So after the demonstration downtown today, I still had 45 min of parking time left. I stowed my sign away in my car (no, I won't say what was on it -- it was a symbol that to describe would probably get me in trouble with the staff) and went shopping. Picked up a picture frame, a pocket calendar, and. . .

AGORI.

Kudos to Stockmann for stockin' these guys -- the other store I visited earlier today only had Power Miners in their shipment. (I got two copies of 8957 Mine Mech from there -- orange Mahritoran blades and trans-orange Barraki eyes!)

My heart leaped as soon I caught sight of the Lego shelf from 20 metres away: Raanu's fiery elemental background stood out clearly as Not Karda Nui. Once I walked over there, it actually took me only a few seconds to make my selection -- I normally spend much longer looking at new sets on the shelf.

Berix and Raanu.

(Ooh, I just noticed: these are the only Agori whose names start with the same letter as their colour!)

Why red and blue? I assure you, it's not just because I favour those two colours. (See? ) It's because of the sheer number of useful new parts in these sets. They both boast recoloured Mata-style feet, which no other Agori do. Raanu has Twin Cutters in red, while Berix has the original flame sword in medium blue. The limbs are all new (I skipped Radiak, so Raanu's legs count) and very welcome. As a bonus, Berix wields two gold Chronicler's Staves. The Av-Matoran torsos are so far largely an untapped resource in my creative Lego endeavours, but perhaps the blue one will spark inspiration.

On the new heads: they are awesome in every way. Except for being too small for the old masks, but I can live with that.

The new face covers are a bold step forward in design. The new attachment point frees up the mouth à la Hewkii Mahri's Kanohi Garai, one of my all-time favourite masks. The elemental influence, at least with these two characters, is taken to an unprecedented extreme. This is good. The subtle wash from blue to medium blue on Berix is especially tasty.

I look forward to making use of these new pieces. Bring on those Glatorian!

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