The Canister Sets

Malum

Man, he's bulky. In which case, it's kind of a good thing, unlike the lack thereof of a certain Onua Mistika I know. Those new claws look quite interesting, but I'm not sure why there's a Visorak foot on them. His shoulders are appalling, though. Those Kalmah feet should never be used like that, and they didn't even try something better looking for them.

Skrall

There's something about those fins that reminds me of pictures I've seen of the Roboriders. That shield of his looks sort of interesting, and it's nice to see what appears to be a new torso design, even if it is horribly scrawny and is still afflicted with the disproportionate shoulder problem. However, it doesn't really seem to come together very well; the weapons don't look in place with the thinness.

Gresh

What is there to say? He's certainly eye-catching, unfortunately. He doesn't look particularly well-built, just thrown together using the lesser design aspects of various canister sets from the past. The placements of those Tahu-leg-claws are FAIL. His weapons look pretty cool, other than how they're being held. Also, I'm really beginning to get sick of lime.

Tarix

On one hand, it's kind of nice to see new parts in light gold. On the other hand, Inika shoulder armour should NEVER be used as Inika chest armour. It leaves him looking a bit weird. Weapons are interesting, though.

Strakk

Pretty much all I said about Tarix applies here. That new colour they employed on various bits of him is NOT appeasing in any way, especially in tandem with a darker blue.

Vorox

Tan. YES. At last. I never understood why they didn't just do that for Pohatu, if they're using it this year. Anyway, that which appears to be new thigh armour looks quite good. I can't get a clear look at his chest, but it looks suspiciously like Inika chest armour. I'd like to like him, given his colouring, but there's something about him that doesn't quite look right...

Overall

Let me just put it this way: those hands are HORRIBLE. They might have seemed like a good idea to begin with, but they were poorly executed. Also, I sincerely hope that the canister sets aren't really going to have Zamor Launchers. Please tell me that that isn't so. (Actually, I know otherwise; see below.) I'm still not interested.

The Titans

Fero and Skirmix

Darn, yet another Kardatoran clone... This one appears to make use of Skrall's blade things and (cringes) ANOTHER Zamor Launcher. As for Skrimir (any relation? ), well, it looks like both of the winter titans were thrown together haphazardly. It looks like a demented chicken. Seriously, its arms and legs are among the worst ever designed by LEGO, and the head doesn't really look much better. At least the body seems somewhat sturdy...

Tuma

I can't get over how much his name sounds like Tuna or Tumour... Such a monumental mistake on LEGO's part... Anyway, since we've got several pictures of him, I'll base this critique on the two Target images. Put simply, he looks like FAIL. The legs are of a generic design remniscient of those of Gadunka, except the Inika feet as armour fails so hard. Even worse is the use of Mantax feet as shoulder armour. It fails in principle, and it fails even harder in practice. But at least his images indicate that the aboveflamed Zamor Launchers were merely placeholders, for more Kanoka-like launchers.

Overall

They both fail. Badly. Next!

The Small Sets

I won't bother with individual critiques here, because there's not really any point.

Kardatoran rehashes... too much part reusage... bizarre heads... it all screams NO. Seriously, this is getting a bit ridiculous. You'd think that a recoloured Fire Sword would be appreciated, but there's something about it that makes me feel sick. The few new tools that exist are pretty good, though; I quite like the snowflake thing on Metus, despite the aformentioned disgusting new blue. Actually, some of the recolours of Kardatoran parts are quite nice. But the cons way outweigh the pros.

Overall

I'm probably one of the few people on BZPower who thinks this (yay minority ), but repeat after me: DO NOT WANT. Seriously, it's a good thing I was considering ditching the purchasing of Bionicle sets in '09 before seeing any vestige of them, as now I'm certain about this. No Bionicle for Dlakii in '09.

I'll still follow the story, though, and it's not like I'm leaving BZPower any time soon.