K9 Corps

K9 Corps is a 12" anthropomorphic action figure line of furry interest, developed by Lanard Toys, Inc. It was released in 2005 in select stores (specifically, K-Mart and KayBee Toys,) and currently has only one wave of 9 figures and 1 vehicle.

Premise

The line's protagonist, Dr. Davis Elliot, is recruited by a secret government agency for an experimental super-soldier project, in which he is pressed to use his geneticist skills to create the ultimate soldier, by combining the DNA of man and canine to create literal, loyal "dog solders". However, the first experiment malfunctions, and its result - the traitorous Doberman antagonist Malice - is rejected from the program in favor for his replacement, the much more dependable German Shepherd (and Malice's genetic half-brother) Magnum, and chained up.

In retaliation, he chews his own hand off to break free and escapes with Dr. Elliot's research, eventually using it to create his own breed of half-human canines known as the Marauders, seeking to devastate humanity and replace it with his new 'dominant species'. To combat him, Dr. Elliot continues work on the rest of his experiments, the soldiers born from them now dedicated to stopping Malice and his threat, once and for all.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in K9 Corps

Vehicles

• Dune Scorcher: A modified ATV built specially for the Corps, it carries its own arsenal of weapons and carries one figure.

Trivia

• Although unknown if it was intentional or not, the line's story bears an uncanny similarity to that of the cult furry TV show Road Rovers, down to the main villain being the protagonists' creator's first creation.
• So far, only two figures are known to have alternate outfits; Magnum (who has a second figure that comes with the Dune Scorcher), and General Taurus. However, both alternate outfits appear to be the same: green camo pants and leather 'bushwhackers' vest.
• As the line is of the 1:5 scale, their outfits are removable, revealing a subtly detailed body sculpt underneath, complete with moulded nipples on their chest. However, as the figures are essentially modified sculpts of another of Lanard's figure line, Ultra Corps, the figure is sadly disproportional; the head, arms and feet are too big for the body, and the legs (with the lower legs sculpted to take the appearance of more digitigrade feet) are quite a bit longer than is reasonable for the body size. Also, because of the oversized hands and feet, the figures' clothing cannot be removed with them on, which is why the extremities are removable. The pegs for the extremities, though, are very thin, and can be prone to breaking when removing and attaching them. Also because of their standing as a remold of an existing figure, the joints are prone to tightening problems, either being too loose to adequately hold a pose or tight enough to sometimes become frozen; there are no visible screw holes on the figures, which makes manually repairing these problems nigh-impossible.
• The line is also notable for the amount of identification given for the figures; a short story about the figure's personality is printed on the box behind a resealable teaser flap, while a bio card with the figure's stats is inside. Each figure also contains a CD that contains a slightly more impressive display of the information on the line's home page. Lastly, both the site and the CD contain a flash animation depicting the events that started the line's story.
• In the flash animation on the line's CD and web site, the lab and containment units used by Dr. Elliot to create Malice and the Corps greatly resembles the room containing the Transdogmifier from Road Rovers. Unlike the Transdogmifiers, however, the canids that Dr. Elliot creates emerges from the containment units are completely naked (though their 'bits' are discreetly hidden by the canid's (Malice's) leg in the flash).
• Purportedly, the line was to be followed up with a cartoon, but for reasons unknown, it never materialized, and all known efforts to market the line further (including advertising) has been suspended. Evidence of this idea is seen in the flash animation on the main site, and with the 'dog tag readers' that come with General Taurus and Dr. Elliot; resembling a walkie-talkie of sorts, the reader 'reads' whichever 'dog tags' are inserted into it (though not electronically; the tags and reader work like the old-style readers, with the tags being plastic molded 'keys' that make the reader play different sounds when inserted, depending on the grooves molded into it) and plays back a series of voice clips for each figure, voices that would presumably have been used for the characters in the cartoon.

External links

• K9 Corps' official site.
• Lanard Toys, Inc. official site.