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Tarix Review Rebuttal


Aanchir

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Well, I wrote this review rebuttal shortly after the Zesk Review Rebuttal revealed that this was now a possibility on BZPower. I find it's a wonderful medium in which to express one's opinions of sets. Sadly, although I e-mailed it to news@bzpower.com a few days after writing it, it was not published prior to the one-month cutoff date. Therefore, I have opted to post it here instead. I hope people of all opinions find they learn more about the set's flaws and surprises here.

 

This rebuttal is most informative when coupled with the review that prompted it, which detailed most of the notable features of Tarix and had pictures of magnificent quality. here is a link to Darth Vader's official BZP review of Tarix.

 

Presentation

From the design on the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set

 

Darth Vader, after entering with a pretty great joke, states that he would like the canister lid to reflect the color of set included. Thus, Tarix’s canister lid should be Metru blue rather than Mata blue. (How is Mata silly and Olda sensible, DV? Seems a bit backwards, especially since Olda was almost coined as a joke.)

 

On this canister lid allegation I disagree. Why is this? Simply put, I feel that brighter colors are often suited to a canister, which in a usually dark color sits on a usually dark shelf and needs all the flamboyant coloring it can get to stand out from its fellow canister sets as well as from the shelf itself. Until we have brightly colored canisters, I don’t think we’d want to edge that close to the black of the canister’s actuality.

 

To some extent, I like the staircase motif of canister images this year. However, it does bring us awfully close to what we saw on the Bohrok canisters, with Bohrok nests placed in various environments including (inexplicably) underwater. However similar the canister and box backdrop designs of late 2008 sets might have been, they were each completely distinct sections of one swamp and, like the Toa Metru canister backdrops, depictions of the actual environment where that figure’s story would take place.

 

I have nothing else to disagree with, though you pay surprisingly little attention to the back of the canister. I hope you observed the graphic that demonstrates the ability, having removed the shoulder armor, to store Tarix inside the canister. Another relic from pre-2007 has come back, and apparently was also present on Mistika canisters, but even if for a while unnoticed it is still appreciated by fans like myself who actually do store their figures in the canisters most of the time.

 

Building

Half the fun is building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy/challenging is it?

 

In the building section of your review you explain the straightforward build well enough. However, to those who like my brother (proud owner of the Tarix set, going by Meiko: Toa of Meikoes on this site) used the instructions anyway, there was a flaw in the instructions, as the neck joint was shown attaching to the torso one hole lower than it ought to have attached. On the next page, as the chest cover was affixed, it shows the proper attachment point, but even I took this to be a flaw in promotional images rather than a page of the instructions until doing this review.

 

Set Design

Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

 

DV, I find issue with your allegation that the hands are disproportionate. I have several times compared them to my own hands and they look fine. Part of the issue, of course, lies in the thumb from all appearances having no actual thickness. If you compare the lengths of your fingers to the length between your first knuckle and your wrist it will seem to compare adequately—unless, of course, my own hands are also disproportionate to those used by you meager Earthlings.

 

Had you going for a while, didn’t I? Nah, I didn’t think so either.

 

Your review manages to depict the set fairly well until we get to the mask. You state that the mask is bland. I, for quite some time, agreed with you—now, holding the set in my lap, I disagree. The mask is quite exciting under appropriately bright lighting. Of course, I have for some time been inclined to prefer sets that looked good under even dim lighting, that being part of my reason for preferring fluorescent-colored eyes like those of Gresh or Tarix to glassier colors like those of Whenua or (for a more modern example) Strakk. Not including the Barraki’s fish-eyes, of course—glassy worked for them.

 

Back to Tarix’s mask. I think it shows Tarix’s character superbly, demonstrating that fair quality that one might attribute to “higher beings” in fantasy stories—elves, demigods, or some varieties of extraterrestrial. It also looks fairly masculine, not a trait that wasn’t to be expected but nevertheless helping reinforce to me that I wasn’t just a victim of a well-trained mind when I associated several controversial Water Toa masks with the femininity of the characters who wore them.

 

Tarix’s thin armor doesn’t strike me as weak, but rather as unimposing. I have always had a nice time associating armor not as a covering defensive layer so much as part of the body—after all, even the allegedly tough armor of the Toa Metru has scarce differences in style from the flimsier armor of the Toa Mata. Thus Tarix, who is as you say a veteran Glatorian, has a leaner physique, depending more on technique than burliness to win fights.

 

The tentacle/horn pieces on his shoulders, in my eyes, look fairly good. Certainly Tarix has scant silver elsewhere, but he does have that Mahri tubing (In regard to that I don’t see how it is out-of-place, although it does keep us from seeing his glorious golden armor as clearly). Also, I don’t see how the spikes are much more than defensive ornamentation—they make as much sense in my eyes as the silver tools of the Toa Metru, among other minor detail pieces over the years. I see no need for it to blend in color or style with the rest of the armor, since it is meant to stand out from the actual armor as more of a stylistic trait.

 

Long arms are an issue I won’t really bother to debate. They bother some people; they don’t bother me. Nor do any other proportion issues that we have encountered among the sets of the past. Kongu Mahri was a favorite for me; I think that makes my stance on the issue pretty clear.

 

Holding a staff at the bottom also doesn’t bother me, but perhaps this is because I’m such a fan of badminton. I feel it adds to the swooshiness of the weapon, particularly in this case. I do feel it makes the weapon itself look a little flimsier than it should, but the ease of wielding it strikes me as unchanged if a longer handle is added.

 

Playability

The other half of the fun is playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

 

I don’t want to seem like I’m just LEGO’s spokesperson. Sometimes I may seem like that with my overall positive view of sets, but I would never want to think that my overall purpose of debating the positive traits of sets was just another person telling you to buy, buy, buy.

 

Thus, please forgive me when I direct you to get yourself at least two Glatorian sets. Why? I’ll let this link explain. http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTempla...0B012D03D9E.pdf

 

This is a link to the BIONICLE Action Figure Game’s advanced multi-figure rules on BIONICLE.com. I cannot vouch for the versions of play that use Agori sets or vehicles—I have played neither. However, I have played the version in which each player controls two Glatorian sets. It throws several new variables into play and by far exceeds the lack of strategy encountered in the head-smashing role-play of 2001 sets. Play this version, and I can guarantee you’ll want more than a rematch. You’ll want to play again… and again… and again…

 

Final Thoughts

Once it’s all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

 

Why You’re Right

What did you agree with?

  • Mask is not one of the most exciting

Pieces are a MOCist’s treasure trove

Hands and feet are a bit too sparse a use for the set’s Mata Blue

Set is thin

Arms are long

New heads aren’t backwards-compatible

Why You’re Wrong

What did you disagree with?

  • Tools are made of swooshy awesomeness which is in no way awkward

Launchers are universally bad things

Inika build is universally a bad thing

Any of the aforementioned traits are a serious blow to the set’s quality.

Overall, Tarix used to strike me as one of the most boring Glatorian sets. That was one Tarix ago, and today I can confirm that Tarix is a thrilling departure from the traditional feel of canister sets. Elegance dances alongside brilliance in this set’s appearance, demonstrating once more how the Inika torso and overall articulation still has potential in the realm of new characters (yes, I was hoping for a new one too, but it’s not hard to get over the disappointment when faced with a Glatorian level of awesomeness). Certainly Tarix is worth a second look.

 

Darth Vader, meanwhile, proved himself a capable reviewer (despite being a relatively new face to the news team). He detailed all the points objectively and accurately before his mostly tongue-in-cheek criticisms—Lyichir: Rachira of Influence (my other brother) thought this review scathing, but besides the final thoughts section the review gave me a good description of the set in the form of a highly entertaining review. I look forward to attempting more review rebuttals of this sort if I ever again find fault in a review’s treatment of a set, which I certainly will—these are opinions, and I hope my expression of my own can show people this set’s intricacies just as much as Darth Vader’s expression of his. Whether the review or the rebuttal convinces you is your own decision, and I hope you understand the Tarix set as well as you can before you choose whether to buy it.

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*reads review*

 

Only staff can get reviews on the front page, rebuttal or no. ;)

 

BtB

*disappointment*

 

I asked Lyi to check whether Adventurer was staff (Adventurer wrote the Zesk rebuttal). So I guess he's the one I ought to blame.

 

<_<

 

*ninjaskills*

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