Okay, here's the answer to a question I posed yesterday.

What two sets did I buy for $18?

People guessed a canister and a Matoran.

Nope. Two canister sets. Specifically, two Phantoka.

The Phantoka were $5 off each, and they had the three Makuta and Kopaka. I already have Kopaka, but I never got the Makuta, and I was in the mood to buy. I couldn't decide between Antroz (with his cool mask and wings) or Chirox (his feet, thigh armor, and weapons). Vamprah, sorry, wasn't even a consideration. (Heck, I only bought Gali out of nostalga loyalty. Her set was atrocious.)

Since they were on such a good sale, I just baled and bought both of them. Could've bought the only 09 set there (Tuma) for a few more dollars, but tis okay.

Now, review time.

The Makuta Phantoka never really hit it off as great looking sets. Personally, their Mistika counterparts stole the show set-wise, IMO. But let's not deny that they have some interesting features, and besides, it's looking like I'm going to own alot of 08 sets, so why leave the Phantoka Makuta out?

Now, I did get Mutran earlier, and he is essentially a Phantoka, but these dudes are the canisters, so let's see what they have to offer.

First off...

Antroz

While he was a cool character, he was a more humanoid set as the Phantoka went. Legs, arms... yeah, pretty basic. Although he looks better here than in Jetrax, I say. The first thing that caught my eye was the color scheme. Yes, I knew he was dark red (despite the bright Mata red canister cover) but the black goes with it very well. I thought for a moment that there would be alot of bley, as there was with the other phantoka (Toa, at least). But while Toa went grey, Makuta went black. And, dude, the colors work together well. Pity Tahu wasn't black himself... I always prefer black as the secondary color over bleh or silver.

The basic build is blah, as I mentioned earlier. Piraka legs with some slight recolors... although the clawed feet are purely Hakan's, with the gunmetal grey tint. Arms are a repeat of the legs... pity, because Piraka legs don't work well as arms. It failed with Kopaka, and it does so with Antrox, restricting his arm movement. (It worked better on Tahu because he had the thin shoulder armor. Antroz has bulky Piraka thigh armor, so no go). The wing attachment looked like a good idea, but it's attachment to the arms restricts it's movements as well (and just makes the arms worst). The wing pieces are rad cool, but they don't get positioned to look cool for a flight mode. I think Antroz just has wings to look cool folded back, but not to fly. (Although, really, can any of the Makuta wings realistically give them flight? I doubt it)

The weapons are okay... nice blades. They don't exactly work in the position he carries them in... and I don't know how to improve with them on Antroz... but they have potential in MOCing. What really calls attention to Antroz is that mask. Man, that has to be the scariest mask I've ever seen in Bionicle... including those creepy Piraka and Barakki. It's just full of teeth, ready to gorge into your flesh. Anyway... it makes him look waaay creepy, much more so than the Kraahkan (or however it's spelled) or any of the other Makuta masks from this year. Really, it just screams at you! Of this set, I compliment that mask most of all. That's a good one, Lego.

Overall, Antroz seems to resemble a gargoyle to me. It's the mask and partially folded wings that bring this off, but it makes him a creepy looking dude, worthy of being the leader of the Karda Nui Makuta. Too bad he died blind.

Chirox

The mad scientist, the first Makuta I considered purchasing. Well, he doesn't look as nice as Antroz, IMO. Why? Well, part of the reason has to do with his strong resemblance to Mutran. Very, VERY, similiar builds, and I think Mutran pulled it off with his claws and biiiiig staffs. Besides, he was better proportioned than Chirox. Maybe Mutran was really a ripoff of Chirox, but he turned out better. Plus, his blog entries were more fun to read.

Regardless, how is Chirox as a set. Okay, first into proportions. I've always complained about overly large arms, and Chirox wins were, with two of the long double socket pieces as well as the Piraka arm piece. About as long as Chirox's body and legs, and the extra long staff only adds to it. Chirox will never have a problem with the "touch you toes" exercise. I found that it you hunch his shoulders up up (as I tried to do in the above picture) he's a bit better porpotioned and he looks way buff. However, that bulky upper body now reflects on his skinny (and short) legs. To fit with his upper body, he needs to beef up his thigh armor and maybe extend it down too. He's already taller than Antroz, but he just doesn't look right.

He has some extra perks that I didn't get with Mutran. Of course, the Mask and wings are okay, but they were the same on Mutran (and the lime made his better). Even the mid-torso armor is eerily similiar to Mutrans (or exactly). But the weapons... very neat. Nice thin blades that I can see being used in a sled MOC or something. I know they have potential for building with, and I like then. (And I could've gotten them with Jetrax... but this is cheaper). You also have the nifty two prong feet... an interesting design that I've wanted, but it wasn't enough to entice me to buy a whole shadow Matoran. And the silvery thigh armor. I missed out on Nuparu Mahri, so this will be a first for me. Again, MOCing potential (although I just can't get CF's butterfly out of my head when I thing about those pieces.)

Overall, these two make a nice pair of evil Makuta, with a few useful pieces and interesting colors. But they were not worth the full price... not interesting enough to merit a full $13 or so dollars. Instead, I got them for about the price of a Toa Mata or Bohrok. Score. (The Mistika, mind you, were still full price, as would any 09 sets, although they only had Tuma in stock) Antroz is definately the scarier of the two, but Chirox has a better assortment of interesting pieces. I would easily recommend Pohatu or Lewa over these dudes (or Bitil or Kirka, most certainly). But if you can get them cheap, go ahead. (Or if you're a completist, but if you are, wouldn't you have already purchased them?)

Oh, and one last note: While the Tridax pod launch features are remarkably unspectacular, I now have eight more of the squishy shadow leeches. Although I have yet to really MOC with them, they are soooo cool and easy to attach to things. Now all my Toa shall become shadowy...

And by the way, I have a couple more reviews coming up, because as soon as I finished building Antroz and Chirox, the UPS guy showed up...

They don't really have an emoticon happy enough to convey my feelings, so this guy will have to do.