[REVIEW]: 70780 Protector of Water

[VBBN]

Set name: Protector of Water

Set number: 70780

Pieces: 65

Price: $9.99, €

Release date: 2015

Packaging and Contents

Box Front

The front of the box brings us to an underwater theme, where we can already tell that the Protector of Water's weapon his largely based off of a propulsion unit of some kind.

Box Back

The back shows off various set features, and continues the underwater background. The power-up mode, my personal favorite o the six, is also displayed to the right.

Instructions

We get a better look once again at the buildings in the backdrop, which continues to be round buildings suspended on tall rock structures.

New/Interesting Parts

Gatling Gun

One of the more interesting parts that has made it's way into the Protectors is this new gatling gun. Unlike the Toa who feature gearboxes, these lovely little weapons offer a very awesome new choice of "bionicle launcher" that we have come to expect. The gun is made up of two parts, a dark gray barrel, and a yellow firing pin. Once put together, they do not come apart, at least not without a lot of needless work. The connection is very comparable to the Mata heads with eyestalks. As for the firing power of this new collectible, if anyone is familiar with the minifigure blasters first introduced in Star Wars this year (also seen in wave two of Hero Factory 2014), the force behind the stud is quite similar.

New Pieces

The new head piece, new eyestalk in trans neon green, piston add-on in silver, and new spider leg which is a modified version of a hero factory claw. Standard fare, every set in the wave except for Lord of Skull Spiders and Protector of Earth will come with this same slew of pieces, though colors of course will vary.

Masks

First we have the Protector mask in dark azure and trans blue. It's a shame this is the only part in the set that comes in dark azure, as I quite like the color.

Building process

Action Frame

The Protector of Water uses the longer leg design, shared also by Stone and Jungle. For those who didn't own any of the Chima 2014 CHI sets, here is another chance to grab some of those tran-light blue bones.

Armoring

Note that her shoulders don't recieve the normal armor plating, instead they act as mounts for something else.

Weapon

Protector of Earth was my favorite application of the gatling gun, but I really quite like what we have here as well, utilizing it as a sort of underwater propulsion unit.

Finished Set

Skull Spider

We've all seen the skull spiders at this point, so if you're actually reading this bit of text, let's make it interactive- What colors would you like to see the skull spider mask in?

Front

The Protector of Water has an interesting final look, since you mount two propulsion intakes on her arms. Again, I'm not a fan of these Protectors whose mask have a color nowhere else on the set. It's especially strange with the PoW here, because her armor is all transparent plastic, so the dark azure really doesn't fit. But, that's a minor quibble, I'll get used to it.

Profile

The Protector of Water is the fourth Protector to use the "shelf chest" armor build.

Back

But hey let's not focus on the negative of the lack of dark azure- look at that delicious trans blue armor that you get four of. Not new, but after the tiresome amount of trans light blue with Invasion From Below and Chima CHI, it's nice to see this one back.

Pose 1

The downside of the weapon is, it's a bit difficult to pose with. Either it can be held in one hand or two, but unless you have her mounted to a base to make it look like she's swimming, the poses aren't very dynamic.

Pose 2

See what I mean? This looks cool, but not very practical- she needs to be in a 'swimming" pose to really capture the moment.

Skull Mask

The Skull mask can also be placed on, and actually goes very well with the color scheme. The legs actually make me think of a breathing apparatus at some angles, interestingly enough.

Conclusion

This set feels like it belongs underwater. Sure, you can say a fire character is thematic because you slapped fire pieces onto him, or an ice character is icy because they have trans light blue on them, but this Protector looks like she just came out of a deep dive. Not only does her armoring reflect that, but her weapon seems like it belongs underwater too, and I absolutely love that. The build isn't anything out of this world, but if you enjoy the builds of Stone or Jungle, there's nothing not to love here. I know I expressed displeasure over the lack of dark azure, but really that is a quibble that may be isolated to me, who knows. But if you are buying the must-have Gali, I'd recommend grabbing this little counterpart too.

[Chimaninja454]

Great review VBBN! You're the best reviewer!

[Leewan]

I also wish there were more dark azure. At least one #5 shell on the torso (in a similar fashion to the Protecor of Fire).Though, it's still nice to have four #3 trans-dark blue shells.

Thanks for the review, VBBN !

[arc]

This one's kinda meh for me. The color scheme is a little random, and I'm not a huge fan of the weapon. Nice review though.

And regarding the skull spiders, I think a trans neon orange would make a great skull spider. Or maybe dark red like in some of the comics.

[Aanchir]

Good review! Incidentally, I know the equipment doesn't make for a whole lot of great poses from a display standpoint, since it's designed for swimming, but in terms of play I found that it helps the set feel very dynamic and, dare I say, "swooshable".

Bionifigs.com was able to get some neat "action poses" in their review photos (including this set), using transparent plastic armatures from high-end action figures. It really helps me to see how having an official LEGO version of that sort of thing could be great from a display standpoint!

Edited December 5, 2014 by Aanchir

[SonofTheShire]

Thank you, VBBN! This was the review I was waiting for.

I'm not a huge fan of these new Bionicles but I do like some of the protectors, and if I get any of them it will be this one. I especially like the propellers. :)

[ToaDraco]

Of the Protectors she is definitely my least favorite but I'm a completionist so I'll still get her. The trans-blue is always welcome, I love trans colors so the more the better!

[TheOneVeyronian]

I'll admit straight away that this is probably my least favourite of the Protectors, but I still like the set to a degree. The arms could probably do with some Dark Azure shells both to bulk them up a bit and let the mask fit more with the colour scheme (and I'll do some experimenting with bars in order to re-attach the propellers to the arms most likely). The dark stone grey upper legs will probably also be ditched.

And as for skull spider colours? I'd love to see red and black ones myself (I do wish the Spring Yellowish Green spiders were glow in the dark, so I pick GITD too), and maybe have the skull spider legs cast in a different colour too so we can have a bit of variety in that area.

[Shakar]

As much as I like her mask (going with the female gender like VBBN chose to, until proven otherwise), I think she's the weakest Protector overall. I can't say I love the propulsors (though the yellow is a great homage to Sub Slizer), they make her arms look awkward: I think connecting them as a backpack would've looked better, but I guess they were already at the limit in terms of parts count. The weapon is interesting but again, it looks kind of awkward when she's not swimming.

Lastly, the colour choices are a mess, the arms and legs are too different in terms of colour organization, and the black looks out of place to me. It wouldn't have been that hard: use dark bley on the upper limbs, tr. light blue on the lower limbs, and silver for the hands and feet (I think most Protectors look better with silver feet actually). I guess I would've liked some dark azure on her torso, but the colour organization by far the biggest problem for me.

And as for skull spider colours? I'd love to see red and black ones myself (I do wish the Spring Yellowish Green spiders were glow in the dark, so I pick GITD too), and maybe have the skull spider legs cast in a different colour too so we can have a bit of variety in that area.

I heard the green Spiders were actually supposed to be GITD, but they couldn't pull it off due to budget constrains. I'd like to see another Spider colour (hey, even two!), but only if the Spider is present as a side enemy (maybe with Ekimu and/or Makuta, without any storyline ties, a la Lhikan and Kikanalo). The Skull Spiders and LoSS are ok as starter baddies, but nothing more- I want real villains in Summer.

[Kalhiki]

Didn't know he/she/it used the trans blue from Breakout Stringer. That's neat.

Having said that, I agree with Shakar: the colors are all over the place. I like the individual colors, but the layout and balance isn't that great. And the arms look a little weird.

But she's still a pretty neat figure. Can't help but love the Protectors. I'll definitely be adding her to the collection.

Oh, Skull Spiders: definitely would like a white one just to have a bone color. Silver and the yellowish green are good, but an actual white version would be nice. That, and GitD.

[Rayskull]

for 10 bucks I'll get that too. The colors on the mask look great, but yeah it needs some better color balance on the body. If it had solid azure bones it would look better.

[Logan McOwen]

This is possibly my least favourite of the Protectors. S/he feels very jumbled up - two trans blue colours? Yellow waterjets? Black and dark grey bones? I dunno man, it's not just the mask that feels out of place here.

Edited December 12, 2014 by LewiMOC

[Aanchir]

This is possibly my least favourite of the Protectors. S/he feels very jumbled up - two trans blue colours? Yellow waterjets? Black and dark grey bones? I dunno man, it's not just the mask that feels out of place here.

I had some similar apprehensions about the set originally, especially with the colors being distributed much less systematically than those of the Protector of Earth or Protector of Jungle. But I was surprised to find that the set actually looks really excellent in real life. Even though the colors are distrbuted in such a peculiar way, they're still distributed fairly evenly throughout the model. The Bright Yellow makes a great accent color, and the Tr. Blue and Tr. Light Blue work a lot better together than I ever could have imagined.

Now, if I were designing the set, there are definitely some things I'd have done differently. I'd probably have used black 5M "A" beams (design ID 90609) for the upper arms and upper legs, Tr. Light Blue 3M or 4M beams for the lower arms, and Silver Metallic feet. But that's not to say that this is the best thing for the set, just what I probably would have done according to my own systematic mindset. Trying it out now, I actually think I prefer the look of the official set. The colors are spread out better and feel more balanced.

[bjj8383]

Certainly are unique head pieces.