Set Review: 71301 Ketar - Creature of Stone

[Hapori Tohu]

Today we return to our Bionicle 2016 reviews with a look at another one of the creatures. BZPower Blog Assistant Ta-metru_defender shares his thoughts on 71301 Ketar - Creature of Stone, one of the smaller sets in the winter lineup. Will this creature sting and slash its way into your collection, or will it end up squashed in the desert somewhere? You'll have to read and watch our review to find out!

 

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[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

Why must the name change cooldown be so long, I need to become Pohatu the Stone Uniter Beastmaster right now.

[Lyichir]

This review is great, and the final thoughts pretty much sum up my thoughts on all of G2's weird, experimental non-humanoid sets:

 

Is Ketar a bad set? No, not at all. He's imperfect, but he's something different from the cut-and-dry Bionicle we were getting towards the end of G1. And that may be why I like him: he's delightfully odd...

...If Ketar is a sign of Bionicle to come, with big risks being taken and all that, then I'm game. Let's get weird.

 

People are all the time whining about sets like Lord of Skull Spiders, and Skull Scorpio, and even Akida and Ketar. And don't get me wrong—none of those sets are flawless. But they're also the most groundbreaking and revolutionary sets we've GOTTEN in G2. Humanoid builds are easy to do well—Lego's been doing them for going on 15 years. But I don't want them to just stick with safe, reliable builds, because by this point most everyone knows how to do that. I'm very glad that Lego is willing to make strange, unprecedented sets every now and then instead of just sticking with tried-and-true formulas for success.

P.S.: "But you didn't buy this set just for the pretty ABS bits, did you?" No, nobody did—because most Technic and CCBS parts are not made out of ABS, but rather out of Polycarbonate. Just a minor nitpick.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Lyichir

[Nescent]

I've been hoping the reviews for Ketar would make me like the set more, and it has - but mostly for those sweet Polycarbonate pieces. There are some great Technit bits in there, especially those small parts used in the Shadow Trap's tail.

 

Ketar is definitely not my favorite Creature, but I like him for the reason Lyichir pointed out - non-humanoids are just creative and interesting. I just think that if Ketar's torso had looked more uniform, it would have tied the whole set together a lot better. As it is, the legs and the head and the tail and the arms just don't connect together very seamlessly, making Ketar look more disorderly than the other Creatures.

 

His unique function helps to make up for that, however.

[MrSciFiGuy]

Glad to see brown is still around. Ketar looks like an interesting set and I can't wait to pick him up. Great review!

[Triple]

Great review, although it did leave me with a few questions. Could you clarify what your definition of busy is? You say that it's possible Ketar is "busy" due to its CCBS nature but really it's the exposed Technic portion that strikes me as busy. Unless of course you're referring to posing and the many joints. Either way I would have liked for that to be explained a bit more.

 

Onto the set: I'm already warming up to this little guy. He really stands out from the rest of the creatures. All of his other pals easily resemble real animals, it's not difficult to imagine them as such. Thanks to his sword arms Ketar stands out as some kind of fantasy mechanical scorpion, his structure is so alien that it works. While I'm on the swords I'd like to mention that Ketar uses the crystal addon the best. By combining it with the sword the part really puts it's transitional nature to its best use. It actually looks like it's integrated into Ketar unlike its usual slapped on look on other sets.

 

Now I'm not a fan of how exposed the Technic portion is on Ketar. It's distracting and ugly to honest. Some cover on the Glatorian necks or the front would have been greatly appreciated. The gappiness and awkwardness of that area wrecks the look of set. Not to mention the potentially good function is plaqued by a lack of friction. Not much to say about the tail since it's just a trigger, but it doesn't look very good. I kinda wish they continued with the alien design and replaced the stinger with some kind of non-functional blaster or sensor. Heck a wrecking ball would have been awesome.

 

The colors surprisingly work well, although I think the Dark Tan Vorox armor should have been replaced with silver.

 

Now while the intention was great, the execution is lackluster. Overall Ketar wins me by his unique and derpy charm. I approve of different and even weird designs like Ketar in the future. I just hope next time the designers have more luck in making their ideas look better.

[BiomasterM2]

 My main problem with this set (and ironically my main reason for liking it as well) is actually the exact opposite of the reason I dislike Akida as much as I do. Akida (to me at least) looks like she was designed to be a turret equipped hydropack upgrade for Gali first and foremost, with the parts making her look like an animal being added on as an afterthought. Ketar is the reverse, he looks to have been designed from the ground up to look as much like something you'd find wandering the desert waste's of Okoto as possible, and while he does accomplish that surprisingly well, it honestly feels like they forgot somewhere during the designing process that his primary function is to be combined with Pohatu. While his sword slashing function is pretty neat, (almost cute even) it becomes next to useless as a feature when he's in Unite Mode, and there's just so much stuff attached to the immediate vicinity of Ketar's combiner port that it makes Pohatu's Unite Mode look like a complete mess unless you remove Ketar's legs before you attach him to Pohatu's back.

 

 So as what is essentially a modern day Rahi set, I'd say that Ketar does a really good job at being a convincing piece of wildlife one might find exploring Okoto. Sure he has his fair share of flaws, but his imperfections give him a sort of cuteness (bordering on adorableness) that make it so I'd happily add him to my collection when the time comes. However as a set that's primarily designed to be bought in conjunction with Pohatu because of this wave's Unite Mode gimmick, I think Ketar does a terrible job at making me want to buy both him and Pohatu at the same time due to how awfully implemented their combined mode looks without making any modifications to it.

[Xykros]

BEWARE MY NON-STINGING STINGER TAIL!

[rednas3636]

hang in there.. still waiting for discounts on last year's sets

Edited December 16, 2015 by rednas3636

[Ta-metru_defender]

Why must the name change cooldown be so long, I need to become Pohatu the Stone Uniter Beastmaster right now.

I will love you forever if you become Pohatu: Beastmaster of Stone.

P.S.: "But you didn't buy this set just for the pretty ABS bits, did you?" No, nobody did—because most Technic and CCBS parts are not made out of ABS, but rather out of Polycarbonate. Just a minor nitpick. 

Oh hush; we get it, you're smart and stuff shut up. =P

 

Great review, although it did leave me with a few questions. Could you clarify what your definition of busy is? You say that it's possible Ketar is "busy" due to its CCBS nature but really it's the exposed Technic portion that strikes me as busy. Unless of course you're referring to posing and the many joints. Either way I would have liked for that to be explained a bit more.

He's a lot going on. Mostly because of all the joints. Were the swords more like claws, I think I would'nt be as put off. Basically: He's a jumble of limb and limb-like parts.

 

Now I'm not a fan of how exposed the Technic portion is on Ketar. It's distracting and ugly to honest. Some cover on the Glatorian necks or the front would have been greatly appreciated. The gappiness and awkwardness of that area wrecks the look of set. Not to mention the potentially good function is plaqued by a lack of friction. Not much to say about the tail since it's just a trigger, but it doesn't look very good. I kinda wish they continued with the alien design and replaced the stinger with some kind of non-functional blaster or sensor. Heck a wrecking ball would have been awesome.

Oh nuts, that's a great idea.

 

The colors surprisingly work well, although I think the Dark Tan Vorox armor should have been replaced with silver.

I swapped the armor with my Pohatu so Pohatu gets one silver armor. Works well (better on Pohatu).

 

Overall Ketar wins me by his unique and derpy charm.

Derpy charm is the perfect way to describe this.

 

Yo, Six! Can we rename this review Ketar: Creature of Derpy Charm?

[masterchirox580]

He looks a little strange but I love the function. Although I kinda wish they gave it actual claws.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

This set kind of reminds me of a smaller Skull Scorpio set. I know the sets have definite differences between them, but it would be neat IMO if their species were at least related in the story.

 

Anyways, the set looks cool. Especially with his weapons. I don't know if I'm going to get him though.

 

Thanks for the review!

[Lenny7092]

The set looks cool! I love scorpion-based sets! Anyway, I like the blades Ketar has for claws. They look neat. The tail looks crazy cool, too, but it seems a little stiff.

 

The Shadow Trap looks neat, too.