Ford

Entry 11 gets my vote!

All the entries are fantastic. I really should try my had at these contests at some point.

No new Bionicle info at London Toy Fair (yet)...

I just got Tahu, Lewa, and Pohatu, thereby completing the Toa for this year. Quality issues return with this haul, though.

First, a part of the printing on Pohatu, specifically the Nuva symbol on his chest, is misprinted missing a vertical line at the bottom of the symbol.

Second, the friction of the ball joints for Lewa's arms are almost nonexistent; whenever I move his arms to a T-pose they gradually sag downward. Maybe it's the weapons, but I've never had this problem on any set before aside from the Titanium Dragon set from last year. His torso swivel is also very loose, to the point where the friction is also near nonexistent. At least it doesn't have too much friction.  

Surprisingly enough, Tahu had no QC qualms. I like him more in person than in CGI, just like Umarak!

These QC issues really need to stop, or at least be remedied in the summer. Otherwise, I recommend that anyone who doesn't have sets to wait some time before getting them.

 

I just realized that the printing on the torsos for my copies of Gali, Onua, and Kopaka are slightly off center. That's pretty poor, especially for the fact that they could have been stickers.

Old or new? Because either way, it's a fairly common thing. My 2015 Lewa's chest-print is way off-center. It's the same thing with my Skull Warrior.

 

New. I've never gotten a misaligned print before, and to have three in a row is a new territory for me to enter.

I just realized that the printing on the torsos for my copies of Gali, Onua, and Kopaka are slightly off center. That's pretty poor, especially for the fact that they could have been stickers.

 

while the gold and earth blue do not. His legs are great, but suffer from weird extended ankles and the gold crystal spikes that throw it all off.

The gold can be replaced by the silver crystal pieces from Gali, it looks much better.

 

I agree! That's actually the first thing I did after I built Kopaka, and I think it would have been better if it had used the silver crystal pieces and have different parts in gold, or just make all of the silver gold instead.

Got Kopaka and Melum yesterday, and while the set overall is better than Gali, I still have problems with it.

For every one good thing Kopaka has, he also has several bad things. For starters the silver, white, and trans light blue work for the color scheme when not united, while the gold and earth blue do not. His legs are great, but suffer from weird extended ankles and the gold crystal spikes that throw it all off. The weapons are great, but I cannot see how that "shield" could block large attacks. Somehow, though, the torso shell doesn't bother me. The pistons don't stick out as much when they are not on a metallic-colored piece, and it works here. 

The arms are my main point of contention, though. While the construction isn't the worst, it's still not very great. The shoulders are connected to the torso by one pin each, so the shoulders sag a small amount and move a small amount whenever the arms are posed in any way, making me fearful that the parts used for the shoulders will break in the near future. The Skrall armor on the shoulders collides with the mask whenever you try to put Kopaka in any pose where his arms are perfectly horizontal, and to top it off the arms cannot achieve a full-on horizontal T-pose.

The waist swivel is just as tight as Gali's, and due to the inability to put Kopaka into some poses, he can only sweep with his sword at the same level as his abdomen (unless you don't try the T-pose and go for the vertical slash).

Melum is better than I expected. I found that the creature heads fit best in unity forms when a figure with an extended axle/horns on the head piece are outfitted with the creatures (so Umarak has an unintentional locking system for creature heads in unity forms). The color scheme is nice, but the limbs are very abstract. I found that the only pose I could put him in that didn't look awkward was when he was on all fours, and I'm surprised I haven't seen pictures of either Melum or Terak on all fours, because the pose looks very nice. 

The two figures look best in the united form, which sums up my biggest complaint with this wave: most of the figures only look good in their united forms. While I like the two separated, they look best when combined, and while this is a good business strategy to promote the uniter gimmick in one set, it doesn't do it for me.

However, I do like this set; I feel like I got my money's worth from it, and I recommend it to anyone who is on the fence about picking this set up from the shelf.

Perhaps a Toa of Sonics would be able to manipulate the sounds people hear, and possibly even distort someone's words when a person is speaking. They would also be able to throw off a being's equilibrium, as balance is regulated by a component of the ear.

Also, if a Toa had enough power, could they take the form of or "become" their respective element, and then reform to their solid mass (ex: Toa of Lightning turning their body into electricity, Toa of Water turning their body into a tidal wave)?

 

My brother got a sort of messed up Terak today, with a wobbly beast foot, AND a Purple spike that is a slightly different shade of purple than the other ones.

 

Lego sort of seems to have dropped the ball in quality control with this first batch of figures. On Terak and Umarak, at least. 

 

To top it all off, you have luck-of-the-draw with the friction in the waist gear mechanisms for the larger sets.

Did the Toa lose some personality quirks in the new bios? I thought it said somewhere that Gali liked to make up puns, or that Pohatu had a slight fear of the dark?

The last podcast of 2015, with many more to come in 2016!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geiadcZ3bFU

Does anyone else see the problem of the pig supposedly eating the hot dog?

I like the blended masks either way. Color + silver looks cool, and trans color + gold looks cool. As far as designs go, I'm not too keen on how some of the masks look on their respective Toa this year, and overall I favor the 2015 designs over these.

I won some stuff this year from raffles and trivia contests held by BZP, and experiencing the joy of getting sets for free is always very nice.

After getting Uniter Gali and finding the set to be the most disappointing thing to ever exist in the universe, this MOC warms my heart. I've always been a fan of Gali (for the character and nothing else), and I felt the 2016 set deprived her just what I liked about her: character. This MOC brings it back with a bang, and I love it! 

I do have some suggestions/critiques:

1) How does she look with the 2015 Mask(s) of Water?

2) Try replacing the short light blue eyestalk with a trans yellow-green eyestalk as it helps bring out the eyes and light pipes much better than the light blue when paired with the head piece.

All in all, great MOC. For me, it makes the character have character again, I couldn't be happier than I am now after seeing it. Keep it up with the super mega awesome fantastic MOCs!

 

 

Light piping, which is my favorite thing of all time, is nonexistent in her eyes (even with the golden/transparent mask on) but almost exclusive to her limbs.

So is the 2016 brainstalk worse, or is it just the mask?

Both. Her mask's eyes are set too low with too heavy of a ridge for the eyes to even be visible. Add in the smaller eye stalk, and none of the Toa sets really have visible light piping.

 

It's also a problem with the head piece construction in general. The light blue eyestalk never really light-piped well, and the fact that the Toa all have a light blue eyestalk means no light piping. Hopefully the same eyestalk mold is produced in the trans yellow-green for some of the summer wave sets this year.

I just love how TLG decided to put one of those sloped, vented, bricks on Gali's back.

That's another thing; why did they use bright blue for the back instead of dark azure or orange to go with her color scheme? They went through the trouble to make the short axles black in the same set, but they couldn't recolor any other small parts?

I got Gali and Umarak yesterday, and I have mixed feelings about them.

Gali disappoints me. I've been a long time fan of the character and this set just baffles me. Proportions are way off, to the point where most poses are near impossible to achieve due to the stubby arms and weird legs; the body feels boxy/barrel-like and contributes to the near impossible posing. Light piping, which is my favorite thing of all time, is nonexistent in her eyes (even with the golden/transparent mask on) but almost exclusive to her limbs. The weapon... is kinda nice; I love the new crystal blade, especially in the light blue color here. Also, the torso swivel is extremely tight and very difficult to use without having to hear the most dreadful squeaking noise to ever meet your ears. I already scrapped this set and made a mini version of Gali, which somehow works better for me. 

Umarak is much better in person and much more posable than Gali. Proportions feel better, colors feel better, and functions are leagues better. The turntable waist does not squeak as much or as painfully as Gali's, and I feel that this set is a better use of that play feature. The legs bothered me before, but now they make sense. I can also finally comprehend his mask design and even that fits in with his theme. He is definitely worth it, even without the Mask of Control being described here (which is also pretty great to have).

Not to beat a dead horse, but I must give my overall gripe with the Toa torso shell for this year: It does absolutely nothing. If the piston greebles contributed to posability, I would have loved it, but overall the piece seems useless. They used a traditional torso shell combo on Umarak, but why not on the Toa? We may never know the answer...

I'm kind of new here, how do I participate? Do I have to buy a ticket?

Welcome to BZP, link is in the OP, and it's completely free!

Any sets left at the Christiana Mall in Delaware?

Why the creatures have all the same head?(From a story point, of course) They all look like they belong to complete different species...

If I were you, I'd read Revenge of the Skull Spiders if you want this question answered.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This game has the wonkiest controls I have ever had the displeasure of getting used to (probably because I'm playing on my laptop and not using a mouse like I should). It's a constant battle with the controls as well as in-game lag, but the game itself is just great! Taking down a Dark Jedi is rewarding every time you come across one, especially as you progress. I now have dual sabers, and it was very rewarding to see me take down two Dark Jedi in the blink of an eye!

I quite liked this book! It finally got me to know the names of the Protectors without having to look them up online!

As the owner of this vehicle, I must say that it looks fantastic! The shaping, colors, and even the little features that bring it to life (even if it is a vehicle) make this an outstanding creation.

I don't like it when complexity is valued over looks in a MOC. Not saying that when someone is going for a complex build is bad, but needless complexity just doesn't sit well with me.

Yes! Someone who understands my viewpoint! Oh... thank you! I am no longer alone in thinking this way!

One peeve I have found is the use of different shades of one color on a MOC, such as Bright Red and Dark Red. Most of the time, these colors don't really work well with each other, and if you think they do at first, then get a few photos of a MOC using this type of color scheme. When this happens, the colors become two eyesores competing with each other for attention.