8921 Pic Review: "Pridak", 8916 Takadox 8920 Ehlek

[JINZONINGEN73]

Thought I'd give this boy a critique of my own, as feelings are mixed on him depending on who you talk to.

Straight to it, The Canister:

I was sincerely hoping that the base would have peg, axle or stud holes so you could do something fun with the container other than just store junk in it. No go. Strictly pop on and pop off.

Ah, but what a pretty container... surely one could buy 20 of these and line them up side by side to make a big, icey-lookin' wall of water, right?

No, against all hope, it tilts at the top to only one corner. Tis' a pity.

But oh well. At the very least they stick out off the toy shelves and hit passing parents in the eye. (Profit!)

One good thing worth mentioning is it seems like more care was taken on all of this year's Lego packaging so as to have pictures which better describe to the seasoned customer what parts are contained within. The pic on the front might be a pile of standard CGI hoobajoo with effects and all this jazz surrounding the model, but on the back is a fairly comprehensive image of him. THANK YOU, Lego. This is a much appreciated thing, it is.

Literature:

Nothing spectacular here. Everything seems in ord... WOAH, mama, what the heck?

On the cover of the instruction booklet is the same art as on the front of the canister and in the back of the same booklet... but it's different.

Pridak is shown with missing blood splotches and red eyes instead of blue. Go figure. Maybe it was some near-final production image, or maybe an intentionally miscolored version that was going to be used as misinformation to "accidentally" leak. Who knows. Still interesting enough to note.

PARTS (capitalized, for parts are the point):

Yup, that's them right there, officer!

Nowhere near as bad a selection as some of the past canister figures in the Bionicle series.

Some pegs, some axles, and these super huge-o longassed feet! Those alone will definitely be good for something. The mask is a bit tricky as far as mocing goes, for it has blood spattered across it's face. Same with 3 of his blades. But hey, it could be worse. Lego could have insulted your intelligence like in the good old days, saying they were "tools" for harvesting... eh, I dunno kopakaberries or something.

Some hippies don't like the sight of blood on their toy weapons, which is funny because other people realize that using weapons usually result in someone bleeding a whole hell of a lot. I welcome this, in case you couldn't tell. Heck with the kiddy junk of past years.

Also of positive mention is the new globe eyes. Pridak has blue, which I think makes him only one of two Barraki who have it (I think)? Everyone else has red. These new parts are great! Better yet, even though at first glance they look like a globe that abruptly ends in a peg of lightsaber width, it actually is more mushroom shaped, with a circular pocket inside the dome.

This is good because when putting them on other Lego parts such as this one, it completely covers it up... so there's less worrying about whether you used a light gray or blue connector stud.

REALLY hope to see more of these domes mass-produced in some set with different trans colors and in good quantity.

Finished Model:

Hmm. Here we go. I almost don't want to post these. Might make some of you not want to buy him.

And that's not my intent at all.

Yeah, see? They used those Toa Nuva legs as his white forearms. That's a TERRIBLE Lego piece, both in it's uses in official sets AND for mocers. Ugh. Those parts are right up there with those dang useless Bohrok legs that keep rearing their ugly head year after year. Still , he doesn't look too horrendous from the front.

Those little, yellow rubber things hanging off the robot claws on his hand are... uh... little, yellow rubber things. Very awkward looking. They don't help the look of the set at all.

Ugh. Sorry about that. This is a review. It must be done.

I hope that wasn't too painful for you. But hey, not like you had to take the 3 minutes it took to put it together like I did.

... ...yeah. Wow. Not very nice looking at all. >__<

...

...Yeesh.

...anyway,

Building and Playing Experience:

Build time was almost as fast as you could flip the pages. A little kid will have NO problem putting it together, save for wondering if they'd built it right... after seeing the model and all.

I imagine for a smaller kid or someone really new to Lego that playing & posing this is as fun as sliced bread. So, I suppose that has to be considered a good thing.

One more stab:

And that right there is this wave's new play feature. Holy crap.

Okay, you slide the launcher on the model's gangly arm.

Then you kind of rest the yellow snot ammo on the front of it.

Then, without having it pop out, you grab it's tail to pull it back AND... it kinda' poops out an inch in front of the launcher at a weird angle. (Hey, just like the Exo-Force foam disk lauunchers! No, worse.)

Probably with some practice you could become the squid booger launching MASTER on your block.

Who'd want to be though?

I dunno', man. No. Just... no.

Overall:

Wow, the review got pretty bleak there, huh? So I think he's not worth purchasing, right?

Hahaha, no. It's a good set. There's enough great parts to outweigh the bang your head into the wall till you bleed parts.

And it's that simple. Sure, they cheaped out with ball connector hands instead of the cool, fingered Exo-Force ones, but dude... Lego's about building, right?

The blue eye globes, funky cool feet panels, bloody blades and extra connector pieces make it worth the $10 US.

But as initially said, the worth of this set depends on who you ask. I think it's far sexier a set than Mantax or Carapar.

I'm not going to do reviews for the other 5 (well, 6) so here's my personal breakdown:

1. Nocturn - Good god, I love me the glow in the dark plastic!

2. Takadox - Same here... glowing parts for the win! As well as small barb parts and such. (PICS A FEW POSTS BELOW.)

3. Pridak - Well, i just said why in this review.

4. Ehlek - Mostly for his green color and new parts. (PICS A FEW POSTS BELOW.)

5. Kalmah - For the armor and you get THREE blue eyes.

6. Carapar - For some much-needed new yellowish parts.

7. Mantax - Not feeling the love here. Nothing exciting to mention.

Edited June 9, 2009 by KimT

[Kahgarak]

Nice review.I like the blood on his face and weapons too...Bionicle is getting more serious every year...which is a good thing.

[Cyclone Titan]

Yeah Jinzonengin.1. they should take away those cruddy squid ammo thingys.2. nice review.3. Elhek,Pridak and Kalmah have blue eyes that makes three Barraki instead of two.Did I mention good review? *y*

[Asuka]

Very good review! I like his mask or face or whatever.... very useful for MOCing I think. Cool blades too. *y*

[Kahgarak]

While the squids are crappy,both playability and quality, the story behind them is pretty badass.

So badass, that i made a huge version of that crappy little piece.The monster is hanging on my closet,looking at me when i'm asleep... 8-

[Zane]

Excellent review - now I'm considering him. Thanks much. *sweet*

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

Nice. I like the peices too. I will get Pridak. You an make a murderer Kopaka with the bloody blades!

-ZotS

[Shakar]

Nice review Jinzo. I still like Pridak very much: good colours, good shape, good weapons. I think they caught the shark appearance quite well. But like you said, the launcher sucks. I still don't have any Barraki (I will in a week or so, I ordered Takadox and Mantax), but from what I can see and hear it's not good.

Shakar

[Dino_Bot]

The Barrakki just...aren't good...They just...don't look good. Takadoxx is probably the best one out there.

[JINZONINGEN73]

Pics of 8920 Ehlek:

Not sure if all Ehlek sets have an extra white tooth barb, but this one did.

[PSPguy]

My Ehlek did too. Nice review. I think I will change the arms when I get 1. *y*

[JINZONINGEN73]

[JINZONINGEN73]

The funny thing about Takadox is that he has clear blue limbs.

So, under fluorescent UV blacklight, those along with his glow in the dark parts, make him light up almost as much as Nocturn does. ...But only under blacklight.

Edited January 25, 2007 by JINZONINGEN 73

[Chuck]

Errrm, the squid ammo looks...questionable ;-)

-l2k-

[Darkness Falls]

Are you kidding? I got an extra spine with my Ehlek. Hey, now all my other Bionicle stuff can pretend they're Zaktan.

Takadox. Yummy.

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

Sweet pics of takadox glowing. Sweeet....

-ZotS

[Cyclone Titan]

I knew Takadox glowed but he glows like a phantom that came out of the sea *y* *y* *y* *y* *wub*

[Zaktan of the Shadows]

I know. Its awesome!

-ZotS

[Cyclone Titan]

I know. Its awesome!

-ZotS

Yeah freaking sweet!!!

[Shakar]

Ah, yes. Takadox sure looks yummy. Can't wait to receive him in the mail, that GITD blue colour is awesome. And I'm liking Ehlek more and more.

Shakar

[JINZONINGEN73]

I knew Takadox glowed but he glows like a phantom that came out of the sea *y* *y* *y* *y* *wub*

Yah, yah, but again... he only looks super cool like that under a fluorescent blacklight.

Without one, it's just his head and three armor pieces.

Something close to this:

::is a sucker for blacklight::