Set Review: 70795 Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder

[Dakhann]

Hello Everyone and welcome to my first set review ever! Everyone has been waiting for this set since the first photos surfaced so let's not wait any longer and get the review started, shall we?

 

Let's kick off with some basic data:

Set Number: 70795

Piece Count: no idea (I got it from Europe)

Ages: 8-14

Release Date: August 2015

 

Presentation

From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.

 

  

 

New type of packaging for Bionicle Gen 2, classic Lego box this time. On the front: Same Bionicle logo, a cool battle scene between Ekimu and the Skull Grinder. Name, age range and set number in classic places for the series. On the back it gets more interesting. Action features are clearly shown, as well as is the combination model which (IMHO) looks way better than winter wave combi. Interestingly enough, the box features the entire comic strip not the cut down version that we are used to from other sets. 

 

Now let's focus for a moment on the instruction manual.

The instruction features the same comic strip in a bit bigger scale...

...which allows us to see some more details of the confrontation. Is it just me or is Skull Grinder really trying to melt the Mask of Creation??

 

Back of the instruction also features the combination model which can be achieved with this set and 70794. To my eyes it looks like it has an action feature in the claw and possibly some movement in the "wings"

 

Building 

Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?

 

Skull Grinder:

Pretty basic CCBS build, Grinder's gear box is Lewa-high but he gets a neck extension.

 

Ekimu:

Interesting protector build with gear box but still pretty straightforward

 

The set also includes a stand for the Mask of Creation

 

The build is simple but still very enjoyable. Probably because you're building the legendary Mask Maker.

 

 

Set Design 

Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.

 

 

+ Ekimu's shield and some Technic parts to keep it all together.

 

 

Wow. Looking at the parts Skull Grinder is impressive to say the least. The bones look great and are gonna be extremely useful for all the necromancers MOCers. Skull Grinder's shoulder and knee armor is amazing and to my knowledge one of the first parts with "broken" look in the CCBS system. The trans-orange chest, standard for all the skull warriors is also really good. His weapons: wonderful. The sword is irregular but nice to look at and has a "hook" at the end - my guess? mask removing tool. The axe is cool as well, interestingly enough its bendable but I don't know if on purpose. Ekimu on the other hand uses mosly old parts such as Chima constraction armor or Cindrella's carriage wheel.  His only recolor is the 6-stud shooter in trans light blue but its not exclusive to him.

 

The Masks: 

   

Everyone's been waiting for this moment. The MASK OF CREATION! Bathe in its glory! Its Amazing with a capital "A". Everything that you've seen on promotional images is here, including the runes not only on the "crown" but on the face as well. IMHO it fits perfectly the Mataverse description. This is the thing that people are gonna buy this set for. Ah, I just can't stop looking at it...  The golden protector mask is also really nice, I especially like the golden tint in the transition section. Skull Grinder's mask is some good stuff, menacing and capturing the look of "Big Bad Guy". 

 

For all you parts hunters out there this set contains two of the black, three lenght "mixed" pins that were first included with LOSS.

 

 

So that's the parts. Now lets focus on the complete set.

 

   

Both characters look very solid and there isn't much to complain about.  Skull Grinder is big, menacing and fits perfectly as the leader of other skull baddies.  The only cons in his design are that he is really hollow around his chest/neck area and that his mace is just too heavy, even with additional gears. Now the other side of the conflict. Some say that small is beautiful and they are right. The Mask Maker looks really cool and ready for battle. He is really bulky due to the gearbox but it doesn't take away from his look. I still can't understand the reason behind giving Ekimu green eyes, but oh well he is still cool (i'm for sure gonna swap his eye crystal for one of the protector's)

 

Playability 

The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?

 

 

Skull Grinder has a standard number of points of articulation +1 due to his neck extension. Ekimu is standard as well but his elbows and knees are protector style so they have a bit more of sideways mobility. Skull Grinder has only two standard play functions, one being the gear box and two the possibility to knock his mask off. If you want you can consider the possiblitity to grab masks with his mace as another one. 

 

...like this.

 

Ekimu on the other side is far better equipped. He has the basic Bionicle 2015 functions so one of his arms is powered by gears and his mask can be knocked off. Next off, his shield can be rotated with a gear and his hammer is in fact a 6-stud launcher. How is that? 

The shield can rotate...

 

...and the hammer can shoot!

 

Being the only set in this wave to contain a bad and a good guy, this set's playability towers over every other one from the summer wave. The "conflict in a box" as well as the golden protector mask allow you to play out cool battle scenes without the need to buy anything else. Also, did I already say that it contains the Mask Of Creation? You can do everything with this mask and a bit of imagination.

 

 

Ekimu the Mask Maker in his full glory

 

Axe or Sword?

 

Wanna play a game?

 

Final Thoughts 

Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?

 

Pros 

What's to like?

• Mask Of Creation!!!
• "Conflict in a box"
• Lots of action features
• Mask Of Creation!
• Fun build
• New parts - always welcome
• did I already talk about the Mask...?

Cons 

What's not to like?

• Skull Grinder is a bit hollow
• Even if he has an additional set of gears, his mace is just too heavy to keep it up in any pose that you want
• The new skull shoulder and knee armor stands out a bit too much and is hollow inside as well
• Ekimu has green eyes (Why Lego, why??)

A must buy for every Bionicle fan out there, old and new. The Mask is of course the focus of the set but the rest doesn't disappoint either. A very good set as  a whole in my opinion.

 

PS: Thanks everyone for reading and seeing as it's my very first review i would very much like some constructive criticism in the comments. This is Dakhann, signing off.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2015 by Black Six

[Nescent]

Wow, I thought I'd have to wait a while to see reviews like this. All of the new/interesting pieces are gorgeous, and Ekimu just looks so great wearing the MoCr! I also love the design of Skull Grinder's mask, especially with the horns. And that translucent torso armor piece is just fantastic...Can't wait to see all these new parts used in MOCs.

 

I get the complaints about Ekimu's green eyestalk, but I think they work great, especially with the MoCr. Blue eyes would have blended in with the translucent armor pieces.

 

I really hope I can afford this guy, if only for the MoCr. Thanks for the review! (Seriously, nice review, the kind of quality I'd expect from an official BZP review and with great photography.)

Edited June 17, 2015 by Nescent

[Dakhann]

Hey! Thank you for positive feedback, it means a lot to me I paid 29.99€ for it so it shouldn't be bad in the states either. Next time I just need to prepare a better setting for shooting pictures. Thanks again

 

Edited June 17, 2015 by Dakhann

[Logan McOwen]

I am sold - not that I wasn't already. Now Amazon, hurry up and stock these!

[Makaru]

Wow, Thank you for the incredibly informative and early review! I knew I was going to be picking up at least one of these sets, but you've confirmed all the expectations I had.

[Dakhann]

Thanks Makaru for such positive feedback!

 

Now a question to all readers of this topic: Does anyone want me to review the rest of summer wave? 

[Nescent]

Now a question to all readers of this topic: Does anyone want me to review the rest of summer wave? 

 

Oh absolutely! 

[Maskmaker of Light]

Very nice review! I love Ekimu's design, but Skull Grinder's is kind of meh. He still loks nice, but I will give him a revamp.

 

 

Also, Here's a great idea for Ekimu and POS. If you trade their eyestalks, they will have the same eye color from the animations.

[Jakura Nuva]

Great review, Dakhann. Of all the summer sets, this was the one I had my eye on the most; and after seeing these figures built and posed, I'm that much more excited to purchase it! Thank you for reviewing it - I think you did great for your first review, I really have no complaints - and maybe you'll be reviewing some more in the future?

 

Thanks Makaru for such positive feedback!

 

Now a question to all readers of this topic: Does anyone want me to review the rest of summer wave? 

 

Yes, please! 

Edited June 17, 2015 by Jakura Nuva

[doodleloot]

Nice review! The set looks pretty cool, allthough Skull Grinder still seems a bit weak to me. May I ask in what country you bought these?

[Aanchir]

Yikes, I hadn't realized just how gappy Skull Grinder's torso was from the side. That's not a pleasant surprise. He's quite an imposing figure, though, and it's a bit surprising that he's only around the same height as Tahu (albeit with more of that extra height in his torso instead of his legs). His color scheme  is slightly less dynamic than many of the other Skull Villains since his red/Tr. Flu Reddish Orange parts function as his secondary color rather than as a separate accent color, but he definitely looks evil, no doubt about it. His horns add a lot of unique character to his mask, and his chest plate pattern feels very spooky.

Ekimu is also a very nice design. The muscular, compact design makes him feel a bit like a fantasy dwarf, which I suppose suits a master craftsman like himself. His articulation looks good, and it's cool how all his bones except his torso are transparent light blue! He's a great likeness of how he appeared in the animations. The eye color difference doesn't bother me too much. I imagine it was done that way so his eyes wouldn't match the transparent part of his Protector mask, but whatever the reason, his eyes can easily be swapped for the Protector of Stone's, as others have pointed out.

Thanks so much for this early review!

[UnderscoreChronix]

That mask is mine.

[Shadow Destroyer]

This is probably my favorite set of the new summer wave. Thanks for the informative review!

[Dakhann]

I know I'm getting repetetive but thanks soo much for so many positive comments! 

 

@Maskmaker of Light Exactly what I did

 

@doodleloot In France, Clermont-Ferrand but I heard that other cities had them too

 

@Jakura Nuva, Nescent Starting to work on 70791... 

 

PS: A question for review writers. How do you make images link directly to a bigger version? (without the "external site" notification?)

Edited June 17, 2015 by Dakhann

[Ford]

This is a great review. Now I feel like getting more than just one of this set. Heck, with how much is included in this set, would it make sense to buy three of these instead of one of each set from the entire summer wave?

 

...Eh, that's for me to decide, but you've gotten me thinking... 

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Out of all the summer Bionicle sets, this is the one I know for sure that I will get. Ekimu looks great in it, and while I'm not the biggest fan of Skull Grinder, I still think he looks cool enough.

 

Thanks for the review!

[admiraltyphoon]

That Mask of Creation is Gorgeous.

Like, LEGO has really outdone themselves with its design, and hopefully the other 2 legendary masks will include the same level of detailing.

 

Question: Does the new add-on (the one Grinder has) fit in a torso shell?

[SailorQuaoar]

This is fantastic, especially for your first review! I'm so glad you took the time to post this to BZPower, because those are some nice parts.

 

Mods, can someone give this guy a proto boost? This is definitely contributing to the community in a positive way.

[Dakhann]

@admiraltyphoon you mean the shoulder addition? It stands out enough to fit every torso that I have (so 2.0, brain attack, breakout and the new spiky one too)

 

@sailorquaoar I have no idea what is a "proto boost" but I'm guessing it's something awesome I'm really glad that you liked it

Edited June 17, 2015 by Dakhann

[Tahu3.0]

I actually thought that the mask of creation would look and feel a bit rubber like but i finally learned that the mask is plastic like the others and that's good that its plastic.

[Flintsmith]

You should take a nice picture of the Mask of Creation and put it up on Bricklink.  Everyone who looks there for the next decade will see that you had it first!

[Xabla]

I love it! This may/may not be the only set I get. I got all the Winter wave though.

[MrSciFiGuy]

Can't wait to get this set. Everything looks great, but the pretty large hollow area in the chest. Great review!

[Zorglorfian]

I really liked the review.

 

Ekimu looks amazing. No complaints.

 

Skull Grinder, however, leaves something to be desired. The chest gap is somewhat expected, but thankfully fixable. The legs also need work, namely they need to be longer and have more trans-orange color.

 

The Mask of Creation is awesome. Definitely geting this set.

[Toa of the Blazing Inferno]

I wonder what Tahu would look like with Grinder's orange (?) eyes, what Ekimu would look like with Tahu's blue eyes, and what Grinder would look like with Ekimu's green eyes.

[Dakhann]

UPDATE: My next review will be a bit late due to personal reasons (sorry :/)

 

 

 

For now, have an eye-candy to keep y'all excited 

Edited June 18, 2015 by Dakhann

[Rooster Nui]

Skull Grinder isn't as solid as I thought he would be, but he's still cool nonetheless. I'm glad that this set comes with a nice, little mask stand. With it, the Mask of Creation is shown as a very special mask, as it should be.

 

 

UPDATE: My next review will be a bit late due to personal reasons (sorry :/)

 

 

 

For now, have an eye-candy to keep y'all excited 

Oh, this excites me. I can't wait to place it with my other Masks of Power.

[Vraiment]

I just built mine, 

 

Do you know how to keep the mask of creation from falling? When I put it in the stand its loose and falls down a little, like looking to the floor. 

[Naota Takizawa]

I'd substitute the pieces that hold the mask with a headpiece to fit the Mask of Creation on.

[Dakhann]

@Vraiment Don't put the stand too tight together. I left some space and the mask holds just fine.

[Logan McOwen]

For now, have an eye-candy to keep y'all excited 

 

Gorgeous.

[Vraiment]

@Vraiment Don't put the stand too tight together. I left some space and the mask holds just fine.

 

That's the same solution I've worked out, but I find it kind of lame...

[Lyichir]

I'm actually a little surprised by how that stand is made, considering I had thought it would be a much simpler construction using this piece. That's what I've been using for stands all this time, and personally I feel like it's much more effective.

[Vraiment]

I'm actually a little surprised by how that stand is made, considering I had thought it would be a much simpler construction using this piece. That's what I've been using for stands all this time, and personally I feel like it's much more effective.

 

It's a shame, because it's kind of sad to need this kinds of workarounds to make it work.

[Lyichir]

 

I'm actually a little surprised by how that stand is made, considering I had thought it would be a much simpler construction using this piece. That's what I've been using for stands all this time, and personally I feel like it's much more effective.

 

It's a shame, because it's kind of sad to need this kinds of workarounds to make it work.

 

I'm confused? It's hardly "sad" how simple it is to create an effective stand for these masks. I've used the solution I posted for a full set of seven mask pedestals, which allow the masks to attach securely yet also be removed much more easily than a Technic cross axle would allow for. The solution this set uses seems much looser and less ideal, but what can you do? At least the new masks allow for multiple attachment options.

[masterchirox580]

Am I the only one who thinks the mask of creation looks a little big for Ekimu's body? 

[Jobber]

Yeah

[Vraiment]

 

 

 

 

I'm actually a little surprised by how that stand is made, considering I had thought it would be a much simpler construction using this piece. That's what I've been using for stands all this time, and personally I feel like it's much more effective.

It's a shame, because it's kind of sad to need this kinds of workarounds to make it work.

I'm confused? It's hardly "sad" how simple it is to create an effective stand for these masks. I've used the solution I posted for a full set of seven mask pedestals, which allow the masks to attach securely yet also be removed much more easily than a Technic cross axle would allow for. The solution this set uses seems much looser and less ideal, but what can you do? At least the new masks allow for multiple attachment options.

It's kind of sad the solution doesn't come out of the box and therefor you requiere to use some extra pieces

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Am I the only one who thinks the mask of creation looks a little big for Ekimu's body? 

Judging just from the photo in the starting post, I do agree that the mask looks a little big on Ekimu. My personal guess would be that the mask was sized to fit on a Toa-sized set, which is why it looks weird on a set with a Protector-sized body. I know that begs the question as to why it was included in this set then, and for that I have no idea. I just think it was made with the intent of a bigger set wearing it. 

[Lyichir]

I don't think there are any size issues with Ekimu's mask. Apart from the "crown" (a common aesthetic feature of royalty or divinity), it's not significantly larger than the Protector or Toa masks.

Where did concerns about mask size even originate from, anyway? I don't think anyone cared about that during the classic theme's run (outside a few outliers like the Olisi). Yet I keep hearing complaints that the new masks are either too large or too small, when as far as I can tell the range of sizes is no greater than it ever has been.