The second prototype to be discovered was Quadrex.
First reported here in 1999 as a "four-armed barbarian",
it's plain to see while we got the number of arms right,
this figure was never a barbarian. What he is
seems to be another insectoid minion of Darkseid, following
in the footsteps of Mantis. Another minor controversy
has been what his name really is. As you can see, Kenner
went through many version in the presentation alone, starting
with two "Bio Bug" concepts and ending up with
the "Insecta Six" version, which was then modified
even further at the sculpting stage. But thanks to the
discovery of the hard copies below, we now know for sure
that he was named Quadrex as it was written on the bag
housing the parts of the sculpt!
As if all the concept art and finished sculpt weren't
enough, there was also a very unique "works-like"
photo in the presentation to prove to the execs that the
concept was workable. Using parts from Superman, Batman,
and the modified head of a Star Wars Ree-Yees(!), they
cobbled together a rough version to see how the many arms
would interact. Very cool. Next to that photo is a colorized
version I made using the final art as a guide. I did take
a few liberties, but it looks neat! Photos of the Quadrex
hard copy are courtesy of the fine folks at The
Earth Toy Mall.
