KR|Dimness Review #21: Kratok

Toy prototype details

Name: Kratok^TM

Subtitle: brutal gladiator

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 17 in the line.

Character details

Name: Kratok

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: lieutenant colonel.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, 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 while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including a malformed and disfigured man named Kratok, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Like his loyal friend Terebror, Kratok was tricked by Wordron into entering his laboratory, where he was transformed and grafted with a vicious weapon and a pair of cybernetic legs, allowing him to leap long distances and with great force. Towering over most of his opponents, Kratok reached new incredible heights when he was confronted by the Forseha warriors, and fought as a nearly unstoppable gladiator of immeasurable power.

Articulation

Standard, except that the left wrist is ball jointed, the knees are swivel-hinged, the ankles are only hinged and there's an additional double hinged point of articulation at the midtarsal joint of each foot.

Description

Head: Kratok sports an off-white (i.e., a white colour with a grey tinge that resembles tarnished silver) helmet with gold details, including a pair of long, curved horns emerging from the sides and a series of five spikes running centrally from the middle of the forehead to the back of the helmet. His face is concealed under a demonic bronze mask, which reminds me of a traditional Japanese mask, with completely black eye holes and a sculpted beard. While the helmet shows some cyber details here and there, the mask looks like it can be detached - I initially thought that was just an illusion created by the great sculpt, but it is actually removable... unfortunately there's no face underneath, just a socket

Body: the exposed parts of his body (i.e., arms and abdomen) show white skin. The left forearm has a mechanical golden bracer with a few black wires extending to the upper arm

Wearables: a laminar golden armour with off-white details and bolts around the edges, a bronze armband and a laminar golden gauntlet with a spiked cuff on the right arm, a spiked golden belt with two little side-compartments, and a pair of knee-long pearl white pants. Apart from two off-white spikes protruding from each spaulder and two criss-crossed black leather strings that join the two sides of the vertical opening on the front, the armour bears, like the helmet, a few sparse cyber details as well as three black tubes that run from the right side of the lower back to the left shoulder. Despite Kratok mainly relies on the viciousness of his bionic body parts, he is also briefly shown to use a melee weapon (more on this later) and two bronze daggers, which are two included separate pieces that are stowed in two small lamellar black leather scabbards integrated with his pants.

Kratok's stylised helmet with full-face mask.

Kratok's stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Kratok is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, highly trained in armed and unarmed combat. He has a pair of blade-like cybernetic lower legs, which provide him with superhuman strength and agility, a bionic left forearm that holds a high-tech swivelling crossbow-cannon, and, judging by their ability to glow occasionally, bionic eyes.

His below-knee bionic legs display a huge amount of tech-mech details and are connected to the upper legs via two steel sockets, to the back of which two golden "blades" are attached; these prostheses are really cool, because they resemble large mechanical theropod lower legs with nasty steel cleats on the soles of the feet. Moreover, each socket is connected to the top of the corresponding foot via two ball joints by a steel damper with a black coil spring encircling it. Although unfortunately there's no spring action in the figure, in the comics these spring-loaded attack legs allow Kratok to leap great distances and to strike with powerful kicks.

Additionally, Kratok's left arm is equipped with an ivory bolt that can be fictionally shot from his golden crossbow-cannon. This piece has a head in the form of a carved demon's face that is very similar to Kratok's mask, and can attach to and detach from the weapon, but there is no spring-loaded mechanism for shooting action.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the crossbow-cannon bolt and the two daggers, Kratok comes with a few extra pieces and first up is his above-mentioned melee weapon - a double-bitted off-white battle axe with one of the two blades connected by a chain to a spiked golden wrecking ball. Even if it's a bit over exaggerated, I really like this weapon: it's nice and solid, fits well in the figure's hand and even has a beautiful coat of arms design, featuring a cross and dragons, engraved on the unchained blade.

Additionally, the figure includes a gauntleted left hand that can replace the entire crossbow-cannon, so we can make a two-handed version of the character, even if this never appears in the comic book. The two hands are especially practical for grasping the two daggers housed in the thighs.

Finally, there are two alternate face masks, which are identical to the standard one except for some paint differences: one has bright glow-in-the-dark eyes, while the other has reptile-like blueish eyes with vertical orange pupils and a red mouth. I get the necessity of the former, but I have no idea where the latter comes from... perhaps it acts as a sort of painted Daruma doll.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the third and final comic issue Into dimness: Part II – Escape. Wordron recruits Mohrdax, the wicked chief monk of a nearby monastery, in a grand scheme to make the Forseha people undo themselves. The tribe learns that Wordron has enslaved the cloisterers of the monastery and decides to confront the villain, but the dispute reaches a deadlock. Frustrated, Masq-Lor shoots an arrow to distract Wordron, but the dart hits a disguised Mohrdax, who protects himself with a force-field. Masq-Lor is devastated when he sees the seemingly lifeless body lying on the ground. Convinced he has killed a man, he walks away consoled by his friends. In exchange for Mohrdax's collaboration, Wordron uses his knowledge to build an army for the evil monk. At the same time, he also discovers a new power of the Plant Creatures', which he wishes to test, and sends out his minions to capture some members of the Forseha tribe. A beautiful woman introduces herself as the inhabitant of a village that has been overrun by hideous creatures and asks for the tribesmen's help to liberate her people. The heroes are initially suspicious of her story, but, blinded by the woman's beauty, they decide to follow her anyway, ending up being met and overpowered by the Dark Legion soon after. It turns out the woman was in fact Modi-Rha in disguise, sent to lure the Forseha people into Wordron's trap. Alerted by Xehrea, the other heroes, including Masq-Lor, rush to help their fellows and, while Wordron is actually waiting for them, they burst into the villain's fortress, making the struggle between them and the members of the Dark Legion begin. Wordron gets the upper hand and when he's just about to use the Plant Creatures for torturing his victims, Masq-Lor offers himself as a replacement for his friends. Immediately, the boy is turned into a monster and Wordron orders him to kill his former companions, but in the very last moment Masq-Lor is freed from the curse by his own will and by Xehrea's encouraging words. The hero rushes back to Wordron and turns the tides of the battle single-handedly by killing the demon, while the other tribesmen free the remaining prisoners and defeat the Dark Legion once and for all.

Overall, if you look at the story from the logical point of view, the question will be: why doesn't Wordron capture his enemies in the first meeting? The answer is that he's planning to overcome Masq-Lor with grief, in order to eventually use the boy's potential for his evil plans. The story gives the new characters plenty of exposure and the advancement of plot details, such as Masq-Lor questioning his worthiness to fight and the definitive vanquishment of Wordron and his Dark Legion, makes it be worthy of a great series finale.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ While Kratok may not be the most interesting character for many, he sure does add presence to the line-up among the more familiar characters

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Since he’s not overly armoured, he doesn’t have much to hinder his articulation in the upper body, so he moves quite well. However, I find that due to their peculiar design, his legs are less articulated than I’d like

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ Kratok looks appropriately vicious with his face mask and bionic parts. The colours of the figure look good to me, although they aren’t 100% comic book-accurate

Accessories: ♠♠♠ All the extra items are neat additions and their inclusion adds enormously to the overall package. I do notice and appreciate the metallic shine given off from some of the paint

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ I have a lot of fun with this figure, he looks super cool posed with the rest of the KR|Dimness guys, because he has such a unique look and colour scheme. The attachments are also great fun to swap out and pose

Overall: ☺☺☺ While Kratok may not be a figure that will stand out for many potential KR fans, I’m glad to have him on my shelf.

KR|Dimness Review #20: Xehrea

Toy prototype details

Name: Xehrea^TM

Subtitle: beautiful water nymph

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 16 in the line.

Character details

Name: Xehrea

Classification: sirenian mammal (but she looks mostly human)

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: tribe observer.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: the member of a group of shapeshifting water creatures from Ucamur^TM, who were eventually expelled by occupying forces and made their home in the Forseha settlement, Xehrea grew up enjoying both scampering on dry land and swimming in the flowing waters of the river Atogg^TM. Thanks to mystical items that she received from her father, she gained the powers to control water and to summon all creatures of the river, especially her faithful giant otters. Although Xehrea belonged to a peaceful ethnic group, when Wordron's evil menace arose, this young water nymph fought bravely against the wicked foes to protect her friends.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Native Hawaiian features, light-brown skin, long curly dark-brown hair (adorned with a fairly large iridescent light-green snail shell at the left side, while two locks, draped over her right shoulder, are embellished with shell beads) and blue eyes

Body: slightly shorter than the adult characters (only 14 cm, around 5.5"), light-brown skin, webbed hands. She wears two light-green pondweed armbands and a fish-shaped silver navel piercing jewel

Wearables: a shell bra with iridescent light-blue valve-cups and criss-crossed light-green pondweed straps, a shell necklace with a hydra-shaped silver pendant, two scaly light-blue bracelets, two scaly light-blue boots, a scaly light-blue belt with a crayfish-shaped silver buckle, and a thigh-length light-green pondweed skirt. The bracers and boots sport flipper-like fins at the sides, and, like with the belt, their fish scale effect is enhanced and brought out by an added glitter effect.

Action feature

In the comics, Xehrea shows a number of capabilities. First, she can control and manipulate the movement of liquid water using the power of her magical hydra amulet, with the possibility of generating powerful waves from nearby bodies of water.

Additionally, to engage in battle both on land and in water, she has the ability to transform her lower body into a sort of mermaid tail by mystically growing the leaves of her pondweed skirt, which wrap the legs completely and form two large flukes at the end; in this conformation, Xehrea gains super-fast swimming and underwater adaption skills. So, the figure comes with an alternate lower section that replaces the legs and attaches to the upper body by a peg at the waist. I'd say that this mermaid tail (which includes a slightly different version of the standard belt) is something of a masterpiece, with amazing leafy texture, light-green (and dark-green wash) paint deco, added glitter for "wet" effect, and articulation in three parts (hinged crotch, swivel-hinged "knees" and swivel-hinged tail fin). Yes, the skirt is also shown to transform into a pair of trousers at some point in the comics, but I'm totally OK with not getting an additional set of legs.

Finally, PoliganToys has included a horn-shaped multicoloured snail shell, which Xehrea fictionally uses to produce underwater sound waves for control of all aquatic life and occasionally for echolocation. Unfortunately, the figure's hair prevents Xehrea from stowing this accessory in her bra band like she does in the comics.

Weapons and accessories

Aside from the alternate tail piece and shell horn, Xehrea comes with a greenish oxidised bronze staff that has a trishula-like trident at one end and a swordbreaker blade at the other end. This weapon looks great with her, and the little blue gem at the base of the central prong is a nice detail.

Also, included with the figure is a water-looking, articulated posing stand with a sort of clamp for her tail, which allows Xehrea to be displayed in her mermaid form. It works decently, not perfectly, but it's a cool water effect and helps her strike a few different swimming poses.

If I had a vote for what else to give her, I would add one of her river otter friends, but to be honest, she is probably pushing the budget as it is. Update: the otter will be included with Pike! This little (well, actually not that little) figure has minimal articulation (neck and tail only), but it’s got a great expressive face. The fur is chocolate brown, the legs are short and stubby, and end in powerful, large webbed feet tipped with sharp claws, while the tail is long and muscular. Additionally, its trunk has a number of scale-covered, fawn bony protective bands that are seemingly connected via flexible skin. It’s not a great figure, but it makes for fun background detail in scenes and looks fabulous on the shelf with Xehrea.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I think Xehrea is a great addition to the line-up. If I just wanted a mermaid character, this maybe isn’t what I would expect, but since I'm collecting KR prototypes, she’s really going to spice up the shelf as part of the collection

Articulation: ♥♥♥ Although her tail is not the most flexible item, she’s surprisingly manoeuvrable and her hair doesn’t cause any problems

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ A lot of work went into the tail, which is the most detailed part of the figure

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The staff is wonderful, while the posing stand is not the best, but it suffices. Update: While I would like a fully articulated otter at some point, the one that will accompany Pike completes what I wanted with Xehrea for my purposes

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Thanks to a mermaid tail and legs that are interchangeable, her design is unique and doesn't compare with anything that came in this series before

Overall: ☺☺☺ Xehrea is just good enough to live up to expectations, though she doesn't necessarily exceed them. She’s not a standout figure like Yla-Nha or Viluptra, but maybe I’ve been spoilt by those prototypes. However, Xehrea is painted much better than Modi-Rha and came out one step ahead in comparison.

KR|Dimness Review #19: Zorib

Toy prototype details

Name: Zorib^TM

Subtitle: ferocious warrior beast

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 15 in the line.

Character details

Name: Zorib

Classification: rodent mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: using the magic of the ancient spirits enshrined in Clavisaur's body, the evil Wordron transformed some of the most savage animals of the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region into his own beastly servants. Grown to a human-like size and endowed with enhanced strength, these monsters fought under the Dark Legion banner as mercenaries. Zorib was a severely injured small spiny rodent when he was magically mutated into a beastlike zombie. Often capable of swinging the advantage to his side, Zorib served Wordron and fought against the Forseha tribe with his vicious hair-mace until the Dark Legion's ultimate defeat, when he died miserably on the battlefield.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: zombie-ish rodent-like, characterised by purplish skin, heavy black brows, green eyes with soulless black pupils (the left eye is narrowed, while the right one is wide open, slightly bulging and with a bloodshot tint to it), a pug-like broad flat nose, and an asymmetrically open mouth with many crooked yellow-orange teeth (including a pair of powerful razor-sharp incisors) jutting out and looking like they're covered in plaque and blood. He also has long projecting spiny blueish bristles growing from his cheeks. Finally, a thick mane of cylindrical spines (which are marked with black and pale yellow bands, and resemble gnarly dreadlocks) hangs down along his neck and back; a part of the mane is arranged into a long, roughly braided ponytail, which is wrapped in engraved pale yellow bony cuffs at its base, middle and end, and is connected to a spiked golden-yellow wrecking ball by a short metal chain

Body: purplish skin (Zorib’s body was moulded in a purple colour and then was tinted with blue and black in various areas to give his skin more depth), claw hands and feet with long black nails on the fingers and toes (which are nicely sculpted with lines and chips in them). His torso is sculpted with the neck and shoulders hunched forward, which gives him a great menacing beastly look, while his biceps, forearms and calves are adorned with several blueish spines. The left side of his abdomen actually shows teeth marks and a half gnawed-off flank, suggesting that he was caught by the jaws of a large predator. He also displays a long segmented, bifurcated purplish tail emerging from under the loincloth, whose ends are covered in long thin blueish spines

Wearables: a brown leather armour with golden-yellow collar and shoulder guards as well as pale yellow bony details (including rivets, diamond-shaped studs and a rodent skull-shaped brooch), a narrow spiked bronze bracelet on the right arm, a large brown leather wrist guard on the left arm, a brown leather garter (ornamented with bronze studs) around the right thigh, two brown leather shin guards, a brown leather belt, and a tribal-looking loincloth made of black fur, grey leather and a bunch of dangling pale yellow bony items such as jawbones, claws and horns. The wrist guard, the shin guards and the belt are all embellished with bronze details such as studs and rodent skull-shaped ornaments.

Zorib's stylised armour; the circle at the side of the chest piece represents a skull-shaped brooch.

Action feature

In the comics, Zorib shows several abilities, such as using his prehensile tails (which are capable of regeneration if a part is broken off), shooting his venomous quills from various parts of his body to a considerable distance at an enemy, and whipping around with his hair-flail to hit or entangle his opponents and even stun them by a static shock. Of course, most of those abilities couldn't be recreated in the toy, but at least the figure makes a rapid succession of short, sharp knocking sounds (similarly to a rattlesnake) when shaken, which is something that Zorib does with his tails when he's preparing to shoot his spines.

Additionally, the ponytail portion of his "hair" is cast in a very flexible and soft plastic, so it can have some leeway for posing options, and can actually be split in the middle, while the chained sphere at the end is removable. So, it's actually possible to adjust the length of the ponytail for long or short alternatives and have the mace piece attached to either look. I know that using rooted hair for the ponytail was considered as a possibility during design - although rooted hair is also a nice effect and makes for a fun gimmick, I think the current solution is a great piece of engineering that allows for different display options.

Weapons and accessories

Zorib only comes with one accessory, which is his melee weapon - a golden-yellow staff with a toothed mace end that is formed of two large pale yellow jawbones. The other end of the staff is also a weapon with a bladed edge. By default, the club is displayed with the halves of the toothed section pointing up and the fangs projecting outwards, but the jaws are articulated, and can pivot and swing up and down, so the weapon could also be used to bite an opponent.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I may not have cared about him before, but Zorib’s definitely getting a nice spot on my shelf

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ I'm happy the folks at PoliganToys added some ratty looking loincloth fur and leather to make him a bit more decent than in the comics. On the other hand, I was afraid this would affect the thigh swivels, which would have hurt his potential battle poses, but the result offers surprisingly good articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ His sculpt is very good and what I really like about his body is its posture. His face is expressive, appropriately harsh and very violence-prone. His outfit is nicely detailed and he overall has a pretty good amount of quality. Zorib’s paint is without complaint too, he has a combination of bronze, gold and ivory tones that sets him apart from nearly anybody in his faction

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ There is only one weapon, but it's so greatly executed, with sculpted scars and gouges from plenty of use, that makes any other accessories unnecessary

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ It’s kind of cool that he decided to turn his "hair" into a bludgeoning implement. The hair-mace is quite flexible and feels durable, and definitely makes it for a fun action feature

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ Zorib has some good things going for. He looks vicious and martial, has the most fiendish weapon ever, and his costume just looks rugged. Honestly, he is pretty good, and his barbaric monstrous look helps him blend in with the other characters from the KR|Dimness line.

KR|Dimness Review #18: Dekerus

Toy prototype details

Name: Dekerus^TM

Subtitle: horned champion

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 14 in the line.

Character details

Name: Dekerus

Classification: perissodactyl mammal

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha

Rank: tribe fighter.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: when the Rexodon army assaulted several settlements outside the Northern Forest, the Independent Warriors of the nearby village of Erlokat^TM built a defensive wall to protect their people from Bi-Harr's attacks. Growing up within the bounds of this fortification, Dekerus felt constricted and dreamt of exploring the wilderness of Tahron, about which he had heard many stories from the village elders. Being born without the outgrowths that characterised his kinship group, he felt unfit for such adventures, but when he came of age he received a horned helmet from the Warriors' chief, which would allegedly give him special powers and allow him to overcome his fears. While traversing the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region, Dekerus helped the Forseha people oppose hostile clans during territorial disputes in the area and discovered that his helmet actually had no special power. Eventually, he returned briefly to his village and teamed up with Bellius^TM, the new leader of the Independent Warriors, when Nibeon^TM assisted Bi-Harr in attempting to breach Erlokat's walls and capture its inhabitants. After succeeding in driving away the evil enemy, the Independent Warriors applauded Dekerus' bravery and let him fulfil his wish to join the Forseha tribe for good.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a rhinoceros, characterised by grey skin, blue eyes and a broad, straight square-lipped mouth. He wears a dark-green leathery helmet with red details that features a half mask (this luchador-like style makes him kind of reminiscent of Rey Mysterio) and two massive horn-shaped dull&shiny ringed brass spikes (with the horn at the front larger than the other one) on the top

Body: cracked grey skin, shoulders and upper legs covered in wart-like bumps, three-toed hooves at the feet. His armour incorporates a rubbery piece that fits right on top of the body and mimics a hump below his neck, where the thick skin folds into the shoulder and back, giving him a brawny, armoured appearance (a feature that also characterises his limbs, where the skin wrinkles realistically around his joints). Additionally, he wears two spiked brass knuckledusters over the knuckles

Wearables: a red armour with dark-green details, two red leather wrist guards, two red leather shin guards (both the wrist- and shin guards are fastened with criss-crossed rope laces), a red leather belt with a large rectangular brass buckle, and dark-green shorts.

Dekerus' stylised armour.

Action feature

In the comics, Dekerus is depicted as an experienced hand-to-hand combatant and is equipped with thick-layered skin, which is highly resistant to damage and seemingly unbreakable. His extreme levels of strength, stamina and resistance to injury, together with the use of his knuckledusters which significantly increase the effect of blows, make him a formidable opponent.

Furthermore, his razor-sharp horns are shown to be capable of penetrating extremely hard materials. So, the figure comes with an additional ball jointed neck extension that gives him a heavily hunched over look and allows him to pose like he is using his head as a battering ram.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the neck extension, Dekerus comes with a double-bladed axe from his Independent Warriors days. This weapon's fairly long greenish wooden handle bears a grey stone blade at each end; the two cutting edges are parallel to the handle and oriented towards opposite directions, so Dekerus can use this menacing battle axe for a range of spinning attacks.

Additionally, the package includes an extra head, which represents an early concept design (i.e., un-helmeted/masked, with a pointed upper lip and with two horn-like growths on his snout) of this character's face.

Final thoughts
Character value: ♦♦ While he really doesn't have much of a role in the comics, Dekerus makes up for that by having the coolest helmet in the series

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ This figure is very well-made on the articulation front. His sculpt, neck extension and outfit do not limit him in any way, and in fact his armour (which include the hump) is thinner than most, thus giving him some great range

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Dekerus is an excellent figure, extremely well detailed and designed. All the new parts on him give him a lot great definition and he truly looks like the source material. PoliganToys did an incredible job with this one and there is nothing I would change about the figure

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Fortunately he didn't come light on the accessories, but his axe, although it's a nice piece, is made of slightly soft plastic, so it can bend and droop a little if heated

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Like nearly every other KR figure prototype, Dekerus feels very solid and durable. He has a good range of motion in most of his joints and there's nothing about the figure that feels fragile or breakable. This figure is absolutely made to be posed and played with

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I'd say that Dekerus is one of the best looking figures of the year. He's one of the most impressive sculpts seen in this line. There really is very little reuse as well - the only thing that seems reused is his torso, but of course that's covered by the armour, which even includes a body component. Is he perfect? Well, he is a little tall, but that’s accurate.

KR|Dimness Review #17: Terebror

Toy prototype details

Name: Terebror^TM

Subtitle: baleful destroyer

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 13 in the line.

Character details

Name: Terebror

Classification: mutant human

Sex: male

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Dark Legion

Rank: lieutenant commander.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #3 - Into dimness: Part II – Escape

Brief bio: during the Reptonoid domination of O-Kin^TM, 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 while some were fitted with electromechanical prostheses, some others were ostracised and banished from O-Kin. Those outcasts were eventually welcomed by the mysterious chief monk Mohrdax^TM into the shelter of his monastery near the Ucamur^TM region. When Wordron befriended Mohrdax, many cloisterers, including an armless and disfigured man named Terebror, sided with the Dark Legion in their conflict with the Forseha tribe. Terebror's desire to become a skillful warrior allowed Wordron to lure him into his laboratory with promises of fame and glory, but instead he was transformed into an insane cybernetically-enhanced minion. Half-man half-machine, Terebror relentlessly fought his enemies by shooting vicious chisel-like projectiles with his robotic arms.

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

Description

Head: he wears a tech biter mask (which features two upwards curved rostra on the chin, as well as some rivets, grooves and tubes, making him look like a weird mash-up of Hannibal Lecter and Bane from The Dark Knight Rises) and a side-crested helmet topped with a spike (similarly to a Pickelhaube) that resembles a fairly large conical drill bit; both items are painted in metallic light-blue with shiny purple details. While not much of his face is exposed here (only his dark-brown eyes surrounded by taupe skin are visible), his furrowed brow suggests a fierce expression. The top part of the helmet can be removed, exposing Terebror's bald and disturbingly scarred scalp, while the biter mask extends over the ears with a kind of headphone-like device (to which the two side crests are actually attached) and buckles at the nape

Body: the only exposed parts of his body are the shoulders, which are the remnants of his human arms and show taupe skin, although they are mostly concealed under two purple shoulder pads that are embellished with metallic light-blue bolts and attached via a rubber “hinge” to the armour. His torso seems to be wearing a sleeveless black shirt, while his legs are covered with sturdy light-blue trousers (is he wearing blue jeans?) that bear black leather knee pads and two large side pockets, from which two sculpted chisel-looking metallic light-blue implements peek out

Wearables: a purple bulletproof vest with metallic light-blue details, two purple leather combat boots that buckle up at the sides and a purple leather belt with a four-bladed gunmetal shuriken as a buckle. A gunmetal compressor-backpack is placed on his back, and is attached to two criss-crossed purple armoured straps that run around his shoulders and chest over the vest.

Terebror's stylised helmet with side crests.

Terebror's stylised harness over bulletproof vest.

Action feature

Terebror displays his iconic huge robotic arms that he is most dreaded for in the comics. These are essentially replacements for his human arms, and sport functioning pistons and connected wiring/tubing above the "elbows". The design of these cybernetic limbs just generally gives them a martial, weapon-ish look and makes them reminiscent of other crazy concepts such as Power Arm Terminator and Dutch Schaefer from the Alien vs Predator arcade game. Instead of traditional hands, Terebror fictionally carries several tools that release, and often shoot, from his mechanical forearms (which bear blade-like shiny purple spikes sticking out the sides), and that he uses to demolish enemy structures and generate earth tremors. The jackhammer-like gunmetal arms are connected via two black pliable tubes to the two ends of a cylinder placed horizontally at the bottom of his backpack; the backpack, in turn, is connected to a slot of the biter mask on Terebror's nape with the aid of an additional black tube departing from its top.

The figure comes with a nice set of metallic-light blue add-ons that plug into his wrist-chucks: two pairs of large chisel-bits and a pair of piledriver pistons. The bits include a pair of flat blades and a pair of pointy, cross-shaped tips, while the piston-like parts (which feature a sort of release mechanism, as you can slide the shafts out) transform his arms into powerful piledrivers that, when pounded against the ground, can cause violent earthquakes.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his tools/projectiles, Terebror comes with two pairs of metallic light-blue robotic hands and a pair of translucent orange firing effects. The cyber hands plug into the same chuck-like sockets used for the tools, and each open hand can swap out with a closed-fisted one.

Additionally, each mechanical arm can be equipped with a flamethrower effect that attaches to another slot just below the chuck.
Finally, to deal with a slightly inconsistent design in the comic book, there's an alternate unhelmeted head, which is identical to the standard one except for a black leather strap that runs centrally over the head from the biter mask to the nape.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ After some really cool, imaginative designs through the first half of 2019, this one still shines as a solid figure and will fit in nicely with the rest of the KR|Dimness lineup

Articulation: ♥♥ The overall articulation is as outstanding as ever, but the torso and waist are a little restricted by the armour+backpack this time around. It's not terrible, but considering how good this base body is, that's a bit disappointing

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ As I said, there are a couple of different themes going on here - a bit of Bane or Hannibal with the mouth mask and a bit of Terminator vs Predator (how cool would that be!) with the arms. The detailing on both the head sculpt and the arms looks terrific; the paint work is solid, but metallic paints are always tough ones to work with. There are a few slops here and there, and some of the edges are off by a bit. Update: PoliganToys informed me that some details such as the face mask and the bolts on the shoulder guards will probably be repainted in gunmetal colour if and when the figure is released

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The sculpts are solid here too, although the paintjob on the piston pieces is pretty skimpy

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ This is a very fun action figure. Actually, with the general bionic man-like theme, one might not even realise he is a bad guy, and could have him playing either side of the field

Overall: ☺☺☺ Despite a few nitpicks, Terebror is a pretty sharp figure. The limbs sculpt is incredible, the head looks great, and it’s nice to have a cyber-themed action figure in this barbarian-filled series.

KR Review #80: Pyrosaur

The Pyrosaur^TM (sorry Screechers Wild, but I think we got it earlier) is the first Spektrosaur land vehicle to come into the KR line... I know, there's also the Baryanoid-Cart, but I tend to consider that a creature item rather than a vehicle.

Really, this panzer is the one that makes the most sense as a land unit: it's specifically designed to carry Lor-Drek's evil goons into battle against their rivals as well as wreak havoc and destruction in peaceful places, and take on enemy armoured fighting vehicles. The Cart, on the other hand, can't be used for much more than travelling around a golf course.

Okay, petty details and jokes apart, let's look at what probably is gonna be the last vehicle under the Foundation banner of the KR universe.

Details

Name: Pyrosaur

Subtitle: battle tank destroyer

Classification: land vehicle

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Spektrosaur

Rank: transport.

Description

The Pyrosaur is a tank-like, wheeled combat vehicle used by Lor-Drek's forces for ground assault, reconnaissance and transport of soldiers across the battlefield; when necessary, it can rise to turn into a bipedal machine that traverse the landscape on large mechanical legs. Sporting blast-impervious armour plating, this massive construct is used by the Spektrosaurs as much for psychological warfare as it is for tactical advantage. The toy version is painted in metallic light-blue with silver-gray details, exhibits tons of tech-mech details (e.g., panels, tubes, wires and pistons) and can be operated in several positions; when upright, it stands about 46 cm (around 18'') tall and is reminiscent of a mechanical tyrannosaurus.

The robotic legs display tracked clawed feet (each with an additional wide treaded wheel on the front, which is the only truly rotating part) and a pair of large ratcheted wheels at the knees, which allow the tank to roll forward or backward when in crawler mode.

The cockpit (which only accommodates one figure, unlike the comic book version that seats two combat drivers overseen by a commander sitting behind them) and the attached canopy (which can be open, closed and removed) resemble the toothed jaws of a dinosaur's head, whose neck can turn slightly left, right, up and down. Additionally, a rotating turret (which also carries one figure, and features an opening canopy and a cockpit with hand-grips) is mounted on top of the vehicle's dome-like body.

Action feature

Thanks to its rotating hip, knee and ankle joints, the Pyrosaur can easily switch positions, allowing for extreme posability with three assault modes: low-riding (i.e., kneeling) roller tank for sneak attacks, standing (i.e., two-legged) mech walker for strikes over rough terrain, and upright robotic siege engine for assailing enemy walls. Moreover, two mechanical arms are attached to the sides of the hull and feature two points of articulation each, which allow them to bend and retract. Each arm bears a menacing crusher claw that can open and close to capture enemies.

On the tank's underside (on the front when the vehicle is upright), there is an entry/escape hatch with a hinged opening ramp, which reveals a hollowed-out centre section that can fictionally hold a number of troopers and a cargo container.

The rotating turret is detachable and has the ability to act as a flying pod equipped with bat-like folding wings and a rear hatch that gives access to a weapons storage compartment. Aside from perching atop the transport's main body, the flying pod/turret can also dock at a port on the front of the head/cockpit when the war machine is set in a vertical position.

Last but not least, the Pyrosaur has an additional mechanical arm ending with a powerful flamethrower, which can be manoeuvred via a handlebar-like joystick inside the head/cockpit and can also function as a a third leg for stability. While in the comics this snake-like arm is retractable, in the toy it is a separate piece that plugs into a socket exposed by removing a metal panel on the vehicle's belly and only features a hinge at its halfway point.

Weapons and accessories

The head/cockpit armament consists of two horn-shaped temple-mounted pivoting grenade launchers and two chin-mounted heavy laser cannons; the latter are removable, in order to reveal a docking port and, as mentioned above, allow the flying pod/turret to perch and rotate. The turret itself is equipped with wing-mounted cannons and a front spring-loaded twin-missile launcher.

Finally, the vehicle comes with two attachments that plug into the flamethrower nozzle: a large translucent red blast effect and a mechanical foot-like ball jointed accessory.

Overall, the Pyrosaur is an excellent prototype and a great way to wrap up the Foundation segment of the KR line. It is a wonderful vehicle and likely to be a fan favourite. With this, we are now finished with the vehicles of the regular series (I don't believe that CoBoN 2.0 and the Gyrocarrier will ever be produced due to their enormous sizes) and while I'm looking forward to reviewing large scale items from the other chapters of the KR mythos, I still hope that new KR|Foundation figures, creatures and perhaps playsets will be created in the future. In any case, this piece makes me remember all the joy and enthusiasm with the line over the last 4 years and what was accomplished with this blog. That made it worth it.

KR|Dimness Review #16: Viluptra

Toy prototype details

Name: Viluptra^TM

Subtitle: woods goddess

Line: KR|Dimness

Item type: action figure - Nº 12 in the line.

Character details

Name: Viluptra

Classification: spirit

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 5 years before Foundation

Affiliation: Forseha (indirectly)

Rank: mother goddess.

Background

First appearance: KR|Dimness #2 - Masq-Lor's quest

Brief bio: Viluptra belonged to an elder race of elemental creatures, who once shared Tahron with many other supernatural entities. Her bizarre character was often mistook for naivety, but in reality she mastered the greatest magical secrets of the forests, despite some flaws in her sorcery wielding abilities. When the reptilian forces invaded many territories inhabited by mammalian societies, Viluptra only wanted to see the people of Tahron free from Bi-Harr's evil tyranny. After an ancient violent conflict, most of those mystical creatures were annihilated, but Viluptra managed to rise to a spiritual form and settled in the jungles near the Ucamur^TM region. The founders of the Forseha tribe regarded her as their mother goddess and through her worship they welcomed numerous refugees into the shelter of their terramare settlement. The Forseha people viewed Viluptra as a spiritual guide who could advise them in matters of inter-tribal relationships and, more importantly, as an ally during the struggle against Wordron.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: grayish skin with a pinkish tinge, vivid red lips, prominent chin. She wears a pair of flower-shaped gold earrings and a domed red-orange cap resembling the fungal growth of an Amanita muscaria (which is covered with numerous yellowish-white warts and presents a few cracks along the edge); her gill-like grayish hair (with a blueish tinge) is visible on the underside. Two yellow stamens seemingly protruding from the top of her flower-like suit end with a pair of anthers that form a sort of eyewear, through which her eyes display glowing sclerae/irises, large black pupils, and long black eyelashes that extend beyond the yellow-rimmed spectacles. I would have liked a pair of either solid black or GITD eyes better, but I think this is a good compromise between the two comic book looks

Body: striated grayish skin with a pinkish tinge. She has a number of mossy green vines that wrap around the upper arms and legs, and wears many rings on her fingers

Wearables: a dual-layer, high neck flower-like body suit, two veined orange bracers ornamented with flower-shaped cuffs and several narrow golden bracelets (from which an equal number of long liana stems hang), two veined orange sandal-boots adorned with flower-shaped tops and sharp extended thongs curled upwards, a veined orange waistband, a long skirt made of many liana stems hanging from an additional golden belt (equipped with a large buckle bearing the Forseha emblem, i.e., a seven-petalled flower that vaguely recalls a Plumeria) and a short, wide cape made of feathery green fern fronds. The Plumeria-shaped body suit is composed of an orange upper layer that resembles the flower's corolla (with a small butterfly-shaped yellow marking in the centre of each veined petal) and a golden lower layer that looks like the calyx; the latter appears golden thanks to leaf-like green, creamy yellow-striped sepals that are edged in maroon (this combination of colours is also used on the liana stems hanging from her forearms and hips).

Action feature

In the comics, Viluptra possesses a number of powers, including levitation as well as the ability to control and grow plants and flowers. The figure doesn't offer any of those qualities (although a flight stand or some vine-based pieces would have been welcome additions), but has a nice display feature - her fungal headgear is removable and an additional bushy grayish (with a blueish tinge) hairpiece can attach to her head. The real Viluptra has a mushroom on her head, while Masq-Lor's mental picture of her, as seen in the comic issue Masq-Lor's quest, doesn't; so, this is PoliganToys' way of giving us the option for either style. I think it looks great, I wouldn't have missed it if this wasn't included, but I appreciate the effort.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from her alternate hairpiece, Viluptra comes with two accessories: a mushroom sceptre and her funny fruity companion Jabak. The sceptre resembles a golden oyster mushroom cap with a long whitish stipe/shaft that is twined in ivy-leaved, flowery tendrils.

Additionally, her apricot-like, red-orange sidekick has a pair of large cartoonish eyes, a couple of green leaves on top of its head and a pair of feet with green grassy shoes, but lacks a mouth, nose and arms. There is really not a whole lot to articulate on a walking fruit, but he was afforded the essential two points of articulation - a swivel-hinge on each hip. This inclusion is kind of curious, however, because I'd have expected to get Jabak's enhanced jack o'lantern-like version with this figure. See, this figure represents Viluptra's true look, but in the comics she also appears briefly disguised as an elderly lady, who is characterised by a short, stocky body and wears large thick-lensed glasses through which her eyes look magnified as well as a hip-length, long-sleeved maroon jacket with gold buttons, green trousers and a double layer creamy yellow and orange poncho with grassy fringes (everything is tattered and mended with stitching and leaf-shaped patches). The version of Jabak that I'm holding is the one that accompanies old lady Viluptra and not her younger warrior-goddess form. So, it is not perfect, but I'm getting two characters with one release and I should only be happy.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ It’d be easy to just write Viluptra off as the Elykta of KR|Dimness, there are a lot of similarities in terms of supernatural abilities. I’m glad she got into the line and that PoliganToys did such a great job on her figure

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The lianas that dangle from her forearms have the potential to be the most discussed part of the entire figure. The concern over these obviously comes with how much they are going to impede posing options, and while they do so to some extent, it is definitely not nearly as much as I thought

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Viluptra is one of the best designed and painted character that I’ve seen so far in this series and I cannot express how awesome she turned out

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ She was given a few greatly sculpted accessories that are executed well to the end. The paint is crisp and the colours look fantastic on all of them

Playability: ♪♪♪ Although articulation works great, I would like to get a stand for some nice levitation poses. However, the figure is fun to pose and play with

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I know Viluptra isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think we'll all have to appreciate the work PoliganToys did here when (and if) the figure is released.