Carapar Vs Hewkii
Recent additions to my Bionicle collection include the mean Barakki, Carapar, and a new Toa Mahri, Toa Hewkii. Finally, I was able to get my hands on one of the Mahri. And despite the fact that I liked Hahli, I got Hewkii instead because he looked more interesting as a set. But how does he compare to Mr. Evil Carapar? Here’s a long, detailed review to give my thoughts on the subjects.
Canisters.
Geez, Lego, you messed up the canisters this year. Sure, Carapar’s looks cool enough, but it sits awkwardly and doesn’t hold the guy very well… when I restuffed him in, I had to remove all his limbs first. But Hewkii’s is a total mess. Cardboard and flimsy plastic? No way. If Lego’s trying to conserve on money, why are the Toa still $10?
Winner: Carapar, but it was only the lesser of the two evils.
Pieces
Carapar has the basic pieces with him… standard arms, legs, body, and so on. The leg and shoulder armor is the coolest new piece in him, but they make him too bulky. His claws offer to be interesting new weapons, but not in the set-up he’s given. Meanwhile, Hewkii has three different types of silvery armor/weaponry, cool colored pieces and chains. Plus, his Cordak blaster connection is unique. Not the best, but good for Lego for trying something new.
Winner: Hewkii
Color
Carapar is Keetongu orange and gray, with some of his armor being a cool yellow/brown mixture. Hewkii is Keetongu orange and black, with a lot of silvery instruments. The red is a little off on him, but black goes better with Keetongu orange than gray.
Winner: Hewkii
Head / Mask
Carapar’s head is pretty nifty… gives him the look of a slow but mean lookin’ guy. The jaws and teeth make him look pretty scary, and I think this head design is one of the best of the Mahri. Hewkii’s mask of gravity, besides having a cool power, makes for a good manta-ray head design. I really like the mask, which looks all the cooler because it doesn’t connect to the mouth. Unfortunately, Hewkii has that connector in his mouth for the air tube, which destroys the whole image. On the bright side, we’re seeing Metru Toa heads again, with eyes too!
Winner: Carapar
Projectile
Come on, Carapar has squids, which suck. The Cordak blaster, while it may violate a non-violence thing with Lego, work well enough. Sure, they need some force to shoot the things, otherwise those bullets will just stay where they are, but they shoot accurately and far. Already lost one, which makes it good that Hewkii comes with ten. I think I still prefer Zamors with magazines, but the Cordak blasters aren’t bad. Now I can see why Kongu wanted two.
Winner: Hewkii
Mobility
Carapar’s bulky, which make some of his limb movements awkward. This is where his cool colored armor causes problems. He lacks compared to some of the other Barakki, but he can swing his arms and legs around well enough to give him some good poses. His claws are no good, though, just as I guessed. The pieces have to be at the right angle (but its not exactly a right angle) to look good. If the angle is wrong, the claws look rather stupid. If you were expecting cool snapping action, think again. The curved claw also makes it awkward to be held as an individual blade, so I can’t this place one piece in each hand (because I threw away the squid launcher, what a waste of plastic there). Meanwhile, we have Hewkii. The legs are too short for my liking, although their hold him up and give him a hunched appearance. His left arm (Yeah, most of the Mahri are now left handed.) Works okay, with his wickedly cool long blade at the end. But his right arm… no good. The position of the Cordak blaster means he has no hand movement, and the blades on the upper arm further restrict movement of the arm. The chains kind of get in the way (so I attached them to his back) and really have no use. Hewkii Inika’s chain had a use… this time I think Hewkii got chains just for the effect of having chains. His head movement, little as it could be, is restricted greatly by the fins of the mask and air tube. Plus, the mask fins and right-arm blades keep getting in the way of each other.
Winner: They both have problems, but Carapar has less of them.
Well, they’re both mediocre sets. They both include aspects that are apparent in 2007… new, unique designs using older pieces to good effects. While they’re worth some of their money, they’re not revolutionary sets like the Rahkshi, Metru, and Piraka were (in my books, anyway). Carapar is not my favorite Barakki design… I like him better than Ehlek, but Mantax, Takadax, and Kalmah have better designs (in that order). As far as Hewkii is concerned… he’s different. Hahli and Jaller have more basic Toa designs, of which I don’t know how well they work. Hewkii does not live up to his great Inika form, but he makes an interesting enough Mahri.
I hope to get either Hahli or Nuparu next, of if I can find them at a “Buy two get one free sale”, I might pick up Jaller too. Matoro and Kongu can just stay on their store shelves for all I care. I like Hahli and Nuparu’s designs and weaponry better, but Jaller has an interesting body design, and I believe his situation with his Cordak blaster (on the crab) might be more convenient than all those Toa who hold the blasters in their hands.
That, and I’ve also added another chapter to Slizers on Mata-Nui. Unfortunately, the story topic has been plagued by the “whole page not loading” thing on BZP, so some people may not be able to view the chapters. If you can view it (I can), please post. If you can’t… well, it’s still an okay chapter.
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