Plastic army men were an American tradition for years. The Dark Kingdom equivalent are made of Duralite, have 256 MB of nanocore to store footage and text, a proprietary USB connector, and are modeled after Dark Kingdom citizens. Some people have more than one `Dark Kingdom Hero' figure, but most only one. DKH figures are full-color, highly detailed 1/72 scale models, most of the hero in an active pose representing the actions they were decorated for. Individual figures retail for 75 Dark Kingdom kilojoules (one kilojoule is approximately 1.21 Japanese Yen) from a gatchapon machine, or fifteen for 1000 kJ in a box. Some heros are available with their distinctive equipment, such as the dozen or so figures of Mizuno Ami, ranging from her with a guitar in the jeans and jacket she wears as the face of "The Generic Metal Band", through the ones of her with the Mehve Prototypes in flight gear, up to the set with her, her wife Clarence, and the B-29 "Betsy Ross". The larger the distinctive equipment, the more expensive the set, up to the currently highest-priced, and largest: Nadia Grey, who took the 1996 Summer Olympic Gold medal for the 5000 meter swim, with her modified Soviet-built Typhoon submarine, and the wreckage of the "Monitor", which was raised in 3164. That set comes in a box large enough for a refrigerator, and costs a paltry 30000 kJ. The following is from the introductory write up on Kurokawa "Crusher" Megumi, who's figure catches her straightening up after she back-dropped Troy Aikman, his crumpled body at her feet. In addition to intro, the figure has full footage, with commercials, of both games she played her first seson, statistics on her career to date, pictures, audio clips, playlists of her favorite music, and interviews she did with various news programs. Other figures have similar data. -*- From her first appearance, with the first team ever fielded by the Destroyers, Crusher Kurokawa was obviously something special. [Behind the voiceover, we see a small person in full football gear, the black and orange of the Dark Kingdom Destroyers, with the number 01 on its chest, run out onto the field] That first game, no one outside the Destroyer club realized what their open tryouts portended. Crusher fell in with the offensive line, and when the Cowboys recieved the kickoff she performed what would become a trademark move for her. She grabbed the player with the ball, and ran him back to the end zone. [the camera follows the ball as it flies down the field, and a man in the blue uniform of the Dallas Cowboys grabs it. He gets three yards back up the field before the slight figure with KUROKAWA and 01 on the back ducks, presses the ball to his chest, throws his much larger form over her shoulder and runs down field, her fingers digging into his pads. The crowd yells and the players stare, slowing to a walk. She drops him in the end zone, and the referees run over and consult with each other for several minutes.] In a precedent-setting call, the play was judged legal. Her next play wasn't. [The ball is hiked to the Cowboy's QB, and he steps back, looking for the reciever. He starts when an orange and black form climbs over the man in front of him, but doesn't step back fast enough to prevent her from grabbing him about the middle and performing a perfect backdrop on him. The crowd goes silent, and the medics rush out when he doesn't move] She was suspended for three months, and the Destroyers had to finish the half with ten players. The Dark Kingdom medics got to him, and he recovered from his broken neck quick enough to play his next game. After halftime, the Destroyers rolled out their second team. Within four games Crusher was nearly forgotten, as the Destroyers changed teams every half, starting the pattern that continues to this day. No player has played more than a half with the Destroyers. Crusher's fame was secured when she led the Green Bay Packers to victory over the Destroyers in Superbowl XXVIII, scraping by 141-127. --- Log: The Destroyers, and Kurokawa "Crusher" Megumi, were the product of thinking about how thoroughly Dark Kingdom trained Martial Artists would dominate professional sports. The "Dark Kingdom Heros" figures are the result of thinking about toys, and plastic army men, and all of the decorated Americans we could be teaching our children about, but are pretty much trying to forget instead. Most DKH figures are combat heros, but some, like Crusher, aren't. 2004/09/24: started. 2004/09/27: logged, finished.