KR Review #93: Combat Sei-Lha (Black Repaint)

Toy prototype details
Name: Combat Sei-Lha^TM (Black Repaint)
Subtitle: brave armoured soldier
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: action figure - Nº 59 in the line.

Character details
Name: Sei-Lha
Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: daughter of Xonedar, Masq-Lor's love interest
Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: Theriom
Rank: second lieutenant; expert in electronic & computer engineering and veterinary medicine.

Background
First appearance: KR|Foundation #13 - The ultimate curse
Related character(s): Sei-Lha, Combat Sei-Lha.

Articulation
Standard, except that the wrists are ball jointed and there is no hinged abdomen.

Description
Head: protected by a full-face black helmet with a couple of coral red details and a black glass visor. This helmet is a little Boba Fett, a little Iron Man and a little G.I. Joe Cobra Commander, but it works overall. It includes a removable face plate, which can be magnetically attached to the front (i.e., covering the face) or to the top (i.e., flipped up) of the helmet. The inside of the face plate displays a surprising amount of sculpted features, which make the piece look very high-tech. Sei-Lha's face underneath bears a striking resemblance to the regular figure's face, but has some additional details, such as a silver cyber eye mask (with an eye hole on the right and a translucent light-blue scope, for looking in on targets, on the left) and a silver headset microphone that runs down the right cheek
Body: covered from neck to toe with a black armoured suit with a few coral red details. There is an impressive amount of intricate decorative features all around the various components of this suit and, in fact, there are very few spots on the figure that do not have some kind of sculpted tech-mech embellishments, such as cables and tubes, bolts and pistons, gauges and switches. But it all works together and does not get too busy
Wearables: the chest armour recalls the harness seen with regular Sei-Lha and carries a beautifully sculpted gunmetal Theriom symbol that juts out from the black background of the chest plate, while the armholes look like ammo belts. She also has black gauntlets, black thigh protectors, black boots (with fin-shaped flight control surfaces and jet engines), a black belt (which also looks a bit like an ammo belt) and a black crotch piece with some coral red details, everything with a lot of great cyber decorative patterns.

Combat Sei-Lha's stylised chest armour; the oval at the centre of the chest plate represents a gunmetal version of the Theriom symbol.

Action feature
Like with Combat Sei-Lha's standard version, in the comics the black armour is shown to be equipped with multiple guns that flip out from the wrists, thighs and chest. In the figure, all the gunmetal blasters are separate pieces that can be added during Sei-Lha's combat mode. We get two pivoting arm guns (which plug into the inner sides of the gauntlets), two knee guns (which connect to the flip-down leg guards) and a double-barrelled laser cannon mounted to an alternative open chest plate (which is designed to replace the detached regular chest plate, revealing some nice circuitry patterns underneath).

Furthermore, two interchangeable back plates+shoulder amour pieces are included as accessories and can be placed (one at a time) on the figure's back after removing the head. The default piece is a shoulder/back armour equipped with two weapons (a grenade launcher and a flamethrower, with a separate large-calibre projectile and a blast effect respectively) mounted on two adjustable armatures, so that they can either be set in a vertical rest position or flipped over Sei-Lha's shoulders for attack. The second piece is another shoulder/back armour equipped with swivelling wings. The wings are incredibly detailed, with hinged air-flaps and sculpted rocket launchers and turbojet engines. The outboard parts of the wings can be disconnected from the central structure and grabbed by Sei-Lha's hands (holding the plugs that normally fit tightly into the inboard parts), to be used as shields or blades or handheld missile launchers.
Lastly, in the comics the armour is shown to activate a self-operating mode, eject Sei-Lha and then surprise the opponents by suddenly bursting apart. To mimic this auto-destruction feature (or rather the moment immediately before the blast), there is a thin glow-in-the-dark line that splits the front armour in two down the middle. The figure also comes with two alternative elements, i.e., a full-face helmet and a chest piece, which are amazingly sculpted in such a way that they look like exploding, with shooting parts (especially the face and breast plates) and flames.

Weapons and accessories
Apart from the five plug-in guns, the additional shoulder/back armour and the exploding helmet and chest plate, Combat Sei-Lha comes with a few more accessories. Firstly, the figure includes a total of five swappable hands, which add a nice variety for posing. There is one pair of gloved open-palm hands to be used with the pivoting wrist guns, one pair of gloved gripping hands for clutching the wing-weapons and, just for fun, one ungloved relaxed left hand.
Moreover, the figure includes a fantastic accessory - a halberd (the one with the sawtooth blade curved inward) lodged within an opal stone. The challenge for Masq-Lor and Deptilion of drawing the halberd from the milky, semi-transparent stone placed in the Quartz Tower is depicted in the very first KR comic book issue The hidden halberd. Eventually, the two opponents realise that the halberd is actually a lever, which, instead of being designed to be pulled out from the stone, operates a mechanism allowing a secret compartment to slide horizontally in and out of the base (made of metal and wood with amber inlays), and making it possible to acquire the real halberd hidden in it (this weapon is not included in the set).

Final thoughts
Overall: some may like Combat Sei-Lha as she appeared in the "Herrion's ordeal" and "Dawn of a new past" episodes. Some have wanted to see her as she's shown in the last KR|Foundation comic issue for long, sporting the total black armoured suit that she dons in the Gyrocarrier. I prefer this look, because it is so much cooler in my opinion. If you don't like the new colour scheme, that's fine, but as a figure there's not too much to complain about here
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR Review #92: Ramalik

Toy prototype details
Name: Ramalik^TM
Subtitle: bomb-hurling warrior
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: action figure - Nº 58 in the line.

Character details
Name: Ramalik
Classification: ape-primivod* hybrid
Sex: male
Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: Independent Warriors (eventually becoming a member of the Theriom faction)
Rank: assistant leader of the Independent Warriors.
*Primivods^TM are fictional anthropomorphic marsupials that can interbreed with some other species of mammals and produce fertile offspring.

Background

First appearance: KR|Foundation #7 - The siege of Erlokat
Related character(s): none.

Articulation
Standard, plus long hinged fingers and toes for hooked hands and feet poses.

Description
Head: predominantly ape-like (looking like a combination of an orangutan and a gibbon, even if he's partially a primivod), characterised by a thick sandy-brown fur that surrounds a grey/black-skinned face. The largely hairless (except for a beard) face includes the small ears, a pair of amber eyes with white war paint, a small nose and two fairly large cheek pads (or flanges). Displaying his brow corrugated in a frown and his mouth tight-lipped gives his face an overall bold expression
Body: he exhibits a partly new bulky sculpt characterised by long powerful arms and covered in coarse, long sandy-brown hair (but, like the face, most parts of his long hands and feet are bald and grey/black-skinned with white markings). His shoulders and thighs are equipped with pairs of russet bony spikes, while the hair on his forearms and lower legs is maroon
Wearables: a light-green armour with purple details, two laminar light-green bracelets, two laminar light-green shin guards, a light-green belt and a tattered purple leather skirt. The armour displays a large light-green metal disc in the front, which, together with the rest of the T-shaped shoulder guard/chest plate, is sewn on a lamellar purple leather vest. Each stirrup-style shin guard lacks a calf-protecting section and instead has a loop that fits under the heel of the foot. The belt has a large round buckle that holds a laminar light-green flap for protecting the groin (this flap looks like an extension of the armour's central strip).

Ramalik's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Ramalik is shown to have an enlarged throat sac, which inflates and serves as a resonating chamber when he produces loud hoots that can knock his enemies unconscious or shake and destroy targets. This structure can become quite large, sometimes equalling the size of his head. So, the figure comes with an alternative head that includes the greyish throat pouch inflated and displays his mouth wide open, exposing the long, sharp whitish canines. Obviously, the presence of the gular sac hinders the neck articulation.

Additionally, Ramalik's armour can be equipped with an included back-mounted trebuchet and an explosive projectile. This wooden machine (which fictionally works by a lever and ropes, and is intended to set targets on fire) has a sling made of intersecting leather strips for holding the projectile, as well as a pull-and-release spring action triggering a mechanism that catapults the incendiary bomb. The fire pot seemingly comprises a brownish-orange external earthen casing filled with a highly flammable mixture; on impact, the shell is designed to shatter, spreading its incendiary filling around the target.

Weapons and accessories
Apart from the alternate head and back-mounted catapult, Ramalik comes with a chained multi-blade throwing axe. This weapon consists of an X-shaped four-bladed axe (i.e., with two stone blades placed at the ends of each of two imaginary intersecting lines) on a length of chain with a grip (which doubles as a weight for flailing and striking) at the end, and is painted in purple (on the leather strips that are wrapped around the short wooden handle and grip for a more comfortable grasp), grey (on the blades and rigid faux chain) and light-green colour (on the metal wedges that secure the blades to the wooden haft). Since Ramalik has no grasping hands, both the handle and the grip have leather loops that allow the figure to hold the weapon with his hooked hands.

Additionally, the package includes a separate spiked steel helmet for the regular head. This helmet is characterised by a skull with a rounded shape and a keel-like crest running from front to rear. A distinctive feature of the helmet is the presence of two door-like, side moving parts attached to the skull; when closed, these two hinged cheek-pieces meet and connect at the chin, forming a rigid structure protecting the lateral parts of the head, cheeks, chin and throat. A movable top shield (in the form of a visor with two pairs of horizontal slits for the eyes) is closed by being drawn down, locking the two side pieces. All the parts (skull, cheek-pieces and visor) are equipped with various pointed pieces of metal.

Final thoughts
Overall: this chap has been on my most wanted characters list for a long time. How couldn't we love him? He has an orangutan look, his colour scheme is vibrant, and he can take down an enemy in hand-to-hand combat almost as rapidly as Masq-Lor. This figure turned out wonderful, has a great sculpt and excellent articulation, and is just lots of fun to play with
Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Horizon Review #28: Nemhetra (Robotic Avatar Forms)

Toy prototype details
Name: Nemhetra^TM (Robotic Avatar Forms)
Subtitle: battling leader
Line: KR|Horizon
Item type: large scale figure (dual figure) - Nº 1 in the line.

Character details
Name: Nemhetra, aka Iron-Face
Family name: Amhalgaard^TM
Classification: uncertain, seemingly human
Sex: female
Relationships: daughter of Demo-Rha and Ir-Ash, cousin of Desion (Masq-Lor), Herrion, Rhadiel (Fai-Rha) and Mor-Rak, half-sister of Sei-Lha
Home: Tahron
Era: 15 years after Foundation
Affiliation: Destructomorph
Rank: chief marshal.

Background
First appearance: KR|Horizon #3 - The last horizon
Related character(s): Nemhetra, Destructomorph Goblins.

Robatar mode
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 ball lightning (which in Nemhetra's case is magenta and not cyan, probably due to her blood being purple) arises and creates a statue (called totem and made of the same material as the helmets and halberds) of a creature, 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.

Nemhetra's totem is a monstrous spider-reptilian demon hybrid (it reminds me a bit of Spider-Mohawk in Gremlins 2) and her robatar, which is the first figure included in this pack, can be described as a giant mechanical spider, whose abdomen carries a large machine-like, demonic skull on top; two mechanical arms are attached to the sides of the skull and each arm ends with a large chela-like pincer that can open and close for capturing enemies. The silver-coloured (with a dark sheen) robatar has plenty of tech-mech details (including several boosters with magenta glowing propulsion effects on the underside) and all the limbs (the eight legs plus the two arms) are swivel-hinged at various points, so the range of motion for each limb is pretty good. The spider head bears a black visor with eight magenta glowing eyes, two steel chelicerae and two large mechanical pedipalps, which have pear-shaped ends.

Action feature, weapons and accessories

In the comics, this fearsome robotic creature can both knock down opponents by stomping its legs and ensnare prisoners with its powerful pincers, to whip them around and around with a wild, whirling action. The toy is able to grab and hold effectively on to two figures at a time thanks to the claws being articulated with spring hinges that snap closed, while the skull section can rotate 360 degrees.

Additionally, to simulate the retractile laser-like fangs seen in the comics, a long magenta glowing blade can snap into each chelicera. Finally, the pedipalps can transform into a pair of vicious ball-and-chain flails by disconnecting the bulbous pieces from the ends of the appendages and replacing them with an alternative pair of chained striking spheroids covered in spikes.

Super-Robatar mode

Description
When Nemhetra's silver mask is activated, the evil robatar metamorphoses into the torso of an even larger super-robatar, whose body is completed by the addition of several Destructomorph Goblins. This figure is 30 cm tall (around 12'') and has as much articulation as the standard KR figure. The different body parts have some moving details (such as small wings) and can even detach to mimic the assembling process seen in the comics. Actually, the best way to describe this figure is to sum up the way the robatar mode fictionally transforms into the super-robatar, and to appreciate all the cool details:

1. The skull-abdomen slides forward revealing a robotic, skeletal bust lying face upwards (with the head being the "tail" of the spider)
2. The spider's eight coxae pivot up and back and connect to the robot's back
3. The robot's bust rotates face down, while the skull's mechanical arms fold and compress
4. With the robot's bust in upright position and facing forward, and the skull-abdomen positioned on the robot's lower back and facing upward, the spider's legs swivel and combine together two by two, forming four larger arthropod-like arms that project from the back
5. The skull-abdomen opens and spreads out, and swings upward and forward to envelop the robot's bust: the back of the skull covers the back of the robot, the front of the skull covers the chest of the robot, and the sides (with the collapsed arms) of the skull connect to the sides of the robot, to become its shoulders
6. Ten transformed Destructomorph Goblins merge with the robot, to produce its limbs: two pairs form the upper and lower arms, while two triplets form the upper and lower legs, and the feet
7. The monstrous visor on the robot's head moves up to reveal the super-robatar's humanoid, bright-eyed face, which strongly resembles Nemhetra's visage.

Action feature, weapons and accessories

In addition to two pairs of interchangeable hands (two fisted, one weapon gripping and one splayed open), there are two sets of not-spiked and spiked arm bracers for the four articulated arthropod limbs (the latter type can fictionally spin). Then there's her arms - each one of the eight silver nubs on her gauntleted forearms pops off and can be replaced with a long, forward-protruding magenta glowing blade called "hand-slicer".

Furthermore, to mimic her ability to fire energy tentacles from her chest and energy orbs from her additional arms, the figure comes with two bundles of threadlike magenta glowing flexible appendages, which plug into the skull's eye sockets and fictionally stretch out, twine round and grasp her opponents, as well as two magenta glowing spheres, which can be placed between the tarsi of each pair of arthropod arms (these fictionally generate charges of extremely high voltage that are discharged and shot as spherical bolts of lightning).
Finally, the package includes a huge tech-mech version of Nemhetra's halberd (fictionally dispensed by the unfolding back armour) as well as an equally large weapon composed of the four halberds joined together, which is meant for the three heroic siblings' super-robatar.

Final thoughts

Overall: this set is, in a word, insane! My review only began to scratch the surface of this amazing toy, because the playability aspect of it is pretty high. The two large scale figures were created for the passionate KR fan, one who wants to recreate - in precise detail - every possible mode, pose and action of the last Destructomorph chief marshal in her robotic avatar forms. This set delivers on all accounts with two toys worthy of a legend

Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR|Dimness Review #26: Ycabie & Lava Sentinels

Toy prototype details
Name: Ycabie^TM & Lava Sentinels
Subtitle: gliding warrioress versus deadly volcanic monsters
Line: KR|Dimness
Item type: multi-pack (3-pack) - Nº 5 in the line.

Ycabie
Character details
Name: Ycabie
Classification: dermopteran mammal (but she looks mostly human)
Sex: female
Relationships: older sister of Dhermot
Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Forseha
Rank: flying tribeswoman.

Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape
Related character(s): Dhermot.

Articulation
Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Afro-American features, black skin, blue eyes. She seems to wear a close-fitting dark-brown furry garment (but it is probably her natural growth of hair, which looks cut straight around the head at approximately shoulder level with very short, blunt bangs at the front) covering the whole head and neck except for the face and the ears (which are rounder and slightly larger than normal)
Body: almost entirely covered with a growth of short, fine dark-brown hair. Her hands and feet show black skin, webbed spaces between the fingers and toes, and small sharp claws
Wearables: an extreme crop top made of off-white buckskin (this garment is long sleeved on the right and sleeveless on the left, and has a standing collar as well as a greenish decorative button on the right shoulder), a bandage bustier (which has a pointed hem and appears to be made from multiple strips of off-white leather sewn together, with the individual strips shaped like bandages), a long-cuff off-white leather bracelet on the left forearm, two knee-high off-white leather stirrup socks (each lacking toe and heel sections -instead having a loop that fits within the arch of the foot- and bearing a triplet of greenish decorative buttons on the front), an off-white leather belt with a greenish tortoise-shell buckle, and light-green tights of woven grass (with some gaps here and there exposing her covering of hair) that join the socks' cuffs (forming cut-outs that expose her knees) and incorporate a small brown leather purse attached to a loose fitting belt. Her bustier (which together with the extreme crop top forms a cut-out exposing her cleavage) is ornamented with light-green patterns (seemingly made of applied stone chips) that are reminiscent of "greek-key" meanders, while its pointed hem is fringed with a light-green featherwork.

Action feature
Similarly to her brother Dhermot, Ycabie has the ability to glide through the air from one tree to another or from higher to lower locations with the aid of a patagium, a wingsuit-like dark-brown furry membrane of extra skin that stretches from her shoulders to her wrists, from her wrists to her ankles, and between her legs. Like with Dhermot, PoliganToys included two plastic pieces that plug into the back of the figure and into the limbs. The plastic used for these pieces has some pliability, so they’re not rock solid. The first alternative allows for having the skin flaps in a folded position, with the option of having the arms and legs plugged into them, to give the figure a standing-at-ease look. However, even when the limbs aren’t plugged in, the figure still looks natural and the membrane works more like a cape attached to the back (although the pegs are visible). The second option is the extended look, where the limbs have to be plugged into the patagium, because it would just seem too odd to have the skin flaps open and not have the arms and legs matching. This solution looked pretty sharp on Dhermot's figure, but not so much on Ycabie, mostly due to the items of clothing that couldn't possibly be worn the way they appear.

Weapons and accessories
Aside from the two interchangeable patagia, Ycabie comes with two kunai-like, greenish oxidised bronze throwing knives (which we have also seen in the Enmity Expansion Kit for Tahron) and a pair of alternative grasping hands.

Lava Sentinels

Character details
Name: unknown
Classification: lavatic creature
Sex: uncertain
Home: Tahron
Era: 5 years before Foundation
Affiliation: Dark Legion (indirectly)
Rank: guardian of Mount Atubion.

Background
First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening
Related character(s): Tolaaf.

Articulation
Standard, except that each left wrist is ball jointed.

Description
Head: each figure's head looks like made of a wrinkled dark-grey rocky material carved with empty eye sockets that emit a faint orange glow, and a gaping mouth that exposes a number of sharp light-greyish teeth. It also sports a mane of long golden Pele's hair emerging from the seemingly empty, crater-like cranium
Body: each figure's body is made of a dark-grey rocky material criss-crossed by cracks that glow a bright orange colour (as a result of the lava that moves beneath the hardened surface of the body). The torso shows a small triangular bright orange gemstone embedded in the centre of the chest, while the hands and feet display sharp claws

Wearables: each figure wears a spiked collar, two gauntlets with spiked cuffs, and two boots with spiked tops, which are all made of a ropey golden-yellow material. The rocky waist/hips area is studded with golden-yellow nuggets, the central one of which is much larger and chiselled with some kind of demonic face design, while the "clothing" on the crotch piece has a sky-blueish, larimar colour.

Action feature
In the comics, the Lava Sentinels have the ability to generate powerful volcanic eruptions from the inside of their bodies, exhaling a blast of toxic gasses and lethal burning material. So, the package includes two eruption effects, seemingly made of smoke, ash and lapilli, that can be attached to the figure's mouths.

Weapons and accessories
Apart from the fire-breathing effects, the Lava Sentinels come with two sets of weapons, one for each figure. The first set includes a double-tang (i.e., with each blade held in the handle by two projections, leaving a cutout at the base of the blade) axe and a shield. The other set comprises a sword and a boulderstone covered in spiky rock fragments, which can be connected by an included swinging-looking, stiff red-hot faux chain to the left arm after removing the hand. All the above-mentioned weapons are made of a dark-grey rocky material criss-crossed by cracks that glow a bright orange colour, and show some sky-blueish details, i.e., the handle of the axe, a ring design on the shield, the hilt of the sword and the spikes on the striking boulder.

Final thoughts

Overall: what a fun set! This is what I am all about in terms of KR toys. The Lava Sentinels are absolutely crazy concepts made real as army builders for the first time, and Ycabie is literally the character we didn't know we wanted in (almost) perfect action figure form. I really hope we continue to get KR|Dimness prototypes somehow, some way. Update: PoliganToys' SDCC 2022 exclusive release will be Ycabie & Plant Creatures, basically this same 3-pack but with two Dark Legion Plant-Men instead of the Lava Sentinels!

Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR Review #91: Holopodian Mutants

Toy prototype details
Name: Holopodian^TM Mutants
Subtitle: thorny minions
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: multi-pack (army builder 2-pack) - Nº 19 in the line.

Character details
Name: unknown
Classification: mutant holopodian*
Sex: male or female
Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: Destructomorph
Rank: officer.
*Holopodians are fictional large-sized echinoderms with some characteristics that are shared with crustaceans.

Background
First appearance: KR|Foundation #11 - Herrion's ordeal
Related character(s): Kinod, Queen Holopodian.

Articulation
Standard, except that the left wrists are ball jointed.

Description
Heads: each figure's head 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
Bodies: each figure's body has pinkish skin (which bears a number of projections in the form of porous warts), clawed hands and star-shaped clawed feet. The back is equipped with a separate black shell clip-on piece; this bony shell displays four strips that run down its length and bear comb-like bands of seemingly vibrating translucent light-blue hairs. The comb rows originate from an eye-shaped dark-blue ornament situated at the top part of the shell, while a pair of long pliable pinkish tentacles (each fringed with little filaments and ending in a bony tooth-like structure) emerges from the sides of the shell and projects forwards over the shoulders
Wearables: each figure wears a light-blue armour with dark-blue details (including studs, spikes and rivets), two light-blue bracelets with star-shaped studs, two light-blue boots (each with a spiky top), a spiky light-blue belt and a dark-blue gorgonian-like loincloth (reused from Colotros).

Holopodian Mutant's stylised armour.

Weapons and accessories
The Holopodian Mutants have no action feature, but they come with a cool assortment of accessories. First of all, two weapons, one for each figure: a flail and a staff. The flail, which is a replica of Kinod's signature weapon, comprises a metallic dark-blue haft connected by a long real metal chain to a spherical silver-spiked dark-blue striking end. The staff, which is a repaint of Xehrea's weapon (retooled slightly in order to be grasped by these figures) consists of a metallic dark-blue pole 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.

Furthermore, there is a selection of dark-blue&silver plug-in attachments for the figures' left arms, which includes a rigid whip, an elaborate bow-shaped sword blade, a shield (which looks a little like the rotating arrangement of blades of a fan to me) and a spiked striking ball. The last accessory is interesting, because it may be replaced by the flail (whose haft can also plug into the arm) in order to simulate an extending/retracting feature of the same weapon.
Last but not least, the package includes two pairs of alternative heads, one pair for each figure. The first type is the unfurled head that also came with the Queen Holopodian. The spread-out head-shell reveals a star-shaped, bumpy face, 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. The second type is the "concept art" head. This is 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, but I'm happy that we are finally getting it in toy form.

Final thoughts

Overall: thanks to a few additional pieces, Kinod could also be displayed as one of his soldiers, but a pair of Holopodian Mutants as separate figures is a great choice for an army builder multi-pack. They are really solid figures and I like them quite a bit. Honestly, I kind of like them better than the Kinod-based version, which isn't as comic book-accurate as these ones
Rating: ☺☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR Review #90: Combat Training Robot

Toy prototype details
Name: Combat Training Robot
Subtitle: robotic trainer
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: action figure - Nº 57 in the line.

Character details
Name: Combat Training Robot
Real name: Unit ⎐⍀⏁-⊬⎍⟟⎅
Classification: robot

Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: Theriom
Rank: combat training device.

Background
First appearance: KR|Foundation #6 - Reptiles reunited
Related character(s): small robot included with the Tahron playset.

Articulation
Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: protected by an aerodynamically designed golden helmet that resembles a modern hockey goaltender mask and has a large cut-out in the eye and nose area (which, instead of being covered by a metal cage, exposes the robot's bronze face underneath) as well as a lower extension (embellished with three holes) to guard the neck. There's lots of metallic light-blue details all over the top and back of the helmet such as bolts, tubes and even an aerial. The face has a vaguely human-like appearance and wears a sort of light-blue headband with a cyber scope (for looking in on targets) covering the right eye. The helmet includes a movable black glass visor, which can be positioned on top (i.e., flipped up) or on the front (i.e., covering the face). The surface of the visor seems to be an electronic display for the visual presentation of combat instructions, which makes the piece look very high-tech

Body: several parts of the figure's body are made of reused pieces from Combat Sei-Lha, specifically the silver upper arms, the silver upper legs with glued thigh guards, the metallic light-blue belt and the golden crotch piece. On the other hand, the torso, forearms and lower legs are brand new. There is an impressive amount of intricate decorative features all around the various components of the robot's body and, in fact, there are very few spots on the figure that do not have some kind of sculpted cyber embellishments, such as cables and tubes, bolts and pistons, gauges and switches. The metallic light-blue torso (with gold details) looks very similar to the torso of Demo-Rha's LoGoN's driver variant, except that the housing for its disc-shaped lenticular counter-screen is sculpted into the chest piece (more on this later). The torso also includes two armoured golden shoulder guards as well as three pairs of small thrusters on the back. Additionally, the two metallic light-blue gauntlets are equipped with large armoured, studded wrist guards, while the two bulky metallic light-blue armoured boots include two knee guards with wheels mounted to the sides.

Combat Training Robot's stylised torso.

Action feature
In the comics, the Combat Training unit is normally in an R2D2-like diminutive droid form, but by request of its user it can convert to a much more badass expanded form (the way it transforms reminds me of that robot fight scene in the 2010 Gulliver's Travels movie). The smaller version came in the form of a 5-inch tall figure included with the Tahron playset; now we finally get the larger form. I still think that its transforming action feature could have been recreated in a two-in-one figure with an assortment of snap-on body parts, but I don't mind the designers at PoliganToys decided to go the two-separate-figures route.

The robot fictionally possesses a limited degree of intelligence and draws from a library of pre-programmed instructions and past experience to complete its training tasks. Its ability to move nimbly during the training sessions is achieved thanks to sets of repulsors embedded in its boots (mainly used to lift the robot above the ground) and mounted to its back (which are used to stabilise the movements and to change direction). The figure comes with two small plumes of blue smoke that attach to the soles of the robot's feet, giving the impression that they come out of the boots while it's hovering around.

The onboard computer housed inside the robot is programmed with a quantity of combat drills, and each drill ends after a preset time or when a score has been reached. The chest piece has a large, round impact-activated target that registers hits from the trainee. The aim of the training is deactivating the defence-shield of the robot within a certain amount of time. This is accomplished by hitting the robot's chest-target with any weapons the opponent decides to use. A counter and a timer, each made of a circle of luminous segments (green for the former and red for the latter) are located in a concentric manner around the target. In order to weaken the robot's defence-shield, ten direct hits have to be registered before the time limit. When this is achieved, the session stops; otherwise, missing the finishing time results in the chest piece blowing open and releasing a number of training remotes. Each remote will then weave around the opponent while firing numerous stinging laser blasts able to numb a limb for several minutes, which the trainee will have to dodge or deflect while waiting for an opportunity to retaliate. In the figure, the chest display that includes the target, counter and timer is a lenticular sticker whose design (i.e., a CGI blue pattern on a black background in the target, and a series of green- or red-coloured segments in the counter and timer, respectively) animates as it is viewed from different angles. An alternate burst open breastplate can be used to replace the regular piece of armour covering the robot's chest (I love all the amazing circuitry and panelling details inside the torso). Two remotes with clear flight stands are also included (I wish there were more); each remote looks like a small gold&light-blue sphere covered with manoeuvring thrusters, laser emitters, and sensors.

Weapons and accessories

In the comics, the Combat Training Robot has the ability to control laser energy and generate an arsenal of weapons from thin air. So, the figure comes with an axe and a shield that it can grasp in its mechanical hands, as well as rotating mace and blade attachments that plug into the outer sides of the gauntlets, replacing the two removable wrist guards. All the weapons resemble the golden accessories included with its Tahron playset counterpart, but they are larger and their translucent coloured plastic makes them look like laser creations (besides, the rotating weapons spin around axes that are perpendicular to -instead of coincident with- the robot's arms).

Additionally, the package includes the bomb disposal robot seen at the end of the KR|Enmity comic book Terror from the clouds. This 5-inch tall, wheeled figure represents the collapsed version of Demo-Rha's blast suit and features a vertical mount that houses pairs of cameras and mechanical limbs, as well as a white&ochre paint job. The tool-accessories that came with Demo-Rha's figure can even clip smartly onto the sides of the wheeled section. It's worth noting that the similarities between the collapsed/expanded forms of the Combat Training and Bomb Disposal robots suggest they belong to the same series.

Final thoughts
Overall: the Combat Training Robot was a concept character developed by PoliganToys and only made into toy as its collapsed form, which was included with the Tahron playset. It didn’t appear too often in the Foundation comics, but when it did, it made a strong impression on me. Overall I’m pleased with how this expanded version came out and I think it is going to make a great addition to the KR collection
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5

KR Review #89: Seutron & Deutron

Toy prototype details
Name: Seutron^TM & Deutron^TM
Subtitle: multiform henchmen
Line: KR|Foundation
Item type: multi-pack (2-pack) - Nº 18 in the line.

Characters details
Names: Seutron and Deutron
Classification: poriferans
Sex: males
Home: Tahron
Era: Foundation
Affiliation: Destructomorph
Rank: sergeants.

Background
First appearance: KR|Foundation #13 - The ultimate curse
Related character(s): Pleutron, Xonatron.

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

Description
Both figures are 23 cm tall (around 9'') and display a richly porous skin. Each has a short, thick segmented (i.e., formed of a longitudinal series of similar parts) tail emerging from the trunks, which is reused from Pleutron and is painted in a more greenish colour on the upper side.

Seutron

Head: characterised by an irregular chanterelle-like shape, light-blueish skin, human-like ears, a pair of bulging orange eyes (with slit-shaped dark vertical pupils and thick black vertical lines over and under the eyes), boar-like nose, a human-looking mouth exhibiting plump lips and white gnashing teeth, and a prominent cleft chin

Body: light-blueish skin. The arms bear a pair of spiked copper armbands and have human-looking hands with black nails, while the legs wear armoured copper knee guards

Wearables: a large metallic dark-green collar with copper inlays (which holds a tattered red cape on the back, and is connected via copper chains to two spaulders showing layers, from bottom to top, of reddish fur and shiny dark-green metal), two studded metallic dark-green manacles with broken, loppy copper chains, two armoured metallic dark-green ankle boots, a studded metallic dark-green belt (with dangling copper chains and a copper buckle displaying the Destructomorph emblem, i.e., a square-shaped spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face), and a torn red fabric loincloth. It is worth noting that only the chains attached to the shackles are real and not sculpted, and that the cape splits into two parts towards the lower back.

Deutron

Head: characterised by an irregular sea anemone-like shape (with a ring of tentacles around the top part, three of which are longer and resemble loop-shaped antennae), purplish skin, pointy ears with golden earrings, a pair of bulging bloodshot yellow beady eyes, boar-like nose, two sharp-pointed ivory tusks that protrude from the lower jaw, and a prominent square chin

Body: purplish skin, a large hump on his upper back. The arms and the legs wear laminar blueish-grey steel rerebraces and thigh guards, respectively. Each hand has four ivory claws as well as four dark-grey spikes emerging from the knuckles, while each foot has two dark-grey claws plus an ivory one

Wearables: a dark-green furry garment worn over the left shoulder and under the right (secured by a large blueish-grey steel pauldron showing the Destructomorph emblem), two dark-green leather bracelets with jagged ridges and knuckle protectors (the latter allow the dark-grey spikes to come through), two dark-green leather shin guards with jagged ridges and instep protectors, a dark-green leather tasset belt, and a light-blueish furry loincloth.

Action feature
In the comics, Seutron and Deutron are depicted, like Pleutron, as shape-shifting giants who can rearrange their cells to acquire countless monstrous forms, as well as stretch, squeeze and tear apart their jelly-like bodies, and then recover their original forms. In each figure, these transforming abilities are well recreated by a modular action feature that involves several snap-on body parts, namely the head, neck (double ball jointed), torso, pelvis, arms, hands, legs and tail.

The figures are not only fully modular with themselves, but they are also fully modular with Pleutron and 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.

Weapons and accessories
Each figure comes with a tech-looking, gun-like hand-held launcher, which fits in the figure's right hand and has no spring-loaded mechanism. Seutron's metallic red launcher fictionally allows him to fling two included bladed discs. The weapon's "barrel" ends with a hook, into which a fan-like four-bladed (actually, eight-bladed, but four of the eight blades are smaller) clear, glassy disc can be slotted. Either disc can alternatively be clipped onto the left bracer, acting as a sort of shield, or stowed on the back of the collar. Deutron's metallic light-blue weapon has two side-by-side barrels and two separate drill bit-like whitish, chalky projectiles. The butts of the two weapons bear pairs of slots and plugs, respectively, which allow them to connect to each other and form a larger weapon.

The set also comes with two different weaponized attachments to replace hands: a double-bitted light-blueish axe for Seutron and a giant purplish mallet for Deutron.

While I find that I prefer having the two figures separate, thanks to an additional cube-like abdomen piece (which has two balls and two sockets, and whose colour fades from light-blue to dark-blue to purple end to end) plus two extra dark-blue legs (wearing studded golden thigh bands and dark-green furry boots) it is actually very easy to place them into the combined configuration shown on the back of the box, with six legs and a torso and head at each end.
In addition, there are nine additional organic-looking (i.e., with a porous and segmented texture) dark-blue pieces for bigger and better builds. That includes five Y-connector joints (one of which is larger than the others) and four extension pieces (one male-male/neck piece, one female-female piece, and two male-female pieces), which make it possible to form double shoulders, hips and neck, and generate, for example, amazing double-headed, multi-limbed creatures. They’re all solid and a lot of fun to mess around with.

Last but not least, the package includes an alternate, taser cannon-shaped dark-blue-and-silver head for the Xonatron, which briefly appeared in The ultimate curse comic book.

Final thoughts

Overall: Seutron and Deutron are excellent figures with tons of accessories. PoliganToys improved on the interchangeable concept of Pleutron and Xonatron to release an even more technically impressive set. However, I don't like them as much as I like Pleutron, partially due to the design and the colour scheme, but they are still very, very high quality figures
Rating: ☺☺☺☺ / 5