K’Kruhk - LC - Basic (BD57)

K'Kruhk is a Jedi Knight during the last days of the Republic. Although he has the fierce nature of all Whiphids, he also holds strong pacifist ideals and struggles with the military role that the Jedi perform during the Clone Wars.

When it comes to the Expanded Universe, many stories take on the causality dilemma of “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” And while many characters make their debut appearance in lesser known sources, it usually takes some multimedia spotlight to bring them to the forefront of fan consciousness. K’Kruhk’s first appearance in the Star Wars universe certainly didn’t take place in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, but is arguably the place where he gained his notoriety. In a climactic scene in the last chapter of Volume 1, K’Kruhk suffers an injury at the hands of General Grievous and his lightsaber becomes one of Grievous’ trophies. The battle continues in the opening scene of Volume 2: Chapter 21 and K’Kruhk quickly became a Star Wars character fans and collectors wanted as an action figure. He is a Whiphid Jedi Master and he extremely tall and bulky. We aren’t supposed to judge by size, but Master K’Kruhk seems that he would be able to easily win any battle against a Sith or Separatist with relative ease. Hasbro has been faithful with dropping (Tartakovsky-inspired) Clone Wars figures to us here and there and it was an incredible joy to get K’Kruhk next. He is part of the Expanded Universe batch of the Legacy Collection which is a now-exclusive Toys R Us wave of figures. The craftsmanship of this action figure is truly a work of art. Hasbro sacrificed no detail and K’Kruhk is without a doubt one of the most impressive Jedi we have seen in the basic figure line thus far. Oh, and for fans of Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars masterpiece, you get to check off another figure from your wish list!

K’Kruhk is extremely tall. The 2004 SW [S - P3] J'Quille (Jabba's Sail Barge) ('04 #09) figure is either very out of scale, or K’Kruhk is extremely large for his species. The Whiphids are one extremely large and muscular species. His arms and legs and thick and his massive girth in his chest and upper body are noteworthy. While lacking as many digits as a typical Jedi, his hoofed feet and fingers serve their purpose on this action figure quite well. Despite having fewer digits in his hands than the average action figure, he can hold his lightsaber flawlessly. The Jedi outfit has been designed very well too. He has a soft-goods skirt underneath a molded front piece that blends in nicely (but not perfectly) with his upper body and the outer dark brown robe fits his large physique excellently. Yes, the robes are long and flowing, but he fits in it well and it doesn’t look too big for him at all. Master K’Kruhk certainly looks as if he can hold his own defending the freedom of the Republic. And even though he is a victim of many injuries from battle, he is always able to quickly regain his composure and show his prowess as a Jedi Master. K’Kruhk’s portrait is sculpted beautifully. Looking reminiscently like a lion, his “mane” serves as a perimeter for his very distinct Whiphid face. Interestingly, he has similar spots on his face that J’Quille did and the trademark tusks protruding from his bottom jaw look exactly as they should. He also has a few braids in the lower portions of his “beard” and it amazes us how much detail the sculptors at Hasbro gave this figure. It is truly astounding that so much consideration had been given to this figure to make these small details this impressive.

K’Kruhk has one of the most longstanding longevity of any Jedi in the Expanded Universe. Despite his many brushes with death, he survived throughout the years and ended up serving on the Jedi High Council. His size is only outmatched by his bravery and he became a Jedi that was highly respected by so many others. When he was fighting the Separatists on Hypori, Grievous believed he had killed him with a lightsaber slash to the waist. But K’Kruhk entered a state of hibernation and was able to heal his wounds. This healing trait allowed him to feign death and tell about his encounter with General Grievous that almost killed him, Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti. It was a very powerful scene and an awesome cliffhanger for the end of Volume 1. K’Kruhk is absolutely one of the finer figures in the Expanded Universe wave of figures and perhaps one of the greatest Jedi action figures the line has seen. He is super-articulated, sculpted excellently and painted very nicely. His joints are relatively tight and he looks great just standing around or being posed in an action stance. We cannot wait to display him in our Tartakovsky dioramas. And speaking of Tartakovsky, we hope that Hasbro will continue to sparsely populate the line here and there with a few more figures that would help to complete the line in full. We still need a Nelvaan Warrior and a phase II Captain Fordo. (Editor's Note: 2011's TVC ARC Trooper Commander (VC54) is the modern update to the phase II Captain Fordo.) We are so close to getting all the core characters so we hope Hasbro can finish them up. K’Kruhk is a no-brainer folks. This is a figure you must absolutely add to your collection. He is definitely one of the most awesome Jedi we have come across and he is finally available immortalized in an action figure. K’Kruhk is an absolute must-have for your collection.