Ratbat

Really glad to see that it is easily mod-able to hold 12. It's still not 16, but it's way better than 6. I'm really impressed to see that they were able to cram so much into this version. An MTT is the big thing that has been missing from my droid army for a while now. I wanna see If it's possible to extend the cockpit to hold more droids by removing those technic arms and having the side panels detach in a different way.

The new wave of sets are only just hitting stores around here, and since I haven't gotten any HF at all lately with the exception of Toxic Reapa, I figured I'd give this guy a shot. Note- I'm aware that the lighting on the pics isn't as good as it could be. My current light box isn't in good condition, so I'm waiting to make a new one I don't plan on going into all the individual parts. It's pretty unnecessary, seeing as every piece is visible on the finished model. But he does come with a miniature torso piece that is quite nifty. It has all of the connection points necessary for the limbs to attach, as well as one in the center. And here are the spares- whoever gets that code first can have it. It's nice that he comes with a pair of Barraki eyes, even though he only uses one. The completed figure is certainly crazy looking. I can't argue with anyone who thinks it looks like a mess, but that's part of why I like this guy. It looks like some mad scientist's operating table came to life. And in case anyone wants to see what it looks like without the wires attached- A shot from the back- The head sculpt is very unique. It's very thin, which goes well with the rest of the body. His eye looks like it's on some kind of gear. I like to think that it rotates around to focus on different things. The teeth add a good amount of personality to it. As for his weapons, he comes with a large saw blade. It spins for endless amounts of fun. One minor nitpick is that the wire leading from his stomach to the saw sometimes gets in the way of the blade being able to spin. He also comes with two claws/nails from last year's jungle themed sets. I like that they opted to make them asymmetrical, putting one on the top right and the other on the bottom left. His final weapon is certainly the most noteworthy. It's primarily made out of system pieces. Two claw bits attach to the handles on the sides, but they don't actually line up. The translucent antenna becoming a laser seems a bit dated, but it works. As for articulation, he has plenty. The only things one could complain about in my eyes is that the wires tend to clash with his head, and due to the way his feet are attached, his ankle tilt is rather limited. Overall, I really like XT4. But I can see why many would not end up liking this figure specifically. If you're into MOCing though, he makes a great parts pack.

I plan on selling the majority of my spare parts, and would like some suggestions on how to price them. Should I sell them all at 10 cents per piece, or should I price them at differing prices? I'm looking to sell them quickly, so I would prefer to have a flat price, but I would like some input before doing so. The vast majority of them are generic parts, such as axles, pins, technic bars, and so on. But there's also a large amount of more specialized parts in different colors, such as limbs, feet, and weapons. Or Perhaps I should sell them in lots with multiples of the same parts? Thanks.

The Green Lantern one looks fantastic. I like that Lego included a blast piece with him. Iron Man and Batman look okay. Hulk looks good with the exception of his head. It's a little too childish for me.

Tru had all of the 2011 villians with the exception of Nitroblast and no heroes, so I got Jetbug and Fire Lord. Jetbug is awesome, almost flawless. His backpack and shoulder armor can be positioned to where it looks like one solid piece, and gives him what looks like a beetle-like shell. He only has two problems, which to me are minor: Nitroblast's face is very visible from most angles, and stares straight at you from the back. His other problem is the fact that he has no eyes, but that's an easy fix. Oh, I also like how he's covered in red spikes. Fire Lord I was a little hesitant to get, but I'm really glad I did. Really, his biggest problem comes from the shoulder supports, which look terrible, limit his articulation, and force him to keep his arms forward at all times. How to fix it? Remove the supports completely. His arms are still completely stable, and they are more free to move around to almost any position. Also, I moved his fire generator things to the ball joints that the shoulder supports connected to, which in my opinion, looks much better. Other than that, I moved all of the armor on his arms to face outward, and moved the armor on his inner legs so they face forward. Now, I think he's fantastic. The unarmored hips don't bother me in the slightest. Also, his weapon is badass.

Oh no you didn't! Man, I like the heroes, but the armor placement on some of them is pretty poor. Especially the lack of any armor on most of the weapon arms.

My one problem with Fire Lord is the fact that there is no armor on his upper legs. Other than that, I think he looks great. I just wish he got his own weapon instead of Furno's blades. I can't wait for these to pop up in my area. I'm eager to see what I can make out of the limbs by themselves.

Those 2011 sets look excellent. I love the new smooth limb pieces. It makes them look a lot more heavily armored. Also, Nitroblast. You don't mess with a guy named Nitroblast. Anyway, I really like the new aesthetic 2011 is taking.

I'll be entering the villains catagory.

I hope Tru keeps this going for a while. Even though I can't stand the show, I've been wanting to get a Ben 10 set for a while now. They look pretty cool as action figures, and I'd love to get some of the limbs.

Skrall looks very cool.

Originally, Thunder didn't interest me too much. However over the past few months, he's grown on me a lot. I still wasn't sure whether I'd really like the figure or not, but I decided to get him. Year:2010 Piece Count:47 Price:$12.99 USD The Packaging Despite the villains being the same price point of a bionicle canister set, they come in boxes. And they're pretty damn huge. I thought they'd be around the size of the Glatorian canisters, but boy was a wrong. Gone is all the boring text no one ever reads, instead replaced by a cool action shot, stats, and showing of the features. I still wish Lego would put bios on the boxes and canisters, but then they'd have to put it in multiple languages, so I can see why they don't do this. The Pieces Thunder has plenty of pieces in the new silver, which in my opinion is much better looking than both shades of silver bionicle used. However, I've heard that early cases of the HF sets used the old silver, so it might vary a little bit. I love the gray plates. Lego can spam that piece as much as they want. He also comes with some Ben 10 limbs in black, which I think are pretty cool looking. (I was pretty sure Lego fixed the snapping joints issue, as I took Stringer apart ten times at least and all the joints were fine, but a few of them cracked a few days ago, which is why I have not taken apart the main body build ) The Building Process Thunder's build is pretty straight forward, and only took me about 5 minutes. I still found it a little interesting though. Applying the stickers was a walk in the park. The Completed Set I don't know how to describe how awesome Thunder looks without using tons of unnecessary curse words, so I'll just say "cool". I absolutely love his aesthetics. In my opinion he is the perfect blend of complicated mechanical bits, and smooth armor. His asymmetrical design makes him look unique, and the giant claw on one side is balanced nicely with the blade coming off his other shoulder. Making him a hunchback was an excellent choice, and it's all topped off by three awesome symbols of a fist smashing a wall into pieces. The unused ball joint is hardly ever seen from the front. It's really no big deal. Close ups: I love the head sculpt. I really don't consider the silver face to be a helmet. The meteor launcher is just a black thornax launcher with a zamor sphere, but I don't mind. It can move up and down on an pin joint. Articulation Thunder has a lot of it. To my surprise, the shoulder armor and the blade don't get in the way all too much. The hordika neck elbows are crazy posable, but the head is limited in left-right movement. Overall I absolutely love Thunder. I've already stated my reasons above, so I won't go into details here. He looks much better in hand than he does on the box, in photos, or in crappy videos on Youtube. I highly recommend him if you like the design.

I like the new one better.

Where have I heard this before... Anyway, this looks great! The red bench seats make it look a lot like the pizza place near my house.

Thanks! Now to get a magnifying glass...

How did you do the monocle? I must know!

That got me thinking if it was possible to mod the arms to have elbow movement without making them longer. So I came up with this: Take a "4-unit" bare piece, cut it inhalf, and replace the two halves with the red axles. I'd also recommend applying some nail polish, or super glue to tighten the elbow movement.

Here's what I did to fix the wobbly metru feet and head.

The Metru feet are very easy to fix to be stable, but I'm still thinking about how to mod the head.

Von Nebula is a set that has gotten a lot of discussion due to the unique changes that he makes from the standard Titan design. Do these changes help, or impede on the set? Year:2010 Piece Count:156 Price:$19.99 The Packaging The box art is pretty kickass. I'm guessing the symbol next to his name is supposed to represent a black hole. The Bionicle tribute is in the bottom right corner. The back advertises Furno and Stormer. His stats are located under the picture. The Pieces Almost all the pieces have been seen before, so I'll just be going over the new and recolored pieces. Bionicle fans will drool over the black Hydraxon mask. The blades are now in a darker silver, as are the pistons in his legs. The tridax pod pieces are now in black with spots of blue. The piraka feet are now all black. The spike pads are black with some blue on the upper spikes. Building Process Von Nebula's build is VERY interesting, but quite short. The torso is a Makuta Phantoka torso piece, with some mods done to it. The legs are the most interesting part of the build, with the pistons now serving as knees, with the usual leg pieces now serving as the supports. The feet are a bit uninspired though. The Completed Set Von Nebula looks pretty damn cool. He was designed to be hunched over, but he can stand up straight if you so desire. Back View: The Staff: The blades on the staff can spin around the black hole generator thingamabob. Yay. Some close ups: I like the head. The glatorian head is turned around to have everything fit, which surprisingly doesn't bother me too much. What does bother me, is the fact that the entire head assembly, including the Bohrok plates, wobble. It isn't a huge problem, and it isn't annoying as the wobbling heads on the Makuta Phantoka, but it does get annoying. The Arms: This is where most of the discussion regarding Von Nebula has gone. The arms have no elbow movement, and are rather short due to the lack of forearms. I'm not happy about the lack of elbows, but I don't mind the fact that he doesn't have them. It makes him more unique, and I think the short arms make him look a bit cooler. Another point of discussion is why there is a gray piece attaching the claw. It makes a gap, but it does make the arms just a little bit longer, which I think is why the designers did this. The legs are awesome. The pitons being in the front make make them feel much more robotic, and it's cool to see them move when posing the figures. Articulation Despite the lack of elbows, Von Nebula can still get in a good amount of poses. The head articulation in particular is excellent. Overall If you don't mind the lack of elbows and some wobbly parts, then Von Nebula is a must have. He looks awesome, and I'm glad the designers sacrificed some articulation for his overall appearance.

Okay, I think Lego has finally fixed the snapping ball joint issue. I have taken this guy apart ten times at least, and not one balljoint has cracked. All of the joints are still tight as well.

I like it. The dark gray makes it more interesting in my opinion.

All the canisters need to be put in cool environments for the codes to appear.

I know I have the Mcdonalds Galidor robot dude somewhere... When I find him, I'll certainly review him too.

No. I'm just gonna guess that the higher the level of the disk, the less hits it takes to KO/kill the opponent.