KR|Origin Review #16: Zhongat & Kilorapt

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

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

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

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

Zhongat

Details

Name: Zhongat

Subtitle: former mentor

Classification: lepidosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: commandant of the Theriom Knights.

Background

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

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

Articulation

Zhongat's articulation scheme differs from the standard one significantly and is the following:

- neck (ball jointed)

- shoulder (ball hinged, x2)

- elbow (ball hinged, x2)

- wrist (swivel + hinged -for left wrist front-to-back movement and right wrist side-to-side movement-, x2)

- mid-torso (ball jointed)

- hip (hinged, x2)

- knee (swivel, x2)

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

- tail (swivel)

Description

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

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

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

Action feature

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

Weapons and accessories

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

Kilorapt

Details

Name: Kilorapt

Subtitle: ghoulish dinosaur

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Reptonoid/Rexodon

Rank: steed.

Articulation

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

Description

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

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

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

Action feature

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

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

Weapons and accessories

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

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

KR SDCC 2017 Exclusive: Ultimate Curse set (LoGoN vehicle form & driver)

PoliganToys will be in attendance at this year's San Diego Comic-Con!

Their SDCC exclusive release is the Key Raiders Ultimate Curse 2-pack, which contains the vehicle form of LoGoN and its "mysterious" white-suited driver.

CoBoN's evil counterpart is one of the more interesting machines shown during the several episodes of the KR saga. We already got LoGoN's robot configuration last year, but if its vehicle form hadn't been produced, there would have been an empty space on the shelf.

This very first release (not a prototype!) from PoliganToys is mostly a reuse of CoBoN's vehicle mode with a few differences:

- The bodywork is painted in a glossy black colour

- The front mounted scanner bar is recreated with a black lenticular sticker displaying green and purple patterns

- The voice display on the dashboard is painted in colours closer to the blue part of the spectrum, rather than to the red one

- Neither the central multi-spectral detector/holographic projector nor the clawed continuous tracks pieces are included

- The two Gatling guns are replaced by a spring-loaded rocket launcher and a plasma cannon (in black&silver).

The package includes a full-body version of LoGoN's white-suited driver, which is my personal favourite Demo-Rha's variant. The head and the torso are reused from the static bust that came with the original LoGoN, while the rest of the body is made of white&ochre repainted pieces from Combat Sei-Lha, specifically:

- The arms (with gloved gripping, non-removable hands)

- The legs (with glued leg guards)

- The belt and the crotch piece.

The articulation is the female standard and no weapon is included.

This KR exclusive will be available for $100 at the convention.

They will also have plenty of prototypes on display at their booth all weekend long! I wish I could be there...

KR|Origin Review #15: Loghar (Origin Edition)

The wait for Loghar^TM is over! Despite this version of the reptilian sorcerer and engineer is completely "organic" (i.e., without robotic parts), I can confirm he is still as awesome as he was in the regular series.

This 13^th action figure prototype in the KR|Origin series has a few parts that have never been seen before for this character, such as a new head, left arm and right leg. He also comes with two extra heads, including the coveted unmasked standard head. So, ultimately when you have this figure, you will end up converting regular Loghar (or his possessed Herrion variant) into an unmasked version, because the head is an amazing piece.

Details

Name: Loghar (Origin Edition)

Subtitle: ruthless sorcerer and engineer

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Reptonoid

Rank: brigade general.

Background

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

Brief bio: an evil Reptonoid member with skills in both sorcery and engineering, Loghar was one of the first acolytes of Bi-Harr. He assisted the reptilian leader in his ambition to rule Tahron for many years, frequently overpowering numerous mammalian enemies. As good with his magic hallucinatory powers as he was technically competent, Loghar helped design various devices to assist the reptilian forces, including enhancements to his master and an army of robot enforcers that wouldn't be developed for several centuries. Loghar was eventually forced to enhance his own body by the aid of bionic apparatuses of his own devising, after a fight with his fellow sorcerer and rival Sphenorat had left him severely injured.

Articulation

Standard, except that the wrists are ball jointed.

Description

Head: his face is supposed to resemble an Iguanodon, but it is flattened in order to acquire a more humanoid look. It has grey skin, a dark-grey cranial crest (composed of a row of three bony bulges supporting a kind of skin sail), pointy ray fin-shaped ears, amber eyes with vertical slit-shaped red pupils, and a closed beak-like dark-grey mouth encircled by long tendril-like whitish moustache and beard (the end of the latter is tied around what I assume is a dinosaur's thumb spike). He wears a metallic black crown decorated with silver studs, on the back of which a shock of long whitish "real" hair is rooted by way of the separate scalp piece

Body: grey scaly skin, claw hands and three-toed feet (both equipped with large conical dark nails)

Wearables: a tattered, loose sleeveless black furry garment (reaching to the thighs), two spiked silver bracelets, two silver calf protectors (each with a spike sticking out of the side) and a black sash decorated with silver studs. The right arm and the left leg display a silver armband and a sort of silver garter (each bearing a spike and not removable) around the biceps and thigh respectively. He also wears a gladiator-like silver harness with some black details here and there, which has an attached cape. The cape is bicolour, black at the top and red at the bottom, with the two colours separated by a jagged motif. Personally, I find the tunic+harness too bulky. I'd rather remove the garment but leave the armour, as they are two separate pieces. I think I prefer this look over the fully covered torso.

Loghar's stylised harness.

Action feature

Loghar's abilities in the comics include casting spells to create rune shields of light, which he then throws to his enemies to cause hallucinations. So, the figure comes with a pair of attachable effects to help create his magic powers. These “blasts” in the comics do look somewhat like Dr. Strange's magical mandalas, so I see that is what they went for here and I'm actually a big fan of them. They fit fine (each is held by a handle on the back side) and look great in translucent yellow-orange and blue-purple plastic. In addition to these, PoliganToys has tossed in a cool extra left hand with a clear red “throwing” effect that can be attached to either light disc for some really dynamic posing.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the two magic effects, Loghar comes with one weapon and two extra heads. The weapon is a devastating four-bladed axe, which is composed of a long black haft and two double-bitted axe heads intersecting each other (such that the four broad silver blades, whose cutting edges are parallel to the handle, appear as a cross in top view and as a flame in front view).

The first extra head depicts Loghar in a battle-ready setup and displays grey skin, solid red eyes (why a different colour? I like to think that he has his third eyelids completely closed) and a beak-like dark-grey mouth encircled by tendril-like whitish moustache and beard (the latter is shorter than in the regular head and has no decoration). The mouth is slightly open, to show a number of sharp white crooked teeth as a sign of aggressiveness, and the nostrils look smaller than in the standard head. Additionally, this head wears a metallic black non-removable helmet, which carries a silver blade crest on the top and two long curved silver horns projecting forwards and pointing down. On the back, we can see the whitish hair (in this version shorter and sculpted) coming out from the base of the helmet.

The second extra head shows how Loghar looks under his demonic golden mask in the regular series, and is characterised by a skeletal, charred appearance, a row of three bony bulges on the top of the skull, deep sunken eye sockets (which emit a red glow), tendril-like whitish moustache and beard (same style as the previous head) and a subtle remainder of sculpted hair on the back. This head includes a black removable hood, which has a V-shaped point in the centre of the edge over the forehead, and works best on Loghar-possessed Herrion, making it become a true unmasked Loghar figure (that action figure came with a loose mask that helps complete the picture).

Overall, this is a cool figure with probably the best bonus accessory yet in that new unmasked-Loghar head sculpt. Unlike other Origin Edition figures in the series, this version of Loghar is free of regular-resemblance limitations and the detailed sculpt, the colours, the rooted hair (a rarity for the KR toyline) and the accessories make it one of my favourites for 2017 by a large margin.

KR|Origin Review #14: Khon-Uhr

The first monthly KR|Origin item slot for July is used very wisely by PoliganToys with Khon-Uhr^TM!

This 12^th dual-action figure prototype of the Origin lineup comes into my hands half way through the year, to satisfy my demand for a strongly wanted and necessary character without having used up all the fun at the initial phase of this line that started in January.

Details

Name: Khon-Uhr

Subtitle: savage king

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: son of Tah-Ron, partner of Kai-Xi, ancestor of the Amhalgaard family

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: king of Tahron.

Background

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

Brief bio: the son of the first Theriom king Tah-Ron, Khon-Uhr served as his father's young assistant during the mammalian stand against the rising Reptonoid dominance. Despite Tah-Ron's relative broad-mindedness towards the reptilian people, his son grew rancorous and cursed Bi-Harr after he had killed the monarch in battle. Nicknamed "savage king" for his boldness, Khon-Uhr succeeded his father as a great leader, ruling along his army of valiant warriors, but repudiated any intents of reaching an armistice or showing mercy in case the Therioms would win the war. Chosen to hold the artefacts forged by Galamars alongside other brave combatants, Khon-Uhr called upon all their prodigiousness to thwart the cruel reptilian chief, but was ultimately defeated. He passed his mission to Kai-Xi with his last breath, ensuring that only his heirs could guard the dangerous powers hidden behind the multiversal walls.

Articulation

Both figures have the standard articulation.

Description

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

Normal form

Head: predominantly leonine (even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by a buff face with a thick reddish mane, green eyes and a bold expression. His mane has a pair of gathered hanks of hair hanging down at the sides and is topped with a golden diadem bearing the Theriom emblem (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated)

Body: thick buff fur, claw hands

Wearables: a Y-shaped chest harness with leather&copper straps, two brown leather gloves (each with a large studded copper wrist guard that has four small claws projecting forward), two brown leather boots, a brown leather belt and a scale armour loincloth consisting of several overlapping copper plates laced together. Additionally, he wears a greenish furry cape, characterised by a substantial collar that is permanently attached to the breast plate. The large collar is, like the cape, covered in greenish fur and bulges on the back similarly to an additional mane, giving the figure a hunched over look; it also has two curved copper spikes that project forward from near the shoulders and are pierced in order to hold two brown ropes, from which a skull hangs at the centre. There's quite a lot of reuse in this figure: the loincloth is reused from Bi-Harr, while the left wrist and the collar are from Tah-Ron (the latter is retooled in order to hold an undefined reptile head's skeleton, perhaps from a victim of Khon-Uhr's revenge for losing his father).

Khon-Uhr's stylised harness; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a socket, to which the furry collar connects.

Enhanced form

Head: similarly to the other protectors of the Key (i.e., Kai-Xi, Myneran and Elkymor), Khon-Uhr wears one of the silver magic helmets, which in certain circumstances produces an ebony half mask (or visor) and gives him incredible physical and mental powers, changing his appearance significantly. The figure comes with an helmeted head, characterised by the ebony visor activated, fierce eyes and a covering of greenish hair around the open mouth (which exposes a number of large, sharp whitish teeth). In addition to the standard side crests, the helmet is also adorned with two long, flat frontal ebony decorations resembling stylised horns. In my opinion, the most exciting aspect of his head is that, unlike the other three helmets which had already appeared in the regular series, it features a completely new helmet, never seen before

Body: he exhibits the bulkier sculpt that has previously been used for Grabtrak, which displays a greenish fur and claw hands and feet (unlike the normal form, this version of Khon-Uhr has ungloved hands and is barefoot)

Wearables: two pairs of brown leather wrist and shin guards with prominent copper spikes, an elaborate leather&copper jockstrap with a buckle that recalls the Theriom emblem and a brown furry loincloth.

Khon-Uhr's stylised helmet with side crests.

Action feature

To simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics, a pair of large brownish claws can snap into each bracelet of Khon-Uhr's enhanced form.

Weapons and accessories

Khon-Uhr's normal form comes with a copper double-purpose staff that is a repaint of his father's weapon. One end of the pole is four-pronged and holds a translucent blue-green hemisphere, while the other end bears a pointed tip. So, depending on its orientation, the staff works either as a royal sceptre or a spear.

The enhanced form is equipped with a silver halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one whose blade is curved outward) and a shinier version of the halberd that belongs to Bi-Harr in the regular series.

Finally, there is an alternative head for the figure's normal form, which wears the inactive helmet, i.e., with neither the ebony visor activated nor the frontal decorations. This head works as the necessary bridge between the unhelmeted and the helmeted-with-visor heads.

Overall, Khon-Uhr is another dual-figure in the Origin series that I really feel a strong connection with. Being such an important staple in the KR cannon, I am excited to see him be finally added to the line. However, probably due to the many similarities between his normal form and other primivods (e.g., Tir-Hing and Tah-Ron), as well as between his enhanced form and... hmmm... a furry version of the Hulk, I just didn’t go bonkers for the figure(s) like I did with others, for example Kai-Xi and Elkymor. Too bad, after such a long wait.

KR|Origin Review #13: Li-Toh-Kor

After five months of prototypes since the beginning of the KR|Origin lineup, June is the first month to be marked by two characters that have never appeared in the regular series: Ki-Shudan and, the newest addition, Li-Toh-Kor^TM!

Over time, Li-Meh-Zor and Li-Gah-Tor have become two of my favourite figures I had reviewed in the regular line. They just look cool and tough, and their "power" is simple - just knocking over their enemies with their tails. Now, I'm excited to see a new tailed warrior in the form of this 11^th action figure prototype, which consists heavily of reused parts from the above-mentioned characters.

Details

Name: Li-Toh-Kor

Subtitle: tail-striking combatant

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: male

Relationships: distant cousin of Li-Meh-Zor

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Reptonoid

Rank: sergeant.

Background

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

Brief bio: having sided with his wayward cousin Li-Meh-Zor after he had enlisted in the Reptonoid army, Li-Toh-Kor was accused of betrayal and banished from his home in the eastern floodplain. Resentful of being rejected by his people, he caused the death of his clan's chief and became a criminal, skulking in the darkest corners of Tahron's wetlands. Thanks to his cousin's help, Li-Toh-Kor took refugee in Rokang Tar, where, due to his spiked hide and hunger for doom and destruction, he quickly proved his value as Bi-Harr's master sergeant. Eventually, Li-Toh-Kor successfully assisted a Reptonoid squad in a surprise attack against King Khon-Uhr^TM during a diplomatic mission.

Articulation

Standard, plus two swivels on the tail.

Description

Head: similar to a Stegosaurus, characterised by a narrow and long V-shaped snout ending in an extensive turtle-like dark horny beak, reddish skin, a subtle cranial crest and two short ossicones covered in skin, small pointy ears and evil large light-blue eyes with vertical yellow pupils

Body: reddish scaly skin (except for the abdomen, which is smooth), claw hands and feet; his shoulders, forearms and calves are adorned with several ivory-coloured bony spikes. His back is armoured with large osteoderms, a few of which bear broad kite-shaped bony-cored plates projecting backward and arranged in two staggered rows; this highly modified scaly back armour is thick and rugged, seemingly providing some protection, and extends downwards forming a long, thick tail that ends with a thagomizer, i.e., an arrangement of two pairs of long ivory-coloured spikes extending horizontally

Wearables: a yellow armour with brown "bony" details, two yellow bracelets, two toeless yellow boots (with the dark claws protruding outward), a yellow belt and a brown furry loincloth.

Li-Toh-Kor's stylised armour.

Action feature

Like with Li-Meh-Zor, Li-Toh-Kor's main feature is his threatening tail. The back armour, to which the tail belongs, is a separate piece that clips onto his back. The tail features two articulation points - two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length. I think there is no need of more articulation, since the two joints allow for plenty of poses.

Weapons and accessories

Li-Toh-Kor comes with his very elaborate slingshot - a forked wooden stick in which a pair of elastic bands connected by a leather strap is fastened to the two prongs. This weapon is used for shooting a small four-spiked bony projectile (which recalls his tail-end and can attach to the leather sling via a peg) and has an additional branch near the handle, into which a long curved downward-pointing silver blade is fixed... you know, just to make it more badass and less "Bart-Simpsony".

Additionally, the figure includes an extra head, which has a plainer (i.e., without crest, horns, ears or any other additional features) crocodilian sculpt. Mine matches Li-Toh-Kor's body, but I heard that in each package this head will come in one of three possible colours: red, dark-green and ivory, which will make it suitable for Li-Toh-Kor, Li-Gah-Tor and Li-Meh-Zor respectively.

Overall, as a big fan of the old KR tailed warriors, I'm fairly happy with Li-Toh-Kor. Many of my preferences, however, are driven not by nostalgia for the regular series, but by the figure itself, which, despite the heavy reuse, I think is one of the best looking in the overall lineup so far. His colour scheme, cool tail and funky weapon have blown my socks off and I'm glad I got him.

KR|Origin Review #12: Ki-Shudan

Let's keep the train of monthly KR|Origin items running and continue our journey to the exciting past of Tahron with Ki-Shudan^TM!

This 10^th action figure prototype in the form of an archetypal withered, old wizard/mentor takes its official place in the pantheon of the Therioms. The history of Key Raiders just got even more interesting.

Details

Name: Ki-Shudan

Subtitle: skillful trainer

Classification: human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

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

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: master of martial and magical arts; historian.

Background

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

Brief bio: the oldest and wisest of the Therioms who served King Khon-Uhr^TM during the war against the Reptonoids, Ki-Shudan oversaw the forging of the Key in the days of the battle for Tahron. As the last keeper of ancient mystical abilities, this sage warrior and wizard had formerly used his skills as a member of King Tah-Ron's army and had been responsible for teaching many Therioms the secrets of combat and magic. Ultimately, after he had recognised her courage and determination, he agreed to train Kai-Xi, helping her to grow into a valiant soldier tasked to defeat Bi-Harr and free Tahron from his menace.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: elderly Asian features, wrinkled olive brown skin, hazel eyes (the left one is marked with a scar), and white bushy eyebrows and beard (a tuft of the latter is tied by a leather strip). He wears a very tall dark-green kabuto with metallic dark-blue details, including three pairs of horns protruding from the sides of the elongated dome and a neck guard composed of multiple overlapping lames. The kabuto can be removed to reveal an additional greenish open-top helmet (which works as a lining composed of cloth and several overlapping oxidised bronze plates laced together) with exposed white bun hair

Body: covered from neck to toe with a very elegant (even if a bit old) kimono. His hands show olive brown skin and are shielded by a pair of brown leather knuckle protectors

Wearables: a dark-blue robe with dark-green collar, lapels, cuffs and hem, a pair of dark-blue trousers with dark-green side bands, two dark-blue split-toe socks (showing tattered turn-down ochre lapels and fastened by pairs of brown laces that are tied at the calves) and two thonged wooden sandals. Both the robe and the trousers are decorated with white glow-in-the-dark symbols that are vaguely reminiscent of Asian characters and probably have a mystical significance. The robe, whose hem falls to the thigh, is wrapped around the upper body with the left side over the right, secured by a metallic dark-blue belt and open on the chest, exposing an ochre shirt with brown drawstrings near the neck. Under the torn long, wide sleeves it's possible to glimpse two metallic dark-blue wrist guards. The belt is chocked full of all sorts of little implements hanging from the sides and back, including a pair of silver talismans (one is round and holds a small ampoule containing a blueish liquid, while the other is triangular and surrounds an eye-shaped translucent purple gem; both are engraved with the same mysterious marks seen on the kimono), a booklet and a purse brimming with some kind of roots. The belt buckle looks like an elaborate gold&silver version of the Theriom emblem and holds a long strip of dark-green fabric that features white mystic symbols, orange tassels along the lower edge and two orange ropes hanging down in front.

Weapons and accessories

Although Ki-Shudan is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and a powerful wizard, his figure has no action feature apart from the GITD patterns on the kimono. However, it does come with some very interesting accessories. First up is a greenish oxidised bronze sceptre that can split down the middle to reveal two straight-bladed katanas (or chokutō), each with half staff as the handle and the other half as a scabbard. Additionally, the two swords can connect at their ends to create a vicious double bladed staff.

Next up is an accessory that is a total surprise for me. It's the yellow glow-in-the-dark stone from regular Elykta's staff. This is just great on every level, it looks exactly like it does on the weapon it comes from (or, rather, it will go to) and I love the fact that, in order to give it a more realistic gemstone quality, it sprouts up from a silvery matrix together with a cluster of other crystals cast in translucent green plastic. The figure can hold it perfectly in his left hand, which is another plus. Even if the history of this stone remains unexplained, I am always happy to get obscure relics from the KR universe.

Finally, Ki-Shudan comes with an alternative scar-less head for his younger warrior days, which, alongside an obvious advancing baldness, is characterised by long black hair partly arranged in a high ponytail and in a pair of braids at the sides. It also displays a black horseshoe moustache with a double-pointed chin tuft and the mouth slightly open to show the teeth as a sign of combativeness.

Overall, Ki-Shudan certainly has some very strong points. The paint and articulation are as good as the line has to offer and the sculpting is terrific all throughout the figure. The accessories are great too, but I wish the kabuto could have been engineered just a little bit better. I think he looks good with Kai-Xi, Myneran and Elkymor, and does a great job filling in the ancient Theriom squad. Focus now falls on King Khon-Uhr in terms of the Origin era, so hopefully we won’t be waiting for him too long.

KR Review #77: Pterajet

At the end of 2016, PoliganToys sent me its last Key Raiders prototype. I kind of knew that was coming, but there were so many other characters and accessories that are part of the KR universe and that I hadn’t seen in prototype form. Then, Key Raiders: Origin started, but that's a slightly different story.

Out of the blue, PoliganToys made me aware that I was going to get one of those missing prototypes from the regular series - the Pterajet^TM aircraft with its pack-in transporter! Needless to say, I was looking forward to getting this vehicle, since it was the item that I placed in the fourth position of my creatures and vehicles wish list.

Hopefully, this piece is not meant to be the old lineup’s swan song. After all, the Pterajet can also be considered part of the KR|Origin series, since in the comics the Reptonoids are shown to use it during their ancient battles. However, it does give me a nostalgia for my blogging days during 2015 and 2016 (when I was based in a different part of the world), making me remember all the excitement and happiness with the regular KR series and what could possibly be accomplished if that line ever hit the market. The Pterajet really embodies everything that I love about Key Raiders: getting a high quality gadget, seeing an item in plastic form that I thought I’d never see, and the risk involved in making toys for a potentially large, yet niche fan community.

Details

Name: Pterajet

Subtitle: sky and ground combat machine

Classification: aircraft and land vehicle

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Rexodon

Rank: transport.

Description

The Pterajet is a three-fuselage, four-engine multi-role aircraft designed to excel both as a supersonic pursuit jet and as an attack bomber. Thus, this vehicle is capable of carrying Bi-Harr's army to the skies at extremely high speeds as well as gliding over the battlefield to attack the mammalian enemies.

The paint is very nicely executed, showing mostly glossy black fuselage and lifting surfaces with the addition of lots of bolted trapezoidal golden elements that give the jet a “bird” theme with a sculpted feather motif. The main body features a partially clear canopy that is hinged at the back, so it can open by folding up and backward to reveal a double-seat cockpit equipped with a dash board (which bears an array of sculpted dials and switches mounted on either side of a centrally placed monitor) and two 2-point safety belts. Like with other vehicles of this line, in the comics the Pterajet is proportionally bigger and can carry a large number of characters, while this toy version, despite being huge and having an impressive wingspan (68 cm, almost 27''!!), only fits two figures.

The airplane is equipped with an additional smaller fuselage (whose cockpit fictionally also serves as an independently launchable flight pod) halfway down each wing, making it look like a flying version of a trimaran. While the side fuselages are equipped with sculpted front guns, four nozzles are visible at the ends of all three tail assemblies, indicating the presence of four turbojet engines: two buried within the main body and one in each of the side fuselages.

Action feature

The front of the Pterajet exhibits a pretty long, triple-jointed side-to-side scan-action "neck" that ends with a bird head-shaped nose. The neck-component situated nearer to the main body is topped with a rotating sighting device, while the part placed away from the hull incorporates two "eyes" (which work as a combined navigation/attack radar that simultaneously conducts fully automated terrain-following for low-level flight operations and scans for targets) and an opening "beak" (which exposes a disc launcher that in the comics is capable of hurling bladed discs in both single and rapid shooting modes). The component in the middle displays an ornament similar to a crest on the top and two pivoting pieces (which are reminiscent of the folded wings of a bird) on the sides. Two spring-loaded guns (also pivoting) are mounted to the inner sides of the folded-wing structures and, thanks to the double-pivoted mechanism, can be positioned either near or far off the craft's head, while the top part of the neck piece conceals a pop-up missile launcher revealed by an opening panel. A similar hideaway feature makes it possible to reveal two pairs of cannons from the inner parts of the craft's wings.

The outer parts of the plane's wings are characterised by a variable geometry, allowing for minimal drag, great effectiveness and stealth flight at both high and low speeds during supersonic pursuits and low-level strikes respectively. The angle of each wing in relation to the nearest fuselage can be altered thanks to a hinged joint. Moreover, by pulling the tip of each wing, this springs open in a clamshell fashion and shows an array of three missiles mounted to the inside (the gimmick only works when the wings are completely spread out).

Finally, two pairs of swinging legs (each seemingly having three points of articulation) can fold out with a ratchet feature for multiple purposes, such as working as a short-field landing gear, grabbing a figure or releasing a bomb. While the front legs display structures that resemble talons (two on the front and one on the back), the hind legs are more similar to hydrofoils.

Weapons and accessories

The Pterajet comes with a small set of add-ons and one big accessory. First are a few plug-in components for the various weapons mounted to the craft's head and neck: a bladed disc for the front launcher, a three-headed missile for the top cannon (neither can be fired) and two missiles for the side guns.

Furthermore, when the legs are folded out, a bomb can be released. The bomb, which connects to the plane's belly, is designed to separate into two parts that attach to either side of an additional blasting effect, so as to simulate the action of blowing up on impact.

Last but not least, a black&silver crawler-transporter allows the Pterajet to perch and roll into battle on land. The jet (with the legs folded up) can be mounted to this hi-tech tracked carrier in two different positions: horizontally, for attack mode, or aiming high, as if the aircraft is ready to take-off from the base and fly.

Overall, I think this set is great. To me, it is worth it for the aircraft alone, because the Pterajet is so amazing. The carrier is pretty good too, but is not without its (mainly paint) issues. In general I love the vehicles in the KR line, so I really hope I can get at least the Rotakord^TM before all is said and done for the regular series. However, I will gladly take the Ceratank^TM, Pyrosaur^TM, Baryanoid-Cart^TM, or anything else they throw at me.