As stated by me, IF (alsoi want new episode to be “accidentaly” relised (by that i mean episode 10+11)
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It seems that Ekimu vs. Skull Grinder set in in a box. A rectangular box similar to the ones that System sets are packaged in.
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As unlikely as it is, I really want the MoC will have the writing molded on it. Toy Fair people, y u no take MoC pic
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Given it some time for the original hype of the images to settle and allow my own thoughts on the images to become clear.
Skull Warrior;
Seems fairly basic, a generic figure with no real additions or trying anything too new. The gear function allows for one arm to move while the other stays attached. He has one very boney arm which works, but the new ‘cloth’ piece (Using the term very loosely) doesnt really work well as shoulder armour. The bow is nice, but ruins the point of having a gear function arm. The asymetrical nature of the set is a little jarring, though all in all an ‘alright set’. The chest armour looks alright though as with Basher, Slicer and Grinder, the random chain pieces DO NOT WORK. You can not have every other part of the set devoid of chains and then include a chain print on their chest plate.
Skull Slicer;
Slicer is currently in position for my least favourite humanoid set, with four exposed ball joints that stand out even more when put next to the new bone pieces. We should really have gotten trans bone pieces instead in order to avoid the balljoint issue. The gear functioned arms look alright, though its incredibly disappointing that instead of using three of the small gears they used two old technic gears, kind of a cop-out to be honest. The chest print is odd also, a rather weird ‘grinding’ machine above his nipple.
Skull Basher;
In my opinion the best of the cheap sets, while he lacks a gearbox he likely has an alternative function. Though he shares the exact same head piece as Scorpio, the large and likely-to-wobble-and-knock-off-mask horns do help vary it very slightly. The horns are indeed my main issue with the set, given they seem too far away from the mask to be attached. The mask is also way too smooth and non-beast-like for a character named Skull Basher. The rest of the body looks alright, save the upper legs being the new bone pieces, which gives him really odd proportions when it gets to the knee’s, ruined by those armour pieces. The trans-orange breaks the colour scheme also sadly.
Skull Scorpio;
This set is growing on me i must admit, though i feel thats more me trying to think of why its as much as a mess as it is rather than getting annoyed by how bad the design is. I can understand why the legs lack any articulation and the tail has an over-complicated ‘stinging’ and ‘gripping’ function, it just doesnt suite this set. I dont mind the leg articulation, as to be honest LoSS didnt have much articulation either and its a better set when the legs are fixed in place. The issue is this set was designed with a biological design in mind, hence most the body covered in the organic looking armour piece, thats why the back end of this set doesnt work. Remove the back end and this set is ‘ok’ but it looks so thin. I get the idea they are experimenting with combining technic with CCBS and i do agree that animals are the way to go with that, but this isnt good enough for this set.
Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder;
Lets start with the obvious, the mask has issues. I dont understand what they did here or why these two colours have run so much but rather than blue and gold it has a green’ish tinge to it. I’m hoping they fix this by the time the set is released, but at the moment its unfortunate. Not a fan of the saw blade as that just seems to be here to take up parts. The Hammer is a nice addition and the trans-blue shooter will be good for some Ice MOC’s. The Mask of Creation on the other hand is small and while i pray it has the details inscribed on the spikes, it is unfortunately rather basic. I had hoped it would stand-out, instead its just kind of there. In all he’s just a recolored fire protector with a gearbox slapped on, but thats what i expected.
Skull Grinder is unfortunately a weak set, the upper legs suffer from the same issue as basher where the legs bulk-out at the knee and suddenly transition to bone. He has exposedd balljoints on the stomach. The upper body isnt as complex as i had hoped and the head is disappointingly the same head mould as Warrior, personally i dont enjoy having the ‘main villain’ of the year share a mask if the mask isnt altered in any way. The new colour helps, but the mask is also so generic that it looks almost identical to the other Skull Villains (Other than Slicer)
Final thoughts;
I’m going to be getting the sets regardless, but in terms of a scale system from worst to best
Skull Slicer → Skull Scorpio → Skull Warrior → Skull Basher → Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder
If it wasnt for the MoC then Mask Maker vs Skull Grinder would be second favourite…
- The printed chest piece is a good addition, can imagine someone trying to collect them.
- New trans chest armour is nice however they are barely used effectively other than Scorpio, who puts it to nice use as back armour. I wouldn’t be surprised if the armour was designed for Scorpio in that respect.
- The new ‘cloth?’ piece sucks to be honest, it sticks out from the base armour so much that it makes it virtually useless and gappy when used as shoulder armour
In all this line suffers the most from a lack of trying with any of the humanoid builds, while Scorpio is a weak set it at least attempts something while Grinder, Basher, Slicer and Warrior all stick to the basic body build, a CCBS body piece with a function slapped on the back. I understand that titan sets are now less complex, but i hope we end up getting better titans in the future than Skull Grinder. I’m praying its because he has Ekimu that he is such a basic build, but i doubt it.
This wont happen to close to Summer, as that is when they’d be uploaded
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so people keep saying that Basher and Scorpio have the same mask and that Grinder and Warrior have the same mask but the only difference i can see is in the colors the designs look the same to me
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…you just proved their point.
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so the only difference is in the colors
@Matoro There is no proof that it can’t be true. There could’ve been an army of skeletons before the toa are transformed.
Does anyone have any speculation towards the weird hands grabbing at the masks?
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It might be Makuta’s spirit that is temporarily separated from his unconscious body…?
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ahem
There IS no way to fix it, assuming you want the nice transitions the other Protector masks have. The only way to make it purely Gold and Blue would be to have it separated cleanly (which would look cool, IMO).
Honestly I don’t really have an issue with these sets. They all look solid to me, apart from some color scheme issues.
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After looking at the images the colours have actually run, the gold is suppose to be the same layout as on the other protectors, instead the gold has run in areas near the middle of the mask. While the green is an unfortunate bi-product, it probably could have been fixed somehow, seems odd to advertise the mask as one thing then do a transparent dual mould that doesn’t work.
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Erm… well… the new sets for 2015 are… interesting? I don’t know how else to phrase it. They just look… incomplete. Clashing colors, flimsy, exposed limbs, etc… Eljay will tear this line a new one if they come out looking like this.
I like the new parts being added as a whole, but the sets are very, VERY meh to me.
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Or maybe it is Makuta’s body. If the toa have the power to awaken Ekimu with their masks, maybe the skeletons steal their masks to awaken makuta.
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One problem… the hands are very shadow-like and ghostly. Unless Makuta suddenly gains shadow powers, I don’t it’s his physical form that we see on the boxes.
If it’s not Makuta, than my second guess would have to be the spirits of the undead skull villains who don’t have bodies.
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It’s interesting to note that in set form, Ekimu has the same eyestalk as Pohatu, but in the animations, he has a blue eyestalk.
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Keep in mind Makuta can make masks, so he probably already made the Mask of Shadows, making this a good theory, unlike some others…cough cough transformation theory cough cough
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I take one day off…
I like the sets a bit more now. The translucence is sorta… off-putting to me. But Ekimu looks fantastic.
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From “the legend” animation, it was clear that the Mask Makers were only able to create elemental masks (for the villagers), and combining them would create the “Mask of Ultimate Power”. A Mask of Shadows couldn’t have been able to be created by Makuta (who we assume is still unconscious like Ekimu)…unless you could use different combinations of elemental masks to create certain mask powers like the Kanoka disks would…
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I don’t see why the elemental powers of the masks would be limited to the “main six” though.
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I like them they really look like skeletons, might swap out slicers gears for the smaller ones, I also hope they change Ekimu’s mask so that the colors are completely separated
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