KR|Enmity Review #8: Labramar

Toy prototype details

Name: Labramar^TM

Subtitle: mutant warrior

Line: KR|Enmity

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

Character details

Name: Labramar

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: rear marshal.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin, the kingdom's population suffered the mutating effects of the chemical weapons deployed by Bi-Harr for psychological manipulation. A small percentage of the inhabitants who emerged were born with defects and fitted with electromechanical prostheses. Those with bionic body parts, called outliers, were treated like pariahs by those without, and were forced by circumstance to live in poverty and resort to crime. Disillusioned for generations, the outliers were then reintroduced to society and helped to find work as labourers after Lord Sembryon's descendants had retaken control of the realm. When Wordron, following his self-proclamation as ruler, formed an army for his Dark Legion, Labramar was chosen among the most remarkable outliers thanks to his incredible agility and was trained at the overlord's arena to become one of the strongest and most resilient fighters.

Articulation

Standard, except that shoulders and hips are ball jointed.

Description

Head: Negroid features, light-blue skin, bald scalp, green eyes and a tribal tattoo on the forehead. He wears a metallic dark-red removable headdress similar to a bicycle/skate helmet

Body: the right arm and the right leg display light-blue skin and bear black&silver protective pads for the elbow and the knee respectively; the left arm and the left leg have a silver look with a gold tinge, showing lots of machinery/circuitry details

Wearables: a dark-blue armour with dark-red details, a dark-blue bracelet and a dark-blue leather boot on the human limbs (the bionic limbs only show two subtle dark-blue bands around the forearm and the lower leg), a dark-blue sash tied in a knot (with the ends hanging down on the right side) and a fairly long dark-red loincloth (which consists of several large overlapping metal plates laced together and looks like an extension of the armour's central strip). The armour has a dark-brown furry armhole on the right side, as well as some circuitry patterns connecting a seemingly glowing device at the centre of the chest to the left shoulder and hip.

Labramar's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Labramar is equipped with a rocket-powered levitating board that he uses to perform extremely complex aerial manoeuvres. So, the figure comes with a blue&red board and a clear articulated flight stand. The board obviously pays homage to the Pit Bull hoverboard used by Griff Tannen in Back to the Future Part II, displaying a very similar shape and two pivoting rocket engines. The sides even pop open to reveal a pair of vicious blasters, while the stand has a ball joint that allows for some nice posing and Labramar attaches securely to the board at either foot via one peg.

Additionally, Labramar has the (kinda silly) ability to switch the positions of his bionic limbs, which fictionally allows him to accomplish even more acrobatic tricks on his board.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the levitating board, Labramar comes with two accessories: a double blade sword and a compact version of the board. The sword features two fierce-looking silver blades (resembling outstretched dragon wings and recalling the jagged outline of the board) at both ends of a handle that is wrapped with dark-red leather for a secure grip. The blades can pivot, allowing for a number of display options.

Finally, the board is fictionally designed to shrink into a compact form that can be more easily carried into battle. The compact board piece is neat and can plug into a slot on Labramar's back. A button on the front end slides forward to split the front of the board for partially rendering the expansion gimmick seen in the comics.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ This agile thug is a key member of the Dark Legion and important for the faction's insurgence in O-Kin

Articulation: ♥♥ The loincloth hinders the leg movement more than I’d like

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is fantastic, and the paint is nice and solid, capturing the comic book look perfectly

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠♠ The board and stand are the best part of this set and they work great with the figure

Playability: ♪♪♪♪♪ There's enough fun here to convince me to put Labramar on my top ten of the year

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This is really a nice toy and an important part of the KR|Enmity collection.

KR|Enmity Review #7: Elykta (Enmity Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Elykta^TM (Enmity Edition)

Subtitle: magic guardian

Line: KR|Enmity

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

Character details

Name: Elykta

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom (formerly belonging to the Reptonoid faction)

Rank: enchantress.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: a reptilian sorceress once affiliated with the Reptonoids, five centuries before the rise of Wordron, Elykta learnt to master many forms of witchcraft, including dark magic and clairvoyance, from the black-hearted wizard Sphenorat. Becoming gradually disgusted by Bi-Harr's cruel methods of conquest, she eventually betrayed her evil faction and set out to join the Therioms. After acquiring additional mystic secrets and relics, including the stone of deterrence from Ki-Shudan, Elykta spent decades learning to control her new magical abilities. Recognised for her courage and wisdom, she was chosen by the Deity to become the newest guardian of the three prodigious helmets forged by Galamars.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Elykta's face slightly resembles the visage of Dale Russel's Dinosauroid, with greenish skin and pink eyes, even though she looks fairly more pleasant; she wears a helmet which is shaped like a complete head of Parasaurolophus (or a similar "duck-billed" hadrosaurid) - it's difficult to figure out whether this helmet is a real head or is artificial, since some details, such as the eyes and part of the muzzle and of the crest, look like made of bronze, while other details, especially the nape/cheek protector, look like made of real yellowish scaly skin. The helmet has an orange amber gemstone mounted on the front of the crest and shares some elements with the headdresses seen on the two previous editions of Elykta, such as the plainer design from Foundation and the more obvious metallic fangs from Origin. And like with Origin Elykta, this helmet can be removed, but fortunately it's not necessary to split it into two parts, it can just be slipped off in one piece. Once stripped of the helmet, Elykta's head is a faithful replica of the Origin version, displaying a bald look, two very subtle cranial crests, a darker wash above (and two curved linear dark marks–more noticeable than in Origin–below) the eyes and a V-shaped copper decoration (similar to a widow’s peak) with a blueish glowing gemstone worn on the centre of the forehead

Body: arms and legs covered with a tight black uniform, greenish scaly 3-claw hands

Wearables: an orange armour with metallic yellow details (the latter are embossed with arabesque patterns and ornamented with rivets), two long-sleeve handless orange leather gloves, two thigh-high orange leather boots that buckle up at the sides, a diamond-shaped orange copper belt (with a yellow sapphire buckle slightly reminiscent of the Reptonoid symbol, i.e., a reptile eye) and a yellow bandage skirt with a long strip of fabric on the front. Both the gloves and the boots show a scaly texture and have jagged cuffs/tops.

Elykta's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the KR|Enmity comics, Elykta has the power to teleport herself (as well as other people and objects as long as she is touching them) across any distance instantly by means of a mysterious ring-shaped device attached to her back. To express this magical ability, the figure comes with two pieces that, one at a time, can connect securely to a socket on the back. The first piece is a massive steel-grey ring (actually, two concentric rings) that displays indecipherable engravings. These inscriptions are reminiscent of those seen on both Galamars' and Ki-Shudan's outfits, suggesting that the device might be the result of combined ancient magic and Cereutian technology. The ring normally stands up, but can also turn horizontally over Elykta's shoulders to reproduce another power of hers, i.e., generating an invisible force shield around her body to protect her from attacks.

The second piece is a portal effect that comes in the form of a gigantic spinning wheel. The disk is cast in a translucent purplish plastic and has an interesting texture sculpted into its surface that mimics the space distortion of the comic design. The outermost part of the disk has some glitter mixed in, while the centre is painted dark-blue and sparkled with grey paint; in the middle there's a sculpted and airbrushed cloudy vortex with some lightning effects. When the wheel spins, the gimmick is quite hypnotic.

For those looking for a slicker design, both accessories are easily removable and, when they are detached completely, can even be held in Elykta's hand as weapons of sorts.

Weapons and accessories

Elykta comes with her signature wooden staff, which is topped with a fork-like ramification that holds a yellow sapphire (the stone of deterrence, as we learn from the bio). The staff has the same sculpt as the one that was included with the Foundation figure, but this is the “charged up” version and I think it looks cool. Unlike with the regular weapon, the stone doesn't glow in the dark, but is translucent and has added glitter, while the ends of the two branches of the stick are cast in a clear red-orange plastic that gives a seemingly energy blasting look to it.

Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Thumbs up for my favourite lady of Tahron

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The ring and wheel on the back are a nice touch, and they look good in certain poses, but they also hinder the articulation a bit, which is not my personal desire for an action figure

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ She's is a complete knockout in the looks department

Accessories: ♠♠♠ I like the design of the sceptre and how it incorporates the blasting effect, but I wish a small Zor-Kan repaint were included along with the figure

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ The ring/wheel construction will make collectors feel a bit split on this final figure, but everything else is right there

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I love the look of this version of Elykta and I am very happy to get her, she is beautiful. I hope we might see future incarnations of this character... maybe a petrified version from The Cereutian Menace?

KR|Enmity Review #6: Modi-Rha

Toy prototype details

Name: Modi-Rha^TM

Subtitle: athletic mistress

Line: KR|Enmity

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

Character details

Name: Modi-Rha

Married name: Cleorsu^TM

Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: wife of Wordron, mother of Barkos^TM

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: duchess and, temporarily, deputy ruler of the small Kingdom of O-Kin.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: the orphan of Nemhisto^TM and estranged sister of Demo-Rha^TM, after her father's murder Modi-Rha aimed at taking combat duty, aspiring to become an accomplished warrior and seek revenge. Wishing to offer her formidable athletic skills to any army willing to pay for her sustenance, she joined O-Kin's Golden Eagle armed force and quickly rose in the ranks as a top of her class. Hearing of her superior fighting skills and knowing her desire for vengeance for her father's death, Duke Wordron tricked Modi-Rha into believing that Lord Tafmohr^TM, O-Kin's ruler, was responsible for executing Nemhisto and persuaded her to assist him in his plan to overthrow the monarch. Meanwhile, the young servicewoman became Wordron's wife and turned into a frightful slaughterer who eventually helped the evil duke challenge King Li-Khon^TM for the throne of Tahron.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: half-Asian features, her skin, hair and eyes have an albino character, but their colour, instead of being completely white, tends to a very light-toned violet. Her haircut is an asymmetrical shave on one side of the head that leaves the rest of the hair long (however, the side is not completely shaved, but buzzed very short with a tribal design)

Body: apart from her neck, stomach and hands (which show a very pale, light-toned violet skin), her body is covered down to the toes with a tight purple uniform

Wearables: a gold armour with purple details, a gold choker, two gold armbands, two gold bracelets, two gold shin guards, a gold belt (with a square blue buckle) and a short purple leather tasset skirt. Her armour is equipped with two loops for storing her daggers and ornamented with the Dark Legion symbol, i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face.

Modi-Rha's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Dark Legion symbol.

Action feature

In the comics, Modi-Rha is sometimes shown to possess the paranormal ability to move at superhuman speeds. To emulate the motion blur she gives off while in rapid movement, the figure comes with four translucent purple speed effects that can be attached to her forearms and her lower legs. The add-ons work very well, giving her a nice momentum effect while she's standing still.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the four speed effects, Modi-Rha comes with a variety of accessories. A number of these accessories, her requisite twin rapiers and triple daggers, are related to her swordsmanship and knife throwing skills. The two swords have purple protective hilts (each constructed to provide protection for the hand wielding the sword) and long slender, sharply pointed golden blades, and can clip onto the back of Modi-Rha's armour in a criss-cross pattern.

The pair of trident daggers comes in two forms: closed and open. Each knife has a purple hilt, as well as a golden blade divided lengthwise into three parts, which fictionally fold together to resemble a conventional blade when sheathed in the loop on the front of the armour. When Modi-Rha unsheathes these weapons, the two side blades of each dagger open to form a trident, flying apart until they are stopped by the ends of the curved crossguard.

Additionally, the figure includes an alternative head, a chalk bag, Lord Tafmohr’s sceptre and... a kid! The alternate geared up head wears an eagle-themed purple helmet with a half mask and gold details. The best way to describe this headgear is saying that it resembles Wolverine's mask quite closely, with the nasal shaped like a beak and the two large gold headpieces shaped like wings rather than fins. Her bright eyes are visible through the eye-holes, while her mouth suggests a fierce expression.

Being an expert boulderer, Modi-Rha uses chalk on her hands to absorb sweat, which is stored in a black leather bag that can be tied around her waist.

The sceptre, which was stolen from O-Kin's legitimate ruler, is gorgeous. It's basically an amethyst geode (which, in my opinion, slightly recalls the shape of a skull) on a translucent, glassy stick; the material of the stick is rendered in a clear, milky-white plastic, while the crystals inside the geode are purple. The staff's elaborate eagle-themed end, handle and top, sculpted like a foot, a pair of wings and a head respectively, are painted with a gold finish. The bird head-shaped piece is topped with a gold hoop that, similarly to a bubble wand, holds the geode in place. There's also an orange blast effect that can be slotted into a hole inside the geode, mimicking Modi-Rha's magic ability to use the sceptre for generating and shooting small plasma orbs. The glassy stick could use a little more colour or a reddish effect to simulate the powering up phase before the shooting, but this sceptre is a great accessory as is.

Finally, Barkos, Modi-Rha's and (allegedly) Wordron's son, comes in the form of a 12 cm (almost 5") tall, fully articulated figure. He reminds me of a teenage version of Loki, characterised by a pale white skin, longish black hair and blue eyes. He also has pointy ears, while his eyebrows seem to be missing. He wears a very simple outfit, consisting of a fairly long sleeveless dark-green vest with silver collar, armholes and hem, plus dark-green trousers, as well as silver bracelets, boots and belt.

Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Modi-Rha is a solid addition to the Dark Legion lineup

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Perfect for such an action-oriented fighter/athlete character

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ I can’t fault the sculpt at all, she's beautiful! And the paint is very clean. Her design really fits in well with the military-fantasy style of this series

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠♠ The love and care taken with all the added accessories went well beyond my expectations

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ She's a kickass character and her figure reflects that well enough to keep me happy

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Modi-Rha is absolutely another really well designed, well articulated, and sharp looking KR figure.

KR|Enmity Review #5: Ir-Ash

Toy prototype details

Name: Ir-Ash^TM

Subtitle: sharp-tempered captain

Line: KR|Enmity

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

Character details

Name: Ir-Ash

Family name: Amhalgaard^TM

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: Tir-Hing's older brother

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: captain; Prince Royal; occasional engineer.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: King Li-Khon^TM's firstborn son and heir to the throne of Tahron, Ir-Ash undertook an unremarkable military career and became enraged by his father's decision to transform the kingdom into a democratic republic. Inflamed with hatred against his brother Tir-Hing, who had first proposed to allow the people of Tahron to choose their ruler, he was subsequently banished from the family. Possessed by a choleric and vengeful nature, Ir-Ash became an outcast and revenged his debarment by kidnapping his brother's children. Many years later, after returning in a monstrous form with an army of fellow pariahs, he swore to establish his rule and endeavoured to dominate Tahron.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: predominantly ursine (similar to a short-faced bear, even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by a long, thick middle brown "real" fur that surrounds a pale brown-skinned face. The bare (apart from a sculpted beard) face includes a pair of subtly pointy ears, glaring blue eyes with reddish pupils and a large dark nose. Displaying his brow furrowed and his mouth closed in a downward curving shape (with the left corner of the lower lip slightly jutted forward, exposing a sharp yellowish upper fang) gives his face an overall bad-tempered expression. Three yellowish bony sagittal crests faintly protrude from the long synthetic hairs of his mane, which is fixed to the head piece underneath the attached face (the latter works as a sort of detachable mask)

Body: his limbs are covered with a middle brown "real" fur (which is slightly shorter than the one on the head), while the fur on the torso is sculpted to accommodate for the armour. His hands wear a pair of black leather fingerless (except for the thumbs) gloves, which expose his four pairs of pale brown-skinned fingers with long dark-grey claws

Wearables: a golden-yellow armour with red details (including a triangular gemstone at the centre of the breast plate), a studded black leather armband around the left biceps, two studded golden-yellow bracelets, two black leather combat boots with golden-yellow greaves that buckle up at the sides, a studded golden-yellow belt and a leaf-shaped, gold-studded red leather-fringe loincloth. His outfit is embellished with a number of embossed (on the armour around the neck and on the greave tops) and engraved (on the bracelets) Theriom emblems (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated), as well as with many studs and rivets that are individually painted in metallic gold.

Ir-Ash's stylised armour.

Weapons and accessories

Although Ir-Ash is portrayed as an extremely strong hand-to-hand fighter, his figure has no action feature, but it does come with a few great accessories. Firstly, his armour leads to a wood-metal backpack that is abundantly packed with blunt weapons, specifically six flanged maces. Each mace has an all steel construction and a red leather strip wrapped around the handle for a more comfortable grip. Similarly to weapons like the pernach and the shishpar, the heads of these bludgeons are variously shaped with either six or eight knife-edged flanges, making them capable of penetrating the enemies' armours with no problem. The weaponry is all detailed nicely and fits in the back perfectly (apart from two maces that are combined with a pointed tip at the top of the head and with an axe blade at the end of the shaft respectively, have longer shafts and hang off the backpack securely) and Ir-Ash can hold any of these weapons in either hand.

The figure also includes a maroon cape. The large hole for the neck, together with a hanging down part on the back, allows the cape to be worn without removing the figure's head and the maces to be stowed in the pack on Ir-Ash’s back.

Additionally, there is an alternative face that can replace the standard one and is inspired by a comic issue in which Ir-Ash's face is drawn with a slightly more savage look. This is characterised by a dark brown skin tone, a menacing, dastardly grin (with the mouth wide open to expose all four massive pearly white fangs) and a red diadem bearing a golden-yellow Theriom emblem (which hides the transition from sculpture to fur a bit better). Wow, this face sculpt is far more fearsome than the regular one.

Last but not least, Ir-Ash comes with a surprising accessory, a snaky creature that serves as the first instalment of a new Build-a-Figure concept in the KR universe. Basically, some of the action figures in the KR|Enmity line will come with a part needed to build an even larger figure, specifically a four-in-hand beast-drawn vehicle that was shown as Lor-Drek's personal transport in the KR|Foundation comic book series - the Baryanoid-Cart^TM! The included baryanoid is a fictional legless, slithering amphibian, characterised by a stocky snake-like body, black-striped reddish skin, a flat head, a cranial crest resembling a gill arch, a pair of dorsally placed bright orange eyes and Ichthyostega-like jaws armed with large sharp teeth. Its most distinctive features are the long curved protrusions on the sides of its skull, giving the head a boomerang shape similarly to a Diplocaulus. The creature is sculpted in a stand-up position and has a ball jointed head. It comes with a piece of equipment used to direct it, which includes a bronze bit that goes in the mouth of the baryanoid, and a pair of leather reins that are attached to the bit.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ I'm happy to get another member of the Amhalgaard family (and what a member, I mean, he's pre-Deptilion!). We need lots more of those, start with Gax-Uhr

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ His fur is fun and unique and doesn't hinder the articulation at all

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣ I really like the standard face sculpt and the golden-yellow/deep red colour scheme

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Above all the accessories, the inclusion of the alternate face sculpt satisfies my craving for the design variety seen in the comics

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ PoliganToys has managed to do a lot here to make the figure interesting enough to me to play

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ He’s going to stand out on my shelf, no matter where I put him.

KR|Enmity Review #4: Dark Legion Troopers

Toy prototype details

Name: Dark Legion Troopers^TM

Subtitle: lethal machines

Line: KR|Enmity

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

Character details

Name: Dark Legion Trooper

Real name: Robotically Enhanced Reptonoid Trooper^TM

Classification: robot

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion (originally a Reptonoid project)

Rank: drone; archaeological excavation equipment.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: originally intended as cybernetic attack soldiers for boosting Bi-Harr's army lethality, Loghar transformed his Robotically Enhanced Reptonoid Troopers into excavation machines following Duke Wordron's request to be provided with technological support for his archaeological work. Aside from being capable of rolling over rubble and tough terrain, as well as boring through even the hardest rock, these machines could be operated with acute precision thanks to an inbuilt ultrasonic-imaging system located in their drill bits, to ensure that precious buried material was not damaged during the excavation process. After Wordron had succeeded in unearthing King Khon-Uhr's powerful helmet, his right-hand man Labramar^TM helped him reverse-engineer the conversion performed by Loghar and upgrade these tunnelling machines to deadly assault tank-drones for the newly formed Dark Legion.

Articulation

Standard from the waist up for both figures and in the lower body for the android form only.

Description

In the comics, the Dark Legion Troopers appear as armoured tunneling machines that can transform into armed robotic drones (similarly to a person's body that changes from a child's pose to a standing position). Despite the two figures represent identical characters, they feature two different stages of this transformation and look very different from the waist down: with caterpillar tracks in one case and with a pair of articulated legs in the other. So, I'm going to describe the upper body and each of the two lower bodies separately.

Upper body

Head: the entirety of each trooper's head consists of a conical steel drill bit (with a blade-like tapered screw thread) pointing upward. Although in the comics the drill bit-head is occasionally shown to lift slightly, in order to reveal two ominous triangular eyes that emit a red glow, this detail is not present in the action figures

Body: each trooper features a pair of black metallic electro-hydraulic arms, which display lots of machinery/circuitry patterns, as well as small areas with scaly (at the triceps) and wrinkled (near the upper side of the forearms) greenish skin, hinting at a semi-organic nature of these machines; the latter feature is never shown in the comics, but the character details and the brief bio strongly suggest that these drones could be the result of Loghar's crazy supersoldier experiments on the Reptonoid Troopers, sort of prototypes of the future Rexodon Troopers. Under the removable armour, the torso is the same tech-mech piece used for the Destructomorph and Rexodon Troopers, with identical dials, sliders, buttons, knobs and rectangular lenticular sticker at the centre of the chest (which gives an illusion of coursing sound waves)

Wearables: each trooper wears a dark-green armour with black details, including a Dark Legion symbol (i.e., a diamond-shaped gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face) on the chest plate, two dark-green gauntlets and a dark-green belt that shows lots of cyber details. On the back of the armour, each trooper carries a technological backpack, which has a ton of small sculpted details (including a system through which exhaust gases are expelled) and, on the left side, a holster to store a badass black plasma-rifle; this weapon, which is fictionally derived from a suction device, has a silver hose that runs to the backpack, where it is permanently attached. Additionally, a pair of circular silver saws comes out partially from the side of each forearm and each shoulder; in the comics, these toothed discs are shown on both sides of each machine in its full-vehicle mode and enable it to return to the surface once its tunneling mission is completed.

Dark Legion Trooper's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Dark Legion symbol.

Crawler mode's lower body

The half-vehicle configuration has two series of black metallic wheels on either side (the front set has two wheels, the rear set has three), each with a seemingly articulated band of dark-green metal plates passing around. Between the two front wheels and between the two rear ones there are two additional wide wheels with nicely patterned black rubbery studded tyres (these are the only truly working wheels in the figure), while between the middle wheels (which are the front ones of the rear sets) there's a black metallic pivoting piece at a 45-degree incline that derives from the android's thighs and crotch (see below). The continuous tracks and the pivoting part show various techno-embellishments, such as tubes, wires, pistons and hinges.

Android mode's lower body

The black metallic electro-hydraulic thighs (together with a cyber-detailed black crotch piece) are fictionally obtained through the transformation of the above-mentioned pivoting piece, while the lower legs and feet derive from the rear tank treads (against which the front caterpillar tracks swing back) and, as a result, look quite bulky and mostly covered with dark-green metal plates. A detail that I really love is the presence of an embossed Reptonoid emblem (i.e., a reptile eye) on the inner central portions of some of the wheels, just to remind us that these machines actually belong to Bi-Harr's army. The two wide wheels are not present in this configuration... more on this later.

Action feature

The half-vehicle trooper can be positioned in two different rolling battle modes: from low-riding to high-mounted. When in terrain-tracking mode, the pivoting piece leans forward and the trooper's torso lies horizontally, allowing its powerful drill bit-head to blast through barricades. When in ground-patrol mode, the pivoting piece slants backward and the trooper's torso is positioned straight up, ready to battle the Theriom ground forces with its blaster. The swinging component has ratchet joints that are strong enough to hold either position with no problem.

Additionally, there is a black seat that can be attached to the bottom of the trooper's backpack when in low-riding position, allowing another figure to ride it and to be carried into battle... not my cup of tea actually, I'd rather have got the full-vehicle configuration in addition to the two forms included in this pack.

Weapons and accessories

The Dark Legion Troopers come with a great deal of accessories. First up is a pair of translucent blue plasma burst effects that can plug into the muzzles of the rifles.

Furthermore, we get a scythe-like silver blade and a double rotating blade: the former is meant to be held with the sharp inside curve of the blade facing upward by the half-vehicle trooper, the latter is for the legged trooper and is fictionally generated by connecting the two wide wheels from the vehicle configuration side-by-side, imagining that the rims of the wheels retracted and the tyres got taller and narrower, allowing the tread patterns to separate and reveal series of silver blades.

Finally, each figure includes an alternative head and an alternative chest symbol, in order to make the Dark Legion Troopers look like the prototype soldiers created by Loghar before their conversion into excavation tools. Like with previous troopers from the Destructomorph and Rexodon factions, each black metallic head resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components (including new details, such as a number of small silver tubes running from the neck towards the lower jaw) and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak. Each head also wears a horned matte black headgear, whose design kinda recalls a motorcycle helmet equipped with an X-shaped glossy black visor. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's silver horns. The chest symbol is a Reptonoid emblem (i.e., a red reptile eye) that can plug into a hole in the chest armour after removing the Dark Legion symbol. Additionally, there are two small ball-pegs that can be snapped into the detached drill bit-heads, allowing them to plug either into the armours' holes (to obtain a drill-bursting effect from the troopers' chests) or into the muzzles of the rifles (to get an even cooler weapon).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ The Dark Legion Troopers hit every right note they could hit in this line

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The movement is as much as I need from this kind of figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ They appear to be a 100% new sculpt and are pretty close to the comic book design

Accessories: ♠♠ I would really have loved to get the full-vehicle version, just to create some more variety on the shelf

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This ends up being a fun set of toys that look great both alone and in pairs

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ These stormtroopers left me wanting more, more and more, which is all I can ask of great figures.

KR|Enmity Review #3: Magda-Lyn (Enmity Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Magda-Lyn^TM (Enmity Edition)

Subtitle: courageous sub-lieutenant
Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure - Nº 3 in the line.

Character details

Name: Magda-Lyn

Family name: Norvyre^TM

Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: Tir-Hing's love interest

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: sub-lieutenant; expert in mountaineering; canine handler.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #2 - Terror from the clouds

Brief bio: the only child in a humble family of farmers, Magda-Lyn enlisted in the Theriom army at a young age and was trained by then Captain Tir-Hing to serve in times of war. Proving a skillful climber and cynophilist, as well as a heroic soldier in many battles, she eventually fell in love with Tir-Hing and became his wife. It was thanks to the combination of Tir-Hing's mythical origins and a particular set of genes carried by Magda-Lyn that their three children would acquire the potential to wear the prodigious helmets.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: white skin, blonde hair drawn back into a ponytail, blue eyes

Body: covered from neck to toe. Her hands wear a pair of black fingerless gloves, which expose her fingernails painted with red varnish

Wearables: a tight dark-green military uniform with black details (i.e., shoulder pads, pockets, and side stripes on the sleeves and the trousers) and a golden Theriom badge on the right side of the jacket, two golden bracelets and two golden boots. She carries a golden-yellow backpack, which is worn via a parachute-style harness comprising a number of black leather straps (i.e., two shoulder straps, a chest strap, a waist strap and two thigh straps) with variously shaped golden buckles (I can count at least ten of them). With that outfit, she actually reminds me of Jessica Biel in Stealth.

Action feature

In the comics, Magda-Lyn is equipped with a hyper-technological backpack that has been built by Xonedar and Koptros. Fictionally, this device can produce a number of tools, one of which is included as an accessory and can be mounted to the figure after detaching the above-mentioned backpack and, temporarily, her head. This tool, specifically a lifting mechanism that allows Magda-Lyn to climb walls and slopes similarly to a mountaineer, is made of two snap-on golden-yellow parts. The first part is a back/chest piece that sits on the figure's shoulders and incorporates the lower-rear portion of a large helmet (while the hinged, clear top-front portion is removable to help reattach the head), as well as a sort of silver breathing equipment with a pair of black tubes connecting a tank on the back to a respirator on the front and two small golden Theriom emblems on both the front and back sides. The second part is a lower front piece that fastens to the first component and includes a black winch with a silver knob, a string (fictionally a cable) and a silver grappling hook. The climbing gear allows the figure to be pulled up the string, which winds around the horizontal rotating drum turned by the knob at the side. The system works quite smoothly, but the hook is not strong enough to secure the "rope", so it is necessary to tie the extremity of the string around some object.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the climbing gear, Magda-Lyn comes with a plethora of weapons: a rectangular golden shield that fits over her left wrist, a pistol (plus belt with holster), a rifle and a sword. The pistol has a great design and Magda-Lyn can hold it perfectly, while the black leather holster belt is moulded to fit around her hips. The rifle has a ton of great little details and looks like it came right out of an old space movie. I dig the steel grey paint job on both of the guns, as well as the fact that, like the holster belt, they have gold highlights. I also love that I can store the rifle in the front of the shield... storage space is essential for a figure with this many accessories. Finally, the sword has an ivory hilt with a fleur-de-lis design (⚜) and a golden blade, and is meant for Foundation Magda-Lyn, which is a very nice touch.

Additionally, to give the figure an even more military look, there is an alternative head that wears a cap-shaped dark-green helmet with black details (a longitudinal strip on the top and an eyeshade) and a black visor seemingly pulled down to cover her eyes, plus two silver foot anchors that can clip onto her boots to complete the climbing equipment.

Magda-Lyn also comes with her two war wolfdogs. I really love the look of these figures, especially their face sculpts, which look perfectly confident and courageous, their dark-green&black harnesses and their separate (but not removable) leashes. Their different colour schemes make them look similar to a German Shepherd and an Alaskan Malamute respectively. The only problem is that each dog just has two points of articulation: a swivel joint on the head and one on the tail. After all, they are too small to be fully articulated figures.

Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Masq-Lor's future mom is definitely a necessity for the KR mythos

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The figure is perfect, but the two almost static dogs are my only complaint

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ She's exactly what I expected and wanted from a "Sei-Lha"-style ass-kicking lady

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠♠ We get a pretty nice selection of gear, even beyond the parts really needed for the figure

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ The climbing gear adds a ton of fun and an unexpected cool factor to this figure

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I love that they gave me something new I never knew I wanted.

KR|Enmity Review #2: Wordron

Toy prototype details

Name: Wordron

Subtitle: fiendish duke
Line: KR|Enmity

Item type: action figure (dual figure) - Nº 2 in the line.

Character details

Name: Duke Wordron, aka Skull-Face

Family name: Cleorsu^TM

Classification: seemingly human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: duke and, temporarily, overlord of the small Kingdom of O-Kin; grand marshal of the Dark Legion; archaeologist.

Background

First appearance: KR|Enmity #1 - Flares of enmity

Brief bio: an aristocrat from O-Kin's high society, Duke Wordron spent most of his early life learning the secrets of archaeology and became obsessed with locating the mythical helmet that had been worn by King Khon-Uhr five century earlier. After successfully retrieving the legendary relic thanks to Bi-Harr's technological support, Wordron became convinced that his native realm would be better off with him as its ruler and used the magic of the helmet to overthrow O-Kin's true leader. Eventually gaining the moniker "Skull-Face", he formed an army of outcasts and modified machines, the Dark Legion, and leaped into battle against the Therioms, challenging King Li-Khon^TM for his crown. The king’s royal sons heroically joined together and, fighting blade to blade with Wordron himself, defeated the tyrant. Although he failed in his mission, the duke's deadly mastery of the helmet's power left its mark and allowed him to persist in bringing terror to all who got in the way of his quest for supremacy.

Articulation

Both figures have the standard articulation.

In the comics, Wordron 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: Duke Wordron

Description

Head: dark brown skin, partially shaved scalp with three mohawks (the two on the sides are shorter and whitish with greyish roots, while the taller one in the middle is greyish with black roots and develops into a long windblown-looking ponytail), long and thin greyish/whitish facial hair, i.e., sideburns (connected to his nape by two strips of hair), moustache (split in the middle) and pointed beard; his right eye is green with a bushy black eyebrow, while the left one is marked with an obvious scar and covered with a roundish black patch that almost looks like a monocle. Displaying his brow corrugated in a frown gives his face an overall bad-tempered expression

Body: arms and legs covered with a tight pale-brown undergarment; the trousers bear two black leather straps with silver rivets around the thighs. The straps hold two daggers, each with a wooden hilt and a pointed, edged silver blade. Although these weapons are separate, kinda pivoting pieces, they are permanently attached to the upper thighs, a solution that overcomes the limited room to manoeuvre in that area if they were removable (but I wish they were...)

Wearables: a middle-brown vest with short puffy sleeves, grey cuffs, a ruffled grey collar and silver buttons down the front, two middle-brown leather gloves equipped with studded bronze bracers (the right one is a narrow bracelet, while the left one is a larger and more elaborate wrist guard), two knee-high middle-brown leather boots (whose turndown lapels exhibit embroidered grey meanders), a bronze belt and short grey trunk hose. The belt is decorated with a large Dark Legion emblem (i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face) on the front and a sort of clip on the back that I'm not sure what's for. Over his vest, he wears a separate middle-brown leather shoulder/chest armour with silver details, which consists of a chest piece, a pair of large curved shoulder guards (similar to armholes) and includes a dark-green cape. The cape's bottom is embellished with the same grey meander motif seen on the boot tops, while the two sides of its upper portion are fixed to the front of the armour using two pale-brown strings that converge toward a large silver brooch bearing a complex heraldic design (a dragon head in front of two crossed swords on a web-like background).

Action feature

In the comics, Duke Wordron is depicted as a bladed weapon (namely knife and sword) expert. So, in addition to the two non-removable daggers, a double-bladed silver piece can snap into his left wrist guard, to mimic the two short blades that spring out from his signature wrist-mounted pushbutton dual knife.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the double-bladed knife, the figure includes a spade, which Wordron uses as an excavation tool during his archaeological activity. The tool comprises a silver blade, a silver rest for the foot (to drive the spade into the ground) and a long wooden handle.

Enhanced form: Skull-Face

Description

Head: similarly to other characters in the KR universe, Wordron wears one of the silver magic helmets, which in certain circumstances produces an ivory-coloured bony 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 skull-like visor activated, a devilish right eye and dark brown skin plus greyish/whitish facial hair around the mouth. Some of his facial features are slightly different in comparison to the normal form: his mouth displays an evil teeth-grinding, silvery smile and his beard is triple-pointed. In addition to the standard side crests, the helmet is also adorned with a fan-like arrangement of long ivory-coloured bony spines

Body: dark brown skin on the exposed parts of his torso, arms and legs, claw hands and feet; his biceps, forearms and thighs are adorned with several ivory-coloured bony spines

Wearables: a middle-brown metal&leather armour with silver details, two middle-brown leather gloves equipped with segmented (i.e., made of overlapping bronze plates) wrist guards that are spiked on the underside, two middle-brown leather boots (with bronze knee guards and steel-looking claws protruding from the toes), a studded bronze tasset belt (the tassets seem to be partially made of leather though) and a rather long silver chain mail loincloth. The armour is composed of a bronze chest plate (bearing the Dark Legion emblem at the centre), leather shoulder pads (topped with large silver spikes) and straps (ornamented with silver studs and eyelets).

Wordron's stylised helmet with side crests.

Skull-Face's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Dark Legion symbol.

Action feature

The main draw for this form of Wordron is a pair of four-bladed silver claws, to simulate the retractile steel claws that he uses to climb walls and slay enemies in the comics. They fit over the wrist guards thanks to a friction clip and look menacing enough, but I thought they might be a bit more detailed, or even accented with some metallic paint.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the snap-on steel claws, Skull-Face comes with two sabres, which are enhanced variants of the daggers strapped to the normal form's legs. Each weapon has a bronze hilt, two horn-shaped ivory-coloured ornaments sticking out of the hand guard and a slightly curved, single-edged silver blade that has extra bronze burrs on the tip.

Skull-Face also includes an enhanced version of his spade. This very cool halberd-like weapon comes in the form of a combined spear, battle-axe and kama, with a wooden haft and silver grip, blades and tip. Additionally, the figure has a number of loops to store the two swords (on the sides of the tasset belt), as well as the halberd (on the back of the loincloth) and I love it when a figure can carry all of its accessories.

Moreover, there is an alternative head that displays a pissed-off expression and wears the inactive helmet, i.e., with neither the skull visor activated nor bony decorations. This head works as the necessary bridge between the unhelmeted and the helmeted-with-visor heads.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ I am thrilled to finally be getting a new villain

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Both figures are well executed from an engineering point of view

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ I love all the head sculpts and the extra sculpted details on the new pieces

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ He comes with more accessories than I expected, but I would’ve liked removable daggers and wrist-mounted knife in the normal form

Playability: ♪♪♪♪♪ He's new, but so appropriately KR, and that makes him a lot of fun

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I really dig Wordron, he's a great dual-figure.

Special thanks to Alec Karfonta for allowing us to use the name Wordron.