Entry posted by Phyoohrii
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OK, I know you're all waiting for me to say this, so I will now. My opinions on the new sets we've seen so far. (where are you Mazeka?! *shakes fist*)
- Let's start with everyone's absolute least favourite Mistika, Gali Nuva. Now, I admit, she is also my least favourite Mistika, but to be fair, it's not a bad set, despite it being completely unrecognisable from the original Toa of Water. What I don't like is the mask (although it really does depend on the picture you look at), the shoulder armour (sure, they're nice pieces, but as shoulder armour, I'm not sure...), the Metru feet as feet and the rocket boosters on the feet. And don't forget the reverse Piraka torso. But overall, it combines into a a fairly good set. Although the fins on the adapted Kaukau don't need to be there. At all. Also, gone is any real weapon individual to her, going for the Kopaka Phantoka style of weaponry. Which is still OK, but a horrible idea. But oh boy, tons and tons of silver! That is a plus, that's for sure. Despite everyone's complaints about silver, I still love silver. It's what makes BIONICLE stand from the rest. I would have preferred different limbs though than 4 Inika shins.
- Oh Tahu. Why oh why do you have Metru plating on your limbs? Not a cool way to go. Makes the thighs and upper arms seem to exposed. Not the same for his shins, I must say though. The three blades on the back of shins I thought would be horrible, but since the piece is designed so well, it actually makes Tahu look more armoured. Now, to bad stuff, we have that annoying reverse Piraka torso again. The only times that has ever worked is with Hahli and Lesovikk. Hahli because the hips and torso pieces were the same colour, and for Lesovikk because it was covered up by the Nuparu claws. Not like this. It didn't work for Hewkii, and it certainly doesn't work here. He also has a lovely array of silver, which works equally as well because there is more Metru red to go with it. And the Inika feet in Metru red I do like. His nasty shield is pretty cool, with the recovery of the Gahlok Kal shield and that three blade thingamabob. It doesn't work like Pohatu's Propellers, but it will be cool still. His mask...well, it's love/hate. The mask is very ninja like, which is OK, but it's certainly no Hau, which is bad. And why does it have a Rode-esque fin? No, no, no. And finally, my biggest gripe, the four jet engines, with two having fins. ATTACHED TO HIS FRONT. I'll say no more. I am perplexed as to why Tahu has black single socket pieces...
- Now we come to sets that I like especially. Onua Nuva being one of them. Although I'm annoyed he's not squat like his former self AND he's taller than Pohatu, he is still easily my favourite Mistnuva. Maybe even favourite adapted Nuva, not sure yet, I won't judge yet. Still, there are things about him that perplex me. Like why there is that huge piece on only his left side. Why he has Bright Red fins and rocket boosters. Whether that black thing is an individual weapon or an attachment. And why they've decided to go for four different shades of grey, I think. Black, silver, dark grey, and possibly light grey. Hard to tell. That armour piece makes things more interesting than the normal Inika ones. And there's the return of the spiky black feet, which are perfect for Onua, I'd say. As for the mask...meh, it's certainly no Pakari, but man it looks neat. Because of the boosters on his legs, they also look more armoured than normal. Which is a plus. The only set where Green eyes are appropriate.
- Nothing I can add without talking about the Miskuta, so next we have Krika. Everyone loves Krika. I love Krika. Sadly, no one can pose him, so this really hard to write about. He has the same armour piece as Onua, only in white, and works REALLY well with the Batkuta body. He has a very small piece count, which is made up by the fact he towers over just about everything. The use of red and white works well yet again, and black once again. It's almost like Pridak has had another ugly mutation. The limbs are all black 90 degree Avtoran limbs, but because of the size of his weapons, it's OK. Krika is a great companion for Vamprah and Radiak, the four legged crew. The pieces are all spiny and threatening, and the theme spreads to the head, which is perhaps the coolest head piece we'll ever see. What's weird is the extra limb for the Nynrah Ghost blaster. Yeah. I wish they tried to pose him better.
- Gorast is one ug-er-lee boord. Ie, she's not exactly easy on the eye for a female. But I don't think she's one that is particularily stuffed about her looks. Anyway. Why on earth did they use a Metru Grey Inika torso? Absolutely ruins the colour scheme, which works really well, lime green and black. She has six limbs, all 90 degree Avtoran pieces. The feet/hands on four of the limbs are really cool, with the blended colour pieces. The actual hand pieces on the other two limbs are fantastic, another great addition to the claw family established long ago by Onua Mata. The mask (???) is really wide, and consists of orange Bohrok eyes, and has a nasty looking stinger from her mouth. Icky. But finally, the most interesting pieces are the wing things. They're of that translucent style, and they're really broad and really long, and basically makes the set.
- Finally, BIONICLE is complete. I have never, EVER been even close to saying that my favourite set from a line has been the Brown/Yellow/Orange one. Ever. OK, so maybe with Photok, but I'm still not sure with the Avtoran. But all that's to change. Bitil. Is. My favourite. Mistika. He has those same feet that Gorast has in silver, which is fantastic, he has weapons all of his own, no other set has them, he has spinities (red!), he has those large armour pieces as wings, with the old Slizer 90 degree limbs to attach them to the black Avtoran body, he has Tahu's awesome three-blade armour, his mask is all Beetle like (oh the irony), has more Bohrok orange eyes, and, the creme de la creme, HE'S YELLOW! The classic yellow that I grew up loving, we all loved. The yellow of the classic LEGO Minifig. I will never forget that colour. And it makes it's glorious return to BIONICLE for the first time since 2003, where Jaller was the patron of yellow. Judge Slizer and Blaster Slizer had it, and now Bitil once again adorns it as the main colour. And, I'll say it again, it's the first time the stone canister has ever been my favourite. Ever. That being said, it is Yellow yellow, isn't it? Not Keetongu Yellow...hope so...Don't misunderstand me, it's not because he's yellow that I like him. It's everything else. The yellow's an added bonus.
- It seems to be the theme for Miskuta that they've decided to make them look like insects. A commonly used theme for sets, but still most welcome. They may not have the majesty that the Batkuta have, but they certainly have a presence in their intimidating forms.
- Now, let's first talk about the Canisters. The best ever. They are big, they have an Ignika in the lid, the Nuva's face one way, the Makuta the other way, and the images on the canisters really help the sets. Except Gali, only because I can't find a full pic of her canister.
- What all these canisters have in common is the Nynrah Ghost Blaster, which is basically an air pump action that shoots those funny ghost things. They're a good idea, although they really look perculiar to me to be going with the Nuva, although they have neutral colouring for those sets, with grey and gunmetal. They work better with the Makuta, but sadly LEGO deciced to ruin it by making them bright red and lime green. Enough lime green, already! I reckon they should fire well, but they can't beat the precision of the Midak Skyblasters or the fun of the Tridax pods.
- Onto the second wave of Titans, we'll start with Vultraz. Vultraz is a pretty scary chappy for a Matoran, and he very much resembles the figure in the Jetrax T6 (more on that later). Basically, he's just a red Gavla, so there's not much to talk about him. The mask is very intimidating, again for a Matoran. However, he has a very big speeder thing for his size, with a magazine of Zamor/Midaks/Air Bubbles/whatever. There are plenty of fins for all that aerodynamics the thing would need for flying in a swamp. It's very long, and perhaps a bit inpracticle for a Matoran, but we'll see storywise what this lil' guy has to offer. As a note, I wouldn't consider Vultraz as a vehicle set, one because it's too small, and secondly because the vehicle sets are essentially a replacement of the playsets of yesteryear, so Vultraz wouldn't fit under that category. He'd be better placed as a Lesovikk esque guy, although he's not an exclusive set.
- Short opinion for Takanuva. A very Technic-esque set, with a large excessive weapon and a Midak Skyblaster. He's black and white, with awesome black pieces like the chest armour and Takadox heads and Pohatu arms. He has those same hands that Gorast has in white. He's a white titan, at last. He's all good, except for one thing. THAT AVOHKII IS UTTER FAIL. This one was better, but this one is horrible. From what I can tell. Otherwise, awesome set.
- The Vehicle Sets now. I'll start off with what I've already said already, which is that I am not impressed that they released the same characters twice in the same year. Not a wise move, and I still plan not to get them. Not just because of that, but also because they're gunna be really costly and I doubt I'd be able to get them anyway. Moving on there...
- I'll only talk briefly about all three here, because I have little to say. The vehicles are very well designed, heavily relying on Technic Techniques of old (puntastic!), with different action functions, like Jetrax T6 folding it's wings, Axalara T9 deploying Midak Skyblasters and Rockoh T3 with it's Zamor magazine. All are very impressive to look at, and certainly for playing too I bet they'll be lots of fun. The figures themselves, however, detract from the sets, not only because of who they are, but because they are very boring and plain compared to their Canister counterparts. I reckon it would have been better that they did a Phantoka-Avtoran thing, where you bought the vehicle and then you bought the canister seperately. That would cut down cost too.
All that aside, they are good sets. Simple as that. Some better than others, obviously, and yadda yadda. You got my thoughts, so...go outside and enjoy the sunshine. Or snowstorm.
EDIT: Over 1900 words. O_o
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