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On functions in Brain Attack
Posted by
The Inquisitive Automaton
,
Jan 30 2013
·
96 views
I'd just like to say that whoever the guy may be responsible for pricing things at my local supermarket, Morrisons, you have my eternal gratitude. That said, I sure hope you realise that the only person benefiting from your dramatic, accidental discounts of Lego sets is me. A couple of weeks ago it was the small sets for £2.70, today it was Bruizer for £6.70. It's a pity they didn't have Ogrum or Pyrox, two sets I'd much rather have found.
As for my thoughts on Bruizer...Well, he looks good. I love the rocky aesthetic he has going for him which is rather creative. But my biggest complaint is that his arm-swinging function just completely ruins all hopes for poseability. The only articulation in his right arm is in his hand which is practically useless. There isn't even movement in his shoulder which would give him a range of things to swing his arm at. The same goes for Scarox who I was really excited for, and was bitterly disappointed when I found out his arms had to be posed exactly so they don't constantly fall down his back. It reminds me why I was glad they stopped including functions in these sets in the first place. By all means, they're a good idea, making a toy that can actually be played with but the way that they're implemented just severely detracts from every other feature of the set. The fact that Bruizer's right arm can't be bent, turned or even remotely moved means there's no way to hide that rather hideously bare interior. Scarox's arm flipping action seemed nice on paper but it then causes a rather serious balancing issue, completely reducing the amount of posing potential it has to offer.
Do I dislike these arm swinging functions? Yes. Do I resent their presence? Well...no. I'm actually glad to see that the set designers over at Lego are being creative with the design of these things. We haven't seen a figure that actually has an in-built action since the Hordika of 2005. Eight years later, that's a pretty interesting move that they'd try to sneak this back into our sets, like the brown in Ogrum. Better that they start practising some innovation than keep releasing the same action figures over and over again. Sure it didn't work out for the best, but at least they're trying and I'll praise them for that. Trying shows thought and if they keep thinking they may even come up with something I like. For now, though, I'm happier seeing functions in vehicle sets.
As for my thoughts on Bruizer...Well, he looks good. I love the rocky aesthetic he has going for him which is rather creative. But my biggest complaint is that his arm-swinging function just completely ruins all hopes for poseability. The only articulation in his right arm is in his hand which is practically useless. There isn't even movement in his shoulder which would give him a range of things to swing his arm at. The same goes for Scarox who I was really excited for, and was bitterly disappointed when I found out his arms had to be posed exactly so they don't constantly fall down his back. It reminds me why I was glad they stopped including functions in these sets in the first place. By all means, they're a good idea, making a toy that can actually be played with but the way that they're implemented just severely detracts from every other feature of the set. The fact that Bruizer's right arm can't be bent, turned or even remotely moved means there's no way to hide that rather hideously bare interior. Scarox's arm flipping action seemed nice on paper but it then causes a rather serious balancing issue, completely reducing the amount of posing potential it has to offer.
Do I dislike these arm swinging functions? Yes. Do I resent their presence? Well...no. I'm actually glad to see that the set designers over at Lego are being creative with the design of these things. We haven't seen a figure that actually has an in-built action since the Hordika of 2005. Eight years later, that's a pretty interesting move that they'd try to sneak this back into our sets, like the brown in Ogrum. Better that they start practising some innovation than keep releasing the same action figures over and over again. Sure it didn't work out for the best, but at least they're trying and I'll praise them for that. Trying shows thought and if they keep thinking they may even come up with something I like. For now, though, I'm happier seeing functions in vehicle sets.
Overall, though, I've got no problem with Bruizer's function. Scarox's function is more egregious, IMO, because his overall design doesn't have the impressiveness to compensate for all the corners that were cut. If he had been non-humanoid perhaps his short, spindly limbs that are disproportionate with his chunky body would have been more acceptable, but overall I'm severely underwhelmed with his official design.
Overall I think it says a lot that the functions in the new Hero Factory villains don't require a bunch of specialized parts like the majority of BIONICLE functions. That alone makes up for a lot of the awkwardness of the functions compared to, say, Toa Metru arm-swinging functions.