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IC: Triki, Ga-Metru Not really bothering to check if the others were following or not, Triki continues towards the Great Temple, but soon turns towards a side path that leads to a storm grate. He knows there are lots of underground canals and such underneath this portion of the city, and what better place to start searching for a disc? "Now how to quick-remove grate?" Triki ponders.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Vahki are problem-no, s'long as they don't disc-strike you, staff-stun you, hit-smack you, drop heavy-big objects on you..." Triki says, continuing his list as they approach the Great Temple.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Is great because you be bigger targets so Vahki sneak-attack you first!" Triki says, once again heading off towards the Great Temple.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Welp, I'm Triki, the Trikicator, the Trikiest of the Trikimites," Triki says. "Oh the search-fine for Great Discs to have adventure-fun! So we gonna chatty-chat all day or disc seek?" He was apparently not too concerned about leaving the Hover-Bike behind, nor any of the social awkwardness of the group so far.

So we are now on the third wave of Collectible Minifigures featuring DC characters, only this time it's not branded as coming from The LEGO Batman movie. I'm personally a bigger fan of the generic CMFs so the increase in licensed themes isn't always to my tastes, but I'm a sucker for good figs so I wanted to collect some. Granted, I haven't had the most luck so far with these... LEGO Online order gave me two Green Lanterns and Joker (the latter who I did not want.) When I visited the LEGO Store, I mistook Mr. Miracle for Cyborg (stupid chain) and ended up getting two of him. I also traded with another AFOL who claimed he was handing me a Bumblebee, but he mis-felt the bag and it was actually Bat Mite (who I also don't care for). So I've had a pretty high miss rate on these so far; it doesn't help that the new stand element and jumper plates just add to the confusion while feeling. But I did open a few of them that I wanted so here's a little mini review More Photos on Instagram First off, the new stand elements are pretty great. They do a good job at proving a new angle for fig displays, and they can connect together to form a fun chain or circle eight together to make a full octagon. Better yet, most figs come with two of them! I say most... but not those with capes. For whatever reason, the figs with capes have their parts double bagged, and the double bags do away with spare parts, so no extra stand element. I dunno if this applies to all batches, but so far it was that way for the caped figs I opened. Modestly disappointing. Stargirl: Very nice fig with lots of great printed details. The end of her staff is also a new sparkly trans orange element, one of the few new molds in this series. (Which kinda sucks, a price increase but few new molds... although I'm sure licensing costs contribute.) I've read some arguments that the hair piece is not fitting for the character. I guess it kind of works, but honestly it's not my favorite mold in general and I think it's overused. When feeling for her, she's the only one with a 4L bar. Metamorpho: I like the distinct coloring they've given to his various limbs made of different elements; I'm particularly a fan of the trans clear leg. The magenta fist is a cool element, and also the one to feel for, although it's a bit of an unusual shape to recognize. Green Lantern: Honestly, I'm not familiar with the Simon Baz version (I've been told he's missing his revolver), but another Green Lantern variant isn't so bad. The printed green ring tile attaches well to the hand clip piece, which is a better representation of the rings than with previous figures where they just held the tile flat. (Plus, you get two of em!) The new lantern element isn't bad either, with a few useful connection points. The big lantern, the 1x1 round tile, or the hand clip pieces are the ones to feel for... unfortunately SInestro has those exact same pieces too, and the only difference between the two is that Sinestro has the extra hair piece, making it challenging to tell them apart. Aquaman: This is apparently true to one of the comic versions of Aquaman, so props there. I particularly like the new mold they created for his hook hand, and a new fish in pale green's not so bad. (Although the hairpiece is new to me, apparently it was used on the Aquaman fig from the sets last year... whoops.) The fish is the piece to feel for, although the hair piece could get confused for Wonder Woman's or Huntress's. Mr. Miracle: Honestly I don't know anything about this character, but when I showed my co-workers the lineup of the series, they were all like "Mr. Miracle is in there? Awesome." He comes with lots of fancy printing and a cape... which means his parts are double bagged and you get no extra fig stand thing. He comes with a long chain and handcuffs (okay, he came with two handcuffs but not two stand elements... boo). Now, getting the chain wrapped around him like in the images is a bit challenging, but doable. When feeling, the chain is the piece to feel for, but since he has the cape he'll also have the bag within a bag, so that kinda helps narrow him down. (As I mentioned earlier, I mistook him for Cyborg, who also has a shorter chain but presumably no secondary bag.) Huntress: Honestly, of the figs I've gotten so far, she's my favorite. I really like the detailing with the cape, utility belt, and printing. Hair mold is a reuse but new in black. She also has the cape problem so no extra pieces, so feel for the crossbow in the bag within the bag. Yeah, not the easiest to figure out, and she's among the rarer ones too. Cheetah: I guess I'm not super big into the old comics, because I'm used to the CHeetah from the animated shows and now this version. She has a great cat costume with excellent cheetah patterns printed on her torso, legs, arms, tail, and hat. The bag is just a recolor, but the dollar sign print on it will make it useful for some displays. (Personally, I've never been a fan of this cumbersome bag piece, but whatevs.) I guess technically the hat with cat ears is a new piece, although it's very reminiscent of other CMF costume helmets. IMO Cheetah could easily pass off as a generic costume character, but I guess this works for her comic book variant too. The piece to feel for is probably that bulky bag element, but the tail is also a unique if tricky to identify piece. And maybe the hat if you can figure out the rounded ears. I'm still on the hunt for Bumblebee and Jay Gordon, and maybe on Batman and Cyborg. So far most stores in my area don't have this figs yet; they're still trying to sell off their S19 and Disney S2 figs. At the Lego store, I know I felt through nearly a whole box and didn't once come across Batman or Bumblebee, so they might be tricky ones to figure out. I don't want to collect the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, or Sinestro; I also don't want Joker or Bat Mite but I already have copies of them, so I'll keep their bags unopened for possible trades in the future. Overall, this is a good wave of figs but I'm still not motivated to get them all, so I guess I get to save a little bit of money, heh.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Oh, no, it often-be like that," Triki shouts back to Tekmo, referring to his broken Hover Bike. "Will tweak-fix later. For now, need to seek-find Kanoka! Big rush."

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Awesome-sause!" Triki exclaims. With his pack of mechanic tools, Kanoka discs, and Chakram blade, he starts off towards the Great Temple.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru Triki looks between both Karista and Revamp as they have was seems to be a day-long staring contest, and decides to break the silence himself. "Toa disk-seeking would be use-good, but need-not for adventure-start! Already have idea-good of where to find disk-great. Great Temple already has lotsa pretty shiny things, great place to hide Kanoka beneath. Problem-be all the nosey-mean Vahki walk-patrolling around. Might need to parts-scrap them along way. Could be dangerous. Who wants in?"

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "So long, crash-maker!" Triki calls out to Karista as she leaves. Then he looks around determining which direction he should head in. "If you were Kanoka-Great, where-be you hiding?" he wonders.

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Hey, don't up-mess my master work; it's very delicate!" Triki exclaims, pushing Revamp away from the bike. From what could be seen of the interior, the bike is barely holding together, with a lot of unusual techniques and designs and shoddy parts. By all accounts, the thing shouldn't work, but somehow he had been able to fly it moments earlier. "Ah, I see-sight the problem; pistons melt-bent and instead smash-blasting exhaust vent," Triki says. "Gonna need more Gukko wax to smooth-shine it together. Guess it can be parked here for now... adventure continue-be on foot now!" As he starts grabbing some of his equipment off the bike, he hears Revamp's request. "Sure be, fun-join companion on epic adventures to seek-find disc of legends! I hope-be it's Reconstruct at Random." It would appear to be that Triki is happy to have Revamp tag along, although it could be difficult to determine that based on his slang...

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Oh, I gets it, you understand-no chute speak," Triki says to Karista. "Is problem-no, most Matoran no-get my awesome-o lingo. It happens 'cause I'm too cool for school." He waves as the Ga-Matoran who was Revamp, apparently not confused by the unusual color scheme. "Heya, friend-folk. I'm fine-good, just need to quick-fix bike and then I can return to disc-searching!" He pats the wreckage of the Hover-Bike, causing a large panel to fall off the side. "Hmm, may require long-fix, actually."

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru "Hey, watch-be where you walk-step!" Triki yells back at the pedestrian he had nearly rammed into. However, glancing back, he didn't see the parked chute loader; his Hover-Bike clipped it and sent him spinning around, which caused the engine to stall and forced the whole bike to drop to the ground. "Whoa, fun-crash," Triki said, trying to get his bearing as he tumbled off the bike. "Well, I've much-been in ever-worst. Looks like this will need a bit of fix-tinkering." He glances back at the alley where Karista had walked back into. "Hey, crash-maker, what-be you doing in this bike street-path?"

IC: Triki, Ga-Metru Triki exited the chute station in Ga-Metru, cutting off a few chute loaders as he pulled his Hover Bike out of the magnetized protodermis. He looked around at the various ornate buildings surrounding him, and a mischievous grin spread across his mask. The Turaga had said something about finding discs, and Triki was always one for a treasure hunt. "This seem-be like a place-good to search-seek for shiny-pretty discs," he said to himself. Starting up his Hover Bike, he rose into the air and started to fly between the streets of Ga-Metru... OOC: I guess open to interactions.

Name: Triki Species: Le-Matoran Faction: Metru-Nui Brief Description: Triki is best described as eccentric; he acts impulsively and his goals can change on a whim. He is often looking for ways to express his creativity and go on adventures, but often doesn't think of the consequences of his actions, and is prone to violent outbursts when provoked. He is a green Le-Matoran who wears a Great Kanohi Kakama (powerless). Background/Occupation: Triki is a mechanic in Le-Metru, specializing in flying vehicles. His designs are unconventional and hazard-prone, but often clever enough to work in the end. He likes to go exploring in areas where he shouldn’t, which has earned him the ire of the Vahki. He is intrigued by the idea of searching for the Great Kanoka, believing it would make for a fine adventure. Flaws: Triki’s crazy persona and chute-speak are often found off-putting to others, and his violent tendencies and shortsightedness often land him in trouble. Powers: Triki has innate elemental air abilities as a Le-Matoran, but is otherwise powerless. Equipment: Triki often has a pack of mechanic equipment with him, including wrenches, plyers, and a blow torch, so he can tinker with equipment he comes across. His primary ranged weapon is a Kanoka launcher, where he specializes in Reconstruct at Random Kanoka (and also Regeneration Kanoka to fix up his messes). He has a circular Chakram blade for close combat. He also has a customized flying Hover-Bike that he uses for travel, but often has to tinker with it to get it into working condition.

It was an okay episode. I seem to recall them reiterating over and over the old AFOL complaint that Bionicle was not "real" Lego even tho it saved the company. In the end, I didn't really get much new info out of the episode, but then again it was probably aimed at normal people who don't immerse their lives in Lego news.

My favorite is Kotahi; the use of the various gear pieces gives him an interesting texture. Well done.

Bionicle Pens strike again! Black Six recently sent me a rare Bionicle Toa Nuva pen he found at BrickFair NJ this year. (Don't worry, I paid him back for it.) I've been able to track down the Toa Mata pens and their mini Toa masks, but the Nuva variants have been a bit harder to come by. Instead of a mask clipping over one of the beads, it has a pin attachment to a head shaped bead. Sadly the pin itself isn't compatible with Lego elements, so the mask only attached to the head bead. But the head bead itself can modestly attach to a minifig torso, so the implications were clear. It also came with a Toa tool, which had vaguely anti-stud connections on it. They're not the strongest, but it does allow him to hold only the stylized weapon as a fig. Horray! I'm not sure if the armor combination I put together is the best, but I didn't dig too much through my collection to find these so there's always room for improvement. The head placement does make the proportions seem a bit more awkward than the previous Toa figs I made, and its perhaps worse on Pohatu, who's normally supposed to be a hunchback. But hey, first try. Maybe eventually I'll get the pens for the other Toa Nuva and make yet another minifig team of Toa with obscure pen mask heads...

I was going to make a joke that all these are just going to link back to Pat's MOC, but then I checked my prepared code and the URLs are all the same... well I guess I somehow did a find and replace...?

I mean, I'm pessimistic, but I'm going to hazard a guess that it's more focused on Rebel Nature, and any relation to Bionicle is to troll us / get our attention and try to direct it to his new project. (Okay, he's probably not trolling us, but I'm sure its a clever marketing move to get fans of the old franchise interested in this new thing. I've already seen advertising for the Rebel Nature show pointing out it's roots to Bionicle, so I can see them trying to use it for all its worth.) But honestly the best bet would be to wait and see.

Another quick set review, picts from Instagram! More Images on Instagram This set is $49.99 with 604 pieces. I'd been eyeing this Spider-Man set for a while now, but it was a little too spendy and I had my eye on other sets. Besides, I've already got Spider-Man and Venom, and Spider Gwen wasn't super detailed, so I tempted my expectations. But then I got it as a birthday present, so it all worked out in the end! The figs are okay. Spider-Man and Venom are great; super detailed, nice printing. I had versions from the 2013 set, and while the new ones have finer details, I could've gone without. (Plus, you know, Spideys in half the Marvel sets now days anyway.) Aunt May was also a letdown because she's made from previously released pieces, so there's nothing really exciting about her. Spider Gwen / Ghost Spider is the real exclusive here; she's a bit more plain than I was expecting; the torso / arms lack any pink highlights (well, the arms lack it... I didn't realize the body had some printed but that's because it's hidden by the hood.), although they are used on the eyes. She's okay, but knowing the kinds of crazy details they can do on figs nowadays, she's a bit of a letdown still. The first two builds are kinda boring. Gwen has a flying surfboard thing; maybe it's from the comics but I don't recognize it. The Spider Mech is okay for a smallish mech; it's a nice balance between blue and red, but still a little plain. Best part is the webbing bars around the cockpit. But the large Venom mech is very impressive. Although the interior has some bright colors, the outside is mostly black with occasional white highlights... and that amazing red tongue. The head design is awesome, and they even cleverly use the round printed CCBS armor for the eyes. The whole thing has a smooth, muscular look to it, and totally sells that the character is a massive Venom out on a rampage. Biggest problem is that the ankle connections are by a loose pin; I'm sure it was designed that way to properly angle the feet on a flat surface without having to resort to a ball joint, but I feel like he comes with some weak ankles that can make posing difficult. This is a very good Marvel set, and $50 for 600+ pieces is a good value. The Spider-Man, Ghost Spider, and Venom figs are all well designed and worth adding to your collection, and the Venom Mech build is great. (Spider Mech, not so much. Plus, does Spider-Man really need a mech? Following the Lego trend of giving him a vehicle he doesn't really need.) I'm sure it looks even better with all the stickers, but I didn't add them because I'm probably going to reuse the pieces eventually. Anyway, it's a worthwhile set.

I think my new way to do set reviews will be via Instagram. Sure, I'm limited to square photos only, but it's the easiest at the moment. There's not exactly a ton of room for text, but I can elaborate here if I really want to! More pictures and videos on Instagram This set is $59.99 and has 447. I totally got this set for the Triceratops. The coloring of the dino is new, but I believe the mold was reused from the 2012 Dino theme. And we've had three or four waves of dino sets since then, but we haven't had a real herbivore since 2012. (Yes, I realize there was one Jurassic World dino last year that was technically a herbivore, but it basically reused the body of the raptors, so I'm disqualifying it for my argument.) The dino itself is great; posable legs and neck, to a degree. Big, bulky, and expensive, so there is something to be said of cooler brick-built designs... but hey I wanted a triceratops and now I've got one. Desire achieved! The rest of the set is fairly bland. The figs are okay, but nothing stellar. (I mean, half are PoC so I guess that's good. It's based off some new Lego cartoon that ties in with the movies... I don't really care for either so I don't have much to say about them.) It comes with a basic 4-Wheeler for Chris Pratt, but the carrot on a stick feature is funny. It comes with a collapsible fence for the triceratops to break thru. (Seriously, all the Lego Jurassic park fences are terrible, it's like they don't even want to keep the dinos contained!) It comes with a mini Jurassic World gate and some other things like a sign and trash can. Meh. The ride itself looked fairly basic, but I'm spoiled after things like the Roller Coaster and Ferris Wheel. After putting together the spinning ride, I have to say that it is pretty satisfying, and makes good use of the new gear plates. It would fit well in any amusement park, even with the dino egg theme it has going. Is the set worth it? Absolutely not. The price for the big triceratops mold and the licensing fees make this way too expensive for what you get; it feels like a $40 set, not a $60 set. If you can get it for sale, then maybe. If you absolutely want the Triceratops (like me) then it's okay, but honestly I think it might be the weakest of the Jurassic World sets from this wave. I have trouble recommending this set when there are a bunch of others to choose from. It's a $60 Triceratops and parts pack, basically, but the ride is still fun to put together. (And it's not like the concept isn't used elsewhere; I think a Harry Potter has the exact same feature.)

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is the Mexican holiday that honors the dead and those that have passed away, but instead of a sorrowful occasion, it is a colorful and joyous celebration. Although I’m traditionally American, I remember learning about the history of it in school, and it’s been featured in some recent popular movies like Book of Life (a great movie I’ve enjoyed) and Coco (a Pixar movie I have yet to see). One of the many traditions is the use of candy skulls (or sugar skulls) which are used as decorations on alters of people who have passed. The candy skulls can be very colorful and intricate, and I thought an excellent way to honor this holiday would be to create a candy skull Lego mosaic. And so here we are. I very much enjoyed putting together all the colors for this mosaic, and hope to get it displayed at a couple of conventions next year. Make sure you take some time today to fondly remember the people in your family who have passed on. I also posted a series of WIP picts showing the progress made on the mosaic over time on Instagram, but those are linked to below

Boo. Stay safe man! (What's funny is I saw a lot of people out burning stuff in their yards today. Even tho it's fairly damp here right now, it still looks risky to me.

So I made this... Yay Instagram embedding.

That catalog certainly looks familiar. I forgot that they explicitly stated that the disc packs were not available in stores. (Also forgot how much they pushed the idea that you could attach the carrying case to your belt and take it with you. I tried that once and it got confiscated at school. Fun times.) The Slizer / Throwbots distribution was so weird, it doesn't surprise me that the disc packs from back then are hard to track down.