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Odi Et Amo

ToM Dracone

Entry posted by ToM Dracone

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Dear Lego,

 

I both hate you and love you right now.

 

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Gresh has lost half of his awesomeness. The prototype version of him had this absolutely incredible ring of lime spikes around his head: the lime Mistika claws, as are still there, but then under his chest armor were two lime Nuparu claws, so you got this stunning slope of lime. And then his chest armor used to have lime at the top, but now it's the same as Kongu Inika's – dark green, with silver at the top, which isn't half as interesting and leaves this one small blob of silver when he has nothing else in that but his launcher. Also, he used to have Piraka lower legs instead of Rahkshi for his shins – which gave him this very powerful, well-muscled look, and also made his whole set look sleek and dangerous.

 

The result was truly a work of art, and in my opinion among the most dramatic constructions and color schemes Bionicle has ever seen. Now he's still cool in his own right, but he's lost that just "WOW" quality. He looks weaker and nowhere near as stunning now, with skinny legs (the bulky Piraka pieces offset the thin-ness of the Mistika-claw thighs) and without the incredible construction that was his upper body.

 

Now, I'm not criticizing the current set as it is – it's a cohesive design with a neat color scheme and some great ideas. But now it has only three instead of five recolored pieces (it lost lime Nuparu claws and a lime/darkgreen Inika chest), and lacks the best ideas of the prototype – and having seen the beautiful, innovative, striking-as-few-other-sets-have-been design of the prototype, I have to wonder, why was that lost?

 

My only other issue is with Skrall, who previously had this bulky, intriguingly-built body that used a black Piraka body instead of an Inika one and had a Rahkshi lower back piece as its base. I wonder too why they got rid of that, because it looked far superior to the scrawny-looking, awkward-shouldered design there is now...

 

But. But but but. Those are my only rants (and they're not really rants, more like bemoaning "why were these beautiful designs changed to things inferior?") about winter 2009.

 

The rest – I love. Strakk remains the element of Ice embodied and perfected. That's one wicked image of Malum (whose name I still like better as "Maium", which sounds cooler and also isn't a Latin word), and his set is nice and bulky even if it could use some more yellow in the feet. And Vorox. Has six pieces recolored to tan.

 

And. He has. BROWN.

 

I need say nothing more.

 

And the matoranthings are all schway. The amount of recolored pieces therein makes me very happy.

 

The only one I still dislike is Tarix, but that's because she just looks boring to me, even with herhis nifty recolors. Ah well.

 

Meanwhile, tech crew has recently been added to my list of way too many things to do, but at least that's something fun. Getting a bio in the program is cool.

 

Also, I wore the pink feather boa to school today as my pink component for our breast cancer awareness day; we could dress down if we donated $5 and wore pink.

~ ToM

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ChocolateFrogs

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I agree. While he doesn't have bright green, he was still wow. Even his weapon. And those nuparu claws under the armor were a sweet idea.

The tan is amazing. I love brown, but they're only on four pieces that are fused with the tan.

 

~Fox

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Eranok

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Malum is Latin?!

Did you mean it's like Malus?

 

I too love Strakk, I'm going to get him, this I swear.

 

I also love Vorox, is that his name?

And I might get Tarix and of course, a mini...

 

I personally think Lego really got back some of it's former awesome.

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Bundalings
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Silver FAILS

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BROWN?!

<3

And that means hope for purple! =D

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No not really. Lego's been using brown continuously, just not in Bionicle.. With Purple they stopped

But yeah, I'm very happy with the brown. Especially since it's the delicious reddish-brown variety. :3
\

BtB
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-ReVenge-

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As far as I know, Skrall never had a true "body that used a black Piraka body instead of an Inika one and had a Rahkshi lower back piece as its base." In the leaked pictures, the body design was a piraka body that's computer edited and tilted. Thus, one can assume that this was onlya placeholder and was meant to be redesigned later, just as the launcher was.

 

I agree with everything else you said.

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Kiotu

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I don't know if this needs to be in Spoilers or not, but I'll just be safe...

 

How do you guys pronounce the name Vorox? It sounds kinda silly, but in Latin they pronounce their Vs like Ws (or at least that's how we're taught). If you pronounce Vorox with a W at the beginning of his name, it sounds awfully like "War Ox"...

 

Anyway, I pretty much agree with you on everything. Except for the fact that I actually never really liked Gresh in the first place.

Interestingly enough, Zesk is my favourite set so far. He's like a Radiak, except better ^_^

 

-K

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E(rik)
*removes alaxara, vultraz, tehcnic dunebuggy, and another mars-mission set that I forgot the name of (something with "crystal" and "tank" in it) in order to make room for the all glatorion and the little sets.*
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Aanchir

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I truly love some of the Glatorian sets, although I agree Gresh is pretty lame. Not like the prototype was too much better... none of the humanoid Glatorians (who I assume are the good guys, given the less bestial masks and the lack of those little silver six-sided disk whatevers) really impress me a great deal. Although Tarix is a set that I'm sure many will get if only for the pieces... been a long time since we've seen so much gold.

 

I agree that the old Gresh was totally ideal for that design in all respects but the mask-- I like the new one better. Still, you have to admit that five recolored parts in a set is a LOT to ask for. Also, do you notice that the foot joints on the prototype are one new-style, one old-style? Just goes to show that LEGO doesn't put all that much work into even their stock catalog-stage prototypes-- and who can blame them? Also, are you sure the torso is a silver-blend? In the pic that was accidentally released on LEGO.com, it looks like solid dark green, and I'd expect web pics to be reliable. It's sort of unclear in the canister pic.

 

The old Skrall was cool, but I don't mind the new one. It's not too great a loss.

 

The Matoran are pretty awesome, even if Tarduk has some weird limbs. It's a bit odd, though, that only one has a new piece exclusive to it, and that's a piece I doubt we'll see much of anywhere else. At least Strakk's icy bits could be recolored to rocky stuff.

 

The titan sets... still hard to decipher what color green Tuma's armor is; could be a blend. Both the titans are kinda bleh, but I like the dino dude's torso, even if his head and legs aren't too clever. Not sure which is Fero and which is Skirmix... that'll probably have to wait until online stores begin to carry the sets, thus giving us descriptions.

 

Overall, while the sets don't tug at me like they did when the characters we know and love were around, I agree these are all well-designed sets to a good extent. Then again, if the teaser pic in the back of the new comic is any clue, someone we knew and loved might be back-- someone many of us certainly didn't expect to see next year. Whether he's truly back or just has some relevance to next year's story is unknown, but it piques my interest more than any set from next year was able to on its own.

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ToM Dracone

ReVenge ~

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I'm not sure what you mean. The leaked picture's Piraka body wasn't edited at all; it was built just as much as the rest of him...

 

Aanchir ~

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Wow, I'm not sure we've ever agreed so thoroughly about new sets. Except of course that I think the old Gresh was among the most awesome sets ever. :D

 

Still, you have to admit that five recolored parts in a set is a LOT to ask for.

It is, but Vorox does indeed have five – and that's not even counting the tan Avotoran limb he shares with Zesk.

 

Also, are you sure the torso is a silver-blend? In the pic that was accidentally released on LEGO.com, it looks like solid dark green, and I'd expect web pics to be reliable. It's sort of unclear in the canister pic.

On the canister picture it quite clearly has silver at the top, but I would love if it were solid dark green, just so there wasn't that one silly bit of silver... of course, the original lime/dark green blend would have been best.

 

The titan sets... still hard to decipher what color green Tuma's armor is; could be a blend.

He's lime. The leaked picture made it quite clear. Plus, most of his green pieces come in lime in the other Glatoriana and company, the lime Inika feet and Mahri blades, so...

 

Fero and Skirmix just don't look interesting to me... I'd love Tuma if he were medium green, but the lime doesn't catch me as much on him.

 

Also, as Bunda said, no hope for purple, alas. That was an all-Lego decision to get rid of the color, not just Bionicle.

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Cap'n Tek

Hey ToM,

 

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Check out the eyes/brains of these sets... Trans-Yellow seems to have come back. And there appears to be variation between the other sets--Trans-Red for three of the sets (Leading one to thing they may be villainous perhaps?) Then there's Trans Orange (it seems), Trans-Blue, and Trans-Yellow like I said =D

 

I'm happy 'Bout that =D

 

//.Tek

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Guest The Captain

Guest The Captain

Posted

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Vorox is love. <3

 

Spoilers, my dear! Though I quite agree.

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Sappholopod

The only thing I really dislike is the fact that they still got hugging canisters!

 

Honestly, why can't they just off the accursed things, all they do is add dollars to the price.

 

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