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The Tuesday Morning stores are having a Bionicle sale starting this Saturday! With any luck, apparently they will have Vezon and Fenrakk as well as some 06 playsets (the cheaper ones) for $20. And some canister sets for $6. Info is from my LUG. Yes, I have reported it to BZP news. I'll blog about what I should get later. For a store near you, search for their website online. -CF Quote of the Day: I love deadlines, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. -Douglas Adams
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Regarding the sale at Tuesday Morning stores, I don't know what to get. (Initial question at bottom) They are likely to have Vezon and Fenrakk, so I assume they'll have the other 2006 sets. Hopefully. If not then my anticipation went down the drain. I don't think I can afford Vezon at $20, as awesome as he looks, because I'm about to make a $25-$30 purchase of Lego online (which includes 2 Roporak!) But if they have Piraka and Inika, I'm in a dilemma: I'd like Vezok, another Zaktan, and/or Hahli Inika. Supposedly the canister sets will be $6 each, so I can get two I figure. If they have them. As I said, I already have Zaktan, but I would love more Sand Green joints. I'm thinking of a black and sand green MOC, and more would be better. Vezok is certainly a must. I need the ice sand blue (or whatever it's called, I'll go look in my Bionicle Guide a Matoran Matoro) joints. (For a Toa Matoro MOC at least) Other than that, I don't quite use blue. There's a problem. Now, Hahli Inika. I just said I don't use much blue, but I think some blue Vahki legs would be useful. And the leg armor. I don't see much use for the blue/white mix except on MOCs with the color scheme, so I'm not too happy about that. What I really need Hahli for is the white joints. Especially the double joints. I got Pridak just for that reason, but those are short. Nothing wrong with that but since I like white I like to keep my MOCing options open. Other than that, I don't quite have a big use for any other 06 sets. Oh, Kongu Inika would be nice for the silver leg armor, but I would rather use rahkshi legs instead of inika legs (so I don't need the inika legs) and I'm getting Lesovikk sooner or later, so I don't need the feet, plus I prefer Metru feet Mata feet over Metru feet. The inika feet are good for taller MOCs though. Mmm, that's a lot. Question: Vezok, Zaktan, and/or Hahli? (Kongu?) Thanks! -CF Oh, I already have Zaktan, Avak, Thok, Matoro, Nuparu, and Hewkii. Quote of the Day: Deflagrate - To burn somthing with great heat from intense light.
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Well, on Saturday I went to my first Lego User's Group (LUG) meeting! The group is WAMALUG (Washington Metro Area LUG). I went with two 16 year old friends, and had an interesting time. I was able to talk with AFOLs young and older, and almost every new set was there. I was able to see the new Aqua Raider sets, some new Exo Force, a couple of Barraki and all the small box sets, and some new Star Wars sets. We also played BrickQuest, an RPG using Lego. I do plan on going back, but not until April or June, depending on when I have time. We'll also probable bring my System piece bins, and I'll bring some Bionicle MOCs, and we'll build there and get other people's opinions on the MOCs. So, anyone else belong to or at least visited a LUG? Oh, yeah, I signed their list, so now I get 10% off my purchases at my local Lego stores! -CF
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Dilemma: I possibly have the chance to buy either Turaga Nuju or Turaga Onewa. They are both the same price. Any thoughts? Nuju has white feet (mata heads) and head, the staff (useful?) and the light grey technic angles. Onewa has brown feet (mata heads) and head, the staff (useful?) and the tan technic angles. Both white and brown are big in my MOCing, but right now I think the white would be more advantageous to buy. I don't use heads that much though (save for a...head), probably because I only have Matau. But, with the absent of brown now, another few brown pieces will never hurt. Dilemma. -CF Edit: I posted this: I doubt it. There's Kopaka for $4.50 and I've been wanting him forever, and a Brown Akaku for $0.45, and then a Turaga for $2.70. Add in Paypal and shipping costs (which should only be $1 or so) there isn't enough to buy both. Quote of the Day: "Will you please stop fondling my adams apple?" -My friend(s), to show you just how crazy my lunch table is.
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BBCC #46 -CF Quote of the Day: When life gives you lemons, it's important to hold out until it gives you sugar and water too or else you'll have some really gross lemonade.
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Happy Halloween! Scary image #1 Scary Image #2 What's scary is that this stuff is on Brickshelf in the first place! -CF Quote of the Day: Pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity - The state or condition of not having the faintest idea what's going on.
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Okay, since the annoucement regarding the identities of the '08 sets, there's been a lot of confusion about what to call them. Well, in an attempt to battle this confusion...I've drawn a diagram. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « If you see anybody starting to get confused as to who is what and which set is which, please feel free to direct them to this image. It's for the betterment of all BZP.
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I got a friendly reminder that plans are already under way for Brickfair in 2008. And I did say that I would take an opportunity to make it out there at some point following graduation. With a year's notice. I can start getting plans together with enough time to make sure I can afford it all. $95/night for the hotel? Wowza. Not sure what all expenses are involved aside from airfair and accomodations, but it's definately something I need to do. Thanks for the reminder! I'll keep y'all up to date as I start to get things together for next August. If my first four months at work are any indication...time's going to fly by.
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Just fooling around with pieces when I came up with this! Topic -CF Quote of the Day: If insects have 6 legs and arachnids have 8, then what the heck are Visorak?
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ChocolateFrogs' Blog Based Contest: Out of the Ordinary Congratulations to Bundalings the Bunny! 1. Bundalings the Bunny-- Pohatu Nuva (5 votes) 2. Vahki Commander®-- Toa Ketran (1 Vote) ----- Bundalings the Bunny will receive two Life Size Zamor. (Which means I have to ship from VA to Hawaii....) Vahki Commander® will receive (and they are already in the mail) two "Free the Band" patches. (And if there was even there was another entrant who, say, even switched only one arm on Onua, would have received one Free the Band patch.) Congrats to all the finalists and thanks to everyone who entered this contest! I would like to thank the Tyson's Lego Store for providing the contest prizes. See you in BBC Contest #2! -CF In other news, I got 1710 on my SAT. (exclamation point?) Quote of the Day: Pohatu was strong but a bit thick, Except when he let go with a kick, The stone carvers knew When loud echoes grew To move from the Koli ball's way quick.
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BBC: Blog Based Contest (Credit to Bundalings) From this contest comes this voting! The contest was to MOC a humanoid with asymmetrical arms. (Think back to the Toa Mata (and Kopaka Nuva), Toa Hordika, the 2005 titans, heck, even the Piraka.) Here are the entries: Toa Ketran and Pohatu Nuva Voting process: 1) One vote per member. 2) Don't edit your post, or it will not be counted. 3) Common sense, because I don't know what else could be put in this kind of thing, so take responsibility for your vote and don't try to pull any funny stuff. Voting will end in about three days. Depends on how many votes come in. Vote! -CF Quote of the Day: Being represented by a percentage makes me uncomfortable.
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I got these at my last WAMALUG meeting. The red pieces are for this MOC. Speaking of the LUG meeting, that went very well. I saw Ouch again, and he plans on coming to more meetings as a regular member! By the way, this is an awesome set. Wasn't supposed to come out until the day after the meeting, but a Lego store already had it. (Not my set, and these are pix from another WAMA member) That same member took pics of my MOCs (and Matoro), surprisingly because most of them are Bionicle! (The Evangelion!) I also got the $5 and $20 Mars Mission sets. (Building them) Galen brought his Falcon! Awesome set. I got to pick it up! (apparently roughly 19 lbs. The set box is about 24 lbs and the instruction booklet (notebook ringed) is 5 lbs. (Anyone watch Family Guy? I don't, but that's where this scene if from (Han with a couch?)) Look what you get with the set! (I feel I need to reiterate that this is Galen's. There is no way I can get this) Heck, here's the Brickshelf with tons of pix taken by Philip. At the end are Galen's vigs and scenes from Indian Jones. The meeting was tons of fun, as always. I did some Bionicle building after my sets were made, as well as a little system, which I'll show off later perhaps. I pretty much brought almost my entire Lego collection to the meeting. Which is sad, meaning it's not that big. But oh well. I'll probably get more system this year after seeing some of the Nuva. Plus I probably won't buy any Bionicle until the summer because of Christmas and my Birthday three weeks later. My friends are good about that. Wow, long entry. I'd love some comments even though it seems intimidating. -CF Quote of the Day: You’re all just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
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What, Seran made a MOC? How weird. Better check it out before it runs away. -Seran
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That's what Ouch said about this little scene I made after building my set: It was a great meeting. More on that later. For now, here is the other sets I got yesterday (so I built them today at WAMALUG) The Mars are really awesome. Great pieces but also great sets in general. I would totally recommend both, but the $20 one is awesome! It has so many points of movement to "transform" from speedy ship to super-speedy ship! Matoro is also good. I like his weapon. I might use the mask in a MOC without the visor. The only problem is the tubes act like the Piraka spines almost and slightly limit mobility. More pix later, I got some new pieces! -CF PS, don't forget about the contest! Quote of the Day: You may ask, where's the culture?
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Here I go again, stating my opinion of the 2008 Bionicle sets. I've given some thoughts in other people's blogs, so perhaps you know what I think. But I will also give extended thoughts and reasons, opinions, mind you, about these. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «I am really liking these Makuta sets. Perhaps it's the wings. Bat-like, they can strike fear from up high and swoop down to attack. (But the summer ones might not be in the air) In general, I'll aim for the red one, then the black. (I don't usually go for the blue) I like Antroz's (red one's) build of black and red, as that is evil. His wings and weapons are cool, definately staff/pike material. And someone said it might be normal red and I hope they are right. There has been enough darker colors, so let's even it out. On and off. Alternate colors. (For Lewa's sake) Chirox's (Black one's) build is cool. He has new feet and Nuparu Mahri's armor in a new color. His weapons and wings are cool. Only problem is his stubs of Hordika skulls for hands, but they work, I guess, for a baddie. Is that a silver Toa Metru chest piece on his waist? I need some of those. Vamprah (blue) is more spider like as he doesn't have feet. (But blue Mahri-toran blades! That makes up the difference) Interesting arms/hands/weapons. Um, does he fly? (Too bad he's a he and not a she. We need some villainesses.) I like the heads on all of them. Glaring with some form of mouth, ready to strike without a second thought. Turns out they have Kanohi, too. Like MoMN. I just don't understand their chest/orb thing. I guess I'll have to wait for the comics. I've been thinking, and there was also the comment by xccj. Wouldn't it be awesome if the summer colors were: Bright green (with perhaps dark green, being bad guys and that color scheme hasn't been used yet) Brown (wishful thinking. But picture these guys in brown and it just might work. Maybe brown with a black or gunmetal or keetorange secondary color. Or if brown was secondary then we'd have brown double joints! Now I'm just getting ahead of myself.) White (well, that's obvious. I don't have much to say about it except other options would be the dark white (which we need more of MOCing-wise) or a white and light bley combonation. But he's a baddie so I guess a full white body is ruled out. Some shadow is needed) As you can tell, I like these sets a lot more than the Nuva. The Makuta look the part and I feel they will have lots of attitude. -CF
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Edit: Contest deadline extended! Entries due Friday 19, 9:00 PM EST or whenever I close it which will probably be after after Ca' enters. (And don't edit your post. Make a new one. I, ChocolateFrogs, am having a MOCing contest. This one (because I anticipate more) will have the them of a Bionicle MOC, basically Toa sized and humanoid, but not the average symmetry that many MOCs seem to have these days. Explanation: Seeing as how the sets and other MOCs these days have symmetry to them (regardless of Kanohi), I challenge you to build a MOC that doesn't. In my mind I picture the Toa Mata, with two different types of arms, so I think that will be the first requirement: Different arms. Rules: 1) Different arms. Be different in your MOCing and think about the Toa Mata and the Hordika. (I recently tried this with my own MOCs, if you remember) 2) Toa/Humanoid, so nobody goes and makes a huge MOC, so we are all on the same playing field, so that they are all the same size/type of MOC. 3) Basic rules of BBC contest. (But I won't care if you take an old MOC and change one arm) 3 edit) One MOC per entrant. 4) Voting will take place after contest closes (see below). We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I think that's it, because I don't want to limit your MOCs except to a theme. Oh, right, prizes! 1st place: 2 Life Size Zamor, 1 of each color. I will ship throughout the US. If the winner doesn't live in the US, I'll have to think about it. (You'll probably get a content block to you or something instead, I don't want to have to deal with extra shipping costs and all.) 2nd and 3rd each get a "Free the Band" patch (from the 06 AAR promo). 2nd might get two of them. And since mailing a letter is totally different than a package, I'll ship these to Canada if that ranking person is from there. Contest starts now and ends Wednesday 19, 2007, approximately 9 o'clock PM Eastern time. I won't end it before then, but it is likely it won't get closed until later, but don't wait until the last minute. Voting begins soon after. Questions, comments, and certainly the entries go here. Happy MOCing! -CF Entrants: Toa Ketran by Vahki Commander® Entry Post Pohatu Nuva by Bundalings the Bunny Entry Topic and Entry Post Quote of the Day: Have you ever wondered why sheep don't shrink when it rains?
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Hmm. As sets, the Nuva are pretty much awesome. Kopaka's wings are quite pleasant, his mask looks sufficiently techno, and he has nice legs. ( ) His arms disappoint me; they would be far better shorter. The shorter double socket and, say, Metru legs would look far more proportionate, in my humble opinion. But still, four Piraka legs...yay! But bley? Is that good? Not necessarily, no. Lewa, Lewa, what happened to you? Nice green mask? Check. Insane serrated (love that word!) blade? Check. Not terribly keen on the colour scheme - more bley. Unfortunate. And torso could be more custom. Pohatu rocks (no pun intended (or maybe it was)). Orange and bley is a nice combination, and his Vahi-style mask looks awesome. Add transforming claws and you've got something pretty excellent. He wants orange on his chest though, it's too bland and bley. Launchers look almost interesting, but nothing spectacular. As characters, I'm terribly disappointed that they bear next to no resemblance to the originals, but I can learn to live with them. Possibly. It depends how expensive they are. -Seran
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Ah, the Master of Bionicle deadline was 9:00 AM. I got on 11 hours too late. Here's what I wrote (under 100 words): I should be manager of BIONICLE because I have an experienced background not only with BIONICLE but with LEGO as a whole. Since I can remember, I have been turning those colorful bricks into countless creations. BIONICLE revealed an intriguing storyline rich with mythology, heroes and villains. These aspects helped shape BIONICLE into what it is today. Having loyally followed BIONICLE, I care deeply about it. BZPower has given me insight into other fans’ views as well as the LEGO Company’s, and I feel that I can lead the BIONICLE line forward using my experiences and all I have learned. I like it, but I'll never know how well it is. Until Master of Bionicle 3, but I don't know if I'll have time then. (I figured I'd have time right now) *A cookie to whoever can recognize where my blog's sub-title comes from* -CF PS, don't forget to enter my contest! Deadline is Friday, 9:00 PM EST. Quote of the Day: If you don't find it funny, then there's no need to bother reading it after the first few lines. You can go read some poorly-typed "Ask the Magic Cheese" comedy instead.
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http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=265007
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Here I go, stating my opinion of the 2008 Bionicle sets. I've given some thoughts in other people's blogs, so perhaps you know what I think. But I will also give extended thoughts and reasons, opinions, mind you, about these. I will look at storyline resemblance and thoughts on the pieces. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «My opinions will be spaced out over a couple days. And before you think, "Here goes another member complaining about 2008," let me tell you that I am pretty much opposed only to the Nuva. I'll tell you all my thoughts in time, precious reader. On that note, let's get to the Nuva, shall we? Overall, they need a serious reduction of bley. Bley limbs? Come on! The limbs provide a big part of the color scheme. And Toa are so much cooler with two colors reflecting their element. The dark bley only truly belongs on Earth, and it seems that Pohatu and Kopaka are trying to get away with it, but Lewa is failing miserably. Remember the Toa Metru and their color and bley scheme? I really didn't like bley. Brighter colors will attract kids eyes, won't they? Those launchers look bulky and annoying. And I thought the Cordaks were big, whew! Other than Lego saying kids like guns, do the heroes really need anything other than a melee weapon(s)? Kopaka: This is probably the only Toa set I want right now. We'll see how the others look, but white, green and brown are my usual 1st sets, and I only want Kopaka. I like the feet adn armor, but that's pretty much the only thing I like. If his limbs were light bley that would be cool, because light bley is the new light grey, his color. But I doubt that. And I think Piraka legs on Toa look bulkey. Oh, and if you haven't figured it out already, I detest his lack of shield, sword (don't mention his beyonette) and his left eyepiece. That much feel pretty weird, if you think about it, seeing better with a different eye. The wings: Well, if the story is in the air next year, he needs some way to fly. Or more so glide inless those flap. (how much you want to bet Gali has Hahli's wings?) Lewa: Where's the bright green? I really don't understand why Lego doesn't use this color. It's one of my favorites and I haven't heard any thing about it doing porly like brown. But even dark green would have been better than bley. Anyone else notice the little propellers in his cheeks? His sword is amazing. I'll have to get that, but only that. I don't think those feet work too well on Toa. They are big, bulkey, and were introduced in a bad guy, so to me they have a bad guy feel. Don't have much to say about the jets, except I think an Air Toa would have wings. Pohatu: Excuse my while I go fetal position in front of my computer screen. Good news: someone please take four Avak armor, two Onewa's feet, and a Kakama or something brown and make him brown. Those pieces are the only color on him. I keep thinking his Po-Matoran friend is a Ta-Matoran. Why Orange? (Why bley?) Maybe a tan (or beige, the new tan) and orange scheme would work. That'd work for me. And what's with the lack of chest armor. (happened on Hewkii Mahri as well) One shot and he's dead. But this is a general thing that's been going on for a while. I just don't understand it. It's only after you see something worse you could accept what you didn't want. He would be much better in gunmetal and keetorange. Couldn't that bley even be replaced by gunmetal? And I don't think he has hands. Just stubs of Hordika skull like Chirox's hands and Vamprah's feet. So his arms are short. There's one similarity to his old self. Oh, Kanohi="Vahi"...bad idea. It resembles a Vahi too much There are my thoughts on the Nuva. Sorry that is seems a little jumbled. There is so much I don't like/appreciate. These did not meet my expectations, but why should they? Is there no nostalgia left in the Lego HQ? Yeah, I'm so glad I'm a MOCist so I buy sets for the pieces. -CF Hehe, bley. I just remembered that I took my bley pieces out of the canister they used to be in (my pieces are organized by color) and put them in a bag. They don't deserve the dignity of a canister.
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Warning. The following content discusses the '08 sets. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Okay, I didn't know what we're allowed to say and what we can't without using spoiler warnings, so this whole entry today is one big spoiler tag. Hope it's not too annoying. But anyway, now that the 08 sets have been revealed through "legal" means, we at BZP are free to discuss what we think of them. And personally, I'm on the fence. I find Pohatu's design...confusing. But Kopaka and Lewa's both look pretty nice. I like the idea of flying Toa. -Leaked information removed.-Shine- I'll definately get the Toa out of tradition, and eagerly await the release of the remaining Toa. Not to mention wait impatiently for my chance to buy Ignika. Care to start throwing theories around as to who he is? (Yeah, my money's on Matoro too...) As far as packaging goes, the canister sets are officially dead. In fact boxes now appear to be a thing of the past. Hopefully these new "little sets" won't come at too boosted a price to cover the upgrade. But if that happens, it's a simple matter of speaking with the wallet, not with the ol' Blog. So now I join the rest of you in waiting for these puppies to become available. And hopefully that won't be too much longer.
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Let's start at the beginning, shall we? THE BOX The box is a cardboard cuboid structure constructed from a fairly standard net, with edges pre-scored, folded, perforated, and glued. You, as the purchaser, do not need to construct the box at all. I know at least one person who would be upset at that, but to most of us, it makes sense. The actual artwork (that comes pre-printed on the cardboard cuboid structure) is simultaneously magical and misleading, in a fairly amusing sort of fashion. It ticks all the right boxes: it is eyecatching; it is big; it is bold; it has just the right amount of bright primary colours to make your eyes bleed; it has gorgeous CGI renders of the terrible twosome; it has the necessary logos and stuff. Let's take a minute or seven to look at the layout. The Bionicle logo, in its crisp, vectorised white edition, adorns the upper left corner, with 'Maxilos & Spinax' placed directly underneath, with a subtle white to blue gradient and blue motion blur that more or less completely fails to catch your attention. The Bionicle.com blatent advertising is shoved into the top right corner, without even a motion blur or pretty stroke in sight. How disappointing. As we let our eyes slide down the hard paperlike surface, we find the irritating age rating and product number. They are very boring, so we shall continue our journey to the right, where we find the Lego logo, dropped unceremoniously into the bottom corner looking for all the world like an afterthought. These little thingys do, however, leave a ridiculously mind-bogglingly huge space for the main artwork, which is probably a very good idea. Whoever designed the artwork seems to have had the bright idea of using a water-themed design, with a rather pleasing blue background, filled with a sort of rock thing and a sort of gigantic white blur that is, most unfortunately, almost totally obscured by the image of Maxilos. If I had a chance to interview the graphic designer, I would definately place 'what is that intriguing white void behind the characters' around number three on my top ten list of questions. The actual render of Maxilos and Spinax is very disappointing, for two main reasons. Firstly, it leads you to believe that Spinax is in possession of some absolutely gorgeous chrome pieces, and the shock of finding that they're merely the normal silver is enough to send anyone into rehabilitation suffering from total disappointment overload syndrome, which I just made up. Secondly, Maxilos' cool swordy thing is emanting some sort of pretty yellowy glow that hides most of his body. On a set such as, say, Karzahni (vomit) this would actually be such a great idea that the graphic designer should get a medal, but here, it is very sad, as Maxilo's torso is his major selling point. Or at least, one of them. The pose that M&S are in is rather pleasant, and all the lovely bubbles floating around, combined with that nice Mahri circular circle thing make a good piece of artwork that could be printed off and hung in the Tate Modern gallery in London, as it is far better than most of the artworks there (apart from the cool gel postcards they have, but that's a different review entirely). The sides of the box are decorated with a nice rusty effect, with all the standard warnings in twenty-seven billion different languages. Interestingly, the Lego logo pops up again a grand total of four more times, as if you hadn't worked out that it was a Lego product yet. Other things of note include the Mahri Nui logo, a rather nice little circular piece with a sort of city and a sort of cord sort of bursting out of it in a sort of enjoyable manner. For some utterly bizarre reason, there is also a scale picture of one of the Cordak whatsits, which, rather impressively, is actually the right size. Moving on to the back of the cuboid packaging, we find yet more blue. Tons and tons of blue. Enough blue to make you think that it might all be set underwater, or something silly like that. You can also expect to find another image of M&S. This image is annoying in that it clearly shows Maxilos' chain to be comprised of no less than seventeen links. You do not get seventeen links in the set. In fact, you are lucky to get seven. Another thing of interest is that, if you look carefully, you can see that whoever made the CGI of Maxilos messed up where he's holding the chain, and that the chain is bursting out of the blue friction pin in a very ungainly and physically impossible way. We also find images of Voya Nui, Mahri Nui, and another one of Mahri Nui with lots of nice bubbles and small craft in the bottom left side. Anyone with half a brain can work out that his craft is, in fact, a disguise adopted by a lone Tahnok Va, to try and sneak into the limelight when everyone was looking the other way.* But now you know this, you can look at it smugly and say, 'aha, I know your secret Tahnok Va'. You can also expect to find images of the other Titans and functions, unless your box happened to get caught in a rainstorm and all the ink washed off. Finally, we reach the parts inside the box. PARTS INSIDE THE BOX If your box is empty, you should consider the possibilties that either you have already opened it and taken the parts out, or a Lego packing robot went on strike and/or fell into a large vat of custard. In the unlikely event that your pieces are missing, and replaced with a large amount of pink flowers, consider yourself lucky in that one of the Lego packing robots obviously has a crush on you, and you can expect lots of other pink pretty things in the future. Failing emptiness and pretty pink flowers, you will find a pleasant instruction booklet with a nice glossy cover and lots of little plastic things of various shapes and colours that are called 'Lego elements'. Or pieces to us common folk. Pieces of note include the GUNMETAL PARTS such as the TWO GUNMETAL IGNIKA and the GUNMETAL METRU FEET. Other parts of less interest include ten bright red socket joints, two bright red long double socket joints, and Maxilos' mask. Ignoring what canonical evidence would say, this is a mask. It conects to a Metru head, and has eyeholes, therefore it is a mask. It also has a rather disturbing growth on the left side, that probably means that Maxilos should go to a doctor for a checkup, as it looks quite nasty. Ignoring the humourous growth, the mask looks acceptable. Not magical, like a Miru. Not stylish like an Avohkii. Not oddly Lemon-shaped like a Kiril (though it is interesting, but not that interesting, to note that his mask does in fact bear more than a passing resemblance to a Kiril). No, Maxilos' mask is just about acceptable, but boring enough for you to forget all about it and tread on it after leaving it abandoned on your bedroom floor for two months and having to go to hospital because it has cut your big toe on it. Other nice parts include Spinax's faux-flip mask headpiece and the nice silver spines, otherwise known as Teeths.* THE PUTTING OF IT ALL TOGETHER We'll deal with Spinax first, because he/she/it is fairly insignificant and forgetable. He/she/it is rather like Ehlek, in that you snap two Vahki hips to a large liftarm and shove on some limbs, a head, and Teeths. The overall appearance is nice, especially the way his/her/its jaws clamp shut and cover his/her/its eyes, thus rendering him/her/it completely blind. The Teeths are cool, giving him/her/it a nice skeletal appearance. However, the colour scheme leaves a lot to be desired. A lot. It is comprised of black, dark grey, light grey, and silver. In my humble opinion (bearing in mind that I have qualifications in Art, Graphic Design, and Digital Multimedia Imaging (just to boast a bit) and that I ought to know what I'm talking about when it comes to colour), Spinax would be lot better off ditching the black and dark grey, and just going for silver and light grey. This would give him/her/it a nicer, sleeker appearance. Oh, and it would also mean lots of pieces in new colours, which makes me happy. Now, we dance along to Maxilos (dance, or else). Frankly, he looks simultaneously awesome and vomit-inducing. At a first glance, he looks cool. Second, you think 'hmm'. By the third time you're wondering what's wrong, and if you survive to the fourth you start to question the meaning of life and lemons. We'll start at the bottom and work up. His feets are meh. They are nothing special, like Brutaka's, yet they are also nothing disgusting, like Umbra's. His lower legs are just grey Vahki legs. Not too imaginative, but then the set designers generally aren't all that imaginative anyway. Moving on, his upper legs are annoying. They follow the same boring design of a long tube with sockets either end, and a few things bursting off in all directions for good measure. Oh dear. Especially the GUNMETAL METRU FEET, which are suspended in midair, leaving vast gaps of gappiness that will make even the most hardened fan weep hot tears of sorrow and write poems of such heart-breaking sadness that they have to sit in a darkened room and tell the world how evil it is. Luckily, things start to look up from here. The lower body, or hips, is annoying. It's pretty much just some Vahki hips with some socket joints thrown on. It's amusing that the Toa Mata's hips were actually more solid than Maxxie, and he's about five million times their size. Something like Roodaka would be good, with a Slizer foot on the front, or maybe an upside down Mata Head. Whatever, poor Maxxie should have some armour there at least. Moving swiftly on, we arrive at the upper body. It is rather interesting, as it isn't composed of the 'Y' torso or a prebuilt torso (shock horror). It has articulation. Yes, that's right. Not only does Maxxie have waist articulation, but he also has shoulder articulation too. How exciting! However, the parts choice baffles me. The GUNMETAL MODIFIED HORDIKA FOOT fits rather well. No real problems there. The GUNMETAL LEHVAK KAL parts, on the other hand, are incredibly annoying, as they leave him with two massive gaps in what I am hesitant in calling his chest. To skippity hop along a little tangent here, I shall discuss the gaps in Maxxie. DV, if you have read this far, you may have a cookie, and you may also find this bit vaguely entertaining. Bionicle characters are, invariably, mechanical in nature (oh, fine, biomechanical). Thus, some gaps are acceptable. I call these 'style gaps'. Such gaps originated on our lovable heroes, the Toa Mata. Look at their torsos. Look at Maxxie. Look back at the Mata. And back at Maxxie. Get in now? Style gaps are fine. They are deliberate (I assume) and give the sets style. The other kind of gaps are not fine. They are called 'lazy gaps'. These are things like the voids in Maxxie's legs, the dark holes in Gadunka's entire substance, the odd recess in Karzahni's chest armour. Lazy gaps make Seran cry. Do not forget that. Lazy gaps are found in the Lehvak Kal claws. Lego could have used pretty much any of the twelve varieties of Bohrok shields, and they chose the most gappy ones. Why is this? I think I have the answer. Look at Karzahni. Once you have finished vomitting, look at his back. I believe you will find two Lehvak Kal handshields. Where have we seen them before? Oh yes, Maxxie. More evidence? Look at Hyraxon. Hello, Hydraxon. Peer longingly at his GUNMETAL fingers. Why are they GUNMETAL, when he doesn't have any other parts in that magical colour? Look at the playsets for this year. At least one of them has the same GUNMETAL parts. Coincidence? Hmm? I think not. It seems that Lego has a nifty trick of sneakily using the same 'new' parts in their sets, presumably to cut costs. It makes sense - if you have two similar new parts featured on different sets, why not make them the same? Zooming back to Maxxie here, we find Seran sobbing over his magically articulatedness. Why is that? You'll find out later. Bet you can't wait. We take a quick look at his back; nothing special there though, just a Hordika chest armour piece. A nice piece, but not terribly special. We then look at his arms. Ah, his arms. They have GUNMETAL IGNIKA on them. Yes. Yes they do. Absolutely fabulous. Aside from that, they are dull. They are Vahki legs again, and Brutaka-esque Piraka claws as hands. Yes, they work. Yes, they look ok. No, they are not special. Unlike, say, Fenrakk's cute little bulbous tail. That is special. Maxxie's arms are not. His weapon, the notorious Blackfire sword, is rather pleasant. It is nice to look at. It uses two of Hewkii's stylish blades, and one of Matoro's whatever-they-ares, and one of the breathing tubes. A nice combination, especially with the trans red axle joiners. His head is attached to a short double socket, which gives it a wide range of articulation. This gives him an interestingly unnatural effect, as beffiting his robotic nature. The tube sticking out of the other growth on his head looks ok. THE PLAYING WITH AND STUFF Of course, I don't play with my Bionicle sets now. The most I do is pose them on a shelf for a while, before ripping them apart for MOCing. Spinax is ok, I guess. Decent range of articulation, though as I said before, the jaws are annoying. So, Spinax is ok. Maxxie is irritating. He's fun to pose, though the masses of articulation can make posing difficult, ironically. OVERALL Lots of nice parts, especially the GUNMETAL pieces. I daresay they'd be fun to play with, though the articulation is a bit lacking. Lots of fun posing, it you are patient enough to keep unhooking the tubes and arms from each other. Maxxie and Spiney is a decent set, though the box is slightly more interesting to look at than the sets themselves. -Seran *Not necessarily true, but it would be fun if it was.
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Seeing this, and that I had this thought for an entry, I thought I'd share my thoughts: Seeing as how the Mahri containers are more so a box with plastic edging than a canister that can hold your set or whatever else you want, it seems pointless to me to have this useless plastic edging around a box. Wouldn't it save Lego more money to just put the sets in boxes if they really didn't want canisters? The canisters are great because they can hold the set (or pieces, in my case). I'm even using the Barraki canisters even though they are weird shaped. But the rounded tubes or even the triangle Rahkishi cans are fine IMO. (But they all fit together nicely side by side more than the Inika canisters do) My point is Lego should think about storage or money. Round canisters to store the sets or plain boxes (maybe with a nice metallic finish like the 07 Exo-Force...) to save money on plastics, maybe which could go toward a higher piece count in the sets. -CF Quote of the Day: Finding a finger in your chili is never a pleasant experience. I mean, who wants some of that gross chili spoiling a good finger?
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I actively sought out spoilers this time around. So I've seen the pics, and I know the names. And I'm quite intriqued. I can't go into many details without posting spoilers, so I won't. But I'm excited for what these sets may mean for the story in 08...even if it goes against something we had been promised for a long time. Though there are a few pieces missing that are leaving me a bit confused at the moment. Hopefully those'll get filled in once the '08 storyline officially kicks in. But let me just say that LEGO may be in for an unexpected reaction to these new sets. And the new sets may divide people to the same degree as the Inika did when they were first introduced.
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This Sunday, October 14, 2007, there will be a WAMALUG meeting. Everything you need to know on when and where and how to get there is in the link. FYI, this is a LUG in the Washington DC (Metro) Area (WAMA...). Think about that before getting all excited. I expect to be there from 11:30 or noon to 5:00. I'll be wearing my BZPower Shirt, so you can't miss me! (As well as a Brickbadge with my BZP name on it, so don't say, "Chocolate Frogs?" but instead say, "Chocolate Frogs!" because you'll know it's me) BZPower member "Ouch" will be there in the afternoon as well. And I might just have freebies if I know you're coming.... I'll also have some awesome MOCs not seen here on BZP! (Or you've seen the WIPs....) If you're coming, I would suggest either coming for a little bit and chilling with Ouch and me or coming with some MOCs and chilling with Ouch and me. I should have some pieces with which to MOC with, but nothing is guaranteed. (They're my pieces, my precious!) The AFOLs really like System, by the way. Oh, if you're under the age of 15, you need an adult with you. It's pushing it with that 15 age, but I think it'll be OK. Yeah, that's it. Can't wait to see you there! (Unless you don't live in DC/Northern Virginia/nearby in Maryland.) -CF Quote of the Day: May I take your order... so that I may promptly ignore it.
