can really turn with a twist of a knob at the elbow). These "heat-seeking" clamps can also pop out to mimic their ability to be propelled. Additionally, two flip-out laser cannons can be drawn from underneath the forearms. Pressing down on a button at the front of the chest plate triggers an X-shaped blue semi-rigid net piece; alternatively, instead of the net piece, one of the two clamps can connect to the chest armour and be launched. The stilts have a pair of sponsons standing out from the sides, which are armed with telescoping poles that carry guns on the top, as well as two cannons that flip-out from hidden holsters (in the comics, these are non-lethal weapons that range from smoke/stun grenade launchers to water cannons to area denial devices). Finally, the blaster/jet-pack flips over the head and shoulders by sliding it up and then swinging it down, and is equipped with a pivoting scanner, a turning radar dish and a pair of folding wings. To wrap the enemies, a trigger-activated spring action launches the two-headed bola weapon from the twin turbo jet ports of the jet-pack - it's necessary to hook the bola string around the front target sight, load the two red balls in the turbo jet ports, pull out and lock a plunger on the back, and fire by tilting a lever to the side.

Theriom Exo-Guardians' stylised shoulder armour. Size and shape vary according to the body structure of the characters.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the removable shoulder armours, clip-on parts and exosuit, the Guardians are also equipped with one triple-barrelled (in an over/middle/under configuration) black rifle that can be stowed on the back of either armour, and one shield, whose bubbly-textured silver background forms the surround for a seven-pointed gold star with the two bottom points elongated. The cover of the oblong-hexagonal shield slides apart to some degree in order to reveal a glow-in-the-dark surface, which mimics its ability to produce a blinding flash of light for temporarily disorienting an enemy's senses.

Additionally, we get a golden removable belt, which can fit either figure and bears brown ammunition all around. The buckle of the belt is shaped like a seven-pointed star, to match the motif that adorns the shield.

Finally, the figures come with two alternative full-masked helmeted heads: the male Guardian's one resembles a hybrid between a motorcycle helmet (for the mouth guard) and a football helmet (for the face guard), while the female Guardian's one has a T-shaped opening for the eyes and mouth (the latter is concealed by an extra mouth mask/microphone underneath) and a pair of translucent yellow goggles perched on the forehead. In either case, the eyes don't seem to match the standard heads and are probably associated with non-human characters.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ These characters easily stand out both on the shelf and in the series. And they do it for all the good reasons, like the giant powered suits they wear in battle, which is the quintessence of their speciality - taking a grip of the enemy!

Articulation: ♥♥ I have to be honest… for such an amazing power armour, I really expected the articulation to be a little higher, or even more on par with the KR's standard. A bit disappointing in an otherwise solid set

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Although these characters do have an updated look, they resemble the Theriom Troopers figures I originally reviewed back in 2015 more closely than the Knights and Soldiers of the series created after Foundation. An all-around good sculpt for a good set of figures. The exosuit on the front and back is magnificently detailed and painted without any visible errors

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Aside from the amazing exoframe, the accessories in general are just kind of there. Nothing enormously exciting, but proper and appropriate for the figures

Playability: ♪♪♪ Like with one of the original Troopers, what I can’t figure out is why there is no spring action in the big hand-clamps. When I found out the clamps are manually extended, a little piece of me felt very disappointed. Well, it’s great for taking pictures and posing, but boring otherwise

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This is a multi-pack that I like and appreciate not only because of its superb army building potential, but also because it’s just a great modern take on the Theriom comrades-in-arms with an awesome large scale accessory. Yes, the figures aren’t as complicated or over-the-top as other characters in the KR world, but PoliganToys did a terrific job on them.

KR|Horizon Review #4: Muvaran

Toy prototype details

Name: Muvaran^TM

Subtitle: wicked sorcerer

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure (dual figure) - Nº 4 in the line.

Character details

Name: Muvaran

Classification: the reanimated corpse of a human

Sex: male

Home: unknown

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: sorcerer priest.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: once an apprentice to a society of priests devoted to the God of the Sun, Muvaran hid a desire for authority from his mentors and eventually betrayed them by stealing magic from an enchanted solar disc under their protection and by trapping it in a mystical sceptre. He then led a savage sect that worshipped the God of the Storms, but perished fighting his original group. After stealing his corpse, the Storm Order tried to resurrect Muvaran and to transform him into a mighty immortal warrior using the power of the sceptre. The resurrection ritual was stopped by the members of the Sun Society, and the magical relic could not bring him back to life completely, making him instead a monstrous entity confined to another corner of the space-time. While he yearned for one day reclaiming leadership of his cult, to which he was still bound by the mystical sceptre, the mysterious creature was forced to make Tahron his new home. Possessing a strong and sharp intelligence and powerful supernatural abilities that included tracking the location of people or objects over great distances, Muvaran, by contrast, had a rotting and decrepit body that was shrouded by bandages, so his survival depended on him living inside a set of powered armours. Later, he joined forces with the dark sorcerers Mohrdax^TM and Psadimyr^TM, and, with his slyness and leaderly ambitions that had not faded, became the mastermind of the restored Destructomorph faction, helping the evil Nemhetra do her bidding in defeating the Therioms.

Articulation

Standard, except that the armoured form lacks the hinged abdomen, and the wrists of the mummy form are ball jointed.

Description

As it will be explained in the action feature section, this set includes two figures, which, despite representing the same character, render two alternative forms and appear very different. Although it's not clear whether these figures will be released individually or in a multi-pack, I'm going to describe them separately.

Armoured form

Head: he sports a shiny gold helmet with glossy dark-blue details, which is seemingly composed of a sculpted headcloth (covering the ears and the nape of the neck) and a Khepresh topped by the insignia of a vulture. His face is concealed under a devilish gold mask, which reminds me of the mask of Tutankhamun a bit, with dark-blue inlays, evil wadjet-like red glowing eyes and a spiky false beard; strangely, the mask doesn't appear to have a sculpted mouth

Body: his limbs are painted in a dull, flat golden-yellow colour, and are covered in hieroglyph-like ornamental inscriptions. He wears four bands, each made of small incised glossy dark-blue tiles laced together, around his upper arms and thighs

Wearables: a metallic dark-blue non-removable armour with shiny gold details (including a wesekh-like broad collar and two large spiked, reinforced spaulders), two metallic dark-blue bracelets with gold spikes sticking out of the sides, two metallic dark-blue boots with sculpted ornaments imitating sandal straps as well as fan-shaped tops, a studded dark-blue belt with a triangular gold buckle, and a short gold shendyt embossed with four-pointed stars all the way around.

Muvaran's stylised armour.

Mummy form

Head: reptile-like face with rotting out dark-taupe flesh wrapped in ecru bandages, evil solid red eyes, nose cavity peeking out just a bit

Body: ghoulish clawed hands and feet. The dark-taupe mummified muscle tissue that is visible underneath his bandages here and there looks decrepit and rotting

Wearables: the ecru bandage wrapping is sculpted to make it look like it has several layers, and the paint/wash over it gives it a dirty and worn look. The strips of bandage flare off from certain parts of his body, making him look like he's losing the wrapping.

Action feature

In the comics, the mummy form of Muvaran controls a human-sized armour made of metal. These are the two figures that we get with this set. Even if obviously it's not possible to place the former inside the latter, the armoured form's chest plate has a quadrangular central piece that can be removed, to reveal a sculpted detail of the mummy's torso within.

Moreover, each time he needs more power, Muvaran jumps into an additional larger coffin-like armour made of painted wood; for maximum-strength amplification, he can further enclose himself in an even larger sarcophagus-like armour made of carved granite. I really hope one day we'll see the large scale prototypes of those two additional forms. And maybe also the mummy's "unwrapped" bituminous inner body that in the comics is capable of shapeshifting powers, including the ability to form spikes or expand his size.

Weapons and accessories

The armoured form of Muvaran comes with a sceptre composed of a long straight gold staff with a hooked top and a forked end. The hook (with the point flared outwards and shaped like a snake head) surrounds a blueish-grey steel disc (with a greenish-blue glassy gem in the centre) and is topped by a large fan-shaped, polished granite blade (which is engraved with a stylised vulture head); the cross-shaped opposite end has an oval loop with a greenish-blue glassy scarab mounted in it and a pair of outstretched vulture wings that form the prongs of a fork. But there is a twist... literally. The other side of the sceptre is painted with alternative colours, to reflect the original concept design of this weapon: light-grey for the staff, shiny gold for the disc (without gem, but grooved with some light rays) and scarab, and blueish-grey for the blade. I like both colour schemes, but I think the default one looks more realistic.

The mummy form comes with an alternate gripping right hand (if you want him to hold the sceptre weapon) and with two seemingly stretched forearm extensions made of a dark-taupe bendy rubber and covered in loose, dangling strips of ecru bandage.

Furthermore, although I'll always remove them when the figures are on display, the package includes a set of additional accessories that are inspired by the concept art workflow for this character: a purple glowing gemstone that can replace the vulture insignia (tiny pieces meant to be lost easily) of the armoured form's headdress, and a triple-string necklace of bony beads with snake head terminals/clasps, a gold armband and a pair of gold clip-on shin guards, all ornamented with blueish Destructomorph symbols, for the mummy form (I think a belt also had to be included, but it has been cut for budget reasons).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Muvaran is an interesting choice for the line, and not only does he have some memorable appearances in the comic books of the Horizon series, but also has such a unique design that it’s hard not to love it

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Apart from the absence of the ab crunch in the armoured form (for a good reason!), both figures have all the articulation we’re used to with KR prototypes. Most of the limbs are pretty solid with nothing too loose, nor too tight

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The armoured form is an excellent figure with a superior likeness to the source material and fantastic sculpt and paint work. The mummy form is also one of the best sculpts I’ve seen under the KR|Horizon flag and I hope to see many more surprises like this down the road

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Although most of the accessories are awesome, only my armoured Muvaran will be posed with his sceptre on my shelf

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I really could not be any happier with Muvaran - since I always wanted an Egyptian-looking pharaoh/mummy character in the KR world, adding either figure to my shelf is a dream come true long in the making

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Muvaran is a perfect candidate to join Nemhetra's ranks, and the concept of an evil army of muscled-out nesting dolls works well for the Destructomorphs. Both his forms came out great, and I especially love the detail that went into these figures.