Review: 8990 Fero and Skirmix

[Partario]

Hi all

Welcome to my reveiw of set 8990 Fero and Skirmix.

Set Number: 8990

Set Name: Fero and Skirmix

Price: 14.65 GBP or 19.99 USD

Pieces: 148

The Box

The front of the box shows Fero atop Skirmix in the arena. Fero seems to be saying 'charge' and firing his thornax at an unknown target. Skirmix seems to be ignoring Fero and standing in the same spot whilst roaring. The rest of the box displays the age, set number and the name of the set. Notice how it doesn't say special edition because here in the UK Fero and Skirmix are just standard sets.

The back welcomes us to the arena; Fero is just standing there, while Skirmix appears to be dancing. The rest tells us there is an action figure game to play and shows the two main functions of the set; the Thornax and Skirmix's jaw movement. At the very bottom we see the B.I.O code and a small ad promoting the other Glatorian. As you can all see I'd already opened the box before I took a photo of the back. Silly me.

Pieces

New pieces include the life counter for the action figure game, the 'iron man' head in orange, the Thornax launcher, the spikeball, the helmet that also comes with the Skrall set, the new Skrall blade in green which also appears in red with the Skrall set, Glow-in-the-dark green with Akatus and green again with Tuma. Finally we have the new hands, wait no we don't. That's the once thing that bothers me with this set, I don't see why Lego couldn't simply put the grey Akatus hand in this set, it's not like we need a recolor or anything.

The recolors include the Fenrak head in dark read, the Makuta Mistika feet and hands in dark red, the shorter double socket picecs once again in dark red and finally this odd piece we haven't seen since the Nui-Jaga in 2001.

The Build

You first build Fero who is just your basic Agori build and is rather boring. The lack of the new hand piece makes it even more boring.

Now once you've got mini Skrall Fero out of the way, it's time to build the gem of the set; Skirmix.

You first start to build Skirmix's body and tail. It's not that hard to be honest but still its different and quiet fun to build. You also place the life counter near the neck which makes it flow with the set unlike the other Glatorian which have it bulging out of their backs. The tails is thin and looks stupid on such a muscular body.

The legs are once again not that hard to build they're also very sturdy. However the sliver Piraka foot seems way out of place and sort of ruins the colour scheme for the whole set, the standard blue pins to help much either.

The hands are made of 2 pieces; the Av Matoran arms/legs and the Shadow Matoran foot. Overall the hands are small, silly and don't seem to have much use, a bit like the arms of a T-Rex.

The head is a nice build and the jaw movement it designed cleverly. Once attached to Skirmix the head looks big and powerful, just like a T-Rex =P

The whole set take about 1/2 Hour to build and overall its quiet a decent build.

Here is your piece inventory.

Playability

The set is quite fun to play with and The Thornax launcher is a fun projectile, it shoots well but the set only comes with one spikeball so don't lose it! The other forms of play are the fact you can put Fero atop Skirmix and have your own Bonehunter raid; you can also fit other sets on Skirmix as well Skrall and Partario fit fine but Tuma is a bit too big, I can't really judge the action figure game as I don't play it. The other feature is Skirmix's jaws which can maul your other BIONICLE friends to death.

There are a few bad things about the set, like the hole in the neck which in my opion looks awful . Another bad thing are those blue pins, just like the feet the ruin the whole colour scheme of the set, I would have much rather had tan pins (like in the Skrall set) than the blue ones. Furthermore the position Fero is placed on Skirmix, you have to bend Skirmix forward so Fero can look in a straight line. Lastly Fero himself is a bad thing; I would have rather had another Inika clone sitting on Skirmix than an Agori. If we had had a canister sized set instead of Fero, the set would be fully worth the money.

Here is why you can't sit Fero like he is on the box.

Overall

Pros

• Nice pieces
  
• Neat recolors
  
• Fun build
  
• Functions
  
• Really fun to play with
  
• Fero's sword <3
  

Cons

• Few new pieces
  
• Fero
  
• Blue pins
  
• Horrid feet
  
• WTF is that a tail?
  
• No new hands ;_;
  

Overall Fero and Skirmix is a fairly decent set but I can't fully recommend it to you, sure it is a good set but it isn't fantastic either. So I'll let you decide and with that I leave you one last picture;

'ZOMG it's a big me!'

Thanks for reading

[Satellite Jack]

Very nice review. I went back and forth with this set, and decided that my money would be better spent elsewhere.

A few things though:

Those "odd piece(s) we haven't seen since the Nui-Jaga in 2001" were actually in Takanuva last year

And you mentioned "I would have much rather had tan pins (like in the Skrall set) than the blue ones". I assume you mean the pin/axle piece? This would have been problematic, as the tan pin/axels have less friction on the pin side, allowing things to spin freely- not exactly ideal for a sturdy build. Thus, there not always interchangeable.

[BrotherDog]

Too bad the pictures are 5 times too big. Any chance of reducing them to 25% of this size? It won't allow any attempts at downloading either. For some reason brickshelf doesn't allow downloading through the link, and 75% of people that have a pictures lately(not just you), have them stupidly gigantic or worse.(Many are way worse than your's) Thank any diety, they aren't in ".png".

Please make them smaller. Pretty please?

;;D

Edited August 28, 2009 by BrotherDog

[Lordofdragonss]

Nice review but big minus for photos. I love "The Rider and The Beast" set idea, and I still dont know why they decide to put stupid vechicles this year...

[Partario]

Very nice review. I went back and forth with this set, and decided that my money would be better spent elsewhere.

A few things though:

Those "odd piece(s) we haven't seen since the Nui-Jaga in 2001" were actually in Takanuva last year

And you mentioned "I would have much rather had tan pins (like in the Skrall set) than the blue ones". I assume you mean the pin/axle piece? This would have been problematic, as the tan pin/axels have less friction on the pin side, allowing things to spin freely- not exactly ideal for a sturdy build. Thus, there not always interchangeable.

The only summer set I bought last year was Jetrax so I wouldn't have known the piece came with Takanuva

As for the tan piece, I fell a bit silly now due to the fact I own several Bionicle and Technic sets that use both colours.

Too bad the pictures are 5 times too big. Any chance of reducing them to 25% of this size? It won't allow any attempts at downloading either. For some reason brickshelf doesn't allow downloading through the link, and 75% of people that have a pictures lately(not just you), have them stupidly gigantic or worse.(Many are way worse than your's) Thank any diety, they aren't in ".png".

Please make them smaller. Pretty please?

;;D

Sorry I don't know how to make them smaller.

Nice review but big minus for photos. I love "The Rider and The Beast" set idea, and I still dont know why they decide to put stupid vechicles this year...

When you say 'minus the photos' do you mean the quality or size of them?

Yay another Vehicle hater.

Edited August 28, 2009 by Partario

[Front]

Nice review. I'll try and find this set later this year.

you could download a program like gimp, which is freeware:

http://www.gimp.org/

That program can be used to edit pictures, including resizing them before uploading to e.g. brickshelf.

[The Alchemyst]

A better idea is to read your Camera manual and go to the menu so the pictures are automatically sized down when taken.

640x480 is if you want them to be posted directly here, but I prefer something around 1xxx x 1xxx for links.

It's a lot easier than manually resizing them on the computer.

[-TA-]