KR|Horizon Review #15: Hadjti

Toy prototype details

Name: Hadjti^TM

Subtitle: scaly amazon

Line: KR|Horizon

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

Character details

Name: Hadjti

Classification: chondrichthyan

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: auxiliary warrior.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: evolved from an ancient species of deep-sea creatures endowed with both gills and rudimentary lungs, Hadjti was the quartermaster of a group of marooners feared by many anglers who had only heard legends of those dreaded sea rovers. After their defeat by the hands of the Semhadrians, she was one of a handful of pirates who escaped and didn't surrender to their rival marine tribe. Eventually, Hadjti agreed to join the Destructomorphs and swore her allegiance to Deptilion. Because of her low rank within the faction and a considerable appetite for power, she ultimately joined forces with two fellow soldiers, the greedy Agledas^TM and the silent but menacing Eldogrum^TM, with whom she saw her opportunities for advancement grow. However, the trio was forced to stand idle following Deptilion's demise during his final battle with the Therioms, and they survived by subjugating local folks and devouring livestock. When years later Nemhetra learnt of the existence of the powerful helmet that had been disassembled and hidden by her cousin Barkos, Hadjti was ordered to retrieve one of its fragments, which was enshrined in a temple on the island city-state of Semhadar^TM, and took great pleasure in obeying her new master's command.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen and with the addition of a ball jointed tail.

Description

Head: similar to a mix of different types of sharks, characterised by grey-brown skin and an elongated, narrow flattened snout resembling a sword blade. About halfway along it, the snout bears a pair of long barbels as well as two additional flattened blade-like lateral projections on either side (each with a nostril and a small solid blue eye placed at the end), while its slightly keeled end is edged with large, sharp whitish teeth along each side. Two more pairs of small solid red eyes are located at the base of the rostrum, and behind each pair is a spiracle. The jaws are lined with prominent long, narrow nail-like whitish teeth, and are fictionally highly protrusible - although they are normally held flush against the underside of the head, in the figure they are extended almost to the end of the snout

Body: fairly slender; the grey-brown skin has a rough texture from a covering of placoid scales (or dermal denticles). The shoulders and the thighs are equipped with triangular flashy fins, whose margins are translucent grey; a similar, prominent dorsal fin (with a venomous spine located at its leading edge) projects from her back. While her 3-digit right hand and both feet are webbed and clawed, her left hand is replaced by two snake-like, flexible appendages. She also carries an extra neck piece that fits right on top of the body (it is glued on, but it might be possible to pry it off if one had will to do so) and shows three pairs of gill slits. Finally, she has a long, thin whip-like tail, which is a separate piece emerging from a hole in her suit and bearing a short tail guard at its base, a silver-spiked black cuff halfway down its length as well as a serrated ivory-white venomous sting at the end of a subtle heterocercal caudal fin

Wearables: a segmented, close-fitting one-piece black garment (similar to a swimsuit that covers the torso, except the back and upper chest) with light-blue details (including a trim along the upper edge, a stingray-like, diamond-shaped mark sculpted in relief on the front, and the entire part that covers the crotch), two black bracelets and two black calf protectors (each made by wrapping a disk-shaped piece of material round the forearm or the lower leg and fastening it with silver spike-rivets to create a rounded, spined fin-like structure sticking out of the side), and a studded glossy black belt. All the black (except for the belt) and light-blue components of her outfit seem to be made of scale armour and laminar armour, respectively. Additionally, she has two fairly large lizard-like, vampire squid-faced creatures wrapped around her trunk, with the beasts' heads emerging over her shoulders. The creatures' tails and necks criss-cross behind Hadjti's lower and upper back respectively, while the remaining parts of their bodies intersect each other diagonally on the front of the figure's torso. Their seemingly gelatinous bodies vary in colour from velvety black to pale and dark shades of red. A webbing of skin connects their eight facial arms, each lined with rows of whitish spines and equipped with suckers at the end. Their fairly large globular eyes appear blue with reddish streaks in the irises, while their beak-like jaws are ivory-white. Each has four short salamander-like clawed limbs, as well as a pair of ear-like fins projecting from the sides of the head and spanning almost the body's entire length, joining near the tail and kind of resembling wings.

Action feature

In the comics, Hadjti's two parasite creatures can fall off her body and help her attack their adversaries. Unfortunately, this feature cannot be recreated entirely with the toy, meaning that the two beasts can be removed from the figure's body, but cannot separate from each other, which is a bit disappointing. To display Hadjti without the two critters, it's necessary to detach her head, unplug a little fastener between the two tails, and slip the whole thing off the figure. Once the piece is removed, you can see a structure in the form of a suction disc on the underside of each creature, which can fictionally take a firm hold against Hadjti's body similarly to a remora. Nice little detail!

Additionally, Hadjti has the ability to store up immense amounts of energy in her left-hand appendages, then burst out in an electrocuting action, stunning her trapped foes before snatching them up by rapidly extending her jaws. So, the figure comes with two translucent blue lightning effects that can be attached to the two electric eel-like parts.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the lightning effects, Hadjti comes with a devastating four-bladed axe, which is composed of a long metallic light-blue haft and two broad, differently shaped silver blades (whose cutting edges are parallel to the handle) at two opposite sides of each end. Each blade is roughly shaped like a fish tail fin: one resembling a pointed rhomboid, one ending in a jagged, more-or-less vertical edge with a slight inward curve, one shaped like a crescent moon and ending in two prongs, and one ending in a number of rounded cutting edges. The haft can also split in the middle, to produce two smaller double-bitted battleaxes.

Additionally, the figure includes an open reliquary, on which one of the three fragments of the lost helmet is displayed for veneration by the local community. The reliquary resembles a small fluted Corinthian-style limestone column supporting the helmet piece (which comprises part of the skull and the back).

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ I mean, she is a shark-woman with multiple glowing eyes, a stinging tail, electrocuting tentacles, and an intricately frightening face. It’s like she is Tahron’s answer to a PredAlien, and, honestly, her characterisation is pretty much perfect for me. All those elements certainly make for an interesting action figure

Articulation: ♥♥♥ All of the joints are strong, but still fluid, and nothing inhibits the articulation. She does have her tail, but that is only articulated at the base, while I would have loved to see some more posing options there

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The head sculpt is absolutely beautiful and it is one of those perfect representations in the line; I don’t have anything to criticise here, and, you know, if the head is this detailed, the rest of the figure is surely following suit. If I did have to nitpick something in the paint department, I wish the wrist and shin guards were coloured more like in the comics, where they're more of a tarnished silver, but that is pretty slight

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Her axe is unique and looks good, but I had to take a hairdryer to straighten it out from the packaging. Now, while I certainly wasn’t expecting them to do it, it would have been kind of cool if PoliganToys had done something to recreate the retractable jaws. I am not saying to add a real feature, but an alternate head would have been a nice homage, especially since Hadjti doesn't even get separate versions of her two monsters

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ As far as construction and engineering go, I don’t have anything to point out in terms of design, she's just an enjoyable figure to stare at, as there are many little details that are fun to discover

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I love this figure - she brings all of the detail and uniqueness with her (really, the sculpt and engineering put her very much in a class all of its own), but she still fits in perfectly with the rest of the line. She is definitely one of the best female villains in the KR world, and I think she lands near the top of the 2020 figure lineup as well.

KR|Horizon Review #14: Mor-Rak (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Mor-Rak^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: tenacious warrior

Line: KR|Horizon

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

Character details

Name: Mor-Rak

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: cousin of Desion (Masq-Lor), Herrion, Rhadiel (Fai-Rha) and Nemhetra, Elahdin's fiancée

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: infantry-division commander.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: the humorous son of Gax-Uhr^TM and Sih-Len^TM, and a member of the Theriom elite, Mor-Rak stood out for his great resourcefulness, curiosity and acrobatic skills since a very young age. After the rise of Deptilion and his Destructomorph army, evil outweighed the forces of good and Mor-Rak was recruited by his uncle Tir-Hing^TM as a trainee, in order to fight for the Therioms and to serve them throughout Tahron’s future. Before he was even allowed to participate in open conflicts, he acquired incredible abilities from the Antikythron^TM, a device infused with mysterious power that could harness energy from nature. By using these powers, Mor-Rak loyally assisted and watched over his fellows, often turning the tide in battle, until Deptilion's defeat. While as a boy he was hot-headed and too quick to action, a trait that his father had often condemned, Mor-Rak eventually became a committed pacifist. Although he despised war, he could not stand by and watch the re-emergence of the Destructomorph faction, and chose to continue with his military career and to fight alongside the Therioms. Using once more the power of his Antikythron to combat their sinister foes, Mor-Rak was instrumental in helping Masq-Lor and his siblings win their war against the evil Nemhetra and protect freedom for all people of Tahron.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of hinged toes and a ball jointed tail.

Description

Head: predominantly monkey-like (similar to a mandrill, even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by an elongated hairless muzzle with a red stripe down the middle and protruding blue ridges on the sides, a large brown/black mane with a yellow beard and white tufts, big close-set bright green eyes (which kinda give the feeling that they move as they are viewed from different angles), red nostrils and lips, and powerful jaws with long, sharp whitish canine teeth. The face is very well sculpted and definitely looks like an adult version of his Foundation counterpart, but also bears a resemblance to his father. Additionally, displaying his mouth wide open gives his face an overall bold expression

Body: large build, thick brown to white fur, olive-green skin at the hands and the bare feet, dark-grey nails, short stub tail. The fur on the torso is brown with black blotches and yellow bands on the back and white on the front, while the fur on the limbs is brown with black blotches on the outer parts and white on the inner parts. Giving the figure hinged toes makes it possible to display the feet in a grasping pose

Wearables: a light-green armour with brown details (a repaint from his father's armour), two light-green bracelets, two light-green calf protectors, a light-green belt and a brown fabric loincloth with a leather purse on the front.

Mor-Rak's stylised armour.

Action feature

Also in the KR|Horizon comics, Mor-Rak often uses the incredible power of his antikythron to transform into a giant warrior, who, depending on the situation, can be made of different materials. So, the figure will be released in a 2-pack that will include Mor-Rak's standard form and one of three possible post-transformation variants, which are all 23 cm (around 9") tall and I'm going to describe individually.

The first variant is his Stone Warrior form. The figure is basically a repaint of the Titanic Fighter prototype that I reviewed at the end of 2015, so if you want more details about that figure, you can look at my old post. This variant has the same buck and the same articulation, but not the same accessories. Except for the eyes, which have a bronzy shine, the figure is painted in such a way that it seems made of craggy, coarse-grained rocky plates, each with a banded texture characterised by alternating darker and lighter grey coloured stripes. The figure also has an action feature, just like his 2015 version did - he can launch the left hand, which is in a fist pose and slightly bigger than the right hand, via a spring loaded mechanism. Although in the comics the Stone Warrior is shown to be capable of folding over and turning into a boulder for protecting Elahdin during a battle, unfortunately the toy doesn't have that ability. Instead, it comes with a stone shield that looks like a smaller 2D version of the boulder; curiously, the inside features some circuitry and a little blaster, giving it a peculiar high-tech look.

The second variant, my personal favourite, is his Plant Warrior guise. The conical/globose design of this figure's head recalls a cardoon bud with numerous massively spined, triangular green scales (two of which form a pair of large ears) as well as several violet-purple filaments emerging from its top. His humanoid face is characterised by bloodshot yellow eyes, a branch-like nose (which is fortunately removable, leaving an empty nasal cavity that I like much better), a sharp-toothed mouth and a grass-like beard. He has a thick, robust green-skinned, purple-veined body made of a tangled mass of vines, twigs and leaves, which fictionally makes him almost invulnerable to physical harm and able to regrow limbs or change his body shape if necessary. Several parts of this fully articulated body even have a grass-like flocking and a forest scent. His brown-spined limbs end in veined (i.e., showing the branching ribs that typically run through a leaf) clawed hands and pointy hoofed feet. In the comics, he is able to further extend his limbs as streams of vines that he can use as whip-like weapons, for creating shields or as a threat display. So, the figure carries a number of long prickly green pliable vines that are twined around the limbs (and also the torso) as separate, loosely attached pieces. A similar coil-shaped vine piece is also included and has some stretchable properties, so you can get it around the torso of a standard KR figure, to look as though it has been tied up in a plant trap. I really dig this "weapon", it is a thoughtful feature for the character, but also well executed to serve its purpose.

Finally, the third variant is his Tornado Warrior form. Having the appearance of a funnel-shaped translucent blueish cloud, this one-piece variant looks like a vortex of rotating winds with a subtle structure resembling a face on one side. The figure can move using a ripcord, i.e., a long serrated strip of plastic that is included; by slipping the ripcord from either side of the figure, pushing it all the way in and pulling it out fast, you can set the figure on its rotating tip and watch it sway and race around erratically across a smooth surface. You can even place it on either a clear stand (for a spinning action on a stationary point) or a debris accessory (which whirls under the steady Tornado Warrior), both included in the package. Interestingly, the figure's ability to spin like a top is not hampered by the apparent imbalance presented by its sculpt.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from his augmented form, Mor-Rak comes with his inseparable antikythron, the device that he uses to combine himself with the forces of nature and become an enhanced warrior. Like the version that came with Foundation Mor-Rak, this antikythron is a short metal staff characterised by an interesting technological design, and has a brown leather baldric that can be worn by the figure for easy carry. However, it shows a few differences. The silver&bronze handle is designed in such a way that the weapon can be held either vertically or horizontally (in the Horizon comics, Mor-Rak often utilises it as a blaster). The part near the handle displays six large coloured buttons plus a few smaller black switches and sliders all the way around. The top bronze part is fictionally composed of five pieces that can open (in an upside-down umbrella fashion) to reveal the machinery inside; like with its predecessor, this feature hasn't been reproduced in the toy accessory and instead we get three interchangeable snap-on top pieces, which are the closed, the open inactive and the open energised version respectively. The open inactive form shows the five sides spread out and a central silver axis, on which three short horizontal coaxial red arms hold one vertical coloured crystal each (in the comics, depending on the orientation of these components, the device generates a different power); all these pieces, i.e., the whole top part, each coaxial arm and each crystal, spin vertically and individually via swivels. The energised version carries a well-designed glow-in-the-dark energy vortex/blast at its centre and also spins.

The basic figure also comes with an alternate head sculpt, a rope and a bunch of paper. Yes, the standard head gives us a pretty close match up to Mor-Rak's depiction in the battle scenes. However, like with his father, there is a small issue with the basic head sculpt that annoys me a little - the aggressive expression on his face makes it a bit hard for me to reconcile the figure with his bio of placid character. And that’s what the second, calm head sculpt is for; strangely, this head also displays smaller pupils and hairless ears. The coil of thick brown rope, which represents his whip/lasso weapon, can be worn across the figures’ chest as a bandolier or simply hung over the shoulder. Finally, the stack of worn out pages seems to be the remainder of Al-Mih-Tek's notes about the antikythron, which explains in what way Mor-Rak learnt how to use it.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ I love Mor-Rak! Believe me, I absolutely appreciate the grittier storylines of the post-Foundation (technically they're pre-Foundation) series, but if you ask me to picture Key Raiders in my mind, I'm picturing little Mor-Rak transforming into some Elemental-like giant. This new edition of Mor-Rak for the KR|Horizon line is intended to give the character an adult look as well as new versions of his transformed form

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ Except for the Tornado Warrior, all the figures have the standard KR articulation

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Despite the many reused parts, adult Mor-Rak turned out a great looking figure with a fantastic sculpt and excellent colours. I think the Stone Warrior came out well too, although just being a repaint, and the boulder shield was a great idea. I'm not quite as enamoured of the Tornado variant, though its action feature is a great bonus. The Plant Warrior is definitely one of my favourite figures of the year; he just hits all the right spots with me - he’s badass looking, has an awesome accessory and is just fun overall. The paint applications on all the figures are fairly neat and clean, with very little or no slop

Accessories: ♠♠♠ The calm head offers just the right touch of that "committed pacifist" look. The wrist clip of the Stone Warrior's shield is a bit too soft and it causes the piece to periodically fall off when trying to pose the figure’s arm

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ When compared to the standard figure package, I believe this set is going to be a fairly good deal; you get both a full figure and an oversized, great-looking variant, plus five or six accessories. That's quite a lot to play with

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I am really really happy with this set. I love the basic Mor-Rak figure, and the post-transformation variants are a great extra to boot!

KR|Horizon Review #13: Destructomorph Goblins

Toy prototype details

Name: Destructomorph Goblins^TM

Subtitle: bionic troopers

Line: KR|Horizon

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

Character details

Name: Destructomorph Goblin

Classification: bio-robotic hybrid

Sex: undefined (due to its ability to lay eggs via parthenogenetic reproduction, it is probably female)

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: drone.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: after the defeat of most of Kinod's army during Demo-Rha's attempt to overtake Tahron alongside Alterok, the surviving holopodian mutants became outcasts who wandered along the borders of Tahron. However, a small group managed to avoid their banishment and became unauthorised guardians of Dekropolis. Years later, Tenophar^TM, the last surviving member of that squad, informed Nemhetra of the existence of the prodigious helmet that had been disassembled by her cousin Barkos, and helped her retrieve it before being double-crossed and killed. Mistrustful of the robot enforcers that once served her parents, Nemhetra nonetheless saw value in those powerful minions and agreed with her spiritual advisers that their use could prove beneficial. Using a combination of sorcery and science, she repaired the troopers’ cybernetics and cloned Tenophar into numberless replicants, who were stripped of their bodies and left with only their heads. Each clone's disembodied head was permanently encased in a domed cockpit, which was filled with the mystic water from Dekropolis' understructure and mounted to the torso of a restored android body. Outfitted in insect-derived bionic armour using a complex symbiotic interaction, these cyborg soldiers were also connected to the central computer-brain of Nemhetra's headquarters. That way, she augmented the old troopers and mass produced a deadly army of advanced, surgically enhanced soldiers capable of self-repairing battle damages, reshaping their design for combat versatility and efficiency, and overpowering all enemies, which came to symbolise the frightening return of the Destructomorphs.

Articulation

Standard, with the addition of a hinged extra tail/abdomen piece, two ball hinged arms (fully articulated in the orthopteran type) and, in the hemipteran type, two pairs of ball hinged rear appendages (wings and tentacles).

Description

In the comics, the Destructomorph Goblins appear as bio-robotic androids (part organic, part technological) that can transform into armed insectoid drones. Although the two figures are characterised by the same basic conformation, they belong to two different categories and look slightly different. So, I'm going to describe the two Goblins separately.

Orthopteran type

Head: like with the original Destructomorph Trooper, the silver (instead of black) metallic head resembles an Ankylosaurus' skull, characterised by a wide and low shape, a few mechanical and electrical components (including three new small blue LEDs on the forehead, which resemble eye spots), evil-looking shiny green (instead of glowing red) compound eyes and the front part of the jaws ending in a beak (here flanked by two additional side mandibles). He also wears a horned golden-yellow headgear, whose design is slightly different from the original version and kinda recalls a segmented hood. Two additional horns project backwards and down from the back of the head, right below the helmet's antenna-shaped silver horns

Body: all his limbs (including two main arms, two mole cricket-like arms and two legs) are characterised by a slender, segmented black chitinous appearance (bearing numerous details along their length, such as cracks, bumps and dark-brown stripes) and is protected by a number of silver metallic plates, which show some spikes and machinery/circuitry patterns, and act as shoulder guards, rerebraces and thigh guards. The main arms feature a pair of pincer-like grasping hands; each gripping hand is composed of two claw-like black fingers, the longest of which is spiky, while the shortest is toothed. The secondary, slightly smaller arms extend from the sides of his abdomen and end in a pair of shovel-like dark-brown hands; each hand is broad and flattened, and shows a series of tooth-like black structures. The elongated digitigrade legs are fictionally powerful and adapted for jumping; each thigh looks robust, while each knee is bent to accommodate the foot portion with the heel section high up. The legs end in four-digit dark-brown feet, with three massive claw-like black toes in front and one in back. The back armour carries two sets of narrow, blade-like silver vestigial wings pointing backwards. An extra insect-like abdomen piece is attached to the back of the crotch and is characterised by silver metallic segments that are ring-shaped and joined by seemingly flexible black membranes. Under the removable armour, the torso is the same tech-mech piece used for the original Troopers, with identical dials, sliders, buttons, knobs and rectangular lenticular sticker at the centre of the chest (which gives an illusion of coursing sound waves)

Wearables: a metallic red armour with golden-yellow details, two metallic red bracers, two metallic red calf protectors, a grooved metallic red belt with a buckle that looks like the Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face), and a laminar golden-yellow crotch piece. However, most of the torso is concealed by a cockpit for the holopodian mutant head, whose primary purpose is for mobility and protection as the head is vulnerable outside of this compartment. Apart from some differences in the colour scheme, this head is very similar to Tenophar's head, which came with the Queen Holopodian: the five "arms" are connected by a reddish, seemingly muscular membrane and radiate from a central disc that has an anthropoid dark-brown calcified nose; the two purplish top arms exhibit a pair of evil reddish eyes, which are topped by rough, dark-brown brow ridges and bear two elongated lobes resembling sensory appendages; below the eyes on either side of the head are bunches of tendril-like reddish filaments, which look like the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish; the purplish bottom arm is similar to a protruding chin and carries a humanoid mouth, which is slightly open and reveals several sharp yellowish teeth. The cockpit has a transparent protective covering through which the head can see, as well as holes for it to extend its tentacles through, so that it could manipulate objects. The head is built into the cockpit and while the entire portion is actually removable from the armour, the head itself is not accessible on its own; this choice was made so that the cockpit would be fully sealed and water could be added to create an interesting effect (the back of the cockpit has a little spot with a removable plug for this purpose). Each bracer and calf protector bear a double row of spines and a silver spur near the upper and lower end respectively.

Hemipteran type

The second figure is identical to the first one except for the following details:

• The secondary mole cricket-like arms are replaced by small arthropod-like dark-brown arms, each terminating in a black claw
• The feet are completely black and much simpler compared to the Orthopteran type's complex digitigrade feet
• The upper back is equipped with two pairs of large silver posable wings; each hind wing (which is patterned with dull dark-brown veins) is connected to the fore wing (covered in ridges where different metallic surfaces join), forming a single structure that shows several tech-mech details (including a counter-gravity field generator) on the underside. At rest, the wings are held folded overlapping the back
• The lower back features a pair of long silver bendy appendages, which resemble two mechanical tentacles and end in dark-brown pinching weapons for grabbing and crushing foes.

Destructomorph Goblin's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents a peg, to which the head-cockpit or other accessories connect.

Action feature

Both figures can be posed in either an anthropoid mode or an insectoid mode. It's interesting to sum up the way the former configuration transforms into the latter, both fictionally and in reality, to appreciate all the cool details:

1. Two insect head halves slide over and unite using a sort of nano-engineering technology, to conceal the cockpit of the holopodian mutant head on the chest. In the toy, it's necessary to remove the cockpit portion from the armour and replace it with an additional insect head, which is held vertically parallel to the torso, with the mouth at the bottom. This head is characterised by a scaly glossy black hood that surrounds and merges with a silver snout. It displays a pair of long, thread-like black antennae with multiple joints (each antenna can pivot, so it can point towards any direction, and ends in a stinger that resembles a scorpion's tail), a pair of large bulbous black eyes which give all-round vision (each featuring a red glowing horizontal slit plus a beady-eye spot in the centre), seven smaller blue eye spots arranged in a star-shape on the forehead and a complex golden-jawed grasshopper-like mouth composed of a finely serrated upper labrum, two heavily toothed mandibles, two maxillae with cutting edges and a number of small teeth (flanked by two pairs of black segmented appendages or palps), and a two-fanged lower labium (also flanked by a pair of short palps)
2. The insect head on the chest folds up to conceal the robot's head. In the toy, the insect head is simply detached from the torso (exposing a peg on the chest plate that can be hidden with an additional triangular, reactor-like yellow glowing piece) and attached to the neck ball joint in place of the standard head, lying at an angle to the body (the sockets that connect to the chest and to the neck are different)
3. The six limbs of the anthropoid mode also work as the six legs of the insectoid mode (the feet swing to align with the lower legs)
4. The "tail" piece folds down to become the insect abdomen
5. In the hemipteran type, the wings spread out to a flapping position.

Additionally, in the comics the insectoid Goblins have the ability to combine and create larger armoured robots; these range from a three-unit droid (with one Goblin forming the legs, another one forming the torso and the arms, and another one forming the horned head), to a massive mecha with two "stag beetle mandible"-shaped wings, which is the combination of approximately hundred Goblins. Ten selected Goblins are also able to merge with Nemhetra's robatar, to form her evil super-robatar. Obviously, none of these features can be recreated with the toys.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the insect head and chest reactor piece, each Destructomorph Goblin comes with a golden-yellow laser pistol, whose design is very similar to the previous Destructomorph soldiers' (Troopers and Riders) guns.

Additionally, each Goblin has an alternative head that is equipped with a black overhead cannon (which fictionally comes out of the helmet) and shows green glowing eyes.

Also, the package includes a pair of barbed silver stinger-missiles, which can optionally plug into the figures' "tails", insects' mouths, pistols or overhead cannons.

Finally, there is a stone nest in which two separate "eggs" are laid. In the comics, these eggs, which are actually parasitised pupae of giant insects called poligavoids, are used by Nemhetra to produce the monstrous bionic Goblins who serve her: the bio-robotic androids, composed of the former Troopers' bodies and the holopodian mutants' heads, parasitise the larvae of the poligavoids; each android germinates in the living larva, kills and mummifies it, and then an insect-looking cyborg body emerges from the egg-like corpse of the poligavoid. Each chrysalis piece is enclosed in a hard brownish, black-spotted shell (this outer case is cracked in certain parts, exposing a greenish-yellow leathery glowing membrane) and twined in a silver cable (the link with Dekropolis' central computer).

Destructomorph Goblin's stylised helmet with overhead cannon deployed.

Destructomorph Goblin's life cycle.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦ Since the Goblins showed up in the KR|Horizon comics in all three episodes, they are definitely characters that jump out at me as a must-have in the line

Articulation: ♥♥♥♥ They move just like most figures in the line and feel quite similar to previous insect-themed figures

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The Goblins are great looking figures that definitely stand out on display thanks to their badass appearance and vibrant colour scheme. I really like their head sculpts... all of them! They have a neat, clean paint job and a great silhouette thanks to their many appendages

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ They've got some excellent accessories, including interchangeable heads, which is a really nice feature. Seriously, I wish more figures in this line had different options for interchangeable heads. The stinger is also a cool and rather wicked looking accessory that the figures can even hold better than their standard guns

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ These are probably going to become my favourite evil warriors in this series and will always be a part of the group of figures I will be playing with. I mean, they're semi-robotic reptile-insect-holopodian hybrids! How could you not like figures like these?

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I was surprised by how impressive the Goblins turned out. Being main KR|Horizon characters, they have definitely got an awesome design and they make for a great looking multi-pack. They are pretty epic and really make me feel like I'd be getting a lot for my money here.

KR|Horizon Review #12: Elykta (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Elykta^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: magic arbiter

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 11 in the line.

Character details

Name: Elykta, aka The Deity

Classification: archosauromorph reptile

Sex: female

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: neutral (formerly belonging to the Theriom faction)

Rank: divinity.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: a reptilian sorceress once affiliated with the Reptonoids, Elykta learnt to master many forms of witchcraft, including dark magic and clairvoyance, from the black-hearted wizard Sphenorat^TM. Becoming gradually disgusted by Bi-Harr's cruel methods of conquest, she eventually betrayed her evil faction and set out to join the Therioms. After acquiring additional mystic secrets and relics, including the stone of deterrence from Ki-Shudan^TM, Elykta spent decades learning to control her new magical abilities. Recognised for her courage and wisdom, she was chosen by Kai-Xi to become the latest guardian of the three prodigious helmets forged by Galamars^TM, for the future generations. After a five-century wait for worthy heirs to be found, Elykta finally encountered Tir-Hing's three missing children, who became the new protectors of the Key. Following her heroic death to save her fellows' lives, she raised to a powerful divine form and chose to be tasked with maintaining neutrality throughout Tahron, replacing the Deity who preceded her. Although she could no longer take part to any conflicts, the revived struggle over supremacy called her to preserve the balance between good and evil forces, and her guidance allowed the three brave siblings to harness even more power against their enemy. After the Therioms had ultimately subdued Nemhetra and banished the Destructomorphs, Elykta preserved her ageless spirit inside Theriom City, where she continued to advise and watch over her former companions.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: Elykta's head is cast in a translucent greenish plastic and her face slightly resembles the visage of Dale Russel's Dinosauroid, even though she looks fairly more pleasant. Her head sculpt is quite similar to the Origin and Enmity versions, displaying a bald look, two very subtle cranial crests, a dark-greenish wash above her solid pink glowing eyes and two curved linear dark marks below. Additionally, she wears a tiara-like golden-yellow headpiece with a blueish glowing gemstone in the centre, from which four draping golden chains elegantly fall to cover the cheeks and connect to the earphone-shaped sides of the diadem (which in turn hold two copper dangle "earrings")

Body: the exposed portions of her scaly body (parts of the arms, of the legs and of the lower torso) are also cast in a translucent greenish plastic and include 3-claw hands and feet; like her Origin counterpart, this edition of Elykta is barefoot and has large sickle-shaped claws on the second toes

Wearables: an orange feathery crop top with golden-yellow arabesque patterns and jagged cap sleeves, two coiled snake-shaped orange copper bracelets (each ornamented with yellow sapphire gemstones and a loop for the middle finger), two studded orange copper armbands around the upper arms (the right one is connected to the bracelet via a loose fitting yellow silk sleeve) and two orange leather-and-rope calf protectors (each ornamented with a coiled snake-shaped orange copper shin/knee guard and a loop for the middle toe). The centre of the crop top's U-neck is connected to a copper choker by a reptile eye-shaped purple jewel, while its bottom hem is shaped like the three-spiked motif of Elykta's previous versions' armours. Additionally, she wears a sari, i.e., a very long strip of "dyed cloth", which is draped in the Nivi style: one end (yellow coloured) is wrapped around the waist (forming a knee-length, diagonal-cut skirt) and gathered into pleats just below the abdomen, while the other end (orange coloured) is draped diagonally across the right hip, in front of the torso (partly baring the midriff) and over the left shoulder. The lower part of the sari is decorated with copper spangles and is secured around the waist by a belt made of several orange copper discs laced together (the central one of which is a large buckle ornamented with a star-shaped yellow sapphire), while the long end hanging from the back of the shoulder is intricately decorated with golden-yellow arabesque patterns.

Action feature

Like with the many versions of The Deity, Elykta doesn't have any particular action features, apart from the fact that she comes with a display stand. This 2-piece clear plastic stand rests under Elykta's crotch, to give her the illusion of hovering. It's not the best design for a stand, but it works quite well for a figure like this

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the figure stand, Elykta comes with a 2-pronged golden-yellow wand, which is topped with the stone of deterrence. Although the wand's sculpt is kinda reminiscent of the staves that were included with her previous editions, the stick is shorter and seemingly made of metal, while the stone is cast in a frosty, semi-translucent yellow plastic.

Furthermore, the figure includes a brand new version of Elykta's signature dinosaur helmet, which is removable and is shaped like a complete head of Parasaurolophus (or a similar "duck-billed" hadrosaurid). Like with its previous versions, it's difficult to figure out whether this head is real or artificial, since some details, such as the eyes and part of the muzzle (including the fangs) and of the crest, seem to be made of copper, while other details, especially the nape/cheek protector, look like made of real yellowish scaly skin. However, there are also some major differences. First of all, the nape guard extends down the back of the figure and expands into a slightly domed, horny shell. While the rim of the shell is embellished with bulb-like copper ornaments on the sides, its bottom tapers to a longish, slim tail that ends in a sort of rattle. Additionally, two large flaps extend from the cheek guards, hang down in front of both shoulders, entwine along the chest and continue to the abdomen with a wavy shape, ending in a single forward-facing, mouth-gaping snake head. The colour of this helmet/armour gradually fades from yellowish at the top to somewhat black at the bottom - the transition areas are marked with black spots and dashes over a yellow background on the shell's underside, with yellow lines radiating from the centre of each dark horny plate on the shell's upper surface, and with lozenge-shaped yellow markings on the snake-like front portion.
Additionally, a helmetless, episode-specific head/portrait for her Foundation edition is included, which is pretty awesome in its own right - in The Cereutian menace comic books, Denortos turns Elykta to a stony substance, so she looks immobile and hard solid. However, PoliganToys frustratingly neglected to add a pair of alternate hands to complete that look. Also included is the very KR|Enmity comic book-accurate edition of Zor-Kan - not only it sports a different colour scheme (with dark-red, blue tipped wings and a green ruff), but, for the first time ever, we get a version of Elykta's faithful bird of prey that is a solid piece of plastic in a perched position. There is even a golden-yellow perch, but you have to be a bit careful plugging the talons into the pegs... there seem to be potential of causing damage to the legs.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦♦♦ The first female figure in the Key Raiders line I've ever reviewed was Elykta. I published her review on September 15th of 2015 and she has been the only female character for one month, until she was joined by Demo-Rha. She's a strong character that holds her own and she's involved in some story lines that deal with heavy issues such as guilt, defection and redemption. As the KR|Horizon line progresses, it's obvious that we needed an Elykta to complete the core characters

Articulation: ♥♥♥ The figure has most of the articulation that we’re used to with KR figures. The joints aren’t as tight as I’d like in some places, but it's not too bad. Of course, with the helmet/armour on, the head barely has any movement

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ The outfit is a really good departure from the previous figures' style. The crop top on the chest, the sari, and the copper and golden paint applications on the details show that a lot of care went into the design of Elykta’s updated look. The paint pops and I love the translucent green plastic her body is moulded in, which gives the figure an ethereal, mystical look. It’s a nice touch

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠ Elykta comes loaded with accessories and, despite we’ve seen them all before in some form, I'm glad they are all newly tooled pieces. Although I like the new wand, I might display her with the staff that came with her Foundation edition. It just fits better for my tastes... I think

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ Despite her complex outfit, this figure is uninhibited when it comes to joint mobility, allowing her to be placed in some great dynamic poses. I really had a ton of fun posing her, especially with all of her accessories

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ This edition of Elykta stands out from her previous versions, while still fitting in with the integrity of the KR line. Her pile of accessories is a huge plus for this prototype as well as her paintjob and overall look. I think the Horizon line has set the bar very high, but considering Elykta was the pioneer of the she-figures, she had also set a very high standard for the rest of the female lineup. I'm glad these two benchmarks fitted together in this figure.

KR|Horizon Review #11: Elahdin

Toy prototype details

Name: Elahdin^TM

Subtitle: watchful companion

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 10 in the line.

Character details

Name: Elahdin

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: female

Relationships: Mor-Rak's fiancée

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: captain; espionage expert and master of capture weapons.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #1 - The Destructomorph legacy

Brief bio: the descendent of an ancient clan that had crucially helped bolster the Theriom cavalry during Tahron's pre-modern era, Elahdin was an incredibly skilled and resourceful warrior maiden with almost peerless agility thanks to her long prehensile tail. Aiming at mastering the most advanced techniques to seize outlaws and vandals, she joined the Theriom army and trained alongside Mor-Rak, for whom she eventually developed strong affection. Whilst she succeeded in becoming one of the most trusted chief trappers guarding Theriom City from potential attackers, Elahdin also gained the ability to deceive, infiltrate and spy on her adversaries by disguising herself during undercover operations. Despite taking her role as a captain of the Theriom Guardians very seriously, she sometimes bypassed her commander-in-chief's formalities and regulations, putting herself in harm's way. Yet, her determination was without equal and always enabled her to find solutions to difficult situations. After learning of Nemhetra's ambition to defeat the Therioms and unlock the multiversal walls' portals, Elahdin's only desire became to help free the people of Tahron from that evil menace.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen. The figure also has a ball jointed tail.

Description

Head: predominantly ape-like (similar to a black-and-gold howler, even if she's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by dainty features, short whitish to yellowish-buff fur, a pair of round ears with silver earrings, and big brown eyes. Her long hair, which is partly arranged in a ponytail and gradually fades to a reddish-brown colour towards the tips, has a fringe cut straight across the forehead

Body: the exposed portions of her body (i.e., arms and hands, legs and feet, parts of the torso and a long tail) show a short whitish to yellowish-buff fur. Bands of light-green leather are worn around her upper arms and left thigh

Wearables: a close-fitting one-piece leather armour, a silver shoulder guard composed of two spaulders and a collar, two metallic light-green bracelets, two metallic light-green shin guards, and a narrow metallic light-green belt. The armour, similarly to a leotard, covers her body from the shoulders to the top of the thighs, and displays a star-design (with a silver jewel in the centre) that separates the light-green upper part (covering the chest) from the red lower part (covering the abdomen and extending below the waist). The shin guards feature star-shaped knee guards (their design is similar to the armour motif) and are worn over a pair of tubular light-green leather garments (which have turndown tops and cover the legs from ankle to knee).

Elahdin's stylised armour (part above the waist).

Action feature

At the beginning of the Horizon comic book series, Elahdin is shown to disguise herself as an aristocratic woman during a sting operation, by using several fashion accessories that can turn into hi-tech capture weapons. Many of those accessories are included with the figure. The first weapon is a H-shaped silver tiara/mask that doubles as a boomerang/grabber. This removable accessory pegs into a hole in the forehead of an alternative head and, when it's worn, it vaguely resembles the cheek pads (or flanges) that characterise certain male apes. I think this piece turned out really nice: a red gemstone and a pair of bright, shimmering translucent red inlays adorn the centre and the sides of the mask respectively, while its metallic green backside looks delightfully techy with sculpted wires and gears. It is also designed to be reversible: you can fit it so that the eye slits either line up with her eyes (i.e., partially covering her face) or lie above her brow (i.e., showcasing her face); additionally, the peg serves as a handle, so she can hold the throwing weapon in her hand. If you cared about the hole in the head, you'd be happy there's an alternate tiara/grabber (without mask, and with slightly different design and colouration - the comics suggest that she has a huge collection of these items) that is held on the standard head by means of two clips. Unfortunately, I’m not with PoliganToys on this display option - the clips seem too fragile, and due to the bangs that are behind the tiara, she doesn't look good with this accessory.

The second weapon is a cape that transforms into a capture net by pulling a pair of hidden drawstrings. The separate cape piece is made of real fabric and is amazingly well tailored; it's also iridescent and double sided, so she can have a dark-red cape with dark-blue lining or a dark-blue cape with dark-red lining. This is a really stunning piece and it definitely changes the overall look of the figure, making her seem more regal. Its upper side has two pegs that plug into the spaulders, so it can be detached from the shoulder guard and be replaced by an alternative piece - a blue net-cape, also made out of fabric, which can be held by the two pegs in her hands when it's unattached.

The third weapon is a red stole, i.e., a narrow formal shawl, that can turn into a double-headed meteor hammer. The stole is a long piece of rubbery, pliable plastic that can be wrapped and carried about her shoulders and arms, with the two silver-lined ends trailing along the ground. The alternate version of the accessory is a weapon consisting of two spherical silver weights connected by a red rope, which, like the stole, is moulded from a very pliable material, meaning that it can actually be posed and moved around quite a bit.

The fourth and final weapon is a clawed light-green baton that doubles as a flying claw. Elahdin carries this baton on her left thigh (the handle has a peg that plugs into a hole in the thigh band) and conceals it using a belt-plus-sash additional piece; the Y-shaped green belt is adorned with a central tassel, while the long ends of the red sash below hang down on the left side in front of the weapon. When the piece is turned, causing the sash ends to move towards the front of the figure, it reveals the hidden weapon in the thigh band. The alternative version of the weapon consists of a light-green handle and a metallic light-green claw on the end of a wave-shaped, rigid silver wire.

Weapons and accessories

You might legitimately think I could skip this section, given the plethora of weapons I described in the action feature segment - let's summarise it:

• An alternative head with a removable tiara/mask-boomerang/grabber
• An alternate tiara-grabber for the standard head
• A reversible cape
• A net-cape
• A stole
• A meteor hammer
• A belt & sash piece
• A clawed baton
• A flying claw

However, in addition to this overabundance of accessories, the figure includes a loose fitting light-green leather belt, with an attached scabbard that connects to the thigh band. The sheath envelops the blade of a removable sword, which is done in a nice two-tone silver with a red handle and a seven-point star-shaped glittering, translucent red jewel embedded in the base of the blade. Actually, the whole sword vaguely resembles a seven-point star, with two silver points situated at the end of the handle, four forming the X-shaped cross guard, and one being the long, techy blade.

Finally, Elahdin comes with a circular, flute-like golden musical instrument, which she received from her mother-in-law-to-be Sih-Len. In the comics, she's highly skilled in playing this woodwind instrument, and the music from it is so mesmerising that Elahdin can use it to calm and sedate aggressive foes and even wild beasts.

Comic

Together with the action figure we get the second comic issue In the eye of the storm. As every year, at the annual spring celebration, Masq-Lor visits the city of Ra-Hal, to commemorate the defeat of Deptilion 15 years ago as a symbol of a good harvest upcoming. Nemhetra observes the event from the sky and discovers that the townsfolk have a powerful machine with the ability to influence the local weather, which her parents utilised to cause huge storms on Tahron in the past. The Destructomorph leader decides to siege the city, and aims, this time, at using the machine to absorb energy from the atmosphere and concentrate it on her. After the Therioms have left, the Destructomorphs land on the town and activate the machine immediately. The Therioms receive a distress signal from Ra-Hal and Masq-Lor, understanding the danger, works towards preventing Nemhetra from using the machine’s power; so, he and his soldiers head back the city. On their way to Ra-Hal, they meet an army of Goblins, and the fierce fight that ensues drains CoBoN’s power sources. The heroes continue their journey by foot and, as they come nearer to the city, are attacked by Nemhetra’s soldiers. The Therioms can hardly handle the fight, but eventually succeed in getting the upper hand. In the meantime, Masq-Lor follows a mysterious figure, who is revealed to be Mohrdax. The two have a confrontation, during which the priestmonk uncovers Masq-Lor's secret (he is still convinced that he killed a man 20 years ago). Mohrdax blackmails Masq-Lor into becoming his secret accomplice, as part of his plan to outsmart Nemhetra, seize control of the Destructomorph army and dominate Tahron behind the scenes. Mohrdax hands the memory bank with the evidence that he has used to blackmail Masq-Lor to his soldiers and orders to destroy it. The Goblins are just about to bring the memory to an incinerating apparatus when Sajron, who was aboard CoBoN unbeknownst to everyone, shows up and is taken prisoner, but he subsequently manages to escape and to steal the memory bank. Back to the location where CoBoN is parked, he examines the content of the memory using the vehicle’s equipment and sees that his young father is shown to kill a man; however, after fast forwarding, he sees that it was a trick orchestrated by Mohrdax and Wordron. Finally, the heroes reach the centre of the village and approach Nemhetra, but, to everyone’s surprise, Masq-Lor helps the enemies resist the attack made on them. Soon after, Sajron arrives with CoBoN and reveals the truth to his father. Upon learning of his efforts to outjockey her, Nemhetra injuries Mohrdax. Then, the evil chief marshal channels the energy through the machine, which makes her nearly invincible, and nobody seems strong enough to oppose her with that fierce power. Even so, the two factions face each other for the final fight. It doesn't look too good at first, but while the heroes manage to get rid of all the opponents, Masq-Lor rips the machine’s control panel apart, causing all the power to flow back to its origins and thus saving Ra-Hal once more. The threat has ended and the evil guys fly away, while the Therioms return the machine to the cheering townspeople. Suddenly, the machine crumbles and falls apart, and the inhabitants of Ra-Hal decide that from that moment onward they will only rely on natural farming.
Overall, the idea of someone being doubtful of their own status amongst the heroes isn't new, but it's nicely done here. The secret that Masq-Lor has been carrying for two decades gives the story a lot of tension, and the solution is pretty spectacular. The artwork is also of top class and the whole thing has a fine, gloomy atmosphere.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ Although I never clamoured for a figure of Elahdin, when she got announced to be prototyped instead of an unspecified Horizon CoBoN figure that was originally planned but is too difficult to produce, I thought it was a decent choice

Articulation: ♥♥♥ All the articulation is the standard stuff found on all KR female figures (plus the tail) and most of the POA are solid. However, giving a figure swappable heads that are still ball jointed is a challenge and something went amiss on Elahdin. The heads are very difficult to swap, particularly in getting them onto the peg. The easiest solution is to use a hair dryer to heat up the socket of the head before planting it on

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣ The sculpt is done really well, especially on the heads, armour, and shin guards. The paint applications on the armour is nice and clean, with just a little unevenness around the tips of the star. The work on the faces is good - both heads look great and capture the look of the character

Accessories: ♠♠♠♠♠ Definitely PoliganToys didn't skimp on the accessories for Elahdin. Among them, I think the cloth cape/net pieces look really good on the figure and help her stand out from the other characters. On the other end of the spectrum, the tiara for the standard head has those big ugly clips that help ruin the figure's aesthetic look

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ What makes me happy is how much I like this figure after playing around with it. I thought this would be one of the figures I’d look at just to get through my review, and I’d be done with it. Thankfully, I was wrong

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I wasn't that excited for Elahdin. I thought I wouldn’t care about it so much, but now that this figure is in-hand, she's much more interesting and appealing than I imagined.

KR|Horizon Review #10: Tauton (Horizon Edition)

Toy prototype details

Name: Tauton^TM (Horizon Edition)

Subtitle: transformed fighting lieutenant

Line: KR|Horizon

Item type: action figure - Nº 9 in the line.

Character details

Name: Tauton, aka Evil Tauton

Classification: mutated human

Sex: male

Relationships: Herrion's love interest

Home: Tahron

Era: 15 years after Foundation

Affiliation: Destructomorph (temporarily)

Rank: first lieutenant; expert in hand-to-hand combat and weapons master.

Background

First appearance: KR|Horizon #2 - In the eye of the storm

Brief bio: at a young age, Tauton was asked by King Li-Khon to step into his army of brave Theriom soldiers and take up the arms against the reptilian forces. As a result, he fought courageously with Tir-Hing against Bi-Harr's thirst for tyranny, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. In addition to his great abilities in combat and use of traditional weapons, Tauton was also a skilled engineer and constructed a pair of robotic gauntlets as well as a set of advanced electronic weapons, with which he heroically served Senior Minister Desion on the frontline throughout their battles with the revived Destructomorph army. Exposed to a malignant poison during one of such battles, he was uncannily transformed into a hideous, wicked monster. Still endowed with masterful fighting styles, great speed and skilful stealth, this monstrous assassin was equipped with a powered armour by Nemhetra and was given the mission to eliminate all of the Therioms as they battled for control of Tahron. At last, Tauton was forced to ambush and fight against Tarmann^TM, a young prodigy and expert of several forms of martial arts, who had been taken under his wing and trained rigorously, and who had since replaced him as the infantry's weapons specialist. In their epic duel, Tauton was seemingly wounded mortally by Tarmann's venomous spurs, but in the end, to everybody’s amazement, he recovered his human form thanks to the interaction between his poisoned blood and the valiant soldier's venom. Finally reunited with the heroic Therioms, Tauton was once again called to fight for justice, countering evil with his smashing power.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: similar to a marine iguana, characterised by scaly, bumpy wrinkled blue-greenish skin, hideous deep-set solid yellow eyes, a wide open mouth showing a number of sharp teeth on the inner sides of the jawbones and a protruding tongue. He wears a golden removable helmet with black details, which looks like made of two different half-kabutos that have been joined by a poorly executed weld, and is topped with a jagged blade crest. Its design is highly asymmetrical, with one side hinting at some technological components; the weld running down the center seems very precarious, as if it's on the verge of cracking (and kind of looks like it extends through Tauton's face as a scar)

Body: torso, arms and legs covered with a tight black suit, claw hands and feet (the latter are bare and show scaly blue-greenish skin). The suit looks smooth at a distance, but up close it appears to be sculpted with techy circuitry patterns. A golden band worn around the right thigh carries a sheath with a small silver dagger, which is unfortunately not removable

Wearables: a black armour with gold details (including two horn-shaped ornaments near the collar, which in turn looks like a sort of mouth shield), two black gloves with wrist guards, two black shin guards (both the wrist and shin guards are ornamented with symbols that are vaguely reminiscent of Asian characters), a studded black tasset belt (with a golden central stud in front) and golden shorts. The armour is fitted with black furry armholes and two golden crossed straps, one of which is covered with studs, while the other has a cyan, glow-in-the-dark band that connects a Destructomorph symbol (i.e., a square-shaped spider, also cyan and GITD, whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face) at the centre of the chest to the left shoulder; the left arm is equipped with a 2-piece golden removable armour, consisting of a lamellar rerebrace attached to an oversized studded shoulder guard, and a spiked bracer with a hand guard extension.

Tauton's stylised helmet.

Tauton's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Destructomorph symbol.

Weapons and accessories

Although in the comics Tauton is depicted as a skilled hand-to-hand fighter even in his mutated form, his figure has no action feature apart from the GITD details on the armour. However, it does come with some very interesting accessories. First up, what really takes his combat skills to the next level is a pair of kusarigama (or chain sickles), each consisting of a kama on a length of real metal chain with a grip (which doubles as a weight for flailing and striking) at the end. Both weapons are painted in black (shafts and grips) and golden colour (blades and chains). The two kusarigama can be stored on the back armour thanks to the presence of four clips (two for the shafts of the kamas and two for the grips), or can be combined into a single badass chain weapon by connecting the two grips.

Additionally, the figure includes a few pieces that are meant to update Foundation Tauton, for representing his older version in the ranks of the Theriom army. The set includes a head, a pair of battle gauntlets and two blast effects. The head is characterised by Asian features, olive brown skin, black hair (with a receding hairline and a classic man bun), hazel eyes, a long narrow moustache whose ends taper and droop down to the chin, and a small pointed chin puff. The two disproportionately large golden snap-on techno-gauntlets can replace the standard hands of the Foundation figure and, like their original counterparts, work both as armoured gloves and sleeve armours. While the gauntlets are characterised by different poses (fist for the left one and chopping hand for the right one), both have been provided with countless details, such as an ornamental grid on each arm guard that reveals parts of the mechanical interior underneath. Each plating on the back of the hand is designed to resemble the head of a wild beast with glossy red (for the left gauntlet) or metallic blue (for the right gauntlet) eyes and a little nose-barrel that shoots blasts of heating (left) or freezing (right) energy, making it easier for Tauton to smash solid objects afterwards. The blast effects, one translucent red and one translucent blue, are awesome and each can plug into a hole on the respective gauntlet.

Final thoughts

Character value: ♦♦♦ I think Tauton is an awesome character and he was translated so amazingly to his Horizon evil version - he just exudes badassery! However, I understand that some might not feel so strongly about this figure, due to him not being a character they got as invested in as others. Nonetheless, I do think he deserved his representation in the line

Articulation: ♥♥♥ He is articulated just the same as any KR figure. He has no extra articulation, nor does he have any flaws

Sculpt and paint: ♣♣♣♣♣ Tauton turned out to be a pretty big success in both the sculpt and paint departments. He’s excellently done, crisp and clean!

Accessories: ♠♠♠ Although he comes with more accessories than the average KR figure, I wish he had been given more pieces to create a more accurate Horizon heroic version of the character

Playability: ♪♪♪♪ No matter what version of Tauton you have on your shelf and what add-ons you give him - evil with weapons or heroic with updates, you know this is one figure that is going to rock it, no matter what options you use

Overall: ☺☺☺☺ I anticipated Tauton to be one of my favourite figures of the KR|Horizon series based on the production photos I was shown. In hand, he’s a pretty solid toy and I think most collectors would be happy with him. Yet, while this figure is damn cool and makes another great addition to Nemhetra's army, the lack of a Horizon-accurate good-guy version of this character will probably cause some controversy.

KR Review #83: Queen Holopodian (SDCC 2020 Exclusive)

In a tweet directed at potential attendees, the organisers of San Diego Comic-Con gave the impression that this year’s convention (scheduled for July 23 – 26, 2020) could still happen. This despite warnings that the Covid-19 pandemic could last well into summer. Update: soon after I had drafted this post, the organisers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced with deep regret that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020.

If that “show must go on” approach is serious, PoliganToys' SDCC 2020 exclusive release will be the Queen Holopodian^TM!

Now, this large scale figure, officially the sixth in the KR|Foundation series, really makes for a visually stunning addition to the line.

Details

Name: Queen Holopodian

Subtitle: thorny protector

Classification: holopodian*

Relationships: creature venerated by the inhabitants of the island city-state of Semhadar^TM; holopodian mutants' biological mother

Sex: female

Home: the depths of the sea between Tahron and the island of Semhadar

Affiliation: Theriom (temporarily)

Rank: ally.

*Holopodians are fictional large-sized echinoderms with some characteristics that are shared with crustaceans.

Articulation

The Queen Holopodian's articulation includes a ball jointed upper neck, a hinged lower neck, a swivel-hinged tail (the end of the tail is made of bendy rubber with a sturdy wire inside for posing) and 14 swivel-hinged legs (four of which feature two additional swivel-hinged joints at the elbows/knees and at the wrists/ankles, plus double hinged fingers/toes parts).

Description

Holopodians are marine, crawling/swimming creatures, though capable of dwelling on land and standing upright over short distances. When upright, the Queen is bipedal in form and her most prominent feature is her greater size compared to other characters, standing around 23 cm (around 9") in height, one and a half times the height of a normal KR figure and double the height of most other holopodian creatures seen in the comics. However, most of the time she either adopts a more hunched stance or remains vaguely "quadrupedal" when walking or sprinting.

The creature's head at first glance appears to be enclosed within a double, roughly spherical black hinged shell covered with long, thick sharp glossy-black spines and partially open, which seems to lack facial features (apart from a pair of green glowing eyes that peek through the serrated opening), until it unfurls like a flower to reveal a star-shaped, bumpy blueish face. When spread out, her head is larger than those of other individuals of the same species and is protected by a broad, crown-shaped carapace, which is composed of spiny, black bony plates derived from the above-mentioned shell. The five "face arms" radiate from a central disc that has a single round nostril, and are connected by a blueish, seemingly muscular membrane. The two top arms exhibit a pair of menacing pinkish eyes (they change colour to adapt to different light intensities), each surrounded by rough, brownish calcified outgrowths, and bear two flat membranous lobes resembling "bat wing"-shaped ears. Below the eyes on either side of the head are tentacle-like fleshy tubes, which inflate when breathing. The bottom arm is a snout-shaped mouth, which can open extremely wide, revealing a threatening upper jaw and four other side/lower mandibles, which are lined with several large, fang-like sharp whitish teeth in the front, followed by circular rows of many small dreadfully jagged teeth. The monster’s complex, large segmented maw is powerful enough to smash through bone and metal and is filled with a black prehensile tongue that can extend from it. The figure is packaged with the spread out head (with mouth closed) as the standard portrait.

With the exception of her face, which is blueish (although you can see some pink flesh on the back of each arm), and underside, which is covered by a series of overlapping, articulated brownish calcified plates that give protection while also providing flexibility, her skin is pinkish and slimy, and bears a number of projections in the form of porous warts. Her back displays four dorsal ridges that run down its length and bear comb-like bands of seemingly vibrating translucent light-blue hairs (which are probably gills), and is equipped with unconnected black armoured shell fragments, which have the same spiny, bony appearance of the head piece and are the remainder of her egg-form's shell (the "eggs" are actually inactive immature forms of adult individuals). An extra Y-shaped, light-blueish chitinous shell on her chest is present in the form of another armoured carapace, which is fictionally so resilient that it's even capable of repelling sustained gunfire. Similar chitinous outer cases protect the penultimate segments of her elongated limbs, which comprise three pairs of forelimbs (one digitigrade and two insect-like) and four pairs of hind limbs (one digitigrade and three insect-like). The two primary arms are long and thin compared to the body core and have webbed, six-fingered hands with four long skeletal middle fingers and a pair of stubbier opposable thumbs. The two primary legs are stocky and end in five-digit webbed feet, with three toes in front (the middle toe has a much longer claw than the other two) and two in back. In addition to her primary limbs, four secondary, much smaller arms and six secondary legs, each ending in a claw-like finger/toe, extend from the centre of her underbelly and tail, respectively. Each primary limb is equipped with three feathery, tendril-like pinkish prehensile appendages fringed with little filaments and terminating in bony teeth-like talons, which are fictionally sticky and can be used for offensive attacks. Finally, she has a long segmented, blade-tipped prehensile tail; the blade design closely resembles a bifurcated telson and acts as a slashing weapon. The tail also has a flat ridge of spines at the base of the telson, which helps the creature swim efficiently.

Action feature

Aside from having great physical strength, holopodians are equipped with wide, armoured carapaces on their heads, into which they are able to withdraw their face and mouth as a means of protection. This structure is also thought to serve as a sort of sensory antenna, allowing the creatures to detect thermal, bioelectric and biochemical signals with great sensitivity. The Queen figure comes with three interchangeable heads: furled, spread out with a closed mouth and spread out with a gaping mouth.

Additionally, these creatures have a fluid maintained under pressure in a water vascular system between a double layer of tissue: an internal layer of bony plates and an external layer of skin. This system is connected to their facial tubes, through which powerful jets of water are expelled from the vascular interspace by alternately contracting their muscles. So, the Queen comes with two spurting water effects that plug into the ends of her muscular siphons snugly.

Weapons and accessories

Apart from the three alternate portraits and the water attachments, the Queen Holopodian only includes two accessories, one of which is another head. However, this head is meant to be used with Kinod in his generic holopodian mutant form. We know that, thanks to a few additional pieces, Kinod can also be displayed as one of his soldiers; these pieces include an alternative head that consists of a spherical bivalve black shell covered with spines and partially open, whose serrated opening allows a pair of evil green glowing eyes to peek through. In the first issue of the KR|Horizon comic book series, we meet Tenophar^TM, the last surviving member of Kinod's army and unauthorised guardian of Dekropolis, who shows that, like the bestial holopodians, he can spread out his head-shell to reveal a star-shaped, bumpy face. This unfurled version of the head looks different from both Kinod's and the Queen's heads. While its back is still protected by a spiny black carapace, the five "arms" are connected by a pinkish, seemingly muscular membrane and radiate from a central disc that has an anthropoid brownish calcified nose. The two blueish top arms exhibit a pair of evil pinkish eyes, which are topped by rough, brownish brow ridges and bear two elongated lobes resembling sensory appendages. Below the eyes on either side of the head are bunches of tendril-like pinkish filaments, which look like the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish. The blueish bottom arm is similar to a protruding chin and carries a humanoid mouth, which is slightly open and reveals several sharp whitish teeth. It's interesting to note that this head was originally depicted as similar to the entirety of a shell-less, green-eyed pink jellyfish, with a number of tentacles surrounding its supposed mouth; this concept design was finally discarded because considered too similar to Cthulhu.

The other accessory is a repaint of Xehrea's trident, which has been retooled slightly in order to be grasped by Tenophar. This weapon is a metallic dark-blue staff that has a trishula-like trident at one end and a swordbreaker blade at the other end, and features a translucent light-blue gem at the base of the central prong.

PoliganToys usually excels in the sculpting category, and the Holopodian Queen is no exception. Every little crevice of bony carapace is rendered beautifully, and as far as I can tell, looks exactly like the comic book version. Some might argue that the Queen, though big, is still too small; I'd say that compared to the standard figure, the scale looks right. The paintjob really brings out the intricate sculpt, displaying an appropriate salmon-pink skin tone with washes of shiny slime and brownish sand all over her. Apart from several heads, there's not many accessories here - you don't get much in quantity, but the quality is there. In the comics, the egg-laying queen possesses a large brood chamber attached to her lower torso; the inclusion of this egg sack would have definitely been great. The figure is only hurt by use of soft rubber pieces in several areas of articulation to allow movement, which may decay over time. Even with these minor problems, it's edging extremely close to a 10/10 rating, and really has the potential to be a crown jewel for any collector of KR figures. This is (hopefully) popping up at SDCC 2020, so be sure to check it out if you're attending.