This is a Fire Lord that relies far more on CCBS as a system than technic, and as such he both looks better and has far better articulation. This could not have been possible without @dinx’s digital recreation of him from earlier this year, which allowed me to finally understand how his ankles were built and finish him off. I switched out the translucent shells on the prototype for his personal printed ones, as this matches where the printed elements on his subordinates ended up. They look so much prettier now that they’re all facing forward!
And of course, he can pull off so many more poses than the final set
I am gonna need to build this myself because I’ve always been fascinated by this design. How does the range of motion compare tot he original? It looks like it poses really well in your photos at least.
Much improved over the final set. Due to the complete replacement of all the technic reinforcements in his shoulders and hips with more flexible CCBS bones, he can actually move his arms and legs backwards now, as well as in more dynamic directions in general. His ankles bend way further forward and his feet also seem somewhat more stable due to the shells on his heels kinda turning each foot into an adjustable tripod.
It’s worth mentioning that his arms are additionally much longer than the final set, which makes some poses more effective. He also, obviously, has a fully articulated hand rather than the typical fist piece, which does make him more expressive
If there’s one thing that could possibly be counted as a downgrade from the final set, it’s the flamethrowers on his shoulders. Since they’re attached directly to his shoulder reinforcements rather than struts on his back, you can’t angle them to use like a jetpack anymore
there are aspects I could maybe see not making it past play testing with younger kids? That or just budget limitations. Those are usually the things that motivate these kinds of changes.
Weirdly the final set actually has more parts than this guy. A lot of them smaller technic pieces, sure, but in terms of CCBS the prototype only actually uses two more bones, an extra torso skeleton and five extra shells. I have no idea how much that’d cost to make but I have to assume about the same as the much larger quantity of technic elements in the final set
