32one

Pohatu is my favourite set of this wave due to his colour scheme and proportion, but his mask is a real let down. The main problem is that his eyes are almost non-visible as the brainstalk barely glows with the mask on. I think this might be because there is no gap or vent on the mask aside from the tiny eyeholes themselves to catch light, along with the questionable performance with the brainstalk itself. I'm surprised that LEGO didn't either notice or bother solving this issue. The mask rather doesn't look that great in my opinion, with the tiny, slanted eyeholes, fake vents, and "chubby" shape. The part between the eyeholes is too wide, so the eyes get cut off by quite a bit, but at least it isn't as bad as Radiak's mask. Now I'm trying to decide whether he looks better with his own mask or the PoS's mask. Also, I've noticed that the CCBS shells tend to be rough around the edges, and one of my silver shells has a messed up pattern, giving it a scratched look although it is smooth.

Well, Tahu's swords don't make a good surfboard, Hahli's fins don't help her swim well, Lewa can't fly with his air katanas, the Inika swords can't cut well, and Pohatu propellers (2008) didn't make him fly. Plastic representations of the weapons are obviously not the real deal.

So 2015 has 10 unique masks, versus the 22 unique masks from 2008, not counting the reused ones from previous years. Unique masks versus the total number of masks is more of a matter of preference, but you've got a good point, as 2008 was the only year after 2003 that we got an abundance of masks. Future villain waves, however, might not have masks (like the Bohrok or Piraka), which would decrease the mask count.

1. No grey or black limbs or body frames; I'd like to see element-coloured pieces instead. 2. Solid coloured shells or limbs in favour of trans one; The current colour palette is too varied and messy and most of the time the trans pieces look tacky. 3. A G1 styled foot piece that uses a Y-joint ("hand piece"?) to connect to the leg. 95% of the time, the single piece ones that we currently have only look okay as feet (it's not even a nice foot design!). Single piece feet might be more stable, but with the harder CCBS plastic it shouldn't matter as much and in my opinion versatility is more important. The G2 Y-joint is slightly less useful than the G1 versions, but it's still a very useful piece. I know this won't happen, but I'd like the balljoint and System circular axle armour connections to go; they are too gappy and often look to bulky to work on smaller builds such as the Protectors. I find the standard Technic connections from G1 more versatile and the armour tends to look more solid.

2008 would have been better if the socket pieces were redesigned to be CCBS-styled (more durable) rather than being EVEN MORE FRAGILE than the 2006/2007 ones.

Based on the sets only: 1. Gali She has the least cluttered colour scheme and the armouring is quite good. The weapon is a bit too big, though. I think her G2 mask looks better than all of her G1 ones. 2. Kopaka Let down by his terrible excuse of a shield and the random ice-thing on his spear. The weapons can be easily fixed, but getting rid of the gold will be a bit harder due to the chestplate. 3. Lewa I like his build and colour scheme, but I think his green is too washed out; lime green or the original green would be better. Also, his axes are not only terribly designed, but the "handle" and the blade are two different colours! I'd really like to here from the set designer on why this choice was made. 4. Tahu His mask has some good parts, but the squareness makes him look fat. The torsos as armour for the lower legs don't work for me and the new gold armour piece looks lazily and excessively tacked on. His legs are too long, and his body is too short. We finally get a lavaboard where one of the feet doesn't go beneath it. 5. Pohatu I really don't like the burnt orange colour. His build is incredibly plain and the colour scheme is terribly balanced. Bleh. 6. Onua Due to the huge pieces, he just looks like a generic brute. The shoulder pads detract from his colour scheme and weapons (which are the same piece).

Yeah, with the cost-cutting and other limitations that the set designers have to work with, I doubt that the final, official sets are anything but "perfect" or what the set designers would have ideally wanted. In my opinion, the only sets that look completely fine as by the instructions are the earlier and less complex sets such as the most 2001 sets and most matoran. Brutaka comes pretty close to looking perfect as well.

I'd usually prefer more recolours and new parts for the characters rather than a small enemy, but the skull spiders seem pretty good from a moccing POV as they are a mask with 4 or 5 claw pieces.

2015's sets have much better moccing potential, piece durability and articulation, but I'm not yet convinced that the story will be able to to match G1. The toa now have the "Mask of [their element]", so what masks will the next toa team have? Different masks with the same power? The 'flaws' of characters are explicitly stated in their bios rather than being revealed through books and other media, and are also too trivial and silly (snoring? afraid of the dark?) for me to find interesting. And 2015 is the year of grey, black, silver, gold, gunmetal, and transparent colours, usually all on each set. We lose the clean, simple colour schemes, but at least we no longer have the Inika builds

Messy colour schemes: Kopaka, for example, has white, trans blue, silver, gold, grey, black, and yellow! Why does the new gearbox have to be grey? Also, the body proportions are off, once again. Tahu and to a lesser extent, Kopaka have body and limb ratios that come close to resembling the Inika build (if only they had longer arms!). Thankfully, the three smaller sets are a bit better with proportions.

I liked the Kanoka launchers the best, specifically the ones that the matoran had. The Thornax launchers where also nice because of their small, simple design and their ability to use Zamor spheres. Also, the ammo (for both of the launchers) wouldn't fall off too easily. I generally dislike the launchers that shot Zamor spheres because they would either roll a LONG distance away or rebound off something without losing much energy; the effort required to find and collect the ammo outweighed the fun in using the launchers.