KR|Dimness Review #6: Barkos

Toy prototype details

Name: Barkos^TM

Subtitle: defiant heir

Line: KR|Dimness

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

Character details

Name: Barkos

Classification: human

Sex: male

Relationships: stepson of Wordron

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: rear marshal.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: raised as a hereditary duke, Barkos was in fact born to Modi-Rha^TM and a fellow soldier in O-Kin's Golden Eagle armed force. When his biological father was mysteriously found dead, Duke Wordron, secretly his mother's half-brother, acknowledged his paternity of the newborn child. Marrying Modi-Rha and having a son, in turn, allowed Wordron to maintain his noble status in O-Kin's high society. After briefly encountering the Therioms during his childhood, Barkos was exiled with his family at Ucamur. In spite of his little talent for the supernatural, he inherited enhanced psychic abilities from his mother, which made him an excellent channel for the great powers of the prodigious helmet that was once more retrieved by his stepfather. Upon wearing the helmet, Barkos was transformed into a ferocious werewolf with incredible strength and the power to leap great distances, but when Wordron sent him to the Forseha settlement to subjugate the rebellious tribe, he faced Yla-Nha and was instantly defeated. When Modi-Rha, in an attempt to free her son's mind from Wordron's thrall, revealed the truth about his parentage, Barkos felt unable to oppress the Forseha clan further and, as a result, defected and helped the tribe members escape the Dark Legion's wicked plot. Following his adoptive father's death, he found it difficult to be recognised as a hero by his enemies despite his brave act. However, having discovered the gleam of hope within himself, he decided to hide the powerful helmet in a secret location, to prevent anybody with evil intentions from gaining possession of it.

Articulation

Both figures have the standard articulation; the enhanced form also features a tail, which is a ball jointed separate piece.

Description

In the comics, Barkos 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: pale white skin, a wide, long stringy black mohawk and blue eyes. To add further boldness to the look, his hairstyle is combined with shaved sides that include some wicked tattoos, which kind of recall claw scratches. He also has a pair of devilish pointy ears, while his eyebrows seem to be missing

Body: the exposed parts of his body (i.e., arms and chest) show pale white skin

Wearables: a short-sleeved dark-green vest with silver edges and armholes (which expand into riveted shoulder pads), a pair of dark-green trousers, two silver bracelets (each with a knuckle protector and a pair of spikes sticking out of the side), two silver boots (each with an ornamented knee guard that resembles a wolf face) and a silver belt (equipped with a buckle bearing the Dark Legion emblem, i.e., a diamond-shaped black gemstone, which, when looking deeply into it, shows a subtle discolouration resembling a demonic face). The vest falls just below the hips, features a stand-up mandarin collar and is open on the chest (although the two sides of the vertical opening on the front are loosely joined with two light-brown leather strings and secured by the belt at the waist), exposing two criss-crossed gold and silver necklaces.

Enhanced form

Head: similarly to other characters in the KR universe, Barkos wears one of the silver magic helmets, which in certain circumstances produces a wolf-like 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 grey-wolf visor activated, fierce bright yellow, glowing eyes and a covering of dark hair around the open mouth (which exposes large sharp whitish fangs). In addition to the standard side crests, the helmet is also adorned with two triangular metal decorations resembling canine ears

Body: he exhibits the bulkier sculpt that has previously been used for Grabtrak and Khon-Uhr, which displays a thick mottled grey to brown fur on the limbs, as well as claw hands and feet (unlike the normal form, this version of Barkos is barefoot). During his transformation, Barkos also grows a long bushy grey to brown tail, which in the figure is connected to the back of the loincloth via a ball joint

Wearables: a silver armour with dark-green details (which features a number of claw scratches on the chest plate), two laminar silver bracelets, two studded silver ankle bracelets, a studded silver belt (with a wolf face-shaped buckle) and a fairly long dark-green furry loincloth.

Barkos' stylised helmet with side crests.

Barkos' stylised armour.

Action feature

To simulate the retractile claws seen in the comics, a pair of large ivory claws can snap into each bracelet of Barkos' enhanced form.

Weapons and accessories

Barkos' normal form includes a dagger with a greenish wooden hilt (whose shape is made to resemble the end part of a long bone) and an S-shaped silver crossguard that develops into two intertwining blades; each silver blade ends with a sharp point, making the weapon recall Thulsa Doom's dagger from the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian. The dagger can have its blade inserted in a light-brown leather sheath attached to a loose fitting belt, which is a separate piece that can be repositioned to one's liking.

The enhanced form comes with a sword that is an augmented version of the above-mentioned dagger. This weapon has a greenish oxidised bronze hilt (whose pommel resembles a wolf skull) and two S-shaped silver crossguards set side by side, which develop into two long parallel blades; each blade, in turn, is composed of four smaller intertwining blades (two made of silver and two made of gold) and ends with an arrangement of four prongs that recall the claws of a wolf paw. The sword can have one of its two blades inserted in a dark-brown leather scabbard attached to the back of a removable harness, whose shoulder straps are ornamented with silver spikes and massive shoulder pads (each equipped with four large bony claws projecting sideways).

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

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ Yes, Barkos lacks that natural evil of his stepfather, but his defiant nature makes him definitely boss

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The long hair of the normal form restricts the neck articulation somewhat. Otherwise, both figures can take very natural poses, allowing for some great display potential

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ This adult version of a character that we had already seen as a kid in the KR|Enmity series turned out really nice - he's one bad ass looking dude! Most of the paint work is quite good, especially on the fur of the enhanced form, which looks terrific

Accessories: ♠♠♠ I really love his augmented sword, with its double blade and ornate hilt. Unlike the smaller dagger, the sword is also a very sturdy piece

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ The KR|Dimness series is more and more proving great fun, and Barkos is just another example of how good PoliganToys can be when they want to... fortunately, they often do!

Overall: ☺☺☺ I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of Barkos, since he doesn't have the cool dragon/skeleton theme of Wordron. But once he was out of the package, I began to appreciate his overall look and design, and it's actually nice to have another animal-looking enhanced warrior in the series.

KR|Dimness Review #5: Yla-Nha

Toy prototype details

Name: Yla-Nha^TM

Subtitle: charming shieldmaiden

Line: KR|Dimness

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

Character details

Name: Yla-Nha

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha (indirectly)

Rank: leading amazon.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: daughter of the Kmutuk^TM tribe’s chieftain, Yla-Nha was a sharp-witted fighter and champion athlete who rose quickly in the strata of her clan. She trained in the art of war under several masters, learning vital close combat techniques, especially with the aid of edged weapons. When young, she was very impulsive, sometimes putting herself in serious danger, but fortunately her excellent skills always saved her. Yla-Nha became a celebrated figure in her tribe, until she was deceived by the treacherous clan's spiritual leader, who, in order to become chief, secretly tricked and manipulated her into murdering her parents. During the territorial disputes in the area near the Ucamur region, the Kmutuk clan fought against the Forseha tribe and Yla-Nha, rejected by her people, asked the rivals for succour. Once she discovered the truth, she sought revenge and assisted the Forseha people in defeating the evil Kmutuk chief, freeing her tribe from his despotism. Yla-Nha’s resourcefulness impressed Dakun, who enlisted her help whenever the Forseha tribe found itself in the middle of turmoil.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Nordic features, white skin, long blond dreadlocks decorated with copper beads, and purple eyes

Body: the exposed parts of her body (i.e., left upper arm, right forearm, right leg and stomach) show white skin. The right arm and the left leg are protected by a pauldron (equipped with an ornamented besagew) and a thigh armour respectively, both metallic purple with copper details

Wearables: a basque-like metallic purple armour with copper details (including a pair of ornamented bra cups and a spaulder curved upward on the left shoulder), a large metallic purple wrist/elbow guard and a copper armband on the left arm, a narrow metallic purple bracelet on the right arm, two brown leather boots (each with metallic purple toecap and chain mail sides, and the top widening sideways), a metallic purple tasset belt (with two horn-shaped copper ornaments hanging down in front) and a short orange skirt. A metallic purple choker fits closely round her neck, while the armour seemingly has a vertical opening on the front side, all the way down, which is fastened with two buckled brown leather straps and a copper button.

Yla-Nha's stylised armour.

Action feature / Weapons and accessories

In the comics, Yla-Nha wields a six-piece set of blades (she is shown to skilfully handle up to four of them at the same time), which come in a variety of shapes (mostly machete-like, with copper blades and the hilts wrapped in brown leather) and sizes, and are thus suited to a wide array of combat situations.

Furthermore, the blades can be assembled to form a single large sword, which in its various states of combination serves as her primary weapon. The concept is very similar to Final Fantasy's Fusion Sword. As detailed in the diagram below, the six-blade assembly consists of:

- One fascine knife (1) with a distinctively large handguard (which the other swords lock onto) and a wide, straight length of blade that tapers to an equally long but thinner length ending in a point. This is the main blade that forms the base of the six-piece sword and is the only one among the six that is double-edged

- One panga machete (2) with a grooved blade that broadens on the backside and has a sharpened upper inclined portion. This weapon is actually hollow, meaning that it's essentially a thick sheet of metal folded in a V-shape when looked from above (the edge of the blade being the bottom point of the "V"), with the lower third of its length wrapping around a double-hilt. This blade locks onto either edge of the main blade, snugly covering most of its length and serving as the front edge of the assembled sword

- Two identical tsakat/saw combos (3 and 4), each with a long saw-toothed, billhook-like blade. These two weapons attach to both sides of the main blade's free edge, with the two pointed curves projecting towards opposite directions, and form the back of the assembled sword

- Two identical double-daggers (5 and 6), each with a cane knife blade accompanied by another short, highly curved blade (like that of a kukri or a kopis) attached near the hilt at an angle. These weapons have a mechanism between the hilts and the blades that allows them to partially fold up like a switchblade. It is in this folded form that the two daggers lock onto the two sides of the assembled sword, with their most angled blades projecting towards opposite directions. These knives fictionally possess some sort of locking mechanism designed to hold the other blades in place and to cover their hilts, and their addition completes the assembled sword's asymmetrical, spiky silhouette.

Yla-Nha's stylised assembled sword; the left half represents the front edge, while the right half represents the back.

The figure comes with all these weapons in both their separate and assembled configurations (seven pieces in total). The blades in their disassembled state can be stored in a number of loops that Yla-Nha carries on her armour: two in a criss-cross pattern on the back (for the fascine knife and the panga machete) and two on the sides of the tasset belt (for the two tsakat/saw combos). Although the fact that there are only four loops seems strange, considering that there are six weapons, it could imply that Yla-Nha would never be in a situation where all six blades need separate carrying. So, it is possible that each tsakat/saw combo and each double-dagger might be fictionally combined in one piece in order to fit into the same slot.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ Yla-Nha looks a lot like a female version of Foundation Masq-Lor, much more barbaric and bad-ass than other formidable amazons we have seen in other series of the KR universe

Articulation: ♥♥ The hair and the skirt are cast in a stiffer plastic than it would be ideal and, as a result, they hinder movement a bit. It’s not the worst I've seen, but it could have been better

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Everything about the looks of Yla-Nha is top notch, from the top of her head all the way to the soles of her boots. I really like the metallic purple and copper-orange details of her outfit. Her skin is a little bit glossy, though in normal light I don’t find it too unacceptable

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The figure comes with a set of really nice weapons. The assembled sword is a beautifully detailed piece of work with a great design, I love it! Too bad, however, they replaced the leather scabbards seen in the comics with simple loops

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I was hotly anticipating this prototype when PoliganToys announced it, but my excitement was reduced a bit by the news of the scabbards removal. I’m glad to say that such a change is not as ruinous to my enjoyment of this figure as I thought it would be

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Yla-Nha looks great alongside the more barbaric characters like Solamya and Dakun, while still fitting in with the rest of the KR line. I’m more than happy to add her to the shelf!

KR|Dimness Review #4: Clavisaur

Toy prototype details

Name: Clavisaur^TM

Subtitle: magical treasurer

Line: KR|Dimness

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

Character details

Name: Clavisaur

Classification: golem

Sex: seemingly male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: spellcaster.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: during the war between the mammalian defensive alliance led by King Tah-Ron^TM and the reptilian grand army commanded by Bi-Harr^TM, the heroic Therioms^TM pressed in against the fiendish Reptonoids^TM, overwhelming the opposing forces. In the darkest moments of the conflict, when all hope seemed lost as many Reptonoids fell, the sorcerer Sphenorat^TM used an unrepeatable rune to protect their ancient mystical tradition, conjuring up the most powerful spirits through the orb of omens hidden deep inside Rokang Tar^TM. The spirits collected the wickedest magical spells, store them in an enchanted coffer and infused life into an evil golem named Clavisaur, who was tasked with guarding the treasure. Although he also acted as a warrior and helped turn the tide of the war driving back many Therioms, Clavisaur was never rewarded by his creator, but was continuously forced to prove his worth. When he was assigned to the mission of recapturing King Khon-Uhr^TM after his escape, Clavisaur was defeated by the brave king in the swamps of Ucamur and, at the last breath of his life, he sent a spirit to warn Sphenorat of the upcoming Theriom's retaliation. The Reptonoids abandoned the magical treasurer in the bog, planning to exhume him when they acquired sufficient knowledge to dominate the powers he held. Centuries later, Clavisaur was unburied by Wordron, who made him rise from the marsh and storm into battle again.

Articulation

Standard, plus a hinged lid and a swivel lock on the head.

Description

Head: the entirety of his head consists of a black-tarnished metal coffer (similar to a treasure chest) with a domed lid and three rust bands of metal over the lid and the body of the chest (the central metal band is topped by a tapering ornament and has a lock secured on at the front). The front of the chest is carved with two devilish sunken eyes that emit a reddish glow, while the sides have two attached hanging (real) chains that are connected to the back of the shoulder guard

Body: mossy dark-grey brick-like limbs with light-grey mortar joints and black-tarnished metal protectors for the elbows and knees

Wearables: a protective covering composed of a red-brownish brick-like cuirass with black mortar joints and a black-tarnished metal shoulder guard, two black-tarnished metal gauntlets, two black-tarnished metal boots, a black-tarnished metal belt and a red-brownish brick-like crotch piece with tassets. Each brick on the armour shows an inscribed symbol, while the cuffs of the gauntlets, the tops of the boots and the belt look like pairs of seemingly rotating discs, also with inscribed symbols. Additionally, there are triangular rust designs below the neck, on the forearms, on the shins and on the crotch. Finally, the front of the armour carries a black-tarnished metal talisman engraved with a complex emblem, i.e., a reptile skull bearing five pointed horns (which kinda look like feathers and of which the four at the sides are curved upward, suggesting that a hand should be placed on the symbol) and an eye-shaped gemstone mounted on the centre of the forehead. I like that the eye stone, the reptile skull and the flame-shaped arrangement of horns/feathers are references to the emblems of the Reptonoid, Rexodon and Spektrosaur faction respectively. This amulet can be removed easily and can be held by Wordron-human form's new hand, snapped into the clip on the back of his belt for storage, or plugged into his skeletal form's chest.

Action feature

In the comics, once the talisman attached to Clavisaur's armour is activated by Wordron's touch, the bricks that compose the covering slide along certain routes to achieve a particular combination, which revives the creature and, at some point, opens the lock of his coffer-head. Except for the possibility to fit Wordron's new hand onto the talisman, as well as to unlock and open the coffer, of course the figure doesn't offer any of those features. However, I do like the fact that when the coffer is open, it kind of resembles a gaping mouth with four large fangs derived from the two outer metal bands. There are also very cool details sculpted and painted on the inside of the chest, which look like mysterious ancient magical tools to me.

Additionally, to mimic the evil supernatural beings that materialise when the coffer is open, the figure comes with three of such spirits (one amber, one blue-green and one purple, all translucent) that plug into three sockets inside the chest.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the plug-in talisman and spirits, Clavisaur comes with a little collection of fantastic accessories. First up is a key-shaped sceptre. And when I say "key", I don't mean the Key that is central to the Key Raiders mythos, it's just a staff-sized conventional ancient key that has a great rust paint work with a metallic sheen.

Furthermore, the two chains can disconnect from Clavisaur's coffer-head, allowing it to be detached, and their ends can be equipped with some additional pieces: either a pair of dart-shaped silver blades, each with another curved, sickle-like blade attached at an angle near the base, or a pair of silver handcuffs. This way, he can use the chains as weapons (similar to the shoge and the rope dart) to pierce armour, grapple and entangle the legs of his opponents, or as shackles to restrain his enemies. This feature is never shown in the comics, but it's a very welcome addition to the figure.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ I don’t have much to say about Clavisaur, except that he breaths some new life into the property, and I love when new characters are added to the KR universe

Articulation: ♥♥♥ All of the plastic is solid and, as a result, the brick skirt cuts out the usefulness of the hip joints and the ankles are a bit tight, making it a little tough to get some stances. But most of the articulation works extremely well, especially the neck

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ He is a very well constructed figure, PoliganToys did a nice job with properly sculpting and painting the edges and lines of the brickwork, making it very realistic. The detail work on the coffer-head is very impressive and downright creepy, yet it makes perfect sense in this series

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ The add-ons are a strong suit for this figure and, while I would have liked an extra stony head, he does have very nice weapons and terrific attachments

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This character speaks to everything that makes the entire line awesome. I love the way he can interact with other figures, and any potential fan of this series would truly enjoy this guy

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Despite the somewhat limited articulation, Clavisaur is still a fantastic KR figure. He embodies everything cool about the series - he’s very well designed, excellently executed, and comes with a set of great accessories.

KR Review #78: Rotakord

After almost two long years (if you don't count the Build-a-Figure plan that gave us a complete Baryanoid-Cart), the regular Key Raiders line (now renamed KR|Foundation) finally has a new vehicle!

This is the first review of a series that will be featured once every quarter of 2019. Since I primarily review action figures, I don’t end up reviewing too many vehicles. But I love vehicles (and playsets!) in toy lines, so I don’t really mind to make more of such write-ups. The only downside is that these items tend to take up a lot of space on my shelves.

When it was announced that the Rotakord^TM was going to be the first vehicle prototype presented in this quarterly sub-series, I was really excited! This machine has always held a fascination for me and I've always wanted it before any other KR transports. Don’t get me wrong, I was stoked when I got all the other vehicle prototypes, also because I knew that they would open the door to more, including this one!

Details

Name: Rotakord

Subtitle: subaerial and subterranean strike vehicle

Classification: aircraft and tunnelling machine

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: transport.

Description

The Rotakord is a transport that is typically used as an air vehicle by Deptilion, but can also function as a tunnel boring machine (as seen in The Cereutian menace) and is equipped with a variety of deadly weapons. It has a mostly metallic purple paint and a somewhat fish-like, elongated shape, slightly flattened laterally and pointed at both ends, with the addition of a pair of nacelles on the sides and a double in-line tailfin on the aft end of the fuselage (the rearmost fin surrounds the pointed tail and can pivot a bit to work as rudder).

Two pairs of wings and one pair of mechanical arms are attached to the nacelles (on the sides and on the foremost parts, respectively); the wings (two main lifting surfaces and two slightly smaller tailplanes) and the arms show an interesting mix of organic and tech-mech embellishments, while the nacelles have metal panels that can be open for "maintenance", revealing nice details of the turbojet engines housed inside. Four nozzles are visible at the ends of the fuselage and of the nacelles, indicating the presence of two additional jet engines buried within the main body.

The fuselage features a mostly non-transparent canopy (with the exception of a translucent yellow windscreen that is shaped like two connected devilish eyes), which is hinged at the back, so it can open by folding up and backward to reveal a cockpit equipped with a 2-point seat belt, a sculpted dash board, four foot-operated levers and two movable handles at the sides; the canopy can also be fully removed if one likes to do so.

Like with other vehicles of this line, in the comics the Rotakord is proportionally bigger and can carry a large number of characters, while this toy version barely fits one figure.

Action feature

Rotakord's four wings and two mechanical arms are swivel-hinged, so they can fold and rotate in a convenient way. Each arm is also hinged at its midpoint and ends with a large chela-like pincer capable of both opening and closing, as well as extending forwards, to seize enemies and take them captive.

Obviously, the main feature of this vehicle is the large maw-like boring/suction mechanism that is located on the front-underside of the main body and is tilted at 45 degrees. A number of steel saw blades are fitted all around the inner circumference of this opening and spin when the vehicle is rolled forward or backward (it does have four wheels under the fuselage and nacelles), producing a threatening clicking and rattling sound. In the comics, using an artificial gravitational field source embedded in the main body, the Rotakord can suck in nearby objects, including excavated rock; once these materials reach its inner plasma core (which in the toy is recreated with a light-pipe feature on the top of the fuselage, making the suction cavity glow), they are disintegrated by the extreme temperatures.

Weapons and accessories

The Rotakord comes with two rotating laser cannons that, by default, are mounted to the sides of the "grinder" opening, but can also be re-positioned in other holes placed here and there along the nacelles. There is also a large gun that is combined with a sort of radar dish into a high-tech apparatus. This weapon can either be connected to a socket placed between the canopy and the front tailfin, working as a revolving armoured turret, or detach to act as a launchable unmanned flight drone. All of these firearms, along with the mechanical pincers, can be outfitted with two included supplementary blast effects.

Additionally, the foremost part of the vehicle's nose can be removed, revealing a hollow into which a kind of chainsaw/jackhammer-like silver projection can be plugged. I suppose this device is meant to cast a hole in the rock before enlarging it with the cutter head.

Finally, we get a clear flight stand that is similar to the one that came with the Aviotak, but is large enough to be a very sturdy base for the heavier Rotakord (and I just discovered that it can also be used with the Serporcraft, which didn't have a stand). It attaches to a hole in the bottom of the vehicle and can be rotated forward and backward with a ratchet feature, allowing for some nice dynamic aerial posing.

Overall, the latest KR vehicle is a smashing success in my opinion. At least from a design standpoint, the Rotakord is a slick toy and looks fantastic on the shelf (if you can fit it in there). I only wish they had added the option of making the blade spin when a trigger was pulled, so it could also have worked when the vehicle was airborne. The good news is that the Rotakord won't end up being the line’s last vehicle. The future of vehicles in this series is bright and you'll see more reviews like this during the next months.

KR|Dimness Review #3: Dakun

Toy prototype details

Name: Dakun^TM

Subtitle: sagacious shaman

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 1 in the line.

Character details

Name: Dakun

Classification: human

Sex: male

Relationships: father of Solamya; descendant of Myneran

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: tribal chief; shaman.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: born in the reclusive jungle tribe of the Forseha terramare settlement, in his youth Dakun was the strongest hunter in his village. Though not gifted as a shaman naturally despite his mystical ancestry, he was fascinated by the supernatural, and committed himself to the practice of the shamanic arts and their effects upon his people, quickly learning to distinguish the good from the evil spirits. To quench a long running epidemic, Dakun quested to the furthest slopes of Mount Atubion, to find an enchanted fungus that could produce a powerful remedy. To succeed in his quest, he fought and defeated several of the Lava Sentinels that guarded the volcano; to honour his great deed, the village made him their leader and soon he proved a fair and honest chieftain, whose devotion knew no equal. During a time of turmoil due to territorial disputes in the area, Dakun rose to prominence among the various tribal chiefs, preaching peaceful respect and cooperation, an ideology in conflict with the then-hostile jungle clans. Eventually, he rescued a child who he recognised as Masq-Lor, the hero prophesied to end the war between the mammalian and reptilian peoples of Tahron, and taught him how to survive in the harsh jungle environment and to protect himself from the wrath of potential enemies. These skills soon turned out to be crucial when the peace of the Forseha tribe was plagued by the vengeful Wordron and his army of Plant Creatures.

Articulation

Standard, except that the wrists are ball jointed.

Description

Head: Indigenous Brazilian features, olive brown skin, long grey hair (which is combed back from a strongly receding hairline with a widow's peak), a bushy grey unibrow (which extends much beyond the eyes and splits at either end), hazel eyes, long, thin grey moustache (ornamented with beads) and a longish, thick grey beard. He sports a band of light-brown raffia fibre tied around the head with three light-blue feathers tucked through the back

Body: the exposed parts of his body show olive brown skin

Wearables: a thigh-length dark-brown tunic with V-shaped light-blue decorative patterns, a dark-brown leather wrist guard fastened around the left forearm using two black leather straps, a dark-brown leather strap wrapped around the wrist and part of the forearm plus a light-brown bark armband on the right arm, and two dark-brown leather boots with wide flat light-brown laces and furry turndown lapels. The sleeveless garment is made of two rectangles of linen that are stitched together from the sides to form a cylinder, leaving two openings near the top for the arms; the cylinder is gathered around the waist with a light-brown raffia fibre belt (equipped with a large bronze buckle bearing the Forseha emblem, i.e., a seven-petalled flower that vaguely recalls a Plumeria, and with a silver-studded dark-brown leather piping to which four light-blue feathers -two at each side of the buckle- are attached by means of bronze rings and hang down in front). The buckle holds a fairly long strip of light-blue fabric that is partially sewn to the lower part of the tunic along its sides. Additionally, he wears a removable cape made from cream-coloured fur that is darkly marked with both large blotchy spots and wide stripes. This coat probably used to belong to an animal similar to Dhar-Wun, although the piece is not flocked; the two sides of its upper portion are joined with a string that is chocked full of all sorts of little pendants, such as spiky bones (or perhaps pointed teeth...), beads, shells and even a small skull.

Action feature

In the comics, Dakun is portrayed as both the wise leader of the Forseha people and, despite his old age, a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. So, PoliganToys gives us the possibility to display the figure in two different configurations: a chief look and a combat look. The former has been described above, while the latter is easily obtained by removing the cape and adding a wooden pauldron that has an attached shoulder belt. The pauldron is beautifully carved with tribal designs, while the shoulder belt is made of various tangled vines, and includes a sheath and a sculpted pouch. I have no idea what would be in the small bag, but the knife is removable and looks like it’s made of stone.

Additionally, Dakun is regarded as having access to the supernatural world in order to practise divination and healing. To mimic his ability to heal small wounds and injuries with his hands, there is a pair of translucent swappable hands, which are in a kind of spell-casting pose and glow in the dark.

Weapons and accessories

Other than his removable cape and pauldron and his healing hands, Dakun includes a double-bitted axe, which is composed of two deer antlers tied with a length of brown rope to the top of a long wooden haft. A metallic light-blue blade is mounted onto each antler and I like that the two blades have similar shapes but slightly different sizes. With this weapon, Dakun definitely looks like he could do some serious damage to his opponents.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Dakun is one of the more interesting characters created for the Dimness series; he’s also a leader and mentor for Masq-Lor, and if he hadn’t been produced, there would have been a glaring empty space on my shelf

Articulation: ♥♥♥ He is a little hampered by his outfit, but otherwise movement is quite sufficient. After all, we can't expect too much from an elderly guy...

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣ Well, like his daughter, he wears a little bit too much brown. On the other hand, he's got a lot more facial detail than most KR figures, mainly because of his wrinkles and beard

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The guys at PoliganToys could have made use of a flocked ormurid robe, since that exists as of this line. Also, since his staff is rather stiff, he has difficulty holding it well and care needs to be taken not to bend or break it while forcing it into his hands

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ After a year of military/tech-themed figures, we finally have characters who return to KR’s fantasy roots! Dakun is one of them and, in fact, he could work as a generic barbarian/sword-and-sorcery figure in any toy lines

Overall: ☺☺☺ This figure might seem to be a poor offering compared to last month's multi-pack feast, but I had high hopes for Dakun and he even turned out better than I had expected. Which is a really good thing.

KR|Dimness Review #2: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor

Toy prototype details

Name: Wordron (Dimness Edition) & Sondakor^TM

Subtitle: fiendish duke's true identity and beastly steed

Line: KR|Dimness (although Sondakor belongs to the KR|Enmity line)

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

Wordron

Character details

Name: Wordron

Real name: Silef^TM

Classification: reincarnation of a reptile of uncertain group

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: grand marshal; archaeologist.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: once the powerful leader of an ancient reptilian kinship group, Silef perished while fighting a rival mammalian clan in the age before King Tah-Ron^TM. To ensure a glorious future for the reptilian people and the annihilation of their enemies, a mysterious saurian wizard attempted to resurrect Silef with magic, but instead channelled the essence of the deceased chieftain into himself, increasing his abilities ten-fold. Yet, even his new powers could not prevent the transformed wizard from being controlled by the former headman's psyche. Centuries later, the wizard acted on his desire to remove the spirit of Silef from his body, passing on his life force into a wounded mercenary called Nemhisto^TM, giving all of his wickedness to the young soldier of fortune. When after a few years Nemhisto and a noblewoman of O-Kin had an affair, the spirit was transferred to their illegitimate child, Wordron, who eventually gained control of the demon inside him and exploited it to lead his ruthless Dark Legion until his exile at Ucamur^TM.

Articulation

Standard, plus a hinged lower jaw, two swivelling horns, two pairs of ball hinged "wing-bones" and a tail that features two swivels at about one-third and two-thirds of its length.

Description

Head: similar to a Spinosaurus skull, but with a more dragon-ish look, characterised by a long and narrow snout, a creamy-white ivory colour, a large cranial crest, a pair of long curved, pointy horns (whose colour fades from grey-brown to creamy-white), large eye sockets with small amber eyeballs (each with a vertical black pupil) and large sharp steel-coated teeth along the edges of the jaws. Interestingly, the inside of the mouth is painted in a pinkish colour

Body: anthropomorphic creamy-white ivory skeleton (whose shoulder, elbow and knee joints slightly -and strangely- resemble human skulls), hands and feet with large steel-coated claws. On the back, a comb of extended neural spines and two additional pairs of large bony limbs (probably meant to support wings) project from his backbone. Also, a long, bony tail extends from the bottom of his spine and stretches downwards, ending with a zigzagged steel-coated point (which, like with Lor-Drek, personally reminds me of Pikachu)

Wearables: two narrow spiked bronze bracelets, two brown furry calf protectors with turndown tops (which show a paler shade of brown on the inside) and a bronze belt that 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) and holds a short strip of silver chain mail hanging down in front. The breastbone running down the centre of the chest, to which the ribs are attached, sports a large bony brooch, which bears a complex heraldic design (a dragon skull with two pointed bones crossed behind it on a web-like background) and holds what looks like a brown fur tail hanging down in front. However, this additional decorative detail, which is never shown in the comics, can be detached (exposing a socket) and is meant to be replaced with a much more meaningful piece that will be included with another prototype.

Action feature

In the comics, Wordron has the ability to shoot a hail of sharp steel-coated claws at his enemies as well as to form back together after getting blown up into a pile of bones. The figure is characterised by the new articulation scheme, in which every point of articulation is a ball&socket joint that allows for part swapping. This not only sort of works like having an appropriate action feature, but also makes it possible to remove the bracelets, shin guards and belt for recreating a more comic book accurate bare-bones look. Still, I wish there were a trigger to make his body burst apart, with the bones flying around.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his removable items of "clothing", Wordron comes with an interesting sceptre, which is composed of an arrangement of two pointed creamy-white bones crossed around the base of a silver blade and tied with a length of brown rope to the top of a long wooden staff. While the crossbones recall the shape of his bony wings, the blade and the staff are the remainders of Duke Wordron's dagger and spade from his days in O-Kin.

Additionally, the figure includes a head, a piece of armour, a hand and an arm that can be used to update the Enmity version of Wordron's normal form and make it more similar to his human(ish) appearance in the Dimness series. The head is almost identical to the regular one, except that it looks a bit older (e.g., all the three mohawks are whitish with greyish roots and the right eyebrow is greyish), lacks the ponytail and wears a more traditional eye patch instead of the monocle-like covering over his left eye (the black patch has a silvery rim and is attached around the head by a black string).

The attire is a combo piece comprising a bronze chest armour with silver details (which kinda resemble a ribcage), two brown leather shoulder pads ornamented with silver skulls, a high standing collar (which is split into two parts and looks like a pair of dragon wings), a cowl edged with bone-looking silver details and a 3-part cape (whose bottom is jagged and tattered). The collar, cowl and central part of his cape seem to be made of a brown fabric and are all one piece with the chest armour, while the shoulder pads are moulded with the side pieces of the cape and are separate parts that are attached via a rubber “hinge” to the shoulder armour, so they retain a little movement in the shoulders. The whole assemblage is pretty heavy, but balance has not been much of an issue for me so far.

The new grasping left hand is meant to hold the above-mentioned piece that will come with another figure. I don’t mind the overly detailed sculpt of this hand, but it looks a little odd with nothing to hold. So, this is another opportunity where the line benefits of swappable hands.

Finally, the alternate right arm can be attached to Duke Wordron's figure by popping the regular arm off at the elbow. This new limb features the skeletal head of Wordron's draconic form emerging forcibly from the forearm of his human host. The head corresponds exactly to the full-body form's head and has identical hinged lower jaw and swivelling horns, as well as one point of articulation that makes it turn around on a swivel.

Sondakor

Character details

Name: Sondakor

Classification: xenarthran mammal

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 20 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: steed.

Articulation

Sondakor's articulation features a ball jointed head, swivel shoulders/hips, swivel-hinged elbows/knees, swivel-hinged wrists/ankles and a tail on a swivel. It isn’t great, but it’s adequate enough to achieve a few nice poses.

Description

Sondakor resembles a Megatherium (i.e., a giant ground sloth) with a shaggy grey-brown fur and five large curved claws on each foot. However, similarly to a nodosaurid (e.g., Edmontonia), she is also adorned with rows of ridged ivory-coloured bony deposits on her head and back, as well as several sharp spines along her back and tail. Additionally, she possesses a large mace-like spiked tail like that of a glyptodont (e.g., Doedicurus).

Sondakor's head armour presents a large flat ossification on the skull roof, while her tank-like body is covered with bony plates and bordered by spikes on both sides. The four largest projections jut out from over the shoulders on each side: one spine pointing obliquely towards the front, a very large forward-pointing spike that is bifurcated, another large spike behind it pointing more sideways and a smaller fourth one that is directed obliquely to behind. The row of side spikes is continued to the rear, but there the spines are smaller and curving strongly to behind.

Action feature / Weapons and accessories

This heavily armoured giant is further covered in a large tortoise-like metallic shell of individual steel plates that can open up to reveal an armament of guns (including two large central cannons) and ambush unsuspecting foes. Such body shield is removable (it straps across her belly) and is topped by a sort of howdah, i.e., a seat for riding on the back of this deadly beast, which can accommodate a figure and is equipped with two additional removable guns: a Gatling-type cannon and a laser blaster with sight.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ The first figure in this set is a rather obscure version of Wordron that only makes its full appearance in the last KR|Dimness story. The thing that I don't like about this inclusion is that, damn it, I want multiples of this figure, but since it will probably come at a high price point, that makes army building pretty much impossible. Sondakor is not a figure I needed to complete the Enmity line, but she came out really nice, and I know plenty of fans would want this creature to carry Duke Wordron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Wordron's articulation is consistent with the rest of the reptilian guys of his kind, such as Lor-Drek and Reptile Masq-Lor. The joints are tight, with very thick, high quality pins. On the other hand, I have to say, Sondakor’s articulation is not great. Most of her joints don’t feel like they have all the movement they should, but, still, without the armour she can take the poses that matter, including various ways of mauling her foes

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ I can’t really think of any major complaints about Wordron's sculpt... well, those teeth and claws could have been slightly sharper. He’s an intimidating monster, though, especially thanks to some very well done paint work that creates a realistic skeletal appearance. Sondakor? Oh, she's huge! But in the the comics she is even more ridiculously large, so this isn’t exactly accurate to the comic book design, but I’m glad they changed that up a bit to fit in more with the KR style

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Wordron's terrific new staff fits great in his hands and looks extremely threatening. The extra arm piece to update the regular figure has a very creative, imaginative nature and adds a ton to the value of this prototype, but I really miss the cloak thing that in the comics hangs loosely from the right shoulder to cover his deformed arm. Sondakor's armour feels a bit awkward at first, too far down her back; it also slides and tips easily, and might toss her rider. If a figure has a non-removable robe or cape, he or she will have trouble riding, though a lot of KR toys are just fine

Playability: ♪♪♪ The tradition of including in one 2-pack a figure and a large scale item that don't fit each other continues. However, pretty much everything about Wordron is enjoyable, while Sondakor is a big, mean beast, but she really does need her master from the Enmity series

Overall: ☺☺☺ I found myself liking this multi-pack more than I had expected.

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

KR|Dimness Review #1: Solamya & Dhar-Wun

Happy new year!! We start 2019 with a brand new line in the world of Key Raiders!

The upcoming reviews will be about recently developed prototypes that belong to the latest Key Raiders wave. Like Origin and Enmity, this is a prequel series, which will be titled Key Raiders: Dimness (stylised as KR|Dimness) and concern a universe characterised by a barbarian vibe, recounting events happening 5 years before the adventures of the KR|Foundation series:

à			Timeline (intervals in years)			à
		500		15		5
	Origin		Enmity		Dimness		Foundation

So, let's start with the first prototype review of this new series!

Toy prototype details

Name: Solamya^TM & Dhar-Wun^TM

Subtitle: prophetic guide with her catlike companion

Line: KR|Dimness

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

Solamya

Character details

Name: Solamya

Classification: human

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha^TM

Rank: prophetess.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: a wise and dauntless inhabitant of the Forseha terramare settlement near the Ucamur^TM region, Solamya was the daughter of the tribal chief Dakun^TM and held the blood of the great ancient warrior Myneran^TM in her veins. Her father himself had been a valiant hero entrusted with keeping their tribe safe from villains who learnt of their valuable legacy. Solamya's link to the powers of the ancient champion gave her a number of supernatural abilities and made her particularly hard to subdue when the evil Wordron set his sights on exploiting powerful warriors after his exile to Ucamur. With the help of her father and the other tribespeople, Solamya defended her clan and helped defeat the wicked rival.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Indigenous Brazilian features, olive brown skin, bald scalp (except for a tuft of brown hair gathered by a red band on the top of her head), brown eyebrows (which extend much beyond the eyes), hazel eyes. She has two sickle-shaped, glow-in-the-dark blemishes located under the eyes and wears a pair of long beaded dangle earrings

Body: the exposed parts of her body show olive brown skin

Wearables: a body-length garment made from dark-brown linen with ring-shaped red decorative patterns, a large dark-brown leather wrist guard (ornamented with a red gemstone and two silver bands) on the left arm, a narrow dark-brown leather bracelet and a light-brown bark armband on the right arm, and two dark-brown leather boots with wide flat light-brown laces and furry turndown lapels. The garment is a long, tubular cloth open on the left side of the body, with the top edge folded down about halfway (so that the top of the tube is draped below the waist), while the bottom edge is at the ankle; the tube is gathered around the waist with a light-brown raffia fibre belt (equipped with a large bronze buckle bearing the Forseha emblem, i.e., a seven-petalled flower that vaguely recalls a Plumeria, and two lamellar red leather tassets) and the folded top edge is fastened over the left shoulder by a silver fibula (while the right shoulder is left uncovered). I like that the folded-down top of the tube provides the appearance of a second piece of clothing and even shows a different texture. The garment is sewn together along the left side, from the armpit to the thigh, while there is a slit on the right side of the skirt.

Action feature

In the comics, Solamya is shown to possess a range of supernatural faculties, such as precognitive and telekinetic powers, as well as the ability to communicate telepathically with animals for controlling their behaviour. Whenever she uses any of these powers, the marks situated on her cheekbones glow; so, the only action feature for Solamya is her GITD facial markings. What I can't tell is if this is meant to represent some sort of bio-luminescent marking, or some traditional makeup or tattoo.

Weapons and accessories

Solamya only comes with a kind of sceptre made of a knobbly reddish-brown wooden staff that ends in a loop and has a number of greenish vines twining around its length.

Dhar-Wun

Character details

Name: Dhar-Wun

Classification: ormurid* mammal

Sex: female

Relationship: mother of Ki-Wun^TM

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: steed.

*Ormurids^TM are fictional carnivorans.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #1 - Into dimness: Part I – Awakening

Brief bio: before Ki-Wun loyally carried Masq-Lor^TM into combat, the Forseha tribe members rode into battle on top of their mighty ormurid mounts, an ancient lineage of formidable carnivorans, during the conflict against the invasion forces of the Dark Legion. Saved as a cub by a young Dakun from a rival clan of savage hunters, one of these indomitable beasts, Dhar-Wun, grew up with her master's daughter Solamya, faithfully protecting their tribe during Wordron's exile from O-Kin. Her offspring included Ki-Wun, who eventually became Masq-Lor's heroic steed.

Overall description

The sculpt is mostly re-used from Ki-Wun, except for a unique head, as well as new front paws and tail. Like her "cub", this seemingly ferocious beast resembles a large cougar, but has a new amazingly realistic cream-coloured flocked fur darkly marked with both large blotchy spots and wide stripes. Apart from the two paws with more extended claws and the tail with a hairy tuft at its end, her head is the only newly sculpted piece on the figure. Even though it shares almost all of her details (such as the round shape and the yellow eyes) with her whelp's head, her ears, whiskers, canine teeth and fur on the sides extend out further than Ki-Wun’s do. The most obvious difference, however, is the pair of large pointed, curved and spiralling dark-brown horns projecting from her forehead, a typical female feature that definitively makes her distinguishable from her single horned offspring.

Dhar-Wun's articulation benefits from Ki-Wun’s body with joints all over the place: hinged jaw, ball jointed upper neck, hinged lower neck, swivel-hinged shoulders, hips, elbows, paws and tail, hinged knees and hocks, and a final ball jointed abdomen. Surprisingly, most of the joints don't disrupt the sculpt as much as it might sound like they do.

In the comics, Dhar-Wun is occasionally shown to stand on her hind legs, in order to fight with her front claws; the nice and tight articulation allows for displaying the figure in such a pose with no problem. And I like that they added the new front paws for a great mauling action!

This mighty creature comes with no accessory (but she can wear the removable saddle and claws that came with Ki-Wun) and can fit most KR figures on her back (not Solamya though).

Comic

Together with the multi-pack we get the first comic issue Into dimness: Part I – Awakening. Fifteen years after the beginning of their exile to the region of Ucamur, Wordron, Modi-Rha and Barkos excavate a swampy site in search of the magical helmet that was once in their possession. Instead, they discover a number of lethal seeds, formerly belonging to the Reptonoid warrior Rabidriss^TM, and the ancient mystical being Clavisaur^TM. Wordron plots to use those resources to retrieve the lost helmet. To obtain the life force that is required to revive Clavisaur, Wordron attacks the nearby Forseha settlement with his new army of demonic parasites, and several tribespeople are put into an unconscious state. Solamya, whose father Dakun is among the victims, tells her fellows that they must find an enchanted fungus, which grows on the slopes of Mount Atubion^TM and can produce a powerful antidote. After the heroes have reached the volcano and found the fungus with much difficulty, Solamya fashions its decoction into an ointment that will neutralise the parasites' poison and make the wicked creatures life-giving. The Dark Legion attacks the settlement again, hoping to extract more life force from the tribespeople, but the heroes rub the ointment on their weapons and counterattack the evil army, reversing the effect of their stings. This time, Wordron's minions bring everyone back to life. After finally retrieving the helmet, Wordron gives Barkos the prodigious relic and sends him to stop the tribe's retaliation, but the shield-maiden Yla-Nha^TM defeats him and forces the Dark Legion to retreat.

Overall, all the ingredients for a good story are here, but they hardly seem to get together. Barkos himself is entirely pointless - all he does is walk to the tribe's settlement and then get beaten by a girl. The quest to gather the enchanted fungus begins and finishes too quickly, and Wordron spends too much time senselessly attacking people instead of actually looking for the helmet. Finally, the way the antidote is used to counteract the Plant-Men's poison is just too complex. The premise of the series is good, but I think I’ll rank this episode towards the lower end of the scale.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Solamya is a very important character in the KR|Dimness series, being the heir to the leadership of the Forseha tribe, the source of Masq-Lor's boldness. Dhar-Wun is also the mother of Masq-Lor's steed Ki-Wun and is considered one of the most powerful animals on Tahron

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ You can get plenty of poses from both figures, even if they're not meant for interacting with each other. They still have great base bodies that work very well for the female human and ormurid KR figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ All the sculpting work is great here; there is very good detail work on Solamya's outfit, and Dhar-Wun's head sculpt, besides its flocking, is one of the many high points of this multi-pack. The paint on Solamya is mainly limited to highlights or shadowing - there appears to be dark washes over the brown cloth parts and dry brushing on the red details that adorn the dress and the belt

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ We get a small accessory with Solamya, which is her staff. It looks excellent, but is made from a very soft plastic, so it comes out of the packaging a little warped. Dhar-Wun could almost be considered an accessory and is also very cool, helping round out Solamya pretty well

Playability: ♪♪♪ Apart from the fact that Solamya can't actually ride Dhar-Wun due to her skirt, there are hardly any problems I can think of with this set

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I really don’t have too many issues with this multi-pack: Solamya looks great and can be posed well, even if her "pet", which also looks awesome, isn't appropriate. Being two important characters in the Dimness series, they will fit perfectly in the collection.