whats the problem with the hordika?

[randomreviewerbros]

Ok so this is a question I have a wanting to ask for a while but I wasn't sure what the response would be so here goes.

 

Now ever since ive been on BZP I always see people saying how the toa hordika are bad sets, this is also seen on youtube when I see reviews on them, ive never understood why they were so bad, personally I thought they were pretty cool with their awesome weapons and heads, I could understand if the reason for them being bad was because they have a lot of gaps here and there but other than that I thought they were pretty awesome.

 

Tell me what you think and whywhy you thought they were bad sets

 

thanks

[Cambion]

*clears throat*

 

the torso pieces were strangely shaped (right angles?!?) due to the inclusion of the spinner launcher, and the completed torsos had enormous gaps. the feet were enormous and silly-looking and the lower legs bent backward in a really awkward way. each of the six sets had a short left arm and a long right arm, resulting in a completely ridiculous design and one each of three limb pieces in six different colours, one of which (the upper right arm) was just about unusable in MOCs. the heads were also difficult to use, especially if you didn't have two of the same mold.

 

...have i missed anything?

 

(that being said: the lower right arm, the neck, and the chest armour are all excellent pieces)

Edited August 25, 2014 by Arc

[Matoro Zeliph]

I thought what LEGO did with the right arm was pretty creative. I was kind of disappointed that they didn't do the same thing with the left arm. Why did they have to make it so uneven??? ALL the pieces were great for MOCing. But the actual set itself, it seemed too hollow.

 

In my opinion, the Toa Hordika were not bad sets, they shouldn't been afraid to add more buff to them. Beasts are supposed to be big and buff. Not anorexic. 

[Axilus Prime]

*clears throat*

 

the torso pieces were strangely shaped (right angles?!?) due to the inclusion of the spinner launcher, and the completed torsos had enormous gaps. the feet were enormous and silly-looking and the lower legs bent backward in a really awkward way. each of the six sets had a short left arm and a long right arm, resulting in a completely ridiculous design and one each of three limb pieces in six different colours, one of which (the upper right arm) was just about unusable in MOCs. the heads were also difficult to use, especially if you didn't have two of the same mold.

 

...have i missed anything?

 

(that being said: the lower right arm, the neck, and the chest armour are all excellent pieces)

The strange shapes and proportions were intentional to show the effects of their mutation. I also am quite fond of the Hordika feet. They have so many uses.

[Cambion]

The strange shapes and proportions were intentional to show the effects of their mutation.

 

they don't make for good MOCing pieces though.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Arc

[Axilus Prime]

 

The strange shapes and proportions were intentional to show the effects of their mutation.

 

they don't make for good MOCing pieces though.

 

Perhaps not, but the sets are designed to be fun on their own whether you MOC with them or not. Their heads, feet, torso armor, legs in general, and weapons were also quite MOC-able.

[Sumiki]

Most people on BZP judge the quality of a set by the quality of its constituent parts. It's the reason I never found the Hordika very good sets. I've never actually seen a use for the torso armor parts as something other than torso armor.

[Fang RRB]

Most people on BZP judge the quality of a set by the quality of its constituent parts. It's the reason I never found the Hordika very good sets. I've never actually seen a use for the torso armor parts as something other than torso armor.

Yet you have a Hordika Picture for your emblem, lol

[~Shockwave~]

As sets they accomplished exactly what they needed to. Freakishly mutated former (Current? Are they still toa?) toa.

 

But they did so with some odd parts and strange posability. The lower legs are especially displeasing to the eye. They could have easily reused the metru lower legs and been fine. 

[The 1st Shadow]

I never thought they were all that bad. Again, it was supposed to represent mutated freaks, so it makes sense that they'd look a bit odd.

 

I have, however, made good MOCing use of the torso pieces. If you look at the Alt. Teridax and JallerNui characters in my comics, you'll see what I mean. As it stands, I wish I had more of their parts right now. I forget who said it, but someone on here once said that no parts are useless for MOCing, if you know what you're doing.

 

[randomreviewerbros]

Ok thanks guys for your opinions, another thing i didn't say was that the reason i thought they were so epic was because of how unique they were, in the way their builds were, the feet and leg pieces i thought personally were great parts and were just very cool, the overall look of them was what they were supposed to accomplish, they were meant to be half rahi, half toa which i believe LEGO accomplished to the best of their ability as this would have been a hard design for them to come up with, and i think they got their point across well, including at least one gear function to satisfy the fans of the first 4 years of sets

[Space: Ocean of Awe]

I actually thought that they looked awesome, still do. The gaps are easily overlooked, and as for MOCing parts, I found them quite lucrative. The feet, arms, torso, shins, head, and weapons are, to me fine pieces.

 

I also liked their gear functions, which don't hamper poseability as was the case with the Toa Mata and Metru, but are still great fun and look good.

 

=)

[randomreviewerbros]

I actually thought that they looked awesome, still do. The gaps are easily overlooked, and as for MOCing parts, I found them quite lucrative. The feet, arms, torso, shins, head, and weapons are, to me fine pieces.

 

I also liked their gear functions, which don't hamper poseability as was the case with the Toa Mata and Metru, but are still great fun and look good.

 

=)

Thank you, someone who agrees with me!

[Akavakaku]

My own reasons for disliking them:

Rhotuka launcher. Spinner falls off super easily, can't be aimed, and requires a large piece that can't even be incorporated into the set. And if you take it off, it leaves the set with a big back plate sticking out, unlike the Visorak.

Lame gear function. The arm just hangs limply unless you actively turn the knob; a ball and socket joint would be way more useful even in terms of play.

Wrong aesthetic. The proportions are fine, but the colors and part choices don't make them look like mutants but rather franksteinian living-dead-Toa. Which would make a fine story arc, but isn't what we got. Lots of metallic silver, weapons which clearly look like they're being held in the hands, spinner launchers (how is that like a beast or mutant?) bathroom slipper feet, etc.

[xccj]

My problem; they were ugly sets.  The storyline was like "there's a reason they're ugly!" but that still doesn't excuse the fact.

 

The proportions were bad with one ridiculously oversized arm and one undersized arm.  I get that the other arm needed to be bigger to utilize the gear function, but said function was pretty underwhelming anyway.  The helmet designs generally did not look like the character's previous masks and instead tried to make some ambiguous animal design, but didn't quite pull it off.  (Later years, like the Barraki and 08 Makuta managed to pull that kind of thing off better.)  And the design for the legs was a little clunky and not as streamline as the leg designs that came before it (Rahkshi, Metru) or even some that came after it (Piraka, inika.)  Story-wise, it also brought out the worst of each character.  I get that it was supposed to help them grown, but artificially enhancing their bad traits seemed like a bad way to do that, and Matau and Vakama were unbearable at times.

 

That's not to say the Hordika didn't have their good points.  The multi-colored weapons were a refreshing change (since they were not just silver) and the Rhotuka functioned well enough for what it was.  (I mean, it was a lame projectile weapon and failed as a collectible, but gosh it was a great spinner to launch.)  Plus, remember the ball joint piece that was dubbed "Hordika brain"?  An extremely useful element that only appeared with the Hordika at first and didn't become more widespread until the following year.

 

So, generally, I found the sets to be unappealing in many ways, which cultivates in them being one of the more disliked group of Toa.

 

[Kaxix]

Maybe the arm mechanism isn't that interesting, but apart from that, I like the Hordika. The problem is that I can't really find a wave of sets that is overall inferior to the Hordika. Still Roodaka, Sidorak e Keetongu were great sets.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Though they were not my favorite group of Toa, I really didn't have a problem with the Hordika. I liked their spinner functions, which I always had a blast launching. Their weapons were cool. And they had some cool head pieces IMO.

 

I do agree that their left arms were bland. I feel more could've been done with them. But aside from that I like them for what they were; mutated Toa. 

[Reznas]

This is coming from someone biased ('05 was when I bought my first set), but honestly, I never had a problem with the Hordika. As Shockwave mentioned above, for a bunch of sets intended to look mutilated and deranged, I think LEGO did pretty well. I mean, the sets might not be as appealing to the eye as, say, some of the '01-'04 sets, but they served a purpose.

 

I do think the chest plate, as Sumiki mentioned, is kind of annoying. I remember trying to MoC with it all the time--it was the worst armor piece ever.

 

-Rez

[Reya]

I never had any problems with the Toa Hordika. Although I am not a MOCer, I can see why the Toa Hordika's parts would be frustrating to use. I thought Lego captured their Mutated looks quite well. In fact, it was the only time really where these long arms common to a lot of canister sets post-2004 was justifiable. I do think the masks could have resembled their original forms more, though.

[Banana Gunz]

I personally don't own one so I can't say for sure but from their designs, I feel like they look pretty okay. They capture the "beast" aspect pretty well without going too far from a toa design, are creative and an attempt at something new. I saw a review and get what others mean by gappy though. They're fine sets and not as bad as everyone says, but there's definitely room for improvement on them.

[Toatapio Nuva]

I like the Toa Hordika. I can understand why many people complain about them, but the issues don't bother me personally.

[Irrie]

Lego made a good attempt with the Hordika, however if they patched up some of the errors, they could easily have been my favorite Toa Team. 

[doodleloot]

I absolutely loved the Hordika as a kid. Looking at them again now, I really don't think they're as great as I used to, but they're still decent sets in my opinion. I don't really get why so many people dislike the parts used for them. Apart from the Torso, I found pieces like the legs or feet to be very useful.

[Cambion]

 

Most people on BZP judge the quality of a set by the quality of its constituent parts. It's the reason I never found the Hordika very good sets. I've never actually seen a use for the torso armor parts as something other than torso armor.

Yet you have a Hordika Picture for your emblem, lol

 

...you know that rank images aren't something you choose, right?

 

...never mind, that's off topic.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Arc

[Manducus]

I loved the Toa Hordika sets even though their parts didn't have that much of use when it came to MOCing.

[MrSciFiGuy]

I liked them. The main issue is the actual torso piece, very awkward. But the feet, weapons, and armor was great. Plus it introduced a crazy awesome piece: the hordika neck

[Nato G]

I never much liked them, dunno why. I was on a low budget that year and had already bought all of the Visorak and Roodaka. I couldn't afford to buy the Hordika anyway. 

[Mr. House]

I skipped '05, so I don't have much of a problem with the sets as much as I do with the story...

[Methaxx]

The Hordika time was when I started getting into Bionicle and I can say I like them. The only problem I have them set-wise is the left arm - really hard to pose it. If they had used another piece(s) it would have been much better.

[Ektris]

I just found them ugly and impossible to work with.

 

I don't have a problem with the asymmetry of the arms - that's fine, and goes with the intent of the characters. The gear functionality of the right arm was and still is cool, but it did limit what you could do - you can't do anything with the elbow because it'll just fall down thanks to the gear. Which seemed like a step backwards from the Metru. But then you get to the left arm, which was just an atrocity. The choice of limb there was just plain bad and stupid. You can't even get the arm to go down against the body! Nevermind, again, the lack of an elbow... If it had been the same arm piece that the Rahkshi used, for example, it still would have accomplished much more while still portraying a mutated, hindered appearance.

Hmm... So it's really just the arms I mostly have a problem with. But if you can't do anything with your toy's arms, that really limits what fun you can have (unless you feel like slashing about with the right one, which again was still great).

 

~|ET|~

[boston100]

The hordika are my favourite set designs. The masks are great, the weapons are cool (am i the only one that noticed if u put both matau's weapons or both nuju's weapons together u get a sick new weapon?) I love the lean, hungry look they had, the chest plates are my favourite peice to use in mocs and lets face it, rohtukas are just amazing.

[randomreviewerbros]

The hordika are my favourite set designs. The masks are great, the weapons are cool (am i the only one that noticed if u put both matau's weapons or both nuju's weapons together u get a sick new weapon?) I love the lean, hungry look they had, the chest plates are my favourite peice to use in mocs and lets face it, rohtukas are just amazing.

Thank you! I know the Rhotukas are brilliant firing weapons they go so far its ridiculous

[UnderscoreChronix]

The right arm is always sticking out and cannot go down, and is much shorter than the other one. The torso is very gappy too.

[Liopleurodon]

I just disliked the arm lenghts and the fact that their masks weren't compatible with other heads. I did like the body design and weapons, though.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

The torso is kinda weird, the ripcord goes through their chests, the left arm is impossible to play with and the right arm is annoying to keep in place. I like the right arm, just wish it had a sort of lock (not sure how that could've been done). Storywise I like them, it's just setwise I'm not a fan.

[Adventurer]

At the time I think people were annoyed for a variety of reasons (other than the pieces in the sets mentioned above). Story-wise some people were annoyed that the flashback arc was being extended another year, delaying us finding out what was happening in present day with the Nuva. Additionally I think some people didn't like the nice clean heroic Toa Metru becoming uglier and more beastlike - while that was the purpose of the story I think some people didn't like the characters and the appearance of the sets as much as a result. My two cents anyway.

[Timageness]

Personally, I liked the upper right arm piece, and I'm planning on getting two of the Onewa Hordika sets alongside two Avak sets so I can build a Skakdi Hordika Moc with extra bulky arms. The only flaws I saw with the original Hordika were that the arms were asymetrical and the gear function couldn't be placed in a fixed/locked position like the Toa Nuva. The Rotuka placement wasn't that big of a deal because it made sense for them to be hunched over when firing it in a specific direction, and had to have a loose launcher connection for it to fly off.

[25K Now!]

They were odd-looking and had awkward gaits.

 

I mean I understood why, but they were pretty weird to play around with.

[Lyichir]

I was quite fond of the Hordika, personally. Their torso parts, with all their right angles were much more useful than the oddly-angled gearbox of the Toa Metru (and their silver chest armor was quite useful—it's no surprise that the Mahri Nui Matoran, perhaps the best Matoran in Bionicle's entire run, used the same piece to great effect). Their overdeveloped right arm gave them a look and feel quite unlike any previous Toa. Their "masks" were more useful as generic armor than most previous masks. Their blended weapons were interesting and, at the time at least, their colors reminded me of the classic Toa weapons after several years of dull and repetitive silver weaponry. Their lower legs were oddly-shaped, but on the other hand, that made them some of the only lower leg beams which weren't the exact same length as the Rahkshi or Toa Metru lower legs. They introduced two amazing new elements for integrating ball joint-based builds with Technic—the basic Hordika neck and the larger lower arm piece (both parts would remain in use for a long time due to their usefulness and versatility).

[Willess12]

Even Greg Farshtey did not like 2005 or the Hordika arc. 

 

The best things I liked about the Hordika: Vakama and Onewa's weapons, and the lower arm piece.