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The most annoying set design problems?


Lenny7092

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Hi, guys. When you build the sets, you notice some design problems, as in where the pieces are places wrongfully? Well, here are my problems: 

1. The Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, and Takanuva (2003) - they all have one piece limbs that don’t bend (many small sets have that problem, and Pewku in 2003, Krekka, Toa Hordika’s left arms, Krika, Gorast, and many others, do, too), and they don’t have neck articulation. Plus, Takanuva is having a hard time putting both hands on the sides of the Ussalnui. When you build the Toa Nuva Kaita, their designs are a bit wonky. I mean, Wairuha’s design is a hunchback while Akamai’s neck can tilt side to side (same with the 2004 Matoran and Turaga Dume). Perhaps you should try making them look more like the Toa Mata Kaita somehow? Plus, Pohatu and Onua have a hard time fitting into the Exo-Toa. I would suggest make their torsos look like their friends’ to fit them. Pohatu Nuva looks shorter than Pohatu Mata. Plus, all of the Toa’s (and 2004  Nui Matoran’s and Turaga Dume’s) eye stalks are clicked onto their heads, and you could hardly remove them. There are a couple of ways to remove them, but they may risk damaging the pieces. Onua Nuva’s has a weird neck design and stubby arms. 
2. Makuta (2003) - his legs don’t bend by the knees. Same with Makuta Nui and Takutanuva. 
3. The 2001 Matoran - they’re stubby, and have a few points of articulation. Same with Nuparu. 
4. How Hakann’s right hand weapon is placed. In the instructions, you have to put the hand outward in order to show the claw, but in most cases, it looks like you have to put it inside, and I can see why. It’s because the weapon can fit into his right arm properly. 
5. Vezon and Kardas - Vezon’s torso is wobbly while Kardas’s heads has two gray pins jutting outward, behind his eyes, which makes it difficult to put his head piece. However, our friend by the username of Grumblebricks in Instagram and Lego Ideas said that you have to put the pins inward in order to fit the head piece without stretching it, and it worked. 
6. The lime green socket and joint pieces. They break easily. 
7. The Piraka’s Zamor Launchers and Air Launchers in 2007 because they don’t have something to hold all four ammo, like the Toa Inika. 
8. The Toa Inika’s weak necks. 
9. The Squid Launchers because it’s hard to shoot them when they are placed on the Barraki’s hands. 
10. The Cordak Blasters. I have a hard time shooting the missiles if they are placed in the blasters completely. 
11. The Nynrah Ghost Blasters. I have a hard time shooting them when the ammo is completely placed in the blasters, too. 
12. Irnakk - stiff joints. His design is quite hideous. 
13. Some combi models have gaps on them, most notably the 2005 ones. 
14. Gadunka - very thin neck. 
15. The Toa Masters - their gear boxes are kind of loose. 
16. How Hydraxon’s Cordak missiles are placed on his feet. He could hard move his feet like that. 
17. The Skull Scorpio’s legs are stiff. 
18. Uniter Onua’s and Ekimu’s arms are uneven a little (the bone parts). I could say the same to many other sets. 
19. The Elemental Beasts. They have some stiffness here and there, like the Lava Beast’s head articulation. 
20. Umarak the Destroyer doesn’t have wrists, and he has a stiff neck. 
21. The stiffness of the Toa Metru combi models. 
22. Hewkii Mahri doesn’t have a right hand. 
23. The 2008 Makuta’s necks are wobbly because their Makuta Phantoka torso’s (the piece that allows you to shoot a Tridax Pod) neck connector is a pin hole rather than an axle hole. 
24. You ever find a problem with placing the Rhotuka Spinners for storage? Umbra has a thing that can contain a Rhotuka spinner, though. 
25. Some sets have uneven arms. 
 

So, there. Anyone find the most annoying set design problems?

Edited by Lenny7092
Forget something.

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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5 hours ago, Gadunka64 said:

The Inika build had it's positives, but it did lead to some uninspired designs.

My only real problem with the Inika build is that it lasted four years, *including* carrying over into the soft-reboot. I can *kind* of excuse the Inika build for lasting throughout the Mask of Life arc, so that the Inika/Mahri looked good standing next to the Nu-Nuva. But carrying into 2009 was awful. Especially since they didn't even really make any new armor pieces to go on the frame.

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On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

1. The Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, and Takanuva (2003) - they all have one piece limbs that don’t bend (many small sets have that problem, and Pewku in 2003, Krekka, Toa Hordika’s left arms, Krika, Gorast, and many others, do, too), and they don’t have neck articulation. Plus, Takanuva is having a hard time putting both hands on the sides of the Ussalnui. When you build the Toa Nuva Kaita, their designs are a bit wonky. I mean, Wairuha’s design is a hunchback while Akamai’s neck can tilt side to side (same with the 2004 Matoran and Turaga Dume). Perhaps you should try making them look more like the Toa Mata Kaita somehow? Plus, Pohatu and Onua have a hard time fitting into the Exo-Toa. I would suggest make their torsos look like their friends’ to fit them. Pohatu Nuva looks shorter than Pohatu Mata. Plus, all of the Toa’s (and 2004  Nui Matoran’s and Turaga Dume’s) eye stalks are clicked onto their heads, and you could hardly remove them. There are a couple of ways to remove them, but they may risk damaging the pieces. Onua Nuva’s has a weird neck design and stubby arms.

Most of this is pretty low-hanging fruit. Everyone knows that non-bending limbs are lame, but they had to keep the piece count down to keep things simple for kids. You definitely have a point about the Nuva Kaita, those things were wacky. Pohatu and Onua should NOT have been built like the other Toa; because that'd take away their uniqueness. Especially if it's just to fit into Exo-Toa of all things. Pohatu Nuva *is* shorter than Pohatu Mata, but that was done to make his head fall off less. Onua Nuva's bohrok arms were very bizarre.
 

On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

3. The 2001 Matoran - they’re stubby, and have a few points of articulation. Same with Nuparu. 

They're McDonald's toys.
 

On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

4. How Hakann’s right hand weapon is placed. In the instructions, you have to put the hand outward in order to show the claw, but in most cases, it looks like you have to put it inside, and I can see why. It’s because the weapon can fit into his right arm properly. 

This is obviously a problem with the instructions rather than the set design, because in all of Hakann's promotional material, he's holding it the right way.
 

On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

6. The lime green socket and joint pieces. They break easily. 

Production flaw, not a design problem.
 

On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

7. The Piraka’s Zamor Launchers and Air Launchers in 2007 because they don’t have something to hold all four ammo, like the Toa Inika. 

It's intentional that the Toa had better Launchers than the Piraka, it's a special upgrade for them. They'd also look really silly on the small 2007 sets.
 

On 6/9/2021 at 7:47 AM, Lenny7092 said:

9. The Squid Launchers because it’s hard to shoot them when they are placed on the Barraki’s hands. 

Yeah, what were they even thinking? They shoot *down* at a 45 degree angle..

 

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On 6/11/2021 at 8:30 AM, Lorentz said:

My only real problem with the Inika build is that it lasted four years, *including* carrying over into the soft-reboot. I can *kind* of excuse the Inika build for lasting throughout the Mask of Life arc, so that the Inika/Mahri looked good standing next to the Nu-Nuva. But carrying into 2009 was awful. Especially since they didn't even really make any new armor pieces to go on the frame.

Yeah for sure, when I say "uninspired" I really meant they used it far too often for far too long. A couple waves? Sure, fine. They have great articulation and silhouette so that's fine. But yeah, four years? It really didn't help them that the parts got brittle too, so not only are we getting the same clone sets, we're getting 0 MOC potential.

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You pretty much listed them all but i have a few nitpicks about 2008 as a whole. The Toa Nuva.

The teams were terrible for both Phantoka and Mistika Nuva, but the Mistika were really bad. Personally i hated the clunky and heavy midak launchers since the cost for the launchers and ammunition could have been put to better use. Both teams also used gray and silver too heavily.

  • Kopaka: His lens is on the wrong side of the mask and has a lack of a decent melee weapon. Who he got instead has tiny knife/bayonet on his gun. Which is terrible for someone known for wielding swords.
     
  • Lewa: Lost his regular green as a main color and instead his secondary lightgreen was turned into his new primary color along with a terrible gray secondary color as majority of the colorscheme. Also the lack of twin sworbs was a letdown. The mask was ok though.
     
  • Pohatu: First thing noticeable aspect is the pohatu has no brown and tan colors which was integral to his looks. The mixture of orange and gray looks terrible. The other major fault is that his body is a hunchback not instead of being tall and doesn't look like a fast person fitting for a user of kakama mask of speed. The propellers are ok but they flop downwards when closed so you can't pull off drill fists easily.
     
  • Tahu: No sword, just a terrible spinning shield. The mask looks nothing like a kanohi hau but not the worst of the of the lot. His bright red was turned dark red and his secondary orange color removed in favor of silver, the colorscheme looks terrible.
     
  • Gali: Obviously she got the worst mask of the lot. Her bulky musclebuilder arms and legs looks odd compared to her old lean swimmer look. She also only has the nynrah ghost blaster with a tiny scope and no melee weapon. Also she has the same problem as Tahu, losing bright blue in favor of navy blue and lightblue was turned into silver looks which terrible.
     
  • Onua: He's the only one ok on the Mistika side but his lanky fast design is odd look for some who is used to be a hunchback digger. Also he uses a giant grip over his nynrah ghost blaster to hide hide lack of a melee weapon and a shoulder shield with limited poseability.
Edited by (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)
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  • 2 months later...

 

On 6/15/2021 at 9:27 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

You pretty much listed them all but i have a few nitpicks about 2008 as a whole. The Toa Nuva.

The teams were terrible for both Phantoka and Mistika Nuva, but the Mistika were really bad. Personally i hated the clunky and heavy midak launchers since the cost for the launchers and ammunition could have been put to better use. Both teams also used gray and silver too heavily.

  • Kopaka: His lens is on the wrong side of the mask and has a lack of a decent melee weapon. Who he got instead has tiny knife/bayonet on his gun. Which is terrible for someone known for wielding swords.
     
  • Lewa: Lost his regular green as a main color and instead his secondary lightgreen was turned into his new primary color along with a terrible gray secondary color as majority of the colorscheme. Also the lack of twin sworbs was a letdown. The mask was ok though.
     
  • Pohatu: First thing noticeable aspect is the pohatu has no brown and tan colors which was integral to his looks. The mixture of orange and gray looks terrible. The other major fault is that his body is a hunchback not instead of being tall and doesn't look like a fast person fitting for a user of kakama mask of speed. The propellers are ok but they flop downwards when closed so you can't pull off drill fists easily.
     
  • Tahu: No sword, just a terrible spinning shield. The mask looks nothing like a kanohi hau but not the worst of the of the lot. His bright red was turned dark red and his secondary orange color removed in favor of silver, the colorscheme looks terrible.
     
  • Gali: Obviously she got the worst mask of the lot. Her bulky musclebuilder arms and legs looks odd compared to her old lean swimmer look. She also only has the nynrah ghost blaster with a tiny scope and no melee weapon. Also she has the same problem as Tahu, losing bright blue in favor of navy blue and lightblue was turned into silver looks which terrible.
     
  • Onua: He's the only one ok on the Mistika side but his lanky fast design is odd look for some who is used to be a hunchback digger. Also he uses a giant grip over his nynrah ghost blaster to hide hide lack of a melee weapon and a shoulder shield with limited poseability.

now, i must say, i disagree. in my own opinion the mistika were alright sets. the phantoka might just be my favorite set wave in the whole of bionicle.

i know, gali's mask looks odd, and kopaka's lens is on the wrong side, but i'd have these designs over the nuva/mata designs any day.

the nuva/mata are liked by most because of how iconic they were. but they cannot really be posed well, their arms flop down when you put them up,

their parts are difficult to use,(aside from masks and weapons) their heads cannot turn,

at least not without modifications.

the phantoka/mistika on the other hand, can pull off a variety of poses, they can actually hold their arms up, they have more useful parts for mocs,

etc, etc, etc. 

 i think they are good representations of these characters. 

you can disagree with this, if you want to.

but i think the phantoka/mistika get far more hate than they deserve.

 

 

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On 8/25/2021 at 6:27 AM, Heyzorks said:

but they cannot really be posed well, their arms flop down when you put them up

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On 8/25/2021 at 1:27 PM, Heyzorks said:

 

now, i must say, i disagree. in my own opinion the mistika were alright sets. the phantoka might just be my favorite set wave in the whole of bionicle. i know, gali's mask looks odd, and kopaka's lens is on the wrong side, but i'd have these designs over the nuva/mata designs any day. the nuva/mata are liked by most because of how iconic they were. but they cannot really be posed well, their arms flop down when you put them up, their parts are difficult to use, (aside from masks and weapons) their heads cannot turn, at least not without modifications. the phantoka/mistika on the other hand, can pull off a variety of poses, they can actually hold their arms up, they have more useful parts for mocs, etc, etc, etc. 

 i think they are good representations of these characters.
you can disagree with this, if you want to.
but i think the phantoka/mistika get far more hate than they deserve.

 

Those were technically experimental 3 years back in the day. But not bringing characters back by relying on names alone, not sticking to some of the fundamental colors and equipment and physique aspects and changing them almost beyond recognition is mindboggling. I'm forever disappointed how much the designers "simplified" things with a overflow of gray/silver.

Pohatu got the worst of it So his mask looks like a fake kanohi vahi. The excuse for the brown gone is  the marketing strategy with brown bionicle sets always lagging behind in sales. His colorscheme is like faint orange fireworks in the middle of the day (gray).
And the fact that they added tan (one of pohatu's secondary colors) mixed with reddish brown on the Vorox the following year  in 2009 felt like a insult.

Edited by (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/1/2021 at 9:24 AM, Heyzorks said:

that's the toa nuva. the ones people don't like

That modification works on the Mata too... And what do you mean people don't like the Nuva, how is that even relevant

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